That's not Kosher...

Today was day 3 in Israel. My last update was before anything happened in Israel, except for the missing baggage (which most of us have now received), so let me back up.

Thursday- all day at Yad Vashem. YV is more like a "campus" that a museum. There is a school, a research center, an art museum, and a history museum, among other things. It was quite an incredible experience. We heard 3 of the world's most prominent scholars on the Holocaust speak. One of the items of biggest emphasis in this program, and in current Holocaust pedagogical studies, is giving "faces" to the victims of the Holocaust- seeing them as individuals, and not just 6 million as a number.

One thing that was particulaly meaningful to me was the Children's Memorial at YV. It was a large stone building (all buildings in Jerusalem have to be made of Jerusalem stone, by law), and when you went in, the first thing you saw was a face etched into the stone. The face was the young son of the family that subsidized the memorial. Inside, the room is dark, and full of mirrors and prisms. The only light source was a single candle in the middle, but with all the reflections, it was made to look like hundreds of candles. They were also saying names of children who had died in the Holocaust, along with their homes and ages. It was quite haunting.

After returning to the hotel, we had an opportunity to discuss Holocaust education with Israeli teachers. They are required by law to teach so many hours of the subject every year. Because of the sensitive political/religious situation in Israel, the teaching of the Holocaust can be somewhat tedious as well. Then we went to a street famous for little shops and ate gelato.

On the lighter side, I've met some really interesting people on this trip. I've made some good friends, already, and we spend a lot of time together, laughing a lot (when appropriate of course). Yesterday, we ate in the YV cafeteria, which is divided into 2 very distinct sides. They have separate counters and lines- one for meat, and one for dairy. I actually didn't know this rule, but you couldn't even SIT with people eating meat if you were eating dairy. So.. THAT'S not kosher..

Today was a very long, but great day. We spent the morning back at YV and heard from the Director of the Righteous Among the Nations. If you are unfamiliar with the RatN, this is a tremendous honor for those who gave aid to Jews and others persecuted in the Holocaust. She shared some great information with us, also along the lines of giving identity to the victims. One thing we've been reminded of was how the Nazis didn't only want to kill Jews- they wanted to totally dehumanize them. Seeing pictures of them before the war- playing music, playing soccer, having family times- makes the situation so much more personal.

After lunch, we went to the Old City of Jerusalem. We stopped in the Church of All Nations, where the supposed rock that Jesus knelt on at the garden is held. We passed around the Garden of Gethsemane, but you can't go in. I had the amazing opportunity to pray around the gate of the garden and at the same rock where He knelt before being arrested. I am thankful, and kept asking myself- what if He hadn't?

We then went to David's tomb, which was closed because of the Sabbath closing in. We saw the room where the Last Supper was supposedly held, but a large room has been built there since, and didn't feel terribly accurate.

We then made our way down to the inside walls of the Old City. A highlight there was the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. While the crucifixion site was being used for an Armenian ceremony, we still saw the stone where Jesus' body was laid, the inside of the tomb through glass, and the beautiful church itself. We also visited the Western (wailing) Wall. One interesting site was seeing all the Jewish people walking backwards away from the wall, because it is a holy site and they can't turn their backs on holy sites.

Tomorrow we are headed to Masada and the Dead Sea. I have a cut on my foot-- please pray it will be ok to go into the Dead Sea tomorrow as I have been so looking forward to that!

I am closing with a quote from the most lovely Shulamit Imber, the Pedagogical Director, and a fabulous Holocaust Historian. She shared this as a testimony from one of the survivors:
"I think it saves me.. being able to smile."

Happy weekend!