Erev Shabbat

July 11, 2008

Our first stop this morning was to Mount Herzl. This is the site of the new Herzl Museum, the gravesites of some of Israel’s leaders, including Yitzhak Rabin, Golda Meir and others and connects to the military cemetery. Because the Herzl Museum is fairly small the group had to be broken up in half. Yakov took part of the group to the cemetery first and I took the other half to the museum. The museum uses the premise of trying to teach a young Israeli actor of the importance of Herzl and prepare him to play the part by learning of his life. In one room we even sit in chairs along side white plastic figures as part of a Zionist Congress. In the conclusion there is an uplifting montage of scenes of Israel today demonstrating the fulfillment of the dream, where Israel has progressed beyond Herzl’s wildest imagination and where the state has not yet solved some very important problems. Part of the beauty of this section was that it did not whitewash the picture of Israel but presented a balanced picture with statements about the need to deal justly with the minority population and live in peace with the Palestinians. This museum helps enhance the importance of Herzl which even here is not fully recognized by large numbers of Israelis.
Because of time constraints we quickly walked through the cemetery first seeing Herzl’s grave where his remains were brought in 1949, 45 years after his death. This is the site of the national ceremony for Yom HaZikaron; Israel’s Memorial Day for her fallen defenders. From there we walked past the graves of Yitzhak and Leah Rabin. Their stones were unlike those of all the other leaders. We only had time to glance over at the military cemetery, where so many of the young men and women had died at ages between 18 and 23.
Yad Vashem, the national museum and study center for the history and memory of the victims of the Holocaust. Words cannot do this place justice. We started in the Avenue of the Righteous among the Nations who risked their own lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. The new main exhibition Hall designed by Moshe Safdie was jammed with many visitors from all over the world. After going through that exhibit for 2 hours it was difficult to fully digest what we had just seen. We spent some time in the Hall of Remembrance, after which I read a couple of prayerful passages. Finally we visited the Children’s memorial dedicated to the memory of 1.5 million children who were murdered. Yakov asked us to try and remember only one name and recall that name each Shabbat. Tears filled many of our eyes and we concluded with a Kaddish and Memorial prayer (El Malei Rachamim).
After some time to rest and dress for Shabbat we headed for Modi’in. We arrived at the City hall where we were greeted by Hana Sirkis-Katz, our friend and the Jewish Agency professional who coordinates the Partnership 2000 program. She took us around the city for an hour and a half. Even since Jan and I were here in March there have been changes such as the opening of the new Azrieli Mall and the downtown train station. After the short tour we went to Kehillat YOZMA the Reform congregation which has recently opened a building that was the first non-Orthodox synagogue to receive government funding for its establishment. Besides our group there was a group from a San Diego synagogue of about 70 people. For Jan and I this is a place where we have numerous friends and even family (my cousins Natan and Segal Elsberg). The service was led by Rabbi Nir Barkan. It was a joyous mixture of a few familiar tunes and many others written or adapted by the other rabbi’s (Kineret Shiryon) husband, Bari. From there we were paired with our host families for Shabbat dinner. When we returned to the bus the atmosphere was charged with so much positive energy. Many in our group voiced that this was the best experience of the trip (I think I’ve heard that a few times before). New friendships were established in only a couple of hours. Our thanks goes to Hana for arranging this wonderful evening. Back to Jerusalem and a welcomed night’s sleep.