Higher and Higher

According to Jewish tradition, moving one's permanent residence to Israel is called "Aliyah," which means ascent or climb, because, spiritually, Israel is considered, spiritually, the highest place in the world.  In the Land of Israel, Jerusalem is the holiest of cities.  Within Jerusalem, the Temple Mount, where the Holy Temple twice stood, is the holiest parcel of land.  And upon the Temple Mount, the Holy of Holies, where only the High Priest was permitted to enter, is the most sacred spot upon the planet.  Whether Christian, Muslim or Jewish, those who make the sacred pilgrimmage to Jerusalem often feel a heightened level of spiritual connection.

When people ask me how many times I've been to Israel, I'm never quite sure how to answer.  Having lived in the State of Israel for 2 years of my life, the question almost become irrelevant.  I guess I've come to Israel 7 or 8 times in my life, but I've experienced the land, and the food, and weather, and the spiritual draw, and the dust, and the culture, and the people more times than I can count.  And still, there are aspects of parts of Israel that I claim to know like the back of my hand that I didn't remember in vivid detail when I landed in Tel Aviv last Monday.

After exploring the north of Israel for several days with my family, we finally arrived in Jerusalem on Thursday evening.  On Friday morning I set out early for a "easy" run.  Feeling drawn to some of my favorite sites in Jerusalem, I ran toward the Old City.  I made my way though the Jewish Quarter towards the Western Wall.

It was fascinating to see the ancient city bustling with people so early in the morning.  Faithful Christians, Muslims, Jews and Armenians were all "running" to their respective places of worship and, in a way, so was I, though my prayers during the run were a little unorthodox, (ahem, no pun intended).  Still, there I was running to that holiest of places for a morning glimpse.

It was all as I remembered it.  Even the warm fuzzies.  Only, what I blocked from my memory was, perhaps, another reason why going to Israel, and Jerusalem in particular, and the Old City to be  specific, is the never ending number of hills in Jerusalem.  Our hotel is up on a hill.  The western retaining wall of the Great Temple's remains is up on a hill.  And between is a never ending stream of peaks and valley with fairy steep pitched roads and walkways on the journey to and fro.

Coach Dan scheduled me an "easy" run for Friday morning, which means I am supposed to keep my heartrate between 135 BPM.  If you're reading this Coach Dan, I'm afraid I didn't do the best job staying within the designated heartrate limit.  I know, I probably could have run a bit slower to lessen the exertion of my heart, but running along the same roads upon which the very feet of our biblical ancestors once tread, I was too inspired to go much slower.  As I ran, indeed, in so many ways, I climbed higher and higher. 

To those of you celebrating, from the Holy Land I wish you, respectively, a Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas.