Har Herzl

To prepare for the upcoming days of Remembrance and Independence, Jon's school today took a tour of Har Herzl, Israel's cemetery and monument-center in honor of its political and military leadership. As always, our guide constantly pressed us to look beyond the words on the sign, and to try to penetrate to the deeper meaning and purpose behind them. He pointed out many interesting ideas that we would certainly have missed on our own, for example the use of a phrase found on Bar Kochba's coins on the inaugural plaque, and a grove of imported cedars, the type of tree used in the construction of the Temple. Stopping near Herzl's grave, where the building of a massive auditorium for Independence Day celebrations is underway, we discussed the political motivations behind different elements of the structure, the placement of the grave at the mountain's highest point, and many other issues. When the group proceeded further into the cemetery Jon got spooked by the rampant impurity and so we left.

After an inadvertently-long tour of the very pretty neighborhood of Beit HaKerem, we made our way to מנה וחצי , a shwarma place we have been told is the best in the city. While the name means "serving and a half", for some reason a serving in a pita cost more than a serving in a laffa anywhere else. Still, the salad bar was fantastic and the meat was very tasty. Even so, the product wasn't twice as good as the front runner's, which it would have had to be to make up for the ridiculous price.