“When I go to Poland, I want to go with Ramah.”
By Adina Scheinberg, National Ramah Senior Program Director
When several Ramah alumni approached the National Ramah team requesting we run a young adult trip to Poland, we discovered an untapped group of post-college alumni in their 20s who wanted to honor the lives lost in the Shoah, return to crucial places in their personal families’ story, and encounter Eastern European Jewish life of the past and present. We heard loud and clear that alumni wanted to embark on a Poland experience with Ramah, a community and institution that had been formative in Jewish educational journeys since many were young campers and staff.
Jacob K., an alumnus of Ramah NorCal and a rabbinical student at JTS, reflected,
“I need to be a participant before I can be an educator, and it is abundantly clear to me that there’s no better or more fulfilling option than getting to participate in a Poland experience with Ramah.”
On May 20, 2024, our group of 14 young adults, 12 of whom were Ramah alumni, landed in Warsaw to embark on Ha’dor Yizkor: A Reshet Ramah Poland Journey. During our week together, we honored the vibrancy of Jewish life that once existed in the country, bore witness to the unfathomable atrocities of the Shoah, grappled with complex questions about Poland’s modern Jewish community, and celebrated our Jewish identities proudly and joyfully through prayer, song, and dance. Participants took on leadership roles by sharing family stories and personal reflections with the group, leading tefillot and zemirot, and sharing words of Torah.
On our Poland journey, we filled empty synagogues with words of tefillah in the towns of Tykocin, Tarnow, and Oswiecim, bringing life back to houses of worship that had once been the epicenters of local Jewish communities. At the Jewish Okopowa Cemetery in Warsaw, we learned about how family members used specific phrases and symbols on gravestones to memorialize their loved ones. We studied Daf Yomi in Yeshivat Chochmei Lublin, and we participated in a tisch in the Hasidic town of Lezajsk. At the Łopuchowo Forest, the Zbilitowska Gura Children’s Forest, and the concentration and death camps of Treblinka, Majdanek, and Auschwitz, we recited the Mourner’s Kaddish, read individual accounts of those who survived and those who perished, and held one another in moments of silence to honor the lives cut far too short.
In addition to our group debrief sessions, several participants processed through journaling.
Hadar H., an alum of Ramah Wisconsin, reflected after our visit to Majdanek:
“I said El Maleh Rachamim for Holocaust victims in the Majdanek crematorium, staring at the ovens they were burned in. And now I’m walking backwards out of there. It was hard to come in and hard to leave. I walk backwards to give the people who were burned there some dignity as I would another holy place like the Kotel. At Sinai and at Auschwitz. At the Kotel and at the crematorium.”
Luke C. a rosh edah at Ramah NorCal, reflected after visiting Zbilitowska Gura Children’s Forest:
“Today made me think of all the children that never had the chance to belong. They never had the chance to discover themselves. They never had the chance to make mistakes and learn from them. They never had the chance to grow old and see how beautiful life gets. They were stripped of their opportunity to make a difference in this world. So for them I will discover myself. I will make mistakes and teach others how I learned from them. I will try to grow old and try to celebrate how beautiful life can be. I will make a difference in this world and I will affect as many children’s lives as I possibly can for the better because they deserve to be safe, happy and prosperous. And when I am ready I will raise my children and make sure they have the opportunity to make a difference in this world too. Never again. Never again!”
We celebrated a “Ramah-style” Shabbat in Krakow, where we were welcomed by the Krakow JCC for dinner. We had the privilege to learn about the city’s present-day Jewish community from a survivor and from a woman who discovered her Jewish identity in young adulthood.
Our group of young professionals included those pursuing work in law, social work, the rabbinate, science, government, education, and the Jewish nonprofit sector. With vast professional and personal experiences, participants brought rich perspectives to our conversations and were affected by this trip in a variety of ways.
Bella A., who is pursuing a degree in social work, shared:
“This trip has and will continue to have a huge impact on my life. For many months I felt unsure about how I could bring my social work degree to the Jewish community. I knew that Jewish life was important to me, but I wasn’t sure what that would look like in a social work career. After this trip, I understand the absolute vitality of telling the Jewish story—particularly the story of those who perished in the Shoah. If we don’t tell their story, who will? This trip helped me realize that the notion of ‘storytelling’ in education is foundational to social work, and that I can take the social justice mission of social work to Holocaust education and beyond.”
Harel B., an alum of Ramah NorCal, said that since the trip he has taken on the practice of wearing a kippah every day.
“The trip has greatly impacted me. I plan to bring what I learned with me in everything I do and continue to talk about and remember the events of the Holocaust. If I wasn’t sure before, I am even more sure that Judaism must continue to be a huge part of my identity.”
“My trip to Poland felt like the missing piece of my Jewish education. As a Jewish professional, I returned from this trip feeling better equipped to meet this moment of Jewish community thanks to my Ramah educators and peers.”
While there were moments of grief and anger as we confronted the extermination of Jews and other victims that took place at the sites we visited, there were also moments of immense gratitude, connection, and joy. Participants remarked throughout and after our journey how grateful they were to participate in this experience alongside a group of fellow Ramahniks.
“I am so happy I did this trip with Ramah! I don’t have the opportunity to surround myself with other Jews my age very often and so Ramah has always been important to me in that way. It was great to learn that that is still the case as camp and tzevet alumni. This felt even more important given the current state of the world.”
“I chose to attend this trip with Ramah because I knew that in difficult moments, there would be someone for me to turn to who understood where I was coming from. That feeling of familiarity felt really important going into such a difficult trip, and that’s what made it feel “Ramah” to me.”