On to Day 5

This morning we met with Dr. Yaacov Lozowick, former director of the Yad Vashem Archives, at the hotel. Dr. Lozowick was extremely articulate, knowledgeable and engaging - we have definitely not lacked for high-caliber intelligent well-spoken program leaders. Dr. Lozowick (who asked us to call him Yaacov, so I will from now on in this blog)

spoke a lot about the institutional memory of the Jewish people, how it is developed and what it means. He posited that memory is a central component of Judaism and that their ritual process teaches them from a young age to bear a collective memory. He also shared that he believes that Israelis take four insights from the Holocaust as a result: 1) when people say that they hate and want to kill you, they mean it. 2) Not only do they mean it, it is possible for them to do it. 3) As a result of what has happened to them, they are very aware of the inhumanity that humankind can perpetrate upon itself and are fiendishly scrupulous about examining and debating their own behavior in the world arena. 4) Being a victim cannot and does not give people the right to engage in immoral behavior. Suffering gives you the obligation to stop suffering, not to impose it upon others. Debatable points? Perhaps some. Certainly thoughtful ones.