A hand and a name – the translation of the name of Israel’s Holocaust Memorial Authority. This was our first and only stop for today, and perhaps a fitting end for our journey in Israel. This institution has as its goal the archiving of the victims of the Holocaust, and in so doing, has created a large and moving set of exhibits that are interactive and inspiring. From the initial entry into its museum (where no photos were permitted, unfortunately), we knew we were in a special place.
The Holocaust is, perhaps, THE defining event in the life of the Jewish state, as Israel’s creation was accelerated by the horrifying events of WWII, where six million Jews were systematically killed, along with five million other innocents.
First we toured the museum which told the story of the Jews of Europe, who were degraded and dehumanized by the growing Nazi machine. From the imposition of disabilities to the herding of Jews into ghettos, and then into cattle cars destined for death camps, the museum documents the horrible story of the deaths of six million of our family members.
We then went to sit together in the synagogue of Yad Vashem, where we learned a bit more about the heroism of one particular Jew who, under threat of death, preserved the dignity and importance of the Jewish New Year by copying onto a paper cement bag the words of the High Holy Day prayerbook, so that he and his fellow prisoners could worship in the camp where they were imprisoned.
Walking down the Avenue of the Righteous, we saw names the like of Raoul Wallenberg and Ichiro Sugihara, those non-Jews who are memorialized for their heroic saving of Jewish lives through their defiance of Nazi laws.
The Holocaust is, perhaps, THE defining event in the life of the Jewish state, as Israel’s creation was accelerated by the horrifying events of WWII, where six million Jews were systematically killed, along with five million other innocents.
First we toured the museum which told the story of the Jews of Europe, who were degraded and dehumanized by the growing Nazi machine. From the imposition of disabilities to the herding of Jews into ghettos, and then into cattle cars destined for death camps, the museum documents the horrible story of the deaths of six million of our family members.
We then went to sit together in the synagogue of Yad Vashem, where we learned a bit more about the heroism of one particular Jew who, under threat of death, preserved the dignity and importance of the Jewish New Year by copying onto a paper cement bag the words of the High Holy Day prayerbook, so that he and his fellow prisoners could worship in the camp where they were imprisoned.
Walking down the Avenue of the Righteous, we saw names the like of Raoul Wallenberg and Ichiro Sugihara, those non-Jews who are memorialized for their heroic saving of Jewish lives through their defiance of Nazi laws.
Finally we arrived to the Valley of the Communities, large granite and sandstone sentinels upon which, over a vast complex of valleys and cliffs, lovingly preserves the names of the shtetls that were destroyed in the Holocaust. We held a service of memory in the name of the Six Million who perished in the sanctification of God’s name.
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