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Notes from Poland / Israel 2009

Day 1

April 20, 2009 

It is hard to believe that 24 hours ago we departed JFK. Landing in Prague at 6am, we began our first official day of our Poland/Israel experience with a very unexpected two-hour walking tour of Prague. We toured one of the oldest Jewish neighborhoods of Europe, steeped in a rich tradition of Jewish presence. Ornate synagogues (one where Zechariah Frankel, father of Conservative Judaism, presided as rabbi) and a cemetery dating back centuries gave proof of the place that Jews held within this society.

By afternoon we were in Krakow. In the bright sunshine of the day we toured the old market area, a plaza that rivals similar suares in Vienna and Italy. All around us were voices speaking Hebrew, Jews who had made their way here to walk in tomorrow's March of the Living. This evening we toured the Jewish quarter, walking the streets that were traversed 70 years ago by 70,000 Jewish citizens of Krakow. Today, less than 1,000 remain here as citizens. And just by chance, we arrived at the Issac Synagogue tonight to join up with a group of 400 teens from Toronto. Survivors travelling with them addressed us; teens read poetry; together we sang words of lament and words of hope. Our voices echoed through the old sunagogue--a synagogue no more--with the words of Hatikvah. All this in anticipation of a march tomorrow with 5000 others to say that we are here and we will never forget.

In the words of our pledge tonight:

"We are the generations born after the darkness...
We pledge to remember.
We affirm our commitment to the furtherance of Jewish life.
We pledge ourselves to the oneness of the Jewish people.
We are your children.

We are your grandchildren.
We are here."

Poland, Day 2

April 21, 2009

This morning we drove to the infamous concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, site of the extermination of of 1.5 million Jews. Once again the sun shone brightly, creating an almost surreal effect for the 5000 of us entering the camp gates. Auschwitz is now a museum, with barracks converted to exhibition halls. The story of the camp is told through pictures and displays of artifacts kept after the liberation of the camp. Many of us have seen the pictures; many of us have heard the stories. Few of us have stood in front of a crematorium, the first site we encountered. Standing on the grounds with men, women and children, Jewish and non-Jewish, from around the world, was an experience unlike any other.

At 2pm we started our 3-kilometer walk to Birkenau, the death camp. It was somewhat strange, almost bizarre, that we paraded out of Auschwitz through the fence marked "Arbeit macht frei" ("Work makes you free") with the spirit and energy of an Israel Day Parade down Fifth Avenue. As we drew closer to the camp, we all had a very similar reaction: We were simply overwhelmed by the size of camp, by the length of the tracks and the platform on which thousands unloaded at a time, the magnitude of the entire operation. Before us we see acres and acres of land littered with chimneys, the only remnants of the barracks that housed the prisoners who were ultimately fated to death.

We process what we see in silence. It will take time to digest. Tonight we arrived in Warsaw, and tomorrow we will trace the history of the ghetto uprising. For now, I leave you with the words of David Klein:

"64 years ago my mother and father were slaves in this place. Today, along with thousands of Jews from around the world, wearing an Israeli flag, the same flag I danced with at my weddings and my 4 sons' bnei-mitzvah, I marched from Auschwitz to Birkenau to honor my parents. My children are a living testament to my parents' victory over the greatest evil this world has ever known. Never again."

Day 3

April 22 2009

We were greeted once again by bright sunshine and the bluest of skies. While touring on Day 2 the natural surroundings seemed incongruous with the nature of our visit, conditions were perfect today for an itinerary that focused on resistance, survival, creativity and life.

The day began with a visit to the Nozyk Synagogue, the only remaining synagogue in Warsaw. Chief Rabbi of Poland, Michael Schudrich, shared stories about the growing Jewish community and about those Poles who are only recently discovering their roots and Jewish identities. Our tour continued on, tracing the border of the Warsaw Ghetto, a place in which some 350,000 Jews were forced into before massive starvation and transport to the camps decimated the population. Pieces of the original wall still remain. Amid a city that is entirely rebuilt, two buildings stand with poster pictures of Jewish residents plastered around the buildings. Ultimately we arrived at Mila 18, the bunker from where the ghetto fighters resisted the Nazis in an uprising that began on April 19, 1943. While the leaders finally committed suicide, their bravery inspired Jewish people specifically, and Poles generally, to fight against their oppressors. We paid tribute to Mordechai Anielewicz, leader of the resistance; to Januscz Korzscak, a writer and leader of an orphanage who refused to leave his children, accompanying them instead to Treblinka; to the unnamed dead of Warsaw buried in mass graves in the Jewish Cemetery, founded in 1806.

Tonight we attended a private Chopin concert in the summer palace of the last king of Poland. The beautiful music truly lifted our spirits and affirmed the gifts that we have to share with each other. Tomorrow we tour the medieval city of Warsaw and head on to Israel!!!

Attached are a couple pictures from yesterday's March of the Living.

 

Poland / Israel Trip 2009 - March of the Living

 

Day 4 - Poland

April 23, 2009

As I sit here in Prague's airport, awaiting our flight to Israel, I am reflecting on an experience that has been so strange and unexpected in many ways. Sometimes it is the moments that you don't plan for the group that leave the greatest impression. This morning we went to the largest park in Warsaw, a beautiful spot with a heart-shaped pond that lies before a magnificent statue of Chopin. After learning about the sculpture, we found a spot on the grass and davened the morning service. Many of us were overcome by the emotion of being a Jew in Warsaw and praying in a public space, beyond the former walls of the Jewish ghetto. Schoolchildren walked by; many of them have never encountered a Jew in their lives. And here we were, insisting in the boldest fashion that we are, indeed, still here.

After a tour of the city that has been almost entirely rebuilt--in many places from its own ruins--since the end of World War II, we arrived at the Old Market Square. This recreated medieval town center is so picturesque that it reminded many of us (individually) of the Disneyworld facades in Epcott. After a leisurely lunch and stroll in the sun, we boarded our bus and headed for the airport. Our tour guide Yolanda acknowledged the challenges we faced these past days--the emotion, the exhaustion, the energy expended in trying to cope with what we saw. As a group, we struggled to explain to her our feelings, trying to appreciate the Poles and their own history and sense of loss and persecution, trying to teach her about the Jewish psyche and the incomparable historic suffering that we have experienced and that has become such a big part of the way we see the rest of the world.

Certain details remain untold, reserved for next Shabbat's sermon. Until then, we take your thoughts and prayers with us to Jerusalem this evening.

Poland & Israel 2009

 

Week 2 – Israel

This last week in Israel has been, most simply put, a whirlwind of emotions. I am sorry that I haven’t kept you updated day by day. From the moment we recited the blessing of Shehechiyanu last Friday morning, overlooking Jerusalem as the sun rose over the city, I knew it would be difficult to capture our experience in words. While our time here has in many ways been unique and indescribable, I hope that our words will in fact do it justice and inspire others to join us in the future.

Shabbat was a restful and needed gift as we tried to wrap our minds around the horrors of the Jewish experience in Poland and the blessing of the State of Israel that arose from its ashes. We connected ourselves to the land historically, learning about the Jewish presence here over 3,000 years ago in the City of David. We connected ourselves to its people, serving lunch in a Jerusalem soup kitchen to a needy elderly Russian community and visiting an Ethiopian absorption center. We learned about the founders of the country, like Menachem Begin, who sacrificed so much for the realization of a dream, and devoted so much of their lives to maintaining the ideals of that dream in a modern state. Humble beginnings and a humble20life never prevented him, and others like to him, to lead by what he believed was right. We witnessed his vision everywhere we went: Israel as secure and safe haven for all Jews, governed by the supremacy of law, and dedicated to helping the helpless among us.

Yom Hazikaron and Yom Haatzmaut (Memorial Day and Independence Day), juxtaposed against each other as they are, brought our overall understanding of this trip into focus. We mourned with families of pilots at an emotional evening ceremony; we stood (in the middle of a street that was teeming with traffic just seconds earlier) in silence with an entire country as a two-minute siren called us to attention. Only hours later, we filled the streets along with tens of thousands of others, dancing in the city center. Blue and white everywhere. Smiling faces. Laughter. The looks of ease and pure joy on the faces of so many who had just completed a day of shedding tears…

Today, after a late night of partying, we took a deep breath of fresh air atop the high cliffs on the Lebanese border. The Golan and the Galilee, while overcoming serious security concerns for so many years of the nation’s existence, still refresh the soul in many ways. The Zionist and pioneering ideals survive among a people whose parents still count themselves among the founders of the state. The beauty of the land is astonishing. The moments of peace and serenity made us long to remain atop the mountain. Coming down the mountain, we fast-forwarded to Tel Aviv, a city celebrating its 100th birthday. The sun is shining, the beach is alive with activity, and the country is basking in the glow of its independence. It knows the challenges, but it knows its strength even better. Look where we’ve come from. Is there any question as to where we are going?

I look forward to sharing more with you on Shabbat, if I can find the words.

Am Yisrael chai,

Rabbi Craig Scheff