March of the Living 2018
Over the last two weeks, I had the distinct pleasure of accompanying our senior class, as well as a number of other 17-18 year old teens in the southern United States, on the 30th annual March of the Living. Throughout this program, students and staff members alike engaged in an educational journey through the concentration camps of Poland and then saw the beauty of Israel first-hand during a week-long stay. This is an emotional and powerful trip that impacts the students in a variety of different ways.
During the first week of the trip, our region spent time in four concentration/death camps (Auschwitz, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Majdanek and Treblinka) and two Polish ghettos (Krakow and Warsaw). As we toured through these camps, we were exposed to the travesties committed by the Nazi regime as they tried to execute the 'Final Solution to the Jewish Question.'
Walking through these camps provoked a number of emotions, from anger, to sadness and confusion. This March allowed the students to see that even though the Nazi’s worked tirelessly to eradicate the Jewish people, they failed to do so. In fact, their failure empowered them, as out from under the darkness of the Holocaust, the Jews were able to fully realize the dream of a Jewish state.
From Poland, the southern region traveled to Israel, where they engaged in educational programming and partook in a number of different ceremonies for Yom Hazikaron (Israel’s Memorial Day) and Yom Ha’atzmaut (Israeli Independence Day). This leg of the journey helped expose students to the beauty and strength of Israel. The week fittingly ended with Shabbat services at the Western Wall, which impacted our students in a variety of ways, both religiously and spiritually. Many of the students had already been to Israel, but after seeing the horrors of the Holocaust, experiencing their homeland in a newfound way empowered them to become prouder of the state and what it represents.
Watching our students grow emotionally, mentally and religiously over the last two weeks was a true blessing. I am honored to have been given this opportunity to attend this journey with them and know that, because of what they experienced, they will head into the adult world with a new sense of who they are, which was no doubt strengthened by this trip.
