A Desert Experience

We got off to an early start this morning with a packed lunch and plenty of water as we headed 20 kilometers out of Jerusalem to the Judean desert with our lovely Jewish guide Jared. The first lookout we stopped at gave us a lovely panoramic view of the rocky limestone hills and cliffs - no sandy dunes here! We then headed down the valley where we began our walk. It was amazing to think that this was the area where Jesus spent forty days and where Moses led the Israelites to the Promised land. The other amazing thing was that there was a fast flowing spring in the middle of the desert - which created a beautiful river with fish and lush green vegetation. I even went for a swim- something I never thought I would do in a desert!
The morning was quite challenging with rocks to climb up, water to wade through, thistles to avoid and steep hills to conquer- a symbolic reflection on life itself with all its ups and downs, obstacles and blessings, like the refreshing water of the river!
Our guide told us about how the Jews see the desert as hefker - a state of ownerless. He asked us to think about the burdens, commitments and distractions in our life- work, technology etc and asked us, in the silence of the desert to try to make ourselves hefker - a person who is free and not owned by anyone or anything.
The desert experience was a tiring yet moving one for me - out there all you have is yourself - money, statusetc mean nothing. You are there in the midst of God's creation and vulnerable to the elements especially the intense heat. I learnt so much from this experience about myself, others and God.
After a recovery afternoon, we walked down to the western Wall - the most sacred place for Jews as it is the last remaining wall of the temple and the Jews believe it is the closest place to God - to see the Jewish people praying just before the Shabbat - Sabbath. There is a separate section of the wall for the men and another for the women. We went down to the women's section where we could go right up to and touch the wall. I placed a prayer in the cracks of the wall and said a prayer. We noticed the ladies coming back from the wall were walking in reverse so they did not turn their back to the wall. The women were very emotional and prayed from a prayer book and rocked as they prayed. The men did the same. It was very interesting to observe these people as they worshipped and prayed to their God.