Rzeszow – Lancut – Majdanek – Lublin

Today was another very full day, complete with both experiences that I believe will stay with the students for a long time, and yet more cold and rain that we’d all prefer to forget, but through it all the kids have been persevering exceptionally well.

We rolled out of Rzeszow (pronounced Jeh-shuv, with a French J) this morning bound for Lancut (pronounced Wine-suit) where we davened Shacharit in the town’s surviving Great Synagogue and heard another excellent Senior Drashah from Noah. The synagogue was built in 1761 and is unique for its painted interior and the miracle that it survived, and also for the fact that it was not built by the local Jews, but rather for them, by the Polish Count of Lancut who wanted to attract Jews to his town almost three hundred years ago.

From there we drove to the edge of Lublin to the site of the Majdanek Death Camp. Despite the rain, we took the time to walk its roads and visit its various barracks and buildings, including the hut labeled ‘Bath and Disinfection’ that held both real showers for those selected by the Nazis for slave labor in the camp, and gas chambers for those who were not. Much like yesterday, it was a difficult but extremely meaningful visit.

We continued on from Majdanek to the center of Lublin to the building that housed Yeshivat Chachmei Lublin. This was once one of the greatest yeshivot in the world, and essentially the place where Daf Yomi – the idea of studying a page of Talmud a day for seven and a half years to complete the 2711 page cycle – was born. We davened Mincha, appreciated how and why the Yeshiva was founded, and then studied an excerpt from the Talmud’s Tractate Bava Kama, page 95 – the same page of Talmud being studied by Daf Yomi learners around the world today!

After the Yeshiva came dinner, and then a special performance just for us by an actor and musicians of the NN Theatre. The theatre troupe aims to keep Jewish memory alive in Lublin, and their show consisted of Yiddish poetry set to music, interspersed with short, haunting vignettes they have collected about Jewish life in Lublin from before and after the war. The performance was touching, and so was the talk-back when our kids were able to ask questions and hear from the non-Jewish actors about why they have invested their hearts and souls in remembering Lublin’s missing Jews.

From the theater we drove to the hotel, had subgroups to process the experiences and emotions of the past day, and checked into our rooms for a well-deserved good night’s sleep.