Blog Posts from Friday, 4/28
Dear friends at home:
Today was a sad day.
We visited Yad Vashem. There we took
a tour of the museum... It was powerful. I have yet to cry in Holocaust class,
but when I came face to face with a real Auschwitz uniform I broke down in
tears. I cried when I saw pictures of people in camps because their eyes were
following mine, and I realized that these people were, and are forever going to
be a part of me as long as I live. They will be with me at every turn, every
high, and every low.
Then, we went to Har Herzel, where the military cemetery is located, and we saw too many graves to
count. Some were recognized, and others were barren of stones. We as a whole
tried our very best to place even a small pebble on each barren head stone, to
make sure that even the least appreciated fallen solider is remembered. It was
a touching moment when we in unison sang התקווה. Our voices blended with those
of the fallen, we sang for them, and them for us.
Finally, we ended our
day back at the כותל. We looked to
the past through a virtual reality head set, then saw the real thing. As I
silently prayed the עמידה, with my old Kellman and new Ezra friends I felt a
sense of peace.
That's all for now friends,
Love from Makayla
Today's (Friday) experience was a very emotional and
intense experience. We started out by praying Tefillah while overlooking the
magnificent city of Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the heart of Israel and the heart
of the Jewish people. Every Jew’s life revolves around Israel no matter how
religious you are. Israel is the Jewish people's safe haven and we need to make
sure we keep it that way.
We then made our way to Yad Vashem, the Israel National Holocaust Museum. I still don't
understand how people could fall for the mind tricks the Nazis played on them.
The Jews were innocent yet still got blamed for every problem that occurred in
society. At Yad Vashem we walked through an exhibit that showed a timeline of
the events that happened before, during and after the Holocaust. Many people
cried and many people just didn't know what to say.
We then went to Har
Herzl, the site of Israel’s national cemetery. We visited the graves to
pay our respects to many Israeli heroes like Yonatan Netanyahu and Hanah
Senesh. The one that personally affected me the most was Micheal Levin because
he grew up close to where we live. He was a lone soldier and was killed in
combat in 2003.
We then visited the shuk.
It was a balagan. In English - there
was chaos everywhere. Everyone was doing their last minute shopping for
Shabbat. Overall today was the most moving day of the week. Now we enter
Shabbat, a day to relax and appreciate what is given to us by Hashem. –Sam
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