My Story


		First of all I think it is important that I tell everyone here that the March of the Living was one of the most unforgettable experiences of my life. Almost nothing in my past has ever moved me so profoundly as the past two weeks have. A participant on the March has such a diverse whirlwind of emotions in the short time spent on the program. I entered the deepest hell of Jewish history, eventually pulled myself out, and then went to the Jewish people's most important place in the world. The contrast between the time we spent in Poland and that in Israel was essential to what the program was trying to convey to all of its participants. From the second I actually entered Poland , I had a sick feeling in my gut that did not leave me until I landed in Israel a week later. I never once felt safe or satisfied or healthy in Poland . The mood set by the program and all the places we visited pervaded everything else during the time. One of the happier moments in Poland was when we spent a Shabbat in Krakow where we visited the Jewish quarter and the numerous shuls that can be found at every corner in that part of the city. We discussed how the community must have looked and smelt and sounded at the time when it was filled with Jewish people, culture, and religion. This was an era of Jewish history in Europe fondly referred to as “the third Beit Hamikdash.” After visiting all the historical spots in Jewish Krakow that were the only remains of centuries of history, I was only reminded further of the other atrocious sights we had seen thus far during our time in Poland . There was nothing left to show for all the Jewish history that was once in Krakow . I had seen the killing factories created to destroy any remnants of Jewish existence in Europe . I had already seen giant grave where the entire Jewish community of Tykochyn was shot dead in a forest. I had already seen Treblinka that had nothing left to show for the murders that occurred there except for thousands of memorial stones representing the many shtetls that were once filled with Jewish life. I had already walked with twenty thousand other Jewish people from Auschwitz to Birkenau to proclaim to the world that the Nazis hadn't succeeded with their Final Solution. But once we entered Birkenau I had lost all hope. A person cannot have any hope in a place like Birkenau where I actually saw the bunkers, the gas chambers, the experiments where 2 million of my Jewish brothers were murdered. I had seen Auschwitz where many of my friends' had their entire families die inside of that barbed wire wall. I actually entered the bunkers where our grandparents and aunts and uncles spent the worst years of their lives. I witnessed the blue stains by the zyklon B on the walls of the gas chambers, and I was there to see the ovens built to burn a thousand bodies a day. I could almost hear the screams, the cries, and the final silence of those that entered but never left the chambers. And then in Madjanek I saw the remains of thousands of Jews in a seven ton ash pit after being at the crematorium where they were burned. A person can never bounce back from seeing such things. Even with all the dancing and singing during that Shabbos in Poland with Jewish teenagers from around the world, I still could not help grieving. When our plane lifted off from the Polish airport, I could actually feel a burden come off of my body. A Jew could not last there for too long, not with all the painful history and awful things to see in that country. Every single person on that plane clapped and sang once our wheels were off the ground, but not just because of the joy of leaving. It was also because how close we were to the homeland of Israel . Let me tell you it is quite exciting to be flying to Israel from America or any other part of the world. But when you are leaving a blood-soaked country like Poland , flying to Israel becomes the pinnacle of happiness. Once over the Mediterranean when we got the first glimpses of the Tel-Aviv coast, there was excitement in the air. Even for those who had never yet been to Israel , they could sense what it meant to be going. In Poland , we always felt like strangers, as if we were wrong for intruding on someone else's ground. But Israel is our's, and it felt like home. It was quite different to get off the plane and then meet our Jewish tour guide, who spoke our language and shared our culture and history. It was as if we were having a reunion with our old friend. That is how it always feels in Israel , like you are constantly at a reunion with long lost relatives or friends. It is only appropriate that the participants of the March of the Living go to Israel after Poland . You would be losing part of the experience if you skipped the second half of the trip. It is impossible to think about the destruction of the Holocaust without considering one of its consequences, the creation of the State of Israel. The country stands for everything that protects the memory of the martyrs of the Holocaust. It remains a testimony that the Jewish nation will continue to exist after all the persecution, hate, and death. Being in the holy city of Jerusalem to pray at the Kotel, the Western Wall, on numerous occasions was such a huge honor. Similar to the first march in Poland , all the teenagers on the March of the Living program paraded through the streets of the Old City in Jerusalem contrasted to the depressing original march at Auschwitz-Birkenau. This time we were laughing and talking, singing and praying. In Israel , I saw all the vitality of Judaism that the Nazis tried to destroy. The life and the joy that were absent in the concentration camps could be found in the cities of Israel on Yom Ha-atzmaut, Independence Day. My time in Israel and Poland through the March of the Living gave me a perspective on Jewish life that I could have never had before. To enter the places of Treblinka, Madjanek, Plaschow, Birkenau, and Auschwitz is to be a part of the Holocaust. I finally understood what it was, what it still means to the Jewish people today. It is burnt into our dark history for the rest of time. But then again to be part of the journey back to Israel was to be a part of the living Jewish nation that had survived the atrocities that I witnessed in Poland . Overall, the experiences that I had on March of the Living will go unmatched for the rest of my life. Adin Pearl - Weber School

First of all I think it is important that I tell everyone here that the March of the Living was one of the most unforgettable experiences of my life. Almost nothing in my past has ever moved me so profoundly as the past two weeks have. A participant on the March has such a diverse whirlwind of emotions in the short time spent on the program. I entered the deepest hell of Jewish history, eventually pulled myself out, and then went to the Jewish people's most important place in the world.

The contrast between the time we spent in Poland and that in Israel was essential to what the program was trying to convey to all of its participants. From the second I actually entered Poland , I had a sick feeling in my gut that did not leave me until I landed in Israel a week later. I never once felt safe or satisfied or healthy in Poland . The mood set by the program and all the places we visited pervaded everything else during the time. One of the happier moments in Poland was when we spent a Shabbat in Krakow where we visited the Jewish quarter and the numerous shuls that can be found at every corner in that part of the city. We discussed how the community must have looked and smelt and sounded at the time when it was filled with Jewish people, culture, and religion. This was an era of Jewish history in Europe fondly referred to as “the third Beit Hamikdash.” After visiting all the historical spots in Jewish Krakow that were the only remains of centuries of history, I was only reminded further of the other atrocious sights we had seen thus far during our time in Poland . There was nothing left to show for all the Jewish history that was once in Krakow .

I had seen the killing factories created to destroy any remnants of Jewish existence in Europe . I had already seen giant grave where the entire Jewish community of Tykochyn was shot dead in a forest. I had already seen Treblinka that had nothing left to show for the murders that occurred there except for thousands of memorial stones representing the many shtetls that were once filled with Jewish life. I had already walked with twenty thousand other Jewish people from Auschwitz to Birkenau to proclaim to the world that the Nazis hadn't succeeded with their Final Solution. But once we entered Birkenau I had lost all hope. A person cannot have any hope in a place like Birkenau where I actually saw the bunkers, the gas chambers, the experiments where 2 million of my Jewish brothers were murdered. I had seen Auschwitz where many of my friends' had their entire families die inside of that barbed wire wall. I actually entered the bunkers where our grandparents and aunts and uncles spent the worst years of their lives. I witnessed the blue stains by the zyklon B on the walls of the gas chambers, and I was there to see the ovens built to burn a thousand bodies a day. I could almost hear the screams, the cries, and the final silence of those that entered but never left the chambers. And then in Madjanek I saw the remains of thousands of Jews in a seven ton ash pit after being at the crematorium where they were burned. A person can never bounce back from seeing such things. Even with all the dancing and singing during that Shabbos in Poland with Jewish teenagers from around the world, I still could not help grieving.

When our plane lifted off from the Polish airport, I could actually feel a burden come off of my body. A Jew could not last there for too long, not with all the painful history and awful things to see in that country. Every single person on that plane clapped and sang once our wheels were off the ground, but not just because of the joy of leaving. It was also because how close we were to the homeland of Israel . Let me tell you it is quite exciting to be flying to Israel from America or any other part of the world. But when you are leaving a blood-soaked country like Poland , flying to Israel becomes the pinnacle of happiness. Once over the Mediterranean when we got the first glimpses of the Tel-Aviv coast, there was excitement in the air. Even for those who had never yet been to Israel , they could sense what it meant to be going. In Poland , we always felt like strangers, as if we were wrong for intruding on someone else's ground. But Israel is our's, and it felt like home. It was quite different to get off the plane and then meet our Jewish tour guide, who spoke our language and shared our culture and history. It was as if we were having a reunion with our old friend. That is how it always feels in Israel , like you are constantly at a reunion with long lost relatives or friends.

It is only appropriate that the participants of the March of the Living go to Israel after Poland . You would be losing part of the experience if you skipped the second half of the trip. It is impossible to think about the destruction of the Holocaust without considering one of its consequences, the creation of the State of Israel. The country stands for everything that protects the memory of the martyrs of the Holocaust. It remains a testimony that the Jewish nation will continue to exist after all the persecution, hate, and death. Being in the holy city of Jerusalem to pray at the Kotel, the Western Wall, on numerous occasions was such a huge honor. Similar to the first march in Poland , all the teenagers on the March of the Living program paraded through the streets of the Old City in Jerusalem contrasted to the depressing original march at Auschwitz-Birkenau. This time we were laughing and talking, singing and praying. In Israel , I saw all the vitality of Judaism that the Nazis tried to destroy. The life and the joy that were absent in the concentration camps could be found in the cities of Israel on Yom Ha-atzmaut, Independence Day.

My time in Israel and Poland through the March of the Living gave me a perspective on Jewish life that I could have never had before. To enter the places of Treblinka, Madjanek, Plaschow, Birkenau, and Auschwitz is to be a part of the Holocaust. I finally understood what it was, what it still means to the Jewish people today. It is burnt into our dark history for the rest of time. But then again to be part of the journey back to Israel was to be a part of the living Jewish nation that had survived the atrocities that I witnessed in Poland . Overall, the experiences that I had on March of the Living will go unmatched for the rest of my life.

Adin Pearl - Weber School