Yesterday I got there at 7:50 and we didnt leave until 8. We knew we had to get on the bullet proof bus, so we saw one and assumed it was ours. We were all settled and then we had to get off because we were on the OTHER bullet proof bus! The bus ride to chevron was about 45 minutes. I wasnt too tired and just looked out the window listening to my ipod. When we got off the bus, the first thing our tour guide (i forget his name but he is often on CNN) showed us was 2 walls that had steps in between them. These steps were the entrance to the city from ancient times and the walls are also ancient, but from different time periods (hundreds of years old). We then saw the leftovers from houses from thousands of years ago. This was the area abraham and sarah lived. There is proof that this place was the biblical hevron because on some of the stones it says in biblical hebrew "hevron." Also, archeologists believe that some of the stones that have black on them was from the fire (maybe the romans did?) that burnt down the city. On top of the leftovers of these homes, is apartments held by pillars. Archeologists actually like this idea because it helps reserve the stone by keeping it out of the sun. Archeologists plan to continue on digging and putting apartments above their findings.

We then went to a synogoge that got closed because the muslims said it was a mosque. the lock then got reopened after the war of 1968 (i think). Now i will mention how many soldiers there were. they were EVERYWHERE. Some walk around, while others are at checkpoints, but there are a multiple of checkpoints on each street. There are also many army trucks driving around with soldiers in them. Most of the soldiers where bullet proof vests. So many of them are attractive!! I am so infatuated with them that it is a problem. I melt in front of them!! ah! okay, now i will stop my teenage hormones and discuss why there are so many soldiers. it is weird because there are only 8 families or something living in hevron (i mean each family has like 14 people, but still), why risk all these soldiers? The answer is that many terrorists come from there or right around there. can catch terrorists before they complete their mission. Even with soldiers around there is still violence, but with more soldiers around, the less violence. For example, our tour guide said that his apartment has gotten shot 2 times and when his daughter was 14, the bullet missed her by inches.

We then went to beit hadassah, which was painted beautifully! I just uploaded pics, but i will upload those maybe tomorrow onto the 3rd album (ill also do captions). One of the first rooms we went into was the memorial room for all of those who were massacred in 1929. Here is what happened:

"Following WWI the zionist effort was faced with a new and vicious enemy Haj Amin El Husseeini, Mufti of Jerusalem. The Mufti subsequently became an admirer and ally of Adolf Hitler.

"Husseini began to stir up riots in 1921. In 1929 he incited the Arabs of Eretz Yisrael to large scale rampage throughout the country. The British Mandatory Government did practically nothing to prevent the violence.

"In Hebron the British Police were disarmed, with the strange caim that the sight of armed police could lead to an outbreak of violence. The Arabs of Hebron understood the massage and on Friday, the 17th of Av, 1929, (August 23), after calls for a pogrom at the weekly sermon at the mosque, rioting erupted. Shmuel Rosenholtz, one of the brightest yeshiva students was killed by a rock thrown at his head. That night the British, in an effort to calm the Jewish community, promised that whoever would stay in their house the next day would would be protected by the British Police. The next morning, however, (18 av) there was a wild rampage of murder. There was rape and robbery as the Arab mob destroyed Jewish homes. The British officers stood idly because they felt that they themselves were in danger. At this point, Captain kapirota shot two shorts in the air with his pistol and the entire mob dispersed. 67 Jews were killed and 66 wounded. One of the most ancient Jewish communities in Israel ceased to exist. The British forced the survivors of the massacre to abandon their homes and move them to Jerusalem."

In the memorial there are photographs of the people before the massacre and there is on the side a memorial for all 67 Jews that got murdered. It has their picture and name and some of the broken tombstones of theirs that was later destroyed.

In another room we went in, our tour guide told us a story behind the name of beit hadassah. What happened was Israel wanted the Jews of hevron to leave their homes and go to safer parts of Jerusalem. To get them to leave, Israel decided to surround them and not give them any food or water. The rule was was once you left, you could not return. People argued that when the Israeli army surrounded Egyptian soldiers, the enemy, they provided food and water. Because of that reason, israel provided these poeple food and water. A woman was pregnant and since the conditinos there were unsanetary, she would be risking her and her baby's life if she didnt leave and go to the hospital. She didnt want to leave because then she would be able to go come back into the city. People got nervous as her due date got close, so the government gave her a permit saying after she gave birth in a hosiptal (outside of the city), she was allowed to enter again. She refused the permit and made them redo it including that her child can also enter. So, she left Hevron and had a baby girl in a hospital. She named her daughter hadassah and that is how the place got its name.

We then went to a synagogue that has Torahs made our of deer skin that are hundreds of years old. They know that one of them is from bagdad. They are in perfect condition and they are sephardic. They were beautiful! The deer skin is way more expensive, but makes the ink on the Torah stay really dark and fresh looking. It is interesting how they spent more money then than we do now. It shows us our priorities are different than theirs. It is weird because you would think that as time went on, we would use better skin for parchment, but we dont!

Then we walked to where the graves of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, and Leah. While walking you can see so many dedications to people that were murdered. Tunnels, synagogue's, streets, memorials are all dedications and were all over. So many people have been killed. On the way we stopped and our guide told us about how for 2 and a half years, Arabs would shoot at the town from hills. Israel said they would go in with tanks if a shot was fired, but they did nothing for 2 and half years. Children who were playing on playgrounds got killed. He also said that there were so many miracles. When we got to the grave area, we heard the muslim's praying and there were so many soldiers there. I realized that they were taking turns praying!!!! They were sharing a kippah! Our guide told us stories that paralleled to each other about how we know where they are buried. It was really similar to the story in the Jewish quarter about finding where David was buried. We then had time to go to the area where they are underground. It was gated and so hard for me to grasp. I couldnt understand that i was at the spots where they were all buried. After James tricked me (he still hasnt told me that he was lying) that a soldier asked him if I was from his group and where i was from (because james knows im obsessed with soldiers), we sat on the grass and ate lunch. We then left and headed towards Rachel's grave.

Rachel isnt buried with the rest of them because she died while giving childbirth. We were right next to the security fence, well actually on the other side of the fence (i think). There was a lot of security there also. Rachel's grave was nicer because the men and women were separated and a lot of people were praying there. After a girl prayed while leaning up against te area where rachel's grave is, she hugged her mom and was crying. She was getting married this thursday! There was another kallah also, but she was getting married in a month. It was so nice. People also go there when they are pregnant. When we were ready to leave, soldiers told us to go back inside. I'm not sure why, but everything worked out. We then got back on the bus and it took at most 10 minutes to get back to our apartment. We live so close to the security fence and where rachel is buried! Some people say that Rachel is the mother of us and she weeps for us to all come back to haeretz. Not only Jews in other countries, but soldiers missing in action.

When we got back to the apartment, rachel packed up because she was going to haifa to be with her family (they are all here). I didnt have anything to do, so i grabbed an ice cream and took her to her to the central bus station! haha. I waited for 40 minutes with her until her bus came because i didnt have anything else to do and i wanted to listen to my ipod while riding a bus. Before her bus came we saw an ethiopean boy who was too young to talk, but could walk, play with a soldier. It was so cute! I then waved to the boy and he came running over to where rach and i were sitting. He hopped onto my lap and then sat down on the ground just how rachel and i were sitting. he then crawled onto rachel. ugh he was sooo cute!!!!!

After i got back to the apartment I had some dinner and tried to watch some of gossip girl. Around 6:30ish I went with britty to a seminary to learn (we have that option because we are on shevet). The class was really interesting and it was an australian teacher who became religious. We were at a seminary who is geared towards girls who arent necessarily religious. One thing she talked about was taking things slowly. If you become interested in becoming religious (which some of the girls at this sem are), it is important for them to take on the mitzvot slowly. You might think you are being hypocritical for not keeping shabbat when you know you should, but eventually you will just want to do it, and not feel the need to. I am too exhausted to explain it better and give more really interesting examples and explain why this is so important.

We only stayed for one lesson, instead of 2 (the 2nd one was the parasha of the week). Britty and I wanted to stay but we were exhausted and had to finish up a midterm for holocaust film class. We are going to go every tuesday, i think. Others will come too. I saw rachels friend (my bff) chelsea (she is studying there)!!! The sem is called N'vay (spelled wrong). When we got back to the apartment we all finished up our midterm but it took SO longgggg. I then showered and finished watching gossip girl. Some parts skipped, but it was overall pretty good. I was exhausted and couldnt finish my blog. I was pmsing and just tired so i got a little emotional! haha. I knew i could just finish it tomorrow. I was sleeping by 1ish.