The Dome of the Rock

So although I have yet to finish blogging on my time spent in the south I wanted to blog about my trip today to the Dome of the rock. First of all, it was a very special thing that my group of American JEWISH kids were allowed to go and visit a place so sacred to a religion that has so much conflict with my own. 

My group went with a professor of ours Ophir Yarden who specializes in Islam although he himself is a religious jew.  Before going we spent our class lectures the past two weeks learning about the practices and history of Islam.

Before going to the Dome the group left Beit Shmeul (our headquarters) at 7:30 and took the 30 minuet walk to the security point. When we arrived much to my surprise

The group in front of me was not Jewish or Muslim but was instead a group of tourists from China who had come to explore Israel! 

The first check point is staffed by Israeli's, all jewish, who put your through a metal detector before allowing you to go up the windy ramp. At the top of the ramp our the Islamic "security guards"(these people basically check to make sure that you are appropriately dressed (see picture below for guidelines) and determine whether or not you're muslim. 

Because my group was not Muslim we were only allowed to see the outside of the Dome as well as the mosque (although less famous but more holy) which is across from it. After a breif discussion about the architecture and the importance both for Judaism and Islam each of us was allowed to explore the Dome on our own. 

My first thought when I actually went to look at the Dome was it's pure beauty. It is most definitely one of the prettiest religious sites I have ever seen. Changed in the 1960's from black to gold the top of the dome is really something to marvel at. As an aside I learned that the dome changed color not for religious reasons but for ascetic ones. The change came right around the time Kodak came out with color film so that the mosque would look nicer in pictures. 

Aside from being in aw of where I was I was also really angry. I was angry becasue I couldn't go in the mosque, angry that because of my religion I wasn't allowed in side and angry that such a beautiful sight could cause so much problem in Israel. 

As we left the Mosque we exited through East Jerusalem or the Arab quarter. What was so cool about being there (although we were only there for about 10 minuets on our walk back to the Jewish Quarter) is that I felt like I was in a different world. There was no sign of Judaism any where, the smells were different, the music, the people and it really made me feel the HUGE cultural divide in one country. 

All in all, I enjoyed myself. I was left feeling a bit unsure of my feelings towards the arabs in Jerusalem but I really felt like I was getting to know this city better. 

Like always, pictures to come soon