Yad Vashem

It was another week in Jerusalem. On Sunday, we visited Haram es-Sharif, or the platform that was once the Temple Mount. We went right after breakfast at 8:30 so we got there before the crowds. I got some pictures without anyone in it, which they told me was impossible. We tried going to the Pool of Bethesda afterwards, but couldn’t figure out how to get in, so we’ll try again some other time.

On Monday, we had our Shephelah (lowlands between coast and Judean hills) field trip, where we visited Samson’s stomping grounds, the scene of David and Goliath, and lots of other places you probably wouldn’t recognize unless you know the geography of the Holy Land. We went into some really cool cisterns, visited caves, saw oil presses, and spent a lot of time in the blazing sun. It was by far the hottest day we’ve had so far.

Tuesday and Wednesday were spent in class for 8 hours. This month is going to be a lot busier class-wise, because we finish 4 of our 6 classes at the end of June. Then for July and August, we spend a lot of time in Jordan then Galilee. Thursday was another class day but the Hebrew students had a field trip! We went to the shuq in West Jerusalem and used our newly acquired food and clothes vocab to talk to the merchants and other shoppers. Shlomit gave us a ‘scavenger hunt’ to find things out while we were there, too.

Today we had our field trips to Yad Vashem and Mt Herzl. Yad Vashem is the famous holocaust museum here. It was so moving and sad to be there and see everything. It’s hard to sum up the experience in words. Some of the images and stories were so sickening and terrible and others were so hopeful and show that there is hope and humanity to be found, even in the darkest hours. I really liked the section about the “Righteous among the nations”, where they shared the stories of those gentiles who risked so much for their Jewish neighbors. It was such a contrast to the middle section of the museum which focused on the terrible deeds. I think that this trip makes me appreciate what it means to be human. It takes more than just not doing bad things. Many people in Europe never raised a hand against Jews, but they also never did anything to help. Their sins of omission made them complicit in the evils committed. One story that made me think was the treatment of Jews in Bulgaria. The Nazis ordered the government to round up Jews and send them to German camps. But when they rounded up the Jews, the head of the Orthodox Church in Bulgaria climbed over the fence to join them and lots of others followed suit and vehemently protested the deportation. The King and other influential religious leaders pressured the authorities to release the Jews. So they did and the Nazi’s never asked them to round them up again. They saved all 50,000 Bulgarian Jews. If all the Axis nations had reacted that way, 6 million lives would have been saved.

Anyway, I hope everyone has a good week! Love you all!

Kelby