[Magdalen] Yad Vashem

[Grace Cangialosi]

As it happened, I visited the Holocaust Memorial at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem yesterday. I knew it would be difficult, but in light of the massacre in Pittsburgh on Saturday, it was almost unbearable. I found myself in tears at every turn. Seeing the news reels from the 30’s and reading of the events leading up to the Holocaust gave me cold chills, because I see something similar happening here—only this time, instead of Jews, it’s immigrants, particularly those of color.
And then today we went through a checkpoint into the Gaza Strip, and walked next to the obscene Wall of Separation, with its miles of graffiti, and heard what life has become like for the Palestinians on the other side.
Yesterday we were coming back to the college on the train—it’s like our Metro—and came to a stop between stations. The message boards inside and outside said there was a suspicious package on the tracks ahead, and the police had shut down the train.
Before we knew what was going on, a young woman said, very matter-of-factly, that it was probably a foreign body on the tracks. No one seemed especially alarmed—it’s a daily fact of life here. After awhile we were allowed to continue.

Then today we visited the Church of the Annunciation and the Church of the Nativity, along with hundreds of other people. It reminded me why I don’t like organized tours of that kind.
Tomorrow we will head into the Judean Wilderness, renew our baptismal vows at the Jordan River, and take a float on the Dead Sea. That last is supposed to be quite an experience, but I’m not sure yet whether I’ll do that, since I have a fairly significant wound on my foot.

I’ll catch up with some of the earlier events of the week later; I’ve been too tired at night to do much journaling. The days have been absolutely packed. At yesterday morning’s Eucharist I received the bread from the Bishop of Jerusalem, whom I had met years ago at VTS, and the chalice from his new chaplain, who was a classmate of mine at VTS.

More later; we have a very early start tomorrow.