Each week, we receive an update from our campers from Olim ’16 who are traveling with NFTY in Israel! We love to stay connected to the group by reading this letter to all of camp on Saturday morning and sharing it with you each Saturday evening. Read more from NFTY in Israel Groups 8A and 8B here!

While many of you were driving through the gates of camp on opening day, we were flying across the Atlantic Ocean. We landed Monday morning in Prague, Czech Republic tired but looking forward to beginning our NFTY in Israel Summer. We’re excited to join NFTY in Israel for their 59th Summer and soon to be the most epic summer ever.

At the airport we met our Israeli and American counselors who will be helping to guide us for the next 5 weeks. For the first week we will be touring the Czech Republic and Poland. The first day in Europe was full of reuniting with our Olim 16’ family, ice breakers, and our first ever “Pizur” in the Old Town Square of Prague. Pizur in Hebrew means to spread, which to us means free time to explore without counselors, taste the local food, and visit shops in the area. We highly suggest you try the trdelnik, which is a tasty dough rolled in cinnamon sugar and cooked over a campfire, which is a speciality of Prague.

The next day took place in the Jewish Quarter of Prague, where we learned about the life of the Jewish community in Prague that has existed for centuries. The synagogues were beautiful and the architecture is like nothing you’ve ever seen before. Just this one Jewish community helped remind us that like the popular song teaches us “Wherever you go, there’s always someone Jewish. You’re never alone, if you say you’re a Jew.”

The following day we visited Terezin, a city that was forcibly evacuated and converted into forced living for the Jewish people in Europe during World War 2, similar to Ghettos but on a much larger scale. It was beautiful to see that life had returned to the city, while still honoring those that lost their life. We ate lunch in a very nice green park at Terezin as we reflected on the challenges those before us faced. The remainder of the day was spent on the bus, sleeping, catching up with each other about our years, and staring out the window at the beautiful countryside as we drove all the way from Prague in the Czech Republic to Krakow in Poland.

After waking up for our first morning in Krakow, we began exploring where the Jewish community dwelled in Poland. The richness of Jewish culture was present just by standing in these historic synagogues. We visited other historic locations in the area, such as Schindler’s Factory, the factory of Oskar Schindler, a man who risked his life to save hundreds of jewish families during the Holocaust. Friday was the hardest day for us, as we visited Auschwitz 1 & 2, one of the many death and labor camps active during the Holocaust. As we toured where so many had lost their lives, we retold the stories of those that experienced the horrors firsthand, so that their lives would never be forgotten and events never repeated. We concluded with multiple groups composed of Eisner, Crane Lake,
Harlem, and various NFTY regions joining together for a memorial service. The “Kehillah”, or community, we were able to create in a place that mass hatred had once existed was beyond beautiful. Together, as Jewish people, we walked out of Auschwitz as free people, but also changed people; More educated and dedicated to honoring over 6 million lives.

We then welcomed in Shabbat that evening. This Shabbat was like no other because for us it was a celebration of freedom and strength. We joined a Reform Synagogue in Krakow for services and later brought the tradition of Eisner song session to Poland. This week was hard for many of us, but we came together, and learned so much. After only a week with NFTY in Israel, we are already seeing ourselves grow in so many ways and we still have 4 more
weeks. ISRAEL HERE WE COME!!!

B’shimcha Raba (With great joy),
Olim 16’ in Europe with NFTY in Israel