In Honor of Holy Week Pt 2 - Western Wall aka Wailing Wall, Jerusalem, Israel

One of the Views into the Men's (left) & Women's (right) Exterior Courtyard at the Western Wall

The Western Wall aka Wailing Wall or the Kotel is an important Jewish religious site located in the Old City of Jerusalem. The reason why its called the Western Wall is because its the Western most wall of the Temple Mount. An interesting thing to note about the Temple Mount is that -- what you see today is actually the SECOND Temple that was reconstructed by Herod the Great around 19 BCE and additional layers were added in the 7th century onwards by other ruling empires. The First Temple, built by King Solomon, was destroyed in 586 BCE when the Jewish nation was exiled to Babylon. What you see today is only part of the Second Temple as parts of the Western Wall are located below street level (which, I'm sure you didn't know; and is too much to write about here, but if you want to read more, click here for more info on Second Temple).

Some interesting notes about the wall:

• Though the Western Wall is commonly referred to as the "Wailing Wall", Jewish people never refer to this holy place as the Wailing Wall - only as the Western Wall. The name gained popularity from 19th century literature where people used to call it the "Place of Weeping"... A description that stemmed from a Jewish practice where Jewish people came to "speak" to the wall -- often "mourning" or giving prayer requests... and mourning the destruction of their temple. (A third temple has been rumored to be built, but nothing has occurred).

• There is so much history here that it is even difficult for me to grasp and remember, but for this blog posting, suffice to say -- that after the Roman Empire and the Spanish, Turkish Ottoman, British, Jordanian ruling and now the Israeli ruling, this area of the Western Wall has been designated as a holy place for Jewish people to to devote their prayers (part of the 1930 International Commission) without interruption or interference.

• The exposed Western Wall, or the one you mostly see, refers to an 187 ft stretch of the wall, but actually it stretches 1,600 ft. Where is the other part you may ask? Its "hidden" behind residential structures built along its length.The height of the wall is 105 ft, with the exposed section approx. 62 ft. There are 45 stone courses, of which 28 of them are below ground level. Each stone weights anywhere from two to eight tons, with the largest weighing approx. 570 tons (found on the Northern side). Its amazing how this structure was even created! The area is thought to have been a limestone quarry centuries ago (hence the very large limestone blocks), so that may have helped place the stone into place

• You can visit, with a fee of course, the lower parts of the wall. Its actually an interesting tour and I highly recommend it. The guide books say you need a reservation, but my brother and I were able to get a ticket without one (but you may need a reservation if you go in peak season).

• The Western Wall is supposed to the sole remnant of the Holy Temple and is the "CLOSEST" spot to the holiest spot in Judaism -- the Foundation Stone -- which is expected to be housed inside the Dome of the Rock (others say it is situated opposite of the exposed section of the Western Wall), which is located inside the Temple Mount in the Muslim Quarter. Interestingly enough, Jews are forbidden from setting foot upon the Temple Mount and is considered a sin punishable by Kareth. WHAT?!?! So, one of holiest places located in the Muslim quarters ... can not be accessed by Jews and is considered a sin!

• Every year, more than a million notes, or prayer requests, are placed in the wall crevices. The notes are collected twice a year and buried on the Mount of Olives. If you can not be there to place it, you can even fax in your request to have it placed there. The likes of Pope John Paul II, Barack Obama and Pope Benedict XVI have placed messages in the wall

• The wall is segregated by gender, which I found surprising (and I will have to ask my Jewish friends why). Are women a substandard class or is this my American ignorance and prejudice towards American society (even though, we all know not everyone is created equal)? I started to think this when I compared my experience with that of my brother's.... here are some of the stark differences. Male's side: Exterior area was nearly double the size of the female side; there was a library and discussion room, not to mention a separate prayer room where rabbis would be present (um, did we mention that only males are allowed to be rabbi's); meanwhile, the female side had a small prayer room, and when I say small, I am not exaggerating -- it would be the size equivalent of two or maybe three restaurant sized bathrooms! you will have to see the photos.

Of course, there are photos to document this experience at the Wailing Wall. Below are a select few and you can visit my FLICKR page to see additional photos. The photos of the men's side was contributed by my brother, Wilson Lee.

Inside a small study room is a private sanctuary to pray (left). Within the Western Wall's crevices are small notes, or prayer requests left behind by visitors.

Men's library and prayer room (even has a rabbi) inside a building adjoined to the Western Wall. In the FLICKR photo album you'll see a stark size contrast of the prayer/library rooms between the men and women's side.

In Honor of Holy Week -- Photos of the Old City In Jerusalem, Israel - Part 1

I figured since its Holy Week, I thought I would share some of my photos from the Old City in Jerusalem, Israel. After all, Jerusalem is part of the Holy Lands and is the place where many religious sects were born, and inevitably leading to many religious wars/fights stemming from differing religious viewpoints.

So, this is PART 1 for the week, giving you an aerial view of the different parts of the Old City while walking on "Ramparts Walk". I began the journey at the old Jaffa Gate and ended it near Lion's Gate. Through this walk, you will see bits and pieces of people's lives in the four quarters, where their daily routines though may be similar are separated by their religious faith and ethnic backgrounds -- Armenian, Christian, Muslim and Jewish. I ended my walk at the Lions Gate, but also continued forward through to the Jewish quarter, where I discovered the Western Wall, or more infamously known as the Wailing Wall. I hope to elaborate further on the story of the Western Wall and give you a view of the wall that you may never have imagined in a later posting. Additionally, some of my following postings will include photos from Jesus' Christ walk through Via Delarosa, the stations he stopped at, the Holy Sepulcher, and perhaps some photos of his origins - Bethlehem and Bethany Beyond Jordan. But, until then, enjoy the aerial view of the life people lead within the walls of the Old City.

Here is a quick glimpse of the photos within my FLICKR account... These photos are here to illustrate the lifestyle of the people living within the Old City Wall. Click here for more photos on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/simplyeverywhere/sets/72157623607445109/

A Warm Welcoming for U.S. Reserves from the 67th APS - Hill Air Force Base

Welcome Home 67th Aerial Port Squadron!

Salt Lake City, March 6, 2010

On a recent trip to Salt Lake City, Utah, I was fortunate to have arrived at the airport to witness a warm welcoming home for some U.S. Reserves who were returning from their 45-day volunteer efforts in Haiti. Earlier this year you may recall there was a devastating earthquake that shattered homes and lives in Haiti and to this day, rebuilding continues on. You may also recall the sheer number of countries who quickly went to the aid of this earthquake-stricken country only to find that it was quite difficult to get their foreign aid into the country. Fortunate for Haiti, this group of Air Force reservists played a key role in establishing operations at the Toussaint Loverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince, which allowed the United States to bring in their aid. These men and women in uniform are from the 419th Fighter Wing's 67th Aerial Port Squadron (Hill Force Air Force Base). While there, they helped load and unload passengers and cargo at the airport and also assisted in a rescue mission at the Hotel Montana (4 star hotel that collapsed). During there 45 day volunteer mission, they had handled more than 2,000 aircraft, 11,500 tons of cargo, 14,000 passengers and assisted more than 7,500 evacuees.

Some of the volunteers were also previously deployed in Iraq and noted that the experience in Haiti was worse than their service in Baghdad, Iraq. When questioned why, their response was surprising to me.

One of them mentioned that for the first 30 days, the reservists were only able to shower once every week. Though not unaccustomed to military food, they were given three MREs as their source of food. What are MREs? Pre-cooked "Meals Ready to Eat" that are packaged in air-sealed pouches and has a shelf life of 5-10 years! You can eat them right out of the pouch or boil it -- whichever your preference is, the food was still as horrible as you can imagine. Aside from food, laundry was also done in a bucket with the use of a toilet plunger.

On a positive note, one reservist noted that part of his crew also helped John Travolta unload food supplies from his personal plane (WOW! he flew his own jet there?!). To see Travolta's work in Haiti, click here. The same individual was also eager to share that despite all the hard work it was worth it all to help Haiti -- not to mention he was fortunate have met and taken a photo with the President of Brazil (his family's home country).

With that said, many of the reservists were proud to be there and proud to witness so many nations putting aside their differences to work together in this state of crisis. These reservists said it was a volunteer experience of a lifetime -- one they will not forget -- but for now, they are happy to be at home and with their families.

Here is a glimpse into one family reunion at the airport.

Other reunions . . .

For more info on the earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12, 2010 click here for news from The New York Times or more information on 67th APS.

Trapped in the Red Pyramid of Dashur, Egypt

Dashur, Egypt, Day 2 - December 17, 2009 - Trapped Inside the Red Pyramid
Inside Photos of the Red Pyramid included

The Red Pyramid, the third largest pyramid built
104m high (345 feet), built by Pharaoh Sneferu (2613 BC to 2589 BC)
(yes, the pyramid you see in the background is where we were trapped)

Ok, trapped may be too strong of a word, but its the best way I can describe what happened to us while visiting the Red Pyramid in Dashur, Egypt.

Can you imagine being trapped in a pyramid or being buried alive? I can. While my brother and I were in Dashur, we visited one of the first pyramids ever built in Egypt and while there, we found ourselves at the bottom of the pyramid in complete darkness. We started the descent into the pyramid with lights initially guiding our way, however, the lights turned off as soon as we reached the bottom of the pyramid. If you can imagine yourself being buried alive in a coffin, then you will know what I was feeling while standing there in the darkness. It was already hot inside the pyramid and getting hotter as I sense the anxiety building within me. To make matters worse, there was an unfamiliar smell that was unpleasant (think it was ammonia from the mummification process? who knows) -- but that was easily solved as I breathed through my mouth. The oxygen however, felt scarce and at times Wilson echoed my silent thoughts of -- "its getting more and more difficult to breathe down here".

At this point, Wilson and I only had three choices - 1) wait for them (whoever them should be) to turn the lights back on (um, we had two things going against us -- we're in a desert (so we'd be lucky to find water) and we're in Egypt (where things take forever to fix and people do things at an incredibly s l o w pace), 2) some how find a way back to the entrance (not too hard) or 3) continue on with our one mini flash light and my on camera flash... Of course, being the adventurers that we are .... We continued on (hurray! we're crazies! how else would we have a good story to tell?). We eventually found the main chamber but because of the darkness (duh) we could not see much of what was there, if anything was there.

This is a video of us talking inside the pyramid in complete darkness (obviously you won't see anything, you'll just hear our voices), a few seconds after the lights went out. (click the "play" button below")

Below is our journey inside the pyramid with a pictorial view of what we went through.

Here goes...

Man who let us into the pyramid and who also expected "basheesh" (aka tip) for taking a photo of us and for letting us into the pyramid (even though we already paid the entrance fee). In hindsight (and things are always 20/20 afterwards), perhaps he turned the lights off on us! Somethings are better left unknown...

This is the entrance down into the pyramid.

With big smiles on our faces, Wilson and I descend a few steps to take this photo... not knowing what we were going to expect next ...

After we get to the bottom of the stairs, and as we walk for a few minutes ... the lights went off.. and Wilson and I were, literally, left to our own devices -- his: a mini flashlight ; mine: my on-camera flash...

The photo above is of the entrance, a view from the bottom... with the lights off (compare it to the one above -- stark contrast, right?!). Our shouts of "turn on the lights" were ignored... Wilson and I hesitated and then debated whether we should go back, but we got the courage to move deeper within the pyramid...

Left: Wilson crouching to get through a passageway.
Right: Stairs inside the pyramid. Climb this and you'll get into the heart of the pyramid...

Wilson starts climbing up the stairs (photo left)... and just to give you an idea of what it felt like ... to the right is a photo of us going down the stairs... can you, now, imagine doing this in complete darkness, with only a flash to guide you every few seconds?

We finally make it up the stairs and this is the tiny passage we see (left)... entering into the heart of the pyramid... as we enter, we find it difficult to breathe. Wilson notices a pungent smell (right), and I accidentally whiff it in through my nose ... ACK! my mistake! it was once again that ammonia smell, but much stronger ... this must be the source... the air was sooo stifling that we could not stay there for long, but of course, I stay there long enough to take some photos with my flash...

Left: Wilson and I finally made it to the end of the pyramid (look at my shocked face!). And there was nothing there. Well, nothing we can see... (photo on the right is what my camera saw).

Wilson and I make our way back to the entrance... and as we get closer to the pyramid opening, we hear laughter, children laughing... a group of kids were already descending the stairs hoping to seek the same adventure my brother and I just experienced ... I wonder if they were brave enough to go through the dark passageways, up and down the stairs and into the heart of the pyramid... because of the excitement in their voices, we could not tell them that there was nothing at the end of the road...