Tribe Learn2Lead Poland blogs

Last week, Tribe Learn2Lead returned from an incredibly impactful and meaningful trip to Poland. Some of the participants shared their thoughts on each day.

Day 1

We started by visiting the Jewish cemetery in Warsaw, including visiting the grave of Zamenhof who created the language Esperanto – this was due to his theory that if everyone spoke a common language, worldwide conflict would be solved as he believed conflict was due to a lack of communication.

We then walked around Warsaw and visited where the ghetto had been – we saw the wall of the ghetto and learned more about it (with the aid of pictures and maps) and then visited some more monuments in Warsaw. We repeatedly saw the symbol of the tree with the top cut off today, which symbolises human life cut short.

Then we went to Treblinka (where 1 million Jews were exterminated). We walked in along the train tracks and went to a memorial where we lit candles and the rabbi shared some stories. We also all picked a name at the Warsaw memorial earlier of people deported to Treblinka – so many ppl were deported that they couldn’t put everyone’s names on the memorial. Therefore, instead they put common Polish Jewish names of the time in alphabetical order. This way, each name represented hundreds of people. The name I chose to mention when we lit the candles at Treblinka was Tamara (as it felt easy to connect to), although I also thought of the name Lucja.

A thought I found crazy was we were all walking into a place that was designed to exterminate us all, and then walked right back out of it. Even though it was very hard, it sort of felt like an act of defiance. Then we all went to dinner and did an activity to get to know each other.

Tamara Joseph – Finchley

Day 2

Today was the second day of our trip to Poland, and it undoubtedly had an impact on every one of us. We began by visiting the ‘Yeshivat Chachmei Lublin’, a Yeshiva which only taught from 1930-1939. Following the occupation of Poland by Germany, with help from the Soviet Union, on September 1st 1939, the Yeshiva was forced to shut down. We learnt about famous graduates and their admirable accomplishments and sang various songs alongside other Jewish visitors.

Next, we got back on the bus and headed towards Majdanek concentration camp. The mood altered dramatically. At first, all you could hear was whispers and then, once we spotted the camp out of our windows, there was silence. Despite visiting Treblinka the previous night, this was our first time seeing the barracks, the showers, the gas chambers, the reality of the horrors which took place on the very land that we stood on. We were told stories of individuals who personally suffered at Majdanek and the torture methods used to make their life miserable.

We were also told the story of Adolf Eichmann, a key figure in organising and carrying out the Holocaust, which I found particularly appalling. He recited the Shema verbatim (after being found hiding in Argentina by the Mossad in 1960) to an agent; when asked how he knew it, Eichmann told the Mossad agent that he heard the Jewish people screaming it as they died in the gas chambers.

The group was led into a museum of sorts, which displayed different objects, statues and clothing items, where we were told to pick an item to speak about. I chose the anti-Jewish propaganda poster, as I thought that it encapsulated the Nazis’ shared opinion of the Jewish people and how they were seen as parasites. We ended our visit to Majdanek by reading the letters written by our parents and singing Vehi She’Amda and the Hatikvah, providing us with a final message of hope.

Finally, the group were taken to the grave of Rav Elimelech, one of the original Hasidic teachers, where Jewish people come to pray from all over the world. This was very spiritual and I found it inspiring that we were stood alongside people from Brussels, showing that there really are Jewish people everywhere who have maintained their faith, like we have, despite recent antisemitism.

Now, on our way to the hotel, I think that all of us would unanimously agree that today was incredibly moving; however, despite points of the day being emotional and tough to handle, we are so grateful to have the opportunity to visit Poland and to see what the Jews went through during the Holocaust.

Louis Pollock – HGSS

Day 3

Our third day on the trip began with an early wake up shortly followed by a quick drive into the town of Tarnow, a place which existed with the vibrancy of Jewish life over 80 years ago. We walked through the town until we had reached the statue of the polish Pope Jan Pawel the second where we listened to Alan explain his story as well as Rabbi Eli sharing a story about how after the Second World War Jewish children were able to be recognised as being Jewish in a Christian orphanage even though they had been there for many years.

The Shema was the anthem which rerouted them to their Judaism and we took that moment as a group to sing it together. Tarnow was a town absolutely filled with Jewish spirit and life and fortunately we were able to hear personals stories about it from Libby, Celine and Dina who talked about their own families history.

Being Jewish is not only centred around the religion, but rather it’s about the community. We experienced this first hand today as we made our way to the ruins of the shul in Tarnow where all that remained was the concrete surroundings of the Bimah. There we bumped into a group from South Africa on a similar trip to us. We davened together, we danced together and we embraced the gift that we were together. It was this point that we truly acknowledged our deep connection with all Jews around the world.

We embarked on an emotional journey through our visit to a forest mass grave sight where hundreds of Jewish people were brutally murdered and thrown into pits. The harshness of the Nazis actions remains unfathomable and being in a setting covered in nature, essentially disguising horrific acts strung an emotional chord in each and every one of us. It is simply unimaginable to stand in a place in which the ground beneath our feet holds the remains of Jewish children, women and men. Alan and Rabbi Eli shared stories with us followed by encouraging us to find a place in the forest, to sit and write a letter to people in our lives that we are grateful for. By doing this we encapsulated the feelings and emotions we were experiencing as well as expressing our love for the people dearest to us.

In order to connect our trip to Poland with October 7th and the atrocities since, we placed pieces of paper with the names of soldiers that have died in the war on the grave and lit candles in the memory of both them and those buried in the grave. We channelled the difficulties of going to these sights into songs such as Vehi Sheamda (a song conveying the idea that Jewish people will always remain).

We now make our way to Krakow where we will spend Shabbat.

Elinor Korczak – South Hampstead & Abi Wolfson – HGSS

Day 4

Shabbat for the Tribe 2024 Poland trip started off with an evening service at one of local synagogues in Krakow called Temple Synagogue. The Friday night Shabbat service was lead by the angelic voices of Noah and Gav with the rest of the group side by side listening and singing along to their words. After a heavy and emotional day at Zbylitowaska Gora, the mood was quickly lifted with dancing and joyful singing in shul. Once our time at the shul had finished, everyone walked over the Galicia Jewish museum where our Friday night dinner was being held.

After a delicious four course meal, the group gathered around with Rabbi Eli to start our Tisch. The Tisch started and consisted of lovely elegant and touching songs with also a surprise rap performance from the Rabbi. We all headed off to bed excited for Shabbat day.

We started our day with a Shul service in the hotel and I sung the brachot of the haftorah. Alan led us on a walking tour of the old town of Krakow and lead us into the old synagogue which has now become a museum. We learnt about the towns history within the holocaust and brought the shul back to life by singing “Etz Chaim.”

Then we ate lunch and headed back to the hotel to end Shabbat by connecting to the madrichim whilst they shared personal stories and experiences with us. We ended the day visiting the outside of Schindler’s factory, the Krakow chair memorial where we placed hostage posters and prayed for their return. We cross the river back to the Ram’ah cemetery and finally had an uplifting Havdallah in the Ram’ah Shul.

Oli Benjamin – Borehamwood and Elstree

Day 5

Our final day in Poland began with a 5am wakeup call and an hour drive to Auschwitz and Auschwitz-Birkenau. While all days have been extremely meaningful and important, there was an overarching feeling of trepidation about going to Auschwitz in particular. Regardless of our prior knowledge individually on the horrors that occurred there, from our first step into the camp, it was as though everything we knew about the stories told had departed and we were experiencing something beyond understanding. To connect on a more personal level, many of the participants shared stories of family members who experienced the trauma first-hand.

One thing that stood out to the group was the sheer amount of personal items left behind by the prisoners brought into the camp. An extremely impactful moment was when we saw the hair cut off of the prisoners and stacked up into a clear casing, making clear the sheer numbers of people which were murdered, simply for who they were.

While we had an extremely emotionally challenging day, we made sure to remain headstrong and sing songs to show that the Jewish people will prevail, and the Nazi’s and their racist ideology will never win. If there is one thing we have all taken from this trip, and in particular, from today, it is that we are the next generation of the Jewish people and it is our responsibility to not only educate but show that there is hope in the darkness. To emphasise this, we lit candles by the female barracks to remember the joy of lighting Shabbat candles weekly which was stolen from them by the evil of the Nazis.

There are no words to describe the evil that occurred in Auschwitz so instead, like we said many times on the trip: “שמע ישראל הי אלוהינו הי אחד.”

I would also like to take this moment to say a huge thank you to Rabbi Eli. Without him, the trip would not be the same and we cannot thank him enough for the huge impact and support he had on all of us.
Am Yisrael Chai!

Rafi Zakaim – HGSS