long walk home

Scott Sitner-Tel Aviv and home-January 2019

It’s a prescient thought on the last day of a long trip far away, and on the last day, with an 11:35 pm flight it does feel like a very long walk home.  But we have to fill what amounts to 15 hours before getting to the airport, so more to see.   First is Temple Mount which is one of the most contested religious sites in the world.]  The first temple was built,(or close by) in 565 BCE by King Solomon, one of the original jewish temples.  This site is the holiest site in judaism, the temple there is the second, and rumor has it the third will be built  someday.    For muslims, this is the third most holy site according to the most believed texts.  The dome in the picture was built around 692 AD, and has been renovated and such(the gold was from Saddam in the early 1990s).  The site sits in the middle of the Old City, which accounts for the very very heavy military presence.

Next was off to Israel’s version of Arlington cemetery.  It was very striking how similar it was.  Areas for the leaders, areas for general soldiers, and then certain areas for soldiers who died in specific battles.  It was very pretty, and to be at the grave of Theordor Hertzel, who in the late 1800s, and early 1900s, come up with the idea of a Jewish state, and set out to make jews aware of how and why it is necessary to have one to be respected on the world stage was inspiring.The rest of the day was frankly a blur, and I cannot imagine anyone really cares.  A super fancy food court where I had lamb bacon(pretty tasty).

 A final dinner together where we had, yes, kabobs and rice and hummus, which most people, picked at with a strange look of disgust.  And a nutty 2.5 hour journey through security at Ben Gurion airport and home after 14 hours of flying and 6 hours of layovers.  See no one cares.Thanks to the few dozen people I know are reading this and apparently others scattered around the internet.  This is an exercise of ego, so thank for indulging.