A Day of Memorials

Trip Start Dec 12, 2007

Trip End Dec 24, 2007

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Flag of Israel Jerusalem, Israel
Sunday, December 16, 2007

As the memorial was starting in the afternoon we decided to use the morning to pay our respects at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial and Museum in Jerusalem, see www.yadvashem.org. It has recently been enlarged with a new museum and other areas which, if good is a word that can be used to describe such a place, is an amazingly good memorial to the millions of Jews and other people who died in this awful period in our history. There are so many exhibits, pictures, sounds and thoughts that it is enough to make anyone just want to sit down and cry!

If you have never been to a Holocaust Memorial I strongly request that you do so, whether you visit Yad Vashem in Jerusalem or any one of the many others around the world, all of which are bound to have the same impact, it is a part of our history we should NEVER forget lest it happens again!

Yad Vashem

Later that day we went to the Inbal Hotel where Achi's memorial was being held. What an amazing testament to an amazing man. The room was filled with at least 120 people, if not more, and some of us had come from as far as Australia, India, the USA, South Africa and the UK, a true league of nations.

The day was started off by a short speech from Yael and then a number of fascinating lectures on a few of the many subjects Achi was interested in or involved in. Without fail, each of the speakers included stories and anecdotes on how Achi had impacted their world. To see who spoke about what visit the Events page of www.achi-ezer.org, this will also be updated with pictures and video clips of the day once they are available.

In keeping with the last two days we were treated to the most amazing meal and, again, the opportunity to meet people who I have only ever heard about and to gain some great new friends.

Although the day was about Achi, when the cheque was presented to the Jerusalem College of Engineering, see http://english.jce.ac.il/, the director of the college made a great speech about Yael and how much work and effort she has put into helping the college. Not only has Yael created this fund and donated the money to the college, she is also helping the college raise the required money for the complete project, somewhere in the order of US$40 Million!

It really was an amazing memorial and an equally amazing achievement by Yael to put it together. Bravo!