During our CBI Family Israel Trip, Rabbi Kahn will be emailing us reflections from our members.
Today's reflection was prepared by Jason Morris...
CBI Israel Trip Update
Sunday, December 28, 2014 - 6 Tevet, 5775
Prepared By: Paulina & Jason Morris
As you would visit family to help them mourn, so our group spentSunday - mourning with Israel. But as mourning is also a celebration of the life lived, we reflected on the accomplishments of those who came before us and paved the way for our Jewish homeland.
Our day began at Yad Vashem (The State of Ísrael's National Holocaust Center) - equal parts architectural wonder, emotional roller-coaster and institutional conscience. Though we had both been to Yad Vashem on previous visits to Israel, there is no less impact nor connection on subsequent visits. The word powerfulseems inadequate to describe the feelings conjured by our guide Sharon, who led us through the web of the Shoah with a deft knowledge and touch. As we concluded our visit, we shared briefly in the Bar Mitzvah experience of a young man from Mexico, celebrating his simcha in an unlikely venue - the Synagogue at Yad Vashem. Seeing this familiar ritual helped illustrate both the global impact and the hope of our people.
The physical and spiritual proximity of Yad Vashem to the State of Israel's National Military Cemetery, Mt. Herzl was evident as our group climbed the path from one to the other. There we visited so many of the final resting places of Israel's great Zionists, from its founders to political leaders and the foot-soldiers who made this nation possible. This was not, however, a field trip. It was an opportunity to pay respect to members of our family and learn more about those patriarchs, like Herzl himself, who played a critical role in our homestead. The Herzl Museum was an interactive look into the man who ignited the Zionist flame, and how he managed to kindle that fire.
Our visit to this area concluded with a stop at the grave of Michael Levin. Though the grave site itself is standard issue, both the story and shrine around the site is profoundly immeasurable. This nice Jewish boy from outside of Philadelphia was not an historic figure or the leader of a nation. He was a Phillies fan and camper who sought to join the IDF and make a difference. Not much older than the sons and daughters on our trip, he gave his life for his country while fighting in the 2006 Second Lebanon War.
We finished an emotionally heavy day with a visit to the Har Nofneighborhood of Jerusalem, home to Kehilat B'nei Torah - the site of last month's terror incident resulting in the death of four worshipers and a Druse policeman who tried to intervene. This was not a tourist destination but instead - as Rabbi Kahn noted - it was a "shiva"call to console the bereft members - something we do as Jews. We met with a representative of the community, stared with shock at the still-fresh bullet holes, deliveredTzedakah on behalf of CBI and paid our respects to members of our extended Jewish family. We were not tourists but family consoling our loved one's for their horrific and senseless loss.
It was a day of remembrance - for our relatives who faced terror in days past and those who live with it today. And tomorrow we exemplify what we do as a Jewish people - we persevere, we push on and celebrate life with a Bat Mitzvah. L'chaim!
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