Stories and Experiences 1: Shabbat

I've shared the pictures (a few of the hundreds, at least). I've given our itinerary and talked about the major sights. Now I'll take a few posts to talk about some of the less formal things I witnessed, some of the stories, and some of the things we did that were not part of the tour.

Shabbat-Jewish Sabbath

We got to our hotel in Jerusalem on the Jewish Sabbath, and the elevator reflected that fact. There was one elevator that had a special red light, meaning it was the Shabbat elevator from 6pm on Friday night until 6pm on Saturday night. That meant that we non-Jews wanted to avoid it! Since traditional Jews are not supposed to push buttons on the Sabbath, the elevator is set to stop at every floor every time it goes up and down, allowing traditional Jews to ride to their floor without pushing a button. There was no rule against us riding that elevator, but it definitely takes longer to get to your destination when you have to stop at every floor.

We were in Old City Jerusalem on Shabbat, and we could tell which alleys were the Jewish ones because all the shops were closed. Our guide explained to us the difference between "Holy Day" and "holiday" in Israel. Since there are many Jews, Muslims, and Christians in Israel, there are three possible "Holy Days" every week, and most people get Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays off from work because of the different sabbaths. A boss may be Jewish, but many employees may be Palestinian Christian or Muslim, so work often stops on all three days. Some use those days as "Holy Days" to worship and rest. Others use them as "holidays" to go to the beach and party.

We went to the Wailing Wall on Shabbat, and many, many religious Jews visit the wall for that day. Another pastor who was with us was told to stop writing on the Shabbat by a guard. They also don't drive their cars on that day.

Edited to add: Another sign of Shabbat at our hotel was that they could only serve a cold breakfast on that morning.