Mountains and Tunnels

Today we visited Har Herzl, the site of Israel’s national cemetery named after Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern political Zionism. We first went to the Herzl Museum, where we learned about Herzl’s life, vision, and impact through a multimedia experience that raised the question of whether Herzl’s famous quote, “If you will it, it is no dream,” has come to fruition or is still in the midst of coming true.

We then visited Herzl’s tomb at the top of the hill and learned about Golda Meir, Yitzhak Rabin, and other dignitaries laid to rest at Har Herzl. Israel’s reality suddenly became very palpable here in this place of remembrance filled with the graves of those died fighting for the Jewish state, where everyone knows someone who has experienced this unimaginable loss.

We learned about the bravery of Hungarian Jewish World War II resistance fighter Hannah Senesh and Yonatan Netanyahu and the hostage rescue at Entebbe. Shirel shared the story of Roi Klein, an Israeli major in the Golani Brigade of the Israeli Defense Forces who died during the 2006 Lebanon War after heroically jumping on a grenade to save his fellow soldiers. We also visited the highly decorated grave of Michael Levin, a Philadelphia-born “lone soldier” killed in the Second Lebanon War after showing tremendous will, determination, and courage. It was a challenging morning, and CDS Class of 2023 handled the experience with respect and compassion.

Then we were back to the Kotel! The Kotel plaza we are familiar with only represents a small piece of the wall, which extends for hundreds of feet and can be explored underground in the Kotel Tunnels. The tunnel excavations at the base of the Temple Mount have revealed immense stones of the Western Wall underground (one is 14 meters long and weighs almost 570 tons!), ancient water pits, stairways and arches, ritual baths, and more. We learned about the history of the the Western Wall and recited private prayer at the sacred point in the tunnel closest to the site of the “Holy of Holies” on the Temple Mount.