ABIPE 2024: Post 3

Our first stop of the morning was a visit to one of the biggest and most historic Jewish cemeteries in Warsaw. The tombstones were haunting, but also beautiful, with all the moss on the ground and snow falling around us. We were also all moved by the starkness of the Holocaust Memorial, which was composed of piles of large and jagged granite rocks commemorating the mass graves of people who were killed and buried anonymously. In the second half of our visit, students split up into groups and did a scavenger hunt to find important and symbolic tombstones throughout the cemetery. There are so many symbolic elements embedded on the graves! For example, we learned that people in the tribe of Levi were buried with images of jugs of water on their tomb stones, commemorating the fact that the tribe of Levi was in charge of ritual purity during Temple times. And we also saw elaborate gravestones of famous Polish Jews, including the founder of the language called Esperanto. 

Our stop after lunch was the beautiful and historically important Warsaw Zoo. Anyone who has read the book or seen the movie called The Zookeeper’s Wife will understand what a momentous and important place this is. The first part of the visit was spent seeing the animals and enjoying the expansive central walkway of the zoo itself. The second part of the visit was much more serious and took place inside the villa itself. This is the place where the zookeeper and his wife put themselves in constant danger to hide Jews fleeing from Nazi persecution. Jan and Antonina, the zoo-keeping couple, saved more than 200 Jews, many of whom moved to Israel after the war and informed the Israeli government about the heroic acts of righteousness that led to their survival. Today, Jan and Antonina Zabinski are honored among many other righteous gentiles with trees planted in their memory at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. One final note: yesterday, many of us touched the brick wall of the ghetto, a wall that imprisoned Jews in horrible conditions during World War II. But today, we were able to touch the walls of the villa’s basement, where some Jews during that very same period were kept safe. It's a poignant contrast and a fitting and thought provoking place to see before our return to the hotel to prepare for this evening's Shabbat. 

From our madricha Ofri Cohen: “We started our Friday evening by doing Kiddush and the Challah blessing, sang Shabbat songs, and ate dinner. Later on we did Oneg Shabbat and started with some funny games in order to get to know each other more deeply. We brought the snack Bamba from Israel and each one said something unique about himself. If there was another student that the sentence would relate to, he was the one to take the Bamba and continue by telling more things about himself. We finished the activity with “checking in / checking out,” so each student can share a feeling, thought, or tell how was the day. When we came back to the hotel it started to snow! And we all got very excited. We are glad that we are part of this journey and waiting for tomorrow. Shabbat Shalom!"