Week Two in Jerusalem 2010

We always love walking through the Old City of Jerusalem.  This week we walked past the Western Wall into the Jewish Quarter.  We visited two excavated homes from the Second Temple period.  One was a wealthy home and one was a home of a priestly family responsible for making incense for the Temple.
During lunch we watched two families go down to the Wall for bar mitzvah.  It was a joyful parade with lots of singing.  When a Jewish boy turns 13 he has a ceremony where he becomes a son of the law.  During that ceremony he reads the Torah (first 5 books) for the first time.  The ceremony in these cases take place on the men's side of the Western Wall.  The women stand on chairs at the fence separating the women's side from the men's side and observe - throwing candy at some points.  It is special for them to be able to have this at the most holy spot for Jewish people, the Western Wall of Temple Mount.

 

Young School Boys on a field trip to the Western Wall

The "Burnt House" was fascinating.  A home belonging to a member of the priestly family responsible for making incense for the Temple.  The house was destroyed by the Romans when they destroyed the city of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.  A young woman died in the fire.

  

  

Young Jewish boy on the way to the Wall for his bar mitzvah.

Another

I (Al) especially like this picture.   13 year old's are the same the world over ... notice his tongue.