The project was inspired by a story entitled "Story of a Paratrooper," written by one of the soldiers who took part in the liberation of Jerusalem in 1967. The story is about a simple Jew from Vilna, who dreams only of Jerusalem - even when dragged away to a concentration camp. One of his surviving students meets the paratrooper on the eve of what was to become the Six Day War, and asks him to remember that he will not be alone in the battle. "Together with you will be all the Jews of all the generations and all the Exiles," the man tells him - and the paratrooper, as he arrives at the Western Wall, truly feels them with him.
The story is told aloud to the visitors when they reach the last of the seven stations in the exhibit, the station entitled, "Hall of Light."
The previous six stations are the Chambers of:
Patriarchs; Nation in its Land; Destruction; Longing; Holocaust; and Revival.
Using archaeological finds discovered on the site, light rays, smoke, and 150 tons of modern sculpted glass, the exhibit will connect the visitors with cultural and historic roots that bind Jews all over the world.
A high point of the visit is in the Chamber of Longing. There, the visitors walk atop a transparent glass floor, with the remains of a Second Temple mikveh (ritual bath) below them. Above them towers the Pillar of Longing, nine meters (30 feet) high and made up of some 2,000 layers of glass. The pillar is reflected in the glass floor, creating the impression that it is sprouting up from the archaeological finds.
Advance reservations are required, at telephone (02) 627-1333. Entrance fees are 20 shekels for adults, 10 shekels for children. The exhibit is recommended for age 13 and up.