Yad Vashem

Yesterday I went to the Holocaust Memorial Museum at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. I'd received strong recommendations from other summer students to visit, hearing that it was an even more enlightening experience than their visits to the museum in Washington D.C. I must admit that I was a bit apprehensive, given that this was the same museum that had resulted in my old roommate Jacomo's night terror (the one in which I was awoken to loud screaming coming from his side of the room at three o'clock in the morning).

Before heading up to Yad Vashem, I dropped by the Old City of Jerusalem to do some last minute shopping and experience the Holy City a third and final time before leaving Israel. I walked down the bazaar and stopped by a shop selling some elaborate quilt-like pieces. Though the workmanship wasn't particularly neat or skilled, the bright colors and Arabic designs caught my eye. The midday sun bounced off the fabric and beadwork giving off momentary glitters of light, scattering it in all directions. I went into the store and after much bartering, purchased a quilt for myself at half the original price (of course, I probably still paid well-over)! Just as I was getting ready to leave, however, I turned and heard a loud crash as my back pack hit the wall and a ceramic clock shattered to the floor. Oh, shit! I looked down and to my dismay, a sizeable piece had been chipped out of the clock which depicted a city-scape of Jerusalem. Flustered with my klutzy behavior, I paid for the clock (probably twice the amount it was worth since I wasn't in a position to barter) and slunk out of the store.

My Arabic "quilt"

I'm not sure if it was the breaking of the Jerusalem clock or not, but as I walked out of the Old City one last time it was without any remorse. I realized that even though Jerusalem is a truly remarkable place with wondrous holy sites, the people that make up a city are just as important as the sites themselves. From my observations, humanity is just as remarkable at any other worldly location…that people aren't necessarily any more embracing in the Holy Land. And though some may feel that God's spirit is even more concentrated in the Western Wall, Dome of the Rock, and Church of the Holy Sepulcher, I have to disagree. There's something to say about the mysteries encompassing the natural world. Moreover, since my first visit to Jerusalem, I've come to realize that God or love or the spirit of humanity or whatever you'd like to call it isn't anymore resplendent in the Holy City and (though some of you may disagree) at least for me, the Holy Land has served as a reminder for this: don't get too wrapped up in material things (like specific religious relics) but instead spend time learning to understand others, thinking about what these sites mean in the grand scheme of things, appreciating the mysteries in life, and recognizing that the spirit and essence of a place isn't kept in a souvenir like a quilt but can be found anywhere and in anyone in the world.

With the thought that I might lose my appetite after visiting the Holocaust Museum, I quickly devoured a tuna sandwich from Aroma café before catching a bus up to Yad Vashem. (I must say that I am quite pleased with my newfound ability to properly navigate the public transportation system!). From where the bus let me off, I walked along a quiet path lined with sweet-smelling pine trees towards the memorial center. My first view of Yad Vashem was the museum, a long triangular-prism shaped building that overhung the roadway below. Though I typically don't like modern architecture, it was a rather impressive structure.

Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum

Having deposited my backpack in the cloak room, I passed by the guards and entered the dimly-lit museum. Though many people had purchased headsets to guide them through an eight-hour tour, I opted to stay for a couple hours and glide through the museum unattended. The set up of the museum was largely chronological, beginning with how the Nazis came to power and ending with the Nuremberg trials and the fate of the Jews today. It was perturbing to see how the Nazi party used propaganda to elicit anti-Semitic feelings. I hadn't realized that they printed anti-Semitic slogans on German money or that posters could be found throughout Nazi Germany depicting Jews as thieves of both the economy and of Aryan women. The Nazis even gave out flyers to Jews which read "Free one-way no-return train ticket to Palestine…Fourth class." Most disturbing of all were the tactics directed towards children. One board-game on display acted as a teaching tool about the history of the Nazi party and another centered around capturing Jews. To win the latter game, a child had to collect six Jew pieces and then rush to the end of the board where he'd turn over the pieces to the "police" to be sent to Palestine. A popular German children's book during the Nazi reign was titled "You Can't Trust a Fox in the Heath and a Jew on his Oath."

Not only was the museum informative about the specific dates and details of the Holocaust events, it was also filled with personal articles that had been stripped of the Jews as well as video after video of Holocaust survivor interviews. The things I heard in these interviews were stunning. One woman recounted that during the rise of the Nazi regime, she was in elementary school. Every week, another pupil would be missing from the class and the teacher would ask "Is Billy just sick today? Or has he been taken away." She'd then simply erase the name from the roll-call and force herself to proceed with the lesson. The interviews were the most touching part of the entire experience.

After spending a couple hours in the museum, I collected my things and got a slice of apple-cake before catching the bus back to Rehovot. I spent the rest of my afternoon in Rehovot editing a manuscript for work, before going out to dinner with Tanmay and Zvonimir at Aroma. For supper I had a rather odd salad consisting of green beans, hard-boiled eggs, tomato, tuna, and pickles all muddled together in a large white bowl. Following our meal, the three of us went to the rec center and then down to Herzl Bar for a drink around 11:00. We then came back to the dorm, where Zvonimir pulled out his guitar and we all sat around singing and making general fools of ourselves.

Playing guitar (?, Zvonimir, Tanmay, Alex)