Our first activity this morning was a Test! Yes, this is school and with school comes a time of testing. After our first week of study, we were tasked with drawing the geography of Jerusalem and labeling the valleys and mountains. We also sketched out the Benjamin plateau and identified the types of soils, ancient cities and travel routes. After just one week, I have learned so much about the geography of the land and I have such a vivid understanding of the movement of people in and out of the area throughout the many generations recorded in the Bible. I am so excited to bring these new insights into my teaching when I get home. The pages of scripture are coming to life in vivid color as I read this “5th gospel” in the land!
After our test, we spent a couple of hours learning about the Shephelah and the Negev. We will be spending the next couple of days on a field trip down in the desert wilderness. We will experience the dry heat and steep mountains of the barren land and explore around the Dead Sea.
In the afternoon we took a train to the holocaust museum called Yad Veshem. The museum is a powerful retelling of the persecution of the Jews during the early 1930’s and 1940’s. Within the first few moments of entering the museum I felt heavy hearted with grief. The wall size photo that welcomes visitors is a scene of a ravine filled with charred bodies. I had to take a deep breath and relax the large lump in my throat that was compelling me to weep at the atrocities that were depicted within the museum walls. Yad Veshem is a stirring memorial to the 6 million Jews who were killed during the holocaust. Each room unveils the series of events that led up to the gruesome persecutions of the Jewish people as well as the handicapped, throughout Germany and Europe. Video testimonies from survivors who were ripped away from their parents during the raids on Jewish homes and then either killed or exiled to prison camps were heartbreaking. It was a time of great confusion and chaos for those who were scattered around the various European countries. Who could have imagined the evil atrocities that awaited innocent people who embarked upon that train to Auswitz?
The museum stands as poignant reminder of the capacity of mankind to propagate evil. Too often we minimize the effects of sin and deny the reality of evil. As we look around and compare ourselves to others, we feel that we are “good enough” to please God by our own merits. However God sees our sinful hearts and He knows how capable we are of selfish acts and harmful deeds. It is only by His grace through faith in Jesus Christ that we have been saved from the judgement we deserve for our own sins. Seeing how the progression of sin and evil consumed Hitler and impacted so many innocent lives during the Holocaust reminds me of the necessity of sin to be judged by God and makes me thankful for God’s saving grace in my life.
Mary Ann Noack 
Mary Ann, I once took a college course on the Holocaust…I also was hit hard with the impact of seeing man’s inhumanity to man. I struggled with my faith as I tried to understand the response of the Church at that time in history. I struggled with God’s response! Than I realized that God’s response had already occurred when He sent His Son as a perfect atonement for sin, even sin as great as this. And as always, the Church is made up of individuals, many of whom did step out in courage. God has always preserved His remnant, and there is no greater example of that in modern history than to see how Hitler’s plan ultimately failed. My sin pales in comparison in my eyes, but to God, no sin is tolerable. I, too, am so grateful for His saving grace which allows me to stand before Him cleansed.
Yad Veshem had a powerful impact on my heart as well, especially the children’s museum. The impact of walking into the darkness where you first see one small light of a candle. That flicker of light when reflected against a million mirrors illuminated the entire room of infinite stars like God’s created sky. Then we heard a name of a child, his or her age and year they died and it continued naming other children and more as my heart wept by the impact of this as well as all the atrocities that were unveiled throughout the entire museum. How consuming Hitler was for his perfect race that created chaos, division and disorder. Such evil and yet the candle of light provides hope because we know God places all things in proper order for His good. I, too, do not judge and am very thankful for God’s saving grace in my life.
ginny
Yes, Mary Ann, Yad Vashem overwhelms one with man’s capacity to calculatingly and systematically round up, torture and kill other human beings whose only crime was their existence. I do hope, however, that you had a chance to visit on the grounds the Garden of the Righteous Among the Nations, because there are listed the names of over 26,000 non-Jewish people documented to have risked their own lives and those of their families to save Jews. This is the real message to us as old hatreds begin to ramp up around the world–that we courageously stand firm against evil and put our life on the line for what is right and righteous.
Be sure to cover yourself with the black mud at the Dead Sea–your skin will feel like silk! Keep enjoying and learning.
Blessings,
Carol Tebo
I was also wondering if you had gone through the children’s museum. May the LORD of grace and justice reign
Mary Ann,
Ashley and I just spent the last hour reading over your blogs (been out of town so this is the first we’ve read) and talking about the Bible and your experiences in the Holy Land… what a treat! Thank you so much for taking us on this journey with you… I look forward to learning more and sharing this with my girls! Joey and I are praying for you and your family!
Much love-
Rebecca 🙂
The children’s memorial really touched my heart. In 2007 the number of children registered in school were equal to the number of those killed during the Holocaust for the first time. I cried. I’m crying thinking about it. It’s so hard to imagine how someone could be so evil. As those small candles of light shine in the memorial to remind of the past I pray that our hearts would truly shine God’s love and mercy to those around us of the hope and future He has planned for each of us. Blessings to you as you continue your journey!
Mary Ann,
We were told that it takes full two years, reciting the names of the children day and night, to complete one cycle! Unfathomable!
Carol