Yad Vashem and Mt. Herzl

This Monday we had a field trip at the Israeli Holocaust Museum called "Yad Vashem" then we went up to Mount Herzl. Yad Vashem was very intense. It was interesting having our Judaism Professor there giving us a tour. He gave great insights to the Israeli attitude and perspective of the Holocaust. We went through the Children's memorial then we went through the actual museum. It is one of the nicest museums I've ever been in, really well done and full of items from the Holocaust, i.e. actual yellow stars worn by Jews, shoes of those who went into the gas chambers, etc. This was not, however, my favorite walk through a museum. This was interesting and enjoyable until I got to the rooms where the mass executions began, the concentration camp rooms, and the American liberation. The stories and images, which I have seen before, where very powerful, emotionally draining, and reminded me of the horrors that the human race have committed. I got emotional at a few stories that were shared and when viewing some of the graphic images of executions. I feel that this time, because of my Judaism class I was more sensitive to it all, especially knowing the history of the Jewish people. After seeing the most graphic images of the American forces cleaning up the dead bodies from the camps I walked quickly through the rest of the exhibit. There was a room with 2 million names in binders indexed of those who were killed, then a dark room with benches and famous quotes projected on the wall, it was a room for contemplation. I left out of the building and found some shade by myself and thought of all that I had just seen. I felt anger and more than anything I felt a mourning for the despairing, hateful, and inhumane  actions of the Nazis. I knew going into this field trip I wasn't going to like this, but it was a  profound moment that I will never forget, though its not a positive experience. We then had our sack lunches up on Mount Herzl which was right next to the Yad Vashem. We had some instruction about the significance of Mount Herzl. The bones of Theodore Herzl are there, and far from them are all the graves of those important figures in the history of the state of Israel.