Life to Death Just Like that

*FROM 11/9*
While we landed in Poland yesterday, today felt like we were here for a reason. We woke up, I spent 10 min getting Yael up, packed our bag, and went to breakfast. We had to eat in a separate kosher dinning room but as we were walking there we passed the regular dinning area and could smell bacon and other meats we were not permitted to have. But breakfast was good, even without the meat. For the first time since we left America there was actual fruit at breakfast (it was wonderful!). After breakfast we had a 3-hour bus ride to a shtel Tikocyn. We watched our first of 4 movies during the ride (Fiddler on the Roof- after all it was about shtel life). When we arrived we split up into classes and walked around getting to know shtel life and culture. Eventually our tour took us to the cemetery from when the town was a flourishing Jewish community. Unlike the cemetery in Warsaw, this one had not been taken care off. Many of the headstones were covered with dirt and leaves and were very challenging to find. Then we had a box lunched followed and went into the synagogue. The synagogue had been restored to look like it did during the s shtels’ time. The most interesting part of the synagogue was that the prayers were written on the walls. We assumed it was b/c originally the synagogue probably did not have enough siddurim for the congregation. After we learned a little about the synagogue we had t’fillah but it turned into more of a song session. When we were done we were told we had to be silent and get on the bus. We had a 3 min drive following the path that the Jews if the shtel took right before they were killed. We arrived at the Lepochova Forest were when the jews arrived they found 3 large holes. Today they are 3 memorials. Before we walked up all the way to the mass graves we heard a story of a women who had survived only after seeing watching her parents, sister, and daughter being shot. She too was shot at but was only injured and was able to climb out of the pit. The first time her story was made public was during the Eichmann trial in the 60s. We then had time to walk around and look at the graves as we pleased. I felt sickened. I could picture everything that had happened there. Then we had our first ceremony of the trip. This one was short and was led by our Madrachim and Yahir (a Jewish History teacher). Right before we said kaddish we went around the circle and said the names of our family members who were killed in the Holocaust. After we sang Hatikvah D Sol said “and now we are going to do something the people here never got to do, we are going to walk out”. A line we would here many more times this trip. When we got back on the bus everyone was silent for a while. Then we finished Fiddler. At one of our bathroom stops I somehow got locked in a men’s bathroom (in Poland), it was a little frightening (don’t worry there were no guys in there- we converted it into a girls bathroom). After Fiddler, we watched Defiance. I liked the movie but some scenes were scary to watch while driving through the middle of a dark forest. 5 hours later we finally ended up at our hotel in Lublin. We quickly put our stuff down and went to dinner. Then we had class time were we discussed the day, our feelings, and reactions. After that I had ceremony prep b/c my ceremony is tomorrow. Then I went to bed.