From the end of the Middle Ages until the Holocaust Polish Jewry was the largest and most significant Jewish community in Europe. This journey affords an encounter with the rich and multi-faceted world of this Jewry.
For those participants who themselves or their families originate from Poland, and are interested in personal experience, including search for their roots, the tour will provide ample opportunities for such an experience and the search.
Polish Jewry which lived in the country more or less continuously for a millennium, over time grew to become the largest Jewish community in Europe. During this journey, we will trace the fortunes of Jews of Poland, focusing mainly on the last 300 years. Naturally, we will devote a considerable time to the destruction of this and other communities committed by the Germans on Polish soil. At the same time, we will not disregard the glorious past of this community, its achievements and the environment within which Jews lived, and some live to this day.
We will meet at 2pm in the hotel lobby and drive to the famous "Polin" Jewish Museum for a tour of its extensive displays reviewing one-thousand years of Jewish life in Poland.
We will return to the hotel for welcome dinner, after which we will stroll through the old town of Warsaw, the capital of Poland. At this opportunity, we will be provided with some historical information about the city, its development and historical institutions.
Overnight: Warsaw
After breakfast, we will travel to the "Bieth Hachaim" (Hebrew) the cemetery of the Jews of Warsaw for over 200 years; among other things, this visit will afford a glimpse of the diversity of Polish Jewry. We will be glad to assist those among the participants whose family members are buried in this cemetery in locating the grave of their loved ones.
We will continue this part of the tour by visiting two institutions that formed part of the Jewish community before the war: the Korczak Orphanage and the Nożyk Synagogue, the only such building to survive the war. In the synagogue we will meet people from the contemporary Jewish community of Warsaw, and hear first-hand accounts of the lives of Jews in Warsaw these days.
After lunch, we will visit the Jewish Historical Institute, and meet with its scholars and researchers involved in the preservation and study of the history of Polish Jewry, and who also seek out and help Holocaust survivors and their descendants in finding their family roots.
The second part of the day will be devoted to a tour of the Warsaw Ghetto, the largest ghetto in Europe during WWII.
We will visit the remains of the ghetto walls, pass by the famous bridge that divided the ghetto into two sections, by the residential home of the heads of the Judenrat, the Jewish hospital and the notorious Umschlagplatz (a square where Jews were assembled before being shipped off by trains to their death in Treblinka), the Memorial Route of Jewish Martyrdom and Struggle in Warsaw, the bunker of Mordechaj Anielewicz (leader of the Warsaw ghetto uprising) at 18 Mila Street, and the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes.
Dinner and local folklore show .
Overnight: Warsaw
In the morning, we will travel to the town of Tykocin. Up until the mid-19th century, majority of the town's residents were Jewish. We will see one of the most impressive synagogues in Poland (1641) and tour the area where Jews lived for years. We will hear the story of how the Jewish community of Tykocin was exterminated after the Germans invaded, and visit the Lopuchowo forest and its three mass graves, marking the site where the Jews from Tykocin and other places were massacred.
From there we will travel to the camp of Treblinka, where most of the Jews of Warsaw were exterminated. In the course of 13 months, the Germans murdered nearly 900,000 Jews in this camp.
We will then travel to Lublin/Kazimierz Dolny and arrive at the hotel for dinner.
Overnight: Lublin
We will start the day with a visit to what used to be the most important Torah institution up until the eve of the war: the Yeshiva. During the visit, we will hear about Lublin's place in the history of Polish Jewry, relations with the local authorities, internal relations within the community, the significance of the Council of Four Lands, and the battles waged against the Hasidism by their opponents rising from the east.
We will continue our tour of the old town of Lublin, an area that during the war served as the Jewish ghetto. In particular, we will see buildings that housed community institutions and have been preserved.
The afternoon will be devoted to a tour of the Majdanek extermination camp.
We will then depart for Kraków for dinner and stay there overnight.
Overnight: Krakow
We will start with a tour of the Wawel Hill, the site of the cathedral where the kings of Poland are buried, and see the Palace of the Kings. During this part we will get acquainted a little with the history of the Kingdom of Poland. From the Wawel Hill we'll walk down the "Royal Road'' to the old town of Krakow.
Our next stop will be one of the oldest universities in Europe, the Jagiellonian University, attended, among others, by Nicolaus Copernicus.
From there we will continue towards the Old Town Square - one of the most beautiful and largest squares in Europe. During our sojourn in this historical and bustling center of the city, the participants will be given an opportunity to wander around on their own, and perhaps purchase souvenirs.
We'll return to the hotel for a light rest. Those wishing to do so will be welcome to join the Sabbath prayers together with members of the local community. We will conclude our day with a Sabbath dinner together.
Overnight: Krakow
We will start the day with a walking tour in the Jewish Quarter of Kazimierz (in the west of Krakow). We will tour the museums and synagogues, from the oldest Alta Shul synagogue to the Remah synagogue, the old cemetery and the Galicia Jewish Museum.
From there we will cross the river and visit the Jewish ghetto area, close to the Jewish Quarter, where the Jewish people of Krakow were concentrated prior to their annihilation. We will visit the famous pharmacy, which was and still remains under Polish ownership, despite its location within the ghetto bounds, and hear the story of a noble Polish man, Righteous Among the Nations, Tadeusz Pankiewicz, and the aid he gave to the Jews in the ghetto.
We will carry on towards the ghetto walls, where we will listen to the story of another noble man, a German who was also recognized as Righteous Among the Nations: Oskar Schindler. We will visit the Oskar Schindler's Factory Museum in the building that was used as a factory during the war.
We will end our tour in Krakow by visiting one of the natural wonders near the city - the famous Wieliczka Salt Mine. We will spend two hours touring this "underground city" carved in salt.
Free evening time will be afforded to walk around the Jewish Quarter. A nightlife area popular with the people of Krakow, it abounds with restaurants, cafes, pubs and more.
Dinner and Kleizmer music in Karzimiesz , the Jewish Quarter of Kracow.
Overnight: Krakow
We begin this day with a ride to the town of Oswiecim, the site of Auschwitz 1 concentration and death camp. We will visit the camp for about 2.5 hours and after a short break continue to tour Auschwitz 2 - Birkenau. At the end of the tour, we will hold a communion ceremony.
After the tour, we will drive to the town center and visit the Jewish center in Oswiecim, where we will hold our summary discussion of the journey.
We will return to Krakow for farewell dinner, after which you will still be able to go out to the old town square area and to Kazimierz.
Overnight: Krakow
We will check out of the hotel and leave for the airport independently.
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