Free A Life Worth Living by Pnina Baim Page B

last, the Wall came into view, and they quieted, taking in the sight of the huge stones, hewn from rock thousands of years ago, when the Jews were a nation of priests and princes.
    “It’s so beautiful,” Rikky said.
    “My favorite place in the world,” Serena said.
    Gaby nodded wordlessly, her breath caught in her throat. The Kotel looked exactly how it did in pictures, but larger than life somehow. When the Romans destroyed the Holy Temple of Jerusalem in their attempts to quell the Jewish rebellion, the western wall of the outside courtyard stubbornly refused to burn. This wall, the very last relic of the Jewish Temple, was the most revered site in Judaism. Millions of people came to pray and pour out their hearts here, hoping that God, who once called the Temple His home, would be listening.
    The girls went down another set of steep steps and waited in line to pass through the metal detector. Then they walked across the plaza to the women’s section and sat down on the raised platform leading to the Western Wall.
    “Are you gonna pray?” Gaby asked.
    Serena just shrugged, but Rikky said, “Soon. I love the Kotel at night. I like to just sit and feel it. Let the vibes seep in.”
    Gaby nodded. This was only the second time she had visited the Kotel since she came to Israel, and although she didn’t feel that earth-shattering spiritual connection some people said they experienced, she loved the feeling of being in the presence of something that had existed for millennia and wasn’t going away anytime soon. The Kotel , a witness to life’s cycle of fortune from sovereignty to massacres, conquering nations and neglect, and then finally to restoration, put things in perspective.
    The girls sat on the stone floor, observing the slow bustle of the Kotel . The Kotel never closed, but at night it felt somewhat more private than during the day, when the throngs of tourists and supplicants made it nearly impossible to approach the holy site. After a few minutes, Rikky got up and walked to the Wall. Gaby, feeling ambivalent about the whole prayer thing, stayed behind with Serena, watching some kids tumble over each other in rowdy play nearby, wondering why their parents let them stay up so late.
    A few minutes later, Rikky came back, wiping her eyes discreetly.
    “Ready to go?” she asked Serena and Gaby.
    “Yeah, let’s go,” Gaby said, nervous about breaking curfew the first week she was in school.
    “Let’s stop off at Café Rimon, and pick up something for the madrichot ,” Rikky suggested. “If we come back bearing gifts, maybe they won’t mind if we’re late for curfew.”
    “Good thinking,” Serena said.
    The girls walked back across the steep paths of the Jewish Quarter, and exited the Old City through the massive stone archway of Jaffa Gate. Mamilla, the fashionable outdoor mall, was just outside the walls of the Old City. Luckily enough, the mall was still open, and the girls dashed through the promenade to get to the restaurant before it closed. Gaby straggled behind a little, taking in the high-end boutiques and glittery decorations which hung over familiar stores like American Eagle and Crocs.
    “Oh, Gap!” Serena stopped running and made to enter the store.
    “Don’t get distracted! We have to go back to school,” Gaby warned.
    “I just need one good whiff. I’m so homesick. Come on.” She ran in quickly while Gaby and Rikky waited impatiently outside. Through the window, Gaby could see Serena spraying herself with a bunch of different body mists. She came back out and offered her arm to Gaby. “Smell it! Doesn’t it remind you of home?”
    Gaby obliged her and sniffed. It was true. The perfume reminded her of the long Sunday afternoons when she and her friends would hang out in the Kings Plaza Mall in Brooklyn, hoping to meet boys. Without any money to buy anything, they would walk into the stores and try on all the samples. A deep yearning pulled at her belly, and she ran into Gap to