Jewish Journey to Eastern Europe

By: Megan Maurer

Greg and I have just returned from a 10-day journey to Poland, Slovakia and Hungary. It was a trip of discovery, enlightenment and, of course, difficult moments in Poland. 

Nothing could have prepared me for Majdanek and Auschwitz. The sheer scale and efficiency of the Holocaust became as real to me as it is incomprehensible. As I stood in Majdanek I could only ask myself one dizzying question: “How did this happen to us?” It is a question that is simple and profound, and has no answer — or maybe it has innumerable answers.

A moment later, a large crowd of Israeli soldiers entered and as I stood there, in the crematorium, I heard Hebrew being spoken by young, proud, strong and capable Jews. In this moment I felt that “Never Again” was more than our collective cry of “enough.” With a strong Jewish State, we will NEVER AGAIN be victims of someone else’s deranged plan. We will never again have no place to turn.

I believe we all left this place yearning to see proof of Jewish life on European soil, which is exactly what we found in Budapest when we toured Jewish schools, synagogues and community centers and met with leaders.

On a beautiful Sunday afternoon in the heart of Budapest, we attended a huge festival celebrating Israel’s independence. We had the opportunity to meet everyone from Chabad to young people just discovering their Jewish roots (and, of course, our Hungarian Partnership members)! True to our American and Israeli chutzpah, our group sang and danced to the Hebrew music. Most of the Hungarians simply smiled, clapped and politely tapped their feet to the beat, not knowing all the words yet soaking up the ruach and sunshine. The most poignant moment came as the concert closed with Hatikvah and elderly Hungarian Jews stood up, tears streaming down their faces, and loudly sang our Zionist anthem.

As a people we are connected by our past and our collective memory, and we are connected by the future fate that we share. What happens to one of us affects all of us. In our globalized world this is truer than ever.  As islands we are more vulnerable than we care to admit, but when we stand together we are strong! As Jews, we have a duty to one another — no matter where we reside in this world. I’m proud of our community’s continued commitment to this obligation.

This Jewish Journey was the result of collaboration between our local JFGI and the Jewish Agency’s Partnership2Gether program. Thank you to the members of our Partnership communities in South Bend, Omaha and Louisville and the Western Galilee region of Israel who joined us on this mission. Thank you to Michele Boukai for your dedication to its success.

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