Let’s travel today: Yerushalayim

There is no other trip like it. A Jew who lands at Ben Gurion and drives up the highway into the hills is not visiting Yerushalayim so much as returning to it. This is the city we face three times a day, the city of every bentching and every wedding, and a few days there, planned well, can be the trip of a lifetime, even for someone who has been twenty times.

Here is how to do it: where to daven, where to stay, where to eat, what to see beyond the obvious, and how to spend a Shabbos there that you will talk about for years.

Getting there and getting around

Most flights land at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, about forty-five minutes from Yerushalayim by road when the traffic is kind. Shared taxis, called sheruts, leave from outside the arrivals hall and drop passengers at their doors across the city; taxis cost more and leave when you do. The fast train from the airport reaches the Yitzhak Navon station at the entrance to the city in about twenty minutes, and the light rail continues from there through the center.

Inside the city, walking and the light rail cover most of what a visitor needs. A Rav Kav card, the reloadable transit card, works on buses and the light rail; load it at the station machines or through an app. Driving in the Old City area is slow and parking is hard, so many visitors rent a car only for day trips out of the city.

Keep in mind that public transport stops on Shabbos and Yom Tov, from Friday afternoon until after Shabbos ends. Plan to be where you are staying well before candle lighting, which in Yerushalayim is forty minutes before shkiah, earlier than almost anywhere else in the world.

The Kosel

Every trip begins here. The plaza in front of the Kosel is open day and night, and there are minyanim almost around the clock. Shacharis at netz, the sunrise minyan, is one of the most moving experiences in the Jewish world: the stones turn gold as the chazzan reaches the Amidah. On Friday night the plaza fills with thousands of people singing Kabbalas Shabbos together, yeshiva bochurim dancing in circles, families from every corner of the world.

To go deeper, book the Western Wall Tunnels, a guided walk along the length of the wall beneath the buildings of the Old City, past the great foundation stones and to the point closest to where the Kodesh HaKodashim stood. Tours fill up in season, so reserve ahead through the Western Wall Heritage Foundation.

The Old City, quarter by quarter

The Jewish Quarter was destroyed in 1948 and rebuilt after 1967, and its stone streets are a pleasure to walk. Visit the Hurva Synagogue, rebuilt in 2010 on the site of the great Ashkenazi shul of the old city, and climb to its balcony for a view over the rooftops. Nearby, the Ramban Synagogue marks the place where the Ramban reestablished Jewish life in the city in 1267.

Below the streets, the Herodian Quarter and the Burnt House show the homes of wealthy families from the time of the Second Beis HaMikdash, with mikvaos, mosaic floors and the ashes of the destruction still visible. The Cardo, the main street of Roman and Byzantine Yerushalayim, runs through the quarter, part of it lined with shops.

Walk the ramparts, the path along the top of the Old City walls, for views over the city and the hills around it. The southern section begins near Shaar Yafo and ends near Shaar HaAshpos, close to the Kosel.

Har HaZeisim and Ir David

Across the Kidron Valley from the Temple Mount rises Har HaZeisim, the oldest Jewish cemetery in continuous use. Gedolim of every generation are buried there, among them the Ohr HaChaim, and many visitors come to daven at their kevarim. Go with an organized group or a guide who knows the cemetery; it is enormous and its paths are hard to follow alone.

Below the Old City walls, the City of David, Ir David, is where Yerushalayim began. Excavations there have revealed the remains of the city of the kings of Yehudah. The highlight for many families is Chizkiyahu’s tunnel, cut through the rock to bring the waters of the Gichon spring inside the city walls before the Assyrian siege. You can walk through it in knee-deep water by flashlight; bring water shoes. Book in advance and check the opening hours, which change by season.

Beyond the Old City

The Machaneh Yehuda market, the shuk, is the city’s kitchen: fruit, spices, fish, cheeses, bakeries and on Thursday night and Friday morning a crush of shoppers buying for Shabbos. Many of the stalls and cafes carry a hechsher; check each one.

Geula and Meah Shearim are the heart of chareidi Yerushalayim, with seforim stores, Judaica shops, tailors and the famous bakeries. Visitors should dress modestly, as posted signs ask. Bayit VeGan, Har Nof and Ramat Eshkol are among the large Torah neighborhoods, and the great yeshivos of the city, from the Mir in Beis Yisroel to many others, welcome visitors respectfully at the right times.

Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial, sits on Har HaZikaron on the western edge of the city. Plan at least three hours, and book entry in advance in season. The Israel Museum displays the Dead Sea Scrolls in the Shrine of the Book, along with a large model of Yerushalayim at the time of the Second Beis HaMikdash, which helps children picture what they have seen at the Kosel.

Day trips from the city

Kever Rachel, on the road toward Beis Lechem, is twenty minutes away by armored bus from the central bus station area; there is a kollel inside and tefillos throughout the day. Me’aras HaMachpela in Chevron is reached by the 160 bus or with a tour, and on most days the Jewish section is open for davening.

To the east, the road drops to the Dead Sea, more than four hundred meters below sea level. Climb Masada at dawn by the Snake Path or ride the cable car, and stop at the springs of Ein Gedi on the way back. Kever Shmuel HaNavi, on a hill just north of the city, has one of the best views in the region.

Where to stay

Hotels near the center and the Old City, around Mamilla, King David Street and the city center, put the Kosel within a walk on Shabbos. Many of the large hotels have kosher dining rooms and Shabbos elevators; ask for a room on a low floor if you do not want to depend on the elevator. Families often prefer apartment rentals in neighborhoods like Rechavia, Talbiyeh or the German Colony, close to shuls and within walking distance of the Old City for the energetic.

Check whether the hotel uses electronic keys and how they handle them on Shabbos, and ask about a Shabbos plata and urn in apartments.

Kosher food

Kosher food is everywhere, but supervision varies. Many travelers look for the Badatz Eida HaChareidis or other mehadrin certifications; others are comfortable with the Rabbanut’s mehadrin or regular supervision. Look for the certificate on the wall, valid for the current period, and ask if in doubt. Restaurants close for Shabbos, so plan your Shabbos meals: with your hotel, with an apartment kitchen, with friends, or with organizations that place guests at families’ tables.

Shabbos in Yerushalayim

Shabbos comes early: candle lighting is forty minutes before shkiah, and by then the city has gone quiet. The siren that sounds across the city before candle lighting is a reminder for everyone. Walk to the Kosel for Kabbalas Shabbos, or daven at one of the great shuls and yeshivos where the singing carries out into the street.

On Shabbos morning, choose a minyan that suits you, from a netz minyan at the Kosel to a late minyan near your hotel. In the afternoon, many visitors walk through the quiet streets of the Old City or the neighborhoods, visit a tish of one of the chassidic courts on Friday night, or simply rest. Shabbos ends at tzeis, and the city comes back to life with a rush of buses and the opening of the shuk’s cafes.

When to go

Yerushalayim is beautiful in every season, but each has its character. Sukkos brings Birkas Kohanim at the Kosel, with tens of thousands gathered for the blessing on Chol HaMoed, and sukkos on every balcony. Pesach brings the same, and hotels fill months ahead. The winter months are cooler, sometimes cold and rainy, with an occasional snowfall that turns the city silent and white. Summer days are hot and dry, with cool evenings in the hills.

A few practical points

Carry water in the summer. Dress for the places you will visit, and bring a hat or head covering for the Kosel and the kevarim. Download the Rav Kav and light rail apps before you arrive. Keep the emergency number, 100 for the police and 101 for Magen David Adom, in your phone. Check current security advice from your government and from the Israeli authorities before you travel and during your stay.

Why go

Because every Jew should stand at the Kosel at netz at least once, walk the streets where the Ramban and the Ohr HaChaim walked, and hear Lecha Dodi sung by thousands of voices as the sun goes down over the city that is the center of our tefillos. There is no trip that means more, and with a little planning, there is no trip that is easier to make wonderful.

This week in Yerushalayim

Shabbos there this week

Jewish life

• The Kosel: Old City, Jerusalem · thekotel.org
• The Great Synagogue: 56 King George St, Jerusalem · +972 2 623 0628 · jerusalemgreatsynagogue.com
• Kosher everywhere
• Jerusalem eruv
• Mikvaos in every neighborhood
• Hotels in Rechavia and the center
• The full Jerusalem guide: shuls, kosher food, eruv, Kosher Score 82
• Chabad near Yerushalayim · kosher food · minyanim

Worth seeing: Jewish heritage within 30 km

• בית הקברות סמבוסקי (Jewish cemetery, 765 m)
• Old Yemenite Synagogue (Synagogue, Built 2015, 940 m)
• Gehenna (Jewish cemetery, 1 km)
• Shalom Ve'Reut (Synagogue, 1.4 km)
• בית חב"ד (Synagogue, 1.6 km)
• Synagogue HaZvi Yisrael (Chovevei) (Synagogue, 1.6 km)
• Synagogue (Synagogue, 1.7 km)
• Shira Hadasha (Synagogue, 1.7 km)
• Yad Ha-Rav Nissim Synagogue and Research Institute (Synagogue, 1.9 km)
• Arei Achim (Synagogue, 1.9 km)
• בית כנסת עזרת ישראל (Synagogue, 2 km)
• Yisrael Chaim (Synagogue, 2 km)

Getting there

Nearest airport: TLV. Fares from New York · Search from your city · Israel Watch

Where to stay: hotels and apartments within walking distance of a shul · frum hosts on Shabbos Away

🕯️ Print Shabbos and Yom Tov times for Yerushalayim · Making a minyan there? Borrow a Sefer Torah from the Museum of the Scroll.

Plan this trip in the app

Header image: Photo: Godot13, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons, source and license.

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