Israel/Poland Speech. When I was asked to talk about my experience on Ramah Israel

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Cuthbert Melton
5 years ago
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1 Israel/Poland Speech When I was asked to talk about my experience on Ramah Israel Seminar this morning, the first thing that came to mind was the first leg of my journey: our one week stay in Poland. And, sometimes funny coincidences happen, because the day I was asked to write this speech, I found a piece of paper in my journal that I thought I had left in a hotel in Krakow. On the paper were words I scrawled out while at Treblinka, a concentration camp that s now a memorial. The following is what I wrote: It s hard to imagine the number of people who were killed, but these stones help to depict it. Endless magnitudes of stone, endless memories lost. It pains me to know that they lost so many experiences; watching the sunrise, Havdallah services, watching their children grow up. Even more so, it pains me to know how much they suffered during their lives, and I can only pray that I fully appreciate these moments now. What is truly amazing, though, is that despite all of these atrocities, Jewish people have been able to band together in miraculous ways. It s funny how here, I m able to hold hands with someone who lives in Jerusalem and someone who lives in Chicago, walking around Poland, learning about an old truth. We are all here from different places but have come for similar reasons. We

2 continuously survive, and I am proud to say that I am a Jew, and even more so that I identify with the Jewish culture. The stones I speak of in Treblinka are numerous. 17,000 stones of various sizes are scattered around the site, symbolically representing a cemetery. About 130 of these stones have the names of the cities or towns from which victims were taken and deported to this camp. Besides the stones, nothing stands. The Nazis removed all traces of evidence by setting the camp ablaze before fleeing. We know it was a concentration camp due to the remains of the entrance of the gas chamber, claiming: פּ ת חוּ ל י שׁ ע ר י צ ד ק; ז ה ה שּׁ ע ר ל יהו ה; אָב א ב ם, אוֹד ה י הּ. צ דּ יק ים, י ב אוּ בוֹ. You may recognize this as as a phrase from hallel, and it translates to mean: this is the gate through which the righteous pass. This inscription proved that the Nazis intended to hurt the Jews, and that they had a wide knowledge base on our religion that they effectively used against us. This horrific image from Poland was only one of many, but the trip was not solely depressing, rather, Poland was an incredibly beautiful,

3 spiritual, and uplifting country. The beauty is evident from the lush countrysides, rolling hills, and blooming dandelions, quaint homes and brick roads. But to me, the beauty lay beneath the aesthetics, and it was uncovered through the pure strength of the Jews to rebound in a place where so many deaths occured. Ramah brought Jewish life back to Poland in ways I thought unimaginable. We prayed in abandoned synagogues three times a day, delving into the history of who worshipped there before us. We exited every gas chamber with the words shema, too often the last words of many who died in them. We sang with ruach in the streets of Krakow while wearing our tallisim on the way to the loudest, most beautiful Kabbalat Shabbat service I have ever attended. In Kraznack, we sang and danced in the basement of a crumbling synagogue. During Acheinu, a hundred feet stomped and a cloud of dust shrouded us all. I have never felt lighter in a darker place. On our final day in Poland, we went to Auschwitz Birkenau. As we were ready to leave the site, our tour guide asked us, How do you leave a place like this? All was silent for a while, and I said, We should walk out singing. Wrapped in Israeli flags, we all held hands and sang sloach songs as we walked. It is in these moments of Jewish revival that I felt most alive, and in these moments that I discovered my

4 purpose to continue my love of Judaism for those who could not, and to show the world what we as a people can accomplish. And, Poland, despite its heaviness and overwhelming beauty, held some of the most light and fun moments I had all summer. Our tour guide threw Israeli candies at us on every bus ride, we stayed up late in hotel rooms bonding and teaching each other new Israeli dances, we attempted to learn some Polish and miserably failed, got to go to a Mikva, stayed in a haunted hotel where our staff were robbed, and wondered every day why the milk container read can be used to make milk soup. All of these moments of enhanced my Israel experience, and when we landed in Tel Aviv, I had never felt more jet lagged or at home. I was able to appreciate Israel so much more because I had a deeper, fuller understanding of why Israel is so necessary it is truly a safe haven for the Jewish people, a place to go if another Holocaust were ever to occur. But it s more than a haven, it s a place where Jews can be themselves and have a culture all of their own, and it s a place where freedom, democracy, and Jewish values truly do exist. This realization was intensified when we finally arrived in Jerusalem. We drove into the city and arrived at Hebrew University to daven Shacharit

5 at sunrise. The view from the campus overlooked the entire city, and it was a magnificent start to the summer. We walked around Jerusalem for the rest of the day, and at sunset we visited the Kotel. The voices of Jews and Muslims davening their evening prayers meshed in harmony. As I began to walk away from the kotel, I watched the sun set. I turned to my friend, Mira, who made Aliyah several years ago, and said to her, I can t believe this happens every day here. The richness of her homeland hit her then she had lived in Jerusalem for three years and had only been to the Kotel on one or two other occasions. I, on the other hand, had just landed in Israel for the first time, and saw the Kotel as a place I would go everyday if I had the opportunity to. It was evident that, in that moment, she realized what an incredible place Israel truly is. That first day in Israel is a day I will remember for the rest of my life. The second day, we drove to the North and waited for everyone to arrive who had not gone to Poland. The North was filled with hiking and beautiful views. We climbed Mount Arbel to watch the sunrise, played with goats and sheep, learned about Israeli agriculture, and more. After a tiring week, we returned to Jerusalem. For those who had not been to Poland, it was their first time in the holy city. For many, it was their first time in

6 Jerusalem ever, as Ramah Seminar was their first trip to Israel. When we arrived, we went to a park that overlooked the city. Those who had never been to Jerusalem before were given blindfolds, and those who had been before held their hands and walked them out onto the outlook. We took videos of them as they took off their blindfolds and saw Jerusalem for the first time. I will never forget how my best friend, Avery, cried when she saw the city. People were smiling, crying, and laughing, which in my opinion is a testament to the sheer power Jerusalem has. During our stay, we did something different every day. One Friday afternoon we took in the craziness of the shuk, the next Monday visiting a nature preserve in Tel Aviv. One thing that was constant was our daily intake of Aroma iced coffee, which is essentially the Israeli equivalent of Starbucks. Days were long and exciting, and always provided us with new opportunities to be leaders. Whether that meant leading services, leading a discussion, or being the star of the day that helped clean up the bus, we were always presented with the opportunity to help others. Not only did this help us develop skills for being staff members next year at camp, but enabled us to grow closer together as a community of supportive leaders. When someone did not know how to lead a service or prayer, others would

7 step in to teach them. We would often stay up late at night learning the prayers and rituals of the other camps Camp Ramah in California had different tunes for shabbat mincha, and Camp Ramah Palmer sang Eishet Chayil on Friday nights. And of course, Ramah Darom taught our special Havdalah tune. Not only did we learn the traditions of various camps, but we made some of our own. Learning and creating these new traditions deepened my connection to Judaism and the Ramah camping movement as a whole. Another aspect of living in Jerusalem that connected me to Judaism was Shabbat. The shuk on Friday afternoons is insane. It s a sea of people, everyone shouting at vendors and attempting to get all their shabbat necessities. Lines are long and it's nearly impossible to move, and it's incredibly likely that you ll run into a bunch of people that you know. I ran into two old camp friends that were on a BBYO trip, a counselor that I had three summers ago who was in charge of the organic farming program at camp, and a bunch of people from Miami who I d met through a mutual friend. Somehow, all of this frantic bustle is calming, and it all ends abruptly with the start of shabbat. Cars and buses stop as the public welcomes in shabbat. Everything is dark besides the glowing of shabbat candles in the

8 windows. As a community, we sang kabbalat shabbat, my favorite service, outside and proceeded to dinner. The Palmer kids would sing eishet chayil, and all was silent as we listened to their harmonies. We d bring all of the food we bought in the shuk to dinner, so shabbat dinner pretty much always included candy and rugelach. In the morning, we would all separate and walk to a synagogue of our choosing. I visited modern Orthodox synagogues, Orthodox synagogues, a conservative synagogue, and a sephardic synagogue during my stay. We d often attend their onegs afterward, which always had more rugelach. The rest of Shabbat was relatively peaceful, unless you attended California style mincha services. Ramah California s mincha tunes were loud and powerful, and everyone shouted with ruach. By the end of Shabbat, we were ready for another action packed week. Possibly the most fulfilling week was our week spent on Etgar. Etgar, translating to mean challenge, allowed us to choose 1 of 4 options to do for 5 days. We could hike from the Mediterranean to the galilee, try IDF training, stay in Jerusalem and learn more about the city, or survive in the desert. I chose desert survival, which included hiking about seven miles each day, cooking all of our own food, building shelter, and navigating

9 using the stars. Among other things, I learned that isolation is necessary and air conditioning is not. After five days of wearing the same clothes and not showering, we returned to Jerusalem and spent four final days there before heading back to the desert. On the final week of our trip, Ramah Seminar tackled the hottest heat wave in all of Israeli history. We spent a few days at various Kibbutzim in air conditioned rooms because the majority of our programming was cancelled due to the 110 degree weather. I m not sure if it was the communal suffering or the fact that we were all together in tiny rooms that made us bond, but that final week in the south truly bonded my bus together. You would think that traveling and living with 35 other campers for 5 weeks would make a tight knit group, but I can t stress how important our final week together was for our development as a group. We truly opened up to each other, making our last week together incredibly memorable and special. The friends I made on Seminar will last me a lifetime, and they re all incredible people. Like me, two of the friends I made are also on their respective USY regional boards. One of my friends, Val, is on the international general board for social action and tikkun olam for USY, but you may have also seen her in the white house and on CNN last week for

10 her global nonprofit called the Validation Project. Now, some of my closest friends live in Los Angeles, San Diego, Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, Jerusalem, and Palo Alto. My friends are scattered all over the country, which is nice to know because I like to travel and will probably need a place to crash from time to time. They are also an excellent support system, who don t only like my instagram posts, but actually call me to have a conversation or ask for advice. It s an understanding, welcoming community unlike any other I have ever been a part of. Ramah Israel and Poland Seminar is an experience unparalleled by any other. It brings the best of camp and Israel together, and blends Israeli culture into the Ramah culture that campers have grown up with. Before this trip, I thought I was connected to my Judaism and to Israel. I realized, though, that my relationship to my religion, heritage, and to Israel is constantly evolving as I grow and acquire new experiences. When I say the Shema or Acheinu, I am instantly transported back to Poland and remember why I, as a Jewish individual, am important. I am working hard, because I have a mission to revive the Jewish culture in places where it has been lost, and to show the world the unique kind of light and love we bring. Shabbat shalom.

ה ג ד ת הע צ מ א ות. Haggadat Ha'atzmaut. A Picnic Celebration of Yom Ha atzmaut

ה ג ד ת הע צ מ א ות. Haggadat Ha'atzmaut. A Picnic Celebration of Yom Ha atzmaut Haggadat Ha'atzmaut ה ג ד ת הע צ מ א ות A Picnic Celebration of Yom Ha atzmaut Celebrate Yom Ha atzmaut with an innovative new ritual revolving around a picnic seder, and featuring a newly written haggadah