22. Jerusalem. 1/9/23

Greetings from Jerusalem (as the countdown begins to our journey home on Friday)

First a little about our hotel (Villa Brown Moshava): The Kharufe family, Christian Arabs from Beil Jaala, built the building prior to 1918. It was known as the Kharufe House. The family paid for the construction with funds earned by Ms. Kharufe through her work as an elite seamstress for the high-society folks of the time. The family purposefully split the house into two sections so that they could live in one half and rent the other half (earning money on the property). Since the creation of the state of Israel, the building became owned by a Jewish agency and initially the name was changed to The Nativ House. First it housed youth from the Diaspora coming to learn about Judaism and Israel; then it was the home of a publishing house and a research institute. In 2003, after an award-winning renovation it became a small hotel.

We set out this morning for Yad Vashem, the Holocaust History Museum (designed by Moshe Safde)—a prism shape triangular structure that looks almost suspended above a mountain… with dramatic cantilevers. It’s comprised of two major linear forms that cantilever out over the mountain creating a tall skylit canyon between the two forms that create the central spine of the museum. It’s mostly lit by a skylight that goes the whole distance of the building, enabling the exhibit areas to be dark enough to host many multimedia presentations. The whole building is reinforced concrete. As you exit you get a dramatic view of the city of Jerusalem. 

The museum exhibit portrays the Holocaust from both a Jewish perspective and also a personal view through the many artifacts, writings, documents that belonged to the victims, and many survivor testimonies shown through videos and also quotes. It starts with the history of discrimination of the Jews. The site also contains a small synagogue, a children’s memorial, and what looked like a research center. Part of the law that established Yad Vashem required recognizing non-Jews who risked their lives to rescue Jews during the Holocaust. This is called the Righteous Among the Nations who are honored in various ways throughout the exhibit and the building. The exhibit design (which is quite impressive, moving, and extraordinarily well done) forces the viewer to (at the very least) walk through the presentation in its entirety. There are exhibits on either side of the chasm and you then must cross the chasm – constantly criss-crossing the chasm which also has some exhibits. The only way to “skip” a section of the museum would be to backtrack and leave the museum completely—going against the flow of the visitors. While there had been some kind of Holocaust museum for decades, this is now the official museum of the Holocaust in Israel. 

The story of the Holocaust is presented chronologically through giant blow-up photos that often have videos embedded within them, and text, quotes, some three-dimensional models that highlight survivors in their own words. Put together, it’s very powerful and memorable. I spent about three hours in the museum and Mike stayed longer. I left because I wanted to get to Mahane Yehuda Market, which is a sort of mix of old and new.. with tons of produce, fish, and meats and so many little restaurants I’m sure no one knows the count. It’s lively and authentic. I also walked the neighborhood around the market, and then headed back to the hotel. It was overcast all day today and thus, really cold and damp (but it didn’t rain during until evening).

Mike was in the museum for 5+ hours and without me he managed to get completely ripped off by his taxi driver, who he said was very nice and very interesting and spoke good English. Then he told me what he paid and he was really ripped off (about three times what it should cost).

It’s been a good few days here in Jerusalem. Tonight, we went to Talbiya for dinner— near the Jerusalem Theater. 

Tomorrow we are headed to the West Bank – Hebron and either Ramallah or Bethlehem. Our plan is to walk the streets and markets of these cities; we will not visit religious sites or monuments unless we just happen to stumble on them. We want to see everyday life. It’s only a day, and a long one, but hopefully we can get a sense of the Palestinian world. We hired a driver to take us to two cities, but not to be a guide. 

We leave the next day for two nights in Akko which is up north (we will drive ourselves), and then we head back home.

More tomorrow (or maybe the next day).

All the best 

Stay well, stay dry.

Fern

P.S. Updates on our “BenBen Hotel without hot water”: I sent a note to the owner of the hotel and they have refunded our stay at the hotel (which they should have done on the spot); in addition they have committed to two nights free in the future for us or anyone we know who is coming to Aswan. Let me know if you are planning a trip! And the Kempinski Dead Sea has accepted its responsibility for the car issue and has reimbursed us for the $500 cost the rental company charged for the damage to the car. So we are back on track.