A Meaningful Journey to Understanding the Past and Present of Antisemitism

New York City’s Mayor Eric Adams is in the Holy Land and Israel Daily News was on the scene. His trip is meant to be a learning experience of how to combat antisemitism in New York. Between 2021 and 2022, antisemitism rose by 41 percent. The Jewish community is reporting more acts of antisemitism than ever before. 

On day two of his journey, Adams visited Yad Vashem. It’s a Holocaust memorial to commemorate the lives lost during the holocaust. On day two of his trip Adams spent the morning at Yad Vashem with chairman Dani Dayan, the former consul general from Israel to New York for four years.  

Adams was led through the exhibits making a special stop at an exhibit of 20,000 pages. Each full of names, dates, and the cities where some six million jews were murdered during World War II. While the museum experts say they know they will likely never recover all six million names, they are working toward it. The exhibit was inaugurated at Yad Vashem in March of 2023, but staffers tell the Israel Daily News Podcast that after it opened in January for a three week stint in the United Nations lobby, Mayor Adams had wanted it to stay in New York City.  

Adams was invited to lay a wreath and put a stone down in honor of the Jews who perished. Jews lay stones instead of flowers in order to honor the dead. He wore a kippah, or head covering, out of respect and spent time in silent thought. Next the delegation walked through the exhibit for the children, which was pitch black and lit only by candles. Names of children are read out with their age and place they were from. 

After his time at Yad Vashem, Adams will continue with a sit down with Israel’s foreign minister Eli Cohen. He soon has a visit to Jerusalem’s Western Wall followed by a talk with prime minister Netanyahu. He’ll finish out his last two days Wednesday and Thursday in Tel Aviv meeting with high tech leaders.