Day 3 in Israel

Shalom,

Just as there are 70 faces to the Torah, there are at least 70 ways to experience each site here in the Holyland. Writing first about the end of the day is most logical, because it is remembered best right about now. Having spent the day in Jerusalem, our group of 16 (11 Rochesterians, 4 Modi'in educators and our guide, Benna) arrived at the Old City, Jaffa Gate, at 4:00 p.m. After the group toured the usual haunts - the Jewish Quarter, including the Cardo, we found ourselves at the Kotel area filled with tens of thousands. It turns out that this evening over 200 "tzankhanim" - new paratroopers - were being officially sworn into the army. The ceremony lasted from 6:00 - 7:00 p.m. The rabbi of the unit gave a charge and recited the oath of allegiance to which all the soldiers yelled out in unison "Ani nishba" - I swear. At that point, Jerusalem of Gold was played while each soldier received a Bible in one hand and a rifle in the other (only in Israel). The ceremony ended with Hatikva. None of us expected to witness such a moving display of patriotism. Aviva explained that these soldiers had been away from their families for 3 weeks and would now go home for Shabbat. We watched the faces of moms and dads as they embraced their boy-sons turned men in as many weeks. These are the true moments of connection between us Americans and Israelis.

Backtracking, we began the day at the Herzl Museum at 9:00 a.m. on a beautiful, cooler, sunny day. We proceeded to the military cemetery to view Herzl's grave, that of Yitzchak and Leah Rabin, and their "neighbor", Golda. In the area around the latter graves was a temporary fence to prepare for the annual commemoration of Rabin's assasination next Thursday. I thought that the fence was for security. Actually, it was explained to me that it was to keep all the participants off the grass and other graves (only in Israel). One of our group pointed out that written on Rabin's grave is not the usual "dating", i.e., born and died in a particular year On Rabin's grave it is written: Born 1922, Assasinated 1995 - another poignant reminder of why Israel is the Israel we know
At 11:00 a.m. we enterd Yad Vashem and remained there until 2:00 pm. Our learned and engaging guide again walked most of us through the main building, teaching us something new in every gallery. As always, the Children's Memorial at the end of our visit brought us to emotional heights. With that said, we commented that the "new" Yad Vashem leads each visitor through a process, from the beginnings of antisemitism to the horrors of the Holocaust to victory over the Nazis to the survivors and the subsequent sources of healing including the establishment of the State of Israel. The process allows each visitor to complete the virtual journey and remain whole at the end, even if jolted.

We took a long break at Machane Yehuda where this blog writer, instead of finding a place for lunch, ran to the halva stand and stocked up on several kilo to take home (chocolate, espresso, pistacchio, granola, walnut, cinnamon- yummy), and also chocolate ruggelach from the famous bakery, Marzipan on Agrippas Street to share on the bus.

Then on to the old City and so ends the circle of today's very special experience, but then again, each day here has been outstanding because it is Israel and equally because we are with our partners in Modi'in, who cannot do enough for us, who stimulate our minds with their provocative perspectives on everything from education to politics to fashion, and who give us hugs at every opportunity. We are so indebted to them and to Hana and Aviva for crafting this trip for us!!!!