A Time to Remember

Yad vesham

This is Daniel T. Today we went to the Holocaust museum. It was a very unique and eye opening experience. We learned about the history of not just the hatred of the Jewish people, but also how that hatred began and eventually led to the murder of million Jews. Even though in Taglit everything is supposed to be fun and light-hearted where we connect with Judaism, our roots, and the society, today was a very sad morning. It was a morning that opened my eyes to realize how hard it was for them, especially in today’s world when people complain about not having the expensive clothing that they want, at this time they were rationed 120 calories a day. To feel how hopeless they felt for just a moment was so powerful. Even though some Jews in the ghetto fought back, they knew they didn’t have any chance to survive or win. It was also very hard to read all the letters of people in the camps, writing to their families during the worst time in human history.
Even though we went through so much, we’re still here because of them, and the spirit of the Jewish people continues on. We watched a video of the people who endured years of torture and immediately after their release, they participated in a Shabbat service in good spirits despite the incredible disaster they survived. Remembering the Shabbat, our customs is so important in order to keep us connected to Judaism. Although in our society today, it’s hard to remember the persecutions of our past, we are obligated to remember in order to keep us connected to our roots so we can keep alive the spirit of the Jewish people and never forget about how we really are and where we come from.
I think for everybody in our bus this has been a great experience and we are having a very good time and learning lots of important things about Israel and our roots. We still have much more fun things to do and we are all looking forward to all the adventures and connections that we can get with the rest of our trip.

Shalom to you all!