The Western Wall and Yad Vashem | Shorashim - Israel with Israelis

The Western Wall and Yad Vashem

Yesterday our group visited the old city in Jerusalem. Though our time was brief within the city, the time was well spent. Visiting the remains of the old temple, at the Western Wall, was the most moving experience that I have experienced so far on this trip. In the following I will attempt to describe the feelings that I felt at the wall:

After taking many photos of the wall, I began to walk down the ramp that would take me towards this holy site. On my left I noticed some of my group, some of whom were getting Tefillin wrapped by Rabbis. Wanting to enhance my own experience, I too went and got Tefillin wrapped. I placed a kippah on my head, took a pamphlet with the Shema in hand, and approached the wall. Placing my other hand on the wall, I began to pray and poured all of the feelings I felt into the stone. Once I had finished reading the Shema, I pressed my forehead against the wall and began to speak my own prayer, but I found that no matter how much I tried to focus on what I wanted to pray for, I could not conjure up a prayer. I was lost for words. It was then I realized that there was no need for me to pray, because just by being there, all of my prayers could be heard without the need to speak (or think) them. This is just a snippet of what I felt yesterday. It is not a feeling that can be expressed through words, but through experiencing things for yourself

Today we took a tour of Yad Vashem. At this Holocaust memorial and museum, we learned and relearned about the dark history of the Jewish people. I have never experienced the history of the Holocaust this way. The tour guide was fantastic and answered all of our questions and even elaborated more on our questions. The feelings for our group were many, but my personal feelings were mainly of sadness and amazement. Even though I have learned a lot about the Holocaust, I sometimes forget about some of the things that happened. This tour was definitely one of the most emotional and moving experiences that I have had on this trip.

All in all, I am having a great time and I am looking forward to teh rest of the trip!

Nathan Fleischer