Project Interchange Israel- Day 3

The Chronicle's Sabrina Rubakovic is a part of a week-long trip in Israel with Project Interchange, an institute of the American Jewish Committee. She is one of many representatives from American campus newspapers visiting the Middle Eastern country to broaden perspectives of the region and explore Israeli-American relations. Rubakovic will be blogging daily about her experience.

After the bumpy camel ride at the Bedouin camp, the Project Interchange Campus Media delegation left for Jerusalem. After about a one hour car ride, the beautiful tree-topped hills and endless sunny skyline popped into sight. After a few memorable pictures were taken, we went to the Yad VaShem Holocaust Museum. The museum was extremely powerful in its conveyance of the atrocities of the Holocaust, its impact on the European continent, and its aftermath. One feature I found effective was the symbolism of the building's design. The main part of the museum led visitors through a snakepath of interactive exhibits, full of artifacts, videos, surround sound, and even a replica of one of the most popular streets in a Jewish ghetto for people to walk on. As I proceeded through the timeline of World War II, the floor sloped slightly downhill, displaying the declining fate of the Jewish people. When it reached the point where camps were liberated by the Allied powers, the floor started sloping upward, indicating a more positive future. In addition, the building is pyramid-shaped and meant to be cold and dark, with only a sliver of light at the tip of the pyramid to illustrate hope. Another building in the museum complex is a memorial to the 1.5 million children that died in the Holocaust, and uses a system of mirrors and candles to make visitors feel like they are looking into outer space when inside, all while repeating the names, home cities, and ages of the vicitims. This was meant to represent the Jewish belief that children are extremely important, the future—the universe.

Another major aspect of the museum is its transition from previously held attitudes toward the Holocaust in Israel. Our next speaker explained that after the Holocaust, Jews found themselves guilty for not taking more action to stop the atrocities taking place. Thus, groups involved in the tragedy were polarized between the heroes, who were valiantly portrayed in the museum, and the victims, who were portrayed with bowed heads and incomplete bodies. The speaker explained that a rabbi in New York said the Holocaust happened due in part to the Zionistic movement, while others believed that it was due to a lack of Zionism and willingness to fight. Ultimately, mindsets have shifted to thinking that Jews are not at fault for the Holocaust, and in the new design of the building designers made sure to portray Jewish life before the Holocaust. I found this very powerful and effective in prizing the culture of the victims, rather than showing them as at fault.

The group then went on a tour of the Old City of Jerusalem. Barely scratching its surface, we visited one of the oldest Greek Orthodox churches, where Jesus Christ is said to have died. We reached the beautfiul, tourist-packed church after walking through the maze-like bazaar market of the city, complete with endless stores of Mediterranean menentos and even a group of elderly men playing backgammon. After that, we made our way tot he Western Wall to welcom the sabbath, or shabbat. The wall is one of the remains of a platform King Herod built for the previously standing Jewish temple, and is currently a  highly popular synagogue for Orthodox Jews. The area was extremely packed with visitors this evening, many attempting to fulfill the tradition of placing a written message of prayer within the cracks of the wall. We will definitely be back this weekend to tour these areas when they're not as crowded with visitors.

After experiencing the Old City, I took part in the tradition of the Shabat family dinner on Friday night. Our group was hosted by an Israeli family living by Jerusalem, where we were introduced to the traditions of the Shabbat dinner, including the custom of washing one's hands before the meal and the Hebrew prayers recited prior to eating. Overall, Shabbat entails many customs that I was not aware of: ideally, Jews were not supposed to brush their hair, turn on lights, write, or play music on Shabat, which extended from Friday evening to Saturday evening. The rabbi even recently mandated that Jews should not pick their noses on Shabbat because that may pull out a nose hair, and tearing hair is prohibited.

And even though I've been in this country for only 80 hours, the chock-full, multi-faceted educational days like today make it feel like I've been here much longer. I'm sure that tomorrow will be just as exciting: we're learning about Palestinian points of view, taking a nature hike through a desert oasis, and swimming in the Dead Sea (more like floating, actually).