Day 07 - Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, Herodium, Bethlehem

We started our day at the Holocaust Museum. Collectively, this was a difficult place to experience, but we were reminded the importance of remembering and telling our children. We learned from Ronen that 90% of the people heard what was happening and did nothing. The experience ended on a terrace with an eclipsed view. This shows us there is goodness on the horizon, but some is hidden by the burden of horror; the weight of loss. There is still beauty. There is hope, but there is also sorrow and we must endeavor to remember. 

In a spirit of reverence we traveled to Herodium. We quickly learned the extreme to which Herod would go to make his name great. First, the mountain was man made and he had it built to show he was above nature. He eventually had the entire extravagant palace destroyed and turned into his mausoleum. We watched a video that ended with the quote, “we should not forget the greatness of a man who did more than all his predecessors.” This place was a little hard to swallow after coming from the memorial of one genocide, and knowing Herod himself has all the baby Jewish boys under two, killed. In spite of all his efforts, he is nothing when compared with Jesus. Michal read us the poem, “One Solitary Life” and we remember just how reaching the impact of Jesus truly is. Some of our group then walked the 156 steps to the top and back down through the water system. 

Our final stop for the day was in the town of Bethlehem. Here we met fourth generation Christian shop owners who sell works, mostly made by the dwindling local Christian community. They had beautiful carved olive wood pieces and some of our crew are taking home their incredible nativities.