Shabbat Abroad

Krakow, Poland

Friday, October 3

We davened with the community at a shul down the block. It was really nice to be with the Kehila and witness the survival and success of the Jewish community despite the atrocities that occurred. We returned to the hotel for dinner and a tisch. The tisch was really inspiring; we sang a medley of songs late into the night. 

Shabbat, October 4

We returned to the same shul for shacharit this morning. Then after a quick kiddush, we retraced the route we took on our tour the day before but this time we went inside all of the Shuls. I was in awe of the beautiful architecture and polychromatic walls. We returned for lunch, after which we had an received an hour to do something we barely ever do here: sleep. We then walked over the lock bridge (where couples chain locks onto the walls of the bridge as a sign of their everlasting love) to the location of the ghetto. We toured the entire perimeter of the ghetto, and I was shocked by how small its borders were. Forty thousand people were trapped in an area that was three blocks in width. We saw the remaining ghetto walls and Krakow's deportation square. After mincha, we returned for seduat shlishit and a kumzitz before Shabbat ended. During the meal all I could think about was tomorrow. In only a few hours, I would be at the gates of the infamous Auschwitz-Birkenau. This was the place where my great grandmother suffered and lost so much of her family. Anxiety flooded through my veins. How would I make it through the day? How could I stand in the same place that I lost so many members of my family? How could I be worthy? What finally calmed me was a letter my parents wrote to me (the school requested that the parents send them to us to be read on Shabbat in Poland). 

After Shabbat ended we visited the first Bais Yaakov building where Mrs. Charak (Sarah and Rache's grandmother) told us of her experiences in Belgium during the war. She spoke beautifully and her story of her life in hiding was inconceivable. 

Portrait of Sarah Schenirer, founder of Bais Yaakov

Midreshet Lindebaum waiting to here from Mrs. Charak