A Journey From Darkness To Light

Today was the first full day of our Poland Israel trip, and it was jam packed. We woke up in Warsaw, and continued our tour learning about Polish Judaism prior to World War II. We learned about the Warsaw ghetto, and stopped at some of the few remaining sites still standing from after the uprising, as well as visited many of the monuments erected in honor of our heroes.
We ended our walking tour at the new History of Polish Jewry museum, where we became the first USY group ever to get a tour there. We learned about the rich history of the more than 3.5 million Polish Jews who served in some of Poland’s most influential and powerful occupations, and how all but 10% survived the Shoah. Although the museum’s main exhibit does not open until December, we found out about the deep meaning of the exodus inspired architecture and had a few minutes to wander through the rotating exhibit.
We then made the journey from Warsaw to Lublin, which prior to the war, had a Jewish population equal to a third of Lublin’s total population. We headed straight to the Majdanek concentration camp, where we entered by a large stone statue. We walked town the steep ramp in front of the monument with ease, and walked through a long walkway ending in an even steeper climb up stairs, symbolizing the even tougher journey to surviving the camp.

We then headed to the main gate of the camp, passing through double barbed wire fences. On the right was a sterilization room, with showers and a bath, and which all prisoners went first upon arrival. Towards the back of the building was an added on gas chamber for those unfit to work. Leaving the building, we walked along a row of administrative buildings used by the SS. One building was filled with rows of thousands of shoes, all from real victims who lost their lives at the camp.
To the left of these buildings stood the fields, where the barracks of the prisoners stayed. Rows and rows of bunks lined the rooms, and each would cram 500+ prisoners into the most cramped and terrible conditions possible. We walked through these fields, down to the far end of the camp where the crematorium sat. Walking through, there were rooms for execution, medical examination, and finally the stoves where bodies were burned.
Just outside of the crematorium stood a big circular monument, and inside showed a huge mountain of human ashes recovered from the site. Ashes from real people who lost their lives. As we finished our ceremony there, hundreds of crows stirred in the neighboring field, simultaneously taking flight, cawing and dispersing in all directions. It was both an eerie and powerful moment.
We left Majdanek and davened Mincha in the Yeshiva Chochmei Lublin, a beautiful prayer space with a vibrant acoustic. Afterwards, the USYers split into chevruta, studying Daf Yomi, the daily Talmud, in the same Yeshiva created by the founder of Daf Yomi.
There was a mix up with dinner, so we headed back to the hotel for some free time while staff scrambled to find a substitute. The USYers handled the delay amazingly, and at around 8:30 we had dinner one.
Following Birkat, we broke into subgroups of 9 and debriefed on the day with the USYers. We talked about the powerful moments, the moving ones, and the confusing ones, and came to the conclusion that throughout Poland, and the rest of the trip, that leaning to balance experiences and emotions would allow us to get the most out of our experience. We needed to balance out sadness and disgust with a feeling of am yisrael chai, balance our picture taking with living in the moment, and balance our seriousness with elation.
While waiting for our restaurant to set up our midnight second (originally planned) dinner, the USYers broke out into an impromptu song session, and it was really a magical moment and one that will strengthen the group.
Now it’s long past my bed time, so check back for more to come in the days ahead. I’m not sure I can write this much every time, but I’ll do my best.
Lilah Tov,
Sam

SHUL REVIEW: The Kotel (Friday)

Rating: It’s the Kotel. What more needs to be said?

Service Attended: Friday Night Services
Date: September 19, 2014

Time of Service: Services start at candle lighting, and new minyanim start every few minutes
Mechitza: Men’s and Women’s sections, separate services
Women: Lead women’s services
Meals: YES! See special section below review
Frequency: All services, every day
Family friendly service: Definitely friendly towards families

Review: The Kotel. The Western Wall. The Wailing Wall. All of these are names for perhaps the single most holy place on earth for Jews. Jews from all backgrounds gather daily to daven at the place where the Beit HaMikdash, the Holy Temple, once stood.

Upon arriving at the Kotel (men on the left side, women on the right), I grabbed one of the free Kotel Siddurim and immediately began to wander around looking for a minyan to daven with. I love Kabbalat Shabbat, so I like to go around to a few different minyanim and daven KS a few times before proceeding to Ma’ariv (call me a heretic). Another of my favorite parts of Kotel davening are the soldiers that show up in large groups and have their own minyanim. They start with a spirited ruach session filled with singing and dancing, things like Am Yisrael Chai, and proceed into typical davening (the soldier minyan I davened with for a while was using Carlebach style tunes). It’s amazing to see Haredi Jews singing and dancing and praying alongside soldiers, in a way that is uniquely Israeli.

Whether you’re in Jerusalem for a week or a year, the Kotel is a place where you have to daven on a Friday night at least once in your lifetime.

Meals: If you’re looking to be set up with a family for a nice Shabbos meal after your davening, then Jeff Seidel is your go to guy. If you’ve heard of someone going to the Kotel and receiving a famous “Kotel Meal”, chances are Jeff is the one who set them up. If you have the foresight early in the week, you can contact Jeff by email or by phone at (02)-628-2634 to give him a heads up that you’re looking to be set up for a meal, or you can find him at the Kotel on Friday Night and introduce yourself.

At some point in the night (it was 7:20pm the week I went), he’ll tell you to meet just outside of the men’s section in the plaza. You know you’re in the right place if dozens of 20 and 30 year olds are standing around in a circle waiting. Once there, you wait around patiently until Jeff places you with a family, and from there you’re home free with a fantastic Shabbos meal. Oh, and don’t forget to thank him on your way out.

If you’re looking for Jeff, he looks like this:

To find out more information about Jeff Seidel or shabbat meals, visit www.jeffseidel.com or www.getshabbat.com.

Parshat Vayishlach – To Be Both Israel and Jacob | Elohei Avoteinu

Torah: To Be Both Israel and Jacob

“Then Elohim said to him, ‘Your name is Jacob. Your name shall not always be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.’” (Bereshit 35:10)

Throughout the Torah, we see multiple names used for Jacob, even after God changes his name to Israel. In the parasha, “although God was about to give Jacob the additional name of Israel,” Ramban says, “God told him that he would continue to be called Jacob.” From this point on, Jacob would be referred to by both names. So which name is used when? “From that time onward, the name Jacob would be used for matters pertaining to physical and mundane matters,” says Rabbeinu Bachya (1255 – 1340), “while the name Israel would be used for matters reflecting the spiritual role of the Patriarch and his descendants.” This distinction between names is a curious one, as we know in Chassidut that the purpose of the Jew is to bring the Divine into the mundane, everyday moments. We strive to have God-consciousness in every moment. So how can we understand the different usage of names?

The distinction is not one of reality, but of perception. Just like we saw last week, Jacob exclaims “God is in this place, and I didn’t know it!”. The Divine is always present, but Jacob was so preoccupied with the goings on in his world that he forgot to open his eyes to the world around him. He couldn’t perceive God, and these very human moments are what the Torah records. All he needed to do, however, was wake up and be in the present moment, and when he did he was able to realize that the Divine was also there with him. So too here, the moments when he is called Jacob clue us into his momentary distancing from the Divine, and the instances of the name Israel show Jacob’s connectedness to the Divine that is present in every moment.

I write this from the place named after Jacob, the State of Israel. Based on the teaching above, it’s quite odd that the secular Zionist founders of the State would name it after the spiritual side of Jacob Avinu. Perhaps it’s still a rejection of the religious aspect of Judaism, repurposing Jewish spirituality as the land itself. In any rate, it can’t be neglected that the State is named after the idea of connectedness with the Divine, even in the mundane. This is the unique project of modern Israel: How do we create a society which manifests the Divine while still remaining democratic and open to people of all religions and religious backgrounds? The key cannot be in religious coercion, but from a very real consciousness of the Divine. A recognition of the Divine in every human being, in every blade of grass, in every bite we put into our mouths. This is the essence of Israel. In the coming week, may we be blessed to see the Divine revealed in our lives, and to have a consciousness of the Divine in the world around us.

Tefillah: Elohei Avoteinu

In the Amidah prayer, one way which we refer to the Divine is through the name Elohei Avoteinu, the God of our Forefathers. By grouping all the Patriarchs together before saying them separately, it begs the question, what is the common experience of the Divine that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob shared? It’s actually a different name of God, El Shaddai, Lord Almighty, which they have in common. In the stories of all three ancestors, God appears to them as El Shaddai and reaffirms the covenant with them, promising what was promised to their father. Abraham (Bereshit 17:1) is told “Walk in my ways and be blameless. I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and I will make you exceedingly numerous.” God continues to promise a multitude of children, some of them kings, along with the land of Canaan as an inheritance. As long as the people continue to circumcise their boys, the covenant will not die with Abraham but continue for all generations. Likewise, Isaac invokes the name El Shaddai (Bereshit 28:3) in his second blessing to Jacob, where Isaac is blessing Jacob to be numerous and possess the land as promised to Abraham. Finally, in our parasha (Bereshit 35:11), God appears directly to Jacob as El Shaddai, and reaffirms the blessing gave to him by his father. In all of these cases, El Shaddai is invoked to uphold the covenant and reaffirm that the covenant will last for all generations. In our connection to the Divine as Elohei Avoteinu, we are reaffirming our commitment to this covenant and asking the Divine to remember the promise made to our ancestors, that we should become numerous and inhabit the land that was promised to us.

View a PDF of this Torah.

Sam Blustin is an alumnus of the Conservative Yeshiva (2014-2015) and a current Rabbinical student at the Jewish Theological Seminary (Class of 2020). You can view more divrei Torah at www.samblustin.com or contact Sam directly at samblustin@gmail.com.

Seder – Our Love of the Land of Israel

“Go and learn what Lavan the Aramean wanted to do to our father Jacob”

When we tell the story of the Exodus on seder night, we don’t actually tell the story from Shemot itself, but rather from Deuteronomy, which begins with the passage “Arami oved avi.” And lest you thought historically this had some tie to sacrifice on Passover, this text actually used to be recited by those bringing first fruits to the Temple on Shavuot. Why then did the sages choose to include this text in our haggadot? Rav Soloveitchik (1903-1993, America) taught:

These verses contain an additional feature that the Haggadah saw as important to highlight, namely, Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel. There is an inextricable link between the Exodus and our coming to the Land. The Exodus was only the prologue or the introduction to our acquisition of the Land.

When we give thanks to God for the Exodus, we must immediately associate it, link it, with the gift of the Land, for this was the ultimate goal of our being brought out of Egypt.

When Jews would come to Jerusalem carrying their first fruits, they would stand before God in the Temple. It was a chance to thank God for the miraculous Redemption and the gift of the Land. Tonight, at the Seder, this paragraph serves the same purpose. The great emphasis may be on the Exodus story, but recognizing our Land as a precious gift is an indispensable and inseparable part of our praise on Passover. (Noraot HaRav, vol. 8, p. 63)

Rav Soloveitchik points out here something fundamental to the seder: We were not just redeemed from Egypt, but we were redeemed from Egypt for the purpose of serving God and settling in the Land of Israel. This linkage teaches us that recognizing and appreciating the gift of our homeland is a necessary and important step in our ultimate redemption, whatever that may look like. We must start from a place of love and appreciation, and the rest will follow from there.

This Pesach, may we be blessed with an open heart and a generosity of spirit, allowing us to recognize the Divine in everyone and everything.

Chag Kasher V’Sameach!

Shabbos in Krakow

If I had had USY experiences like this, I would have done more USY.
Shabbat this weekend was simply amazing, and it was a much needed reminder that while the Nazis may have killed many of our children, Judaism and passion for Jewish music and t’fillah is not lost in this generation, but in fact it’s thriving.
We started shabbat with a spirited and harmony filled Kabbalat Shabbat and Ma’ariv, followed by a delicious dinner. After dinner, we moved into a circle and sang z’mirot, or Jewish songs for a solid half hour or more. This group of USYers love to sing, and do so at every possible opportunity.
Saturday morning, we attending synagogue at the Temple Shul, where the Jewish culture festival had brought in three cantors from Israel to lead services in this beautiful Shul. It was an interesting, orthodox style service, where there was little singing and much davening. A choir came out for Musaf, which was pretty cool and sounded great. You don’t get to daven at that old of a synagogue with that much history too often, so it was definitely worth the experience. After lunch, we walked back to the hotel and had extended minucha, or rest time.
We ended shabbos with some pirkei avot study, Mincha, dinner (where I told the story of Moshele Gut Shabbos), ruach singing, Ma’ariv, and a spirited havdallah.
It’s extremely refreshing after working with younger kids for so long, and with kids who may not be as knowledgeable Jewishly, to be with a group of young Jewish leaders. Week one is over, and I can’t wait for 4 more in Israel.

SHUL REVIEW: Yakar- Downstairs Minyan (Friday and Saturday)

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Rating: 5/5- Beautiful harmony that is perfectly resonant in their space

Service Attended: Friday Night and Saturday Morning Services
Date: Septemeber 26th/27th, 2014

Slogan: Authentic open-minded Judaism, rooted in the riches of tradition and relevant to the issues of the present day
Type of Service: Orthodox with Carlebach tunes
Time of Service: Friday- Begins 30 min after sundown. Saturday- 8:15-11:30, with kiddush and class ~9:15 and Torah Reading around 10.
Mechitza: Front-back, shaliach tzibur in the back of men’s section
Women: No leadership
Meals: No mention of setting anyone up for meals
Frequency: Every Friday night and Saturday morning
Sermon: Friday- Sermon in Hebrew by Rabbi. Saturday– There were two breakout shiur options (short learning sessions) in the middle of the service led by congregants, one in Hebrew and one in English, instead of a Rabbi’s sermon.

Review:

Friday- I didn’t find the downstairs minyan at Yakar to be quite as friendly as its upstairs counterpart, but I enjoyed the davening more. Shabbat began as we were ushering Rosh Hashana out, so they did an abbreviated Kabbalat Shabbat, which was still really nice. The room reverberated from the power of the harmony, and although the shaliach tzibur was quiet, he had a great voice and set the tone for the packed room. The tunes were a little slow at times, so if you want a more upbeat minyan, check out the upstairs minyan. There are very few places however that can beat the feeling in that room.

Saturday- Saturday’s service had very much the same feeling, but was lacking a little bit in participation from the previous night. I think this was due to the difficulty of singing with the particular service leaders for that day (they were in and out of tune), but it was still a really nice service, and I gave it a 5/5 for its potential.

Before the Torah Service, we took a 10 minute break for Kiddush and a 30 minute break where we were given two choices of shiurim (classes) to attend instead of a sermon, one in English and one in Hebrew. The shiur I attended was very well done and interesting.

Both of Yakar’s minyanim seem to be great, and you can find pretty much anything you want there, making it one of my favorite congregations in Jerusalem.

Yakar is located at 10 Halamed-Hey Street, Jerusalem. The entrance is actually off of Kovshei Katamon Street. The women’s entrance is immediately to the right inside the gate, and the men’s is around the back past the stairs. For more information, visit their website.

Parshat Vayeshev – Women of the Wall and Joseph’s Faith | Psalm 148

Parshat Vayeshev- Torah From The Holy Land

Torah: Women of the Wall and Joseph’s Faith

Last week, a bill was submitted to the Knesset floor by 16 members of Knesset that would heavily fine or even imprison women wearing tallit or tefillin, reading Torah, or blowing the shofar at the Western Wall. This doubling down of the Ultra-Orthodox parties comes after they killed an agreement to raise the status of the egalitarian Kotel to that of the main Kotel, which was made between Prime Minister Netanyahu, members of Knesset, the Women of the Wall, and the Reform and Masorti (Conservative) movements in Israel, in addition to an impressive coordinated response on behalf of the Women of the Wall and the liberal movements two months ago. The continued stripping of the right of women to wear religious garb at the Kotel has already done damage to the Jewish American – Israeli relationship, and this bill will only further it. To quote the words of Natan Sharansky, the chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel, this bill, if passed, will have “grave consequences” for the relationship between Israel and Jews in the diaspora.

In this week’s parasha, we read two incredibly similar accounts of the disrobing of Joseph. Joseph’s “coat of many colors”, the first garment to be stripped, was given to him by his father. This haughty coat symbolized Joseph’s ever increasing ego. It was given out of Jacob’s great love for Joseph (over his brothers) and led to Joseph fantasizing (dreaming) about ruling over his brothers. While the dreams themselves may have been from God, the fact he feels the need to share them with his father and brothers further illustrates this building of ego. The increasing hatred of his brothers comes to a head when he is sent to check up on them. They strip Joseph of his cloak, ie. his dignity and ego, and throw him into a barren pit. Even in the lowest of lows, Joseph retains his faith in God. Shattered, he begins to rebuild his self image by placing the Divine at the center of his life, instead of his ego.

Joseph is sold down to Egypt, to Potiphar, a courtier of Pharaoh, and God blesses Joseph in everything he does. Potiphar puts him in charge of his household, and they both prosper. Repeatedly, Potiphar’s wife makes advances on Joseph, and every time he refuses. He knows what is right and wrong, and is adamant in his refusal. One day, when nobody is around, she succeeds in ripping his tunic off his body, and then accuses him of trying to sleep with her when he refuses her newest advance. Once again humiliated, he’s thrown into prison. Yet again, his faith remains solid. Even in the prison, he prospers, and when two of Pharaoh’s courtiers are thrown in jail with him, he responds to their request for him to interpret their dreams with “do not interpretations belong to God? Relate it to me, if you please” (Bereshit 40:8). Even in the darkness of the prison, Joseph gives credit to God for his interpretation abilities. Low and behold, the cupbearer remembers him after two years, and he is brought out to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams, the rest being history. Joseph’s ascension was not a linear one, but every time he was stripped naked and embarrassed, his faith remained strong, and this faith guided him in the darkest moments until he could come out and spread light.

Today, Joseph stands out as our prime teacher. No matter how many times people seek to disrobe women at the Wall (or anywhere) or liberal Jews in Israel of their Jewishness, we can look to Joseph for guidance. There are times when we let our ego get in the way, and this causes unnecessary hatred and hardship. In these moments, we need to take responsibility, and focus on recentering our own relationship and faith in the Divine. And there are times when, of no fault of our own, we are debased and thrown into the pit. Here too, our faith and religious vision must support and guide us. Like Joseph, we can and will emerge victorious, but we need to come together now. Instead of distancing ourselves from Israel, let’s proclaim our love for the Jewish state and our desire to make it a place where all Jews can come together and worship as they please.

T’fillah: The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars (Psalm 148)

Joseph’s second dream foretells of the sun, moon, and stars, representing his parents and brothers, all turning to bow down and worship him. In Psalm 148, one of the Hallelujah Psalms we say every morning, we see these same celestial symbols, this time all praising YHVH. For a moment, let’s transport ourselves to the time of the return from the Babylonian exile, which followed the destruction of the first Temple. For years, the Jews had longed to return home and rebuild their Temple, and the time had finally come thanks to an edict from the Persian emperor Cyrus to return and rebuild the Temple. Making their way back, you could almost imagine the excitement they must have felt. Everything was falling into place, and the entire world seemed to be praising God. It’s in this context in which the Psalm is believed to have been written.

It begins with the highest of the high, the celestial beings, the sun, moon, and stars, praising God. The descension of hierarchy continues to the skies, the ground, the birds and the creepy crawlies, and finally with all types of humans singing together in praise of YHVH. Throughout the Psalm, we invoke the image of God as King receiving praise from all that it created. It’s a daily reminder that all the beauty and awe-inspiring things in the world all exist to praise their maker, including us.

Based upon this drash, last year I wrote a new melody for Psalm 148 designed to invoke this regal and joyous feeling. Take a listen!

To view this d’var in PDF form, click here.

Parshat Acharei Mot-Kedoshim – What Seeds Have You Planted? | The Proper Intention

Torah: What Seeds Have You Planted?

When you shall come into the Land, and you shall plant all types of food trees, you shall regard its fruits as uncircumcised (orlah); for three years they shall be uncircumcised to you, they shall not be eaten. (Vayikra 19:23)

Two years ago, before studying at the Conservative Yeshiva, I spent a week volunteering on a vineyard in the Galilee. Working there was a transformational moment for me; I felt in some small way that I was like one of the early pioneers (albeit in much better living conditions), tilling the land and helping to make my ancestral homeland bloom. I harvested the grapes, painted the new building where the grapes were stored, and took the UTV out on the Israel trail to see the beautiful sites around me. It happened that my visit coincided with Tisha B’av, our day of commemoration for many of the worst tragedies to befall the Jewish people. That afternoon, while still fasting, I got up and went to work on the land. In that moment, I felt the contrast between Jewish helplessness and Jewish power. Here I was, on the saddest day of the Jewish year, living in the Jewish state, working the land to make it blossom!

Unbeknownst to me, I was actually fulfilling the mitzvah of planting fruit trees in the land (and also, incidentally, coming into the Land willingly). On the above verse, the Or HaChayim (1696-1743, Morocco and Jerusalem) taught,

Three mitzvot are enumerated here: 1) To come into the Land [willingly], as Chazal (the Rabbis) say, ‘Anyone can force [others] to ascend to Eretz Yisrael’ (Ketubot 110b). 2) To plant all types of food trees, in order to enhance the Land. 3) To keep the laws of Orlah.

He teaches from our verse that in Eretz Yisrael, it is a mitzvah to plant trees, and not just regular trees, but trees that bear all types of foods. Like our Creator, who in the story of creation planted trees in the Garden and commanded them to sprout fruits according to their kind, we should plant in Eretz Yisrael. Indeed, Vayikra Rabbah (25:3) brings a Midrash teaching us thus.

Yehudah ben Simon began: ‘You shall follow the Lord your God’ (Devarim 13:5). Is it possible for flesh and blood to follow the Holy One Blessed be He… Rather, this means that at the beginning of creation the Holy One Blessed be He engaged in planting first, as it says, ‘The Lord God planted a garden in Eden (Bereshit 2:8). Similarly, when you enter the Land, engage in planting first, as it says, ‘When you shall come into the Land, and you shall plant’ (Vayikra 19:23).

Not only are we commanded to plant, teaches the Midrash, but in the very act of planting we are emulating the Holy Creator. Two years ago, by beginning my year harvesting grapes, I was claiming my stake in the Land and doing my part to manifest the Divine presence in this often troubled land.

As we approach Yom Ha’Atzmaut, Israeli Independence Day, it is important to be grateful for the miracles that occurred and the sacrifices of many thousands who died in creating and sustaining this Jewish state of ours. However, we must also take an active role, planting anew and sowing the seeds for our own vision for what the Jewish state could be.

This Yom Ha’Atzmaut, ask yourself, what seeds have you planted? And may the Holy Blessing One bless us that we may taste of the sweet fruits that we have planted.

T’fillah: The Proper Intention

“When you sacrifice an offering of well-being to the LORD, sacrifice it so that it may be accepted on your behalf” (Vayikra 19:5).

Throughout the Talmud, there is a tension between being commanded to say the prayers and needing the proper kavannah, intention, while saying it. On the one hand, we’re commanded to say the prayers at their proper times. But if we didn’t have the proper intention, do we have to pray again?

One such example is found in Talmud Berakhot 16a (you can find the full text here). The sages are debating the Mishnah, which claims that laborers can recite the Shema while standing on precarious surfaces. The Gemara then asks, can it be true that they didn’t require kavannah, proper intention, to say the Shema? No, they resolve, the workers can only recite it when they are idle from their work, so that they can focus their hearts. Here, the Rabbis define proper intention as refraining from thoughts of physical work and to focus on the words of the prayers themselves.

On the above pasuk, Rashi comments: “From the very outset, you must slaughter the sacrifice with the intent that [it is for the purpose of causing] contentment [to God, as it were,] for your acceptance [by the Divine]. For if you think an invalidating thought regarding it, [says God,] the sacrifice will not gain your acceptance before Me.” According to Rashi, a person must intend that the sacrifice will actually be a sacrifice when it’s killed. You can’t accidentally kill an animal, and then decide you want to offer it. As we’ve established in previous weeks, prayer is based at least in part off of the sacrificial system. So it’s interesting to note that here, in sacrifice, proper intent is necessary for the sacrifice to be accepted; merely offering it is not sufficient.

Just like in sacrifice, prayer too requires proper intent, namely, to block out our mental to-do lists and to focus on the words of the prayer themselves. The Rabbis recognized that this is really tough though, so they restricted the amount of liturgy that we truly need to have full attention for to a minimum. However, the ideal is to be present for as much of our prayer as possible, both with the words of the text and our personal response to them. Start small. You can begin with the first words of the Shema or the first blessing of the Amida, and work your way up from there.

May the words of ours mouths and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing to you, O Lord.

Never Forget

At perhaps the most well known of all concentration camps, Auschwitz – Birkenau was perhaps the most impactful of our experiences in Poland. We started the day at Auschwitz I, which was as much of a museum as it was a complete picture of what life was like there. Entering through the iconic gates that say “work will set you free”, we saw exhibits detailing the vast distances people were transported to get to the camp, as well as a picture of the different bunking conditions throughout the camp’s history (in case you were wondering, inmates started out sleeping on straw, which were later “upgraded” to mats, and eventually bunks, which were still extremely overcrowded).
We entered the new Jewish building, which focused on the lives of individual Jews before and during the war. The first room was filled with projections on the walls filled with videos, many homemade, of Jews with their families and friends. Upstairs, we entered the propaganda room, which displayed speeches from various Reich leaders translated on a series of screens demonizing the Jewish people. The next room was a simple design, with real children’s artwork drawn like pencil sketches on white walls from pre-war times. It was heartbreaking to imagine all of the young lives lost, and the potential they had to change the world wasted. The last room was the hall of names, where they had listed in a giant book like display the known names of 4 million+ that perished in the holocaust.
As we left the building, our guide Jules so poignantly stated, “When Jews arrived at Auschwitz, their names were replaced by numbers. It’s exhibits like this, and people like you, that give those who perished their names back.”
Birkenau was another experience entirely. This enormous death and labor camp, which had 4 crematorium, is quickly deteriorating to the point that if preservation measures aren’t enacted soon, any remaining structures may be reduced to rubble as many structures already have.

We grow up learning about the holocaust, and are told to never forget, but it’s not until the fragility of human life and remnants of the holocaust are experienced can we really gain an understanding for the importance and urgency of holocaust education.
We must teach. We must experience. We must teach the value of human life to our children. And we must never forget.

SHUL REVIEW: Leader Minyan (Amika de-Bira) (Saturday and Holidays)

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My favorite Saturday minyan, Leader sings every page in the siddur, and every person is there to daven and have fun

Rating: 6/5
Service Attended: Saturday Morning, Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur
Date: October 18th, 2014, Rosh Hashana 2014, Yom Kippur 2014

Type of Service: Very Modern Orthodox. Tons of singing, lots of different tunes from different traditions (anything from Sephardic to Carlebach)
Time of Service: Saturday morning- 8:00-1:45, Rosh Hashana- 7:15-3:45, Yom Kippur- 7:00-End of Neilah
Mechitza: Left-Right half mechitza, no one really enforces (or cares) if someone has to go to the other side for a minute
Meals: No meals because of length of service, but very serviceable kiddush at 11:30
Frequency: Every Shabbat Mevarkhim, the Shabbat before Rosh Hodesh, some Holidays
Sermon: Sometimes all Hebrew, sometimes English translation as well
Family friendly service: There are a number of families that attend, but due to the length of the service, many come late and/or leave early
Women: Almost full leadership. Women lead services, read Torah, have Aliyot, etc. I say Leader is pretty much as egalitarian as you can get while still having a mechitza. Some women wear tallitot.

Review:

Saturday: Leader minyan is for people that like to sing and enjoy their davening. The service started at 8 with the morning blessings, and they spend around 2 hours on P’sukei D’zimrah, singing every word of every page. They had three guys alternating leading the different psalms, each with a very different style. One had a very earthy, grounded tone, another a kind of hybrid Ashkenazi/Sephardi vibe, and the third had a very distinct Sephardi sound (and tunes).

After Shacharit, around 11:30, we broke for a pretty large kiddush in their courtyard. The people there are great, and most speak English and are very friendly. There’s always plenty of alcohol, and many of the guys like to use this opportunity to recharge for the rest of the service.

They happened to be celebrating one of the member’s daughter’s Bat Mitzvah that day, so she read rishon-shlishi, as well as the Haftarah. By the time Musaf came around, there was around a dozen men still left, and maybe 20 women still remaining. Still it was a nice feeling, and the service ended around 1:45.

Holidays: Leader also has select services on the High Holidays. I attended First Day of Rosh Hashana and part of Yom Kippur services while shul hopping (they also had Second Day services). Literally every page of the Machzor was sung, and sung by the whole kahal (community). It was really an incredible feeling to be present in a community where every single person is davening with intense kavanah, and really participating in the service.

Rosh Hashana, the service lasted until around 3:45 with an extensive kiddush in the middle, and they went all day on Yom Kippur (I left for another service at 4:00 and they were half way through Musaf repetition). I definitely recommend it for the Holidays, although the tunes will probably not be like they are at home.

As I said at the start, the Leader Minyan is my favorite traditional minyan in Jerusalem, and for any person that really wants to sing and enjoy themselves while they’re davening, I highly recommend it.

The Leader Minyan is located in Ha-Merkaz la-Umanuyot ha-Mizrah at 17 Hizkiyahu ha-Melekh Street, Katamon, Jerusalem, Israel. For more information, visit their website. You can find a link there to sign up for reminder emails, or find them at Amika de-Bira on facebook.