Tuesday, November 29, 2011

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.

1 comment:

  1. The JCC is blessed to have you as a leader. "you go girl ".

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