Naomi, Danielle and Meara at Ha Kotel

I spent last Thursday night and Friday in Yerushaliam with Danielle, Naomi and some of their friends from University of Haifa.  The experience was beyond amazing but not without its glitches.  We arrived Thursday night and we quickly realized that staying in the hostel we had booked, in the Arab quarter, was not a good idea so after lots of debating we were able to get a room at a hostel at the bottom of Ben Yehudah street.  We went out, had dinner where I had my first Hebrew triumph.  I ordered in Hebrew and did it correctly.  The next morning we had breakfast and then began to walk the shops of Ben Yehudah.  Some of the girls were skirt shopping and I looked but found nothing I loved.  We finally ended up at Machaney Yehudah and the shook there.  You could feel Shabbat in the air.  Everyone was running around getting everything done.  I bought a challah to have for Shabbat.  We took a bus from there to Jaffa gate.  I think that’s when it hit me.  I walked through the gates and realized that I was walking through thousands of years of history.  We walked through the Armenian shuk to get to the Kotel.  I walked through security and just looked at it.  The first thing I could think of was, “wow, I remember there being a lot more space to pray.”  I put on my long sleeve shirt over my red t-shirt and black skirt and walked towards the wall.  There were Birthright groups all around taking group pictures.  We walked toward the wall and I just stood there about 8 feet away from it waiting for a space to touch it.  After a few minutes, a woman moved away.  I put my hands and sweaty forehead against the wall and started to cry.  I said kaddish for family members and was so overwhelmed that I started to cry; it was an amazing feeling.  After about 10 minutes I walked backwards, as to not turn my back towards the wall and sat with the other girls.  My Kotel experience was one I’ll remember forever.