Pardon the length of this posting - I took Friday night off for Shabbat and the result is lots to report tonight! (If you make it through nothing else, read the anecdote about this evening's cab ride that appears at the very end of this message).

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Friday morning, the group drove to Ha HaZikaron, the "Mountain of Memory", so called because it it's the location for two foundational institutions for the modern state of Israel: Mt Herzl, the military cemetery (skin to Arlington in the US) and "Yad vShem", Israel's national memorial to the Holocaust.

We began, just as foreign dignitaries do on their official visits, at Yad v'Shem. The name Yad v'Shem comes from Isaiah: "and to them will I give in my house and within my walls a place (memorial) and a name (a "yad vashem") that shall not be cut off." (Isaiah, chapter 56, verse 5)

The official name in Hebrew, however, is a bit longer: "The Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority." Of particular significance is the word "gevurah" meaning bravery or heroes. In memorializing the Shoah (Holocaust), Israel highlighted the role played by those who chose to fight back against the Nazis, for example, in the Warsaw Ghetto. In doing so, Israel underscored a core tenet of Zionist ideology called "Shlilat HaGolah" (negating the diaspora)." For early Zionists, the world was an irredeemably hostile place for Jews as history made clear time and again. Those who understood history's lessons would make Aliyah (move to Israel). Those who picked up arms and fought against the oppressors (from the Macabees to the partisan fighters during WW II) were the antithesis of the marginal and powerless Jew; they were the model for a new, self-reliant Jewish people born of the modern state of Israel.

An example of such heroism: Janusz Korczak, the director of an orphanage for Jewish children in the Warsaw ghetto. His life story is related in short movie currently nominated for an Oscar called "Train to Toyland" The movie's production notes explain: "on August 2nd, 1942, reflecting his lifelong compassionate devotion to both children and the rights of children, Korczak adamantly refused offers for his own safety and with defiant dignity he led the orphans under his care in the Warsaw Jewish Ghetto to the trains that ultimately would take them all to death at the Treblinka Death Camp."

This is a picture of a sculpture at Yad v'Shem,
depicting Korczak shielding his students.

For more information about Korzak and the current movie, press here.

In addition to honoring Jews who displayed heroism in the face of certain death, Yad v'Shem honors the memories of "righteous gentiles", i.e. non-Jews who risked life and limb to rescue individual Jews and, at times, entire families. A grove of trees are named for individual righteous gentiles", many of whom were flown to Israel before they died to be honored publicly for their compassion and bravery.

Beyond memorializing the victims and honoring those who heroically fought back, Yad v'Shem offers a place to document the lives of those who were killed. Survivors and families of those who died complete a "page of testimony" that records what is known of the fate of a loved one. Historians at Yad v'Shem maintain an enormous database of information, some of which comes from such pages of testimony (like those below), and some of which comes from the detailed records of the Germans themselves.




The nature of Yad v'Shem has changed over the past decade. Originally, Yad v'Shem was a family memorial to those who died in the Shoah. It didn't presume to teach what happened.

As the generation of survivors passes away, the nature of Yad'Shem has undergone significant renovation, with the creation of a new new Holocaust history museum which presents the story from a Jewish perspective and makes the most of cutting edge interactive technology to tell the story.

One of the most affecting elements of Yad Va'Shem is the Children's Memorial. Hollowed out from an underground cavern, the Children's Memorial contains six memorial candles, a customary Jewish tradition to remember the dead. Small mirrors are fixed in such a way to reflect the six candles many times over. In fact, the dark and somber space is filled with one and a half million reflected candles burning, seemingly in midair. All the while, a voice reads the names of children who perished, one at a time, with names that reveal their country of origin. Germany, France, Poland, Lithuania.

For more information about Yad v'Shem, press here.

Adjacent to Yad v'Shem is Har Herzl - Israel's National Military Cemetery. There are specific areas dedicated to soldiers who fell in specific battles, e.g. those who were lost in a submarine that sank in the early sixties, or the teenagers who served as runners during the 1948 War of Independence. Most of the graves, however, are uniform and simply decorated. A Stone marks the name, age and rank of the soldier and the war in which he died. In this way, the marker for Jonatan Netanyahu (brother of current Likud leader, Bibi), the commander of the Entebbe mission in 1976 that freed scores of Jews and Israelis who were being held hostage by Palestinian and German terrorists in Uganda (he was the only soldier to be a casualty) looks exactly like the marker of a relatively anonymous soldier. In death, everyone is equal.



Mt. Herzl also serves as the National Cemetery for national leaders. Most Prime Ministers and Presidents of Israel are buried there, including Yitzhak Rabin and Golda Meir. Theodore Herzl, the founder of modern political Zionism, was reburied in Israel after the state's creation (In photos, left to right, regular soldier graves; Herzl's tomb; and Rabin's grave).

Just recently, an interesting controversy arose over the desire of Edgar Bronfman, the wealthy scion of the Canadian brewing family, to be buried on Mt Herzl. Bronfman has served as the president of a number of important Jewish organizations and was singularly involved in compelling the Swiss to reimburse Holocaust survivors from the many insurance policies and bank deposits which had been taken from them. Even so, some argue, Bronfman never became an Israeli citizen, a baseline consideration for inclusion. For more on the latest brouhaha, press here.

For Lunch, the group descended on Mahane Yehuda, a large, mostly open air market, which is filled at Friday lunch time with those shopping for Shabbat. The following photos are self explanatory!

Friday evening, we went down to the Western Wall, where Rabbi Marc Berkson and I conducted a Kaballat Shabbat service. We then moved closer to the wall where, at the center of a hige, very excited crowd, was Senator Joe Lieberman. The reception he got made me think that these days he has to pretty far to find a Jewish audience who are happy to see him! We had a delicious Shabbat dinner at Mercaz Shimshon, in a third floor hall whose eastern wall is made entirely of windows looking out at the walls of the Old City. Beautiful and inspiring. During dinner, each table was joined by one or more Hayalim Bodedim", or "Lone Soldiers." These are young men and women doing their military service whose families are not in the country. The army goes out of its way to look after this group, including, evidently, getting them an occasional hotel meal with guests from outside of the country. Many of the group were Americans, though there were others from New Zealand and Russia. Their stories were inspiring.

After dinner, we were treated to a performance of an a capella group of Israeli soldiers who sing on behalf of the Chief Rabbinate. Their intricate harmonies were matched only by their personable and approachable natures.

By midnight, the awaited storm arrived, like one of Milwaukee's finest fall or spring weather events - downpours, thunder lightening and squall lines of howling wind. As I lay in bed listening to the storm outside, I realized that those group members who had arranged to go down to visit Masada were in for a disappointment. Even less rain than we were getting can give rise to what are called in Hebrew "Sheetfonot" or flash floods. It needn't be raining down at the Dead Sea; rain forty miles away can turn into a raging flood by the time it has coursed through miles of valleys from the hills of Jerusalem down to the Aravah, the rift valley in which the Dead Sea sits. This photo shoes how quickly water can arrive.

Indeed, my prediction was correct; the roads were closed because of flash flooding. Even so, the group was able to make it to Ein Gedi at the Dead Sea's Northern end, where they bathed in the theraputic mud. As their photo indicates, it looks like they had fun!

While they were floating in the Dead Sea, I went out for a walk in Jerusalem. When I left the hotel it was overcast (I hadn't expected to need the winter coat I wore when I left Milwaukee, but I was glad to have it today), but I was soon drenched by a torrential downpour and then, adding insult to injury, HAIL! I was soaked to the bone when I got back to the hotel, but I knew better than to complain. Israel has experienced a severe drought over the past two years so this rain is very welcome. Tomorrow we travel up North to the Kineret (Sea of Galilee) where, we are told, the water levels are the lowest they've been in a long time. As the country's sole source of potable water, the Kineret's health is of concern to all.

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What is in the news? There is a lot of horse-trading going on as political parties jockey for position. Tzipi Livni, the head of the centrist Kadima party had said a few days ago that she would never join Netanyahu's coalition to be "a rubber stamp for very conservative policies." Today, other senior party officials are talking about the possibilities of joining the coalition. Big news today was that the government has told Hamas that until Gilad Shalit is returned (the soldier kidnapped outside of Gaza two and half years ago) the border crossings to Gaza will remain closed and peace talks frozen. Tonight on TV there were interviews with family members of people killed in terrorist attacks over the passt years that were planned by Hamas members currently in Israeli jails who are rumored to be included in a prisoner swap for Gilad Shalit. The surviving relatives were saying they can't understand why the government responds emotionally to the issue of kidnapped soldiers rather than with common sense. Others agree, but say that such is the commitment Israel feels to its soldiers, akin to the US Marine's commitment never to leave a soldier behind. That value is understood and appreciated by those who have lost family members to terror. What leaves a bad taste in their mouths is the idea that hundred of murdered might be back out on the street, ready and committed to return to terrorist activities.

In regional news, there is worry about the report that Iran may have enough fissionable material to make a nuclear bomb, something Israel said it would never tolerate happening. There's been discussion about the course being charted by Turkey these days between its desire to both join the Eurocentric world of NATO, on the one hand, and to curry favor with its Muslim neighbors, on the other. Turks haven't forgotten or abandoned the memories of their role as a regional leader in Ottoman times. They'd like to return.

In Israeli politics (from the Israeli press) "As he began consultations for the formation of Israel's post-election cabinet Wednesday, Feb. 18, President Shimon Peres made an extraordinary statement. Addressing the Presidents Conference, he admitted for the first time that Israel's unilateral disengagement from the Gaza Strip in 2005 was a mistake "which will not be repeated." His decision regarding the future composition of the governmental coalition would therefore be dictated by its policies, he said.

Peres, who was vice premier in the government headed by Ariel Sharon which ordered the 2005 evacuation of the Gaza Strip, confessed for the first time that he was wrong to support it. Things should have been differently, he said. (Israeli forces forcibly evicted 8,500 Israelis living in the Gaza communities - many of whom remain in reduced situations to this day - and opened the way for Hamas' takeover.)

Peres said: "My problem is less whom to entrust with the role of prime minister but rather the candidate's policies. The world is undergoing new situations and the new government must adjust its policies accordingly. I do not disqualify any Israeli who was duly elected."

Many eyes here are focused on Durban, where a draft resolutions for the United Nations Durban II summit on racism brand Israel as an occupying state that carries out racist policies, Haaretz (The Israeli daily newspaper of record) has learned. The draft refers to "the plight of Palestinian refugees and other inhabitants of the Arab occupied territories," apparently meaning Israel itself. The resolutions appear to confirm concerns that the second World Conference Against Racism will be used by Arab nations and others to criticize Israel. Despite those concerns, the United States said last week it would participate in planning the summit.

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Tonight, congregants Judi Ketten, Jane Gellman and I had dinner with a number of former Milwaukeeans: Cantor Tamar (Heather) Feffer (36 weeks pregnant); Anat Barkin (Nir was in the US); Alon and Einat Galron (former Shaliach); Phil Nadel and Ros and Hannah Roucher. Much fun was had by all. Below are Judi Ketten and Cantor Tamar (Heather) Feffer and the group.

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AND NOW, for the inaugural segment we'll feature from here on in, entitled "RAK B'YISRAEL - ONLY IN ISRAEL..." Featuring stories and anecdotes that could have happened "Only in Israel."

As the ten of us had dinner in Abu Ghosh, twenty minutes outside of Jerusalem, Yisrael, our cab driver, waited outside to drive Jane, Judi and I back to Jerusalem. On the way, he pointed out a bit of esoteric Jewish knowledge I had never heard: he handed us his business card, pointed to his name, and said: "All of Jewish history is in my name.." and then proceeded to show how every patriarch and matriarch was represented by one the letters in his name. Yud-Sin -Resh -Aleph-Lamed.

The letter Yud for Yitzhak (Isaac) and Ya'akov (Jacob);
The letter Sin for Sarah;
The letter Resh for Rachel and Rivkah (Rebecca);
The letter Aleph for Avraham; and
The Letter Lamed for Leah.

As we marveled at this novel bit of Jewish tradition, Yisrael snorted and said: "You're not going to find a cab driver in New York City who can teach you Torah!"

Yisrael, our "Torah-teaching" cab driver,
and Judi Ketten