Shavei Israel organizes teen Shabbaton in Poland and meets Steven Spielberg
Polish teens meet Steven Spielberg (third from left) in Warsaw
What makes a successful Jewish event? When all the participants say they want to do another one…as soon as possible. That was the clear takeaway from Shavei Israel’s first ever “Teen Shabbaton” held in Warsaw, Poland, at the end of last year. As a result, a second weekend retreat was held this past weekend (more details below).
That first Shabbaton for young Polish Jews was a long time in the making. It was proposed originally at the beginning of 2014 when Polish Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich pointed out to Shavei Israel’s emissary in Katowice, Rabbi Yehoshua Ellis, that there seemed to be a lack of programming for teenagers. Working together with the JDC (Joint Distribution Committee) in Poland, Rabbi Ellis arranged the Shabbaton, which finally took place in November with 18 Polish teenagers.
The weekend’s events kicked off Friday night with candle-lighting and prayers at Warsaw’s historic Nozyk Synagogue. The Nozyk was built between 1898-1902 and today is the only surviving Jewish house of prayer in the city (out of 400 that were operating before the onset of World War II). It operates today both as a synagogue and the home of the Warsaw Jewish Community and other Jewish organizations.
Shabbat dinner was held at the nearby Warsaw JCC with the teens, Rabbi Ellis, Rabbi Schudrich, Miriam Goncharska, a Polish Jewish activist, and Magda Dorosz, the head of education for the Jewish Agency in Poland.
In the morning, there were two options: those who wanted to pray went with Rabbi Ellis back to the Nozyk. Others had the option to join a tour of “Jewish literary Warsaw.” Everyone met up for singing Adon Olam, the concluding song of the Shabbat morning service, in shul, which was followed by a festive Kiddush, lunch and a raucous game of “Ask the Rabbi” featuring Rabbi Schudrich.
“This was one of my goals in leading the Shabbaton,” says Rabbi Ellis. “I wanted to give participants as much contact with Rabbi Schudrich as possible. It’s essential that they feel they have access and a relationship to the leader of Polish Jewry.”
Shabbat afternoon the group split up into chevruta, studying in pairs, to learn the Torah Portion of the Week. To bring it to life, the group created and acted out a series of lively Biblical dramas. Shabbat quickly drew to a close, but the party was just beginning – the party to celebrate the first birthday of the Warsaw JCC, that is. The teens joined the festivities, which included a community Havdalah ceremony to mark the end of Shabbat, and the ultimate party food (if you’re 16) – pizza!
The Shabbaton concluded on Sunday, but not before the teens had two more activities: volunteering in the morning at the JCC, and attending a Maccabi Warsaw soccer match in the afternoon.
It was a whirlwind of activity but it paid off. Rabbi Ellis reports that the feedback he received from the JDC is that the “kids loved it. Everyone had a wonderful experience and they want to do it again. They particularly liked their interactions with the rabbis and their favorite activity was the textual study.”
This past weekend, the second teen Shabbaton was held in Warsaw. The theme this time was “Acts of Kindness,” and the Shabbaton put the texts the teens studied into action – hosting Children of the Holocaust, an association of survivors who were children during the Holocaust, for Shabbat lunch, and preparing and delivering food to some of Warsaw’s homeless people. There were prayers, song and dance again at the Nozyk synagogue, and another session of Ask the Rabbi with Rabbi Michael Schudrich.
Steven Spielberg clowning around with Polish teens in Warsaw
Then came the biggest surprise: during a tour of POLIN – the Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw, the teens overlapped with another group from the USC Shoah Foundation, which was founded by film director Steven Spielberg to gather video testimonies from survivors and other witnesses of the Holocaust. Spielberg just happened to be participating with his group during that visit. The director of Schindler’s List and dozens of other top grossing films joined a talk by Rabbi Schudrich on contemporary Jewish life in Poland and the teen group took the picture on the left with one of Hollywood’s most famous Jewish citizens.
Here are a few more pictures from the Shabbaton:
Instagramming it on a train
Group during Shabbaton
Clowning around
Group photo