יום השואה

4/27 Sunday

ToDay was a regular school day. After dinner we joined the entire kibbutz for their Yom HaShoah memorial service. The whole thing was in Hebrew but they gave us translation packets so we could follow along. It was really nice and that was the first time we were together with the entire kibbutz. They sang 2 songs which we had sang during our services in camps in Poland. It brought back those memories but this time we weren't in Poland, we were here, at Tzuba with all these people who had also lost family in the Holocaust. We heard a few testimonies and sang HaTikvah. It was a lot shorter than I think most of us expected it to be but it was good because it kept everyone's full focus.

After the service we walked down to the Belmont (the lobby of the hotel) and heard one of the girls on the trip grandparents speak. He had only been a baby during the Holocaust but he still had memories of seeing things and still had a story of how he survived. 

It's sad to think that soon there will be no more survivors who can personally tell their stories. 

The rest if the night I spent finishing up my Jewish history presentation for tomorrow and had some bonding time with my roommates. 

4/28 

יום השואה- Holocaust Remembrance Day. Having recently gone to Poland and having been in Israel for 3 months, I have a much different feeling about this day than I have in the past. 

We learned in Jewish history the full name of this day. It's a day not only to remember the atrocities if the Holocaust, but to also remember the heroism.  In Israel, there is a siren that goes off for 2 minutes. We went to a spot on the Kibbutz where you could see the highway and see the cars stop in the middle of the road for that time. It was interesting to see this even though not every car stopped. 

In global we went to the Zula and watched a video in which the son of a Nazi talked about his life and his choices. He grew up in Germany in a house with many secrets. He did not learn about the truth of his family until he was older. When he learned he did not approve. He ended up going to live with a community of Jews and converting. He even made Aliya to Israel and served in the IDF. For most of his life he kept his past a secret until finally he decided to come out and share it and the burden was lifted off his shoulders.

For our evening activity we watched another little movie. This one was about the Israeli Air Force and also about the allied powers lack of action towards the Shoah.