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Reflections on Rosh Hashana Thousands of Miles from Home for Roslyn Z. Wolf Fellow
Jordan began serving her year as the Roslyn Z. Wolf Cleveland-JDC Fellow in August 2005. Read about her experiences celebrating the High Holidays in Poland, below. For more information on the Roslyn Z. Wolf Fellowship and the JDC Jewish Service Corps go to volunteer.
Shalom Chaverim v’Shana Tova, This year I welcomed the Jewish New Year 5766 in a different way than I had in the past. Usually, I am at home in Ridgewood, New Jersey or at my college in Massachusetts celebrating the holidays with family and friends. But this year I was on another continent with a new Jewish community! Celebrating the New Year in a new place was a very special experience for me. Since many American Jews think about Poland only as a place where Jews suffered and perished, it was especially meaningful to celebrate the holidays with the Polish Jewish community that has survived and continues to thrive! Let me tell you a little bit about how the High Holidays are celebrated in Poland. Here in Warsaw, there are two places that offer holiday services. The first is the Orthodox Nozyk Synagogue, named after the family who built the synagogue in 1893. It is located inside an area that was once the Jewish Ghetto during World War II. This synagogue is quite amazing. After WWII, the Germans destroyed almost the entire city of Warsaw to try to cover up the severity of their crimes. So many of Warsaw’s Jewish organizations, synagogues and schools were destroyed by the Nazis and were unable to be repaired or rebuilt. However, the Nozyk Synagogue remained because the Nazis used it as a stable for horses. It’s extremely saddening that such a holy place was used for the purpose of housing animals. Fortunately, though, it was the misuse of the Nozyk Synagogue that prevented it from being completely destroyed. Today, the synagogue and the buildings surrounding it hold most of the offices of the Warsaw Jewish community, including my office at the Jewish Social Welfare Commission. There is another Jewish place of worship called Beit Warszawa, which means "House of Warsaw." Beit Warszawa is a Jewish Cultural Association. "Warszawa" is the Polish word for Warsaw and it is pronounced Var-sha-va. It is a very young organization that is affiliated with the progressive-egalitarian movement. The goal of the association is to promote Jewish culture, to build a spiritual Jewish community, and to encourage tikkun olam— repair of the world. Beit Warszawa meets weekly to celebrate Shabbat and has services for the Jewish holidays as well. This year I celebrated the first day of Rosh Hashana at Beit Warszawa where I had the privilege of chanting Torah. On the second day, I attended services at the Nozyk Synagogue. Sometimes the Nozyk Synagogue and Beit Warszawa participate in rituals and services together. In the afternoon on the first day of Rosh Hashana, both congregations joined together as one community for Tashlich. Tashlich is the custom of symbolically casting away our sins of the past year. We typically use bread to represent our sins and throw them into a body of water, so they are carried far away. Close to 100 people gathered at the synagogue and together we all walked to the Vistula River. It was very special to do this ritual with people from such different Jewish backgrounds! During the days prior to Rosh Hashana, an exciting event happened in the Jewish community. The Jewish Social Welfare Commission hosted a 10-day retreat for Holocaust survivors living in Poland. The retreat took place at a retreat center in a town called Srodborow which is located in the forest just outside of Warsaw. The retreat center provides activities and physical rehabilitation for elderly Jews. During the 10-day retreat, the Holocaust survivors had physical therapy, music therapy, massage, and a variety of art projects. I helped the survivors make beeswax candles for Shabbat and helped them design artistic "memory books" that they can use to record their thoughts, write poetry, and store photographs. Additionally, students from the Lauder-Morasha Day School created Shanah Tovah greeting cards for the survivors to wish them a healthy and sweet New Year. Jordan |
