Holocaust Museum, Israel Museum, Shiloh, Garden Tomb

July 2
Today we began the day at the Holocaust museum in Jerusalem. The museum walks you through the events of the Holocaust chronologically, with pictures, artifacts, and video footage. It was so powerful to see actual things and people from this time; it made it really real. Here are a couple things I wrote down from the museum:

“When I grow up and get to be twenty, I’ll travel and see this world of plenty. In a bird with an engine I will sit myself down, take off and fly into space. Far above the ground. I’ll fly, I’ll cruise and soar up high above a world so lovely, into the sky.”
Written by Abramek Koplowicz who was murdered in Auschwitz at age fourteen.

“Even back there, in the shadow of the chimneys, in the breaks between pain, there was something resembling happiness…For me, the happiness there will always be the most memorable experience perhaps.”
Written by Imre Kertesz.

It was really moving to see that these two people retained hope even in such desperate situations. The museum had numerous journal entries from people who had written during the Holocaust. It also had artwork that was done, including one woman who was an art student and followed all the events through an illustrated play she wrote. It was amazing how well-preserved things were. The museum did such a good job of honoring the people involved.

After that we went to the Israel museum, which has a lot of ancient artifacts as well as dead sea scrolls. The Isaiah scroll was really impressive because it is fully intact. It was cool to see the way they sewed the scrolls together and how sturdy the papyrus paper was.

From there we went to Shiloh, where the Ark of the Covenant was held in the Bible. It was interesting because this site hasn’t been excavated at all and there wasn’t a church built over it to commemorate the biblical event. Instead it was just open space and was really windy.

We ended the day at the traditional site of the garden tomb, where Jesus was buried. My professor doesn’t think this an accurate location, but it was still interesting to see what a tomb looks like from around this time period. It was built into the stone of a wall, and was big enough to walk around inside upright. It had a ledge inside where the body would have been laid. The stone to guard the door wasn’t there anymore. The man who gave us the tour of this site was British and a Christian, which was kind of refreshing after being in such a Jewish world that doesn’t recognize Jesus’ life and resurrection as the Messiah.

This was the last day of tours for people who are only attending the first class, so it will be sad to see some of the friends I’ve made over the past three weeks go home. Tomorrow morning I leave for Jordan and then my second class, Jesus and His Times, beings!