Yom Ha'shoah and Tuesday

today is Tuesday the 3rd of May.  What an amazing day today was, and yesterday was amazing as well.  In the morning we came with our Israeli hosts to Tel Chai College.  Yom Ha'shoah is the day that celebrates the remembrance of the Jews who died in the Holocaust.  Shoah is the Hebrew/Jewish/Israeli name for the Holocaust, as it seperates it from all other holocausts.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holocaust#Historical_usage_of_Holocaust.2C_Shoah_and_Final_Solution

We went to the university and sat on the side of a hill and watched a presentation given by the students to all the other students.  We all wore white and it was an amazing presentation.  Although I did not understand any of it because it was in Hebrew, I could feel the emotion coming from the people who were up on stage.  Tal, one of the Israeli's we are touring with and is hosing someone from our group, sang some songs on stage andit was an amazing thing to see.  At the end, we sung Hatikvah, the Israeli national anthem, and I was able to singalong.

After that we went into the school.  We sat around and talked about Judaism, the Shoah, why we remember, and why it is important to remember.  The conversation was great and could have kept going.  I will highlight the point I made, as it is what I believe is the most important aspect of remembrnace, especially the Shoah.

It is important for us as Jews to remember what hapened to us, as we have the ability and responsibility to ensure that we do everything we can to make sure it happens to noone else.  The State of Israel was established so that Jews would have our homeland as a safe haven to return to if our religion is ever trheatened again, and now that we have this security we must do what we can to help others.  The holocaust in Rwanda in which 800,000 people died in 100 days would have meant more than 6 million people would have died if it lasted the same six years asthe Shoah.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwandan_Genocide  As Jews, because we remember, we are responsible to help others.

That was my point. After the discussion, we went to watch a play about one womans life growing up, through, and after the Shoah.  Again, I understood nothing and got nothing out of it.  1.5 hours later....dinner.

We then went home and had time to rest for a bit.  I went with my host Asa and met some of our Canadian and Israeli friends at a bar for some drinks.  They sell them 1+1 which means for every draft beer, you get one free.  I had Guiness and it was yummy.

Today was our first day of volunteer work at Shchafim school.  We are building some benches and painting a mural and some classrooms.  The students came to help out as best they could, and we got a lot of work done until 2 pm.  After that, we went on a kayaking/boating trip down the Jordan River.  It was a great time.  We were all jumping from boat to boat, puching people in and general good time-ness.  I am pretty sure I did the same thing when I was here as a 16 year old with USY in 1998.

After that we went to a youth centre and had some pizza.  Now I am at Rotem's house.  He is a chef and cooked up the eanest barbecue I have actually ever been to.  Steak, burgers, beef kabobs, beef sausage, filet mignon, yummmmmm.  Sooooo much beef and deliciousness!  I am drinking a Goldstar beeran loving life.  We are going to watch the semi-finals in football of Barcelona against Madrid.

Talk to you soon.

Sincerely,

Elliot S. Weinstein