The Ponar Forest

Hi, this is Leah blogging.

Monday was probably one of the most amazing experiences I have ever encountered. We visited the Ponar forest, which was the place of Jewish extermination in Lithuania. Imagine a mystical forest, covered with moss and greenery. In the midst of this beautiful scenery were not only several memorial plaques commemorating those who had lost their lives, but were also massive pits where nearly 100,000 Jews were brutally murdered. The story behind the Ponar forest and its role in the Holocaust is even more ghastly. It was not the Germans alone who had annihilated 98% of the Jewish population of Lithuania, but it was the local Lithuanians themselves! We had a beautiful ceremony with our Lithuanian peers, where we read passages from eyewitness accounts, said Kaddish, and sang Hatikvah, the national anthem of the State of Israel. Singing Hatikvah in the middle of the Lithuanian forest with Jews from different cultures and backgrounds was truly a great feeling. Knowing that we were still there gave people a sense of hope, or “Tikvah.”

Another truly eye opening event was our visit to Vilnius’s only remaining Jewish cemetery. During the war and even into Soviet rule, Jewish cemeteries were desecrated and destroyed. Not only was desecration a major problem, but as a result of history few Jewish families remained behind to take care of their loved ones graves. One of the biggest “mitzvot” (commandments) or good deeds is caring for those who could never repay your kindness- the deceased. I took great pride in cleaning the graves of those who may have died under very difficult circumstances, or under religious persecution. We scraped moss off the stones, picked weeds, and raked away debris, which had collected around the graves for decades. Afterwards we gathered around the Vilnius Gaon’s memorial, and discussed the day’s intense activity. It was interesting to hear that not everyone shared my view of the cemetery. The great thing about this program was that it brought together a group of Jewish students of different backgrounds. Some of us had been raised traditionally with a formal Jewish education, while others had only recently found a connection to their heritage. Regardless of these differences, we came together and learned a great deal from each other.