Culture Through Rhythm

Tonight, we went to a Israeli music concert and I've never had more fun. Seeing all the madrichim in their element listening to their favorite music was inspiring. I've mentioned how I want to connect more to Israeli culture, and I've 100% accomplished that. I can't wait to experience more during my last month here, and gather bunches of stories to bring back with me.

Passover With My Lovies

Over Passover break, I experienced my first Pesach in Israel. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised. The seder wasn't too long (even though I love a long seder), and I got to practice my Hebrew :) Spending this night with my friends made it even sweeter, not to mention the charoset was pretty sweet as well. Lol!

"I'm A Pilgrim, Not A Tourist"

For me, one of the most stressful things regarding EIE was preparing for the changes in culture I would face the second we landed in Israel. I've found myself adapting to the Israeli life-style quite well, and realized that I had nothing to worry about. As long as I act like I know what I'm doing, I'll be good. Emerging myself in everyday life has definitely helped me. Whether it's listening to Israeli music, speaking the little Hebrew that I know, or reading Israeli literature, I feel as if I'm connecting to the land of Israel on a deeper level and enhancing my EIE experience.

One piece of Israeli literature that specifically caught my attention was a small, gathered collection of short stories by Etgar Keret (recommended by the one and only Aaron Gertz). I wasn't exactly sure what to expect as I began to read it, but I soon found myself loving his style of writing. He represented Israeli culture and attitudes extremely accurately. I'm still not 100% adapted, but I'm improving each and every day.

Journey To Last A Lifetime

This year during Passover, it'll be different for me. I've never been in a very religious household during the holidays, and I'm excited to have this experience in such an amazing place as Israel. Not only will I be celebrating Passover, but we embark on a 13 day long journey around Israel and hiking from Sea to Sea during 5 of them. I keep thinking that there's no way to make this journey better, but then somehow it gets even more amazing. I can't wait to see how these next few weeks go...hopefully I didn't forget to pack anything!

Growing Into Myself

     For me, Poland wasn’t solely a negative experience. Although it wasn’t in the exact way I would’ve chose, I learned a lot about myself. Having all the different conflicting emotions inside my body at once caused a lot of thinking to be done. I knew that Poland would be tough. I knew that I would see things that would make me the opposite of happy, but I also knew that going with such a great group of people would make the trip a little bit less emotionally wrecking. 

     For me, it was my first time doing anything related to the Holocaust outside of school. I went to Washington D.C. with my 8th grade class, but going to the Holocaust museum was taken off the agenda because it would be “too hard” for some of my classmates. My mom and I were both very upset, and didn’t know why teaching about WWII to 8th grade students wasn’t required. Of course that portion of history is tough to talk about, let alone see in a museum, but choosing to leave it out of the curriculum doesn’t lessen its effect on the victims. 

     I still vividly remember the masa to Poland, specifically our time in Majdonik. It was the first of our stops throughout our journey, and the one that made the biggest impact on me. I 100% understand the reasons for visiting the monstrosity that remains there, but I wish I could get some of the images out of my head. I took a few moments to myself while being there and let my emotions pour into my journal:

          “I’m so numb. I feel as if someone has punched me in the stomach. My heart feels as if it’s                      missing and there’s a little flutter inside my chest. Seeing everyone around me hugging and                    embracing gives me hope of good people still left in the world. I just want to leave this                            place. I hate this mood that is upon everyone. I don’t like being here. I hate it I hate it I hate it I              hate it. I hate this so much. I don’t understand how this happened. How did no one stop it. How            did people not know. I’m left without words to say.”

     I’ve gained a lot of knowledge about the events that took place in the Holocaust, and I’ve taken away a lot of knowledge regarding myself and self-growth. Talking about my Judaism has always been hard for me at home because of how small the Jewish population is in my town. But being at the different concentration camps and seeing how hard it was for the Jewish people of Eastern Europe during WWII has changed my perspectives a lot. I’ve never been so proud to be Jewish. I’ve never been so confident in my choice to marry someone Jewish. Of course I’ve known my whole life that I want to raise my children in a Jewish household, but this journey has cemented that thought in my head. My priority now is to continue Judaism because I feel that it is our duty as the remaining population. As long as we have at least half of the faith that the Holocaust victims had, it will come completely naturally. 

Change In Pace

          While visiting the somewhat dreary land of Poland, our group, as a whole, experienced conflicting emotions regarding life and death. Traveling to the cute Jewish quarters in Tykocin, and then sharply taking a turn for the worse as we entered the mass graves deep in the forest really helped me to understand how quickly an atmosphere can change. Seeing my friends all around me feeling the same ups and downs that I was gave me a sense of family and safety.

        In downtown Tykocin, I saw an adorable little community that really showed me how important Judaism was to the people living there. While walking through the cute square in the center of town, I saw a Beit Kineset and menorahs on almost every corner. I have a pretty solid Jewish community in my town, but we don't have menorahs in our windows. Seeing Judaism being practiced openly in the people's homes really enforces the close feeling of a communal family.

          Unfortunately, the history of Tykocin did not stay in favor of the Jewish community. After being in a good mood for the first half of our day, we took a sharp downgrade and traveled to the mass graves deep in the forest near the main part of the town. Hearing the numerous first-hand accounts, and picturing innocent people being treated like animals sent shivers down my spine. During our time there, I took a few moments to myself and wrote in my journal. I reread it after and couldn't believe I had written such angry things:
                   "I don't understand. I don't understand how someone can be so evil as to mindlessly
                    murder hundreds of thousands of people. I can't exactly label how I feel. I'm a mixture
                    of many different emotions, and I'm not even sure what they are. For the first time, I'm
                    speechless. It sickens me. I have an awful, uncomfortable feeling in my stomach and in
                    heart. I've decided to light my candle here. To honor those innocent lives that were
                    tortured to their deaths. I don't know what to say. Trying to comprehend the sight of
                    mothers running with their children can't even appear in my mind. Everything around
                    me is gloomy now. It's as if the surroundings match my mood."

          I can't imagine how shocking it must be to have your life suddenly change. Having a settlement for hundreds of years, and then having it all taken away from you makes me feel deeply for the people of Tykocin. The question of "why?" is still unanswered to me. I don't think anyone will ever understand the Holocaust, and why people did what they did. I am, without doubt, on the far left end of the spectrum.

Carrying On Israel Through Our Words

Although the Jewish population has struggled with keeping the state of Israel, and struggled with keeping our identity, we've always managed to keep the Torah alive. As a people, we've learned to memorize the words of the Torah and pass them down to generations below us to ensure the continuation of the Jewish religion. Similar to what we talked about it class regarding the Torah Sheba'al Pe, or oral Torah, having a verbal account on events that have occurred in our nations history can be very beneficial.

Author Simon Schama believes that the state of Israel has been a continuously flourishing area due to the words of our people. He states, "The Torah had everything a mentally omnivorous culture needed." If, God forbid, all written accounts of the Torah were destroyed, we would have our minds to continue on the generations.