Travel to the North

July 16 For several days I have not had internet since w were traveling. I will try to fill in the blanks. We had lectures about the Impact of the Holocaus on Jewish-Christian relations with Sister Gemms. Reviews of WWII developments in Jewish Christian relations as evidenced by key documents such as Noste Aetate and Dabru Emet. We examined the continuing controversy over the role of Pope Pius XII s a source of tension in the Jewish-Christian relations. Highlighting the theological insights and new lines of inquiry that have emerged over the past decades as a result of new dialogue between the two religions. Dr Pesach Schindler presented two different experiences both of Hasidim rabbis caught in the throws of the Holocaust . One in Budapest and one in Warsaw. The rare documented responses of Rabbi Kaloniymus Shapira, author of "Esh Kodesh" and Rabbi Yissachar Shlomo Teichthal author of "Em Habanium Semacha" (A HApy Mother of Children). We then traveled for two days to the North. We visited an 11th C Crusader Castle overlooking the Jordan river and border. We traveled around the biblical city of Jericho to Beit Shean. Seeing the Moav mountains, the Gilad and Golan Heights. On to Naharayim and Kibbutz Gesher built by Zionist pioneers who fought the war of independence having also survived the Holocaust. We had lunch at Kibbutz Eim Gev on the Kineret (Sea of Galilee) followed by a winery visit and spending the night at a Moshav Nes Amim. Following day was spent at the Ghetto Fighters House (Museum) and learned first hand from a survivor who was a Warsaw ghetto partisan. The kibbutz was founded soley by partisans of the Warsaw ghetto uprising. Today is a self directed day at Yad Vashem we were free to do what we wanted. I opted to go to the visual center and wateched an awesome documentary on the Jews from Greece. Hope you can get the gist of the photos and where they are!