The First Room – The Holiness of Jerusalem
The Foundation Stone as the source of creation, where Adam [the first human in the world] was created, followed by Seth, Enosh, Keinan … until Abraham son of Terach
The Second Room – Pillars of the Nation
The Forefathers and Foremothers, Abraham and Sarah go to the Land of Israel, their children become the pillars of the emerging nation. The twelve sons go down to Egypt and Twelve Tribes return to the Promised Land.
The Third Room – Jerusalem in its Glory
The journey to Jerusalem reaches its peak when King David establishes the city as his capital. For more than 1,000 years it will be a city of prophets and builders, scribes and priests, poets and kings, intellectuals and men of action. Jerusalem has 70 names, just like the 70 facets of the Torah. The creation of glass stands here like a Menorah, the symbol of the Jewish people, which has accompanied us from the time of the Temple until modern times, as the emblem of the State of Israel.
The Fourth Room – The Destruction
Calamity in the Jewish nation causes destruction in the Temple and the Holy City. Unjustified hatred breaches the pillars of glass, but the Jewish people do not forget Jerusalem and continue to uphold their oath: “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning …”
The Sixth Room – The Holocaust
Just before the end of the exile, years that saw many ups and down, golden ages and dark ages, we encountered the darkest years of all: the Holocaust. Six million links in the chain of generations were cut short. Once again the glass shatters and the names of the children are engraved in the shards. These are the children who should have continued the chain, but did not survive. From this great disaster, the Jewish nation continues towards Jerusalem.
The Sixth Room – The Holocaust
Just before the end of the exile, years that saw many ups and down, golden ages and dark ages, we encountered the darkest years of all: the Holocaust. Six million links in the chain of generations were cut short. Once again the glass shatters and the names of the children are engraved in the shards. These are the children who should have continued the chain, but did not survive. From this great disaster, the Jewish nation continues towards Jerusalem.
The Seventh Room – The Revival
The State of Israel is built on the foundations of the preceding generations, those who hoped, and prayed, and those who built. Those who wanted and did not succeed in reaching their goals, those who succeeded once again to see Jerusalem. These names are not only those of leaders, intellectuals or men of action. These are the people who have been living the dream of the Jewish people for so many years, to be a free nation in our land, the Land of Zion and Jerusalem.
The Eighth Room – The Corridor of the Fallen
The names are behind a glass window; inaccessible. These are the names of those who fell in the battle for Jerusalem during all of Israel’s wars.
The Hall of Light
The tour of the Chain of Generations Center ends in the Hall of light, with an emotional sound-and-light show that demonstrates once again the unique strength of the chain of generations of the Jewish people.
The Story of a Paratrooper, the inspiration for this display, was written by Moshe Amirav, on June 8, 1967, while lying in the hospital after being injured on the battlefield. The encounter of the paratroopers with the Western Wall, in which he had taken part only one day earlier, takes Amirav on an emotional journey in the footsteps of Rabbi Yisrael Halevy, a Jew who sang the song of yearning and longing for Jerusalem, but was murdered in the Holocaust and did not merit coming to the Holy City.
In his story, Amirav describes his feelings during the battles as an emissary of the Jewish people throughout the generations, as he senses that all those preceding him who yearned for Jerusalem are fighting alongside him and giving him strength. This feeling symbolizes the essence of the chain of generations of the Jewish people, as displayed at the Center.
