Newspapers / The Charlotte Jewish News … / June 1, 1989, edition 1 / Page 7
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Mission to Israel Page 7-THE NEWS-Jun«/July 1989 cont’d from preceding page ing, prison garb, tattered, stained; shoes, broken eye glasses, were all on display. Eleven million people of whom six million were Jews and one and a half million were children. The numbers are staggering. And each number represented a per son; someone who couldn’t have been much different from any of us. I walked through the museum, my vision distorted by tears. Beyond attending the birth of my children. I’m not sure that Fve ever experienced anything so emotionally draining. Or so I thought. We participated in a Yis- kor service in the Hall of Remembrance during which flowers were placed upon stone markers. Each marker was engraved with the name of a concentration camp. An eternal flame bums above the ashes of victims from each of the camps. At the end of the service we entered the Children’s Memorial. A California fam ily, who lost a son, donated the funds. Outside of the memorial were a number of concrete columns, each brok en off at different heights. The symbolism was pain fully apparent. The Child ren’s Memorial is built into the ground. To enter, you walk down a gently sloping walkway which curves to the left and into the single room of the memorial. It is pitch black inside; the hand rail is your only tie to the physical. Pinpoints of light, each one looking as a star, create the sense of being in deep space, surrounded only by galaxies of stars. Each pinpoint of light, each star, represents a child lost. A voice speaks a child’s name in their native lan guage and repeats it in Eng lish. Every child. Every name. 1,500,000 children. We exited the memorial into the bright sunlight and a stunning view of Jerusa lem. The most brutal of con trasts. If I live to be a thou sand years old I’ll never forget what I saw that Sun day morning in Jerusalem. We boarded the busses, emotionally drained. I think we all wanted to speak to someone, just to reacquaint ourselves with the present but we were all very empty. “Unbelievable” was a word on everyone’s lips. By the time we reached the east side of Jerusalem, our guide, Matty, had brought us out of our reflections and began preparing us for Mas ada. On the way, we passed Bedouin encampments com plete with livestock roaming around and television anten nas sticking up from the tents. We saw a herd of camels and passed the cave in which the Dead Sea COUNCIL OF JEWISH FEDERATIONS 58th GENERAL ASSEMBLY NOVEMBER 14-19. 1930 Masada — from base; view east looking westward. Photo/P. Joffe Myada — food storage areas found ftill when Romans reached sumikmit Photo/M. Joffe UJA Region III Men*« Syndironised S'wim and Float Team in practice session. Photo/M. Joffe Scrolls were found. As we headed south, the Dead Sea was immediately to our left and the Jordanian high lands beyond that. We passed the kibbutz of Ein Gedi and the well known spa where a number of us formed what we believe to be the first UJA Region III Men’s Synchronized Swim and Float Team late in the eifter- noon and after visiting Mas ada. The contrasts throughout the mission were dramatic. We ate a boxed lunch at the base of Masada, 1300 feet below sea level and the low est place on earth. Then took the cable car up to the re mains of the fortress which is at sea level. Because the mountain is not connected to the surrounding range, Her od perceived it to be a perfect location for a fortress. There is an excellent view in all directions and it is defenda- ble from attacks which would have to originate from the base, attacking upward instead of from cui adjoining mountaintop and attacking across. Anyone looking at Masada understands at once why it was selected. Prom the ruins the view is awe some. Everything is colored shades of brown and gold. The nearest vegetation is several miles north at the Ein Gedi kibbutz; from the top of the mountain it looks like a green spot far in the distance. The entire region is extraordinarily barren. Once we were all gathered in the fortress, our guide led us through its history. Nine hundred and sixty Jews al lowed themselves to be killed by their own guai^d rather than be taken as prisoners by the Romans who had surrounded Masada and placed it under siege. The Romans finally reached the summit by building a ramp on the west side of the moun tain. When they actually entered the fortress they found everyone dead. They also found ample food sup- DEEDEE DAUMIT Superior Performance Superior Person Team up with the very best! When selling or buying a home call Deedee. She will provide that personal and professional scrvice. Merrill Lynch Realty/Alyce Walker Office 1300 E. Morehead St. 333-5700 - OFFICE 366-8648 — HOME Phil with stones which were rolled down at the Roman legions. Photo/M. Joffe plies and realized then that those men, women and chil dren who were lying dead all around them had made the most tragic of decisions. That statement, made by those ancestors of ours so many years ago, remains powerful and valid to this day; Israeli Defense Force recruits swear their alle giance at night, in candle light, on Masada. In the future, when people speak to me of freedom and its price, I will think of what hap pened on that mountaintop. The price our ancestors paid for their freedom is immeas urable in my terms. Our mission ended two days later. Monday was spent in Tel-Aviv at the Museum of the Jewish Dias pora and visiting a local kibbutz. Tuesday we toured the Knesset and were ad dressed by a cabinet official. All of it was interesting but, without question, paled when compared to the events of the preceding several days. We had a wonderful din ner party Tuesday night and said our farewells to the many delightful people with whom we shared this special mission experience. Most departed for home early the following morning; Maddie and I were stajdng for a few more days. Editor*8 Note: The final installment will appear in the August issue. WHERE IMAGIMATION TAKE S SHAPE
The Charlotte Jewish News (Charlotte, N.C.)
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June 1, 1989, edition 1
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