Must must visit if you are in Jerusalem! It's an important place to feel israel's history.n I recommend walking through the soldiers graves and reading what's written about each one.
Mount Herzl Cemetery
Photo: Mount Herzl Cemetery
Named for Theodor Herzl, the visionary founder of modern Zionism, Mount Herzl is Israel’s national cemetery, housing the remains of Herzl himself. Also buried there are many of the Jewish state’s leaders over the years, and soldiers killed in battle. Among the figures interred at Mount Herzl are prime ministers Levi Eshkol, Golda Meir and Yitzhak Rabin, presidents Chaim Herzog and Zalman Shazar, and other prominent Zionist leaders.
Echoing the temporal proximity of Holocaust Remembrance Day to Israel’s Day of Remembrance for its war casualties, Mount Herzl is only a stone’s throw from the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and museum. But the two sites are dedicated to two very different types of grief: On the one hand, the incomprehensible loss of the Holocaust, where one is crushed under the sheer volume of the destruction, and on the other, the more intimate, but nevertheless communal, sorrow for Israel’s perished in combat. This mourning is most acutely felt on Remembrance Day, when bereaved families slowly file in crowds through the gates of Mount Herzl to attend the state ceremony.
The Herzl Museum
At the entrance to Mount Herzl is the New Herzl Museum (with an admission fee), with fascinating insights into Herzl and the history of Israel. In a country as small as Israel, every soldier is truly a world in himself. And it is perhaps only at Mount Herzl that one can truly appreciate the pain and tribulations that this country endured in order to come into being and survive to see celebrate over 60 years. There, among the dense rows upon rows of identical flat gravestones stretching into the distance, one can begin to grasp the gaping wounds and profound, aching weariness – the prices Israel has paid in its relentless struggle for survival.
TripAdvisor Reviews
Based on 424 traveler reviews“No soldier left behind”
No Jewish soldier is ever abandoned on the battlefield, they are rescued and buried in Mt Herzl National Cemetery. More than 20,000 young men and women have died fighting for their country, most hardly out of high school, a heavy toll for a small nation. One person said to me "how long must we...
MoreNo Jewish soldier is ever abandoned on the battlefield, they are rescued and buried in Mt Herzl National Cemetery. More than 20,000 young men and women have died fighting for their country, most hardly out of high school, a heavy toll for a small nation. One person said to me "how long must we go on fighting?" Another friend said, "How long do you want to go on living?"
Less“The national military cemetery of Israel”
PROS • Iconic and large Israeli memorial location • A major tourist attraction • Israeli national monument • Final resting place of national founders and leaders • Final resting places of Jewish and Israeli heroes- hundreds if not thousands of 29 year old (and younger- see my photos) • Scene of Israeli national commemorations and ceremonies • Beautiful manicured gardens • Quiet...
MorePROS • Iconic and large Israeli memorial location • A major tourist attraction • Israeli national monument • Final resting place of national founders and leaders • Final resting places of Jewish and Israeli heroes- hundreds if not thousands of 29 year old (and younger- see my photos) • Scene of Israeli national commemorations and ceremonies • Beautiful manicured gardens • Quiet and serene • Learn about Jewish martyrs and heroes outside Israel CONS • Vast, complex design and large • Lots off walking and steps • Sobering • Needs a travel guide MY EXPERIENCE “I visited this place” on the annual Israel Memorial Day. It was very very crowded- tens of thousands of Israelis and families of the fallen make an annual pilgrimage on this day to unite again with and honor the fallen heroes. It was instructive and inspiring to see how they honored the memory and sat in quiet solitude or shared stories and words of comfort and inclusion and strength. I learned about Jews who served in the two World Wars and about the sacrifices and losses of Ethiopian Jews in their noble steps to reach this Holy Land. I did not visit the area of national founders and leaders- that fired less for me than seeing rows and rows and rows and rows of final resting place of 19 year old boys. MY TIP Go with a guide
Less“Moving”