Yad Vashem and the state of Israel

Today was incredibly moving day, as we visited Yad Vashem and revisited the theme of remembrance. One of the most striking things about the museum is that the building is an underground triangle, symbolizing the way the Holocaust caved in on the Jews. When thinking about an elongated triangle, one would think it easy to travel straight through, but the Yad Vashem structure is full of barriers that force visitors to view every room and bypass every artifact.  These barriers are made of various mini-exhibits, such as books banned by the Nazis and other original objects from World War II. Another interesting architectural design is that  all of the flooring is stone except after exiting the last room, reflecting the alleviation of hardship at the end of the war.  In each room, we visited a different chronological portion of the Holocaust, and viewed genuine artifacts such as a letter written by a child on her way to Auschwitz and a Nazi flag used in political rallies. At the end of the triangle are two large glass doors that lead to to a balcony overlooking the Jerusalem landscape, providing a glimpse of the hope that emerged from the Holocaust.   Finally, we went to the children's Memorial - a dark room with many mirrors reflecting a single candle. There were lights twinkling everywhere. As we blindly walked through the room, we heard a voice reciting the names of the innocent children who lost their lives in WWII. Today, we experienced a life changing event and something we will never forget. we then went to hertzel's grave sight. Throughout the year we have been learning about hertzel's dream for a jewish state. After such a tragic  event in our history it was very emotional experience. We started our day off by going back in time to the devastation of the holocaust where many Jews died because there was no Jewish state. Although, we ended our day by seeing Israel, a state for Jewish safety. Jackie F