Jetlogged: Yad Vashem and Mt. Herzl

Shalom,

On Sunday we had a very somber day. We had a field trip to Yad Vashem, a holocaust memorial museum. It is called "Yad Vashem" which comes from Isaiah 56:5 where the Hebrew "Yad Vashem" is translated in English to mean "a place and a name" (in the verse, it discusses that through the Lord, those without children can still have a place and a name carried through the generations) which is a really nice name for a museum to remember the names of the many who would not otherwise be remembered. The day was pretty emotional for everyone, but it was very worthwhile and the museum was extremely powerful. (the grounds of Yad Vashem are divided into the main museum, and then a bunch of different monuments and memorials. It is a really beautiful area next to Mt. Herzl)

This is a sculpture on a wall that has the scripture Isaiah 56:5 in the original Hebrew. This picture is of the words "Yad Vashem"

This is right when we arrived and were waiting for the group to gather--Sawyer likes to play tour guide and tell us about the sites we go to, so here he is being our tour guide for a few minutes...

Our first stop was to see these two replicas of statues depicting the Warsaw ghetto (the originals are in Warsaw). Our professor, Ophir (he teaches our class on Israel and Judaism) is telling us about the sculptures in this picture.

This sculpture depicts the Jewish people who were forced to move into ghettos during the war.

This sculpture depicts the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and the bravery of the people who fought against the Nazis.

Ophir teaching

Our next stop was the heart-wrenching memorial to the 1.5 million children that were killed in the Holocaust. I don't have any photos of the inside of the memorial (out of respect, we didn't take any pictures inside the museums). This is the inscription on the outside of the building.

The children's memorial was pretty intense. You walk in and it is totally dark. On the wall there are some mirrors and photos of some of the children who were killed in the Holocaust. You follow a rail along the short memorial. The whole time it is dark and over an intercom system a recorded voice is saying the name, age, and location of each child. (they spend about 10 seconds per name, and to get through the entire list of children with constant reading, it would take half a year). So after you walk past the pictures of children, you walk down a corridor that is dark but has candles all around and mirrors which makes it look like the whole room is filled with candles. Ophir pointed out that it is a reminder of the promise God made to Abraham in Genesis 22:17 where it says his descendants will be as numerous as the stars in the heaven and the sands of the sea. Many people in our group were very emotional at this point and tears were freely flowing for the innocent children memorialized there.

When you exit the Children's memorial, this is the view you see. I heard another guide telling his group that this town has one of the highest rates of childbirth in Israel, and if you are in the streets of the town, there are always children playing and all you hear is the noises of children. I assume the architect intended to send a message of remembering the past but moving towards the future. It was a very thoughtful and beautiful memorial.

Our next stop was just around the corner to this statue of Janusz Korczak and children. Korczak was in charge of an orphanage in Warsaw Poland and when the children were sent to the Treblinka extermination camp to be murdered, Korczak refused his freedom and chose to stay with the children to keep them company and then died with them at the camp. He could have been free, as he was a well-respected educator, but he chose to be with those children instead.

This is the plaque next to the statue

As we were sitting there hearing the story of Janusz Korczak from Ophir, a group of Jewish students (middle school aged) came up to the statue and put pebbles on it (that is the tradition here--putting pebbles on grave stones instead of flowers).

It was such a neat experience to see these great Jewish children honoring the statue of Korczak as we were there.

we then made our way to the actual museum and spent several hours inside. I didn't take any pictures while in the museum, and I am glad that I didn't. I was able to have a very emotional and thoughtful few hours to reflect on life and remember the tragic events of that period in history. (in this picture, the closer building is a visitor's center and the triangular building in the back is the museum)

The entrance to the museum

Yad Vashem

The building is triangular and extends to be quite long. there is a main "hallway" in the center, but you can't really walk straight down. the way it is set up, it is very linear and you walk from one side to the other, zig-zagging along the museum from the start to the end. It begins with some "Evidence of the Holocaust" in the form of pictures and belongings and such. Then it goes chronologically from before the beginning to the liberation at the end. At the very end, there is a big room where all of the names of known Holocaust victims are kept and there are photos on the walls of those who died in the Holocaust so that they will never be forgotten. I wish I had more time in there, we were in the museum for about 3 hours and I didn't get a chance to spend the time that the memorial deserved. All along the line there were videos from survivors telling their story, possessions and photos of victims, written posts of historical context, etc... It was a very well organized museum and was extremely powerful.

This is the view of Israel as you exit the museum.

As we were leaving, we stopped here. All around the grounds at Yad Vashem there are trees to represent "The Righteous Among the Nation." Each tree is planted in remembrance of a non-Jewish person who saved Jews during the Holocaust. Sarah Wright in our group has a relative who has a tree here, so we were able to stop and see it!

Ophir is in the picture to the right. Sarah is with the tree on the left. The tree is dedicated to her Great Grandpa's Uncle (I think) on her Mom's side, Jan Giliam, who was from Holland and found hiding places for several Jewish families so that they would not be sent to concentration camps. He worked for the police force, and was eventually captured and tortured. He would not give the locations of the Jewish families and did not admit to helping them until after he had received confirmation from them that they were safe. He ended up being set free. His story can be found here on the Yad Vashem website.

The plaque next to the tree commemorating Jan Giliam

It is so neat that as you leave the grounds of Yad Vashem, you are surrounded by trees that all represent people who tried to help the Jewish people and oppose the Nazi regime. Ophir said that for a Jewish person, it gives the feeling that as you re-enter the world after being at Yad Vashem, you are greeted by the support of the "gentiles" who are on your side. Overall, our trip to Yad Vashem was really a wonderful experience, even though it was pretty emotionally taxing.

After that, we went right "next door" to Mount Herzl, which celebrates the formation of the state of Israel. And after a picnic on our way up the mountain (really, more like a hill...) Ophir told us about the formation of the State of Israel and about Zionism (which we have been studying in his class).

This is Theodor Herzl's grave. Herzl is widely regarded as the "father" of Zionism and requested before his death in 1904 that he be reburied in the State of Israel when it was formed. Within a year of the formation of Israel (in 1948) Herzl was re-buried here. They decided to pick a random hill to make a memorial for him, and this is also where Israel independence day is celebrated every day.