Learning at Brandeis
Experiential Learning
Israel Trip 2018

#6 - Digging into Our Modern and Ancient Past

We began the day by checking out of our Jerusalem hotel and journeying to Yad Vashem. Our tour began on Righteous Among the Nations Boulevard which is a tree lined lane in which the different trees are named after heroic individuals. I like that idea; begin with those who saved others.
 
Then on to Historic Museum. As we descend below street level, we can see prewar images - and hear Hatikvah sung by children. Our guide pointed out that the architecture of the building reflects the difficulties of learning about the Holocaust. If you stand at the beginning of the building, you easily can see a way out but can’t get to it without going through the entire exhibition. We weaved through the different rooms of the museum to see the destruction of vibrant prewar Jewish life by the Nazi’s quest to destroy all Jewish life and people. Again and again, the students impressed me with the knowledge they had gained during our Holocaust unit in class and were able to connect so much of what they say to what they had already learned.
 
At the end our guide reminded us that to truly understand the Holocaust we should “know the millions. Remember the one.”
 
And with that we left the historic part of the museum and walked into a classroom where we were fortunate to hear from not one, but two American survivors, who happened to be in Israel for the March of the Living.
 
First we heard from Bob Geminder who was one of the only 6,000 survivors, out of 20,000, of the Bloody Sunday Massacre in Stanislowow. That wasn’t the first time he got lucky. He called himself the “luckiest man alive.” Later, at the age of 8, he had been forced onto train headed for Auschwitz but for some unknown reason the train stopped 100 feet from the gates and he, his mother, step-father, and brother jumped out of the train car and were able to escape. He said it was the only train car he ever heard of the had an open roof.
 
Next we heard from Gabriella Karin who lived in Bratislava. Gabriella was hidden in a convent at 11 years old. A man named Karol Blanar helped hide her and 10 years ago she found Karol had moved to Ohio. After much searching, she discovered that he had been buried in an unmarked grave. Upon discovering this, Gabriella bought a gravestone for him and flew from her home in Los Angeles to witness the placement of the stone.
 
After hearing the stories, we are also learned that 2 years ago, after the passing of both their spouses, Bob and Gabriella began dating and have since become, as Bob put it, “good friends.” Their late-in-life romance was a wonderful story to end our visit.
 
Next, we boarded the bus and drove to an archeological dig in the town of Maresha. We descended into a cave; using pickaxes the students busily dug in the ground to see if they could discover any artifacts. Much to our delight, we found many shards of pottery and even some animal bones. Most probably dated to the time of the Maccabees.
 
Finally, we crouched, crawled, and scooted through a cave to see where they might have lived. It was a bit cramped but we all managed to make it through. It was quite a treat to see our city kids get so dusty and dirty. Some were more comfortable than others with it though.
 
Afterwards our guide told us that our findings would be sent to the lab to be cleared and analyzed. I’ll let Gabe Koren have the last word, when asked when the artifacts were from, he answered “They will be ancient.”
 
Shavua Tov,
 
Jennifer Baumer
Trip Chaperone
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