To understand Israeli's existential view of their history, it is essential to visit the
Holocaust Museum "Yad Vasem" and Mt. Herzl. En route on 10/18/10, we saw new construction on the sides of many steep hills.
All use Jerusalem limestone.
Our destination was on the far edge of West Jerusalem. Yad Vashem means "memorial & name." It is a complex of several facilities on a scenic hilltop.
Facing the main museum and a large courtyard are large wall bronze sculptures depicting two extremes. On the right are some dejected and rejected Jews, often described and derided as "sheep going to the slaughter." On the left is a heroic bronze of the defiant but ill-fated Warsaw Ghetto uprising--meant to inspire today's Israel Defense Forces. (More on that below.)
No photos are allowed inside any of the museums. Our group (under Frank Judd) emerged from the Children's Museum, with our "inside guide" out in front.
Our "outside guide" was Ophir Yarden -- BYU's instructor of modern Jewish history. He traced the stages of early and modern reactions to the holocaust -- both inside and outside the Jewish culture. On the right below is a monument to the Unknown Jew. It memorializes some 2 million Jews who were destroyed in WW II but were never identified.
On this hill outside the children's museum are these broken totems depicting young lives prematurely cut short and unfinished.
Following the theme of heroic resistance, this sculpted relief depicts a beloved school teacher who inspired his students to resist brutality and perished with his students rather than save his own life. Also, Israelis decorate graves & memorials with stones (many of them meaningfully inscribed) rather than with cut flowers or other perishables.
Lest the public leave Yad Vashem -- with its explicit images of persecution and brutality inside -- feeling that all the world had hated Jews, this beautiful "Garden of the Righteous" honors non-Jews who protected & saved Jews from death. For example, Irena Sendler saved some 2,500 children by having them adopted by non-Jews.
Memorial trees honor people like Oskar Schindler and his wife Emilie.
All foreign VIPs visiting Israel are immediately taken to Yad Vashem, to indelibly impress upon them what the Jews endured in the 20th century. Some are also asked to plant a tree, such as this impressive cedar planted by a diplomat from Bolivia--one of the first countries to recognize Israel as a nation in 1947.
Nearby is Mt. Herzl where the remains of the famous Zionist Theodore Herzl are interred. David Ben Gurion brought Herzl's body from his native Hungary in order to fulfill his desire to be buried in the Holy Land. Mt. Herzl has become a secular temple similar to what the Temple Mount in the Old City represents spiritually.
Whereas prophets and priests are interred by the Temple Mount, elected leaders llike Prime Ministers are interred at Mt. Herzl. Some are elegantly beautified.
Commemorated the next week was to be the 15th anniversary of Itzak Rabin's murder by a right-wing extremist who felt the hero of the 1967 Six-day War betrayed his ideals by seeking agreement with Yassir Arafat and the Palestinians. Buried alongside these Israeli notables is Teddy Kolleck. As mayor of Jerusalem in the 1980's, he did more than any political leader to enable the creation and opening of our BYU Jerusalem Center.The grounds are beautifully maintained with gardens & memorial pools.
New IDF soldiers are brought here for inspiration and instruction before being sworn in -- instead of being taken atop Masada as was previously done.
Women have mandatory military service for two years at age 18; men for three years. Their weapons mean business; but women seldom have combat duty.
At the exit, red roses are the flowers planted to depict the blood shed by so many Israelis over the years.
Holocaust Museum "Yad Vasem" and Mt. Herzl. En route on 10/18/10, we saw new construction on the sides of many steep hills.
All use Jerusalem limestone.
Our destination was on the far edge of West Jerusalem. Yad Vashem means "memorial & name." It is a complex of several facilities on a scenic hilltop.
Facing the main museum and a large courtyard are large wall bronze sculptures depicting two extremes. On the right are some dejected and rejected Jews, often described and derided as "sheep going to the slaughter." On the left is a heroic bronze of the defiant but ill-fated Warsaw Ghetto uprising--meant to inspire today's Israel Defense Forces. (More on that below.)
No photos are allowed inside any of the museums. Our group (under Frank Judd) emerged from the Children's Museum, with our "inside guide" out in front.Our "outside guide" was Ophir Yarden -- BYU's instructor of modern Jewish history. He traced the stages of early and modern reactions to the holocaust -- both inside and outside the Jewish culture. On the right below is a monument to the Unknown Jew. It memorializes some 2 million Jews who were destroyed in WW II but were never identified.
On this hill outside the children's museum are these broken totems depicting young lives prematurely cut short and unfinished.Following the theme of heroic resistance, this sculpted relief depicts a beloved school teacher who inspired his students to resist brutality and perished with his students rather than save his own life. Also, Israelis decorate graves & memorials with stones (many of them meaningfully inscribed) rather than with cut flowers or other perishables.
Lest the public leave Yad Vashem -- with its explicit images of persecution and brutality inside -- feeling that all the world had hated Jews, this beautiful "Garden of the Righteous" honors non-Jews who protected & saved Jews from death. For example, Irena Sendler saved some 2,500 children by having them adopted by non-Jews.
All foreign VIPs visiting Israel are immediately taken to Yad Vashem, to indelibly impress upon them what the Jews endured in the 20th century. Some are also asked to plant a tree, such as this impressive cedar planted by a diplomat from Bolivia--one of the first countries to recognize Israel as a nation in 1947.
Nearby is Mt. Herzl where the remains of the famous Zionist Theodore Herzl are interred. David Ben Gurion brought Herzl's body from his native Hungary in order to fulfill his desire to be buried in the Holy Land. Mt. Herzl has become a secular temple similar to what the Temple Mount in the Old City represents spiritually.
Whereas prophets and priests are interred by the Temple Mount, elected leaders llike Prime Ministers are interred at Mt. Herzl. Some are elegantly beautified.
Commemorated the next week was to be the 15th anniversary of Itzak Rabin's murder by a right-wing extremist who felt the hero of the 1967 Six-day War betrayed his ideals by seeking agreement with Yassir Arafat and the Palestinians. Buried alongside these Israeli notables is Teddy Kolleck. As mayor of Jerusalem in the 1980's, he did more than any political leader to enable the creation and opening of our BYU Jerusalem Center.
New IDF soldiers are brought here for inspiration and instruction before being sworn in -- instead of being taken atop Masada as was previously done.
At the exit, red roses are the flowers planted to depict the blood shed by so many Israelis over the years.
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