Poland Pilgrimage

by Talia Hirsch,     11^th grade,      NJ

The Sages of Lublin Yeshiva

We started off the day at the esteemed Sages of Lublin Yeshiva. The yeshiva was in existence from 1930-1940 and it was one of the most prestigious and competitive yeshivot in the world. Rabbi Meir Shapiro, the leader of the yeshiva, trained the elite there so they became teachers knowledgeable in the Torah and able to teach it well by learning personal skills. It was in Lublin because it was the center of Torah scholarship in Europe. Meir Shapiro had to raise a lot of money for the yeshiva. Money was used for all the students needs such as: room, board, studies, etc. because the students did not pay to go. Secular Jews donated a lot of money.

the beit midrash in the Lublin Yeshiva

The דף יומי (daf yomi)- one page of Talmud each day was created at the Lublin Yeshiva and is still used today. The method is to ensure everyone in the world is on the same page on the same day. It takes 7 1/2 years to complete the whole Babylonian Talmud using this method. To get into the yeshiva you had to memorize 400 pages of Talmud ahead of time and you were tested. You had to be a scholar before you got in. The yeshiva also included a library with 25,000 books and a model of the Beit Hamikdash. When Nazis came and took overtook it, they made the men put all the books outside and the Nazis had a book burning that lasted 3 days. Before we left we studied a page of Talmud from Tractate Ketuvot with Rabbi Sykes in the yeshiva, it was very interesting. 

Majdanek

Next we went to the concentration camp Majdanek. Death camps were in Poland because the largest population of Jews were in Poland and it is in the center of Europe. Poland’s flat land made it easy to lay down rail roads which were used to transport people easily to the camps.   Majdanek opened in the summer of 1941, it was originally for prisoners of war. The majority of people that came and that were murdered at the camp were actually Poles. The first Jews came in October 1941. It was also the first camp to be liberated in July 1944. The building to the right when you first walk in the camp was a sanitation building and also contained the first gas chamber.

barracks containing tens of thousands of shoes from prisoners at Majdanek

Then the buildings along the road were used for holding the possessions taken from the prisoners who entered. The Germans who ran the camp used Jewish tomb stones to pave the road. This was very hard to see because tomb stones are very sacred and using them as a road is repulsive. There is a statue with three eagles on top that represent the Third Reich. The prisoners were forced to salute the statue as they passed so the prisoners came up with a solution instead of saluting the Third Reich: the prisoners would dig holes under the statue and bury ashes of their family or friends and when the guards would make them salute they would be saluting their loved ones. This story was very meaningful and showed that the prisoners were still witty even through terrible circumstances.

fragment of a road the Nazis paved with Jewish tombstones

statue of eagles at Majdanek that prisoners secretly saluted their comrades

The crematorium building was split into seven rooms, all used to dismantle the bodies, search them, and then cremate them. The thing at the camp that really hit me the hardest was the huge mound of ashes of the prisoners, under a large cement dome. It was crazy to see.

Going to the yeshiva and the camp showed two very different sides of the Jewish people, from life to death.

crematoria

a memorial with an enormous pile of human ashes under a dome

Poland Pilgrimage

by Marissa Magasiny,      11^th grade,       NJ

I wrote this poem after we visited the Maidanek concentration camp in Lublin.  I believe that although it is about the memorial there, it fits the theme of all the camps. It explains the same feelings after we saw everything else and what life will eventually bring us. If you dig deep into it, it shows how lucky we are to live our life to the extent that we are given, how we are not forced to die right away like people in the Holocaust were.

Ashes to Ashes

“We are all dust and ashes”

A memorial

A true life filled memorial

Huge and directly in front of my eyes

I stood staring

I didn’t know what i would see

A few more steps up

Some forward

And I...

I am...

Lost.

Unable to breathe,

A pile maybe fifteen feet high,

Could’ve been 100 feet around,

The ashes of human beings.

The ashes of a life

Killed so easily.

My heart shattered.

My mind unable to comprehend.

I thought I’ve seen it all.

I've seen rocks and statues,

Tomb stones and flowers.

This time

I was wrong

Because this was so different.

Ashes.

Thousands of them

Just piled like dirt.

Dust to dust,

Ashes to ashes.

All I thought,

All I knew,

Was that we

Not like this though,

Will all be

Just dust and ashes too one day.

Auschwitz, it is a name in which many see hate, destruction, loss, history, and wrong-doing. January 27^th, 1945 was the day that Auschwitz was liberated.  Seventy-four years later, on April 4th, 2019, I stood at Auschwitz. I stood alongside my fellow classmates and my amazing staff. Proudly and so uncertain, all of us trudged forward on the tracks into a place once so dark. Over 70 Jewish teens with our teachers and madrichim stood on the famous train tracks headed straight for the unknown. We did exactly what the Jews, Gypsies, Gays, Disabled, etc. did many years ago. As we walked towards Auschwitz with our Jewish history classes, we felt uneasy. My class was asked to line both sides of the track and kneel down. Our teacher, David, said “ feel the senses around you not only what you see but what you see, hear….now put your hands on the rail….” He went on to discuss our being there and that we were not tourist but that we were witnesses. We were all witnesses to such a tragedy. Through our journey in the concentration camp, David read many testimonies and told stories. Each one having some type of relationship to the spot we were paused at.

The first stop was out of order in his lesson plan. So many of the students were interested in seeing the barracks where the victims lived. Now they were not the real thing, they were very accurate replicas of it. The first barrack was mostly empty. In the back were three rows of concrete. In each were two rows of holes, each row had maybe thirty. That was their latrine. Human beings stripped of privacy and humiliated just so they could relieve themselves. It was so terrible. We walked into the barrack a few feet away from the first. This one was filled on each side with queen sized wooden bunk beds with no padding or blanket. In the middle was a small brick wall attached to two chimneys. It was used for heating. This was where we heard the first shocking news, but at this point everything was already a shock. The worst form of punishment was when Nazis would push a prisoner over the brick wall, pull down their pants or pull up their shirt and whip them or hit them with a wooden plank. I felt disgusted and sad.

The next large stop was at a train car. We all put our hands to it and nobody spoke. That single cart once held many. They were squished and crammed. They could have been in there for days, weeks, even close to months. Now all it was, was empty. That was not fair. It was never fair. These people were treated like animals and eventually made to feel as though they actually were. One story we were told is how human beings, victims, barely got food and the closest they came was by eating sand and grass around the barracks and work areas.

We then made our way through the woman’s section towards two of the four gas chambers/crematoriums. All four gas chambers were destroyed during the war. The only part we saw was the remains all over a small area of the ground taped off. We were able to see what was left of the inside and the stairs of crematorium number 2. The victims of the Holocaust were either brought there right away during the selection process off the train, or sometimes after suffering for an amount of time in the camps. They were forced to undress themselves and stand in a small room. All these people wanted was a shower and instead of shower, poison was dropped that killed them all. Millions Jews died like this. I felt so lost. The gas chambers and crematoriums were the worst part of all of the camps we visited. At some camps we were able to walk through them. So many of my peers and I were unable to walk through. The ones that did came out unable to speak or in tears. Some had said they felt angry, sad, suffocated. These are feelings none of us wanted to feel.  

We ended our day at a spot in the back right corner of the camp. All of our classes met together. The teachers gave us about fifteen minutes to just walk around or write in our journals. When the fifteen minutes ended, our group circled up in front of three memorial tombstones. Eight students and one madrich read poems, prayers, and testimonies. As they finished what they were saying, all of the Heller High staff and students put our arms around each other and sang Hatikvah. Hatikvah came to an end. The group started to walk towards the exit. Most of us kept holding hands with at least one other person or had our arms around one another. I alongside two other girls and one boy lit yahrzeit candles and placed them next to the memorials directly before leaving.

We will always remember what happened and how it happened.

Tiyul to the Belvoir Crusader Fortress

by Sara Lidski,      10^th grade,      NJ

Many years ago the crusaders built dozens of fortresses in Israel to attempt to take the holy land from the Muslims, and now me and my fellow peers get to walk and attempt to reenact our own version of a crusade.

having class in the Belvoir crusader fortress with some of the parents who are visiting too

            It was a rainy Thursday morning, and I have to admit hearing I had to wake up at 6:15 in the morning was not something I was looking forward to. Never-the-less we got on the bus and prepared for a long drive. I sat down, put in my earbuds and fell asleep. About an hour and half later I woke up to our madrichim announcing we would be arriving shortly. The long windy road consisted of millions of beautiful yellow flowers, and at the end sitting on top of the mountain stood the large Belvoir fortress, also known as Kochav HaYarden.

for class in the fortess, we broke into 4 groups to learn and present the material

We all quickly hopped off the bus eager to enter the old castle. As we approached and got closer and closer we could see just how big this structure truly is. Its large slanted stone walls towered over us. We then continued into the castle with our guide Hadas, she told us to take out our swords because we were about to storm and attack. My whole class ran towards the entrance, swords gleaming and in the air only to be surprised when the enemy (the parents) began to pelt candy at us attempting to keep us out.

one of my classmates holding up her sword as we get ready to storm the castle

            Since we were in the fortress for a short amount of time we took a brief tour and then found as nice dry area away from the rain to begin our lesson for the day. There we were all instructed to get into groups of 4 or 5 and make a skit about the topic you were assigned. There were three main topics discussed about anti-Semitic accusations in the middle ages that were used as a pretext to persecute the Jews.

1.      The Jewish people were being blamed for the black plague. Due to the ritual of the Jewish people washing their hands before eating a meal they were generally more clean than everyone else causing them to be less vulnerable to this horrible disease. This lead everyone to think the Jewish people were poisoning wells in the 14^th century and causing hundreds of deaths, just because less of the Jewish people died because they had better hygiene.

2.     Many children were being killed or disappeared so people would say the Jews were killing these children and made matzah with their blood.  This awful accusation in known as the "blood libel".

3.     People thought the Jews were stealing the holy bread and wafers used for communion at church, which symbolizes Christ, and were said to have stabbed the items recreating the killing of Christ, or even trying to kill him again.

All three of these ideas are completely ridiculous but it's the reality of the hate and anti Semitism the Jewish people had to face throughout the middle ages.

tons of yellow flowers were in bloom on the day we visited the Belvoir crusdaer fortress

Speakers for Streams of Judaism

by Aaron Orshan,      11^th grade,      NJ

Throughout the course of our Jewish studies curriculum, we students have the amazing ability to hear guest lecturers talk about subjects directly related to our studies, and also the ability to hear talks about things that aren't necessarily directly related. On Tuesday, March 19th, my fellow students and I had the eye-opening opportunity to hear from three guest lecturers on modern streams of Judaism. Each speaker is an active member of a difference stream and discussed with us what their movement is about.  The speakers did this through telling us about their upbringing, telling what continues to keep them in that stream, and also giving us the opportunity to ask them questions on any subject relating to their life and the practices associated with it both biologically and physically.

speakers for the Hassidic movement:  Yehoshua and Bracha

The first speaker was a married couple who represented the Hassidic movement.  They were very interesting speakers and because of that and many other reasons eventually became my favorite speakers of the day. Though both hailing from NY they had a very different beginnings from a parental point of view. While the man, Yehoshua, was raised from two Holocaust survivors, the wife was born from two parents both hailing from different parts of the United States. Interestingly enough, they compared their Brooklyn community to that of ghetto/Shtetl, this was something I had never really thought about, but was very cool to hear. After talking about this section of their life they then went into detail about their decision to depart the US for around a year in 1991 to move to Kiev, Ukraine. In Kiev, the couple worked tirelessly to help teach the local Jewish community more about Judaism with the intention of reviving the Jewish life that had been oppressed by communism. They did this through hosting shabbat dinners, teaching the practices of the religion and putting a huge emphasis on the more ideological sides of the religion. Following this brief section of their lives, the couple, along with many of their students from Russia, made Aliyah.

Yehoshua and Bracha taking questions from the audience

After this section of the lecture they opened up the session for questions from the students. I can honestly say that every comment asked seemed to be extremely thoughtful and well put resulting in a very comprehensive answer. Though this is true, I thought there definitely were some questions that stood out more than others. A great example is when someone in the crowd decided to ask them about their opinion about Women of The Wall. They started off their answer by discussing how they believe that every member of the Jewish faith has the right to pray at the Western Wall, but he believes that there truly is only one way to pray. They then went into detail about how they believe that the WOW organization itself is simply trying to promote feminism in an unnecessary way. They discussed how the egalitarian section was put there, that way any member of the Jewish faith can practice the religion at the wall in whatever fashion suits them best, but he mentioned how the kotel plaza itself is meant for practicing the orthodox Jewish faith as it directly “ is mean to be” practiced. Knowing that most of us would be supporters of Women of the Wall they didn’t ask us to change our opinion on the organization, but to simply look at it from their point of view.

One of the other very interesting questions brought up to them involved asking does personal Jewish identity work on a spectrum based on religiousness. The couple answered with a simple yes and then went onto explain that by simply looking at assimilation rates among the various streams of Judaism, one would see that the more religiously observant retain more followers than that of the less religious. Towards the end of their talk one student asked them how they felt their religion connected to their life and they replied by explaining that religion simply is their life. They went onto to say how it influences their morals, their practices and more.

One of the final questions asked the speakers to give their take on gender roles within Judaism and the reasons for them. The speakers talked about how they truly believed that men and women are biologically meant for different roles. The man gave the example that women have the mental capacity and physical body type to be able to raise children while men don’t. Though seen as a very controversial answer to the question the audience seemed to be astounded by the sheer fact that they believed this.      

Rabbi Alona Nir Keren from the Kamatz Synagogue in Mevesseret speaks to our group

The next speaker was a Reform rabbi from Israel, Rabbi Alona Nir Keren. She was born in Israel to very secular parents. This resulted in her being raised with very little Jewish religious practice throughout her life, and gave her a negative outlook on observant Jews. Once in the army, she was given the job of a nature guide where she had the amazing opportunity to meet with Jewish youth groups from all over the western world. Through these interactions she started to discover a whole new meaning for what Judaism means and how it can be practiced. She spent the majority of her session talking about what Reform Judaism means within the State of Israel. A great example of this discussion is when the rabbi asked the audience “How much do you think it costs to belong to an orthodox synagogue?” and after telling us that it costed zero shekels because it was government subsidized, she explained that the Reform and Conservative shuls here are purely private institutions. Though most of us knew this previously, it was so powerful to really hear this from an actively practicing Israeli Reform rabbi because it really displayed the struggle that they are going through to practice their version of the religion. Similar to what was asked of the orthodox couple, the Reform rabbi was asked about her opinion of Women of The Wall. Surprisingly, however, her answer was also very similar to that of the orthodox couple where she felt that the egalitarian section is fine and that the fight they are trying to fight is not one that is of necessity. She ended her talk by discussing that being a Reform Jew means that there is a greater emphasis on you the individual rather than a rabbi or holy scripture.

Evan Wertheim, one of our teachers, introduces Rabbi Arie Hassit.  (he has a Purim hat on)

The final speaker was a Conservative rabbi, Rabbi Arie Hassit. He was originally from NJ where through mostly internal motivation he decided to become more and more religious as he grew up. He started his discussion by giving us his explanation of pluralism by reciting the quote “Though we all heard God’s voice at Mt.Sinai, we all heard it in different ways”. He then went onto explain that he believes that the Jewish religion must constantly be evolving, which explains the existence of streams other than orthodox. From this he explained that he believes that Conservative Judaism is a movement based on the idea that although religion must change with time, Judaism should only do this based on the teachings of the Torah. Much of the rest of his speaking time was spent talking about the LGBT community.  Rabbi Arie discussed how the first thing he didafter getting ordainedas a rabbi was to marry a same-sex couple.

When asked about his opinion about the kotel plaza he explained how he believes that men and women should be equal at the wall and be free to practice their religion together, but at the same time believes that there should also be some form of an option to have a mahetiza for those that do enjoy praying that way. Interestingly enough, the rabbi was asked if he believes if he will eventually run for a government office and, though he said no, he then went into a discussion of how he believes that synagogue and state should be separate.  

Following the series of speakers, the four Jewish History classes broke off into classes to have a discussion about what they thought of the experience. It was very interesting to hear how other students interpreted the speakers’ words and which speakers they preferred over others. Every one of the speakers did an excellent job representing their stream. Based on the responses of the students after the speaker sessions, one could see that they were very engaging as well.

Tzfat Tiyul

by Leah Sehati,      11^th grade,          Ventura CA

Last Thursday we took a class tiyul to the city of Tzfat located in Northern Israel. Tzfat is one of the holiest cities in Israel and is best known for being the site of the start of Jewish mysticism. It is a very touristy town that is famously known for its art and judaica.

mural by the famous street artist Solomon with mystical images that appears in Tzfat

One of the kabbalist rabbis of Tzfat, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai who is also known by the name of Rashbi shares his view on the coming of the Moshiach in the holy book of the kabbalah called the Zohar, which is a mystical text that talks about the secrets of the Torah. After the expulsion from Spain in 1492 Sephardi Jews settled in the city and were intent on waiting for the Moshiach to come immenently. They believed that the reason why the Moshiach hasn’t come to the world yet was because the Jewish people were not performing all the mitzvot in the correct way.

inerior of the famous Yosef Karo synagogue in Tzfat

One important Kabbalistic concept we learned about was the ten Sefirot or the ten attributes of Kabbalah. These ten Sefirot were the main plots for the Kabbalah and stand as the creative forces that intervene between one’s self and the "Ein Sof" or the unknowable God, and the world that was created for us. At the top of the ten Sefirot is the crown (Keter), right below there is wisdom (Hokmah) and understanding (Binah), below wisdom there is love (Hesed) and below understanding, there is power (Gevurah). Following love and power there is beauty or Tiferet. Under beauty there is splendor (Hod) and Eternity (Netsah), below there is foundation (Yesod) and last but not least there is God's presence or Shekhinah.

stain glass window in the Ari synagogue in Tzfat showing the 10 sefirot

In the early 16^th century, the famous mystic and Torah scholar Rabbi Yosef Karo believed that the reason why the Moshiach had not yet came to was because the Jews weren't doing all the mitzvot in the correct way and order. This led to him writing the Shulchan Aruch to teach Am Yisrael how to be Jewish in a more modern world.

the main corridor of the artists quarter in Tzfat

Another mystical element that was created in Tzfat  was Lecha Dodi, or “Come my beloved” which is a song that is sung during Kabbalat Shabbat cthat onnects Jewish communities with each other not only because it has a very catchy tune, but it can also be interpreted in a way where God is telling us Jews to come to view the Shabbat as a taste of the world to come (HaOlam HaBa). Although Tzfat is one of the less wealthy cities in Israel it really has so many gems that attract tourists to go visit. The city of Tzfat is very gifted in all types of art, such as paintings, wall art, jewelry, handmade sculptures, music and much more.

an immense candle of the biblical Samson at the Tzfat candle shop

a giant candle of Noah's ark at the Tzfat candle shop

Religious Freedom in Judaism

by Leah Bohbot,     11^th grade,       Chicago

It’s written in the Tanakh that Jews are meant to spend the month of Adar, Adar II in Jewish leap years, full of joy and celebration. During Rosh Chodesh, the beginning of the month, the Jewish organization Women of the Wall goes to the Kotel to pray and sing and dance and overall bring in the new month with joy. The organization was started by orthodox women hoping to have access to Torah and prayer as men do in the men’s section. It’s believed that it’s not kosher to hear a women sing and the people of the Women of the Wall are often called satanists and other negative names. However, this Rosh Chodesh was the most dramatic in the history of WOW. For weeks before, countless ads were put out in Israeli papers calling for mostly Chasidic and ultra-orthodox Jews to converge on the women praying and stop it.

This past Friday morning the students of Heller High went to the Western Wall to join WOW for what was not only the beginning of the most joyous month in the Jewish calendar, but also their 30th anniversary. We woke up around 5 am to attempt to get a spot at the Western Wall and join in our respective sections. When we arrived we were rushed up to an observation deck above the plaza where our principal, Rabbi Loren Sykes, stood to talk to us.

Despite the strong desire of many to join downstairs, we were told it simply wouldn’t be possible. As we looked down, there were orthodox jews around us as well. Not knowing what they could be thinking, some were worried, others intrigued. Rabbi Sykes and his daughter Mira had been there earlier and were immediately separated, he tried to protect women being attacked for their praying and she was called terrible names and was kept from getting close to one of the holiest sites in our religion. After speaking to the group about their experiences and the decision to not allow us to go down and praying together, my friend and I spoke to Mira more in depth about the traumatic event she had just gone through.

The Haredi men and women who disagreed with reform and conservative Jewish ideas of prayer had decided to push and stop people from expressing their religion. As we spoke with Mira, we could hear the pain behind her words and we felt it too. Despite being far above the crowd, the hatred and sadness went through us like waves. My friends and I held each other, crying, because of the hopelessness we felt. The screaming and shoving felt unreasonable, like Sinat Chinam, senseless hatred. But then Mira continued, she told us that while this hurt, Judaism and the Jewish people always becomes happy and just again, that we should keep this in mind but not to turn away, to instead continue to move forward. I ended up speaking to an older woman who had lived in Israel her whole life. She told us about her life and how there had been a shift in Israeli Judaism. Her last words to us before she left were that we needed to come back to Israel, words that promised we would come back to a better Israel, the promised land is coming.

Oral Law Tiyul:    Beit Shaarim and Beit Alpha

by Zach Meyers,     11^th grade,       California

**here's the link to Zach Meyers's personal blog that he's writing about Israel:
https://zachmeyers.me/israel-blog/

the cave of the coffins at Beit Shaarim

While I usually don’t enjoy waking up at 6:15 in the morning, I can definitely say that going on the Oral Law Tiyul to Beit Sha’arim and Beit Alpha was not only an enlightening experience, but was also one of the few tiyulim I’ve been on that has really piqued my interest. We woke up fairly early in the morning, hopped on the bus, and drove north for nearly two hours until we arrived at Beit Sha’arim. 

Beit Sha’arim, located in northern Israel, contained well-preserved remains of ancient burial caves (literally called a necropolis maning ‘city of the dead).  Located there were the stone coffins (sarcophagi) of many influential rabbis of the Sanhedrin, the members of the ancient rabbinic courts - these caves were from the 2nd century CE. The Sanhedrin frequently moved around the land of Israel in pursuit of a better economy and Beit Sha’arim was an economically strong location in the late second century. It was also where the Mishna, or Rabbinic (Oral) law was codified by Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi around the year 200 CE. The Mishna is an extremely important Jewish text, since so much of the Torah is hard to interpret or outdated, the Mishna is what connects it to us. In essence, it’s the bridge that connects the Jews to the Torah. I strongly believe all Jews should be educated about the oral law. 

appropriately, next to the ancient Beit Alpha synagogue we prayed the afternoon service

What was shocking about the burial caves is they depicted the influence that other ethnic groups had on the Jews. The burial caves, which were the resting places of some of the most influential rabbis at that time, showed images depicting a Greek god and other animals. Images of this kind are strictly prohibited by Jewish law, considered to be avodah zarah, or idol worship. Shockingly enough, this was replicated at the ancient synagogue in Beit Alpha that was built in 530 CE that also depicted Roman pagan influence. The synagogue’s mosaic floor, far from being just an artistic addition, further depicted avodah zarah and really made me wonder about the power of assimilation -- if the Jews willingly integrated Roman and Greek customs into their religious life, what does this say about human nature and how likely we are to adopt other traditions or customs just because they’re present in our life? American Jews, for example, are already acculturated; many observe non-Jewish holidays such as Halloween simply because they are a part of America’s culture and society.

 

we were lucky to go swimming on our lunch break here at the Sachne natural pools

Overall, I’m really happy I was able to go on this tiyul. It was not only extremely interesting and allowed me to connect to the content covered in class, but I believe it has a strong modern-day application - it called into question the influence that other groups can have on us. While by no means should we turn away from other cultures, and curiosity should be welcomed, it’s important to stay loyal to our values and to avoid making sacrifices for social acceptance. Not to mention, we were able to go swimming in the nearby Sachne natural pools next to Mt. Gilboa with fish swimming around during our lunch break!