Young Polish Jews Invite Americans to Join "Project Restore and Rebuild" This Summer

KRAKOW   
Mention Poland, and most Jewish faces turn sour.

It’s a kind of ‘passive propaganda,’ says Anya Fridel, a 19-year college student from Krakow. "People usually come to Poland for the March of the Living. They only see the dark side of Polish life - the [concentration] camps, the Shoah – they close their eyes to Jewish life here today."

This was the motivation behind the Polish Union of Jewish Students’ "Project Restore and Rebuild."  This year they’re inviting young Jewish Americans to Poland, where they’ll spend two weeks working and living with Polish college students and graduates. Together, they will restore a Jewish cemetery and rebuild and strengthen their own individual Jewish identities by exchanging ideas, celebrating Poland’s Jewish cultural life and creating new friendships.

Anya says the Americans are in for a new experience. "I call it a voyage of discovery. When I first heard of the project, I thought the people would be much different. When I met them I was surprised. Stereotypes melted away. I learnt a lot of interesting things, had some fun, but I also went through personal and emotional changes."

Bartek Blumenfeld, another young Polish Jew, says the project made a profound difference in his ‘inner-life’. "I was a ‘Newbie’ Jew. I had no connection to my roots or Jewish identity. I felt like I had to do it on my own. But then the people became like family. The things we do here, like repairing an old cemetery, this becomes our own monument. We did it."

The two week long summer experience is run by the Polish Union of Jewish Students (PUZS) and is supported by a partnership of JDC, American Jewish World Service, the Associated Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore, JUF/ Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago and the Columbus [Ohio] Jewish Federation.

To apply to Project Restore and Rebuild, please contact your local Jewish Federation office, or e-mail aschrager@ajws.org

"If you come," says Anya, "You will see what real life is right now and its more interesting and energized than you can imagine!"