May 11, Yad V'shem and Hadassah Hospital

Today we headed out to Yad V'shem, the Holocaust Museum. It was a very moving experience. The history starts there in 1933 when Hitler was first appointed chancelor of Germany. One day my Uncle Alex's father was picked up by the police for questioning because he was a Jew. He had the forsight to see that the situation was not going to be good for Jews in Germany. His wife's sisters and long before immigrated to the United States, so he he packed his family up and first lived in Palestine for 4 years before moving on the States. My uncle was looking at the Holocaust pictures and remembering things from his childhood. We talked about the life he probably would have lost if his father hadn't moved them when they did. Cameras are not allowed at the Museum, so I wasn't able to take any pictures there.

We left the museum and headed over to Hadassah Hospital to see the construction of the new Sarah Wetsman Davidson Tower. We had tour arranged for us which was very special since they are not giving group tours due to the construction. We met up with Esther ben Zvi who gave us a tour of the Mother and Child Pavillion which included a stop on a childrens' oncology floor.



Uncle Alex, Tom, Aunt Shirley and Esther ben Zvi Holding Hadassah in front of the SWD construction site.


Du-du the Clown at the Mother and Child Pavillion
--their very own Patch Adams.



This is from the atrium on the main floor of the Pavillion looking up. Notice how the neon lights are in animal shapes to make the environment kid friendly.


Aunt Shirley got to deliver some knit caps that were made by her Hadassah Chapter in New Jersey.



I got to deliver some 'Get Well' cards that were made by children in the Cincinnati chapter.


We left Hadassah and decided to use the bus system to make our way over to a new mall in downtown Jerusalem. The first people that I asked about which bus to take mis-understood which mall I wanted to go to. We ended up taking a 30 minute ride to the other Jerusalem mall that was just like any of our indoor malls. The bus ride itself was a trip. First, the bus driver was new to driving and had trouble figuring out how much I had to give him for our 4 tickets. Then twice during the ride, passengers went up and told him he had made a wrong turn which meant he had to stop the bus, back it up and then make the correct turn. You can't imagine how unnerving this was on the windy hills of Jerusalem.

We took a taxi from the wrong mall to get us to the one where we wanted to be. It is a beautiful outdoor mall with lots of 'select' shops. We ate on the 3 floor of the mall in an outdoor restaurant with a breathtaking view of the valley and old city. By the time we returned to the hotel we were all exhausted...except for Tom. He got to go on another of David's walking tours which took him to Measharim...where the ultra orthodox live. Tom's return took him through a plaza near the hotel where the Jerusalem Day festivities were well underway.