Shavei Israel’s 2014 summer seminar for young Polish Jews starts tomorrow in Jerusalem
Martha didn’t have a Hebrew name but desperately wanted one. She told Shavei Israel’s emissary to Katowice, Poland, Rabbi Yehoshua Ellis that she is a big fan of the Israeli army. He gave her the name “Tzahala” which is related to both “army” (the acronym for the Israel Defense Forces in Hebrew is “Tzahal”) and the Hebrew for “rejoice.”
Damian
Damian has no documentation of a Jewish past but suspects he has Jewish roots. Why? His great grandmother’s last name was “Yehuda,” the oldest son of the biblical patriarch Jacob and one of the 12 tribes.
Iga
Iga is in the process of converting to Judaism. In the meantime, she works with a Jewish youth organization in Krakow called Czulent (Cholent) – which is also the name of the traditional slow-cooked Jewish stew served on Shabbat day.
Dymitr
As Dymitr’s grandmother was dying, she revealed to her grandson that in the town where she was born there was a “tragedy” regarding the Jews. Dymitr began putting the pieces together. Did that mean that Dymitr’s family was Jewish too? He too is now researching his roots.
Martha, Damian, Iga and Dymitr are among a group of 21 young Poles with Jewish roots who on Wednesday will begin a two-week seminar in Israel sponsored by Shavei Israel. The annual summer program is the highlight of Shavei Israel’s activities in Poland, and this year’s contingent – which includes 15 women and six men from Warsaw, Krakow, Katowice, Poznan and Czestochowa – is 30 percent larger than the group Shavei brought in 2013.
The seminar, which mixes study, travel and home hospitality, will be led by current and past Shavei Israel emissaries to Poland: Rabbi Ellis who heads up our activities in Katowice, along with Rabbi Avi Baumol, who now serves in Krakow, and his predecessor, Rabbi Boaz Pash.
Basia Wieczorek, who we wrote about previously and who subsequently made aliyah to Israel, will be the group’s counselor. Yaakov Wasilewicz, who was born in Poland but moved to the U.S. to study in a yeshiva when he became religiously observant several years ago, is returning to help with prayers, classes and leading Shabbat zemirot (songs).
The group will be in Israel for two Shabbatot; one will be spent in the Kabbalistic city of Safed, and the other in Jerusalem. Shavei Israel’s community Shabbat encounters are consistently cited as one of the highlights of the program.
The participants, who are all between the ages of 20-35, will have a chance to study in a Jerusalem yeshiva for a day, and of course will tour the country extensively: the itinerary takes the group from the north in Beit Shean and Tiberias, to the Dead Sea and Masada. In Jerusalem, the group will visit the Jewish Quarter and the Western Wall tunnels in the Old City, Yad Vashem, Meah Shearim and Mount Herzl.
For most of the group, it’s their first time in Israel. Four participants are returning, including Olga and Katarina who we wrote about here.
Shavei Israel sponsors and heavily subsidizes the seminar; program participants pay only a nominal “symbolic” fee. The total cost for the seminar, including lodging, food, touring and instruction, comes to more than $20,000. If you’d like to help defray some of these costs, please visit the Support page on the Shavei Israel website.
Here is a video we made about a past program. Watch this space for more news as the 2014 session unfolds.