Habonim Dror Workshoppers and Hashomer Hatzair Shnatiis Come Together at Subliminal MASA Concert.

After another MASA event, once again some of us returned home confused as to what it is exactly that the MASA organization is trying to get into our heads. By all means, I think it is incredibly admirable to encourage youth to be proud to be Zionist, I I am incredibly proud myself, however when that comes at the expense of the equality of human worth, and putting down other people, then I have an issue.Which is a direct reason why I choose to be a Socialist Zionist, rather than any Zionist. Subliminal is a well known right wing artist. His lyrics are not clearly racist, even he has stated, "I always put my messages between the lines. You know." However, there have been several instances, and I encourage you to do the research, where he had encouraged youth to be violently patriotic. Let me explain what exactly happened.Cmments made by him stating "The Arabs want war," (translated from hebrew, "Aravim rotzim milchama," became a regular thing throughout the concert. After the show got under way and some people including myself grew frustrated, some Hashomer Hatzair Shnatis held up a sign stating that Subliminal encourages unnecessary violence. Which, based on what he stands for, at this point is our understanding of him. Shortly after, the sign was taken away and torn to pieces. A MASA coordinator pulled me and another workshoper aside and explained that this event was strictly fun and not political. However, at the same time, Subliminal was on stage saying things such as, "if you aren't proud to be Zionist, you can get out." Furthermore, the encouragement of army service, and the de-validation of anything but that, such as other ways of helping the immediate needs of Israel and its society right now, by means of education via structures such as informality and values based. Shortly after, a workshoper was given the mike, and explained how she felt about what he stood for. His response was telling her to fuck off, and to learn Hebrew and to be Israeli before she says those things. Strange thing is that she is Israeli, and does know Hebrew. After this, myself and some Hashomer Hatzair shnati's held up signs saying "equality," and "violence is not the answer," however, those signs did not last long, as some people made the choice to push us and take our signs, and shred them up, followed by a shove! At this point, we chose to leave, seeing as A) I have never been in a fight and am more of a hugging/discussion type person. and B) Why would I want to get in a fight when I am holding a sign stating that violence is not the answer. As the political messages that we did not agree with continued to be said, we, (Myself and someone from Hashomer Hatzair) chose not to participate in any dancing, and discussed the issue of equality for the remainder of the concert, which ended up being about 5 minutes. Although the music was great, it was frustrating being treated unfairly, being shoved, and mocked for standing up for what I believe in. Although there is often jokingly competition between Hashomer Hatzair and my tnua, I was truly very impressed with there passion.

Our Tzevet Letter to the HDNA List Serve.

Shalom Chaverim! Chag Sameach, from beautiful Mishmar Hayam street in Olga.

We, Erez Brandvain, Zach Fowler, Shoshi Paris-Saper, and Sara Zebovitz, are on Workshop 59. We’re working in Holon with adorable kids, grades 4-12, and speaking lots of Hebrew.

On Yom Tzevet last week, we talked about Torat haMelech and would like to clue you in on what’s going on.

Torat haMelech is a book written by Yitzchak Shapira and Yosef Elitzur, leaders of Yeshiva Od Yosef Chai and justifies the killing of gentiles, innocent or guilty.

(You can read more about the book here. In fact, please do. http://www.jpost.com/LandedPages/PrintArticle.aspx?id=160084)

We have just returned from Poland , where we talked lots about the dehumanization process the Jews (and so many others) were put through by the Nazis. They weren't considered equals and their lives weren't worthy. Children and other loved ones were used as blackmail, and were often killed for essentially no reason. Anyone seen as any sort of opposition was killed (political victims).
In this book, these influential rabbis talk about gentiles lives not being legitimate. They talk about killing the children of opposing kings, not only in order to get to the king, but also because they might grow up to be a threat. They talk about killing anyone who assists an opposition, unknowingly or not. They talk about killing even hostages because they are in the way to getting to the opposition.

Torat haMelech has followers. We quote a press release from the Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva: "We hope that students throughout the Torah world will read "Torat Hamelech", and with G-d's help may we merit true leadership whose principles will be guided by the true and living Torah." Although the majority is not following these unbelievable conclusions, there is a group of religious Jews who are believers in these ideals. [Do not get confused or make assumptions – the majority of religious Jews do not support Torat haMelech.]

We talked about what it means to be a bystander. Just outside of the Warsaw ghetto, hundreds of thousands of innocent people lived their lives, despite the death, illness, dehumanization, and overall the annihilation of the Jewish people happening just over the other side. We feel that as members of Habonim Dror (a descendent of Dror), we cannot be bystanders to this situation. Members of our own people are now taking part in a process that stresses the same codes as the Nazis, and we cannot stand by and let it happen.

Hanoar haOved v’haLomed, along with 9 other organizations, have banded together to try to get these rabbis arrested. Hanoar haOved v’haLomed has published a public statement on where it stands in the matter. We want to do the same. We are volunteering to write this statement, but we need your help! Over the next week or so, please send us your thoughts and feelings on this. We want to have something to send to Jewish newspapers (and maybe more!) in the states, and as a movement we should all agree on what our “stance” is. Additionally, we feel it’s extremely important for all the ken tzvatim to discuss this (and all movement members in general!).

Don’t be a bystander.
take a shower

Aleh v’HAGSHEM,
Erez, Zach, Shoshi, Sara
Workshop 59

What's been new in Olga?

Since our arrival back to Israel, things have been going great! Not much has changed, there remains to be gangs of hoodlems throwing fire crackers at our house every night, crazy Bnei' Akiva kids running around, and an annoying school bell to the tune of Green Sleeves every 30 minutes. But other than that, things are going great. The weather has heated up, meaning even more old bronze guys with giant mustaches running up and down the beach wearing basically no clothing. Saturday, after a lovely shabbot with Kvutza Ogen, we went to the beach for Angel Cards, Yoga, ice cream and a game of Whiffle Ball, DK's dream finally came true. As we played, hundreds of Israelis walked by looking confused as to why someone is holding a plastic bat with another guy crouching down behind him, not to mention the lone Canadian who seemed to be sick of hockey. The game was glorious, as we hit home run after home run, and only interrupting the ripped guys working out about 5 times. When we returned home, there was nothing like watching some Dragon Ball Z and acting like characters from roll models, and dressing up like world dictators. Sometimes its better not to ask. After a few days of our ceiling falling into the kitchen, Borris finally fixed it! Overall things are going well, the kids at messima are epic, and all is well.

Poland day 5,6,7: Warsaw Ghetto, The Youth Movements and Zionist Revolution

The Last Wish of My Life has Been Fulfilled: Mordechai Anilewicz's Last Letter.
"It is now clear to me that what took place exceeded all expectations. In our opposition to the Germans we did more than our strength allowed--but now our forces are waning. We are on the brink of extinction. We forced the Germans to retreat twice--but they returned stronger than before.
One of our groups held out for forty minutes; and another fought for about six hours. The mine which was laid in the area of the brush factory exploded as planned. Then we attacked the Germans and they suffered heavy causalities. Our losses were generally low. That is an accomplishment too. Z. fell next to his machine gun. I feel that great things are happening and that this action which we have dared to take is of enormous value.
We have no choice but to go over to partisan methods of fighting as of today. Tonight, six fighting-groups are going out. They have two tasks-to reconnoiter the area and to capture weapons. Remember, "short-range weapons" are of no use to us. We employ them very rarely. We need many rifles, hand grenades, machine-guns and explosives.
I cannot describe the conditions in which the Jews of the ghetto are now "living." Only a few exceptional individuals will be able to survive such suffering. The others will sooner or later die. Their fate is certain, even though thousands are trying to hide in cracks and rat holes. It is impossible to light a candle, for lack air. Greetings to you who are outside. Perhaps a miracle will occur and we shall see each other again one of these days. It is extremely doubtful.
The last wish of my life has been fulfilled. Jewish self-defense has become a fact. Jewish resistance and revenge have become actualities. I am happy to have been one of the first Jewish fighters in the ghetto.
Where will rescue come from?
-Mordechai Anilewicz, Hasomer Hatzair member.

Our last few days were quite packed, but the majority of our time was spent in Warsaw, as we toured around the Warsaw ghetto and the places such as the Dror training farms which were large kenim for local youth, as well as historical ruins. If you do not remember from a pre-Poland blog post, I explain the role of the network of youth movements in the ghetto, and how it was the youth movements who are responsible for all rebellions and uprisings which took place. Particularly, leaders from Dror such as Antek and Zivia, and Hashomer Hatzair's Mordechai Anielewic lead the way in the uprising. From the very begining, the movement took ownership over the situation and created a soup kitchen for those who were in need, seeing as that was the number one need of the hour. The movement ran the entire ghetto, in fact, a wealthy family even sought out their permission to build a casino in the ghetto. As a point to demonstrate the dedication to what they beleived in was right, an example can be seen when the movement is offered a building to make a bakery for the ghetto. However, the leaders rejected the offer, seeing as that would go against the socialist ideologies of their movement. That is being a dugma yeshit.
The first place we stopped was at 34 Dzielna St, Grochov. At that location was the first Hachshara set up by Dror. Dror is a movement which strives to make Aliya, however knew that training must come first, so throughout Poland they set up training farms in order to learn how to properly move to Israel and live in the Dror ideology. However during the war, the movement knew they had to serve the Jewish youth, and so that is what they did. They knew there was no way they could get to Israel, not without their chanichim at least. (Unless if you are Begin, then you can abandon everyone.)Here is the experience of the hachshara farm from Zivia Lubetkin, who for those that forgot, was the mazkir of the movement at the time, and led her chanichim to freedom.
"The days were days of wandering about and madness, the first months of the war. Everything was in a state of confusion, people buffeted from place to place. A husband would wander from town to town in an unsuccessful search for his wife. A mother would lose her children and rush from one place to another with no one to help her. Everyone was overcome by a sense of helplessness and hopelessness. Everyone was left to fend for himself.
Our movement did not stop functioning as a collective. Our comrades grew closer out of mutual concern and a desire to help each other. This fact encouraged and strengthened us. The house on Dzielna St. thus became an isolated island in sharp contrast to the rest of the bewildered and helpless Jewish community of Warsaw. It was a home not only for the members of our movement, but for people whose way of life and ideas were very distant from our own, even for those who opposed what we stood for, and for simple refugees who had never know or even heard about the movement. They all flocked to us to escape the utter chaos and to find some physical and spiritual support in our midst. A soup kitchen was immediately set up to provide a piece of bread and a hot meal for the hungry.
People did not only come in search of physical or material relief. Dzielna had become a focal point for Jewish youth and for a long time it served as their only center of activity. It was here that the thought of creating a new path for the Jewish youth in the present circumstances was born and took shape.
We realize that our primary concern was to provide emergency and social welfare and assistance, in particular supplying the hungry with bread and a hot meal. But at the same time, we realized that it would be impossible without the help of organized youth. We returned, therefore, to our one foolproof and tested method of the past. We would renew our youth training program-which meant establishing kibbutzim."
-Ziva Lubetkin, Dror.
Again, during the 1940's there was no where for the Jews to go. They were trapped under the regime of the Nazi's, and many of them were falling victim. When fully populated, the ghetto held 500,000 Jews, creating unbearable living conditions, as thousands were either dying in the street, or being sent to Trblinka or Mejdanik. There was little to no organization, besides from the Judenrat,and when the movement leaders approached the heads of the Judenrat, they were shot down, every time. However, the youth knew they had to do something, and at the time, setting up soup kitchens and providing a place for informal education were the least they could do. The Jewish people were faced with a dilemma: do they follow the Judenrat and simply sit back while they are tortured, or do they go against the grain and spend time resisting death? The movement's leadership was strong, and at times of disagreement with the Judenrat, the movement continued to operate at full force. Although he did not hold any official tittle, a leader emerged in Antek Zuckerman, as he took responsibility of the Jewish people, and did what he felt necessary. Here is a quote explaining responsibility, by Antek:
"In general, I was at peace with myself. Even about the "question of democracy," which can be stated as who "authorized you." This question didn't bother me very much. In those circumstances, it wasn't so important if you were an elected "representative." Not only did the Jews not elect me, the Movement didn't elect me either or send me to do what I did. there is a moment where you assume the responsibility and the mission of your own free will. If you don't want to, don't accept it. The movement didn't elect me to play a role in the underground.
Can you really talk about that in terms of democracy? From the moment I came forward-I or one of my comrades-there was no going back. There's no point repeating every day that it's hard. From that moment on, you, you've got the responsibility, as if you had been elected. I was two years older than the young members. They believed in me and hung onto my words. But there was a time when I didn't know what to say to myself or what to do, where to start. And at first, as i said, that was the time of deep depression that came on me and lasted a few weeks."
This at large, is making a big statement about responsibility, and the type of movement Dror was, and still continues to be. (Habonim Dror now.)In the movement, social hierarchies are very rare, and when it does exist, there is always room for people like Antek to take as much responsibility as necessary. Responsibility means taking ownership over things which are important to you, and that is just what Antek did. Just as Zivia, Antek did not have to come back to the ghetto, but he cared about his chanichim, and unlike Begin, he chose to return.
As time drew on and movement activity continued, more needed to be done. The final liquidation was quickly approaching, and a resistance was absolutely necessary. The movement knew that people were going to die either way, seeing as they had curriers spying. Here is the story of what happened when the movement approached the Judenrat.
"We invited the most prominent leaders of the various Jewish groups to our meeting. Yitzhak Zuckerman, who acted as our spokesman, explained our point of view and our desire to take up arms against the enemy. The faces of these Jewish leaders grew pale, either from sudden fear or from anger at our audacity. They were furious. They reproached us from irresponsibly sowing the seeds of despair and confusion among the people, and for our impertinence in even thinking of armed resistance. If this were to become known, disaster would fall on everyone's head. They asked us if we would be willing to accept the responsibility for the deaths of tens of thousands of Jews!
We left the meeting with a feeling of frustration and helpless rage. we saw that we were facing an impenetrable wall. Again we asked ourselves: "Whaat can we do?" We had to recieve the support of the Jewish masses, without which we could not hope to succeed."
-Zivia Lubetkin.
Again, actions needed to be taken, and Jews continued to be killed. The Movement apporoached the Judenratabout uprising, however, they received no support. Antek and Zivia knew that death was in store either way, and along with Mordechai they planned the next revolt. This brings up the question: was this responsible? Is it responsible to go against the word of those in charge in order to save lives when many are going to die any way? The situation was difficult, but this was the decision made. By the first week of may, the last main focus of Jewish resistance in the ghetto was at a bunker at 18 Mila St. On may 8, the Germans attacked, creating a blockade and throwing gas in. Mordechai Anilewicz was one of those down in the bunker, and took his life before the Germans could. these were his last words.
"It is now clear to me that what took place exceeded all expectations. In our opposition to the Germans we did more than our strength allowed--but now our forces are waning. We are on the brink of extinction. We forced the Germans to retreat twice--but they returned stronger than before.
One of our groups held out for forty minutes; and another fought for about six hours. The mine which was laid in the area of the brush factory exploded as planned. Then we attacked the Germans and they suffered heavy causalities. Our losses were generally low. That is an accomplishment too. Z. fell next to his machine gun. I feel that great things are happening and that this action which we have dared to take is of enormous value.
We have no choice but to go over to partisan methods of fighting as of today. Tonight, six fighting-groups are going out. They have two tasks-to reconnoiter the area and to capture weapons. Remember, "short-range weapons" are of no use to us. We employ them very rarely. We need many rifles, hand grenades, machine-guns and explosives.
I cannot describe the conditions in which the Jews of the ghetto are now "living." Only a few exceptional individuals will be able to survive such suffering. The others will sooner or later die. Their fate is certain, even though thousands are trying to hide in cracks and rat holes. It is impossible to light a candle, for lack air. Greetings to you who are outside. Perhaps a miracle will occur and we shall see each other again one of these days. It is extremely doubtful.
The last wish of my life has been fulfilled. Jewish self-defense has become a fact. Jewish resistance and revenge have become actualities. I am happy to have been one of the first Jewish fighters in the ghetto.
Where will rescue come from?"
-Mordechai Anielewicz, commander of the ZOB.
However after this, Zivia and others found a way out of the Bunker and through the sewers. Here is the story told by ZIvia:
"You crawl through the sewer canal utterly exhausted, but your mind never ceases to function, never rests. Your entire being is centered on a reckoning of you life, and of the Movement which has given that life meaning and purpose. The movement which has given that life meaning and purpose. The movement which has given you and others like you the strength to overcome, to endure this terrible path to safety...You are alone with your thoughts. Your legs drag through this dark squalid cavern and you envisage the shadow of a distant dream you shared with your comrades, a dream of a far off land, of Eretz Israel and its life of friendship and work, human dignity and pride. The images of those who have already reached that distant shore appear before you to gather with those of emissaries from the land of Israel, who have come and touched your heart. The thought of meeting them on Kibbutz, in the Homeland, tortures you like a recurrent nightmare. How will I be able to explain how I survived, how i escaped the valley of death, how i remained alive? I didn't ask to be rescued, it happened in the strange guise of blind fate. I push on and feel as if our comrades left behind in the bunkers are following us. "What will become of them? Their fate gives me no peace and incessantly plagues me. I am totally drained of strength. My will to drag myself through these slimy gutters is completely dead. Someone whispers to his companion: "Move on and let me be. I can't go on. Let me lie here. Let me stay." No one remained behind of course. By morning we had all reached the area beneath Prosta street on the Aryan side, and rested."
-Zivia Lubetkin.
This is how our Journey ended, just outside the bunker. Zivia always had the values of the kibbutz movement in her head, which she felt made her a good person. Those values shined on throughout everyone involved, and it was what kept them going. This concludes our Poland Journey, and boy was it a good one!

Poland day 4: Lublin and Majdonek:

After a nice long 4.5 hour drive, we finally arrived in the lovely city of Lublin. Lublin was a city that contained 40,000 Jews before the war, about one third of the population. Lublin, like Krakow was a central place for Jewish culture. There were about 100 private prayer homes, 12 synagogues, 3 cemeteries, a Jewish hospital, an orphanage, there were even newspapers in Yiddish. Additionally, Jews had their own representation in the town council and many commercial and social organizations.
However, once the Germans took over, everything changed. On December 1, 1939, the Jews were ordered to wear a Jewish star for the first time, and from there the persecution continued.
Immediately, the Germans created a hard core where the codes of daily life went from being freedom to live, trade, go to school and practice whatever tradition you want were all perfectly allowed, into greed, competition,hierarchy, survival of the fittest,racial purity, conformity and fear, creating a dog eat dog world. From daily life on the street, to life in the ranks of the S.S, to life in the camps, these codes dictated the way of life for everyone.One example where we can see just how present things like competition were, we can look at the S.S men. Hitler would give many of them the same job, and they would need to compete. All the time, competition was everywhere.
The first place we saw was the Gestapo headquarters, pictured to the right.
As a result of these codes, both the public, S.S, Jews, Polish and everyone involved became desencatized towards seeings these things actually carried out. One thing that was the topic of our sichot throughout the day was how do you create this hardcore society, and what does that mean? The question was highly debated. In order to create a hardcore like the one created in Aryan Lublin, you need to force people to conform, and make them feel as though they are part of a bigger picture. That is exactly what happened. For Hitler, his way of creating the Hardcore was a simple process. Starting with political propoganda explaining why the Jews are nothing,using things like economics and genetic purity. As he gained support, things like the Hitler Youth came into play. Then was the S.A, previous to the S.S. The S.A were basically thugs appointed by Hitler to roam around and beat people up until they would follow what the new norms were to be. As they gained more power, Hitler had his famous night of slaughter, where he killed all the S.A, because they were gaining to much power. Then came the S.S, and Jews were exterminated. It was as simple as that. The night peula focused on this discussion.

Poland day 3: Krakow Ghetto

From "What Really Makes us Free" by Ellie Wiesel:
The Jews who lived in the ghettos under the Nazi occupation
showed their independence by leading an organized clandestine life.
The teacher who taught the starving children was a free man.
The nurse who secretly cared for the wounded, the ill and the dying was a free woman. The rabbi who prayed,
The disciple who studied,
the father who gave his bread to his children
the children who risked their lives by leaving the ghetto at night
in order to bring back to their parents a piece of bread
or a few potatoes,
the man who consoled his orphaned friend,
the orphan who wept with a stranger for a stranger-
these were human beings filled with an unquenchable thirst for freedom and dignity.
The young people who dreamed of armed insurrection,
the lovers who, a moment before they were separate,
talked about their bright future together,
the insane who wrote poems,
the chroniclers who wrote down the day's events
by the light of their flickering candles-
all of them were free in the noblest sense of the word,
though their prison walls seemed impassable
and their executioners invincible...
Even in a climate of oppression,
men are capable of inventing their own freedom,
of creating their own ideal of sovereignty
What if they are a minority?
Even if only one free individual is left,
he is proof that the dictator is powerless against freedom.
But a free man is never alone; the dictator is alone.
The free man is the one who, even in prison,
gives to the other prisoners
the thirst for, their memory of,freedom.

-On the third day of our travels, we arrived in Krakow again, but this time we were in the Ghetto. Like other major cities, Krakow had a large Jewish community. The Jews in Krakow had a rough road of persecution against them. Here is a little time-line showing the actions taken by the Germans:
September 1939-Germans Occupy Krakow, name it capitol of the Generalgouvernment.
May 1940-Jews are expelled by Germans out of the city of Krakow to the country side.
March 1941- Germans order the establishment of the Ghetto in southern Krakow, rather than in Kazimierz. (Traditional quarter of the city.) 20,000 Jews in the Ghetto.
-1942-Germans establish Plaszow forced Labor Camp.
-1944-Plaszow becomes a Concentration camp.
A plaque on the Ghetto wall reads: "Here they lived, suffered and perished at the hands of Hitler's executioners. From here they began their final journey to the death camps."
-As we walked through the former ghetto, through the underground shopping malls, and up the escalators, we walked into the Pharmacy in the ghetto. Before the establishment of the Ghetto, Tadeusz Pankiewicz, A pole, owned a pharmacy called "Under the Eagle." Tadeusz had no problem entering the Ghetto for work daily. He had no problem allowing the Pharmacy to be a center for Jews and youth movement leaders to exchange information and plan uprisings.
-From the Pharmacists autobiography:
"The Krakow Jews perished without achieving a libertarian revolt on the scale of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, but they died with dignity, honorably, and without debasing themselves before the enemy. With the exception of a small number of those who sod out to the enemy, all who worked in various capacities engaged in deliberate and effective sabotage. Everything possible was done to slow the tempo of the assignments, to fail to meet deadlines and, in the Ghetto, to remove valuable objects, destroy and burn them, so that they would not fall into the German hands..."

From HaChalutz Halochem:
"To those who were the closest to us, that in their name we went to battle. We turn towards the anonymous graves of the dearest of our friends, who died in combat with a bigger force.
We have always wanted to lead a life of freedom, but if it is determined that we shall die, our wish to die is to die as warrior, that our death will be a proud and honorable one. Our cause was never to win in arms; victory wasn't ours to begin with. We chose to defend our spirit, and our spirit has not been slayed by the enemy. Death is neither defeat no disgrace. And a force of violence that crushes down a handful of rebels is not a force that has won.
We have achieved our will. We held arms, cause we could not accept the thought that thousands of Jews, men, women, elder and children were being massacred. Because we did not want to be taken as sheep to slaughter. Because we did not want that when the day will come, history will tell that the Jews of Poland died a pathetic death, with not even a single sign of resistance. We lifted the banner of resistance. our breakthrough is a cry of great revisionism that no force will ever silence. they can capture us and kill us until the very last, but they will not silence the cry that will be heard beyond our graves. True, it would have been worthy of our cause to start this cry before, but even today despite the knowledge that death preys us, there is but only one way for a proud Jew. God forbid us from bearing our heads in the sand, waiting inactive for the end to come. Will we die? that is not our defeat, it is the disgrace of those who instead of taking part in our efforts gave a treacherous hand to the enemy, and they are to blame for the death of Jewish Warriors. To us- victory alone. To us- the respect of the Jewish nation, that we shall defend until the very end.
To every dead warrior, ten new ones will join our struggle. They shall stand and take arms. We are paving the way, but one day the reminisce of the Jewish people will stand ready!"
-August 1943, HaChalutz Halochem.

After our tour of the ghetto, and briefly discussing the uprising, it was time to experience current European life in Krakow. We walked down to the downtown area, and had a lovely lunch, as the lunch gang had its first hoorah. Here is an artsy picture I took of downtown Krakow, thats right,I'm artsy.

Poland day 2: Auschwitz

The Question of Humanity: By Hannah Senesh.
"In the Fires of war, in the flame,in the flare.
In the eye-blinding, searing glare
My little lantern I carry high.
To search, to search for true man.
In the glare, the light of my lantern burns dim.
In the fire glow my eyes cannot see:
When he stands there, facing me?
Set a sign, O lord, set a sign on his brow
that in my heat, fire and burning I may
know the pure, the eternal spark
Of what I seek: true man."
After a day of being at the place where the lowest actions of humanity were committed, we read this poem by Hannah Senesh during our night Peula. It brought out the question of what is humanity? In the most heated fires possible, how can we understand what it means to be human? these are the questions we discussed. Whatever the answer may be, we came to a conclusion that no matter what, these are the fires which are our responsibility to put out, especially as being members of H.D.
The Abyss that Lies Between Human and Beast: Professor Emanuel Bergnam:
When we ask ourselves which philosophy paved the way to Nazism, we will have to admit the following: That it was the same philosophy of the 19th century-which under deceptive and misleading methods of the natural sciences prevalent at that time-taught to see human beings as a zoological species, and tried to cancel the abyss that lies between human and beast.
This philosophy attempts to hide the truth: That man becomes man by disconnecting himself from nature's biological orders, by means of his freedom of morality, and by this he ceases to be a beast.
This way of thinking-that saw the human as a beast among beats-allowed to development of insane ideas of raising a superior race, and exterminating the so called lower races. If the human race wants to save itself from these winds of insanity, it must respect humans as humans, as an individual gifted with freedom of morality which gives them the power for immense ways of action.

Poland day 1: The Journey to Uncover the roots of the Zionist Revolution and the Youth Movements Rebellion:Texts, Peulot, and Thoughts.

"We are not in the terrible Holocaust forest, so we can't plumb the depths of the full significance of what happened there- but we can learn from the words of those who were there- even if those words are nothing but the shadow of what occurred. We use symbols likely to help us get near the vent itself and to understand it. Otherwise, the Holocaust would pass from the world together with the generation upon which it was visited. One who makes the extreme claim that the right to describe the Holocaust, to discuss it, to analyze it, and to thereby be tormented by it, is reserved to tot he survivors, and to them only- is like one who has pronounced a sentence death on his understanding of the decisive even of that period. The main problem is how to inculcate awareness of the Holocaust among the following generations. If we say the Holocaust occurred on another planet, we will have provided a way for humanity to avoid it by running away from the reality of it, and in this case, it will be seen as something terrible, mysterious, and not related to us. If, in out eyes, the problem is primarily the interventrion of God or Satan, then we no longer have a need to search for historical understanding. Responsibility will then fall, not on the Nazi's, but rather on a mysterious and heartless supernatural force. We Will have therefore removed any human responsibility, other than bland and meaningless generalities such as: 'Fateful judgments,' 'in-human relations between people' and other such empty sayings."
-Professor Yehuda Bauer, Hebrew university of Jerusalem.
The Worst thing about the Holocaust was not the fact that the Nazis were inhuman. THe worst thing was that they were human, just like you and me.
Day one: Walk through Jewish quarter in Kazimierz:
Our first evening in Poland, after a six and a half our bus ride, we arrived in the Jewish quarter of Kazimierz in Krakow. Here, the Jews lived their lives in the Diaspora, they were a community within a community, but got along quite well. in 1833, the population was 10,820. The community flourished. Schools, synagogues, and businesses were all present. In 1846 when the Krakow Republic became part of Austria again, Jews stayed in Kazimierz until 1868, when the two communities of Krakow and Kazimierz merged. In 1868, Krakow was emancipated and Jews were permitted to settle in Krakow proper. Soon, followers of the Jewish Enlightenment became the leaders of the Jewish Religious Council. Jews had their place in the culture, and all went well for the 19th century Jews, more or less. In the early 20th century however, Anti-Semitism broke out, and pogroms became a regular occurrence. But, that did not stop the Jewish communities to grow more and more. By the start of WWII, there were 60,000 Jews in Krakow.
Throughout the day there was a theme of sichot questioning the concept of the community within the community, and how these Jews viewed their own identity, seeing as they were Jews living in Diaspora with no real home, or, was that their home?
This was the topic of our night peula.
-Jew boy; By Julian Tuwim:
Singing in the yard, bundled up in rags
A poor little child, a crazy Jew-boy.
People expelled him, God his wisdom confound
Generations and exile confused his tongue.
He scratches himself and is made to dance, cries and wails, all at once.
For he is lost, and he is a beggar made.
The master in the 1st floor looks down upon the madman:
"Look, poor brother, on this my sad kin".Where have we gotten to? Is our way so lost,
Strange and repulsive throughout our whole world."
This leads to a series of discussions. Tuwin paints a picture of a big brother type character looking down on a little Jewish kid, confused and lost. This poem paints the picture of Tuwin's view of Diaspora Judaism. Tuwin is a Jew who has become completely assimilated, he no longer sees the importance of Judaism. He expresses, that there is no way for Judaism to exist, and there is no point for it to exist in a country that is not meant for the Jewish people. He's asking, what has Judaism come to? "Where have we gotten to, is our way so lost. Strange and repulsive throughout our whole world?" Tuwin is expressing that Judaism is lost, as more and more Jews become assimilated, leaving their peoplehood behind, or become part of a different people hood.
-This leads to a question to think about for all of our Jewish identities, which is a continuing discussion for all of us: What are the complexities of being a secular Jew in the Diaspora?
-What does it mean to be part of a people hood, and what is the difference between people hood and religion?
-If we are part of a people hood, shouldn't we share a center for our people hood(a state), rather than have various centers throughout the world?
-Do the Jewish People need a center? If no, then are we connected?
Here is Tuwin's piece titled, "I am a Polish Jew." 19,4.1944.
"If i had to establish my nationality, or more correctly my national sentiment, I am Polish for the simplest possible reasons, almost primitive reasons, mostly rational, and some irrational; nevertheless, without "mystic" characteristics. Being Polish is not an honor, not magnificent, and not a right. I have never met anyone who is proud that they breathe.
Polish because I was born and raised in Poland as well as educated and went to school there, because in Poland I was happy and miserable. Because from my exile, I wasn't to return to Poland even if i would be promised great heavenly pleasures somewhere else.
Polish because willow and birch trees are closer to me than palm and citrus. Machkievich and Chopin are dearer to me than Shakespeare and Beethoven. THey are more dear to me for reasons which also i cannot establish in any logical way.
Polish because I took part in the shortcoming of the Poles. Polish, because I hated the Polish fascists more than any other fascists of any other nation. I think that is an essential aspect of my Polishness.
Perhaps, foremost, Polish because that is my will."
Part two:
"We the Jews of Poland, We that are eternally living-those who were lost in the ghetto and camps: we who are the shadows of their ghosts, those who will return from across seas and oceans to the land and will work in shock in the ruins, in our bodies which remain whole in the image of the nightmares of our souls, which still exist seemingly.
We who are the truth of the graves. and we, the illusion of the existence. we the millions of casualties, and also we the thousands or tens of thousands of seemingly not casualties, and also we the thousands or tens of thousands of seemingly not causalities. We are one endless mass grave. We are the cemetery which has never been, and will never be again one like it in history.
We, whose brains were splattered on the walls of our small, meagre apartments so as to kill us in our masses-just for being Jews."
here are my questions again: What are the complexities of being a secular Jew in the Diaspora?
-What does it mean to be part of a people hood, and what is the difference between people hood and religion?
-If we are part of a peoplehood, shouldn't we share a center for our peoplehood(a state), rather than have various centers throughout the world?
-Do the Jewish People need a center? If no, then are we connected?

"God, who created Auschwitz?"
"And I, in this truck, rolling along, a naked frame among naked frames, am being sent now by a yawning German man to the creamatorium. I watch him and his yawn, and suddenly I ask myself: Does he hate me? It would seem that he doesn't even know me. He doesn't even know my name, just as i don't know the names of all of us, being brought now to the creamatorium. All I know for certain abot this German is that he now wants, on this cold morning, to stay in his warm bed, without having to waken with the dawn because this truck loaded down with raw materials has to get to the crematorium. At the same moment, I am shocked as never before in my life: If that is who he is, he could be standing here instead of me, a naked frame in a truck, while, I, I could be up there in his place, on this cold morning, looking after this delivery, and millions like it, bound for the crematorium- and like him I would yawn, since I would prefer, like him, to remain laying in bed on a cold morning such as this. And he, like me now, would watch me in the truck as it drives away. And would he, the wretch, think then of me, the SS man, as i think of him now? Aha, dear God, compassionate and forbearing, am I him, am I the one who created Auschwitz?! Isn't it enough that this German in my vision, with the symbol of the skull of death on his helmet, his tattooed hands in a black SS jacket, could he be in my place, while I- and that is the real shock- I could be in his place?!
Aha dear God, the supreme being of Auschwitz? Light up your countenance to the works of thy hands, so that I can know who is it that dwells in me and is being sent now to the crematorium-and why? And who is it that dwells in me and sends me to the crematorium-and why? You who know that at this moment, the both of us, the sender and the package, that we are equal as men! The works of your hands, in your likeliness, and in your image.
-K. tzetnik

Pre Poland Seminar 2: Lohmei Ha'Getaot: The Youth Movements.

After spending a good amount of time in a series of peulot where we examined why Anti-antisemitism exists and where it came from, it was time to go to Lohmei Ha'getaot, or the Ghetto Fighter's Museum. The museum was found by the survivors of the uprisings, including Zivia Lubetkin, who was a leader in the movement.
We went through a series of exhibits, all which were incredibly well done, yet not over the top. The exhibits we went throgh included the following: One that explained the rise of Hitler and his regime, including the step by step process of their conquering all the countries which fell to the Reich, one nice exhibit dedicated to the righteous among the nations, where different stories were told of those who risked their lives to saving Jews, an exhibit dedicated to Janos Korchek and the kids he gave his life for. Janos beleived that children had the same rights as adults, and created an environment where kids essentially were given the power to govern themselves. They had a court system, and learned life skills through informal education. Another exhibit we went through was an exhibit explaining the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, and the role of the youth movements. Among all the other topics we focused on during the seminar, this was perhaps one we focused a great deal of time on.
Before I explain a short explanation, again it is important that we review the three NO's which had served as a guide for the Jewish people throughout the Diaspora. 1) Don't return to Israel until the messia. 2) Don't rebel. 3)Don's rush the messia. Not much has changed in regard to these roles in the Jewish communities in the mid 1900's, accept for Zionism was on the rise. Keeping the three no's in mind, as Jew's were put into the Ghetto, there was rare thought about rebellion, as persecution of this sort was something most Jews have grown accustomed to. However, as the situation grew worse, and more and more Jews were forced into the ghetto, the need for some sort of rebellion grew more and more. 500,000 Jews were crammed into the ghetto, and disease began to spread. Additionally, new restrictions against the Jews became more a part of daily life. In the midst of all this, Jewish youth movement leaders became weary of the situation, and made sure the movement's existence only grew stronger through these times. Hashomer Hatzair and Dror were a focal point of the movements. Leaders such as Frumka, Tuviah, Tzivia, Mordechai annelevich, Yosef Kaplan and Yitzhak Zukerman. These leaders had fled from the ghetto, but yet could not leave their chanichim behind. When they returned to the Ghetto, they organized themselves. They ran peulot for chanichim, and educated on how they were to rebel. In an effort to change things up on this blog, here are some visual aids!


Here is a graphic of the movements uniting. Note: The Bund was hesitant to join, because their ideology was slightly conflicting.

Next is a picture of the cove of a choveret composed by the youth movement leaders of Dror. The purpose of this Choveret was to unite the youth by educating. In these choveret, were texts for peulot,an educational method still in use in the Dror, now Habonim Dror movement.

Here is a picture giving a brief description of the movement leaders, the movement they came from, and their accomplishments. Above is a map, showing where they were before they returned to their Chanichim in the Ghetto.
The Youth movement's played an extremely important role in the uprising. For an incredible speech made by Zivia, you can look to the right in the margin, and read her speech where she explains that it is the Youth Movement that gave her the strength to taking part in the uprising.
-Off we go to Poland to learn more about the choices made in the Holocaust, and to uncover important questions we are faced with as individuals, as Jews, and as members of Habonim Dror.

Pre poland 2: Peuls 1; A piece by Bilalick.

After a week of messima and the normal, yet fun dosage of peulot and texts read, it was time to re-focus our attention towards our quickly approaching Poland journey.
We headed up to most northern tip of the Galilee for the second second Poland prep seminar. After A pre-pre seminar where we discussed the intentions behind mystification and choices, we were all ready to approach the topic with a new mindset, which was different for everyone. With no hesitation, at the moment of our arrival we got right to it! Downstairs we went to a small classroom type space, where we quickly set up a circle of chairs and removed the desks to give us the feel of how we tend to go about doing things.
After last week's peula about why anti-semitism exists, it was time to further our discussions, and look at some new writings for more answers. This time, we were presented with Bialick's "City of Slaughter."
In this writting by Bialick, he presents his critique of the Jewish people after the Pogroms in Kishiev in 1903. The early 1900's were the prime period of Jewish Diaspora existence; for those who chose to remain a community within a larger community. Bialick explains that the Jewish people who did choose to remain to exist under a large host population were led to endless persecution, as they were the scape goat for almost any situation in which things took a turn for the worse. When these pogroms happened, it would be difficult to avoid the question of why the Jews simply took persecution and never stood up for themselves. At this point in my blog for those who follow regularly, or for those who know about Diaspora Jewry, your probable thinking the right thing! The three NO'S! I'll remind you for those who forgot. A) No rebelling against the host population. B) No rushing Messiah. C) No returning to Israel. As a result of these three rules being continuously followed, a culture of passivity was created. When things in Kishiev got bad, the host population took their frustrations out on the Jews, due to the Jewish people economic success, which took away from a strong economy for the host population. The funny thing about the Diaspora is that it is a plan for survival; a plan for the Jews to have a way of maintaining their unique culture and identity. However, some of the three no's seemed to be an obsticle in this plan. Let me explain. Lets look at the no of not rebelling, or fighting back against the host population. The reasoning for this rule does make sense; because if an attack is launched against the Jews, and the Jews revolt, it potentially would upset the host population. Since the Jewish community is extremely small compared to the host, it seems like things could get bad quick. However on the other hand, things got bad either way. There needed to be some sort of revolt, and very rarely was that the case. Bialick's main point of "The City of Slaughter," was to get the point across that Jews cannot live by these principles. He gives the example of when in Kishiev a synogogue was burning down. Soon, the synogogue is ruined, and no longer exists. Rather than questioning why these things are happening, the Jews simply prayed to God, and asked for forgiveness for whatever they did that made them deserve the punishment of a Pogrom. Bialick uses this piece of writing to criticize the Jews for not revolting. Furthermore, all of this could be avoided by creating a Jewish state, and creating a Zionist revolution. It was those, (very few people) who did rebel, who ended up being Zionist pioneers.

I found a copy of the piece on http://www.hagshama.org.il

Arise and go now to the city of slaughter;
Into its courtyard wind thy way;
There with thine own hand touch, and with the eyes of thine head,
Behold on tree, on stone, on fence, on mural clay,
The spattered blood and dried brains of the dead.
Proceed thence to the ruins, the split walls reach,
Where wider grows the hollow, and greater grows the breach;
Pass over the shattered hearth, attain the broken wall
Those burnt and barren brick, whose charred stones reveal
The open mouths of such wounds, that no mending
Shall ever mend, nor healing ever heal.
There will thy feet in feathers sink, and stumble
On wreckage doubly wrecked, scroll heaped on manuscript.
Fragments again fragmented

Pause not upon this havoc; go thy way�
Unto the attic mount, upon thy feet and hands;
Behold the shadow of death among the shadows stands.
Crushed in their shame, they saw it all;
They did not pluck their eyes out; they
Beat not their brains against the wall!
Perhaps, perhaps, each watcher bad it in his heart to pray:
A miracle, O Lord, and spare my skin this day!

Come, now, and I will bring thee to their lairs
The privies, jakes and pigpens where the heirs
Of Hasmoneans lay, with trembling knees,
Concealed and cowering -the sons of the Maccabees!
The seed of saints, the scions of the lions!
Who, crammed by scores in all the sanctuaries of their shame
So sanctified My name!
It was the flight of mice they fled,
The scurrying of roaches was their flight;
They died like dogs, and they were dead!
And on the next morn, after the terrible night
The son who was not murdered found
The spurned cadaver of his father on the ground.
Now wherefore dost thou weep, O son of Man?

Brief-weary and forespent, a dark Shekinah
Runs to each nook and cannot find its rest;
Wishes to weep, but weeping does not come;
Would roar; is dumb.
Its head beneath its wing, its wing outspread
Over the shadows of the martyr'd dead,
Its tears in dimness and in silence shed.

And thou, too, son of man, close now the gate behind thee;
Be closed in darkness now, now thine that charnel space;
So tarrying there thou wilt be one with pain and anguish
And wilt fill up with sorrow thine heart for all its days.
Then on the day of thine own desolation
A refuge will it seem,
Lying in thee like a curse, a demon's ambush,
The haunting of an evil dream,
O, carrying it in thy heart, across the world's expanse
Thou wouldst proclaim it, speak it out,
But thy lips shall not find its utterance.

Beyond the suburbs go, and reach the burial ground.
Let no man see thy going; attain that place alone,
A place of sainted graves and martyr-stone.
Stand on the fresh-turned soil.
There in the dismal corner, there in the shadowy nook,
Multitudinous eyes will look
Upon thee from the sombre silence
The spirits of the martyrs are these souls,
Gathered together, at long last,
Beneath these rafters and in these ignoble holes.
The hatchet found them here, and hither do they come
To seal with a last look, as with their final breath,
The agony of their lives, the terror of their death.
Question the spider in his lair!
His eyes beheld these things; and with his web he can
A tale unfold horrific to the ear of man:
A tale of cloven belly, feather-filled;
Of nostrils nailed, of skull-bones bashed and spilled;
Of murdered men who from the beams were hung,
And of a babe beside its mother flung,
Its mother speared, the poor chick finding rest
Upon its mother's cold and milkless breast;
Of how a dagger halved an infant's word,
Its ma was heard, its mama never heard.

Then wilt thou bid thy spirit - Hold, enough!
Stifle the wrath that mounts within thy throat,
Bury these things accursed,
Within the depth of thy heart, before thy heart will burst!
Then wilt thou leave that place, and go thy way
And lo-
The earth is as it was, the sun still shines:
It is a day like any other day.

Descend then, to the cellars of the town,
There where the virginal daughters of thy folk were fouled,
Where seven heathen flung a woman down,
The daughter in the presence of her mother,
The mother in the presence of her daughter,
Before slaughter, during slaughter and after slaughter!

Note also, do not fail to note,
In that dark corner, and behind that cask
Crouched husbands, bridegrooms, brothers, peering from the cracks,
Watching the sacred bodies struggling underneath
The bestial breath,
Stifled in filth, and swallowing their blood!
Such silence will take hold of thee, thy heart will fail
With pain and shame, yet I
Will let no tear fall from thine eye.
Though thou wilt long to bellow like the driven ox
That bellows, and before the Altar balks,
I will make hard thy heart, yea, I
Will not permit a sigh.
See, see, the slaughtered calves, so smitten and so laid;
Is there a price for their death? How shall that price be paid?
Forgive, ye shamed of the earth, yours is a pauper-Lord!
Poor was He during your life, and poorer still of late.
When to my door you come to ask for your reward,
I'll open wide: See, I am fallen from My high estate.
I grieve for you, my children. My heart is sad for you.
Your dead were vainly dead; and neither I nor you
Know why you died or wherefore, for whom, nor by what laws;
Your deaths are without reason; your lives are without cause.

Turn, then, thy gaze from the dead, and I will lead
Thee from the graveyard to thy living brothers,
And thou wilt come, with those of thine own breed,
Into the synagogue, and on a day of fasting,
To hear the cry of their agony,
Their weeping everlasting.
Thy skin will grow cold, the hair on thy skin stand up,
And thou wilt be by fear and trembling tossed;
Thus groans a people which is lost.
Look in their hearts - behold a dreary waste,
Where even vengeance can revive no growth,
And yet upon their lips no mighty malediction
Rises, no blasphemous oath.
Speak to them, bid them rage!
Let them against me raise the outraged hand,
Let them demand!
Demand the retribution for the shamed
Of all the centuries and every age!
Let fists be flung like stone
Against the heavens and the heavenly Throne!

And thou, too, pity them not, nor touch their wound;
Within their cup no further measure pour.
Wherever thou wilt touch, a bruise is found,
Their flesh is wholly sore.
For since they have met pain with resignation
And have made peace with shame,
What shall avail thy consolation?
They are too wretched to evoke thy scorn.
They are too lost thy pity to evoke.
So let them go, then, men to sorrow born,
Mournful and slinking, crushed beneath their yoke.
So to their homes, and to their hearth depart
Rot in the bones, corruption in the heart.
And go upon the highway,
Thou shalt then meet these men destroyed by sorrow,
Sighing and groaning, at the doors of the wealthy
Proclaiming their sores, like so much peddler's wares,
The one his battered head, t'other limbs unhealthy,
One shows a wounded arm, and one a fracture bares.
And all have eyes that are the eyes of slaves,
Slaves flogged before their masters;
And each one begs, and each one craves:
Reward me, Master, for that my skull is broken.
Reward me for my father who was martyred!

And so their sympathy implore.
For you are now as you have been of yore
As you stretched your hand
So will you stretch it,
And as you have been wretched

So are you wretched!
What is thy business here, o son of man?
Rise, to the desert flee!
The cup of affliction thither bear with thee!
Take thou they soul, rend it in many a shred!
With impotent rage, thy heart deform!
Thy tear upon the barren boulders shed
And send they bitter cry into the storm.

More on Poland Seminar 1: Why ani-semitism exists.

After an intense peula about mystification in the holocaust, it was time for one more peula to get thoughts flowing. In the second peula we had with Miriam during the first Poland seminar, we read a text titled "modernity, racism, extermination" by Zygmond Bauman. In short, the article examined the reasons why racism exists, how it originates, and the role that it has played out in the lives of the Jewish people. It seems that no matter what article or text I read, or how many discussions I have, the answer to the question of how anti-semitism originated, and why it exists is simply because for years, the Jews had been homeless. Ok, so maybe its not really that simple. Because Jews had no safe haven, or country to call their own, the Jewish people had always become a part of a host population, but had always remained a smaller group that had to separate itself because of its unique traditions and cultures. (Kashrut, a bunch of fun laws, and other things too!) If the Jewish people were to not separate themselves and retain their identity, then they would become assimilated, and this unique culture would be gone. In the Diaspora, it was, and still is the communities within communities which keep the Jewish people together. An entire group of people living within a host population, but yet separating themselves from certain aspects of society would result in funny situations. Jews specialized in certain professions and each family had their own unique identity. However, the fact they had to seclude certain aspects of their life resulted in the host population to have growing frustrations with them. Money flow became strange, and because of certain Jews professions, more money flowed to the Jewish communities. Issues like this are the origination of anti-semitism. Because the Jews had their communities within communities, they became the scape goat for all of Eastern Europe. As time went on and times changed, or in other words, once the Enlightenment began, the Jewish people needed to act. There were a number of options, however something which must have been taken into consideration was the THREE NO'S! 1) Don't rush the arrival of the Messiah. 2) don't return to Israel. 3) Don't, under any condition, revolt against host populations. These three no's gave the Jewish people a few options. The choices were the following: A) The Jews could build up the wall of their communities with communities twice as high, as they clearly would want to maintain their current situation until the Messiah comes. B) They could assimilate, and lose their identity. or C) Move to Israel, and create a Zionist revolution. Heres how the situation played out: First, was the orthodox/Mizrachi response. When they found out what was going on around them, they realized they cant break the No's! So, they chose option A, and remained, and still do, a close knit community where they go about only living out the ideals of their religious practices. (Crown Heights, New York, Golder's Green, London, etc...) The next option is assimilation, which is fair to say that many Jews have, and still are doing, as Diaspora Jewry is slightly losing speed. In this situation, Jews had a few options. They could join communism, and quickly lose their Jewish identity, as well as continue on with their capitalist ways, as either presented quick and easy ways out of the previous communities, which were the source of much frustrations and blames. And finally is Zionism. Baruch Hshem for that one! All three of these choices were followed through on in different ways. All of this was a result of modernism, starting at the time of the enlightenment. WIth all this said however, in my opinion the Jewish population is currently in decent shape, however it is important to remember that today, there is a Jewish state. By no means is it a place for the Jewish people to run away to and forget all of their problems, but it is there for the Jews to live happy lives where they have an immense amount of opportunities and structural choices to live out the values of Judaism in whatever way they see fit. More on zionism later!