Israel Trip: Day 8

Here is todays update, it might be a little disjointed, particularly towards the end, but I wanted to get it posted nonetheless because we are moving abodes tomorrow and my internet access will be very limited over the next two days before getting home. So instead of dumping 3 updates once I get back, here is 1 and I will dump the last 2 days once I get back.

Today we started by listening to an Israeli settle talk. He talked a little about the history of the Et Tun (Not sure on spelling) block of 4 settlements. The first was settled in 1929, it went through several periods of destruction and resettlement. There was a massacre at the Et Zion (again, not sure on spelling) settlement where 150 settlers were rounded up and shot by the Jordanians. There was held a memorial each year on independence day for the 69 orphans from that, until 1967 when the West Bank, were Et Zion was located, was regained by the Israelis. He didn't talk much about the whole issue of settlements though, I was a little disappointed. It seems a big reason behind the settlements is that it is the Biblical land of Israel and they want to claim it for the state of Israel. There is much contention about whether to give the West Bank area to the Palestinians, but it si more than just an issue of desiring peace, there is actually quite a desire among many Israelis for peace, but if the Palestinians own the West Bank, they will be within ½ mile of Jerusalem, if they don't get East Jerusalem, which is what they want probably won't be happy without. So, while it seems there is no need to be provocative with building settlements, it is also hard to give it back because of the danger of being so close to the territory and risking attack.
We then went to Yad Vashem. This is the Israeli Holocaust museum. Throughout this museum they try to tell individual stories to better allow the viewer to relate to and grasp the size of the event, it is hard to grasp the fact the 6 million Jews were killed. First we saw the children's memorial, for the 1.5 million children killed. It was sponsored by a couple who's child was killed in the holocaust, but they survived. It starts with rock columns with the tops knocked off and an arch with metal rebar sticking out of it to represent the metal fences and barbed wire of the camps. Then you walk into the memorial itself. There are 5 candles lit in the center with an arrangement of mirrors around them and around the room, which is pitch black but for the candles, and then mirrors reflect the light back and forth approximately 1.5 million times to represent the 1.5 million souls. As you walk through this the name, age, and country of origin of each child killed is recited in English and Hebrew (and also Yiddish?), it takes a year and a half to get through them all. This is one of my favorite memorials I've ever been to. As you walk into the dark room it is slightly disorienting, you can't tell where the walls are or anything, it is just this immense collection of lights, and the children's names are being read off. To me it was awe-inspiring in a sense and also very reflective and sobering, to think of those 1.5 million children who were murdered, what they might have grown up to be and do. I think a well done memorial is an amazing thing, particularly when it is done well and with care, when certain aspects symbolize something to do with the event being memorialized.
Then we went into the main museum, it was interesting to me in that it was rather well lighted, rather than dim as I would have thought. It is basically a long triangular corridor with the displays in rooms to the side and you zig-zag back and forth until you get to the end and it flairs open onto a balcony overlooking a valley, it symbolizes the hope of a new day and the land the Jews now had. We all went through the museum at our own pace. Near the beginning a quote was on a display that jumped out at me, “A country is not just what it does-it is also what it tolerates...”-Kurt Tucholsky, a Jewish writer. This to me is something very applicable to any country at any time for any issue. When I first saw it I thought more of issues morality that might be tolerated, though that is more on a personal level perhaps than a governmental level. But it is certainly applicable to many other issues, this quote and the next one both should give motivation to not just stand idly by when things are happening that you know aren't right, but since they don't directly affect you don't seem worth your time and effort. This quote is more famous than the last, “They came for the communists, and I did not object for I was not a communist. Then they came for the socialists, and I did not object for I was not a socialist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not object for I was not a Jew. When they came for me, there was no one left to object...”- Martin Niemoller, German Pastor.
This memorial to me wasn't as emotional as perhaps I've been dealing with the holocaust at other times, I think this might have been an issue of factual overload reading all the signs, and maybe an atmosphere as conducive to that, but to me it was still very sobering and heavy. I think memorials like this are excellent, they remind us of many things. In particular they remind us of the event that happened, that it really happened, that real people had their lives effected. It reminds us that since it has happened once, it can happen again. I think this is a cue Americans could take from the Jews; with something such as 9/11, we should always remember, it was real people and a real event and we should be working to stop that from ever happening again, if we forget, it will happen again. For the Israelis their motto is “Never Again.” They have their own state and will never let an atrocity like that happen again. If you say you are going to kill them, they will believe you and try to kill you first; people didn't believe Hitler and he did it anyways.
I think this also shows the utter depravity of mankind, what it is possible to inflict on each other, even in this “modern” age. A question to ask, and one I don't have a an answer to is what the Germans who actually did these acts were thinking. I mean, they were humans, not animals, but it appears they had lost their humanity by the things they did. What was it that caused them to do that, or at least to allow them in their own minds to do that? People also ask the question of why didn't people do anything about it at the time it was happening, whether Germans, or Jews, or anyone else. I don't think most people would be any different now, most people wouldn't do anything about it. It comes somewhat gradually, and then you have to fight against every institution you've ever known, your government and police, that isn't something you do lightly. I think, just like then, it would take a bit to get people to do anything about a situation that has arisen (while a little further away, take other genocides such as Darfur for example).
We also had a site presentation that talked about the effect of the Holocaust on the formation fo the state of Israel. Looking at it as a whole, there was already a Zionist impetus before the Holocaust happened, but the holocaust helped speed things up and put some pressure on other countries to allow the Jews to have a state of their own. So while not causing the formation of the state, it did assist. Some people say the holocaust caused the state of Israel, but it can also be said that if there had been a state of Israel there would have been no holocaust.
Also I presented on the 1948 Israeli war for Independence. Briefly, the British left Palestine on May 14 1948. The same day David Ben-Gurion declared the state of Israel and 7 Arab armies; Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Lebanon, and Sudan invaded Israel. There were numerous UN truces and partition plans spaced throughout the fighting, but the war ended throughout 1949 as separate cease-fires were signed between Israel and the individual Arab countries. It was also during this time that the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) was formed. In the end they had 65% of the original British mandate with Gaza controlled by Egypt and the West Bank controlled by Jordn. In this war over 6,000 Israelis were killed, 1% of the population. That is a lot, if that was the US, that would be over 3 million people. After the war the population of Israel climbed from 600,000 to 1.5 million within a short while. This caused a lot of hardship for everyone, but they are remarkably pulled through and are a rather modern country as a whole today.
We also went to the Garden Tomb. This is the other possible location of the death and burial of Jesus. There is some evidence that seems to show the possibility of it, but as was mentioned in the last journal, the Holy Sepulchre church seems the most likely. However, this was a much more peaceful place to reflect on and think about the death of Jesus.

The place Jesus might have been buried.

We then had several presentations after dinner tonight which I will briefly summarize here. First was the importance of the Temple Mount. The temple mount, and Jerusalem as a whole, is important to 3 major religions of the world; Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. It is only the 3rd holiest city for Islam, but this is where they believe Muhammad ascended to heaven to talk with god before spreading it around the world. For the Jews the Temple used to be here. For Christians this is where Jesus was, his death and resurrection, the birth of their religion.
The Topography of Jerusalem. Jerusalem is a city located on a hill, rather two ridges. It isn't built in a valley like many cities to create ease of access and trade, but up high to allow for defense. It wasn't built all the way up though, it was built a little lower down because of access to water without having go outside the city walls. They dug a shaft down to the spring, however, David and his men climbed up this shaft to take the city from the Jebusites. Jerusalem has slowly expanded, Solomon pushed it up the ridge in the construction of the temple and Hezekiah pushed it out to control another ridge and more water. Eventually the city grew suburbs outside its walls which the Romans later tried to enclose with more walls.
The walls of Jerusalem ties into this. The original Jebusite city (though it was probably 3000 yr old at that point) was about 10 acres which David expanded to 15 when he took it. When Hezekiah expanded the walls it grew to contain the western ridge, to protect it from invading Assyrians led by Senacherib. It was then destroyed and the rebuilt by Nehemiah to a size not much larger than David's city. Hasmoneans expanded again and Herod built water storage systems and more walls. While Jerusalem has changed hands many times since then, the wall locations (even if they've been repaired and rebuilt) have pretty much stayed the same. There have been a few large stones as part of a wall at a low level that are 6000 years old, they are from far before the Jebusites, who it was is unknown, though this place was inhabited at least as early as the time of Abraham, this is where Melchizedek resided.
The Mt. Zion presentation also tied into this, Mt. Zion is basically the location of the temple mount. Mt. Zion is where David built his palace and put the Ark of the Covenant. Solomon built the temple further up the ridge, but at a place called Mt Moriah. There was been confusion about what is Mt.Zion. The southwest ridge has been called mount zion, partly because the Romans took over the real mount in thier conquests and Christians were looking for elsewhere to worship. Today the southwest gate is called the Zion gate. But, the southeast ridge is where the original mount Zion was.
Our final presentation was on American religious views of the Arab-Israeli conflict. There are many different views depending on ones beliefs, there were even different views within denominations. Jews (though not all do) and evangelical fundamentalist christians tend to support the state of Israel the most. The Christian view comes primarily from the relatively new theology of dispensationalism. This hold there are 7 dispensations, time periods, where God deals with man differently. 5 have already passed, and the 7th is the millennial reign of Jesus and for that to occur it is believed the Jews must be back in Israel. So, the founding of a Jewish state is rather exciting. Some Christians though are more of what is known as liberation theology, it is more of a peace movement, and they tend to be more sympathetic to the palestinians, this primarily includes Catholics and Unitarians, among a few others.b Overall, there is a strong view towards peace and even pressuring Israel to compromise, compared with the hardline/hawkish view. The compromise view in young American Jews is driven a lot because of their lack of baggage from previous wars and influence by liberal thinking on college campuses which tend to be more oriented in that manner.