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.
