YAD VASHEM
I should not be at Brant Lake. I love living in the Adirondacks but I should not be here now. I was scheduled to lead a group of visitors to Israel. Not to Brant Lake! Instead I am hibernating in the North Country and attempting to evade the coronavirus. I am sitting outside at Brant Lake watching a loon dive for a fish. I am also taking a virtual trip to Israel since I cannot be there in person. This morning I chose to travel outside Jerusalem for a visit to Yad Vashem, a memorial to the Holocaust.
The contemporary building embraces many acres but I remember a much smaller Yad Vashem that stood in the city in the 1950s. The original Yad Vashem was a simple Quonset hut with several walls of pictures of the atrocities that engulfed Europe. That early version of Yad Vashem was only a microcosm of the building that stands today.
In the entranceway of that early version of Yad Vashem there was a black and white picture of Anne Frank, whose diary presented a picture of a young girl hiding in Amsterdam during the Holocaust. She was a typical teenager with a story that was not typical. Beneath the picture, which covered the majority of the space over the entranceway, was a single sentence written in Hebrew. The translation of that sentence reads: “A world that was and is no more.”
A world that was and is no more.
Entranceway of Yad Vashem
”A world that was and it is no more.” The demolished world of the Jewish community, especially in Europe. As I remember those words and the picture I look out at the gentle waves lapping the shore of Brant Lake and I wonder what has happened to my world, the global world of 2020, as a result of Covid-19? Will we ever return to the world we once thought of as normal? Has that world disappeared? Forever?
What will happen? We can only wait and see.
Sheltering with the Loons 
Welcome back Can’t wait for the next one Bill ODwyer
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Glad to see you are blogging again. Sheltering near you in the mountains I know how blessed we are to be safe in this spectacular natural world. We share a love of birds and I am delighted you included the loons in your reflections. They are so much a part of being here. Singing when we least expect it and expressing the mysteries and freedom of the wilderness. Bravo to Dan and your wonderful thoughts and being. Margot Ernst
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For the first time this year I visited Anne Frank’s refuge in Amsterdam and was so moved by her youth and optimism and vulnerability. In some ways Amsterdam needs to do more do in her honor, although the Spanish Portugese Synagogue is a good start.
Ann
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Iâm so happy that you are blogging again! These times call for people like you. You express your thoughts in ways that are so meaningful. I found myself caught between smiling, nodding my head in agreement and then concerned for our future. To hear someone express themselves in such calm, thoughtful manner today is rare and helpful. Thanks for taking âpenâ in hand again! Sent from Mail for Windows 10 From: Sheltering with the LoonsSent: Thursday, June 18, 2020 9:48 AMSubject: [New post] YAD VASHEM admin posted: " I should not be at Brant Lake. I love living in the Adirondacks but I should not be here now. I was scheduled to lead a group of visitors to Israel. Not to Brant Lake! Instead I am hibernating in the North Country and attempting to evade the coronavi"
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Dan dear,
But we all hold onto hope, people are waking up ,we can get a new president ,we can come out stronger better than we were. I pray for that, I hope for that,
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