Holocaust survivors will now be able to stay in Jerusalem at a 5-star hotel built especially for them. The Friends of Zion Museum opened Monday a guesthouse for survivors to stay at free of charge.
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The project is the brainchild of museum founder Dr. Mike Evans and was built at the cost of approximately 10 million shekels ($3 million).
The guesthouse can accommodate up to 14 visitors and will be operated jointly with the Yad Ezer La-Haver foundation that works with survivors. The site includes seven units, tailored and accessible for the survivors, featuring 5-star hotel amenities including a clubroom, kitchen and dining hall, laundry rooms and warehouses.
The museum is putting together a program to be launched in the coming months, through which the survivors will be hosted for a visit to Jerusalem, lodging at the guesthouse, and will participate in an event at the Western Wall, where they will celebrate their bar and bat mitzvahs of which they had been deprived of due to their circumstances at the time.
Some 300 Holocaust survivors have already registered for the project and will be participating in it in groups this coming year. First occupants checked in this week, and on Monday, the first bar and bat mitzvah ceremonies took place at the Western Wall together with the site's chief Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz.
"I am proud and thrilled to inaugurate this guest house today," Evans said at the opening ceremony. "This home will always be open to them, and we are deeply honored to be their hosts. The Holocaust survivors are close to our hearts, and we are working hard to keep the memory of the Holocaust alive."
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