Gavriel had to be gone all day so we decided to visit Yad VaShem, the museum dedicated to the 6,000,000 victims of the holocaust. We had been there in 2003 so were not planning on going again, but Gavriel said it had all changed and this was one place that all the participants of the Gathering would visit. He thought we should see it again. It was by far the longest hike we have taken since we arrived in Jerusalem. It took two hours to walk there and two hours back home again, plus the four hours we walked the grounds of the museum. The museum was almost overwhelming. The testimonies of survivors were riveting. It is incomprehensible to me what man can do to man. How could whole armies be recruited to participate in such despicable behavior? How could those people possibly live with themselves after that?
When we got home I collapsed on the bed and my thoughts were on how my feet hurt and my back ached. I was hot, tired, and sweaty. And then I was brought up short; all those Jewish people walked for days on end in death marches with no beds at the end of the day to collapse on, and no warm bath to relax in. They were separated from their families and communities, humiliated, deprived, and starved. How could I even think of complaining? Lord help me never to forget!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment