There are some things that I really look forward to when I go to Israel - like Shabbat in Jerusalem, seeing family and friends, and buying new kippot from the Kippah Man. And then by contrast there is Yad V'Shem. A place that fills me with such grief and despair that I wonder how it is that we Jews should care about the world at all after the Shoah. The twisted face of evil unbound, of the individual stories of people who are just like us humiliated, striped of humanity, starved, tortured, gassed, and finally burned to ash. Every turn of Yad V'Shem is an obstacle another horror unfolding. We who can walk out into the light, what is our sacred duty to those who only wished to live? What must we do to not only remember them, but live our lives worthy of carrying on a people, a tradition, that they were slaughtered as part of? And in the end, there are no words which can hold the weight upon my heart only tears.
Returning to the bus, I see Miriam and Mordechai. They went to Biblical Zoo with Alexis instead of Yad V'Shem. Seeing them is the best medicine for a broken heart. They tell me about seeing snakes, all kinds of birds, an animal that looks like pig but isn't (The sign says: This is not a pig! - in Hebrew and even in Yiddish so the Hareidim won't get bent out of shape) and finally the highlight the bears. Supposedly these bears love to entertain, so forever they will be dubbed "Jerusalem party bears."
We are now off to see one of my favorite museums in the entire world - The Israel Museum. It is one thing to read something in the Bible and another to see the epigraphy, jewelry, seals, coins, etc. One of my favorite areas is the development of the Hebrew language. I love seeing how the script changes through history. I love looking at the Aleppo Codex, the Dead Sea scrolls, and ancient tefillin not only because it's just so cool! - but also because it is pretty amazing to see the links throughout the centuries to what we are still doing today. People of the Book indeed.
With Shabbat around the corner we head back to the Dan Panorama (too soon for my liking) to get ready.
We walk from the hotel down the Yemin Moshe neighborhood. One of my favorite neighborhoods to walk in, Yemin Moshe was named for Moses Montefiore who financed the Jewish community during the pre-State years and helped them expand outside the walls of the the Old City. He built a windmill (which was being restored), and brought people to help train the Jewish pioneers on how to farm and live. Today Yemin Moshe is built into the hillside with the Old City directly across the valley. It has many artists and is a quiet, flower covered, stairway filled approach to the Old City. After the descent and then climb up to the Old City, we enter through the Zion Gate and pass a group of Camp Ramahniks from all over the country. Go Ramah Israel Experience! We head to the Kotel Plaza and it is packed for Shabbat. Literally, hundreds of thousands of Jews converging to welcome Shabbat. Tonight the men and women of our group go in different directions and I lead the men to the Wall. We finally get close and huddled together we welcome Shabbat at the Wall. People walk around handing out fragrant bouquets of myrtle, mint and other herbs to smell and make Shabbat delightful. After our service we meet up with the women and proceed to walk through the central market street between the Muslim Quarter and the Jewish Quarter. We go out through the Jaffa Gate and down and up again back to the hotel, where a sumptuous dinner is waiting.
After dinner, I led a session on Shabbat Zemirot (Shabbat Songs - generally sung around the table). It was a wonderful beginning to Shabbat in Jerusalem with some of the best people making it all the more special.
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