Day 2

Mediterranean Winter Wonderland

Day two was super busy. First, we went to Yad Vashem, which is the Holocaust Museum here in Jerusalem. Getting there wouldn’t typically be an issue because it’s only ten minutes away, but … it snowed for the first time in four years! Crazy! It was only like an inch, but no one knows how to deal with it and they didn’t have plows or salt or anything. Even the slightest hill, cars were sliding down and people were turning around because they couldn’t make it up. At one point, our bus got stuck in the middle of a road, and we all went and sat near the back wheels to give more friction—it worked! Here’s a picture of a car sliding down the road!

Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum

Yad Vashem itself was amazing. The building was gorgeous. It is basically a really long triangle, and the exhibition is one continuous gallery that you weave back and forth through. It’s hard to explain. Here’s a link to what the building looks like from the outside (I did not take this photo):

The exhibition went in chronological order, starting with a video of what life as a Jew was like before the Holocaust started. As we went, it honestly just got more and more sad. There was a room about Auschwitz, and they had a few quotes by Elie Wiesel. Even though I’ve read Night, it’s so hard to picture the little old man I saw speak at a Lehigh commencement in such a horrible, horrible place. One of the most impacting things was a rather large sculpture of the Krema II, a gas chamber and crematorium at Auschwitz. Here’s a photo (that I didn’t take), but it doesn’t do it justice:

The expressions on the faces of the model people were heart breaking. In the first underground room you see there on the left, the people are all undressing and naked. They had them undress before the herded them into the second room, on the right, where you can see all the people packed close. It was in that room that they were killed by gas pellets that were dumped into the room from holes in the ceiling after the room was sealed. They estimate that 500,000 Jews were killed in just that gas chamber alone. It was such an incredible sculpture. I wish I could have taken photos of it. Another thing that really struck me was they have the actual train tracks and bumper stop that was where the trains stopped when they were leaving people at Auschwitz. Finally, something I was super impressed by, some of the journals people kept, they wrote them in multiple languages. For example, one girl kept a journal of everything in the margins of a novel, and she copied it in four different languages. It made me realize how many great minds were lost. They also had good things, though, like stories of Jews that formed resistance groups and tried to fight back, and stories of the people who helped Jews escape or hid them (called Righteous Gentiles). What I loved about the museum is that it told the whole story through focusing in on many people’s individual stories. It was more like reading lots and lots of letters and journals than reading a history book. The last thing that really got to me was the Hall of Names. It’s the very last thing you go in, and it’s a huge circular room with what look like photo albums lining the walls and a piece in the center full of photos up to the ceiling. It’s hard to find one image that does it justice, so here are a few:

The last one is a reflective pool, and I think it might represent the mass graves Jews were buried in as well as reflecting the photos above and the faces of anyone looking down into it. The books lining the walls are full of testimonies about the people who died in the Holocaust. If you know someone who did, you can go in a little room and look them up, and then you can read their story and add to it if you want.

After we finished going through the main galleries, we went outside. There are a few memorials last night, but the main one we looked at was the Children’s Memorial. Over 1.5 million children were killed in the Holocaust, and this memorial commemorated them. It’s extremely dark when you walk in, and there are hanging pictures of children near the front, and then you walk further in. When you get in the main room, you just have to follow the railing along the outside because it’s all mirrors and candles. Very disorienting, but extremely beautiful. In Jewish culture, the candle is a symbol for the human soul. There were only a few candles lit, but the way they reflected on the mirrors, it looked like there were hundreds. Also, as you walk through, there is an audio recording reading out the names and ages of children who were killed. It’s all very moving.

Us walking in…

A picture I didn’t take of the inside…

Machane Yehuda

After leaving Yad Vashem, the weather had cleared up so we went to Machane Yehuda, which is a huge outdoor market through streets and alleys in Jerusalem. There had to be hundreds of vendors, all selling things ranging from fresh fruits and vegetables, to candy, to pottery, breads and pastries, and alcohol. There were also clothing and jewelry stores and cafes thrown in between all of those as well.

Overall, the experience of the market was really neat. It was the first place I really felt the impact of being in a non-English speaking country. The vendors all yell things to try to attract attention to their shops, but I didn’t understand a word any of them were saying. I kept asking Barkai, our guard, to translate for me. I didn’t purchase anything from any of the vendors, but Alissa, Rachel, and I did stop in a shop on our way back to the bus to buy our Purim costumes—cheetah ears (yes, we plan on drawing on whiskers).

Celebrating Shabbat and Oneg

Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath, starts at sundown on Friday evenings. Basically everything shuts down at sundown, because Jews are required to rest on the Sabbath. Not only does this not include not working, but it includes not using electricity, not cooking, and not driving. This impacted us in a variety of ways, but one of them that surprised me was the elevators. On Shabbat, the elevator stops at every floor on the way down to the lobby that way Jewish people don’t have to press any buttons (use electricity)—they just wait or use the stairs.

Before dinner, Seth (one of our trip advisers, he’s a rabbi) and Rachel did blessings over a glass of wine and two loaves of bread (Kiddush and Motzi, respectively). My first thought was that it was very Last-Supperesque, and then I realized those were probably the prayers that Jesus was doing over the bread and wine except a little different because it was Passover. Definitely educational.

Following dinner, we had Oneg Shabbat, which literally translates to “joy of Shabbat” or “enjoyment of Shabbat.” We basically all sat around and just talked and enjoyed everyone’s company. Since you can’t use electricity or do anything that would be considered work, you basically just hang out and chat. It seems like where Christians likely got the idea for spending time in gathering spaces after services. I think it’s a really neat tradition.

Park Hotel Update

After that, it was definitely bed time. Alissa, however, wanted more pillows. I stole the extra one from the closet, and she wanted another as well. She called reception and asked for two or three extra pillows (assuming that, considering our luck with the towels, we'd get at least one). When we heard a knock on the door, Rachel answered. To our surprise, they brought us towels. Yes, towels. When Rachel tried to explain we wanted pillows, we found that our lovely room serviceman did not speak English. Rachel thanked him for the towels, and we all had a good laugh. Alissa called reception again, explained what happened, and asked for pillows. They never came, and we gave up and went to sleep.