ADULT MARCH OF THE LIVING 2017– SOUTHERN REGION (BOCA RATON) Itinerary (subject to change)
Thursday, April 20 – depart between 6-9 PM from JFK in NYC for an eight hour, overnight flight to Katowicz.
POLAND:
Friday, April 21 – Kazimierz, Krakow – Arrive in the morning and prepare to hit the deck running as we immediately bus over to the famous and memorable Jewish section of Krakow, Kazimierz. We will have a late lunch at the Miadowa Kosher Restaurant. There we will walk through the town and enter the “Jewish Square” to see the Alta Shule, Isaac Shul, and the Remu Synagogue where Rabbi Moshe Isserles, the author of the Mappah to the Code of Jewish Law, was the spiritual leader and where he is buried. Then, we check in to our hotel and try to catch our breath from the awesomeness of our first day in Poland. Erev Shabbat affords us the opportunity to participate in services at the Tempel or the Remu synagogue in Kazimierz. Overnight at Holiday Inn in Krakow.
Saturday, April 22 – Shabbat in Krakow - After breakfast at our hotel, we will attend Shabbat services at the Tempel, Kupa or the Isaac Shul. After lunch, we will walk a bit in and around the Wawel Castle and Old Town, after which we will tour the Galicia Museum and visit the JCC of Krakow (recipients of funding from our community). We plan to meet a Polish Resistance Fighter. We return to the hotel for dinner. After dinner, we will join the students for Havdallah and a program at the site of the Plaszow concentration camp. Overnight at Holiday Inn Krakow.
Sunday, April 23 – Auschwitz/Birkenau, Erev Yom HaShaoah – As we awaken this morning, we realize that we are about to embark on our first visit to a death camp – the ineffable Auschwitz-Birkenau. We will walk under the infamous archway pronouncing; Arbeit Macht Frei - Work will make you free! We will spend the day exploring the conditions of the camp and realize the enormity of this death factory. We will return to our hotel that evening affected by what we saw and preparing ourselves for the next day to show the world that Hitler lost and we have returned with our young people victorious. We will participate in an Erev Yom Hashoah program at the Opera House in Krakow that evening as we prepare to March together on Monday. Overnight at Holiday Inn or Andel’s in Krakow.
Monday, April 24 – Yom Hashoah – Krakow Ghetto, the March of the Living – We will join the students at the Krakow Ghetto to hear from one of the survivors, in front of the apartment his family lived in, about his experience. Today will be the day that we have been waiting for since we signed up to participate on the March. Over 10,000 young Jews will gather together in Auschwitz as we walk arms linked in arms, across the city of Oswiecim into Birkenau. It will be an experience to remember the rest of our lives. After the March we will travel by train from Katowicz to Warsaw. Overnight at Marriott in Warsaw.
Tuesday, April 25 – Lublin, Majdanek and Warsaw Ghetto– Lublin is a majestic city which, at one time, was the center of the Jewish world of Eastern Europe. It was the capital of the Council of the Four Lands. We will visit the infamous death camp Majdanek. We will walk the length of this camp as we visit the gas chamber, barracks, crematoria and finally the memorial of ashes. In late afternoon, we return to Warsaw to visit the Museum of the History of theJews of Poland. Then, we move on to the Rapaport Memorial, dedicated in 1948 on the 5th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising as a living testimony to the act of revolting in the Ghetto and honoring Mordechai Aniliewicz. We will continue a brief walk in the former Warsaw Ghetto and observe segments of the Pathway of Ghetto Heroes, seeing various monuments recognizing the contributions of the Ghetto fighters and other Jews who sought to establish a life in the Ghetto. Included here is the famous Mila 18, the final headquarters of the Jewish Fighting Organization and the burial place of Mordecai Aniliewicz, the leader of these Freedom Fighters. We return to our hotel for a late dinner.
Overnight at Marriott in Warsaw.
Wednesday, April 26 – Warsaw Cemetery. Treblinka - We start our day with a visit to the impressive Jewish cemetery in Warsaw. In the afternoon we will stand in Treblinka. Together with the students of the Southern Region, we will see the memorial to the 850,000 Jews that were murdered in Treblinka. As we walk through the 17,000 stones that make up this memorial, we will gain some understanding of the devastation as the Jews of Warsaw exited the trains and were sent directly to their death; a fitting way to be done with this part of our trip as we prepare to leave Poland for Israel. Overnight we fly to Israel.
ISRAEL:
Thursday, April 27 – Arrival to Israel and Jerusalem. Scroll of Fire, Tzuba, Ein Rafa. - We arrive very early in the morning and check into our hotel in Jerusalem. After a bit of rest, we begin our Israel journey. Our first stop will be the Scroll of Fire (in the forest near Jerusalem). We then travel to Tzuba to visit their famous winery. After hearing from a Tzuba Kibbutz member, we will go on to Ein Rafa. We will have a special visit in Ein Rafa, just outside Jerusalem, at the home of a young Israeli-Arab couple who will offer us unique insights into our complex homeland. From here we move to Jerusalem and have dinner in our world-class Mamila Hotel.
Overnight at Mamila hotel.
Friday, April 28 –Begin Center, Ketef Hinom, 9/11 Memorial, Machaneh Yehuda Market, Erev Shabbat - We begin our day with a tour of the Menachem Begin Center, learning details of the first Likud prime-minister of Israel, found only in this unique museum. We will also visit Ketef Hinom to view a rare silver amulet from 600 BCE inscribed with the priestly benediction. From there, it's on to the moving 9/11 memorial. After our visit, we will have a stop for lunch and some great fragrances of the Mahaneh Yehuda market. Then we will return to our hotel in Jerusalem to prepare for the Shabbat. We intend to join thousands of Marchers and Israelis at the Kotel (Western Wall) for Friday night Kabbalat Shabbat.
Overnight and Shabbat Dinner at Mamila Hotel.
Saturday, April 29. – Shabbat in Jerusalem – This is a free day for everyone – A trip to Masada is an option, especially for first timers. This can be arranged individually at the hotel. You may choose to visit the desert and take a trip to the Machtesh Rimon; truly a natural wonder of the world. Perhaps a tour of the Golan Heights would suit you? Think where you would want visit that is not on our itinerary. After Shabbat, along with our teens, we will see a stirring performance, entitled, 5 faces of Modern Israel, by Helen Gottstein.
Overnight at Mamila Hotel.
Sunday, April 30 – Erev Yom HaZikaron, Leket, Nirit, Tel Aviv. We begin our day traveling to Ra'anana to visit Leket, the largest food bank in Israel, a leader and expert in food rescue nationwide since 2003. The organization sources, collects and redistributes fresh, perishable, quality food, which would otherwise be considered waste, from farms, hotels, military bases and catering halls to aid the quarter of the country’s population that lives below the poverty line. We will visit a Yishuv called Nirit located on the “Green Line” for an unusual perspective about where such communities stand and the complex politics of security and greater Israel. We will visit in an Israeli home in Nirit discussing the intricacies and beauties of life from a sabra. From Nirit, we travel to Tel Aviv to visit the Joseph Bau Museum. We then return to Jerusalem for dinner. After dinner, we will travel to a ceremony commemorating Yom Hazikaron (Israel’s Memorial Day) and hear the siren ushering in this solemn day. Back at the hotel we will view the film “A Hero in Heaven”. This is in preparation for a meeting with Harriet and Mark Levin, parents of Michael Levin, an American lone soldier who was the first casualty of the 2006 Lebanese war.
Overnight at Mamila Hotel.
Monday, May 1 – Yom Hazikaron & Erev Yom Ha'atzmaut, Tel Aviv, Zichron Yaakov, Jerusalem. - In the morning, we return to Tel Aviv to tour the Rabin Center. We have a special meeting with Yuval Rabin, son of the late Yitzchak Rabin. We then travel to the town of Zichron Yaakov, JFSPBC's Partnership2Gether sister city. We will have lunch in the town square followed by a program with city leaders. Dinner will be at Punchline in Jerusalem, where we begin our celebration of yom Ha'atzmaut. After the dinner performance, we celebrate 69 years of Israel’s independence with thousands of Israelis at the famous Ben Yehuda Street mall.
Overnight at Mamila Hotel.
Tuesday, May 2 – Yom Ha’atzmaut – March of the Living in Jerusalem, Mega-Event with 6,000 Marchers – We check out of our hotel. We will meet the Southern Region students at the Military Cemetery on Har Herzl to hear from Harriet and Mark Levin just above the grave their fallen son, Michael. Here we will understand how Israel honors her military heroes. After this, we will again meet up with our teens as we join them at Safra Square to once again march together, this time in a celebratory fashion, through Jerusalem to the Kotel. We will have a special check in for our El Al flight at Ben Gurion Airport in late afternoon, then it’s on to Latrun for the MOL Mega Event and Bar-B-Q for some 6,000 participants.
Overnight we fly back to the States after the Mega-Event.
Wednesday, May 3 – Arrival at JFK on EL AL about 5 A.M.