A Day of Remembering

Sunday, Dec. 23, 2012

By a member of the Mandell JCC Israel Trip

This was a day of remembering.  We began at the JCC Association offices in Jerusalem, a ten minute walk from the hotel.  This lovely old building has been JCCA's Israel headquarters for over 50 years.  Working with JCCs across North America to develop programs in Israel is just one of the many things they do.   While there, we met with Rachel Korazin, a Jewish educator who specializes in teaching out the Holocaust.   She asked to try to leave Yad Vashem later in the day remembering the name of one person.

It is not possible to accurately describe the experience of being at Yad Vashem.

"And to them will I give in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name (a "yad vashem")... that shall not be cut off."    (Isaiah, chapter 56, verse 5)

From their website....As the Jewish people’s living memorial to the Holocaust, Yad Vashem safeguards the memory of the past and imparts its meaning for future generations. Established in 1953, as the world center for documentation, research, education and commemoration of the Holocaust, Yad Vashem is today a dynamic and vital place of intergenerational and international encounter.   For over half a century, Yad Vashem has been committed to four pillars of remembrance:   Commemoration, Documentation, Research and Education

We toured through the exhibition with our own guide who understood how important it was for the kids - ages 13-20 - to have their own context in which to learn about the Holocaust.  The new Yad Vashem  is an architectural masterpiece with great symbolism.    The exhibit begins with a beautiful film montage of Jewish life in Europe before the war and ends on an outdoor terrace with an expansive view of Jerusalem.   In the middle, it tells the story of the Shoah, in great detail through exhaustive research and powerful testimonies, of the greatest of horrors to befall the Jewish people.

Our guide, Deborah, a child of survivors, ended the tour by telling us of her face-to-face meeting with Miep Gies, the Dutch woman who helped to hide Anne Frank and her family in the attic in Amsterdam.   Miep was 100 years old and Deborah asked her why she continued to speak and lecture about her experience.   She wanted people to know that by standing up to racism, cruelty and prejudice we can perhaps prevent tragedies such as the Shoah from happening again.  Alas, said Meip, the world has not learned the lesson.