Photos coming soon... For now, here is a report of today's activities:
Today's events were nothing less than heavy. We started our last day in Jerusalem at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial Museum. After we walked through the museum and got two hours of testimonials, pictures, and insights, Rabbi Slonim held a memorial service for those who passed away in the museum's shul. Josh Lowenstein told us the miraculous story of his grandmother's holocaust survival. We ended the service with "Am Yisroel Chai" (Israel still lives); although many of our loved ones may not be with us today, the Jewish nation - and their memories and impact - does live on.
After the tear-shed and reflection, we took a 37 second bus ride to the property next-door to the museum, Mount Hertzl - a cemetery for soldiers and prominent Israelis. We walked around, and Beni told us stories of several fallen soldiers throughout the history of Israel. Unfortunately, some of our IDF friends have lost their own friends and comrades in recent years. Those stories were just as chilling as seeing the many very young ages on gravestones at the soldier's cemetery.
Once we walked through the cemetery, we had to say goodbye to our new friends; the soldiers' time with us was over. After a Jewish goodbye (it took a while), we finally did say "see you later"... we did get the chance to see them one last time at a bar in Tel Aviv (our next stop, for one night). One last hurrah with our new friends was just what we needed after a long, busy week of running from activity to activity in Israel, and a day FULL of heavy emotions.
Coming soon: Mayanot 96 gives back to the community, visits Independence Hall, and rides camels!
Guy Sahaf wrote...
aileen Levine wrote...