Making spirituality an everyday routine

Outside of Mearat Hamachpela in Chevron

Most of our Akiva trip was spent in Jerusalem where we got the rare privilege of staying at the Old City of Jerusalem, right by King David's Tomb. We started our day early praying at the Kotel Hamaaravi (or Western Wall in English), then taking classes at the Aish HaTorah World Center all morning. The feeling was like no other. Truly a spiritual breakfast of champions, happening right at the epicenter of the Jewish People.

One of the highlights of the trip was when we went to visit the Patriarchs. The field trip was to the South, we went to Mearat Hamachpela (or Cave of Machpela) in Chevron, where Adam & Chava, Abraham & Sara, Isaac & Rivka, and Yaacov & Leah are buried. Four famous couples, the original man & woman and the patriarchs with the matriarchs. Rachel, the fourth matriarch isn't buried with her husband Yaacov in Chevron, but rather her final resting place is on the side of the road in Beit Lechem. She had a life of giving and her sacrifice is even evidenced in her death. She died in childbirth when Binyamin, the youngest of the 12 tribes, was born. Rachel knew by divine inspiration that one day the Temple would be destroyed and her people would be exiled, so on the way out they'd pass by her grave and beseech Hashem for consolation on this terrible tragedy. She refuses to be consoled to this day and asks Hashem for forgiveness of our sins. It's not a surprise that her grave is one of the most visited in Israel. On that day we said Shacharit (morning services) in the Kotel, Mincha (afternoon services) by Mearat HaMachpela and Arvit (evening services) by Kever Rachel. It was one of the most surreal experiences of my life. It felt angelical, like we were floating off the ground. Almost removed from mundane tasks after connecting to spiritualy in such an intense way.

The rest of our stay in Jerusalem coincided with a heatwave that plagued all Israel with temperatures of 100° F. It happened precisely on Lag Baomer, which litereally means 33rd of the the Omer, the 7-week period we count between Pesach & Shavuot. Lag Baomer is a holiday in which we also commemorate the Hilula (anniversary of passing) of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, who wrote down the Zohar, which the most known work of Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism). There was plague during the Omer at the time of the Mishna in which the 24,000 students Rabbi Akiva all died, and it stopped on Lag Baomer, so it is a celebratory day. All over Israel people do bonfires and BBQs, there's also a massive pilgrimage to Meron where Rabbi Shimon is buried. But on this year the government issued restrictions against too many bonfires in the street, to prevent wildfires in the middle of the heatwave. Nevertheless, we could feel the happiness in the air and there was music everywhere even in an usually hot Jerusalem.

To Life!

Vivian Chaya Russo

Entrance to Mearat Hamachpela

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