Poland

The Jewish people have lived lives that can be described as a roller coaster. There is always a period of prosperity followed by a period of great depression and hard times. This cycle has been going on since the beginning of our existence. Before World War II, the Jews of eastern Europe lived very prosperous lives. They lived peacefully within the community. Slowly, as Hitler rose to power, antisemitism played a bigger role in society and eventually even the most assimilated Jews were persecuted. The Holocaust is a big representation of death to a huge amount of people, however even with the amount of death that occurred during the Holocaust, there is always something positive to take out of it. There was always some fascinating form of life to talk about.

Before the Holocaust, the Jewish people lived either in big cities or schtettels. The Jews in the cities were assimilated to modern culture and civilization while the ones that lived in small villages in the country were less assimilated. We visited a town called Tikocin located between the cities of Warsaw and Lublin. This town was a mostly Jewish populated schtettel before WWII. The town is located near a river, giving the people not only water, but also access to trade. There was a huge synagogue located in the center of town where all the people could easily come to pray. There was also a cemetery located on the outskirts of the schtettel. It was well preserved before the Holocaust, yet after there was nobody who's job it was to maintain it. Throughout the schtettel there was significant evidence that there was once a thriving Jewish community there. 

Despite all of this joy and prosperity in the little towns of Poland, when WWII broke out, things began to go downhill fast for the Jews. When the Germans attacked the USSR (Operation Barbarossa), they gained all the territory in Poland that the USSR had owned. This included the town of Tikocin including all the forest areas that surrounded it. In these forests we heard the stories of the survivors of the Tikocin mass murder. The people of Tikocin were forced to leave their homes (either on Nazi trucks or running behind the trucks) until they reached a forest where they were forced to undress and wait for their turn to come where they were going to be shot to death. A mother holding her three children had to watch her father, mother, husband, and all three of her children die before her eyes before she was shot. She happened to be the only survivor of Tikocin because her will to get out of the pit of dead bodies was tremendous. She struggled through pain and through guilt and managed to get herself out of the pit of bodies. Through all of her struggles we see that even in a time of great despair and tragedy there is always something to be happy about. 

Although the forests of Tikocin represent death to the people of Tikocin, they can also represent life. People hid in these forests to avoid being captured by the Nazis. On the bus we watched a movie called Defiance. In this movie, some Jews of Belarus hid in the forests for years planning a revolt against the Nazis while staying hidden and keeping themselves safe. They were able to feed hundreds of people at a time by finding people that would help them in the nearby towns and splitting all portions equally. Sitting in the forest for years, getting information from Belarus citizens on what is rumoured the Nazis are doing helped the people plan an organized attack that helped stop the Nazis from stepping any further in Belarus and conquering more land.

No matter how much death and tragedy comes along with talking about the Holocaust, there is always some life and rebellion that comes with it. A famous saying is that the Jewish people went to their deaths like "sheep to the slaughter". From an uneducated perspective of the Holocaust I would agree, but after visiting Poland I came back with a different opinion. All Jews fought during the Holocaust. Fighting for what you believe in doesn't necessarily have to be with weapons and violence. The people who walked to their deaths fought the Nazis by showing that no matter what the Nazis threatened them with, they couldn't break their spirits and make them forget about their religious values. They walked to their deaths with pride in what they believed in and for those that fought physically, that was just a bonus.

'The Story of the Jews'

Simon Schama wrote a series of books about the Jewish people. He began in 1000BCE and went through 1492CE in the first volume and continued it from 1492 until the present day in the second volume. A main reason he wrote these books was to be informative and historical documentation, but the books go deeper than the facts. Schama's whole purpose of writing this series was to capture the feeling of hatred, resentment, and discrimination that was put on the Jewish people. 
On Sunday morning, I am going to Poland for a week. I am going to visit concentration camps, ghettos, museums and Jewish towns of the Holocaust. Schama's books really relate to what I am going through this week because in preparation for Poland, we have been learning about the Holocaust and how it affected the Jewish people then and also how it affects us today. The Jewish people have been resented for thousands of years and I still don't really understand why.
Today in Jewish History we learned that Christians accused Jews of using the blood of Christian children in their Passover Matzos. This made me very confused as to why on earth anyone would ever think that. We read a couple articles about recent occurrences of modern people still having this mindset and accusing Jews of these terrible things. I think it was the governor of New York in 1928 that accused Jews of kidnapping and killing a girl for sacrifice. The illogical thing about it was that this occurred towards the end of the year, nowhere near Passover.
Jews have been criticized for being smart, successful, Jesus killers, and many more. No matter how many reasons people give me to try to explain why anyone would ever think such horrible things about people, I don't understand. 

Purim

Purim is the happiest Jewish holiday of the year. During this holiday, people of all ages dress up in costumes and parade throughout the country. Although it is officially celebrated on two days (one for Jerusalem and one for everyone else), the celebrations and happiness lasts for the entire week and even month of Adar. 
Coming from America, it is a huge culture shock to see everyone in costumes having a major party in the streets. I guess in San Francisco it isn't that uncommon, but the reason for celebration and the atmosphere is completely different. In San Francisco people dress up and have major parties in the street during the Bay to Breakers Marathon. During Purim, people actually have purpose to their weirdness and happiness and it is not just to fill a day of the year. There are certain customs that come with celebrating a national holiday such as reading the Megillah, sending Mishloah Manot, and eating Hamentashen. This holiday is so special, there are no words to describe the happiness and joy. It is simply a holiday to experience for yourselves.

Can a Sukkah Be Made From an Elephant?

The Talmud is a written series of books that elaborate on Jewish law and describe what is allowed and what is not. In modern times, a question has come up. Is it allowed to have an elephant as a sukkah wall? Although it is unlikely that anyone would actually do this, it begins a new cycle of debates among rabbis. In the Gemara, it is written that if the elephant is tied down so that it is impossible for it to escape, then the sukkah would be kosher and it wouldn't be a problem. 

This opens up a whole new world for sukkah creativity. Tarp sukkahs with palm tree leaves are not the only thing that would count as kosher for a sukkah. As long as it fits the dimesions of a kosher sukkah and can be tied down so it won't fly away or move, the possibilities are endless. People can be free to customize their sukkot and make them their own with their own personalities.

Beit Alpha

We went on a full day tiyul today to the north. We started our day in Beit She'arim and later went to Beit Alpha. Beit Alpha is a kibbutz in northern Israel that has an ancient temple that has a beautiful mosaic that holds details to how the Jewish people represented themselves back then. 
When we got to Beit Alpha, we began talking about the Oral Law and how it draws a red line for when people can consider themselves Jewish. We tried to develop a line that would apply to modern day times. Many people said that if someone goes to church and wears a cross or believes in Jesus, but considers themselves Jewish is a Jew. Judaism is not just a religion, it is a lifestyle.
As soon as I heard this I was a little bit confused. It didn't make a lot of sense to me that someone would consider themselves Jewish, but do so many things that are against their religion. Judaism is not like most other religions, such as Christianity, where if you consider yourself Christian then you are Christian. There are certain requirements that are needed to be met in order to be Jewish. One major thing is to follow Hallacha, or Jewish law. It is not enough to just consider yourself Jewish because it is very hard to be accepted within the Jewish community that way. Not only that, but it is also a little bit like cheating.
Another thing that should be a very important thing for Jews is to observe the high holidays. Going to services on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur at least is a great way to get closer to the Jewish community. 

BACK TO THE TIYUL

When we went into the ancient synagogue, there was a beautiful mosaic on the floor. The only problem was that it had the face of the Greek sun god, Helios, on it. This shocked me a little bit. I understand that the Jewish culture was influenced by Hellenism back then, but the scholars of Beit Alpha should have known better not to bring that influence to a Jewish place of worship. 

Being influenced by outside cultures is not a bad thing. There are many good things that come with it like technology and logic. Despite these great advancements, there are also many huge disadvantages. Much of the class believed it was fine to have a Greek god in the synagogue if it wasn't going to be used for and idolized purpose. 

I don't care whether it was idolized or not, if it was put in a place of worship it automatically makes the place unholy to Jews. One of the first commandments is no idolatry. Hellenism could influence Judaism to the extent that it would not effect the way Jews praise HaShem. Places of worship are sacred places that should not be tainted by the influence of foreign cultures and religions.  

My 10 Day Trip

Masada:

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 Camel Riding:

 

Gadna:



Eilat:



What I Be: Jews of New York

Californian photographer, Steve Rosenfield, created an exhibit called What I Be: Jews of New York. In this exhibit, Rosenfield relives his past insecurities as a child, being bullied by his classmates for his flaws. He is very passionate about expression and not being held back by the things you don't like about yourself. The students at Yeshiva University were supposed to be represented by the exhibit, but it was a big controversy with the orthodox community.
Freedom of speech and expression is a very important thing in the American community. I respect that the orthodox community is very reserved and resistant to change, but they should feel free to express their deepest thoughts and insecurities. Rosenfield's idea is great. It allows Jews to overpower the depressing feeling after being made fun of for their beliefs. Despite orthodox resistance, people should be able to express their deepest thoughts for all to see.

Gadna

This week, the EIE students spent a week at Sde Boker, an army base in southern Israel. There, we were placed in a program that shows teenagers what it would be like to join the IDF. Growing up surrounded by a polite American culture, this was a major culture shock to most of us.
Many of the teenagers at Gadna are troubled Israeli teenagers who's family does not have a history of being in the IDF. In other words they are Aarsim, or Israeli Guidos. To be in the same environment was very annoying and scary at some points. Not only did they never sleep and scream until the break of dawn, some of the guys also creeped on the girls in the middle of the night.
Being immersed in this vast culture with very little heirarchy can be very problematic and scary for Americans. While it is nice to be on a nickname basis with everyone, it can also cause teenagers especially to behave with disrespect and lack of control. To American raised teenagers, this is a whole new experience that can be very overwhelming. Understanding about these issues in Israel, it made me laugh when my friends came up to me and told me about a fight between to Aarsim.
Along with the Gadna program at Sde Boker, there is also a Marvah program that allows international teenagers to go through basic training for two months and get a better feel of what it means to be in the IDF. To see all the people in the program come together as one was amazing because all of them are from different corners of the world. There were people from the UK, Germany, Mexico, Venezuela, Argentina, Canada, Sweeden and many more. To see them all together not just as soldiers, but as really good friends was amazing. One day I want to be in the army and become friends with people from all over the world that have come to the IDF with the same goals that I have.

 Me in my uniform.

 Team 11 for the win!

Squeegee for days.