Day 3:
Day 3 was by far the most emotionally and spiritually challenging day of the trip so far. We awoke to a beautiful day with the Israeli sun glinting off the white stoned buildings, this was stark contrast to the day which lay ahead. All groups boarded the bus together and we started the short drive to Yad Vashem. Upon arriving the group fell silent and we prepared ourselves emotionally for the day ahead. The setting was serene, the architecture and sculptures of the complex were truly astounding and we began the day with an essay in memory of the children who perished in the holocaust. Rabbi Shaw illustrated excellently the stories and meanings behind each piece of sculptured history bringing some chanichim to tears.
We then entered our first memorial of the day. This was the minimalistic and powerful Children’s Memorial. Upon entering inside we found six slowly burning candles reflected carefully and meticulously reflected to provide an endless sea of lights. Each light told a different story, a journey through the toughest time a child could imagine, this along with the monotonous voices of one man and one female reading the names of children, ages, and place of death. The most striking element was the unfinished names, the Shlomos, Avis and Chaims each with their stories never finished and their lives never fully documented. To hear all the names documented you would have to stay in the room for a year and a half.
Then came the Garden of the Righteous, where trees were planted to commemorate the actions and endeavors of those non-Jews who preserved the lives of a race which was persecuted and victimised over a six year span. Amongst those who featured in the garden were the heroic saviours of Oskar and Emille Schindler who preserved the lives of ten thousand of our race. Rabbi Shaw then explained how each leaf in the Garden represents the lives saved by their actions.
After an emotional morning, we then met our tour guide and attempted to visualise the number 6 million. Trying to visualise 50 apples was difficult, and so we came to the realisation that six million as such an incomprehensible number and we must find one key to unlock the number, this may be a painting, feeling or a shoe. In doing this we can finally comprehend the atrocity that is ‘The Shoah’.
Entering the museum and seeing the concrete, triangular building was intimidating as the concrete was so impermeable which reflects the cold hearts of our oppressors. The triangle represents half of the Mogen Dovid which symbolises half of the European Jewry that perished during the holocaust. The guide led us through the highly emotional museum where we saw and heard many tragic stories. The thousands of shoes collected by the Nazis after their owners had been murdered reduced some of the group to tears and it made us all feel connected to the Holocaust.
In the afternoon we went to Beit Hayeled which is a home for underprivileged children. The boys spent a few hours playing competitive games of football while the girls painted t-shirts and shaved balloons. We all connected really well with the kids and had a great time.
Late in the evening we had our Sikkum. This was one of the most spiritual and emotional evenings of the trip. Staying up until 3 am with almost all of the group sobbing, we discussed Yad Vashem and the Holocaust for almost 3 hours. All of us bonded so well by opening up and becoming extremely vulnerable. We laughed, cried, hugged, sung, and then cried some more.
At the end of Sikkum we listened to a song called Shema Yisrael, a song about a Rabbi who travelled around all the orphanages in Europe after the holocaust to find Jewish children. To think that he dedicated his life towards bringing all of those Jewish children home made us realise the importance of every Jewish life.
By Lucy Freedman and Boaz Levy J
Day 4:
Boys:
First thing on the Thursday morning the boys awoke and put on their tefillin, had a breakfast and left to go to the Yeshiva Eretz Hatzvi, where our youth leader Joseph went a few years ago. We paired up with boys from the yeshiva who had similar backgrounds to those that we do. Mine was a HABS boy named Alex. We talked about the difficulties of conversion in Judaism.
Afterwards we all joined up to have a group discussion with a Rabbi named Rav Aviad and then had another debate with a Rabbi named Rabbi Noel, where we discussed the status of non-Jews in Judaism and whether or not they can go to heaven (they can!)
After leaving the Yeshiva we joined back up with the girls and drove to the old city of Jerusalem, where we walked in the pouring rain to the Jewish quarter. We then headed to to the Western Wall where Emily and I got blindfolded as it was our first time in Jerusalem. We walked down some steps to a balcony overlooking the Western Wall where they took our blindfolds off to reveal an amazing thing – our first ever view of the Kotel. It really was an amazing sight to behold.
Later on, we went to the Kotel tunnels, where we got shown a model reconstruction of Mount Moriah, which was eventually turned into the Temple Mount by King Herod. We entered the tunnels and started to descend under the houses of the Arab quarter. We then carried on through the tunnels to a video of how they made the Temple – the stones at the oldest part of the wall weighed over 100 tonnes. Once we got to the bottom of the stairs, we sat down opposite what is the closest place we can get to the holiest place in the Jewish world – the foundation stone. It was amazing to be so close to that place and we were all given a time slot to pray there. It got very emotional.
In Sikkum we talked about Jerusalem and how it had affected us. Although we were all tired as it was a late night and there was lots to take in, we got some really good open points across. It was an amazingly emotional thing for me as my first time in Jerusalem as I felt for the first time connected to my religion.
Day 4 - Girls:
On day 4, we all awoke in despair to see that the beautiful weather from the previous day had disappeared to leave us listening to the rain pour down outside our windows as we got dressed. The girls began their day, after sprinting through the downpour, at the sem where we we're told in the lobby that we were to be paired up with a girl studying there to discuss for an hour a topic of their choice. At first most of the girls were nervous as we had not had an experienced anything like this and had misconceptions on how the sem girls would act and teach. Surprisingly for us, the girls were not only friendly but extremely eager to share and discuss opinions with us. I thoroughly enjoyed learning with Nicole, the girl I was paired with, as we also spoke about ourselves and how we applied judaism to our lives which was appropriate for the topic she had chosen which was a extract from a book a rabbi had written about how we incorporate G-d into our every-day lives. Many of us left with emails and phone numbers of the girls we had spent this hour with, and there was a unanimous feeling among us that it had been an amazing experience.
Shortly after this everyone split up into communities and we arrived at the Kotel where we pelted through the rain into the Davidson Centre. A guide led us into a room and turned on a projector to reveal a 3D animation of the Old City of Jerusalem. We learnt a lot about the various excavations and other aspects of the architectural features that had been found as part of the Kotel, such as Robinson's Arch.
Overall it was another emotional day full of exciting learning experiences and challenging situations where we had to, once again, lean on each other emotionally as a community and group which I feel really captured the essence of the trip so far.
Day 4 - Girls:
On day 4, we all awoke in despair to see that the beautiful weather from the previous day had disappeared to leave us listening to the rain pour down outside our windows as we got dressed. The girls began their day, after sprinting through the downpour, at the sem where we we're told in the lobby that we were to be paired up with a girl studying there to discuss for an hour a topic of their choice. At first most of the girls were nervous as we had not had an experienced anything like this and had misconceptions on how the sem girls would act and teach. Surprisingly for us, the girls were not only friendly but extremely eager to share and discuss opinions with us. I thoroughly enjoyed learning with Nicole, the girl I was paired with, as we also spoke about ourselves and how we applied judaism to our lives which was appropriate for the topic she had chosen which was a extract from a book a rabbi had written about how we incorporate G-d into our every-day lives. Many of us left with emails and phone numbers of the girls we had spent this hour with, and there was a unanimous feeling among us that it had been an amazing experience.
Shortly after this everyone split up into communities and we arrived at the Kotel where we pelted through the rain into the Davidson Centre. A guide led us into a room and turned on a projector to reveal a 3D animation of the Old City of Jerusalem. We learnt a lot about the various excavations and other aspects of the architectural features that had been found as part of the Kotel, such as Robinson's Arch.
Overall it was another emotional day full of exciting learning experiences and challenging situations where we had to, once again, lean on each other emotionally as a community and group which I feel really captured the essence of the trip so far.
No comments:
Post a Comment