Friday, January 3, 2014

The Jewish Paradox

By Jonathan Reichsfeld Bursztyn '15

Jews live paradoxical lives: in 1945 the allies liberated many of our grandparents from the concentration camps. However, most Jews today agree that we are still far from feeling free. Our visit to the Yad Vashem memorial today confirmed the aforementioned belief and presented to us the Holocaust in an innovative way. Instead of focusing on numbers, the memorial highlights anecdotes and experiences of people we could easily relate with. This strategy combats the tradition that the Nazis pioneered and many Jews ironically continued of dehumanizing our people.

Our second day in Jerusalem, however, did not end on a solemn note. We just got back from the Jersualem Market, where we experienced how the local citizens live. My friends and I ate Chicken Shwarma on baked pita bread. We accompanied this delicious meal with a freshly squeezed juice of orange and pomegranate. We also welcomed the Shabbat with a sweet delight by purchasing Baklava for dessert.

We are now getting ready to start the Shabbat celebrations. Stay tuned to learn about our first Shabbat in Israel!

Yad Vashem

View of Jerusalem from the end of the museum

On the way to the Jerusalem Mahane Yehuda market

At the Shuk in Mahane Yehuda

2 comments:

  1. Nice to read what our son Jonathan Reichsfeld wrote. Shabat Shalom to all of you and hava a wonderful trip and experience. Alex and Luli Reichsfeld, Santa Cruz, Bolivia (South America).

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