About a month ago I went to Poland on a trip called Heritage. I was scared to wait too long to blog about it but the trip had such an impact on me that its still fresh in my mind. I journaled intensely the entire time.
During the few weeks leading up to the trip I was less than excited. I didn’t want to be cold, hungry, tired, and depressed for a week straight. I was dreading the uncomfortable conditions that lay ahead. However, I went in with a neutral attitude and it ended up being one of the most uplifting, spiritual, moving weeks of my life.
Throughout the week we visited ghettos, old towns, monuments, and concentration camps.
One of the first places we went to was the Warsaw Cemetery.
To know who we are is to know who we were. 450,000 people were buried there. (100,000 in a mass grave) Its not only about who was buried there, but who wasn’t. We walked through the cemetery for hours only to realize that we had only seen a fraction of it. The graves we saw were able to tell us tons of Jewish history. A stone that stood out to me was one that said “Esha Tzanuah” (modest woman). What a compliment for a Jewish woman. Another one had a bookshelf with a missing book. The person who died didn’t get to finish what he was supposed to in his lifetime. Those things really make you think. What do I want mine to say? At the end of the day these people were boiled down to their tombstones. We have to strive for the best so that we can be remembered and leave a legacy behind us.
Some of my favorite places we visited were the Kevarim of Gedolei Torah. In the Warsaw Cemetery we visited Rav Chaim Soloveitchik’s Kever. He’s The Rav’s grandfather. He was a genius! He revolutionized learning, making it conceptual. He cared so much about Emet HaTorah. He was one of the biggest Baalei Hessed in Brisk. People would leave their babies on his doorstep if they had nowhere to go. He would probably come off as ALL intellect. He was really about the heart. I was standing in a place of tremendous Midot and we all said Tehillim. We ended by singing the words to Acheinu around a mass grave. We then poured Adamat Eretz Yisrael on top to honor the Jews who didn’t have the zechut (merit) to be buried in Israel. (Before we came to Poland we all took Israel soil with us packed in plastic bags)
There are so many places I could blog about but I don’t want to bore you so I’m only putting select impactful ones.
Treblinka- Our brothers and sisters were brought here to be killed more “efficiently”. They were told that their destination would be nice. Adolf Eichmann was in charge of the transports. Poland has 3-5 million Jews and tons of them were killed here because of their large population. Three camps were set up -” Reinhart”. They were to be kept a deep dark secret. Camps were to be away from cities and near railroad tracks. Two million were killed and then Auschwitz & Birkenau were opened. Berlitz (Belsitz) was opened to kill even more Jewry. Then Sobibor to kill by the German border. Then Treblinka where I was standing at that moment. There were so many goods coming in, it was like a gold rush. Russian POWs were officers here and stationed in peoples houses. Fathers gave their daughters and wives to the guards to get their goods. It got to the point where Jews were told to take off their boots because they would get killed anyways. When they got off the train, the water was sold for gold. The whole camp was the size of a soccer field. It was so primitive. Everything was made out of wood. Half the Jews were kept alive to sort through clothing. The worst job was a barber before the gas chambers. Jews also had to take the bodies out to burn them. This camp murdered 8-9 hundred thousand Jews. I cant even think in numbers close to that. Anyone who wasn’t a perfect Arian was put in “Euthanasia Program”. Hitler gathered them to kill anyone not like them. That summer of 1939, they were invited to send their kids to a free summer camp. They were murdered with fatal injections to their hearts. This new group, the T4 commanders killed 100,000 people and established a group who listen to Hitler’s commands. So much corruption here. The Jews being brought to gas chambers were compared to the sheep at the slaughter house with their pathetic eyes. The ride to the camps made people lose their will to live. Without will, you wont survive. When people of Grudno arrived, they tried to attack the SS. 2500 people were killed. Ani Maamin (I believe) was written on a train on the way here. The man who wrote it said hell give 1/2 of his Olam Haba to whoever gets his song to the Rebbi. The song was sang on Yom Kippur- (David Fastag) We sang this song at Treblinka. Upon arrival it looked gorgeous. They saw a clock that they didn’t know was stuck at 6pm and a band played music. Jews who arrived earlier were forced to greet them with smiles against their will, avoiding death. They think their taking a shower on their way to Bialystok. They are told to get their bags and they’ll get them back later. “Anyone not feeling well will be provided transportation.” They look like they’re going to a hospital, but no, they’re seated at the edge of a pit, shot, and thrown in along with the previously killed Jews, and actual garbage. All mixed together. According to semi-reliable numbers, 1.2 million Jews were brought here. Some trains were mostly dead bodies. There were no selections here. Everyone was gassed right away. The Ukranians and Russians had unlimited alcohol and the Jews had food since people were constantly being killed. Imagine Jews cheering when another train came since it meant more food. The guilt they felt....
(I have a lot more to say but I really have to cut it)
People were forced to run (or get out of breath so the gas would work quicker) They went in like stupid goats, unaware.
We stood around in a circle reading letters/ messages that people wrote shortly before their deaths. I was holding a letter that I read out loud on my turn. I couldn’t comprehend that I was commemorating a family that was killed. An actual family. Who even knows if anyone alive in the world right now even knows who these people are. They could, and probably are, just cut off. Thats it.
“ Were killed: Zelig, Fania, Eliyahu Rozenweld from Brisk on the Bug.” Most of the letters speak of revenge. Vicky read a letter to us that was written in blood to his father, Hashem, to get revenge on the Nazis. Us there was the best revenge.
People lost 100% hope. Today we know we have Israel to go to which is extremely comforting.
I'm just gonna fast forward to the last day of the trip. Auschwitz. We spent 7 hours there. I saw everything. I could spend hours writing about it (I did, in my journal) but I'm just gonna write about the last part. We were in a barrack with lit candles singing Lecha Dodi. The women who spent time in here would save their butter from the week to make a candle for Shabbat. They would put a string in it and light it. Once they started singing they would hear all the barracks around them go silent listening to them sing Kabbalat Shabbat. We sang for a while until it was time to leave. We walked out while singing in a single file line, carefully climbing over the wire that we weren't really supposed to pass. I was leaving Auschwitz the day I came. I was leaving alive. It was one of the most liberating feelings after hours of just horrible feelings. I was going on a plane back to Israel, the most amazing country in the world. A country I can call home. The country with the best technology, medicine, a revived language, tons of history, the best army, the most scientists and technicians in the workforce. Israel is a world leader in water renewal, recycling, desalination, and solar heating and invented the drip irrigation system used around the world.
And much much more.
- In every generation we were persecuted if it was crusades, pogroms, inquisitions, anything. But look at is now. I don't know what I did to be born into this incredible nation but I am extremely thankful and now value being a Jew on a whole new level. My Jewish pride is still on a high from this trip and בעזרת-ה׳ it always will be.
Silent march to Auschwitz
