Experiencing the Holy Land: Shavuot: Jewish Festival for the Night Owls and Early Birds

Last Sunday was the fabulous Jewish Festival of Shavuot. What is this you ask? Well, it's a festival where the Jews celebrate the giving of the Torah. The men stay up all night studying the Torah at the Western Wall and then before day break, the women gather at the wall as well and then everyone says prayers as they welcome the new day.
Our Israel professor, Ophir, told us about the festival and recommended that we go to the Western Wall and just people watch. So, we got permission from the President of the center for everyone that wanted to go, to meet at the lower gate at 4:20 in the morning, and then walk over to the Western Wall before sunrise. It was so fun walking through the city while it was still dark! That was probably the only chance that I will ever have to do that on this side of town because of the curfew rules. It was gorgeous! They have lights that showcase the walls of the Old City really beautifully.

The Old City all lit-up.

When we finally got to the Western Wall, (it took a lot longer than we expected because we had to wait for the security guards to let us out of the center, and then we had to walk around the Old City because they didn't want us to cut through it in the dark) we found that it was very, very crowded. I had this picture in my head that when the sun began to rise, that everyone would start to sing or pray in unison, but that was not the case. There was absolutely no climax for this festival. Who knows, maybe the climax for them is to finally get to go to bed.

Anyways so we people watched for about two hours. When it was 6:30, we realized that the Temple Mount would be open at 8, and that we should go see it since we were already right by the tourist entrance. But, since we had an hour and a half, we decided to go find some breakfast. One thing we learned about the Old City: Stores aren't open 24/7 like we're used to in the states. We walked all the way to the edge of the city, and we only came upon one little convenience shop that was open. After buying a Yoplait smoothie drink, (I figured an American brand would be safe) we walked back to the Western Wall to wait in line to go to the Temple Mount. We were the first ones in line. :)
After sitting and talking for an hour or so, it was finally time to go up to the Temple Mount: the location of.... THE DOME OF THE ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yay!!!!!! I'm so glad that I finally got to go see it! This is probably my absolute, most favorite building in the entire city of Jerusalem. I've been dying to go see it since before I came here because I learned about it in my Survey of World Religions and Ancient Art History classes that I took this last year. Well, today was the day that my wish to see it finally came true! :D It was so beautiful! It met and/or exceeded all of my expectations! I hope to be able to go see it again several more times before returning back to the states.