Story

It is natural to think how difficult it would be visiting Yad Vashem. Transported into time and place to bear witness ourselves to the horrors of the Holocaust. How does a person survive such atrocities?  Transform themselves from the depths of humanity to the greatness. How does the switch really occur? 

Is it in the answer I heard in one of the survivors statements…. 'If I didn't smile I would be crying all day'? Perhaps. Is it in the silence of the memorial where I recited Kaddish? Perhaps. Is it in the small birdsong I heard singing outside the children's memorial, reminding me of the children's voices? Perhaps. It must be this and so much more. 

An enormity of emotions surge through me. Electrifying lows and soaring highs. Learning to live in the balance is life! As we go into Shabbat here in Jerusalem, the city is wishing us all Shabbat Shalom!