Our group -- and our guide to the tunnel excavation.  From left:  Mattes, Robert, guide Ami Braun, Nachum, Mayer, Meir and Mark.

FRIDAY

FEBRUARY 11, 2000

With a live broadcast at 2pm local time, there weren't too many hours to spend taking in the sights.  Nachum, Mark and I went to the Kotel to daven Vasikin -- with the sunrise. Mark led the t'fillah (see his diary entry for more), then back to the Plaza Hotel for breakfast.

Later, the whole group went on a tour of the tunnel excavations under the Kotel before gathering back at the Plaza for the Friday morning edition of JM in the AM.

This looks like it could be part of the Kotel -- the Western Wall. Well it is, and it isn't.  It's actually the side of a mountain -- Har HaMoriah to be precise -- where the Beit Hamikdash stood.  King Herod directed his artisans to carve the bedrock to blend in with the manmade parts of the wall.

The most somber moment of our trip, by far. We stood at the closest (read: holiest) point along the Western Wall -- 180-feet from where the Kodesh HaKadashim stood (and where the Dome of the Rock stands today). We took a moment for Tehilim, and to say Kale Malay Rachamim in memory of Mrs. Strassman -- Henya bas Shlomo.