Warsaw - Day 1
We arrived in Warsaw after flying all night. We flew LOT Polish air, and it was a pretty smooth flight. The tour educator met us at the airport and we were off. First stop - McDonalds for lunch. I am serious. We were provided box lunches but Mc D's was the easiest place for us all to sit together. We then went on to the Jewish Cemetery. It was humbling to see the old graves, some in polish writing, some Hebrew or maybe Yiddish. I think what stood out the most was the mass burial of those who perished in the Warsaw ghetto. The guide said over 100,000 bodies were buried. This trip is so much about numbers. 6 million, 13,000 marchers, 30th anniversary for the March, 23 in our group, and so on. Yet, so few of these numbers can be comprehended - how can 100,000 bodies be in one large grave? How can we comprehend 1 million killed in one camp?
Rabbi Jerry David and his wife Peggy co-chaired this trip. They were instrumental in planing an itinerary that was informative, but not overly depressing. After the cemetery visit, Rabbi David gave us important perspective as he spoke to us about names, their importance, and the story a cemetery can tell. I am thankful they will be with us on this journey. All of the participants on this trip either selected a name or were given a name of a survivor from our community for whom we march. We discussed a few of these names today, and will learn about all 23 as the trip progresses. We walk for them, we bear witness for them, we will remember them, and so many others whose names were lost.
We left the cemetery, humbled, to see the Warsaw ghetto, except there is no more ghetto. It is totally gone, There are two monuments left, but now it is a totally developed part of the city. I had to wonder, do all these people who live here know what happened? Our guide explained the Warsaw rebellion happened 75 years ago on Passover, and lasted for weeks. So we stood on the grounds where 75 years ago Jews were fighting so they wouldn't go to their deaths without a fight. To be fair, from the bit of walking we did, there were commemorative plaques throughout the city. But it amazed me there are no remains, no signs of the lives that lived and fought bravely. It is a city like any other.
We then toured the Jewish Museum. It is a wonderful museum dedicated to telling the story of Polish Jews. Prewar, it has the largest Jewish population in the world. By the end of the war, most would be gone. After a long flight and busy day, we did not see nearly as much of the museum as we would have liked, but our feet just simply could not hold us any more. The museum guide implored us to return and learn more, and appealed to us to share that the Polish people are our friends.
Like all things in life, this is complicated, as the Polish government is making laws to make it illegal to say Polish concentration camp, among other things. It is clear the Polish people suffered during the war as well, so I will try and stay open to learning about the history, and the future of the Jewish people in this country.
This is a photo of the group taken outside the museum. We are nervously excited for tomorrow.
Rabbi Jerry David and his wife Peggy co-chaired this trip. They were instrumental in planing an itinerary that was informative, but not overly depressing. After the cemetery visit, Rabbi David gave us important perspective as he spoke to us about names, their importance, and the story a cemetery can tell. I am thankful they will be with us on this journey. All of the participants on this trip either selected a name or were given a name of a survivor from our community for whom we march. We discussed a few of these names today, and will learn about all 23 as the trip progresses. We walk for them, we bear witness for them, we will remember them, and so many others whose names were lost.
We left the cemetery, humbled, to see the Warsaw ghetto, except there is no more ghetto. It is totally gone, There are two monuments left, but now it is a totally developed part of the city. I had to wonder, do all these people who live here know what happened? Our guide explained the Warsaw rebellion happened 75 years ago on Passover, and lasted for weeks. So we stood on the grounds where 75 years ago Jews were fighting so they wouldn't go to their deaths without a fight. To be fair, from the bit of walking we did, there were commemorative plaques throughout the city. But it amazed me there are no remains, no signs of the lives that lived and fought bravely. It is a city like any other.
We then toured the Jewish Museum. It is a wonderful museum dedicated to telling the story of Polish Jews. Prewar, it has the largest Jewish population in the world. By the end of the war, most would be gone. After a long flight and busy day, we did not see nearly as much of the museum as we would have liked, but our feet just simply could not hold us any more. The museum guide implored us to return and learn more, and appealed to us to share that the Polish people are our friends.
Like all things in life, this is complicated, as the Polish government is making laws to make it illegal to say Polish concentration camp, among other things. It is clear the Polish people suffered during the war as well, so I will try and stay open to learning about the history, and the future of the Jewish people in this country.
This is a photo of the group taken outside the museum. We are nervously excited for tomorrow.
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