So I know that I haven't put together a final blog yet but I have been incredibly busy between catching up on school and BBYO and all other things I haven't had a moment to breathe. Anyways, I have a few exciting things to share.
First, while I was on the trip, I was in contact with a reporter for the NJ Jewish News and she published a story on my trip and this blog. You can take a look at the article online by Clicking Here.
Also, I have put together a concluding video of the trip which includes pictures, videos and music from the trip along with voiceovers of me reading excerpts from the blog. I strongly suggest, even if you don't want to read the whole blog, to watch this video.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Thursday, April 22, 2010
The Final Day
We had to wake up very early this morning to make our ride to Masada. Masada is a rock plateau on the east edge of the Judean Desert overlooking the Dead Sea. The site is filled with ancient palaces and fortifications. After the First Jewish-Roman War a siege of the fortress by troops of the Roman Empire led to the mass suicide of the Sicarii rebels, who preferred death to surrender. You can learn more about Masada at http://mosaic.lk.net/g-masada.html. Anyways, the plateau is about 1,300 feet high, however, since its neighbors, the beaches of the Dead Sea, are the lowest dry point on the globe, it should make sense that the top of Masada is only 400 feet above Sea Level. So now to the hike. On the way up, we took the easy way through a path that is basically straight up from the bottom to the top (the Roman Ramp) and took not even 15 minutes to hike. Everyone was fine for the hike and we stayed hydrated so we were all fine. Once at the top, we walked around as our tour guide explained the significance of many of the difference spots throughout the ruins. This place was built around 30 BCE so for a 2,000+ year old building, we definitely know a lot about it. One of the more interesting spots to me was the synagogue that was erected and is now part of the ruins of Masada along with a mikvah. It was cool to see how far back in history the Jewish tradition goes. When our archaeological expedition ended, it was time for our descend down. To go down we took the snake path which is a windy path made up of over 700 ancient rock steps in total. Not to sound supper macho or anything, but it was relatively easy. This summer I went to China and hiked 6 miles of the most remote and crumbling part of the Great Wall (see my China blog at www.coryinchina.com). In comparison, Masada was a walk in the park. Well, after about a half-hour hike we reached the bottom.
As most people know, a trip to Masada is not complete if it is not followed by a swim (or float I should say) in the Dead Sea. On the boardwalk by the sea, we had our last Israeli lunch of the trip; Schwarma traditionally. It was delicious and I was prepared for the Dead Sea. The Sea is actually a salt lake bordering Israel and the West Bank to the west, and Jordan to the east. Its surface is 1,385 ft below sea level, the lowest elevation on the Earth's surface on dry land. The Dead Sea is one of the world's saltiest bodies of water which makes for a harsh environment where animals cannot flourish, hence its name. We went in and, because of this intense salinity, we were able to float. It was a weird but very cool feeling. Even weirder was that when you picked up the earth beneath you (if you even could because it was so hard to get under the water with it pushing you up) it was not sand as I expected. The sea floor here was made up of salt crystals the size of golf balls and smaller. It was very different then the New Jersey beaches I'm used to. As I went in the water, the water would push my body up. It was one of the most relaxing things ever. I was just floating and enjoying, soaking up the sun. I was warned that it would hurt any open cuts or other body openings, but it really didn't. It was pleasant. When I got, however, the story is a bit different. My eyes were burning a bit and my skin was gross with a layer of Dead Sea oils on it. Nothing a little shower couldn't fix though. We had a chance to get back to the hotel after before our closing program.
The closing program was done at the Kotel. We all gathered at the holiest site in the Jewish belief to end the most emotionally draining and amazing two weeks of most of our lives. Sherrie, the lady in charge of the whole trip, spoke to us. She did such an amazing job putting our delegation together. The tireless hours Sherrie spent educating the staff and working with the tour guides and, of course, the time she spent sharing her experiences with us paid off. Sherrie is an incredible person who was an essential part to the impact of the past two weeks that just ended. Additionally, Trudy, the survivor that traveled with us, is such an inspiration. She adopted 101 new grandchildren in the past two weeks and we all have a mutual love that is indescribable. Trudy persevered not only through the atrocities of the Holocaust, but, she was stronger then some of us walked through the sweltering streets of Israel this past week like she was a teenager. Of course, I cannot mention how amazing everyone was without bringing up my bus captains. I was on the red bus and was fortunate enough to spend the past two weeks with Ellen Goldstein and Rabbi David Kessel. These two remarkable and incredibly educated individuals were always there for us. They helped unify us as a group and make this experience easier for us all. Now, back to the closing ceremony. We had a little closing discussion (which I will recap in my final blog). What I would like to talk about now, however, is our experience at the Kotel. The massive beautiful wall in front of me has seen so much history, it has so much prayer. It is such a magnificent and spiritual place. Amongst the prayers I made I asked god something important to me. I asked that I am able to return back to this wall, in the State of Israel, as a healthy man. As a group of boys and I finished we got together in a circle and did, what I would call, a communal prayer through song. We sang a ningun (a melody). While there were no words and no meaning, our song meant a lot. People praying came to us and told us how beautiful it was to see such young people so proud to be where we were doing what we were doing. We continued singing other songs together and then something amazing happened. A man came up to us and said how beautiful it was and told us to come to a car. Unbeknownst to us, in this car was one of the head rabbis of Israel. This frail old man was sitting in the passengers seat with security and an entourage in the back seat. He was obviously an influential and learned man. We were told to go to his window and one by one he put his hand upon the head of the ten boys who were singing and said a prayer for us. To be honest, I don't know who this guy was and I don't know what he said but I felt something as he blessed my soul. It was a sign from god that I belonged here, standing in front of the Western Wall singing and praying. It was a sign of the importance of the two week journey that I just completed. It was a sign from god that I was doing what I was supposed to. Now it's time to fly home. I will be doing a final wrap up blog still but I hope that you have enjoyed reading this and traveling alongside with me.
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Tuesday, April 20, 2010
A Mega Day
This March is the polar opposite to the one in Poland. While the March of the Living in Auschwitz-Birkenau has been around for 22 years, the March to the Kotel is a relatively new idea being only a few years old. Anyways, the March today was a joyful, happy, and high-energy walk from Kikal Safa (a square in the middle of Jerusalem) to the Kotel (the Western Wall of the Second Temple). There were thousands of people, most of whom had marched with in Poland. Before the March started, there was a huge concert in this square with all of us singing and dancing. Like my typical self, I needed to be in the center of the action, so me and a few other of the BBYO kids pushed our way to the stage where there was a whole bunch of kids really into the festivities from Argentina, Australia, and all of over the United States. We were throwing water on each other, waving Israeli flags, and just enjoying the afternoon. To be honest, I don't know what the performances were, but they were really cool. The performers did traditional Israeli dances for us and there were a few people who sang as well. One of the acts was the Israeli Defense Force doing an impressive dance routine. The real show, however, was on the ground. It wasn't necessarily the performances, but it was our pride of being able to watch them, together, as Jews, in our homeland. It was an incredible experience. We were chanting "Yisrael" and singing songs that, somehow, we all knew. Despite if we could even say hello to each other because of the multitude nationalities represented, we could do so much more by screaming the words to "Am Yisrael Chai". The Jewish people, no matter what corner of the world we are from, have a unique bond, unlike any other, that was palpable at this event. The March began with the singing of Hatikvah, Israel's National Anthem. We Marched together, making new friends from all over the world (shout out to Montreal, Los Angeles, and Cincinnati). We sang and chanted as we marched and just had so much pride and excitement. With the Israeli heat, we were all getting tired, but at the half way mark a large white van contained volenteers who handed out refreshing cold water. Nonetheless, I think the best thing that I saw was the ending point. We ended our March in Jerusalem at the Western Wall. It was a breathtaking site; thousands of teens rejoicing amongst other Jews at the holiest place for our religion. I approached the wall and made my own personal prayer to Hashem. It was a very intense moment. As I finished my prayers, a group of people were circling up and singing and dancing by the wall together in a lively group. This was such a joyous experience and was only a prelude to the Mega Event. We had a break at the hotel and then made our way to the most exciting part of the March of the Living.
All that I can say is that we had a rave tonight. The event was at an Army Base named Latrun. As we arrived they had an outdoor catered dinner that was absolutely delicious. It was crazy, there were thousands of people there eating dinner with us. The place felt like the most incredible concert ever, and it was. It was the Jewish Woodstock of the 2010. We all ate and really enjoyed ourselves and then made walked over to the actual location for the Mega Event. The event took place on a huge stage that was part of a massive outdoor amphitheater. There were thousands of people, thousands of Jewish people, congregated in this arena for the most epic concert ever. Like earlier in the day, I once again needed to be in the center of th actions so myself and a group of my friends pushed our ways to the front gate surrounding the stage and stayed there for the remainder of the show. I have no clue who the performers were, but they were good and it was a lot of fun. The show started with a big song and dance routine that livened up the crowd. The two main singers had really good voices and there was a huge crew of awesome dancers in the background. They sang songs in both Hebrew and English and I actually knew just about all of them. One of the most impactful songs was dedicated to Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier who was abducted in June 2006 by Palestinian terrorists in a cross-border raid. He is alive today and is held hostage in the Gaza Strip by Hamas. The song was the Beatles' Imagine. Everyone stopped their jumping and chanting and just put their arms around the person next to them. Stranger or friend, everyone swayed with their neighbor in love and in honor of Gilad. Additionally, in between songs, the video screens would show videos with clips from our experiences in Poland last week. The March of the Living staff had been following us at times and BBYO had a lot of appearances in the videos. Our survivor, Trudy, and one of the participants, Zach, had full interviews played on the big screen. Anyways, from the somber to the celebration. They played American songs like "Tik Tok" by Kesha, Michael Jackson's "Heal the World" and then Israeli songs like "Am Yisrael Chai" (a song that we have been singing very frequently on our journey), and many others. We were all jumping and screaming, people were crowd surfing, and good old moshing and parting. Other performances included fire twirling and there were fireworks going off all night. The excitement was outstanding. We made new friends and I will definitely say there was love in the air, especially with American girls and IDF soldiers, if you know what I mean. This Mega Event was the most amazing way to end the March of the Living. Tomorrow is our last day and we are scheduled to climb Masada and bathe in the dead sea before flying back home. It is really sad because I feel as if I could stay in Israel forever. But I guess all good things must come to an end. There will still be one or two more blogs so keep checking back on this site. I thank the loyal followers who have helped this site get so many hits during this journey.
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Monday, April 19, 2010
Celebration and Mourning
As we finished our time at Yad Likashashe, it was just about 11 o'clock. We all stood in the street and, similar to last night, a siren sounded throughout the streets. The country stopped. I could feel the pain that people were feeling. The siren was so much more then just a siren, however. It was unity. It was pride. It was sadness. It was celebration. It was Israel. Again, the country halted. Stores stopped, traffic stopped, life stopped for two minutes. While I do not even know anyone who died in combat for the Israeli Defense Force, I felt like everyone was my brother and sister and I felt the sorrow.
With a heavy heart and an opened mind we changed from this minutes of mournful silence into a breading ground of life. We were at the Israel Bird Observatory. I am not really a bird person, but it was interesting to see the beautiful ecosystem. The Bird Observatory is like the central park of Israel. We learned a bit about the environment and had a chance to sit and observe the nature around us. Then we continued our theme of life and vitality by conducting a mitzvah. We all planted trees at the observatory. Trees symbolize life and to plant them on Yom Ha Zikarone, a day that we think of such awful, it is a good irony to experience and symbolizes the fruitfulness and prosperity of the Jewish people forever. When our trees were planted and watered, we all watched a movie on Israel's wildlife and then walked through the park to have lunch. Lunch was pizza, which really wasn't that good, but the beauty and serenity of the park made everything wonderful.
When our lunch break came to an end we made our way to Mahaneh Yehuda market. This market housed a multitude of stores selling everything from fruits and vegetables to sweets and even Judaica items. The market was so crowded and busy with people all over. It was very stimulating. The smells and sounds of the market were also so pleasant. My nose (along with very good suggestions) brought me to the end of the market where I made my only purchase there. The store was actually a bakery named Marzipan. I took one bit of a chocolate ruggelah and was in heaven. It was fresh out of the oven and melted in my mouth. The dough was gooey and the chocolate was incredible. It was by far the best thing I have had in Israel hands down. I ate about a half dozen before finishing our walk through the market. From this lively exciting market, we went to what is disputibly the most somber site we have and will visit in Israel.
The bus brought us to the Yad Vashem entrance to the Mount Hertzl military cemetery. Mount Hertzl could be called the Arlington Nation Cemetery of Israel. However, being that it is in Israel the stories hit home a lot more. The cemetery was not commissioned to be established until 1949 so most of the people buried there are very close to most people's hearts. As we walked up the path to the cemetery, we walked up a symbolic path that showed the history of the state of Israel and the struggles that have been felt since the Holocaust until today. We entered the cemetery and because of the significance of today, there were thousands of people there. The morning ceremonies had come to a close and families were all over paying respects to their sons, daughters, brothers and sisters. It was an incredibly sad place to be. The first few graves we saw were those of important figures and leaders of the Israeli government. All of these graves were positioned in a courtyard surrounding Israeli flags, with an eternal light in the center and a tree of life next to it. In addition, there were tons of Israeli flags around the area showing the pride in the state that we have seen everywhere in the country. Among the people lied to rest in this area is Yitzhak Rabin. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel, the first native born Prime Minister, until his assassination in 1995. He also won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994. Another Prime Minister buried there is Golda Meir, the fourth Prime Minister of Israel, and Israel's first and the world's third female to hold such an office. As we walked further into this massive grave site, we came upon the grave of Hannah Szenes. Szenes was a Hungarian Jew who parachuted into Yugoslavia during the Second World War in order to help save the Jews of Hungary who were about to be deported to the German death camp at Auschwitz. Hannah was eventually executed by a firing squad and is considered a heroine of the country. After this was the saddest part of our time at the cemetery. We walked around the graves of soldiers. Random, unknown, young soldiers who lost their lives in combat. Amongst these soldiers also layed Michael Levin, of Pennsylvania, and Jonathon Netanyahu. The graves were all the same. They were layed out with a square of Jerusalem line stone boxing out the grave with a blanket of green shrubbery and then a tombstone, like a pillow, that holds the inscription. The graves are all supposed to look like a bed so the soldiers rest comfortably. I glanced over all of the tombs. They were all covered with flowers and candles and wreaths and rocks and flags (see the photo above) to show the love and appreciation for these soldiers and their heroism. The ages of all of the soldiers was inscribed on the stones. It was hard to wrap my head around the fact that most of these said 19, 20, 21; my age. These soldiers, only a few years older then me, lost their lives in required service. Living in America, it is looked at very differently for people when they join the army. Here it is not a decision. Kids, after they graduate high school, must put their lives on hold for 2-4 years or more to join the army. Daily they are hoping not to end up in the cemetery in front of me. I really felt the sadness felt in these kids, loosing their friends. Felt in these adults, loosing their sons or daughters. Felt in the country, loosing their soldier. It's a tough life to know that every citizen must put their life on the line to live in Israel. It may sound selfish, but I could never do it. God bless all of these soldiers and all of the soldiers fighting right this moment to maintain a Jewish homeland in Israel.
We made a little pit stop at the hotel and then flipped the switch. From death to life it was an immediate change in the country from mourning to celebration. As Yom Ha Zikarone ends, Yom Ha Atzmaut begins. Yom Ha Atzmaut is Isreali Independence Day, and, since Israel is such a young country, the day really means a lot to everyone there. We were fortunate enough to be in the center of the action. Ben Yahuda street is like the Broadway of Jerusalem. They closed the area to traffic and there was just partying and mayhem everywhere we walked. The streets had shops and vendors everywhere. Now here was where the fun was, everyone on the streets had silly string and shaving cream and there was pandemonium going on, well actually we sort of started it all but it was a party. In the main intersection there were hundreds of people standing and, while spraying our cans of silly string, sang and danced and chanted. There were a lot of other March of the Living people from Australia, South Africa, Los Angeles, Florida, New York, and more as well as thousands of Israelis. We all gathered together, arms around each other, and jumped singing "David Melech", "Hava Nagila", "Am Yisrael Chai", and more. It a remarkable and joyous time to be with Jews from all over the globe who have congregated in the homeland to celebrate the country. We met wonderful people and I had the best time of my life. Running through the streets singing and screaming, it felt like I was truly in my homeland and I belonged. The thousands of people mobbed the streets in celebration with us shopping and dancing and singing and just absorbing the atmosphere around them. This showed the outstanding solidity and pride of the Jewish people. There was so much Ruach (or spirit) in the air that it was beyond contagious. The celebration was phenomenal. Toward the end of the square there was a huge concert. I did not go but others in our group went there together and said it was a phenomenal amount of fun. Tonight was definitely the best night yet and we still have the March of the Living main event tomorrow.
Today was deffinately an interesting day that I will never forget. From the liveliness of the active elderly, the trees we planted, the bustling market, and of course the celebration and joy on Ben Yahudah Street; to the mourning and solidarity of the two minutes of silence and the Mount Hertzl Cemetary; today was a very mixed day. The balance is hard to understand but here is my thought. Life continues. Our people were enslaved during Pharo's times, persecuted during the crusades, massacred during the Inquisition, annihilated during the Holocaust, and are still murdered in Middle Eastern conflicts today. Nonetheless, we survive. We never forget and we always have the memory of our prosecution, but we move on. We celebrate. With an extra empty chair at the table, we still must continue for the good of the Jewish people to help grow our nation. It was a balancing act all day, but, even with awful sorrow, we must stay strong and celebrate the fact that we are alive and Israel is ours.
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Sunday, April 18, 2010
New Adventures in the Old City
We entered the city through the Jaffa Gate. As we walked through the gate and into the heart of the Jewish Quarter, we were able to see the diversity of the Old City. We wandered through the Muslim Quarter, the Cristian Quarter, and then the Armenian Quarter before getting to the Jewish area. It was very interesting to see the multitude of religions and ethnicities that dwell in this holy area. We continued to walk through to the Jewish Quarter and got to an area of the ruins from the original Old City. Since the Old City dates back over 3000 years, it has been renovated and repaved. Nonetheless, we went down a set of stairs to a recovered area of streets that dates back hundreds of years. There was an artist rendering in this area of what it used to look like. The streets were very wide with columns lining them where shops would be. It was cool to see what the Israeli streets genuinely looked like back in the old days. Well from old to new, we walked a little bit more and had time to eat and shop in the stores that are in the Market today. The stores spanned from stupid chachkies (I totally spelled that wrong, but little gifts and things), to shirts, to artwork and even some beautiful jewelry. The Israeli handicrafts really are gorgeous so we all spent a lot of money during our free time even with many more Israeli "shopportunities" to come. As we finished up in the Old City we traveled back to our hotel to prepare for the Yom Ha Zikarone ceremony.
Yom Ha Zikarone is Isreali memorial day, similar to our Veterans Days. Given that all Israeli Citizens are required to give military service, almost everyone in the country has lost a friend or close family member in combat. The service we attended was at a community center in the outskirts of Jerusalem. It was run by BBYO's sister organization, Tzameret. It was a cool experience because I am friends with a few of them from summer programs. So we got to the community center and they set up a program for us to meet some of the Israeli teens and learn a bit about Yom Ha Zikarone and just life in Israel. It was really a good mix of cultures to get to meet each other and learn about their lifestyle. At around ten to eight we all gathered outside with more than 100 other people from the community to join us at the ceremony. At 8:00pm, to start off the observance of Yom Ha Zikarone, a loud siren sounded all across the country. Everyone was stopped for a minute of silence. We could even see a busy highway in the background and all of the cars stopped in the middle of the road. It was a very moving moment. The passion for their country and their soldiers is so apparent in this country. The service that followed was very difficult to follow because it was completely in hebrew. Nonetheless, while I couldn't understand a word that was said, the language and the tone of the evening was incredible. Well there was one thing, at least, that we were all able to follow along with. The ceremony closed with the Israeli National Anthem, Hatikvah. We all joined together and declared our pride and support in song. The evening was a beautiful and very unique experience that few get to have. Tomorrow we have a few more plans of commemorating the day and then will spend the night at Ben Yahuda Street for Yom Ha Atzmaut.
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Saturday, April 17, 2010
A Very Relaxing Israeli Sabbath
Today was one of the most amazing Shabbats ever. After sleeping late and relaxing we had another nice service right on the beach of the Sea of Galille by our hotel that I helped lead. It was a great start to a very fun day. At the conclusion of our service, each bus broke into our groups to talk about our experiences so far in Israel. It was a cool thing to see that everyone is having similar feelings about the beauty and comfort of this country.
We all ate lunch and then it was relaxation all afternoon. I put on some sunscreen and we all were laying on the beach soaking up the gorgeous Israeli sun. It was a warm blanket that made us feel comfortable in our country. Really, everything about this place is more beautiful then one can imagine. This free time also allowed us to grow closer as friends with these people who we have, for the most part, only known for a week. After a rest in the sun, Steven, one of the staff, led a guided thinking/meditation session. It was based on footsteps and where our feet have been these past weeks, whose feet were those places before us, and how we will share these steps when our feet are back in the US. It made me think and wonder what I really will do. It helped me relate back to the importance of the places I have been and where I will be in the coming days. We all changed into nice outfits and had dinner before an incredible evening.
We all got in our bus and made our way to Tiberias to go on a disco cruise. Well the name is quite deceiving because it was not disco music but it was so much fun. So the boat took us around the Kenneret under the beautiful mid-east stars and moon. The city of Tiberias is right on the water and was all lit up. The lights of the city were stunning. We danced the night away on the boat. As the ride came to an end, we walked down the streets of Tiberias a bit and arrived at the Promenade of Tiberias, basically a boardwalk lined with kiosks of stores and food stands. I got this great frozen yogurt that was make your own flavor. I put in bananas and strawberries and chocolate and cookies and I don't even know what else. It was absolutely delicious though. As we got to he shore, there was a circle of guys and girls with guitars and drums singing Hebrew songs. Our whole group joined in and had such a great time. We sang Salaam as loud as we could and were dancing in the middle of the circle. We made a fool out of ourselves but the awesome feelings inside while signing a Jewish song on the boardwalk in Israel made up for it all. After a little more strolling we had to meet up with the bus and had to go back to the hotel. Tomorrow we will be moving to a new hotel as we are driving to Jerusalem. I think that tomorrow will be a very powerful day with the Old City and the Kotel along with a program with BBYO's sister movement in Israel, Tzameret.
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Shabbat Shalom!
The days in Israel are very long and exhausting but so invigorating. Our first stop on day two was Tzfat, the Spiritual (Kaballistic) and Artistic center of Israel. It was absolutely stunning. Almost all of the buildings were made of outstanding and beautiful Jerusalem limestone. The street were lined with Isreali flags and all of the fences had metal work of Magen Davids. The Jewish pride and shear love for Israel was contagious as it is all over this phenomenal country. We explored the street and saw the genuine beauty of this area. Being that it is Friday, everyone was preparing for Shabbat. The smells tasted so sweet and the excitement for the holiday was running through the streets. I loved it.
As we walked deeper into the town, we came upon a beautiful synagogue, The Ashkenazi Ari Synagogue. This temple was names after Rabbi Yizhak Luria Ashkenazi, the founder of Lurianic Kabbalah. Additionally, this synagogue is where Rabbi Luria (or Ari) used to go in the 16th century on Friday night to welcome the Sabbath and where the Kabbalat Shabbat service was originated. It could be said that it is because of this place that my favorite Jewish song (Boi Kallah, a modern song version of the last line of L'cha Dodi that welcomes the Sabbath Bride) is in existence. Tzfat, like Jerusalem, Chebron, and Tiberias, is one of the four holy cities of Israel and I was standing in what is possibly the oldest synagogues in Israel. This 440 year old shul houses a beautiful hand painted wood carved arc. It was such a stunning sight that made me proud to be Jewish in the Jewish homeland.
After the synagogue, we walked down the street for a "shoppertunity" (by the way, that's my favorite word). We went into a candle store that sells gorgeous handmade Israeli Beeswax Candles. Down the alley a bit was a whole strip of stores and galleries that we walked through. I made some very nice purchases but since some people will probably read this who I got gifts for I'm not going to talk about what I got. Anyways though, since Tzfat is the artistic center of Israel the artists all congregate in this area and make beautiful artwork sold in the galleries lining the streets.
After our shopping time we went to an absolutely amazing location, Kibbutz Misgav Am. Misgav Am is located 2,750 feet above sea level and has an outstanding view of the entire surrounding area, including Lebanon. This Kibbutz is basically on he border of Israel, in fact as I walked through the Kibbutz my phone sent me an automated message that said welcome to Lebanon. As we walked in I got real sense of the community and trust for each other in this place. We got to a shack that was selling ice cream. I went to purchase an ice cream bar, but here was the interesting part. There was no one working in the shack. It was just a freezer and an opened register. I took my own ice cream, I took my own change. I felt comfortable and welcomed. We all sat on this patio and had a man speak to us. He was amazing and very inspirational. I did not catch his name but I will tell you everything I remember. This man grew up in Cincinnati and as he grew up, he knew that Israel was where he belonged. After he graduated college, he made Alliya and has lived in Israel ever since. In Israel he was a soldier for about 20 years and he fought in six wars. Here is when this area really got really interesting. Not only was it Lebanon across the border, but it was Hezbalah. I was looking at where Hezbalah, an organization that want Israel destroyed, lives. I heard their prayer, I felt the pain of those who live in this Kibbutz. They live there heroically keeping this land Israel's land so that it is not taken by Hezbalah. The man told us how the Kibbutz works very well together. He explained that they have their farmers, their workers, their soldiers, and more. Hezbalah came to this village twice in recent years to attack. Both times, no one returned to Lebanaon and the Hezbalah learned and never sent a third crew. The most important thing this man talked to us about other then the strength of this Kibbutz, is the importance of us as Jews to be connected to the homeland. He said that we needed to talk to our government and speak to our local representatives about the importance of Israel and how we need to stand up against Lebanon and the other nations that have hopes to destroy Israel. He then really inspired our group. He told us that while the United States is where we live, it is not our home. Right now I was standing in my home. Israel is the home that god gave to the Jewish people and it is where we belong. He welcomed us home. I was really moved. I don't know if my life will ever put me in a position where I will live in Israel, but I definitely will always be a Zionist and will always have a love and connection to this outstanding country.
We all were inspired and had a huge passion for the land we were in. After stopping for a quick lunch, it was time for fun. It was time to go rafting on Jordan River. We were at the most incredible locations in all of Israel and now we were having the best time ever while there. Our group broke into boats and we were off. I was paddling and we were just having so much fun. Splashing each other and bumping into each other's boats. Just floating down the river, it was such a fun time.
Now it was time for Shabbat. I took a shower, cleaned myself off, and we all met. Our hotel is right on the Sea of Galille so we have a beach behind it. We all met in the courtyard to take some pictures of us decked out in our nicest clothes and then we headed out onto the beach. It was an amazing Shabbat. All of us were sitting on the beach in Israel right on the Sea of Galille. I don't know if I will ever get another opportunity in my life to do this with 100 of my friends. This was one of the best Shabbat services I have ever experienced. The delicious dinner after it made Shabbat even better. This experience was absolutely phenomenal. I am loving Israel and don't want to leave! Shabbat Shalom!
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Notes About My Blog
I'm not really sure who, is reading this blog but I just wanted to put a few things out there.
- I am not sure if all of the facts, stories and stats on here are 100% accurate. I am writing this based on some books and a lot of what I just remember from the day so please take this all for what it is.
- I am positive their are typos. I am writing short novels up until 2am in Poland and Israel on my little BlackBerry without spell check. If you see anything just ignore it. I have not proof read anything I'm posting.
- The reactions I am writing are mine and everyone else could see things completely differently and feel very differently. If you're on the March with me, you will form your own opinions so ignore what I saw. If you're reading this and your child is on the March too, don't assume that what I write is the same thing they would. If you're interested in how I feel, then enjoy reading.
- Please, if you have never gone on the March of the Living and plan on doing it ever in your life, do not read this. As my first blog said; it's not good to go into this trip with expectations. I really advise not to read it. It could ruin your experience.
- Please leave comments. I really enjoy to see that people are reading this and getting something out of it but my only way to do that is if you leave a comment so please do. Anyways, as long as you're okay with all that I hope you enjoy the rest of my Blog.
- I JUST MADE IT EARIER TO FIND MY BLOG! If you would like, you can just go to www.CoryonMOTL.com and that will direct you here!
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Am Yisrael Chai
Now, running on only a couple hours of sleep, I will admit that the day was very long and I do not remember all of the details but I will try explain it briefly. After the beach we drove to Kibbutz Yad Mordechai. A Kibbutz, if you were wondering, is a very socialized living community where everyone helps each other and is there for each other living and working together. This Kibbutz was founded in the 1930's by Polish Jews. However, in 1943, their original community was too small land wise and they moved to the current location. That was when they named it Yad Mordechai, in honor of Mordechai Anilewicz. It is interesting that this was one of our first destinations in Israel because it tied up both ends of the trip. Anilewicz was the leader of the Jewish Combat Organization that led the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. We walked around parts of the Kibbutz and saw the beautiful sights around it. We could even see the Gaza Strip which was only about seven miles away. The coolest part of this stop was the Museum. In the Kibbutz, they constructed a Museum about the Polish Jews in the Holocaust and the Warsaw Ghetto and the Uprising there. It was so interesting because only two days ago we were standing on Mila Street and we were at the Umshlagplotz. One of the most interesting things at this museum was a scale model of the Warsaw Ghetto. Even though we were just there, the Ghetto was all destroyed in the war and this model was a unique way to envision the Ghetto in 1943. There was also a room in the museum that simulated a bunker that the Combat Soldiers would fight and live in during the uprising and they showed us a video to help us understand what occurred during those three weeks of fighting. This was an cool destination because it showed us the significance of Polish war time and pre-war history in the establishment of today's Israel. For more info on Kibbutz Yad Mordechai, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yad_Mordechai.
When we finished our tour we had a delicious Israeli picnic lunch and then loaded on the buses to go to Tel Aviv. Our first of two stops in Tel Aviv was Independence Hall. This is the site where the first Israeli Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion, made the proclamation of Israeli Independence on May 14, 1948 in the main hall. This day, interesting to know, was a Friday (Shabbat). Because of this, the ceremony began at 4:00pm and ended 32 minutes later. We watched a short film in this hall on the history of the Independence and formation of the State of Israel. There are a few reasons why the building I was standing in was the site of Gurion reading the proclamation. Most significantly, was because the house we stood in was Meir and Zina Dizengoff home build in 1909 as the first home in Tel Aviv way before it was the thriving metropolis it is today. Meir Dizengoff, interestingly, was also the first mayor of Tel Aviv. One other reason why it was chosen was because the main hall was built on the basement level and the delegates meeting needed a safe place to be. In fact, only one day after the proclamation was made, war broke out in the new State of Israel. Nonetheless, the hall was very interesting. I stood in the place where it was first announced that my people, the Jewish people, had a homeland. The lady who spoke to us at the hall really made us feel welcomed and comfortable in the country. It was a beautiful feeling. Coming from Poland, where we were treated rudely and not wanted, Israel is the complete opposite and I am loving it. For more info on Independence Hall, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independence_Hall_(Israel).
The other thing we did in Tel Aviv was exploring. Other then the beach this was the best part of the day. We walked a bit from Independence Hall to a market in the middle of Tel Aviv and broke up in small groups to explore. Now my first stop was to got authentic Israeli Shwarma. Well I will tell you, it was so delicious. What is Shwarma you may ask? I had no clue either. So, it is sliced turkey (or lamb but I got turkey) on pita with Hummus, Isreali Salad, Chips (or French Fries as we call them in the states), I had some onions, and a spicy sauce. It is all rolled up and amazing. I was starting to think that Polish food was decent but boy was I off. We finished up there, and just wandered the square. We walked through some back allies and through markets; into some stores. This city was beautiful. The sun was smiling down to us, welcoming me. One thing that made me feel so comfortable was the fact that everywhere I looked, on every sign and every billboard and every store, everything was written in Hebrew. It is such a pretty language. Such nice characters. While I do not speak more then three words, it is welcoming and comforting. After some time we all met back up got on the bus and drove up North to our hotel in the Galilee. Tomorrow is Shabbat. Shabbat in Israel, how sweet and pleasant it sounds. To make it even better, we are also going rafting on the Jordan River tomorrow well I didn't sleep much in the past two days so it's time to catch up on that.
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Wednesday, April 14, 2010
A Chamber of Death and Hell
Today was Majdanek. After a long three hour bus ride, we arrive in a city. Hugely populated, very urban, lots of people. I saw a street fair with children's rides and festivities. Then, I saw the complete and polar opposite. We took a main road less then a mile outside of the hussel and bussel of the town, right near Lublin, and saw Majdanek. From the road you could almost say it was a farm. A huge opening, hills and buildings. And death and horror. All of this, right in a city. Someone's home was less then 500 feet behind a gas chamber. The sut on their home window was the ash blown over from the crematorium that massacred my ancestors. How do you just put this death factory in the center of a town. I said, Treblinka somewhat made sense; this did not. How do you not say anything when hundreds go in a building and nothing comes out but a devil with a swastika and human ash? Majdanek was opened in September 1941 and held prisoners from October 1941 until its liberation by the Soviet army in July 1944. The camp had 22 barracks and 13 gas chambers. At its peak, 45,000 prisoners were held there with up to 800 people in a barrack of 90 beds. The Nazis had a plan to build up the camp to hold 250,000 people but were never successful. In total, 235,000 people perished in Majdanek, a large majority Jews. 60% of those people were simply from disease, starvation, overwork, or exhaustion because of the unbearable living conditions. We walked in the entrance of the camp and saw a massive structure. This was a monument constructed as a memorial for the horrors that occurred on the grounds in front of us. The monument is broken down in 6 parts to remember the six million sons and daughters who perished. In front of that stands a large pit with rocks lining the edges. This was constructed to resemble the gas chamber. A ramp led you inside of the pit and stairs took you back out. Directly before the stairs is a small crack leading out of the pit. This is significant of the tiny percentage of people (500 to be exact) who survived. This held more significance to me then the average as I held the hand of a remarkable human being who would not be here if not for that crack. The friend standing with me's grandfather escaped Majdanek paying for his life with his mother's diamond. It really put material items into proportion for me. We continued past the monument into the camp. My journey in this camp was awful. It was death after death after more death. The first death we witnessed was the gas chamber. There is only one still in existence at Majdanek but that one was fully in tact. Despite the few buildings the Nazis were able to destroy, the camp is the same as it was 65 years ago and can be up and running in 48 hours. This chamber was what I expected. At Auschwitz I, they used Zyclon B pellets entered into the chamber through square holes in the ceiling. While one of the chambers I walked into today was the same, there were also the carbon monoxide ones which were what I have heard about. Here is the sickest part, this one building had 5 gas chambers. They could kill hundreds of people at the same time in five different places at once. The first room in this annihilation complex hurt me. I was nauseous, had trouble breathing, distraught. There were maybe 50 shower heads lining the entire span of the ceiling. I quivered imagining the gas that killed innocent mothers and children. I then realized that this was even a worse place. Where I stood not a single person dies. You may say well then good. No, this was actually a shower that provided hope for these helpless souls. To make things worse, the Nazis would torture the people by rapidly switching the water from boiling hot to ice cold. They said it opened their pours so that the gas in the next room would kill them quicker. As I said, this was a complex of death. Past the shower room there was one room that could kill people using Zyclone B. The walls still stained blue, evidence of the chemical slaughtering that these heartless Nazis committed. If the Nazis had other people waiting to be gassed or just wanted to watch the demon crimes they were committing, they would herd the people past this first hell and into one of the four chambers ahead of them with metal pipes lining the perimeter. I then stood where the devil stood. Where they took pleasure out of the screams and cries I painfully heard in my mind. There were 2 carbon monoxide tanks in a closet with a glass covered window showing you the gas chamber. The Nazis would turn on the gas and watch. Tens of thousands of people were watched perish in the dungeon I stood in. I left alive. Thousands before me never had that chance. Why am I so lucky? Why are (yha, you reading this) so lucky and fortunate? I don't comprehend it. We continued down the road with tears and horror and nausea and disgust in our guts. We entered barracks which were turned into exhibits. These barracks were long uncomfortable wood structures that would house hundreds of people. There were many interesting exhibits but I will only share a couple. I walk into one building and am confronted with the villain. I see in front of me a uniform bearing a swastika. I now understand the harmful message and unspeakable hate behind that small symbol. I see the uniform of the Nazi that directed thousands through death and torture in enjoyment. I see a wall of photographs. Photos of the Nazis. I stare these sick, twisted individuals in the eye. I have built up hate, and anger. After the war, only 80 of the 1,300 Nazis at Majdanek were murdered. For their terrible crimes against human beings, the others were allowed to live. I looked the devils in the eye and I realized that there was no means of justice for them. The next exhibit that impacted me, similar to in Auschwitz, was an entire barrack filled with shoes. Hundreds of thousands of shoes. Each pair with a story. Where that person has traveled, what they accomplished in those shoes. But then I thought, every single shoe ended their story with "... And then I was brought to Majdanek". The horror and sadness in the little girl with the small white sandals. The teenage girl with the red high heel shoes. All of the stories behind this mound of shoes filling this entire building.
We continued through the camp. Past the barracks through this horrifically large place. We walked into a barrack. Fully intact, beds and all. Each bed slept 10 or more people. The uncomfortable sleeping conditions were obvious. Yet we continued. We went to a mausoleum. A massive structure that held 18,000 pounds of ashes. Right at the end of the camp sat the destruction that this camp produced. They produced destruction.
One should produce creation, not the other way. Tens of thousands of family members cremated down to nothing more then a speck of earth. We then walked down the stairs of this massive dome of ash. The size really cannot be properly expressed in words. It is scary to think this was only a fraction of the people killed at Majdanek. Other ashes were used to fertilize soil and were deposed of like garbage. We walked down the stairs and into the crematorium. Six ovens where the lifeless bodies went after being gassed or dieing from illness. It was incredibly emotional to see how these humans were treated as anything but that. They were treated simply as garbage. They were in no means cared for.
November 3, 1943 was the deadliest was the most tragic day in Majdanek's existence. They called it "Erntefest" or the Harvest Festival. The Nazis forced the Jews to dig large holes and then shot 18,000 Jews in that one day. Their bodies were then dropped into these holes in the ground. These Jews dug their own grave. They were shot as the Nazis sang and danced in order to drown out the sounds of their gun shots. I walked past these hills. Thousands of bodies building up the ground in front of me. It is an unthinkable crime that the Nazis committed.
Before we left, the navy bus did a ceremony for the group. This was our transition from the sadness and horror of these camps and ghettos we witnessed in the past week to the joy that we will soon embrace in our homeland. We all joined hands and lined up in the formation of a Magen David. All intertwined, all together. We ended the ceremony chanting Hatizvah, the hope. We have hope. We are so fortunate to be alive today. After a long bus ride and then a bit of a flight we will arrive in Israel.
I have learned that this trip is called the March of the Living for a reason. Despite the heartlessness of the Nazis. Despite the unthinkable crimes that Hitler committed against humanity. We are the living. We are here and we are hopeful for the future of the Jewish people. We will arrive in Israel full of hope, pride, joy. This is my first time to Israel and I could not be more excited. I am going to the homeland of my people. I am the living who will march home together with thousands.
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Tuesday, April 13, 2010
17,000 Rocks, 17,000 Bits of History. Never Forget.
We left the Ghetto and went to the Warsaw Jewish Cemetery. We did a mitzvah here. As BBYO does every year they go on this trip, we went and helped clean up this cemetery. This cemetery is where 300,000 people rest. Judging by the grave stones, I think it was probably opened in the 1880s or earlier. I walked in the cemetery and we worked together to try to clean this place. It was absolutely massive. I wasn't able to walk this whole thing in the couple hours we were there. All of our group worked together, however, to pick weeks and lift grave stones that have been broken over time. One of the saddest things we saw was a pile of earth that one kid in our group was trying to dig up. I walked over and stopped him. I found a small marker lying a few feet away from the grave. I couldn't read it but I made out 1940. There was a body under that mound of earth that was never returned to. Their family must have been taken into the Ghetto and killed. They were never able to return and put a grave marker over this body. This was just one case of this amongst hundreds in the cemetery. There were areas of this cemetery that served as mass graves too. During the times of the Ghetto's existence, people would die in the streets of illness and malnutrition. The elders in the area would tell the young kids to take the bodies and sneak them out of the Ghetto under the walls and carry the bodies to this cemetery so they could rest in peace. It was really a powerful experience to clean up this cemetery and put together the graves of those who have no family to do it for them, have no family to remember them, have no family to carry out their family name and history because of the Holocaust.
We loaded on the bus and made the journey that our ancestors took out of the Warsaw Ghetto during its liquidation to Treblenka. It was a long ride and I slept during most of it, but as we got close I awoke and took note of where we were. We drove down a long, windey, tree covered road. Treblenka was far away from civilization in the deep woods of Poland. It made more sense. But that was the only thing that made sense in this hell. Treblanka is a camp that I didn't know much about but was so disturbed as I learned. Treblanka was opened only 13 months from July 1942 until August 1943. This camp was closed before the war and 100% destroyed by the Nazis. They hoped that no one would find it and no one would know. As the man shared with us yesterday, SS were still just men with daughters and they were ashamed of their actions. Today all of the camp is a monument. Now, I have only heard descriptions of this monument as a lot of rocks. It is so, so much more. Let me try to convey the anguish behind this horrific site. As I said, after closing the camp the Nazis drove through the camp with tanks and bombs and destroyed the entire land with absolutely nothing to remain but a clearing in the forest. Because of the German's meticulous record keeping and the very few stories that survived, we are able to know what Treblenka was. There are long cement blocks that line up to represent the train tracks crossing through the line of tall thin rocks which symbolize the barbed wire boundaries. The rails led to a platform where people used to be welcomed to the camp. This camp was not only a destination for Jews, but, it was almost all Jews. Treblinka had two parts. Treblinka I was a labor camp that held about 10,000 prisoners who were almost only used to build Treblinka II. This was the most despicable thing I heard, Treblinka II had not a single barrack. Not a single place to sleep except for the earth. Treblinka II was simply a death camp. The average life span for a Jew in Treblinka II was two hours. Think about that, in the two hours it took to drive from Warsaw to the camp, it was enough time to end thousands of peoples' lives. This camp was constructed to be the most efficient, and inhumain, way of ending a human beings existence. To destroy the memories of them and their history. Treblinka only had between 20 and 30 survivors. That is all. Those were, I believe, the Jews who they used to bury or burn the bodies after they were gassed. Let me continue talking about the layout so you understand this place. As people would unload from their cattle cars and fill the platform, they would be welcomed happily from the SS soldiers. There was a sign that said to the arriving people something along the lines of "Welcome to Treblinka, this will be a holding camp that you will stay at shortly while you are transported to a labor camp." People were instructed to check their baggage in one area and check their gold, money, and valuables in another. They were even given receipts and told that as long as they keep the receipts they will receive their belongings again as they leave the camp. They never left. The SS collected over 200 full cable cars of personal items from these people as they arrived which were transported to the soldiers in the city. The SS would then tell the people that they must take a shower in order to disinfect before entering the camp. That was not a shower. That was the last 15 minutes of their life. Treblinka did not only have one or two gas chambers, though. The Nazis constructed 13 cellars of execution in this unthinkable hell. They were brought in happily. They confidently walked to their own death without any chance of survival. The Nazis forced other Jews to work in the gas chambers and bury remains, or, when they felt that took too long, burn the remains of their ancestors after they were left lifeless in the gas chambers. 800,000 people were killed in Treblinka in only 13 months. They killed as many as 18,000 people in a single day.
Treblinka today is nothing, but Treblinka today is everything. As you walk past the entrance there are those long cement blocks that signify the train tracks crossing through the tall rock structures signifying the camp boundaries. A platform now stands at the midpoint of the tracks and is home to 10 large rocks with 10 countries etched in it where Jews were sent to Treblinka from to die. Ahead of us was a circular section of the platform with a monument (pictured above) that depicts the message "Never Again" in multiple languages. Behind that is the large rock structure you can see with faces of horror engraved on the top of the structure to express the atrocities that occurred at the site I stood on. There is a crack through this structure that they say will remain separated until the Messiah arrives. In the remainder of the camp stand 17,000 rocks. Each with their own personality. Their own story. Some engraved and some not. Rocks of all different sizes. Each of these rocks represents a town. A town big or small that was devastated by the Nazis. Towns with few, if any Jewish survivors after the war. Each rock represents anything from the six Greek individuals that the Chief Rabbi of France discussed yesterday at the March to the town of Warsaw with 350,000 massacred. Think of that. 17,000 rocks one after another standing up as reminders in the ground. Serving as the only headstones on the mass grave beneath me. The pictures do not do this site justice. Stories do not do this site justice. Only being a witness can truly give you the impact that this site possesses. Behind this structure and in the center of these rocks is a large tar pit. Standing there as a symbol of the gas chambers and crematoriums that were once at Treblinka and served as the final resting place for hundreds of thousands of our ancestors. Surrounding this tar pit was hope, however. There were 18 torches. 18, Chai, Life. This was a symbol of us being there, of the Jewish people surviving and remembering and spreading the stories to our children and their children. We concluded our day with a memorial ceremony conducted by the green bus. It was absolutely beautiful and concluded in all of us reciting the Mourner's Kaddish. Before our group left we all sang Hatikvah together. I know that Israel is my homeland and I cannot wait to experience it. As we walked away from Treblinka I felt such a strong sense of love and unity amongst our group and, subsequently amongst the Jewish people. We all had our arms around someone. We were upset, but upset together. I spoke in depth about life and my feelings with people who, just five days ago I did not know. Tomorrow we are going to Maidanek and then flying to Israel. I cannot wait.
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Monday, April 12, 2010
The March of the Living
The next hour was the most unexpectedly emotional and remarkable hour of my life. Myself and 3 other friends, Hannah, Shelby, and Jacob walked through the camp together. When we were in Birkenau yesterday, I didn't understand it; today I did. Each person was given a small wooden paddle when we got off the bus and wrote messages on them. I wrote "6 million. Never forget. Never again." The 4 of us walked to the center of the camp to the selection are to place our paddles on the train tracks. The weather was nice but the wind was very strong. I was sitting on the ground to light a candle in remembrance. The wind would not let me light it. I had Jacob come lean over to help block the wind so I could light it. Two other boys who I have never seen before and probably will never see also leaded over to help light my match. Then a survivor, I think his name was Howard, his aged hands grabbed mine as together we tried to light this candle. The group of us, I think 7 strangers in total, joined together to recite the Mourner's Kaddish. It was beautiful. The candle would not light but I left it there, light in my heart. The mood of the day really changed. It went from this joyous mood the somber mood that I expected to feel a while earlier. As the four of us walked through the camp holding hands in silence, we listened to the loud speaker where the names of the 1.5 million children who died in the holocaust were recited. It put names to the stories that were written on the exact ground I was walking on. Yesterday we didn't get the chance to experience Auschwitz II - Birkenau so we decided to walk around. We went to a pile of rubles. This wasn't just any pile, though. We stood in front of Gas Chamber and Crematorium I. The reason it was pile of rubles was because at the end of the war, when the Nazis were burning the buildings trying to destroy their evidence, they bombed the gas chambers as well. They were so ashamed of the atrocities that occurred in this building. The hole in the ground in front of us was massive. While the roof was completely fallen in, the ground structure was still visible. The stairs leading down were 2 feet a head of me. The room they striped in, hoping for a shower was right there. I saw the destroyed metal pipes that produced gas to kill over a million of my ancestors. I saw the crematorium where their lifeless bodies were incinerated. I saw it and I cried. I saw it and I was hurt. Think of how many more people could have gathered together if there was no reason to gather. I know that doesn't make sense, but think of what the Jewish people would be today if not for this gas chamber. I saw this on one of the paddles and really thought about it, if not for the one Jew that was killed six million times, who would the Jewish people be today. It was not six million Jews who were killed. It was a mother and a father and a sister and a husband and a friend and a son killed on and on until it summed to six million Jewish men and women and children and five million more of g-d's children. The loud speaker told us that the ceremony was going to begin shortly. We walked in silence up the steps on the monument that was built towards the end of the camp. There were so many people that it was like a rock concert. Somehow, the four of us walk our way to the very front row and sat on the steps alongside some people from the Greek delegation. We were right by the fence that surrounded the stage so we were able to witness everything perfectly. The ceremony began with the songs Es Brent and Eli, Eli. The tone was incredibly somber. I then heard some of the most inspirational speakers I have heard in my life. I was brought to tears. Natan Sharansky, Chairman of the Jewish Agency of Israel. Mr. Sharansky spoke about how the Nazis tried to remove our identity as Jews. They wanted to completely carry out their final solution and erase the existence of the Jewish identity from ever existing. However, looking at all of us there today, our identity was the one thing thy strengthened. Sharansky explained how easy it is to forget and how we cannot. How it is our responsibility to carry on the stories. The next song I that was sung caused me to really think, to cry, to understand. The song was called "What will become of the memories?". It was written by a child of Holocaust survivors and asks an important question: who will remember and tell the stories of the Holocaust, when the survivors are no longer able to? It was at that moment that I realized that today and yesterday and the days before it and the days to come on this trip are much more then a vacation. Much more then a student learning trip. They are a call to action. I am required to take on the responsibility to be a witness my generation is the last to hear stories directly from survivors like Trudy and the many others I have come in contact with. I must learn and share. I must. The next speaker was an incredibly accomplished man. Rabbi Israel Meir Lau is the Chief Rabbi of Tel-Aviv-Yafo, the former Chief Rabbi of the State of Israel, Chairman of the Yad Vashem Council, and a chiled survivor of the Holocaust. Rabbi Lau has also participated in every March of the Living since its inception in 1988. His story of life was incredible. The Rabbi opened our eyes to how the Nazi regime started way before the in 1939. Kristalnacht, possibly the most horrific night in Jewish history, occured in 1938 and Mein Kampf was published in the late 1920s. The Rabbi was taken to Birkenau at age 7 with his brother. One day the Guestopo was going through a selection and wanted to send the two boys to death. Rabbi Lau knew this was his last chance at life so he gave his first of, now, many speeches to that man. He told him that while he may say he is too young to be a good worker, he is not. He explained that he can drag 2 wagons filled with the water and supplies and he is an essential worker. That, with the combination of a bribe saved the life of the man who stood in front of me. The bribe I speak of was their mother's wedding diamond tied into a lock of his hair that he had kept their from the day he entered the camp up to that day. This Rabbi then spoke about the importance of the State of Israel and its existence. Whether or not it is related to the end of the Holocaust, it is there to show our identity. After they spoke, a few more songs were sung and then the torch lighting began. There were 6 torches light by six different groups of people in memory of the righteous that risked their life to save Jews, survivors who began their lives again after the horrors of the Holocaust, the memory of the 6 million jews who perished, the 1.5 million Jewish children who were murdered by the Nazis, the second and third generation of jewish people who never knew their grandparents, and in honor of the state of Israel. With each torch, a story was told. Here were two that really affected me. One of the torches was lit by the Chief Rabbi of France. He taught us a story of how the Nazis took an entire brigade of soldiers into a tiny Island in Greece home of a few hundred people. After a huge investigation of the Island, the Nazis found 6 Jews. However, because they didn't want anyone to be able to witness the atrocities, the Nazis took all 6 of these people to Birkenau by train (a few hundred miles away) just to gas them. One other story was of a blond haired, blue eyed man who was also a child of the Holocaust, however at that time he was a woman. His mother heard that the Nazis liked the young girls more then the young boys so she had him grow his hair long and wear girls clothes. He was sent to the Ghetto and one day they were doing a selection and he was pointed to go off to the right with the weak women and children. Being the smart person he was, he did not go their and instead, going away from his mother, went to the left. The SS stopped him ask what he was doing. Before he could say anything else, the other SS said to let him go to the side to get saved. The second SS man said that he looked like his daughter and should be saved and here he is today. This survivor brought an interesting thought. Yes, Hitler and the high officers were lunatics, however the SS and the Nazis were not all crazy people. They were people with daughters that looked like him. This man closed by telling us that for the past 70 years he has had nightmares daily, but was never able to cry. He said, after seeing all 10,000 of us today, alive and remembering, hopefully he can cry tonight. After the sixth torch was lit, the entire delegation joined together in the Mourner's Kaddish and followed that up with Hatikvah, the Israeli national anthem. It's weird, I have never been to Israel and, although it is my homeland, I don't really have any true connection to it. Today, at that moment, I felt a connection. Throughout the day I was holding up an Israeli flag for the entire March. At that point I draped it around myself and felt comfort. At the end of the week I will be flying into Israel and I will really be able to say, now more then ever, that I am home. I will be with my people where my heritage roots from.
The March was over. The rest of the day really isn't that important. We arrived in Warsaw after a long 5 hour bus ride and will have more somber experiences in the next few days I'm sure.
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Sunday, April 11, 2010
Disgust and Confusion
For today's blog I am going to skip over the morning details and move on to the bus ride. We were on our way today to Auschwitz. I was very quiet on the ride over, just looking out the window. When we got close to Oswiecim, the town that Auschwitz is in, the highway became parallel to a set of train tracks. Our bus leader began to tell some stories and facts about Auschwitz, but I could not pay attention. My eyes were glaring at this train track. Hundreds of thousands of people spent the last minutes of their life riding on the tracks next to me. I felt bad. Even through the rain and gloom of the day, there were nice grassy hills around the rail tracks. As we got closer to the center of Oswiecim and closer to the Auschwitz there were home after home, business after business lining the streets. People conducting normal daily life within a few hundred feet of the most deadly systematic extermination camp in the history of human kind. Our bus made a turn off of the road before we hit the camp and we made a stop at the Jewish center of Oswiecim.
Who would think that Auschwitz was constructed in a heavily populated Jewish area? Oswiecim in the 1920s was a Jewish mecca in Poland. At that time, the towns population was 60-70% Jewish and housed 20 temples. During the war, however, all of the Jews were liquidated and sent to Ghettos and camps. The Nazis came through the town of Oswiecim and destroyed all of the temples; all but one. They used that temple for ammunition storage. The one remaining temple is now turned into a museum that we visited and had a guide explain the history of Oswiecim to us. When I think Auschwitz, before this trip, I really envisioned that the camp was in a forest miles outside of civilization. But no, there was this thriving Jewish community right where the camp was. There were people living right where the camp was.
We all loaded back into the bus and took a short trip over to the actual camp. We drove to Auschwitz, and went the entrance of the camp. It was 11:50 and we were getting our tour headsets. At 12:00, the entire country of poland stopped for 2 minutes of silence in honor of their president who died yesterday. Some of us found the time awkward, some found it happy, I found it really sad and used it as a time of reflection. I really find it hard to mourn for two full minutes over the loss of one man while standing past the barbed wire of Auschwitz. Over 11 million people perished durring the holocaust. If we were to give only one moment of silence for each brother, sister, mother, father, aunt, uncle and friend that died the world would be silent for more then 22 years. And there, I though, I stood where 2.5 million people died. It was an incredibly eerie time.
We walked into Auschwitz and took a tour of the camp. I really cannot express it all in words but I will try to express my feelings. We crossed through the fence to enter Auschwitz reading those infamous words; Arbet Macht Frei. I stood there, watching, thinking. I have seen this spot in movies. I have read about it in books. Now, I was here. I stood at the entrance to Auschwitz at a sight where thousands of people were shot just for standing exactly where I was standing. Only 70 years ago I would have been handed a death sentence by entering this camp since only 1% of the people who entered Auschwitz survived. Now, for a little background history on Auschwitz that I didn't know. Auschwitz is actually broken down to 4 parts: Auschwitz I, Auschwitz II - Birkenau, Auschwitz III - Monowice (a work camp that served as the largest rubber and chemical manufacturing plant in Poland), and Auschwitz IV - Blechhammer (another work camp). Also, interesting to know, the reason why Oswiecim was chosen as the site for Auschwitz, well a few of them, are that 20 of the now 28 buildings were pre-existing before the war and served as Polish army shelters. As I walked in I almost thought the camp looked nice. Well, the barbed wire fence and watch tower took away from it a bit, but just the buildings were large brick structures that weren't as bad as I expected.
Today, Auschwitz I is completely a museum. Some of the barracks are closed to the public, but the others are all gutted on the inside and filled with museum displays that explain parts of the Holocaust. I'm really not sure if this added or took away from the experience but it definitely helped to understand a bit more. The guide took us in and we walked into the first Barrak, Block 4. This block had displays that really just taught about the history of Auschwitz and what occurred there. The most interesting exhibits there, in my opinion, was a glass case filled with over a hundred large cans of Cyclon B. Cyclon B is the chemical pellets that the SS would drop through holes of the gas chambers to kill the Jews. These pellets, which almost look like Tylenol pills, were the most efficient way to kill the Jews because it cost on 2/3 of a cent per person and would kill 2,000 people at a time in a period of 15-20 minutes. All of the cans in this display were empty. Meaning that in front of my eyes was the weapon that resulted in the death of hundreds of thousands of people. The next rooms in block 4 were very emotional, it made a lot of this real. The first room had an entire glass wall, maybe 150 foot long. Behind it were 7 tons of human hair. Discolored, old and dusty this was the hair that once covered the head of a mother and a wife. The Nazis would shave all of the hair off of the women and stored it. They told us that this hair was packed to be mailed to fabric companies to make blankets and clothing. I saw in this vast mound of hair one blond, now white from age, beautiful braid. It took this huge grand scale genocide and helped me rationalize it to individuals. Next door was a similar display but instead of hair it was suitcases. People had written their names and addresses on these as if they were traveling to a good new land as we do today on our luggage before flying. I looked through these. Some members of our group saw family names written which really hit home. We left block 4 and went onto block 5 which had more displays of peoples prayer shawls, tooth-brushes, shoes, bowls, artificial limbs, eye glasses and more. One sign explained how after the people were taken off of the cable cars all of there luggage was brought to one of two sorting rooms to divvy up what the Germans would keep and what they wouldn't. They called these rooms "Canada" One and Two because all of the Poles visioned Canada as a land to receive whatever you dream of. Block 6 showed pictures and records of those who lived in Auschwitz and had exhibits to explain their clothing, numbers, documentation, food, and more. Block 7 gave a bit more authentic view into Auschwitz then the others did by showing the living conditions. They had rooms set up to show how 200 prisoners would be shoved into an area to sleep on triple layer bunks with no mattress usually in the space that you can barely fit 40 people comfortably. Now was the worst block of them all, Block 11 or the "Death Block". This is where the SS would conduct experiments on the prisoners in the camp. Some of the most bothersome things in my mind was that in the basement they had the first tests of the Cyclon B to see if it would work in the gas chambers. Also, there were rooms broken into 1 foot by 1 foot squares with what I would call a small doggie door on the bottom. The SS would make people go in the door and stand for a day or two straight.
We finished with our tour of the blocks and walked through the main Assembly Square where roll call would be taken daily. I had to stop for a moment and think of the woman who got shot in the head under my feet simply for not standing up straight or the man who got publicly hang 2 feet ahead for stealing a bite of bread. This experience was completely surreal and no matter how many stores I could hear or remember it was so difficult to really connect. Then we entered the gas chamber. Directly outside of the barbed wire fence was the Gas Chamber and Crematorium I. We walked in. There were scratches on the walls from 70 years ago. Through the eerie silence you could hear the cries of our ancestors. The square holes in the ceiling above would deliver the poor victims their inevitable death. But I walked out alive. I walked next door to the creamatorium. But the oven has not been used for sometime. I left. I left the crematorium alive. The day before myself and 5 other people planned a ceremony to conduct after we exited the gas chamber in Auschwitz. Our group of 100 teens gathered close in the pouring rain. We sang "Oh Say Shalom". My group then prepared some survivor stories that we read to the group. The next part of our ceremony was the most meaningful I think. As a group of Jewish teens, outside of the Nazi gas chamber that took the lives of thousands of our ancestors, we joined together and recited the mourner's kadish. People all around us joined is as well. It was very bitter sweet because we are the survivors. We are her to remember. We once again joined in "Oh Say Shalom", appropriately the last line in the mourner's kadish. "May g_d who makes peace in high places, Make peace on us, And on all of Israel. And let us say, Amen". We walked to our bus in song, chanting "Lo Yisa Goy". We showed the world our pride as a Jewish community and our resilience despite what others may try to do to our people.
We ate lunch on the bus as a retreat from the rain and then drove over to Birkenau (under 2 miles away and where the actual March will take place"). We all got out of the bus and walked in. The rain had been falling all day and the ground was very wet and muddy. We all were bundled up in layers upon layers with jackets and sweatshirts and were still cold. The weather 70 years ago was the same, but the prisoners in the camp did not even have the jackets and shoes we had. They didn't have even food to keep them nourished. It was tortures and inhumane conditions, yet somehow, some survived. As we entered Birkenau, I was in awe at the sheer size of the place. I guess I didn't know what to expect but standing in the middle of the camp I could not see either end. All you can see is barrack after barrack. At the end of the war the Nazis attempted to destroy all of the barracks so as not to leave evidence of their crimes. Of the over 300 buildings originally at Birkenau that covered over 425 acres, only about 50 originals remain today. We walked into a wood barrack towards the far side of the camp (that is what the picture that joins this blog is of to set the tone of the rain and gloom). This was the time to hear our history.
As I noted before (I think), we have survivor Trudy Album traveling with us. We all sat in this barrack to hear her story. Trudy grew up in what is now the Check Republic and was abducted by the Nazis at the age of 15. 250 people from her town were impression by the Nazis in, I believe, 1943 and only 60 survived through the war. Trudy was originally taken to a Ghetto and then brought to Auschwitz II - Birkenau where she remained for a few months until she was brought to Plaszow which is where she stayed until liberation. She told us that everyday she fought to live because she believed that her mother and sister were alive and at the end of the war Trudy didn't want to be the only one to perish. The tragic irony of the situation is that Trudy was the only one in her family who survived the second world war. Another part of Trudy's liberation that I found intriguing is that on the train ride out of Plazsow and to the land of the allied forces after Germany surrendered the train made a stop. The doors opened and their was a Red Cross truck giving out hot food. About half of Trudy's train car went and got the food, but for some reason she didn't go. These people who everyone thought were the Red Cross were really Nazis and, after exciting and nourishing the refugees, they shot them all with a machine gun. Trudy stayed in the train and lived. After then, the train drove her off to freedom and she eventually immigrated to the United States and settled in New Jersey. The story was powerful. Especially to hear while sitting in a barrack similar to the one Trudy stayed in when she was a laborer at Birkenau.
We left the barrack and walked through the rest of Birkenau. It was a VERY different mood then Auschwitz I, however. I think the problem was that it was just too big and empty for us to grasp. I almost felt as if I was on a movie set it was so unreal. It may have also been a mix of cold and exhaustion but it was not the same somber mood as I felt in Auschwitz. We walk along the train tracks perpendicular to the entrance gate (that is the exact scene you see in every movie and picture relating to the Holocaust). We were at the selection zone where people were sent to the left and right to live or die. We stood where hundreds of thousands died and it was almost too big to understand. Some of us cracked jokes and ignored where we were. Tomorrow we will return to Birkenau for the actual "March of the Living". I am thinking and hoping that the experience may be different then. Well Birkenau was just a very different atmosphere then I expected. We didn't walk into the gas chambers there because the weather was really getting to us. We will go back in tomorrow I think. So it was on the busses and off to dinner.
I'm not really sure where we were for dinner but it was very tasty. They served spaghetti and chicken fingers and french fries. It was probably the best meal so far. I'm cherishing it because tomorrow's boxed dinner on the bus doesn't sound edible. After dinner we had an amazing program. Well it could have been better but we were very pressed for time so it was cut short. We had a Survivors Panel where 7 Holocaust survivors shared their stories with us. We actually joined with the southern region US delegation on this and experienced it together. One of the most impactful stories I remember is from one of the women who was 2 at the time. Her father knew the war was going on and that they were in danger. So he sent to her to stay at a non-jews house in town where she was safe. Still, every night her father would ride his bicycle to the house and hug his daughter and play with her. One day, however, her father did not come. A few days later her uncle came and this two-year-old understood when he told her that daddy was taken away. I believe she said he was brought to Birkebau and killed immediately but, nonetheless, I know that she never had another time to see her father. She never got to say good bye. The stories were all really powerful and it was a really moving thing to have all these amazing survivors together sharing their story. That was the end of our night. Tomorrow is the real reason why I am here and I am truly looking forward to it.
If you're interested for more information on Auschwitz please take a look at http://en.auschwitz.org.pl/m/ and to listen to stories from Holocaust survivors visit http://www.holocaustsurvivors.org/
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