The first complete day of our Poland-Israel trip took us through Warsaw’s Jewish history. We toured sites related to pre-WWII Polish Jewry, including the Warsaw ghetto and uprising monuments. We visited the newly opened History of Polish Jewry museum, learning about the more than 3.5 million Polish Jews and how the vast majority perished during the Holocaust.
We then traveled to Lublin, where Jewish residents once comprised approximately one-third of the city’s population. At Majdanek concentration camp, we walked through the sterilization facilities, administrative buildings, and prisoner barracks. A particularly moving moment came at the crematorium site, where a huge mountain of human ashes recovered from the site stood as a memorial.
Following the camp visit, we prayed at Yeshiva Chochmei Lublin and studied Talmud in small groups. An emotional debrief followed where the group discussed balancing sadness and disgust with a feeling of am yisrael chai.
The day concluded with spontaneous singing among group members — a magical moment that strengthened our cohesion.