26/11/2022
I received some great reviews on TripAdvisor that I am reposting here.
This one is about my Jerusalem light rail tour:
It was a transformation experience
Nov 2022
Jerusalem is the city of the Temple mount, the Western Wall and landmark churches. There is and aura of power and holiness that exudes from the relics of the city, but even more so from the ancient people of Jerusalem—the rabbis, the beautiful observant Jewish families, the boisterous kids playing on Shabbat. The veneration of the patriarchs and matriarchs whose merit has procured this noble life, the passion for Torah, permeates the city and sustains it.
Yet there is more to Jerusalem then its ancient roots. Without modern Jerusalem, the picture is incomplete. The challenges of modern history and the vision inspiring Israel’s formation must be part of the experience of the tourist in Israel. The Ed Snitkoff Tour uniquely captures the modern dynamic of the eternal city in this larger context of Israel and Jerusalem’s modern rebirth and growth. The format of Ed’s tour is to use the Jerusalem Light Rail to trace the original 1948 Jordanian / Israeli borders and to point out the important sites, noting also the alternation of Arab and Jewish neighborhoods.
The tour is eclectic, just as Ed is eclectic in his role as tour guide. He is knowledgeable, engaging, and affable, and carries a mysterious backpack from which he produces a variety of maps, articles, poems, and literary artifacts. Ed insists that all sensory faculties engage in this experience—you have to try gefilte fish and horseradish purchased in an outdoor market.
I was most gratified by Ed’s attention to Israel’s national monuments, memorials, and educational sites. Where the Old City is immersed in the spirit of the founding patriarchs and matriarchs of the Jewish faith and Torah, Mount Hertzl, the National Cemetery and Yad Vashem venerate the founding fathers and mothers of the modern Jewish State—the vision of the Prophets for a free people in their homeland and the struggles and sacrifices of those who made it happen.
Thank you Ed, for this unique and engaging encounter with our wonderful city Jerusalem!
For anyone reading this, please consider going on the Ed Snitkoff Tour in Jerusalem. You will not regret it.
