Eastern Europe Trip

The Ramah Eastern Europe Trip for Adults
October 15-23, 2007

“The trip…further solidified my connection to the whole Jewish people, including those who are no longer living.”

“…The trip has reinforced our commitment to Conservative Judaism, and to the need to pass a strong sense of Jewish knowledge and values on to our children.”

“The trip met and exceeded our expectations. I feel like I have an excellent understanding of what the Ramah seminar trip is like, and will be able to support my sons before and after they make a similar trip. I feel like I have learned so much, but at the same time I realize that there is so much more to learn.”

After twelve years of running the Ramah Poland Seminar – an optional 8-day pre-Israel trip for Seminar participants – Ramah sponsored its first-ever Ramah Eastern Europe Trip for Adults in October. Fifteen adults, accompanied by two staff members, spent two days in the Czech Republic – Prague and Terezin – and five in Poland, in places like Krakow, Warsaw, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Kielce and Pshiskhe. The trip was a fulfillment of a dream of Mort Steinberg, the immediate past president of the National Ramah Commission. Having witnessed the profound effect that the Poland Seminar had on teens, he wanted to see first-hand what the experience was about.

Morning minyan at the HIgh Synagogue in Prague
(l-r: Sydney Schlusselberg, Dr. Joe Freedman,
Mort Steinberg and Ron Fogel)

The trip emphasized the long history of Jewish life and culture in the Czech Republic and Poland in addition to places associated with the Holocaust. The trip was designed and supervised on location by Dr. Joe Freedman, Director of the Ramah Programs in Israel. The educational tour guide was Yael Frankel Tamari, who has led many teen and adult trips to Eastern Europe, most recently on the Ramah Poland Seminar. Logistic arrangements, including kosher meals, were expertly handled by Gesher Tours.

Some of the sights and activities on the trip included:

Exploring the grandeur of the synagogues that were once so vibrant in Prague (and which are now mostly museums), and seeing the throngs of gentile tourists who were fascinated by the richness of Jewish life that once thrived there;
Davening Mincha in a tiny clandestine shul in Terezin and saying a collective Kaddish for all those who did not survive;
Delving into the various schools of Hasidic thought by the graves of rabbis buried in the town of Pshiskhe and in the Warsaw cemetery;
Learning about the inhuman conditions of those who managed to survive the horrors of Birkenau;
Studying excerpts of Jewish law by the “Rema” (R. Moses Isserles, d. 1572) in the synagogue that bears his name;
Hearing the story of one of the participant’s ancestors (from the 16^th century) whose gravestone she found in the cemetery next to the Rema shul;
Rekindling extinguished yahrtzeit candles by the memorial next to mass graves of Jews at Plaszow (the work camp portrayed in Schindler’s List);
Visiting the Lauder-Morasha Jewish day school in Warsaw and hearing about the accomplishments and challenges of keeping Jewish life viable in Poland; and
Standing near the Rapoport memorial to the Warsaw Ghetto Fighters and singing Hatkivah, and feeling so fortunate to have the State of Israel as well as a rich Jewish life in North America.

Outside the Rema Shul in Krakow

Participants came from wide-and-far: from the NYC area to El Paso, TX, from Highland Park, IL and Bloomfield, MI to Nashville, TN, and even from Jerusalem. Among them were Camp Ramah alumni, local and national Ramah activists, and others who wanted to benefit from the Ramah's outstanding educational programming in a tour of Eastern Europe. One couple had already sent their children on the Poland Seminar and wanted to see what their children had experienced. Another couple was planning to send their two children on the Poland Seminar and wanted to know in advance what the trip was all about. All the participants had been to Israel multiple times.

Reactions to the trip have been overwhelming: “The trip went beyond my expectations: The camaraderie, the davening at sites, the learning, the talking together, Yael playing the Carlebach niggunum on the bus ride back from Auschwitz, the graves we saw – all so moving and meaningful. I can’t imagine going to these places with any other group.” There was a unanimous recommendation that Ramah plan other such trips in the future. Joe Freedman says that a similar trip will be offered in the fall of 2009.

At Birkenau, Poland

If you are interested in participating in future Ramah trips to Eastern Europe, please email the National Ramah office at ramah@jtsa.edu.

Read on for more reactions from the trip participants:

“I would like to express my thanks and gratitude to the entire staff and to the National Ramah Commission for conceiving of and implementing this trip. We feel fortunate to have been a part of it, and are pleased that our children have been and will continue to be involved with Camp Ramah.”

“The trip exceeded my expectations in every way: the emotions, the food and logistics, and the group dynamics.”

“It was a powerful trip with excellent leadership and committed participants eager to learn.”

“The times we prayed and sang as a group remain with me.”

“The trip was amazing. I gave me an understanding for what went on from a cultural, social, historical, and political point of view.”

“We learned about the richness of Jewish life in Central and Eastern Europe prior to World War II, and of the systematic destruction of this life and culture by Hitler…. “

“I expected the trip to show adults the expertise of the Ramah Israel programs, programs which…are already near and dear to my heart. Not only were my expectations exceeded in this regard (each and every participant marveled at the educational expertise), but my own respect for Ramah dramatically increased. Throughout the course of our trip I marveled at Ramah’s ability to provide this kind of highly charged, emotional and meaningful experience to a large number of teenagers. Kol haKavod!”

“I appreciated learning about the many rabbis and thinkers of our Jewish past who lived in Czechoslovakia and Poland. They came alive to me through Yael’s narratives and the sites we saw.”

“Joe kept us on task, kept the schedule, was organized, added greatly to the educational and spiritual tone of the week. I appreciated his knowledge, his humor, his leadership. Yael was a jewel of a guide. She was knowledgeable, soulful, prepared, organized and added a depth of feeling that carried us along. “

“I thought all the technical minutiae were tended to perfectly. Every detail was tended to...coffee cake on demand, lovely Shabbat dinner...”

“The pace of the trip was perfect.”

“The success of this trip was due solely to the remarkable leadership we had. The two most remarkable leaders were Joe Freedman and Yael Frankel. Their programming efforts surpassed anything I could have imagined. Both were articulate, well-read, had an incredible knowledge of history and were able to convey their knowledge to us. The sourcebook they compiled was very informative and in-depth, quite a comprehensive reference guide….”

“Yael took us back, in our imagination, to a very emotional time and place in our history.”

“Joe did a fantastic job of organizing the trip and preparing the study guide. In addition, he was sensitive to the emotions of the group, and always seemed to find the right time to add a thoughtful comment. In particular, he greatly enhanced the experience on the trip by choosing such meaningful times and places to daven together or to recite Kaddish or Eyl Maleh Rachamim. He enriched the trip as well through the religious aspect which he contributed. Furthermore, Sue was a great asset, and it was so nice to get to know her.”

“I had a wonderful time. The people made the trip, and by that I mean not just the participants, but also the tour guides, and everyone associated with the planning of the trip. Everything was smooth. I particularly appreciated the comprehensiveness of the Sourcebook. I have been looking at it and doing my own research on the Internet since I’ve returned….”

“It is still hard to put into words ‘the effect’ the trip had on me (and continues – and will continue to have.) I have clearly been affected. Although I was prepared for a high level of sadness, I was unprepared for many of the other emotions. There were so many stirring moments – all of which add up to an extremely emotional experience.”

“I feel that the success of the trip was due in large - most - part to Joe and Yael. The combination of expertise, insight, sensitivity, humor and menschlichkeit could not be improved upon. Yael is clearly a knowledgeable educator – in every sense of that word. She is wise beyond her years. I hope that Ramah utilizes her talents as much as possible, but I worry about how she can do this over and over.”