Holocaust Remembrance Day 2014: Never Forget

Yom HaShoah 2014: 


Today, I remember the 6 million people whose lives were stolen from them solely because of their religion. A little over a year ago, I spent a week in Poland walking through the gas chambers of Auschwitz and Majdanek, visiting the mass graves of Glugow and Tarnow, and traveling around where the Warsaw and Krakow ghettos once stood. 

Despite my knowledge of the tragedies that occurred at each place we visited, reality had not hit me until I walked into a barrack full of thousands of shoes. The sight and smell of so many shoes left a profound impact on me, as it allowed me to begin comprehending the magnitude of the Nazi Murder.








After spending two hours on the bus watching the movie Escape From Sobibor, we found ourselves driving through the same forest depicted in the film we had finished watching minutes earlier. When we arrived at the location of where the Sobibor concentration camp once stood, we walked along a line of trees nicknamed the "Path to Heaven" by the Nazis. 

At the end of the path, the line of trees opened up into a large field, and where there used to be a gas chamber now stood an enormous dome covering the mountain of human ashes that lied beneath. To this day I can not comprehend what I saw in that forest, nor do I believe I ever will.

At each concentration camp we visited, we concluded our emotional visits by gathering in a circle and draping ourselves with Israeli flags as we all sang Israel's national anthem HaTikva; The hope. There was nowhere the entire week that I felt more empowered singing HaTikva than at Auschwitz. Through sorrow and tears, we all came together as one to sing the anthem of the same people that Hitler tried to rid the world of, and together we celebrated the hope that we may all one day live in peace with one another. The Nazis may have tried to rid the world of Jews, but today we stand taller and prouder than ever at how far we have come since the ending of the terrible nightmare called the Holocaust. 

We must never forget, and we must never let it happen again. 

May the memory of the 11 million people who perished in the Holocaust forever be a blessing.

Marva- A Taste of the Israeli Army

Marva Course 122-Words can not describe what an amazing experience it was but for the sake of blogging, I'll try anyways. Marva is an 8 week long army program open to teenagers from around the world who wish to get a taste of what every teenager in Israel has to go through when they finish high school. Throughout the 8 weeks, we learned about the ideals and history of Israel and the IDF (Israeli Defense Force), got a small taste of the intense training that combat soldiers go through for 8 months, and had the chance to truly test our limits. What made it even more fun was that I was doing it with kids my age from the USA, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, and England that I know I will be in touch with for many years to come. As my friend from Marva Cole Fisher said, "I can't believe people come to Israel for a year and don't do this program!", and I agree. What better way is there to get to know life in Israel, than through the eyes of what almost every Israeli over the age of 18 has gone through.

Besides for screaming orders at us and telling us to do more pushups, our commanders had something different and challenging planned for us every week. Each week was special in its own way but in order to keep this short, I'm going to highlight my 3 favorite weeks of the program: field week, north week, and Jerusalem week.

During field week, we pitched hundreds of tents and slept in the desert, had the opportunity to shoot an M16 for the first time, learned how to camouflage ourselves completely, navigated according to the stars, and scaled up a mountainside silently in the middle of the night in attempts to reach the top and capture the flag without being caught by a single commander. On the last day of field week, there was a competition to see which group of "soldiers" could reach the peak of the mountain first after completing a series of tasks. These tasks included building a sturdy tent in 2 minutes, running with stretchers while carrying enormous sandbags on top, and running to the top of the mountain that we had scaled the night before. Although we didn't succeed in reaching the top first, we learned the value of making sure nobody got left behind and still had an amazing week.

During north week, we traveled all across the north of Israel learning about Israel's geography and borders, seeing where Israel's most famous battles took place even if Israel was not victorious, and learning how important the Golan heights are to Israel's safety today. We traveled through mountains, hills, and riverbeds and honestly, I don't recall one moment during the week where we weren't shuffling our feet from one place to another. One of my favorite moments of the week was meeting and speaking with Israeli war legend Avigdor Kahalani who received a medal of distinguished service for his service during the Six Day War. Without his heroic actions, the Golan Heights may not have been part of the country of Israel today. Throughout the week we had a chance to meet many Israeli soldiers from different units and hear about their experiences in the army. North week was a week I am sure I'll never forget.

4 more amazing weeks went by filled with navigation, sports, discipline, and more physical training and in the 7th week of Marva, we began a week in Jerusalem. To begin, I'll say that I had already been to most of the places we went in Jerusalem but doing it in a uniform of the Israeli army, while carrying around an M16 was a completely different feeling. I don't know how to describe the feeling other than it gave me pride to walk around the capital of the country wearing that uniform. We went around all the religious quarters of the old city, saw the city of David, stood at ammunition hill where the Israeli army held off the Jordanian army during the Six Day War, toured the Knesset where the Israeli parliament sits and makes decisions, learned about the Holocaust at Yad Va Shem, and stood at Theodore Herzl's grave, the founder of Zionism and one of the reasons this country exists today. But none of these places gave me more pride than standing at the Western Wall on the last day wearing that green uniform, the wall that Jews had been praying at for the past 2000 years and had been taken from them countless times up until the 1967 war when the Israeli Army gained control over it once again and to this day remains the holiest site in the world for the Jewish people.

Marva was an experience of a lifetime and up to today was one of my favorite experiences on Year Course. It's amazing how fast 8 weeks flew by and that it's all over but I know that I will take the lessons I learned on it with me wherever I go and to anyone coming to Israel for more than 3 months, I definitely recommend doing it.

עם ישראל חי!

One Month Over

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, I've just been really busy having the time of my life :). It's unbelievable that one month of year course has already gone by but the past few weeks have been filled with the high holidays and it feels like I have vacation every other day. On Yom Kippur (which is the holiest day of the year for those that don't know), I spent the day with my dad's parents. Every Yom Kippur that I can remember, my dad spent the day telling me stories about Yom Kippur in the town he used to live in. I'd spent years imagining the absolutely empty roads, streets filled with only bicycles, and kids running around all day long on the highway, so it was a really amazing experience to see everything he had told me about for years and I know that I definitely want to experience Yom Kippur in Israel again soon. It was also really cool being able to walk in the middle of the street all the way to the beach and watch the sunset over the sea marking the end of the holiday.

Sunday night I celebrated my birthday in Israel for the first time since I was 1 years old and it was a great feeling being able to spend it with family I usually only see once a year. Over Sukkot, I had the opportunity to go to the Ein Gedi Nature Reserve 5 minutes away from the dead sea. Ein Gedi is one of the most important nature reserves in Israel as it serves as a home for many different species of animals including Ibexes, foxes, lizards, hyenas, and countless more. I also really enjoyed being able to hike up the mountainside, bathe in all of the warm springs, and sit under the waterfalls, all while having an incredible view of the Dead Sea. To cap off the day, we went for a dip in the Dead Sea at sunset before heading back to Arad for the night.

Over the weekend, I traveled up north to Tsfat to celebrate Simchat Torah. I had never celebrated Simchat Torah before and celebrating it in one of the 4 holiest cities for Jews in the world only made it sweeter. I learned that on Simchat Torah you dance around the Torah for hours, up until the point where you physically can't dance anymore, so I did just that and had a great time doing it. After two days of singing songs at the top of my lungs and dancing for hours upon hours, I am left with a hoarse voice, and legs I can barely stand on.  At the end of the holiday, we all went to a viewpoint nearby to where we were staying and ended the day looking over the beautiful mountaintops. Chag Sameach Everyone!

A few days ago, we went on a field trip to Machtesh Ramon (Ramon Crater). It is known as the Grand Canyon of Israel and instead of doing the typical tourist thing of going, taking pictures, and leaving we went down into the canyon on a 3 hour long hike straight through the desert. Some people may find it crazy that we enjoy hiking in the desert heat, we like to think of it as being adventurous. Spending it with some of my closest friends only made it better.

This coming Sunday, I am leaving for two months of Israeli "Boot Camp", during which I will only have internet every two weeks. I will try my best to update the blog on my weekends off so that you guys can all hear about how they wake me up in the middle of the night to run 5 miles, do a bunch of push ups, and send me back to sleep. If any of you need an even more comforting thought, next time I blog I will have learned how to shoot an M16.

SHABBAT SHALOM!!!

Through the Desert

So after Rosh HaShana break, I began my first day of volunteering in Arad before I leave for the army on October 15th. We got to completely repaint a bomb shelter in the Ethiopian part of town and in the process, we got paint in our hair, clothes, skin, and also had a few paint wars. I'm still trying to get the paint out of my shorts. We also spent another day cleaning, raking, and picking up every single dead grass and leaf in the ecological garden behind the children's preschool here in Arad. On Thursday we had our first field trip. They took us to a city called Sderot. For those of you who have never heard of Sderot, it is a town about 1.5 km from the Gaza Strip that back during wartime, was raided with thousands of rockets. As a result, the government of Israel funded the city to turn every bus stop into a bomb shelter, and built bomb shelters everywhere else from children's playgrounds to outside houses. We met with current residents of Sderot around our age and heard their positions on the conflict and why they choose to still live there. We also met a woman who was evicted from her home in Gush Katif (northern part of Gaza) back in 2005 during the disengagement. All that remains of Gush Katif today is giant piles of rubble and sand.

On Friday, a group of about 15 of us were bored and decided it would be a good day to go to the Dead Sea. We all met up at the bus station and ended up spending about half the day at the sea. I also put Dead Sea mud all over my body for the first time (pictures coming up below). It is an amazing feeling being able to completely sit up in the water. On the other hand, it sucks when you realize you have cuts on your feet and your feet burn for 5 minutes straight. Overall it was a great day and I got to spend it with some amazing friends. Yesterday, we all decided to go on a hike to a viewpoint half an hour away from where we live. Besides taking a bunch of pictures over the edge of a cliff, a few of us decided it would be a good idea to try to hike all the way down the canyon on no trail whatsoever, just loose rocks and sand. After slipping a bunch of times, we finally made it to the bottom of the canyon, screamed crazy things to hear our echoes, and eventually made our way back up. Surprisingly the way down was a lot harder. Our dinner last night consisted of microwavable schnitzel, and some Israeli salad that I made for the apartment. Slowly but surely, I shall learn to cook!

 

 

For everyone observing have an easy fast and Gmar Chatima Tova.
צום קל לכולם וגמר חתימה טובה!

Rosh HaShana

There are no words that can explain how amazing this whole last week was. Last Sunday I began Sar-El, a one week opportunity to volunteer in the Israeli Army. We started every day with breakfast at 7:30, flag raising at 8:15, and scrubbing the floors until 9. The majority of the rest of the day, we spend working out in the field on tanks, trucks, and helping out with the daily jobs that soldiers have during their service. The first night we had curfew and lights out at 11 and so we all fell asleep thinking we were going to have a good 8 hours of sleep. We were so wrong... At about 2:30 in the morning, commanders came banging on all of our doors screaming for us to get up, put our uniforms on, and get outside all within 2 minutes. When we got outside, we were told to do push ups. People started laughing so they made us do more push ups. We were also told to run to a staircase 30 feet away and back within 10 seconds and when we failed each time because it was impossible, they'd make us do it again. Then they took us to the field and taught us a position that you are supposed to jump into if a grenade is thrown, but they didn't check that there were thorns in the field so we got a bunch of thorns stuck in our uniforms. It was a painful, but great experience, and I hope the Israelis had a laugh from it. The following nights, they took us on night activities which included games, learning about the different ranks and forces, and meeting soldiers in service right now to talk to us about their experience in the army. They also took us to a place I am not allowed to speak about, but let's just say that it was pretty awesome.

Thursday night, my cousins and I all drove up to the Sea of Galilee to an apartment my cousins own up north. We spent the nights making food on the grill, and blasting Israeli music so that everyone at the neighboring hotel could hear it too. While there, we went swimming in the sea, drove up north to go kayaking in the Jordan River during which we kept shoving each other into the water, and ate so much food.  Rosh HaShana dinner was delicious and I spent the rest of the weekend swimming in the Mediterranean and going to see the movie Ted. I have to thank my cousins for one of the best weekends I ever had.

Orientation week

So the past 6 days in Arad have been filled with "fun" lectures lasting for hours about alcohol safety, sexual encounters, and rules of Year Course. A few days ago though, we got the apartment debit card and got to go shopping for our apartment for the first time. We bought 16 bags of shoko be sakit (chocolate milk in a bag for those of you who have never had the privelege to try it), a handful of junk food, some healthy food, and a bunch of other things. If we save up hopefully we'll have enough for a nice steak dinner at the end of the month or something. I can't explain how amazing the past week has been. I came on the gap year not knowing anyone and now it feels like I've known them all for years. The apartment is great although it's in a huge mess right now but that's just because we've been to lazy to unpack everything. My roomates are awesome and we are one of the only rooms with Midwest kids in our section. 2 of them are from Milwaukee, one from Minneapolis, and one's from Pittsburgh. Here's a nice photo of us:


Friday and Saturday we spent "Shabbat Beyachad"/Shabbat together. Before Shabbat came in, they took us to a lookout from where we could see the backside of Masada, and in the distance we could also see the dead sea. We then went to dinner and spent all of Shabbat as a family. After sleeping in Saturday Morning, we had the choice to do some activities. Myself and a few others all chose to do yoga, in which we stretched for about 20 minutes and ended up sleeping for half an hour.


In a few hours, I am leaving my apartment for a week for a program called "Sar-El". I will be staying on an army training base and helping the soldiers with whatever they need, whether it be packing parachutes into bags, or helping out the commanders. I'm a bit nervous but kind of excited too. Friday and Saturday, theres a possibility I may go kayaking but I haven't figured that one out just yet. I'm going to have limited internet access this week so if I don't manage to post this week have a Shavua Tov/great week

First Day

When I got to the airport to meet up with everyone that had just landed in Israel, I'll admit it was a bit awkward but by the time we got on the buses, I was already talking to half the people there. It was an annoying 2 hour bus ride to get to Arad (which is in the middle of nowhere by the Dead Sea) from the airport. When we finally got here, we were told dinner was at 7. By the time we finished the apartment placements, it was already 9. To feed our starving stomachs, they got us like 10 different kinds of pizza and I have no complaints. For those of you wondering how the apartment works out, we have 6 guys, and one bathroom...this should be interesting. Everything else in the apartment is great although we have to wash the dishes by hand. My roommates are great and I'm excited to meet new people tomorrow. And I forgot to mention that absolutely EVERYONE tells me I have a Chicago accent especially when I have an "A" in the word. Apparently we Chicagoans stretch out our A's. I didn't even know Chicago had its own accent although I guess with most of the program being either from Florida, Texas, and New York, I might sound a bit odd. Jersualem on thursday!!