Northern California Rabbis: Heritage Study Tour in Poland

Taube Jewish Heritage Tours and the Taube Center for the Renewal of Jewish Life in Poland Foundation, in cooperation with the Northern California Board of Rabbis, have co-organized a groundbreaking trip for 24 multi-denominational Northern California rabbis. Led by Rabbis Marvin Goodman and Allen Bennett, the group represents a diverse array of congregations and institutions.

The intensive 6-day program, with its focus on exploring the current challenges and accomplishments of Jewish communities and institutions in Poland and the complexities of Polish Jewish identities, began with a visit to POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews. There, the delegation was welcomed by POLIN Director Dr. Dariusz Stola. In the evening, the rabbis were briefed by Dr. Sebastian Rejak, Special Envoy of Poland's Minister of Foreign Affairs for Relations with the Jewish Diaspora.

The program continued with meetings and informal conversations with rabbinical colleagues from different congregations in Poland, leaders of Jewish communal institutions, a visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau, and walking tours in Warsaw and Krakow, which introduced the delegation to 1,000 years of Polish Jewish history, bridging past and present, trauma and triumph.

Additional highlights of the itinerary included: an evening at the JCC Warsaw, a visit to the Emanuel Ringleblum Jewish Historical Institute with a special viewing of selections from the Ringelblum Archives; consultations with genealogists at the Jewish Genealogy & Family Heritage Center; a meeting with Hon. Anna Azari, Ambassador of Israel to Poland; and a visit to the Lauder-Morasha Jewish Day School, where the delegation met with Director Rabbi Mati Pawlak, as well as Founding Director Helise Lieberman, who currently directs the Taube Center. The program also included a meeting with colleagues from different religious minorities in Poland, Shabbat dinner at the JCC in Krakow and a day-trip to former shtetls before departing for Germany.

Conversations among the participants, between sites and sessions, are passionate and inspiring, as they explore and grapple with Poland's Jewish past and its Jewish future.

Participants' Reflections:

I never dreamed that Poland could be a land of living Judaism. Both the Jews there and the non-Jews who are involved with the Jewish community changed what I thought of Poland. Poland is no longer such a "dark" place. It's a country, now 25 years into freedom, bursting with all kinds of renewals, Jewish and otherwise.

Rabbi Marvin Goodman Executive Director,
Northern CA Board of Rabbis; Rabbi-in-Residence,
San Francisco Jewish Community Federation

I will work to disabuse others of the stereotype that Poland is a hopelessly antisemitic state, and, that there is a vibrant, resurgent Jewish community in Warsaw and Krakow, and that there is a supportive and working relationship between Poland and Israel.

Rabbi Lon Moskowitz
Rabbi, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation

Our trip was challenging but transformative. I'm not the same person or rabbi that I was before the trip.

Rabbi Aubrey Glazer
Rabbi at Congregation Beth Sholom, San Francisco

It’s all a little overwhelming: just being in Poland in the first place, seeing and learning about people, places, and things I’ve heard about for years, imagining what Jewish life might or must have been like before the war – going back almost a thousand years…This adventure literally takes my breath away…

Rabbi Allen Bennett
Rabbi Emeritus, Temple Israel, Alameda, CA