Caitlin in Jerusalem: Festival of Lights

This was from a week ago when I went with a group of people to the Festival of Lights with Abed, my friend in the lab. Knowing my profound distaste for writing, Joseph was kind enough to narrate the experience in my words. Thank you Joseph.

WATCH ME:

Enjoying pizza together before the light show

My friend is autographing my hand. I can't remember why...

“Wednesday night I had a remarkable experience at the Jerusalem Festival of Lights. The Festival of Lights is a weeklong light exhibition show throughout the Old City. There was a string of lights you would follow to different light presentations. To be honest I expected more lights but some of the shows they had were quite impressive. One show was a giant 3D spectacle using some of the arches in the Jewish Quarter. For another they created a large balloon face where they projected faces from all around the world; it was a little creepy. Abed, my coworker invited me to go with some of his friends. More and more joined us, until it ended up being a very diverse group. So far, most of my interaction here has been with fellow Mormons and Jews. It was so interesting to get to know all these people from different backgrounds. In the group we had a German, a half Japanese half American man, a French woman, someone from Poland, and a few Palestinians as well as another Mormon friend. I particularly enjoyed getting to know an Arab woman in our group. It was amazing to see how easily it was for us to get along despite our entirely different backgrounds. It was a pleasant reminder that wonderful people can be found anywhere in very unexpected circumstances. Overall it was a great evening with great conversation and company (not to mention I topped it off with a fantastic Magnum Bar).”

I have a couple of things to add to Joseph’s wonderful summary. The light show was mildly entertaining, nothing like the beautiful lights around temple square, and yet so many thousands of people gathered from around Israel to see it. Hands down the best part, the aspect that made it one of the most memorable nights of my life, was the group of people we were with. Such diversity, coming together with immediate acceptance and almost child-like, simple fun like sliding down the slick rock Old City ramps, doing the zombie walk to the music, and fake begging for money for the orphans. It was silly and bordering on immature, but it was also exhilarating and bonding. A Muslim girl, with head covering and long modest jacket, was one of my favorites. Quite visibly, we grew up and lived in different circumstances, and yet it was surprisingly easy to connect with and laugh with enjoy each other’s company. Every once in a while, despite differences, it is so clear that we all are human, children of God, and share much much more than we differ on.