Today's Chanuka entertainment began at night, in the Old City. We watched as two communal chanukiot were lit, the first without fanfare but with giant flaming gas jets, the other with announcements, speeches, and song, but too far away to actually make out clearly. What was clear, however, is that that Israeli rabbinate needs to include some sort of singing audition before approving ordination.
After a quick dinner, we joined up with our tour at Migdal David. The name of the tour was "Jerusalem Stories", and it was led by a cute little Israeli draped in a scarf and wielding song-sheets and a flashlight. As we wandered from the Old City to the multimillion dollar homes of Kfar David, and from there to the King David Hotel and the Mamilla shopping district, we were told love stories that each involved the city of Jerusalem. The stories were taken from a range of sources, beginning with the Tanach (David and Michal), then moving on to the Talmud (Akiva and Rachel), and then to the modern day (post-1900 famous families, such as the Ben Yehudas). The leader of the group was very engaging, and the nighttime atmosphere helped set the tone. The tour was also very interesting in that, while the historical elements of our surroundings were mentioned, they were used solely as a backdrop for the emotional stories that took place around them. For pretty much the first time, we went on a tour that cared about the people who made the history, not just the history itself.
We warmed up with coffee and cake at the new Aroma cafe in Mamilla, then it was off to yet another Pardes Chanuka party, where we lounged about with friends from Rina's program. Then Jon, the party pooper not on vacation, made us go home so he could get some sleep. Loser.
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