The Holocaust
Where: Holocaust locations.
Duration: 1 days
What to bring: hat, water.
Language: The tour is originally in English.
We cannot forget. We cannot forgive. The incomprehensible events of the Holocaust are in the heart of every Israeli, and in the heart of every Jew in the world. I believe they should also be in the hearts of every human being. The horrific events and genocide are known to all. Here in Israel we learn about this from a young age. One can say that they can explain motivations and behaviors in Israeli society, and in the highest Israeli leadership. The fear of a repeat disaster, God forbid, that could again happen today to the Jewish people in the Land of Israel is a basic concept in Israeli society, and perhaps it explains part of Israeli policy toward close and distant neighbors. Here in Israel we say: Never again! We drank the glass of poison to the end!
Activities
In Israel there are a number of sites that tell the story of the Holocaust. Most of the sites are large and impressive, but I usually start the story of the Holocaust with my guests in a forest in the Jerusalem hills near a special monument created by the artist Nathan Rapoport. This artist touches me. He is a Holocaust survivor himself who says: "What I could not express in words, I expressed by my hand," and I understand him and identify with him with all my heart. In the monument he created - the scroll of fire - there is also hope, the Jewish people rose from the ashes to build something new.
We will read the Kaddish (mourners' prayer) in memory of the murdered millions.
In the story of the Holocaust words fail us. Most of the tours in museums such as Yad Vashem or Kibbutz Lohamei Hagetaot or Yad Mordechai or elsewhere do not require explanations. There is almost no energy to speak. And the tours are usually conducted quietly, in silence. Words fail us.
A tour of the Holocaust in my opinion is a must for visiting Israel. The tour itself takes at least 5 hours. At the end of the tour I take my guests to a little more lively place that will allow them to process the difficult experience, whether it's an open market, or a school / kindergarten in Jerusalem, or the Jewish quarter to see one of the ceremonies.
