11/30 | Yad Vashem

Today, I had the opportunity to visit Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority.  I have been here twice before and every time I return it is extremely emotional.  This time, however, I did not visit the main exhibition hall.  Instead, I went to the Yad Vashem Visual Center in order to view my grandmother's testimonial as recorded by Steven Spielberg's Shoah Foundation in 1998.  My grandmother, thank G-d, is still alive, but she very rarely speaks openly about her story, so I felt it was necessary to view her testimonial in order to better understand my own family history.  Approximately two and a half hours in length, my grandmother's story was absolutely incredible.  Of course it was a tragedy, but it included aspects of a love story (meeting my grandfather in the woods) and a drama (immigrating to the United States) and above all, it ended with a triumph as she sat with her three daughters and one granddaughter.  I won't go into details because it would take too long, but it really was necessary for me to see.

My grandmother, Betty Ruf, told her story over the course of two and a half hours.

My aunts Susie and Miriam, my grandmother, and my mother Linda.  My sister Julia is in my mom's lap.

My sister Julia was only three years old in 1998 and she is still the youngest in the Ruf family line.  This will change soon with the birth of my cousin Jason's baby in January.

Here are some pictures from Yad Vashem:

The entrance to Yad Vashem quotes Ezekial 37:14 in saying, "I will put my breath into you and you shall live again, and I will set you upon your soil..."  This basically tells the story of the Jewish people from death (the Holocaust) to rebirth (the modern State of Israel).

A view of the Yad Vashem visitors' center.  All of the buildings in Yad Vashem are painted an austere grey color.

Yad Vashem is surrounded by beautiful views of the forests of Jerusalem.  It serves as a reminder of the miraculous rebirth of the Jewish nation after nearly complete destruction during the Second World War.

The Garden of the Righteous honors the thousands of non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust.

 The tree of Oskar and Emilie Schindler.

This sculpture depicts the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.  The uprising was incredible in that it took almost a month to put down, which is nearly the same amount of time that it took the Nazis to invade all of Poland.

This sculpture depicts the mass deportation of Jews to the death camps.

The outside of the imposing Hall of Remembrance.

The Hall of Remembrance includes the names of some of the many Nazi killing sites.  An eternal flame constantly burns next to a crypt containing ashes of victims brought from the extermination camps.