Yad Vashem

"And to them will I give in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name (a "yad vashem")... that shall not be cut off."
(Isaiah, chapter 56, verse 5)

Yad Vashem is located on Har Hazikaron, the Mount of Remembrance, in Jerusalem, and is a huge, sprawling complex of tree-filled walkways leading to museums, exhibits, archives, monuments, sculptures, gravesites and memorials.

The Hall of Remembrance is a solemn tent-like structure with doors made to look like barbed wire. On the floor are the names of the six death camps and some of the concentration camps and killing sites throughout Europe. In front of a large memorial flame lies a crypt containing ashes of victims. Memorial ceremonies for official visitors are always held here.

The awe-inspiring Children's Memorial is hollowed out from an underground cavern, where memorial candles, a customary Jewish tradition to remember the dead, are reflected infinitely in a dark and somber space. As you walk through, you hear the names and ages of the murdered children, recited in Hebrew, Yiddish and English. This memorial is a tribute to the approximately one and a half million Jewish children who perished during the Holocaust. It was made possible by the gift of a couple whose young son died in the Shoah.

The Avenue of the Righteous Among the Nations honor the non-Jews who risked their lives to help Jews during the Holocaust, such as Oskar Schindler and the family who hid Anne Frank. Over 2000 trees, symbolic of the renewal of life, have been planted in and around the avenue.

The amazing new Holocaust History Museum presents the story of the Shoah from a Jewish perspective, showing the experiences of the individual victims through original artifacts, survivor testimonies and personal possessions. It consists of a long linear structure in the form of a spike that cuts through the mountain with its uppermost edge – a skylight – protruding through the mountain ridge. The building is almost as incredible as the exhibits themselves, which become quite overwhelming.

At the end of the Museum’s historical presentation is the Hall of Names--over 3 million of them and counting--serving as a repository for the Pages of Testimony of millions of Holocaust victims, a memorial to those who perished.

The final scenes of the museum showed the survivors coming to Israel, with film clips of children singing HaTikvah. In a way, this was more moving than the heartwrenching scenes that came before, and we were able to leave Yad Vashem on this uplifting note.