Yad Vashem (Holocaust Museum) and Negev Desert
On our bus, we encompass break dancers, contortionists, singers, dancers, and musicians. We are in school, studying to be doctors, lawyers, scientists, physical therapists, social workers, school counselors, teachers, chefs, and hotel managers. We are bankers, accountants, artists, actresses, pharmaceutical consultants, and members of the IDF (Israeli Defense Force). And, some of us are descendants of survivors of the Holocaust. In Europe, in WWII, over 6 million Jews were killed by the Nazis of Germany. Although it is now illegal to deny the Holocaust in Germany (apparently, a representative in the US Congress from Louisiana was recently arrested on a visit), there are still Holocaust deniers in the United States, and around the world. During a discussion we had the night before our visit to the Holocaust Museum of Jerusalem, those of us from big cities in America were shocked to hear the extent to which people are able to deny the Holocaust. Seeing the museum, made the experience of European Jews even more real. Think of the people on our Shorashim bus. One of dozens of Birthright trips in Israel just this week (we know, we run into the other ones everywhere we go), and one of many more that will happen this year. Over 300,000 people have come to Israel in the past 10 years on a Birthright trip. And of those, many grandparents were the only survivors of families of 2, 4, more than 10. Think of our future doctors and artists and teachers. It really makes you wonder who could have been on our bus, or any bus, if the circumstances had been different from 1938-45.
We are now in the Negev desert. We just left the JNF (Jewish National Federation) Indoor Playground in Sderot, a response to the rockets from the Gaza strip that have plagued that area of Israel for the past 10 years. We had fun playing basketball, foosball, and rock climbing, as well as the major of Sderot, who was leading a group with the CEO of JNF and a professional golfer on the WPGA tour, but the conflict in this part of the world is real. An every day conflict that these people are forced to live amongst.
Tonight, we are off to the Bedouin tents and then CAMEL rides tomorrow. Till next time, L’Chaim!
- Jeanine Amacher

