Jewish Community News

News: May 2008

Local Jews become family on Federation Mission

Fifty-one men and women from the Silicon Valley Jewish community traveled to Poland and Israel April 28 through May 11 as part of a Federation mission. The trip left the travelers with many feelings. In Poland, it was horrific to witness the remaining physical structures of Auschwitz, Berkanau and Majdanek. In the same breathe, travelers were amazed when a Polish non-Jew emerged from the crowd and apologized for what had happened there.
   “I didn’t want to go to Poland,” said Sylvia Metz, who was born there and expected to have very negative feelings. Instead, she left feeling positive about the potential for Jewish life. “There’s nothing we can do to bring back our loss from the Holocaust, but we can help those in Poland, in Israel and our community to strengthen Jewish life.”
    South Bay Jews witnessed a Jewish resurgence in Krakow and Warsaw.  In Warsaw they attended a Bar Mitzvah with local Jews and 500 other guests.  The fourth day in Poland, the group marched with 10,000 people from the international Jewish community and several non-Jewish groups, in defiance of Hitler’s plan to exterminate all Jews.
   “This was my third time in Poland and the first time to come away with positive feelings,” said Helaine Green, who co-chaired this Mission with her husband Dr. Steve Green, president elect of the Jewish Federation of Silicon Valley.
   In Israel, travelers experienced more than the usual sites.  They met with teens from a Druze village, young adults from the Kfar Saba Absorption center, and high school students from the Net@ program from Kiryat Malachi (Federation’s Partnership 2000 sister city). Travelers were also briefed by luminaries in Israeli politics, history and media. 
    The days began early and went late. Together the group rode jeeps, ate meals, visited the Kotel, walked on the beach and shopped. By the end, the group had congealed into more than just travel companions.