Blog (short for weblog)

Sunday July 5th

A short trip south to Latrun, and a trip east up through the mountains on a highway that parallels the old Burma road brought us to Jerusalem. The steep road, surrounded by high, dry hills slowed the two lanes of traffic to a modest speed. The vista off to the left of the old city surrounded by the new was unforgettable. The weather was clear and cooler with occasional clouds and a really nice breeze, which made for comfortable touring. I was traveling with the open soccer team, which was a slightly older and more mature  group than the juniors of the day before.

Kids at Haas Promenade, Jerusalem

Our first stop was at the Haas Terrace overlook that provided a stunning view of the city looking west. over the valley from hilltop to hilltop. The Old City and the Dome of the Rock were clearly visible, and provided a great backdrop for everyone to photograph one other against. The kids gathered together for  group shots with multiple cameras, and  I’m sure Facebook is going to have a lot of redundant photos tomorrow.

The light in Jerusalem is quite beautiful. The entire city is made of buildings buit on terraces, and all buildings are required to be surfaced with Jerusalem stone, which is a type of limestone that varies in color from cream, to mixtures with yellow and pink. As the light reflects off the buildings, it picks up these hues and diffuses the color through the atmosphere. Stunning and subtle, and I haven’t seen anything like it before.

Seperation Fence-West Bank (Palestine) to the right

Enroute to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum, we pulled over to take a look at the new separation fence being built. It’s purpose is to control the migration of Palestinians into the sity. The fence loosely follows the green line, which is the border of Jerusalem and the West bank.It’s a hi-tech border, with a low tech twist. I’ll get to that in a moment. The fence’s location is subject to several local conditions, including the local security threats, neighborhood needs, and negotiations by landholders. In most places the fence is a high, multi-stranded wire and mesh affair, with occasional stretches of high concrete walls. These concrete sections are to prevent snipers on the rooftops in the Palestine side from firing on the citizens in the Israeli side. On the Israeli side of the fence is a dirt road, and outside the dirt road is a paved road for military patrols, which run frequently. The dirt road is the interesting twist. In the morning, Bedouin trackers are sent through to look for traces of activity that might have escaped the radars, metal detectors, and night cameras. The military follow up immediately on the Bedouin’s findings.

Although it’s very controversial, since construction has begun, suicide bombings and sniper attacks in Jerusalem have dropped by over 90%. The Israelis take security very seriously, and take all measures necessary to control the external threats they face daily.

Yad Vashem

Yad Vashem is the Israeli Holocaust museum. It’s a very dramatic long triangular building that slices through a Mount Hertzel in Jerusalem. As you proceed through the museum, you travel chronologically through the beginnings of antisemitism in Nazi Germany. Exhibits document and describe the humiliation of the Jews and their harassment and relocation to ghettos and concentration camps. The horror’s of the “Ultimate Solution” is brought home in ways that not only quantify the numbers of the Jews and other “undesirables” killed, but in ways that personalize the experience. The last stop in the museum is the Hall of Memories, which is an ongoing catalog of the lives of the people who perished during the Holocaust. As stories are discovered, they are added to the catalogs, so that all who perished cannot be forgotten. A tall conical photo gallery reaching upwards is reflected in a symmetrical conical well  carved into the earth. Water in this context symbolizes life and the connection of those  who perished to the earth. You exit the displays to a balcony overlooking the beautiful wooded hills of Jerusalem. You are not the same person you were before you went in.

Hertzel Memorial

Yad Vashem is located about halfway up Mount Hertzel. A short hike uphill brought us to the Hertzel Memorial, the gravesite of the Zionist pioneer. Walking down the hill, we spent some time in the Israeli national cemetary, where any soldier who dies in action is buried. All in all, a sobering day that drives home the need to have a homeland, and the costs of creating and defending Israel.

National Cemetary

Tombstone