Shulamith 8th graders visit Washington

Sixty-three excited Shulamith eighth graders embarked on a memorable two day trip to Washington last week.

Our first stop was Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, where we visited the burial site of President Kennedy and watched the impressive Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

After crossing the Potomac River, we walk up the steps of the majestic Lincoln Memorial, snapping photos and taking in the panoramic view of the Reflecting Pool, Washington Monument and Capitol building. 

Next, we visited the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, where we saw artifacts of the Shoah, including a cattle car, bunks from Auschwitz, shoes and other personal items taken from the kedoshim, and a tower of photos of the Jews who had inhabited the town of Eishishok, Poland. We also listened to an audiotape of survivors called “Voices of Auschwitz” and joined together to say a perek of Tehillim in the Hall of Remembrance.

After the two and a half difficult but important hours we spent in the Holocaust museum, we enjoyed a dinner cruise on the Potomac, a chance to take photos in front of the White House, and a stop in Souvenir City to buy some mementoes. Our final destination for the day was the beautifully illuminated World War II Memorial, after which we boarded the buses and headed for the Clarion Hotel in Oxon Hill, Maryland. Before turning in for the night, we enjoyed the indoor pool. It was a wonderful way to connect and cool off before curfew.