Last word...

from David

We returned from Israel last week. In no time we were back into the rhythms of life in the Mandell JCC. Since we returned home, our in-boxes have been crowded with emails from our colleagues on the trip who returned to their JCCs in cities through North America....Tucson, Jacksonvlle, Toronto, Salt Lake City, Springfield, Baltimore.... All of us sharing appreciation for the experience and for the camaraderie of such a great group of people. This is one of the results of a trip like this - the new friendships across the miles.

This has been an amazing experience. We started in Poland where we learned about the history of a rich and vibrant Jewish community there. We walked through the remnants of the evil that took the six million from us. And we experienced the impact of a JCC in helping to re-build the Jewish community.

We came to Israel, the Jewish people's greatest triumph. We celebrated Shabbat, met with brilliant inventors, ate far too much wonderful food, visited old and new neighborhoods, enjoyed live music and beautiful art, experienced the ancient history of the four quarters of the Old City. We spent a morning in the newly reopened Israel Museum filled with some of the most spectacular treasures that tell the stories of the Jewish people. We shopped in the market, climbed the tower of the YMCA had tea on the terrace of the historic Kind David Hotel. Most memorable are the people we met whose efforts and accomplishments are so extraordinary. Human rights activists, venture capitalists, inventors, musicians, and students. We met with Israeli and Palestinians who had lost loved ones to terrorism. No matter how many times I have come here, there is always something new and there are always different perspectives to consider.

Jill and I look forward to exploring with our community the many possibilities for bringing groups to Israel for unforgettable experiences. We have talked about arts and culture trips, family programs, food and wine tours, fitness and wellness experiences and archeological digs. We have the unique opportunity to work with JCCs in other cities in putting together these programs. The JCC Association office in Israel is ready to help us, through the new Boarding Pass Program, to access access resources that are often not available on the typical trips.

Over the next several months, we would like to get together and talk about what kind of trips you, our community, would like us to put together. We both understand that this has to come from you. We will help to pull together the structure with the best resources to make it memorable.

You'll be hearing from us!

Freedom of Expression

I could not send all posts before I left Israel.....

The Museum on the Seam is a former army post that was on the border between Israel and Egypt in Jerusalem. After the reunification of Jerusalem the building was turned into an independent art museum that invites works by artists from throughout the world. Some of the artists are from countries with which Israel has no diplomatic relations. One of the current artists is from Saudi Arabia and is being prosecuted by the government there for sending an art piece to Israel. Some of you may remember the Coexistence exhibit that came to town a few years ago. It was cured by the Museum on the Seam. I think it is so perfect that Israel is the place where these artists can feel safe exhibiting their works and expressing so many diverse thoughts.

Jerusalem. Part 2

We travelled towards Ramlah in the West Bank and stopped at the security fence. This massive concrete wall was built to prevent terrorists from entering Israel and has been extremely effective in stopping the terrorist attacks. Anyone entering Israel from the other side must pass through strict security checks. A Palestinian man who come to our group spent three hours crossing over. Regardless of their political positions, the Israelis we spoke to about the fence all felt that it has been very effective in stopping the killings.

From the serious to the celebratory, we went to a nightclub for a performance by David Broza. This popular singer is on the par of Bruce Springsteen in Israel. While all his music was in Spanish and Hebrew, it didn't matter. He and his band performed for three straight hours. They are incredible musicians and it would be amazing to bring them to our community. Here is his website. Tell me if you agree! http://www.davidbroza.net

We ended this afternoon in the Jewish Market in Jerusalem. Being there as the city prepares for the sabbath put us right in the middle of such tumult. Anyone ever have Halvah with coffee beans? I have to tell the Crown to try and order it! We bought some bread, cheese, olives, and tangerines and had a late afternoon lunch on a vacant bench. As it got closer to closing time, the vendors became more frantic and the prices kept going down. Years ago, I was here with a staff group from Rochester and we did a scavenger hunt in Nachl'ot, a 19th century Jewish neighborhoods adjacent to the market. It was a creative, challenging and engaging way to learn about a life in this amazing city. There is now one for the Old City. Great family activity....we will add it to the itinerary of the family trip.

Tonight, most of the group headed off to Tel Aviv for a Noa concert. I decided to head down to Kibbutz Revadim to have dinner with my oldest friend, Karen, and her kids. We have known each other for close to 50 years and I cherish these too infrequent chances to visit together.

Tomorrow we get to visit some of the neighborhood synagogues in the morning and then walk though the Jewish Quarter of the Old City in the afternoon. Shabbat Shalom!

Jerusalem. Part 1

Jerusalem highlights....from David

The sights and sounds of Jerusalem are like no other in the world. This is the place where it all comes together. It is this place where we long to be each year we conclude the Passover Seder. Since arriving here on Wednesday we have viewed the city from an array of vantage points. This is a great way to get a sense of how the city has evolved over the years, how the different parts co-exist and relate to one another, and how incredibly complex it all is.

We went to a church in the Moslem Quarter, one of the stops on the Via Delarosa. There, under a bench and in the floor was a circle containing intersecting lines. Soldiers carved these shapes into the rock roads all over the city and used them as game boards with piles of small colored stones they carried in their pockets as they stood around. I think there's an app for that game. $1.99

The Moslem Quarter was filled with children coming out of school. A small group of them was chasing and taunting an African women who got separated from her group. While she was running from them and laughing, it was clear that she was frightened until she got safely back to her group. It made me feel sad that there is, from such an early age, so little understanding or kindness. Their schools teach them that there is no Israel, and Tel Aviv does not even appear on their maps. One little boy stopped and was enchanted with Barak's iPad.

Visiting the Western Wall is always a special experience. We all approached and had our own personal moments. The plaza was filled with thousand of people, including groups of soldiers. I have not even started the book I downloaded, "Jerusalem A Biography.". But I am definitely committed to reading it when I get home.

Soul Food

Jill and I, along with Allan Finkelstein (who is the President of the JCC Association) spent the morning exploring the galleries in Neve Tzedek, the artistic center of Tel Aviv and walking through Nachalat Binyamin, Tel Aviv's twice weekly colorful arts and crafts fair.

We stopped off to visit the Photo House that I talked about in my last blog and spent time speaking with Ben Peter, Miriam Wissenstein's grandson. He showed us the photo archive. Here is the photographic history of Israel and this young man is the curator. These one million+ photographs tell one of the most important stories of the Jewish people. What a treasure.

There is such a rich array of artistic expression here. The Habima Theater recently re-opened after a three year renovation. Every town in Israel has an orchestra. Public art exhibit actions and installations are plentiful. There is even a graffiti tour that tells all kinds of stories.

The culinary arts and Israeli wineries are flourishing, evidenced by some excellent ethnic restaurants and many highly rated wines (not that I am a good judge). Tonight we went to a cooking school and all thirty of us made dishes of our own creation. Jill and I did middle eastern beef spring rolls - definitely a hit!

I've always wanted to do an Arts and Culture tour of Israel. We developed an itinerary a few years ago and I hope to pull it out, update it with the newer additions, and bring together a group. Next year? Let me know if you are interested!

2 Inspiring Stories

I once viewed a film on HBO called Strangers No More which won the Academy Award for best documentary. It was such an inspiring story. Today we had a chance to visit the Bialik-Rogozin School, the subject of the film.

This school is located in the south Tel Aviv, the older and poorer section of the city and serves children of many of the foreign workers and refugees from nearly 50 different countries (there are over 70,000 in Israel today). These children come from diverse backgrounds of poverty, political adversity, war and genocide. They have confronted so much hardship and tragedy. The school is a place where they become a family (kindergarten through 12th grade) and where they rebuild their lives. I was inspired by the principal, Eli Nechama, who for the past several years has created an incredible place in which no child is treated like a stranger.

From the films website....
The film follows several students' struggle to acclimate to life in a new land....Mohammed, a 16-year-old refugee from Darfur, who witnessed the killing of his grandmother and father before escaping alone through Egypt to Israel; Johannes who arrived at Bialik-Rogozin after spending most of his life in refugee camps; and Esther, who fled South Africa with nothing, in search of safety and peace of mind. With tremendous effort and dedication from the school, the three managed to create new lives for themselves, form strong bonds with their teachers and make new friends......Education is a number one issue around the world. What this small school in the heart of Tel Aviv is accomplishing is just fantastic.

This is just one of the wonderful stories about Israel that I wish more people would know about.

Next we walked through the center/north section of Tel Aviv and got to see the historica Bauhaus buildings in the area of Bialik Square. We ended up at the former municipality building of Tel Aviv, now a museum and homage to Meir Dizengoff, Tel Aviv's first mayor.

The day concluded with the screening of Life in Stills, a documentary about Miriam Weissenstein, who with her husband Rudi, founded the Photo House, a photography studio and archive containing over one million negatives of photos that document Israel's history. www.pro-or.com In the film, Miriam is joined by her grandson Ben as they try to save the studio from demolition. The relationship between Ben and his grandmother was so beautifully filmed and depicted. Miriam was 96 years old when the film was made, she lived to see the premier, and died several months later. This was such an amazing tribute and we were fortunate to have met Ben and Tamar Tal, the filmmaker, for a discussion following the film.

All of us were excited about the prospect of a tour in the States of the film and a photo exhibit from the Photo House. It would be a perfect program for Israel's 65th in 2013!

Arriving

From David......
Friday

Arriving in Israel always has a special significance for me. I always feel a sense of being home. Coming here from Poland brought with it a host of other feelings. This time I felt relief to be here. I also felt sadness that the Jewish Homeland did not exist when it was so desperately needed by the Jews of Europe. We landed in darkness on Friday morning around 3 am. We rode to Kfar Maccabiah in Ramat Gan outside of Tel Aviv, checked in, and went to sleep until 10 am. Only when we woke up did we see the Israel in the light. Our new day had begun.

This hotel, convention center, sports complex is really quite wonderful. I initially felt that we should be in the middle of Tel Aviv, but this area is lovely and the 20 minute ride to Tel Aviv is not difficult. Here is the website for kfar Maccabiah. http://www.kmc.co.il/en/

We started the day with welcomes from Shlomo Balzam, who was born in France in 1948. He is chairman of Alumim (children hidden in France during the Holocaust) and works to find documentation regarding French Jews who perished. He helped us to make the transition from Poland to Israel. I spoke with him about the French film The Round Up and Sarah's Key (he preferred the later).

We also learned more about the March of the Living program. In Hartford, Yachad is recruiting teens for this April and the Federation is putting together a group of adults. This will be a huge gathering. They are expecting 8,000-10,000 people. Anyone interested should call Heather Fiedler at Yachad or Cathy Schwartz at the Federation. We also heard about smaller groups that experience versions of the March at different times of the year. It is important for them to make it as easy as possible for groups to come.

We welcomed Shabbat with Rabbi Yonatan and Shana Neril. Yonatan is committed to focusing on environmental issues. He was ordained in Israel and founded the Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development in Israel. Part of what they do is to run Eco-seminars in Israel. I learned that he was a graduate of the JCC preschool in Walnut Creek, CA where I was the executive director from 1988-1992, and went to the summer day camp there. Jews today live in a kind of universal Anatevka, making connections wherever we travel.

We lit the candles and welcomed the Shabbat together, followed by an amazing meal at the hotel

The Martyrs

Auschwitz. It is so difficult to find words. The sheer enormity of the site. The sinister efficiency. The heartbreaking piles of shoes, the hair, the children's toys, the suitcases. We walked through the freezing cold for three hours. The fog so thick it seemed like we were walking into nothingness. Through the barracks, the gas chamber, the crematoriums. Along the railroad tracks and past the cattle car.

We heard the stories of resistance; we needed to hear those stories. About the prisoners who blew up the crematoria. The story of the Jews who buried notes and evidence so that the world would know what happened to them. The stories of the woman who managed to make matzah for Passover and the rabbi who carved a menorah for Chanukah, lit it and placed it in the barracks window.

We lit memorial candles at one of the ponds where the ashes were thrown. Mark Lazar, our guide blew the shofar and its sound, the allying together of Jews for millennia, echoed through the fog. We recited the kaddish, then we walked out of the camp together, arm in arm, carrying the Israeli flag. We had fulfilled our obligation to visit this cemetery for hundreds of thousands of Jews, each with stories, each a parent or a child, each a teacher or a merchant, each who lived a life and had dreams of tomorrow.

Soon we will be lighting the candles of Chanukah. This year, I know I will be remembering the untold millions of Jews who cannot light the menorah. I will think of how much the world has forever lost. And I will commit myself to telling the stories, working on programs that give us a chance to learn and remember, and helping make it possible for others to have the kinds of experiences I am so fortunate to be having on this journey.

Jill and I, together with our colleagues, end our day with a five hour bus ride to the airport in Warsaw and we cross into tomorrow on our flight to Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. Coming home to a new day.

A drama of contrast

From David......
Tuesday and Wednesday are a blur. A drama of contrasts and contradictions. Horror and sadness. Hope and rebirth. A beautiful yeshiva building in Lublin from the 1920's that is being restored into a synagogue and a five star hotel by the Jewish community of Warsaw. Minutes away the site of the Majdanek concentration camp and extermination center surrounded by apartment buildings and used, by many, as a city park.

A walking tour of Kazimierz, the Krakow Jewish quarter, and the restored synagogues, kosher restaurants and an annual Jewish Arts and Culture Festival; and the Krakow ghetto from which Jews were transported to the death camps. A few of us returned to Kazimierz on Wednesday for a terrific dinner: mushroom soup, potato pancakes in gravy, pirogues, short ribs and homemade apple pie.

The Krakow Jewish Community Center, a three year old building at the center of a Jewish renaissance. We met with our colleague Jonathan Ornstein, the executive director, who spoke proudly and passionately about the ways that people are finding Judaism and the roles the JCC is playing in helping to nurture Jewish life. www.jcc.krakow.org. Jews, non-Jews, and new-Jews are on Jewish journeys at the JCC. Jonathan fondly referred to the community as the "Jewish Wild West", we all thought of him as a Jewish pioneer.

We finished Wednesday with a late night visit to the site of the Plaszow concentration and labor camp built on top of two Jewish cemeteries and the camp from which Oscar Schindler saved 1000 Jews.

This is the county where there were 3 million Jews before the Germans invaded and began to implement their plan to annihilate the us. The is where we met Rosia, a woman who survived the Holocaust with her mother, hidden and provided with falsified papers by righteous Polish friends. Rosia never left, but instead made a life for herself in Poland and today is an active volunteer and board member of the JCC. "This JCC is my promised land," she told us.


This trip is partially sponsored by the March of the Living, an annual program that brings Jews from all over the world on a journey of identity, pride and unity. Aushwitz is where the March of the Living begins with participants (there have been as many as 18,000) marching through the gates, arm in arm, and accepting responsibility to learn and teach this story. The march begins with the blowing of the shofar. They carry Israeli flags. They march from Aushwitz to Birkenau in complete silence. And they end their journey at the Yom Ha'atmaut (Independence Day) celebration in Israel.

It would be so powerful to return here on a JCC trip. Any trip to Poland would, by design, be one of contrast. This was once the largest Jewish community in the world and our experience here would need to explore this history. It is also the site of the worst genocide ever perpetrated on a people. Our experience here must acknowledge and pay honor to the memories of the martyrs and survivors as we take the painful visits to the sites
of the camps. It is a place where Jewish life is beginning to once again grow, which we could experience by taking part in JCC programs or the summer Jewish Arts and Culture Festival. Finally, it is the place we leave and travel home to Israel, the Jewish people's greatest triumph.

Just Like Me ...

If it'sThursday, I must be on my way to Tel Aviv. The last few days have been challenging for me, both physically and emotionally. I had no real expectations for Poland, although the vision in my head was grey and a little sad. For the most part I can't say I was very far off. There were a few shining moments, but mostly I felt empty. I'm sure the cold of winter had something to do with it; the few moments of bright sunshine made Warsaw only slightly more attractive. What I love most about traveling is exploring the hidden streets, the local culture, the personality of a city. To be fair, this was not a vacation and I was not expecting to have "tourist" moments, but we covered a lot of ground and I simply could not grasp a "life" vibe in any of the towns we visited. I was being shown by JCCA what they could offer JCC's and my job was to explore our vision for future Mandell JCC travelers. We found some gems in the JCC of Krakow (and I got a cool T-shirt too), and found the city as a whole both an interesting snapshot of pre-war Poland and a sneak peek of a newly emerging Jewish community. A night out in a local pub offered great local food and a look at Krakow through the local lens. We rebelled a bit from the group, who were repeating at a local kosher spot, to explore on a more personal level. Maybe not the most professionally appropriate, but we want to make sure that we find the best every destination has to offer. Great leaders have to choose their own path sometimes, or in this case, their own dinner. I can't think of another "must do" from a travel perspective, but with Poland in the rear view mirror, I now understand that this leg of the journey had a different missive. We were not here to visit Poland, we were here to "remember" Poland. As I admitted to the group in our "confessional" session, I am a little embarrassed about how little I knew and thankful I am that I work with and for people who provide me with experiences like this to grow and learn. There was no judgement from the group of much more informed professionals; only a chance to share their knowledge and their personal stories.

As I shared with the group, I am the third generation of my family to have an American childhood. I know through my fathers interest in his family's genealogy that we had roots in a now non-existent Polish shtetl of Tarnipole, but I did not grow up with any family stories of the Holocaust. I am certain that had he lived long enough to have access to today's technology he would have unearthed all the branches of our family tree and explored Poland first hand for evidence of our history. I learned what I was taught in Hebrew school, but it was much more factual than personal. There were no sad stories in my Jewish narrative, only joy and family and tradition, and I'm not sorry about that. My sons were raised the same way, I could only offer them what had been given to me, and again, I'm not sorry their Jewish story is a happy one too. They have all spent much more time in Israel than I have (5+ weeks each, their 16-year old summer) and more than likely, they know more as young men than I do as their approaching 50 year old mother. That makes me both ashamed and proud.

So where does that leave me today, after 4 days in Poland, almost 14 hours a day, spent trying to grasp what generations of my fellow Jews (and the majority of my colleagues) have felt and understood their whole lives. I didn't cry the same tears in the Warsaw Ghetto or Majdenek, I didn't feel the same hatred for the Polish people (and don't want to share that sentiment, too much energy to hate, and aren't we trying to end hatred of a people), and although I was anxious about our visit to Auschwitz, I wasn't emotional. I think it's going to take me some time to process what I've seen and how it made feel. Of all the horror that Auschwitz revealed to me today, there was a moment , completely unexpected, when I felt the presence of a kindred spirit; these were my relatives, this could be my story. Superficial as it may seem, it started with shoes. Piles and piles of shoes, taken upon arrival along with all other personal belongings. There were stylish espadrilles, elegant camel pumps, even a navy blue pair with a little white anchor. These women; these Jewish wives and mothers and daughters, were just like me. They had happy lives in beautiful cities like Lublin and Krakow or West Hartford. They gave their children a joyous Jewish childhood, and they had closets filled with clothing and shoes, Just like me. I can't imagine that they ever feared the atrocities that were in their future; who could fathom such an unthinkable fate. They packed their bags for the ghettos and the camps; filling their suitcases with their favorite things and they were killed, just for being a Jewish woman, just for being me. They were the suburban housewives of their time, busy days raising children and cooking dinner; they never imagined that anything terrible could happen to them ...but it did. This will stay with me, this I will remember, and for now, that's a good place to start.
Talk soon, Jill

Monday continued ....

........Our next stop was the small ghetto, the southern portion of the Warsaw ghetto. All of the existing buildings in the area that was the ghetto, were built after the war. It was impossible to fathom the place that held over one third of the city's population in what was a scant 2% of the area of Warsaw. We stood surrounded by what appeared to be low-rent apartments. I wondered what the people who live there today think of the daily groups that make the pilgrimage to this historic site.

We visited the construction site of the new Jewish Museum. It is not a Holocaust museum, but rather a history museum meant to tell the story of the Jews of Poland. I recall visiting the Jewish museum in Berlin which also seeks to tell the full Jewish story.

It was dark as we walked up the steps to the memorial at Mila 18, the site where the last stand of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising took place. We learned about the roles of the leaders in the ghetto who rallied men and women, old people and children, as they refused to surrender to the nazi evil. It was here that together we recited the kaddish and we sang oseh shalom.....May the One who makes peace send peace to us and all of Israel.

We proceeded to visit the Nozyk Synagogue which survived the war because the Germans used it as a stable. It was renovated after the fall of communism. From there we went to an excellent kosher restaurant for dinner and checked into the hotel at 8:30.

I ended my first day in Poland, with a clearer understanding for how important it is to answer the call of the voices that cry out to be remembered. Being here makes a statement that we do remember. It is what we do with this remembrance that makes the difference. I look forward to exploring ways that we can come back to learn about the rich history of our people here and to gain a greater understanding for what happened to them.

Ellie Weisel wrote "what does it mean to remember? It is to live in more than one world, to prevent the past from fading, and to call upon the future to illuminate it."

Tomorrow we are on the road to Krakow at 7 am.

Sacred Ground

Being a neophyte to blogging, I am looking to Jill for advise and direction. She explained that this is all about me sharing what I am doing, my reactions, ideas and feelings. No history lessons, no in depth references, no facts and figures. So here goes...

We landed in Warsaw on Monday morning and it was fitting to begin our journey in Poland at the Jewish Cemetary on the edge of what was the Warsaw ghetto. It was sunny as we left the airport, but the temperature had dropped by the time we got to the Cemetary. The cold went through all of us, physically and emotionally. I was surprised that such a massive Jewish cemetery was left standing after the War. According to our guide, there are only theories as to why the nazis did not destroy it along with the ghetto. Grave markers dating back to the early 1800s represent only a fraction of the 1000 years since Jews first came to Poland. At the beginning of the Holocaust, there were 3 million Jews in Poland; one third of Warsaw's population was Jewish. Today, there are less than 20,000 Jews.

This place tells the stories of a vibrant and diverse Jewish community. Doctors, rabbis, educators, actors, musicians, and community leaders. Many of the monuments are intricately carved with symbols depicting their lives and the contributions they made. In the center of the cemetery is a clearing, marked by stones with black stripes. It was here that people from the Ghetto came each day to bury their dead, most in unmarked and mass graves.

I thought about the responsibility we all have to remember. Visiting this Cemetary is one such way. It is clear that remembering will be a recurring theme over the next four days.

Up in the Air...

Jill again, it's now 1:01 am (still working on your time until we land ). Since David's last post, we boarded Lot Airlines at roughly 6 pm and settled in together in row 34 - out of 37. We spent the first few hours watching a movie, Legends of the Fall. I cried, David might have too, but it was dark. We had an interesting meal of dumplings and some sort of a make-your-own sandwich (when we pressed the stewardess for details, she responded, "I don't know, it's American food"). We both drank what they called "black orange juice", which was definitely closer to grape than any orange I have ever tasted. Luckily, David came prepared with healthy snacks of cheese, carrots and assorted sugar free candies (I'm not including the hard boiled eggs, which I made him deposit in the trash, far from our seats). I'm guessing at some point around 11 pm, we attempted sleep. We each had our own ritual, although both included pills and a pillow, after that our methods are more individual. I required additional layers of outerwear (I was also seated next to the window and Lot Airlines is not big on insulation), a secondary pillow and a blanket. David dons an eye mask and drifts off with music from the iPod. I think he was far more successful at sleep than I was, judging from something that could have been snoring, but he is my boss, so that should probably stay between us.

At roughly 1 am, the cabin lights were suddenly lit and breakfast was being served (It feels like we just finished our dumplings). I have now abandoned all hopes of extended sleep and decided this was a good time to check in with all of you. Breakfast was a tasty sandwich, or maybe we were just hungry, either way it was better than the dumplings.

That basically covers everything since David's last post. If my math and time difference calculations are accurate (emphasis on the "if"), we are about 2 hours from landing in Warsaw.

Until then, Jill

Two hours to takeoff

We arrived a JFK at 12:30 for our 6:40 pm flight. Jill and I both were anxious about avoiding Thanksgiving Sunday traffic. Always better to leave extra time!

Going to Poland on our way to Israel brings up so many conflicting feelings. Visiting the country whose Jewish community experienced such horrific losses feels like an obligation, a sacred pilgrimage to pay tribute to the lives that were lost and the lives that were saved. I have had the honor of knowing and working with many survivors of the Shoah. Last year, I began working our community's survivors and the second generation to plan the annual Yom Hashoah commemoration. I have heard their stories throughout my career in JCCs but this is the first time I will visit the camps and learn about the Holocaust through a different lens. Less and less survivors remain with us as each year passes. We all must take very seriously our obligation to continue to tell the stories. I know that this experience will provide me with more tools to be able to do that through the work we do at the JCC.

Our overnight flight on Lot Airlines to Warsaw arrives at 9:30 AM and we start the day with visits to the Jewish Cemetary, the ghetto, the Nozyik Synagogue and the Heroism Walk before checking into our hotel. Will check in tomorrow. David

Just Getting Started...

By the time that most of you are finishing the last of your Thanksgiving leftovers or hugging your final houseguest goodbye, David Jacobs and I will be headed to JFK airport to begin our two-week adventure to Poland and Israel. We are traveling, together with 35 Jewish Community Center professionals, representing 15 JCCs throughout North America, to learn about new directions and exciting opportunities in Jewish travel. The Jewish Community Center Association (JCCA) has developed an innovative new program, JCC Boarding Pass, designed to help communities like ours explore Israel and Jewish life around the world, tailored specifically to our own needs and interests. On this trip, David and I will sample the unique experiences that JCCA can provide for upcoming Mandell JCC journeys. Our days will be busy, that is more than likely an understatement, but we want to see and do as much as possible while we are there. We are both looking forward to getting to know our colleagues from across the country; sharing their ideas and maybe even making a a few matches with other communities for future travel. I am certain that we will work hard, and am also fairly confidant that we will laugh plenty too; after all if we have fun, you will too.  The details of our itinerary will be revealed as we go along, too much information now and you would have no incentive to continue reading! If you are new to "blogging”, let me offer an introductory disclaimer: this is a stream of consciousness medium, there are bound to be typos and grammatical errors. This is a virtual postcard to let you know where we are and what we are doing. We will share all the highlights and promise to offer up a few "lowlights" as well. Keep in mind that our posts are going to be written on little sleep and without any "proofreaders," our messages are intended to be more personal than corporate. Think of it like a postcard from a traveling friend, thus our blog title, Postcard from The Mandell JCC. Feel free to Email us at the blog address below with questions, comments or criticism (be gentle) and we will do our best to get back to you when technology allows.

In the meantime, we are both very busy reading up on our destinations, finalizing the complicated process of ensuring that our technology will function in both countries, and attempting to pack for 14 days in varying climates in one 50 lb. suitcase (that is somehow is going to weigh under 40 lbs for one leg of the air travel). I unfortunately did not have time to learn any conversational Polish or Hebrew, but I'm sure there is an "App" for that, so I should be fine if I find myself separated from the group and in need of assistance. David has downloaded Simon Sebag Montefiore’s book “Jerusalem – The Biography” for the long airplane and bus rides; my prediction is that we will be too busy talking to our colleagues to do much reading…or we will be napping.

 

There a few ways to "follow" this blog, all will get you to lthe same place, http://www.blogger.com/www.postcardfromthemandelljcc.blogspot.com (find us directly at that address). We will post links daily on our website and Facebook page, and "tweet" it out there at the same time. Easier still is to enter your personal email address in the empty space bar on the blog site or become a "follower" and you'll automatically be sent any new posts. We will do our best to update you daily, including photos and videos when possible, and introduce you to all the exciting people and places we visit. We hope all of you will be with us "virtually" for this trip.

Next time, pack your bags; we're doing this together...

Talk to you from JFK,

Jill and David

postcardsjcc@gmail.com