Shavei Israel emissary inaugurates first “Ride for the Living” in Poland
“Ride for the Living” rolls through rural Poland
In 1909, Robert Desmond’s grandparents left their home and family in the small shtetl village of Chernigov, just north of Kiev in Ukraine, and moved to the United Kingdom. It would prove to save their lives, as they escaped the atrocities that would decimate Jewish life in Eastern Europe in the decades to come.
Some 100 years later, in October 2013, Desmond, a London-based software engineer, marathon runner and avid long distance cyclist, embarked on a modern day roots pilgrimage. He set out on his bicycle to trace what he called his family “liberation path” – in reverse – from London down to the Normandy D-Day landing beaches in France across to Paris, into Germany and then to the Czech Republic before finishing up at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.
Following his 1,350-mile month-long journey (which he blogged about here), Desmond ended up in Krakow where he met and became fast friends with Shavei Israel’s emissary there, Rabbi Avi Baumol. Over many Shabbat meals and sessions learning Torah together with the community, Desmond began to appreciate the remarkable revitalization of Jewish life that is taking place in Poland today. He wanted to demonstrate to the world what was happening. And how better to do that than once again through bike riding?
Desmond and Rabbi Baumol got together with Krakow JCC director Jonathan Ornstein and came up with a plan: they would create a new cycling event, this time not to Auschwitz but from it – back to Krakow, ending up at the Jewish Community Center there which, under Rabbi Baumol’s stewardship, has become the focus of the city’s dynamic Jewish life. They called it “The Ride for the Living” a variant on the long standing “March of the Living” that also takes place at the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp.
The 50-mile ride from Auschwitz to Krakow took place on Friday, June 6 and Rabbi Baumol and Desmond were joined by another 15 riders, including a group that Desmond brought from London, local members of the Krakow JCC, and a small contingent from the U.S. An online fundraising campaign was held to support a trip to Israel for senior members of the JCC.
The day began with a ceremony at 11:30 am in front of the gates of Birkenau at which Rabbi Baumol, several members of the Jewish community, and the Deputy Director of the Auschwitz museum spoke of the significance of this first-of-its kind event.
“Millions of visitors made their way to Auschwitz by planes, trains and automobiles,” Rabbi Baumol writes, “but we were the first to mark the return in a Ride for Life, symbolizing the indefatigable spirit of the Jewish people—you can break our bones, destroy our communities and seek to eradicate our memories but we will still survive, we will continue to build.”
Rabbi Baumol recited two prayers before setting off on the ride: baruch dayan ha’emet, honoring the memory of the past, as well as the Tefilat Haderech prayer to G-d for guidance on future journeys.
“The ride was lovely with the countryside flat and the weather perfect,” Rabbi Baumol continues. “Each rider managed the 55 mile journey back to the JCC…back to life in Krakow. We all learned that we have the physical capacity to make such a journey and, as the sun set and we joined for prayer and Shabbat dinner, we understood the importance of our message.”
On Saturday night following the ride, Krakow celebrated “7@nite,” an annual event in which thousands of mostly non-Jewish Poles come to Krakow to walk around the seven synagogues, which are still open in the city’s central Kazimierz district. The evening began with a havdalah service conducted by Rabbi Baumol on the rooftop of the Krakow JCC. Rabbi Baumol later gave a midnight lecture on the “symbols of the synagogue” – a hundred people showed up, he reports.
Rabbi Baumol and Desmond plan to turn the “Ride for the Living” into an annual event and hope that next year the number of riders will be triple that of the inaugural journey. Rabbi Baumol says that the aim is quite simple, yet incredibly important: “to spread the message that we must always commemorate the hell that is Birkenau and the souls who perished there, it must never be our final resting place. The Jewish journey will never stop at death but will return from there, not in cattle-cars led by others, but with our own two feet, riding ourselves to freedom and restored Jewish life in Poland.”
We have a few pictures from the ride here.
Robert Desmond and Rabbi Avi Baumol
Group in front of Auschwitz
Arriving in Krakow