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Tuesday March 11,
2008
Depart from
JFK at 7:40pm. Arrive in Warsaw at 9:30am.
Wednesday March 12,
2008
Start by visiting
the famous Warsaw cemetery filled with the ornate tombs of wealthy
prominent Jews and well-known Rabbis, political figures and influential leaders
while also visiting unmarked mass graves of Jews who died in the Warsaw Ghetto.
Continue on to the Umschlagplatz, the area from which the Jews of Warsaw
were deported to the Treblinka Death Camp.
Continue on to the
Mila 18 bunker, the last one remaining from the Warsaw Ghetto
Uprising, and the Rapaport Monument, both of which are testament to the
Jewish uprisings in defiance of the Nazis. Visit the Jewish Museum and
the Nozyc Synagogue, the only remaining active synagogue in Warsaw.
Dinner will be in
the Jewish Community Building with a business representative of today’s
Jewry in Poland.
Stay over in
Warsaw
Thursday
March 13, 2008
Travel
to the Shtetl of Tikitchyn and Lopochowa – the inspiration for Fiddler on the
Roof, and see one of Poland’s most beautiful synagogues. Walk through the town
as you learn the tragic story of its inhabitants.
Drive alongside the
train tracks to the Treblinka Death Camp, the scene of the annihilation
of 870,000 Jewish people. The striking memorial at Treblinka is a display
of 17,000 stones each with the name of a city or town, to remember the 17,000
people who were killed daily in the camp.
Drive to Lublin
Stay over in
Lublin
Friday March 14,
2008
Start the day with a
visit to Yeshivat Chochmei Lublin, the once Yale and Harvard of the Torah
world. It was here that Rabbi Shapira established the 7-year cycle by which
some Jews learn one page of Talmud a day.
Visit the
Madjanek Death Camp, which is still intact, giving a shockingly full image
of what it looked like when it was operational.
Time permitting stop
in Krasnik, a small town which
was the site of the Budzyn labor camp.
Here the prisoners worked for the Hermann Goring Werke on aircraft production.
Krasnik is also home to the only 2
shuls in Poland linked by tunnels.
Drive to Krakow.
Prepare for Shabbat
and join together for Kabbalat Shabbat in one of the Jewish Quarter synagogues.
Enjoy a festive dinner with the Jewish students of Krakow.
Shabbat
March 15,
2008
Take the opportunity
to attend services in the historic Rema Synagogue, followed by a light Kiddush.
Spend the afternoon
on a walking tour of the Kazimisz Quarter of Krakow, home to the Jewish
community.
Join together for a
talk on “Why the Jews” by Rabbi Adam Jacobs followed by 3rd meal (Seudah
Shlishit), and a musical Shabbat Conclusion (Havdallah). Afterwards enjoy a
quiet (or not so quiet) evening in the cafes of Jewish Krakow.
Sunday
March 16,
2008
Take a formal tour
of the Auschwitz and Birkenau camps, with opportunities to go into various
barracks, crematoria and other structures that have remained for over 60 years.
The group will be given time to reflect individually as well as participate in a
memorial service. From there continue to the museum of Osweinsin.
Dinner with one of
the “Righteous Among the Nations”, gentile rescuers who have been recognized for
their compassion, courage and morality because they risked their own lives to
save the lives of Jews.
Monday
March 17,
2008
Visit the ancient
and famous Rema Synagogue and the cemetery next to it in which, among other
people, the famous Rabbi Moshe Isserles is buried. Isserles wrote the Ashkenazic
overlay to the Sephardic Law Code Shulhan Aruch. Go to the factory of
Schindler’s List.
Meander around
modern Krakow, which has been gentrified into the SoHo of Poland.
Travel to the town
of Plashov
Nothing remains of
the concentration camp at Plashov. The land is now a memorial to the people
lost, as a giant monument stands on the highest hill.
The Plashov camp was originally designed to be a work camp for the nearby
cities. However, like many other Nazi camps, shortages of food existed, and many
prisoners starved to death or were killed by the guards.
Leave
March 17
from Krakow to Warsaw at 2:35pm
Arive in
Warsaw at 3:20pm and leave at 4:50pm
Arrive in NY at
9:40pm
March 17 at Newark
For more information, please contact:
Lisa Baldel or Sara Gollom
(212) 579-1388
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