The day began with a leisurely walk uphill from our hotel through Jerusalem to Yad Veshem, which is the Israeli memorial/museum for the Holocaust or Shoah. (There are no pictures allowed and therefore none in the beginning of the blog.) I had never been to a Holocaust museum and although I know a lot about the Holocaust I wasn't sure what to expect going in.
Unfortunately, I was pretty disappointed with my experience at the museum. We had a tour guide that talked about the history of the Holocaust and how we as a society got there. After the tour we had no free time to walk around. Personally I feel as though this defeated the point of the museum which in my mind is the learn of the struggles and peoples individual stories rather than the politics of the world. Some of my favorite parts were when I tuned the tour guide out and looked at different parts of the museum and the videos playing of peoples' stories. These parts impacted me more and allowed me to connect more to the topic at hand.
There were two parts to the museum however that really stood out to me. First, the Hall of Names. You walk into a circular room and see binders on shelves around the walls, each filled with 180-200 people. And this is only slightly over 4 million of the 6 million Jews killed. This room helped me picture how many people 6 millions truly is. Then on the ceiling, there is a hanging cone with pictures of some 100+ Jews that were killed during the Holocaust. Each picture has the person staring at the camera and therefore staring at you, almost pleadingly. Finally if you look over the railing at the floor there is a body of water that reflects these faces as well as your own as to connect you to the people who died in some way.
The other part that stood out to me was the Children's memorial. It was so simple yet so powerful. You walk around the wall hugging the hand rail and hear names of the children who were killed read aloud as you walk in darkness only lit by what looks like single candles in a mirror covered room.
After finishing walking through the children's memorial we walked to the bus and went to the hotel. At the hotel we talked about how we were feeling after walking through the museum. It was really interesting to see different viewpoints and especially to see what the soldiers thought after as they said they "experienced it through us". Overall most people felt the same way I did about the tour guide but everyone still had different experiences with emotion ranging from angry to confused to connected to proud.
After this discussion we had a goodbye activity with the soldiers where we gave them the awful drawings we made of them. They absolutely loved it and then thanked us for a great time. We then all went to our last activity together which was lunch and free time at the shuk, Machane Yehuda Market, which is a huge outdoor market.
Once there I got Sabbich which was fried eggplant, boiled eggs, humus and more in pita bread. While surprisingly salty it was good and the best pita I have had yet. Then I walked around the very busy market where I bought pomegranate juice, a dessert, and a mezuzah. It was a really bustling, cool market to see. Most people there were not tourists so that was refreshing. However it was so crowded you were constantly pushing through crowds.
When we left the Shuk it was time to say goodbye to the soldiers. It was a sad time since we all became so close in just 5 days with them. It was a great opportunity getting to meet them and putting a face behind the IDF. It was cool to see they are just like us in so many ways and to see our differences. We did one last "WE ARE..." with them and
then walked to the bus and waved goodbye to the soldiers as we pulled away.
We then went back to Old Jerusalem to see one more site, Robinson's Arch. This area was really interesting as it's where the entrance Temple Mount was on the Western Wall. We could see the remains of the wall that formed the rest of the wall of the temple, beyond the retaining wall you think of when you think of the Kotel. This part of the wall, with the remains of the arch and entrance, is outside of the security line and has a new portion of the wall open for people to pray together, rather than separated by gender.
Being in this area meant a lot to me because of what happened whilI'm e we were there. Interfaith coexistence has always been important to me due to my personal background. While we were standing at the wall, we were learning about the history of it as well as tensions surrounding the Temple Mount, involving Jewish tensions with Muslims in the area. From where we were standing we could see a more religious tour group than us, the IDF soldiers in basic training, a Bar Mitzvah in the new mixed section of the wall, and then all of a sudden hear the Muslim call to prayer being played loudly from the Mosque above us. I thought this was so amazing to experience and it gave me faith that the country can succeed with the different religions wanting to live peacefully in one place, Israel.
Coexistence
We then went back to the Kotel. It was very different at night. It was less busy and also stunning the way the light was hitting it. Having been through a lot more of Israel since the last visit as well as learning about the wall and connecting more with what being Jewish means to me, the Kotel meant a lot to me this time around. It was a good time to just reflect on the trip, take a breath, and be grateful for the experience.
The Kotel at Night
After this brief visit, we went back to the hotel for dinner and to relax. Then around 9 PM we went back out to the Shuk and experienced what it is at night. It was a lot emptier, especially since it was a Tuesday night but there was still a definite night life to the area. My favorite part was all the amazing graffiti on the closed shops. We even saw one guy painting a new picture.
Graffiti at the Shuk
Then we headed back to the hotel to go to bed. Sadly it is our second to last night in the hotel.
Tomorrow Tel Aviv!
Laura
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