Emotional Day in Jerusalem

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Our tour group had a fabulous night out on the town last night. We woke up early to make it to the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum and memorial. The grounds of Yad Vashem are beautifuly done and they recently opened up the new museum. The museum asalts all your senses as you are overloaded with pictures, artifacts, and exhibits about the Holocaust. The museum starts you off looking at the Jewish population before the Holocaust and progresses towards the end of the war. The museum is designed in a way that you have to go through the whole museum before you can leave. I connected with the museum when we came upon a room where the floor was once the street of the Warsaw Ghetto. For some in the group the museum was too much and many broke down and cried. The museum ends two ways: first with the hall of names where the museum is collecting information about all the Jews that died in the Holocaust but sadly they have only collected 3 million people's information out of the 6 million that were murdered and second you walk up and out into the sunshine and are greeted with a spectacular view of the city of Jerusalem and Israel. After exciting the museum we were met and listened to a Holocaust survivor. All the information from the museum and the Holocaust survivor was overwhelming. The Holocaust is not a subject you wish to think about all the time but we must remember so that this can not happen again.

After having lunch in a mall in Jerusalem our group headed over to Mt. Herzel. This is the cemetary for Israel's military and some famous leaders. Our group walked among the graves of the fallen Israeli soldiers in one of the most beautiful cemetaries I have ever seen. We were then taken to one particular section of the cemetary. One of the Israeli Soldiers named Uri showed us the grave of his cousin. Uri told us about how his cousins parents found out about the death. Tomorrow is Israel's independence day which is a time where families visit the graves of the Soldiers that have died and that every family has a grave to visit tomorrow. Since Uri will be with our group he will not be able to visit the grave tomorrow with his family so he used this time to reflect on his cousin. Our group said a prayer for him and placed rocks upon his cousins grave. This moment brought home what the average Israeli family faces everyday. The fact that since everybody in Israel serves in the military and that lots of young adults will never enjoy the freedom they earn everyday in Israel.

We ended our day with a stop in an open air food market. It had such wonderful atmosphere with little stands selling fruits, meats, vegetables, and spices. You had a mix of the modern with a dash of the old customs in Jerusalem. We will all end our night out on the streets of Jerusalem. We will all walk around tonight drained from the emotional and tiring day. Tomorrow we head over to the Western Wall, the Old City of Jerusalem, and travel back to Tel Aviv. So I bid everyone Lila Tov (Good Night) from Jerusalem.

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Photos

View of Jerusalem
View of Jerusalem and the Dome of the Rock

Children's Memorial
This is part of the memorial at Yad Vashem for the children that were victims of the Holocaust.

Comments

[Anglepie]

Jerusalem
Indeed a very emotional day, but a must if one is to experience history and the lessons learned . The market reminded me of the ones we went to in Turkey, a great experience for you . Love all the pictures saw many more today. Take care as always , Mom

[Chase N. Tales]

Lots to reflect on...
Aren't you glad your living in the USA and never had to know any of the horrors of the world.. yet your a part of it even in todays socity... Even with such a solem day take time to remember... Not every day is a given... enjoy the most of the days you have... And most of all enjopy the trip of a life time...