Heritage, heart, and hope come together on the March of the Living tour and for the 2014 participants from the Yavneh Family, they came together knit-tight.  On Tuesday night students and chaperones shared memories, screened a scrapbook video, reliving the impact on themselves, while making an impact on everyone who attended.

From April 23 to May 7, the group traveled to Poland and Israel, joining the ranks of 150,000 youth from around the world who, since 1988, have marched the path from Auschwitz to Birkenau on Holocaust Remembrance Day.

"The students are remarkable - kind to each other and those they'd just met, they are smart, articulate and generally wonderful to be with. They spoke about the appreciation they feel for having been sent to Jewish school, one describing Yavneh as the place that developed his moral character," said Pam Fine who has coordinated Yavneh's MOL for 12 years. "It was an incredible experience of growth, sharing and introspection and I have great confidence in the future of the Jewish people with them as our upcoming leaders."

Yavneh seniors participating were  

Niv Avneri, Sarah Barnett, Ella Baum, Benjamin Calmenson, Jason Epstein, Michelle Friedstadt, Daniel Granat, Nathasha Guaqueta, Itai Guttman, Zachary Harmon, Adam Karnett, Talia Klein, Sam Kleinman, Gary Levine, Hanna Liebermann, Valerie Lopez, Logan Luskey, Dalya Romaner, Adam Schor, Erin Smith, Adam Steinbrecher, Dania Tanur, Yonah Taurog, and Michael Teplitksiy.  Holocaust survivor Max Glauben, and Yavneh's Associate Principal/Judaic Curriculum Rabbi Meir Tannenbaum, who, like Mrs. Fine have chaperoned the program for many years returned, while Jay Kleinman,  

Yavneh Associate Principal/Judaic Curriculum Naomi Schrager, and  

Dr. Karen Suttle made their first venture.

Also joining the group, were Alexandra Aronowitz, an Akiba Academy alumna and a recent graduate of Episcopal School of Dallas, and Jacob Schwartz, who lives in San Antonio and attends International School of the Americas.

"I wanted to go on the March with people who would impact me, not only with the raw emotion of the trip, but who would challenge me also Jewishly," said Jacob.  "In the Yavneh students, I made friends for a lifetime, I found a group of people who brought me in with open arms." 

"I didn't get to go to a Jewish day school but every year I go on the March, I have the best teachers - and they are all many years younger than I.  They've taught me more than anyone," said Max, who has chaperoned nine of the last 10 years, had not returned to the region until his first with the Yavneh students.  "I am a better Jew because of them.  I know for sure that religion is in your heart, and you must tailor it to meet your own needs and you will be fulfilled."

In Majdanek, the group walked through the gas chambers and then into a barrack filled with thousands of old shoes, where Max told of the murder of his father and brothers. At the crematorium, the group recited the Kel Maleh Rachamim, the prayer for the soul of the departed, on behalf of the members of Max's family who perished there, just outside, a rose garden present.  For many of the students, the beauty in a place where horror occurred, did not go unrealized.

"It's hard to put together the amount of life and death that comes from the same place," said Dania, crediting Jay Kleinman with identifying that it's not the location that's bad, it's what happened there that is bad. Echoing many, Dania said "seeing a flower blossoming at the door of a gas chamber, I found myself holding Max's hand.  The powerful image, of this happiest man I've ever known, standing where so many of his generation perished, is a lesson I will never, ever forget."  

 For Hanna Liebermann, the March brought her childhood forward, as her grandfather, a Holocaust survivor himself, had brought her a book about "Hana's Suitcase" when she was just six-years-old.  "On the trip, we stood before what seemed like hundreds or more suitcases, and there, before me, were three different red ones, all with Hanna, H-A-N-N-A, spelled out," she said.  "On the March, you do not walk alone, you walk in masses of Jews, still, just a drop in the bucket compared to those who were killed." 

The group visited the Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva where Daf Yomi, the daily study of the same page of Talmud by Jews around the world, was pioneered.  In Cracow, they visited Plaschow and Zgody Square where Rabbi Tannenbaum, led a tour behind the Remu's Synagogue where his own ancestors are buried, and they visited Treblinka, where an estimated 800,000 Jews were killed. There, the students sat amidst the grave markers, reading letters their own families had written.  For all, the blessings of their own lives, were not undermined.   

  "I always inherently knew the importance of the March of the Living for our students, but now, having gone myself, I truly believe this is something every Jew, 18 or 100, should share in," said Mrs. Schrager.  "It gives everyone who attends a grounding of the fact that there is something so much bigger than ourselves."

"In Chumash and Gemara classes we talk about being a part of a chain of tradition and in these two weeks each of us was instilled into that timeline," said Mrs. Schrager, "What we experienced isn't just the truth of the death of so many millions, that alone is the ultimate horror, but what we experienced was the complete upheaval of what it meant to be a Jew - and even I couldn't have understood that from listening to others, or studying from afar."

At the synagogue in Tykotchin, the travelers found whitewashed walls on which of the major prayers were beautifully stenciled, Yavneh's young ladies joined those from a school in Israel dancing and bringing Jewish life to light.  The group then traveled to an adjacent forest, where more than 1400 were killed over a three-day period, once again noting the jarring contrast between the beauty of place, and horror of the actions which took place now more than 70 years ago. In Warsaw, the group visited the new Jewish Museum where they visited with a group of Polish teens.

With 11,000 others, the group linked arms and marched out of Auschwitz under the " Arbeit macht frei" sign, arriving at Birkenau to mark Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day and the seventieth anniversary of the deportation of the Hungarian Jewish community.  The Hungarian president taking responsibility for the government's involvement in the destruction of Hungarian Jewry and Chief Rabbi Yisrael  Meir Lau, a child survivor, spoke and a tribute to Hannah Senesh and Raoul Wallenberg who saved many Jewish lives before their own deportation, was made.

  Rabbi Tannenbaum, providing insight, prayer leadership, and depth asked the group to touch the walls in the gas chambers, making sure to remember the moment when they later touched the Kotel Wall in Jerusalem. 

In time for Israel's Memorial Day and Israel's sixty-fifth Independence Day, the group

visited many exciting places and ancient sites, including Jerusalem, Masada, the Sea of Galilee, Tel Aviv, the Negev Desert. On Yom Hazikaron, students took part in ceremonies honoring Israel's soldiers who gave their lives in defense of their country, and together, with Israeli's a grand celebration  honored the establishment of the State of Israel.

As with each year, each tour, each group of Yavneh students blessed to make the journey - comparisons of then and now, ashes to renewal,  

are never lost. Am Yisrael Chai!

In Respecting Memorial Day ~  

                            Recalling a Visit from One Who Serves ~

As we began the week remembering those who gave their lives for our country, we are proud here to honor SGT Colten Baitch, a 27-year-old member of our community, his parents Sara & Larry and their family associated with Congregation Shaare Tefilla, since 1987.

SGT Baitch and his new bride Shayna were in Dallas for Pesach, readying to move to Ft. Campbell, Kentucky, where he will be stationed with the 101st Airborne unit.  The couple visited Rabbi Michael Friedman's class, with SGT Baitch sharing his history in the service, including three combat tours of duty, each lasting a year.   

He has been to Khadar, Afghanistan, Iraq on two occasions - conducting nightly raids in capturing Hezbollah, Iranian Special Groups, and Shia Militia outside of Baghdad, and in assisting the 2nd Marine Division in taking the city of Ramadi.  He partnered with the Iraqi Counter Terrorism Task Force, conducted raids and sniper missions with the US Navy Seals, and capture key terrorist leaders and financiers, assisting the CIA and multinational coalition task forces - these experiences, these heroic acts of defending our country - all the while davening, keeping kosher, holding his kippah high, and as best to his ability, remaining a strong modern Orthodox Jew.

To SGT. Baitch, and to your bride beside you, we wish safety,  good health, peace, and honor.