soul's only living testa-
ment.
There is also a handmade
Monopoly set from
Theriesenstadt, not with
street names like Park
Place and Broadway but
Zeughaus, Dresdner and
Genie, drawings of a castle
and a picture of Snow
White and the Seven
Dwarfs.
The exhibit also includes
a poem by an unknown girl
in bunk L410. Written in
1943, the poem reads:
Peaceful twilight, only you
know, About the tears
fallen in your wake, Tears
from my eyes that long to
see, The shade of palms and
olives of Eretz (Yisrael).
Still under construction
at Yad Vashem is a new
exhibit of massive stones
bearing the names of Jew-
ish communities destroyed
in the Holocaust. Literally
hundreds of communities
are listed on the stones,
which stand side-by-side.
It is a dizzying place
where one can easily
become heavy with sorrow.
It is the kind of setting
where one's imagination is
likely to go wild, creating
ghostly visions of fallen
children dancing and
hiding among the exacting
stones.
T
he road to Ein Gedi is
a long, dusty drive
of white rocks and
mountains of the Judean
Desert, where King David
hid from Saul and Bishop
James Pike perished in the
wilderness.
The late Bishop Pike was
the founder of Grace Epis-
copal Cathedral in San
Francisco, a church of rose
windows and images not of
the father, son and holy
ghost, but of Albert Eins-
tein, Supreme Court
Justice Thurgood Marshall
and former astronaut John
Glenn.
Several years after com-
pleting his church, Bishop
Pike in 1969 said he was
receiving messages from
his late son, Jim Jr. The
messages directed the
bishop to the Judean
Desert, territory then con-
trolled by Jordan, where
father and son would be
reunited.
So Bishop Pike rented a
white Ford from Avis and
took his wife, Diane, with
him to the desert. They
carried a map and two
bottles of Coca Cola.
At one point along the
way, the bishop went out
alone to explore the ter-
ritory, leaving his wife in
the car. When, after
several hours he hadn't
returned, Diane Pike
began to worry.
But she didn't know how
to drive.
Finally, Mrs. Pike
managed to start the car
and drive it to a nearby
village for help. But it took
the Jordanians five days to
discover the bishop, whose
lifeless body was found in a
canyon by the Dead Sea.
Also among the sites
along the way is the Ein
Gedi Nature Reserve.
Here, visitors can come
within five feet of ibex and
may catch a glimpse of the
reserve's resident leopards.
A long walk through the
rocks leads to a fall glisten-
ing with pure water.
Kibbutz Ein Gedi sits
like an oasis amid the
craggy rocks and sand of
the desert. Established in
the 1950s, the kibbutz is
atop a mountain on an area
once covered by the Dead
Sea. Today, the kibbutz
resembles San Diego, with
cactus gardens and bright-
red flowers on trees.
The facility offers a
resort, frequented by
writers and artists and
those suffering with
psoriasis. Spokesmen
swear the disease will
vanish for one year with
treatment at the facility.
If she were alive today,
doubtless Cleopatra would
be a frequent visitor to
Kibbutz Ein Gedi. One of
her favorite beauty
treatments was Dead Sea
mud, which the kibbutz
makes available at a spa at
the nearby sea.
The spa is a popular spot
for visitors from abroad.
After donning bathing
suits, they cover their
bodies — everything from
feet to hair — in Dead Sea
mud, and let it bake for a
good 15 minutes before rin-
sing off. From there, it's a
visit to the hot, mineral-
filled sulphur baths.
Traveling further north
in Israel one arrives in
Tiberius, home to two
unusual cemeteries. In the
first lies buried Israel's na-
tional poet, Rachel. Her
grave is unassuming, res-
ting beneath the tree
where she often wrote.
Beside is a book of her
poetry.
Also in the cemetery is a
site unknown to most
tourists, the graves of two
young soldiers who died in
the War of Independence.
Best friends, they were
killed only days apart from
each other. Their graves
now sit side-by-side, one
bearing the helmet of a
slain soldier.
At another cemetery in
the city is the tomb of the
Jerusalem artist
Herbert Bluhm,
whose studio
includes a
converted
cistern.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
27