At 5:51 pm on Sunday, Dr. Medzini was telling my Foreign Policy class about a special ceremony at Yad Vashem to commemorate the Holocaust. I had woken up at 5:50 pm. I went to my internship class at 6:30, stuck around just long enough to get attendance, then left with this kid Jake to catch a bus to Yad Vashem.
We got there around 7:30 and quickly realized this was no ordinary Israeli event. Security was the toughest I’ve seen, and I’ve been to speeches by Netanyahu and Biden. There were about 25 soldiers milling around just the preliminary gate. Initial attempts to coax the soldiers into letting us in without tickets were met with a flat “No.” However, we noticed a dozen or so other people in the same predicament as us, and one lady told us that they always let people in at the last minute. We decided to stick around for lack of anything better to do, but our hopes weren’t high – especially when the head soldier told us all to go home because “Lo cartisim – lo tov!” (no tickets – no good!).
Just after 8, when we were about to declare it a huge fail, other Rothberg students showed up from Dr. Silberklang’s class. Dr. Silberklang is the director of Yad Vashem. They mentioned his name, and the previously stoic guard transformed into a figure of hospitality. We casually sauntered in behind them (not the first time I’ve done that in the past few days), and got into the ceremony.
Netanyahu, as he is prone to do, gave an amazing speech. The full text of it can be found here http://www.jerusalemdispatch.com/2010/04/netanyahus-holocaust-day-speech-at-yad-vashem/. Following his speech, six survivors – each with very different stories – shared their experience and lit one of the six candles to symbolize the six million Jews who were killed. One of their stories stuck with me in particular – a boy walked among the dead at a concentration camp and was shocked to see one of the bodies was that of his father, with a bullet through his forehead. His father was clutching a note in his right hand, a note that read: “Whoever reads this, if you find my son… tell him to take revenge.” The survivor, who now has three kids and seven grandkids, has spent his life traveling and sharing his story with everyone who will listen, and here it is being told to you. He said that was the best way to take revenge that he knew, to keep the story alive.
The coolest part of the ceremony was the singing of the Hatikvah. It’s been posted on my facebook.
Overall, it was a very moving experience and I’m glad I missed class for it. Since I left for my 4 pm class when it was still warm out, I didn’t have a coat, so I was one of the people freezing that Netanyahu talked to in his speech. “You may be cold now, but in the winter of 1945, it was 35 degrees below zero… and people froze to death!” Thanks Netanyahu, that really makes me feel warmer. Actually, now I feel guilty AND cold. I bet he’s the worst grandparent ever.
This weekend, we went to Masada and the Dead Sea. The weather was perfect for the Dead Sea, every other time I’ve been there it’s been cold. We were able to relax and nap in the sea (we napped very creatively this weekend) with the sun beating down on us. Great time. Until we woke up and realized we had drifted about 50 feet away from shore, and that the current was making it hard to swim back. This was far from an emergency – there is no lazier place than the Dead Sea – but it did end up taking about 15 minutes to swim back to shore. Once back we came up with this game that involved pulling yourself along the rocks like you’re Spiderman. Little children were walking all around us (this was a theme too) as we aggressively raced in 6 inch water. It was real mature.
After the Dead Sea, we went to the side of the highway and attempted to hitchhike. It was Shabbat so no buses were running. There were three guys and five girls, so we just sat back on a bench as the girls tried to get people to pull over, and then we walked up to the car and got in. We split up into three cars, one guy in each in case there’s a serial killer, and eventually were able to make it to the base of Masada. The girls had interesting conversations with the guards working there and we were able to get a free dinner as well as permission to camp out directly underneath Masada, an area typically off limits. Amazing what a few batted eyelashes can do. Anyway, the night was great but sleeping simply did not occur. We really underestimated how hard rocks can be.
We woke up at 4:45 am and started climbing Masada to see sunrise. Unfortunately, by the time we got up to the top, we realized it was a foggy day and there actually was no clear sunrise. Oops. At this point we were exhausted and starving and barely made it down the mountain before collapsing into seats at the hotel’s cafeteria for breakfast (we had to pay for that… different guards). After eating, our heads started falling to the table one by one as we began taking naps in the middle of the cafeteria. Somehow, we roused ourselves to leave before all of us were asleep, but it was not a fun walk back to the highway.
We waited another hour for some kind person to pick us up (side note: next time I see a hitchhiker, I am giving them a ride, I don’t care if they have bloodstains on their shirt and are wielding an ax) and eventually settled on a sherut. We got to Ein Ghedi and I snuck in with an Asian tour group with the help of my sunglasses, and then we all found a nice rock alcove beside a waterfall crowded with families and naked Israeli children. We fell asleep amidst all the noise, even though kids would occasionally stoop down to us and scream in our faces for no apparent reason. For the most part, our bodies were ignored and stepped over. I got about four hours of sleep there, and by then it was sundown so we were able to make it back to the bus stop and catch a bus back to Jerusalem.
It was a great trip, not because we saw sunrise at Masada, or fully enjoyed Ein Ghedi, or slept on hard rocks, or hitchhiked with random people – but because we had some awesome conversations and frankly, it wouldn’t have mattered where we were. Being in the Dead Sea or Masada was just a plus.
I’m glad I finally got around to doing this. Since there were 8 of us, we were asked at the top of Masada if we were a Birthright group. I was insulted. We are OSP (one semester program) study abroad students at THE Hebrew University, not some 2-week Birthright schmucks! It was a funny feeling doing that stuff on our own leisure though, because I’ve only ever done them on organized trips.
Two nights ago (Monday night), there were crazy parties everywhere for independence day. Israeli Independence Day is a bit different than the 4th of July. For one, there's a siren at 11 am, and you can walk to the highway and see cars pull over and their drivers get out and stand in respect of the siren. It's interesting because not all the cars stop; it's mainly divided by Arabs and Israelis. Another reason that Israeli Independence Day is different than the 4th of July is that there are crazy parties EVERYWHERE. The shuk had stages set up, bands, DJ's, drum circles - all alongside carts of fruit! We went there and then stopped by the Jerusalem Botanic Gardens for an insane party that was co-sponsored by Hebrew U. Everyone was going crazy and so happy on a level completely different than a usual night going out - there were Israeli flags everywhere, and it was a very prideful night. Definitely one of my favorite nights here.
Tomorrow morning I'm leaving for Eilat at 6:30 am. We will be staying at a hostel in Eilat Thursday night, then meeting a Beduoin and traveling to Wadi Ram in Jordan, staying in a Beduoin tent Friday night. Saturday we are going to Petra! After this weekend, the only trip left that I have any energy/desire to do is EGYPT, the travel warning has been rescinded so hopefully sometime in May.
P.S. We recently discovered a bird’s nest, with two baby birds, on the ledge outside our bathroom window. I could reach down and grab them, but I won’t, because I’m not hungry. Right now they are huddling under Mommy bird for warmth. This will be a running update in the blog, I’m gonna call it Birdwatch.
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