12/19 | A Visit from Scott

Yesterday, after extending his Birthright trip, my cousin Scott made his way to Jerusalem.  At approximately noon, after my Hebrew oral exam, we met right outside the Student Village so that he could drop off his stuff before we grabbed lunch.  Unfortunately, I had class, so we had to break for a little bit before meeting up for dinner.  While he was wandering around Jaffa Street, I was stuck "learning" in my Business Ethics and Foreign Policy classes.  At this point in the semester, everybody--including myself--is just ready for classes to end!  Fortunately, neither was too strenuous and within a few hours Scott and I were at the bottom of Ben Yehuda Street looking for places to eat.  A friend of Scott's had given him a recommendation for a great vegetarian place (hidden in a dark alley, no less), so we decided to give that a try (very delicious) before making our way to the Old City.

Once in the Old City, we wandered the deserted streets of the Christian and Muslim Quarters before coming to the very lively Jewish Quarter.  We stopped at an overlook to take in the entire Western Wall before heading down to the plaza.  What an experience!  I had not expected to have family come visit, so it was nice to have another member of my mishpacha at the kotel.  We spent some time walking around the plaza and exploring the tunnel next to the men's section before taking some obligatory pictures.  When we were done, we walked back through the Muslim Quarter to take the Light Rail from the Damascus Gate station back home.

 Scott and I in front of the Western Wall.

Hanukkah starts on Tuesday night, so there was already a giant hanukkiah set up for the holiday. 

Jelin/Ruf descendants at the Western Wall.