Day 24: A visit to Synagogue.

This morning continued with more lectures with Pino. We continued our way through Matthew, now approximately two thirds of the way there. 6 more hours of lectures to finish it.

After lunch I went for a walk by myself out of the old city to the Garden Tomb. This is a little oasis which some believe to be the site of crucifixion and resurrection, as opposed to the official site at the Holy Sepulcher.

The rock face shows an image of a skull, which some believe to be Golgotha (place of the skull), and is on the road leading to the Damascus Gate, which is a site of public execution as a warning to the locals. The tomb is a 1st century tomb of a wealthy person (supposedly Joseph of Arimathea), in which Jesus was laid. Anyway, of it isn't the historical site, it certainly was a peaceful place to visit given the madness you encounter in all the other shrines.

We then walked out of the old city to the Hebrew Union College Synagogue for the Kol Nidre service. This was the start of the Jewish feast Yom Kippur (day of atonement). This is a very solemn day in the Jewish calendar, and would be the equivalent of Good Friday for Christians. A very interesting experience. This was a reformed synagogue which meant that men and women could sit together like any Church. Most other synagogues have separate sections for men and women. Women played a key part in the ceremony fulfilling such roles as carrying the Torah scrolls in, preaching and cantoring. Being an American training college, some of it was in English, but the majority in Hebrew. We had to wear a kippur, so I did my best Papal pose! An interesting and worthwhile experience!