This year in Belarus

I spent the first 4 days of Pesach this year traveling around Belarus and visiting various communities to lead Pesach seders. It was a transformative experience and I am so grateful to everyone who contributed to the cause to help me get there. there's a lot written about my trip on this blog post, but I couldn't cut it down any more- I hope you make it to the end, the last part is the best! I took many pictures and videos during my trip, and they are all posted with explanations on my picasa website: www.picasaweb.google.com/kcummingenator/Belarus2010

Day 1.
We arrived in Minsk at 4:30am, and from the moment we stepped off the plane it felt obvious that we were in the Former Soviet Union thanks to the strict looking Government officials grilling us and stamping our passports at the airport. We shared a plane with 4 Chabad representatives who were there for the same reason. While I have never felt that I had anything in common with them as a Rabbinic Student, we felt a common bond in this strange country as we were all there for the same reasons. More on Chabad/HUC relations in day 4. We (HUC students) were escorted into a van and immediately I felt like we were part of some underground mafia like operation, especially when Rabbi Grisha told us that the American Mafia started in Belarus! He told us what to expect in our communities and our role in the seders. And here's the kicker- he told us there will probably be a KGB officer at our seder in Grodno. While he assured us that since the fall of communism, the KGB has a more liberal role in Belarus. But come on. KGB at my seder? Fortunately, there ended up being no KGB at any of the seders...that I know of.

After a briefing session at the World Union For Progressive Judaism headquarter office in Belarus, my partner and I left for the city of Lida. This may be the longest and most uncomfortable 3 hours of my life; let me explain. We piled into a van with a capacity of about 15 people, with no storage space for our luggage which means it was under our feet and on our laps. 16 people plus the driver get on the bus and it was a little cramped. And then one larger person asks to get on. instead of turning her away, the driver pulls out a stool and puts it in the small empty space between 2 passengers. And let me tell you, Belarus smells about as good as you might expect.

We toured the city of Lida for the afternoon, particularly the old Jewish areas. We visited the field where 7,000 Jews were shot by firing range during the Hoocaust. The Jewish Ghettos are still standing, but will soon be destroyed to put up new modern buildings. the old houses stand empty as an eerie reminder of the lives that used to fill them. The Jewish community in Lida was destroyed, and while it is very sad to think they may be forgotten, that evening we saw a glimmer of hope. We led a seder at a Reform Synagogue that has existed for the 15 years that it has been legal.

Day 2

We arrived in the city of Grodno which is very near to the Poland border. Our first seder was for the elderly community in the city, some of which survived the Holocaust. This seder was the most fulfilling for me because we could tell that they really needed us and wanted us to be there in the community. As soon as we walked into the room it felt like seder, like I was in a room with my grandparents and their friends. We were so close to Poland, I couldn't help but wonder if my grandfather would have been just like these people with their strong shining faces, and their love and appreciation for us at their seder. There were women in their nicest clothes, and men in their best dress decorated with medals from WWII. The seder was wonderful from start to finish. They did not know much about what to do, but when we said blessings or sang songs in Hebrew, their faces lit up and they joined in! For videos of these songs, see my picasa site!

Day 3

We took a walking tour of the Jewish Ghetto from the Holocaust. Grodno was not destroyed in the war, so all of the old Jewish buildings are still standing and being used for non-Jewish purposes. It was very sad to see that buildings with such important history are now restaurants and banks. We visited a synagogue which was built in the 16th century. It had been destroyed and rebuilt many times during the wars and Soviet Rule. In 1996 there were 6,000 Jews living in Grodno, but as soon as they were allowed to leave the country, most of them went to Israel and America. It is sad for me to think that when they left, the commmunity that had been there and survived the Holocaust and Soviet Rule, was gone. The old synagogue is the most beautiful synagogue I have seen. The sanctuary is made of white stone with high ceilings and beautiful embellishments. During the last few days of their lives, the Jews were held here in this building. We took a very chilling walk down the same path that they were taken from the synagogue to the cattle cars and the firing range. At the end of the road is a gate with a menora in wrought iron. At that gate now stands a memorial with a few stones placed at its base, evidence that at least a few people know it's there.

We led an activity with the religious school at the synagogue in Lida. While they knew a lot about Pesach, there were large gaps in their Jewish knowledge. It was one of those moments that made me realize the importance of our presence in these communities as teachers. After the activity with the children, we spent the afternoon with the elderly community of Lida. This was a life changing experience for me that I will never forget. We began the seder like we had all the others, and during the meal we asked them to share their Pesach memories; I wasn't prepared for what happened next. One of the oldest women read a poem she had written about Pesach before the war when she was a child. When she finished, the rest of the grou pulled out books with handwritten songs that looked so old as if from their childhoods. They sang songs in Russian, Hebrew, and Yiddish- all with the utmost Joy on their faces. There I was, sitting at the border of Belarus and Poland, eating matza kugel, and listening to Yiddish songs! It suddenly came to me- I felt a sense of resonsibility to continue this legacy. They are the last generation to remember the Holocaust, Speak yiddish, and know about pre- war Jewish life in Eastern Europe. Having experienced this, I must make sure I tell the stories, sing the songs, and remember their legacy.

We left this seder and spend the next few hours with the youth group of Grodno's congregation. I was surprised to see such a strong youth program in Grodno, and happy to see that the future of Jewish life in Grodno seems to have promise.

Day 4

We left Grodno at 6:30am to take a train to Minsk. Taking the train across Belarus was really fun! we had a sleeper compartment all to ourselves, and I have to say- the nap on that train was the best of my life! We arrived in Minsk and met up with the rest of the HUC Belarus group. It was great to speak English again and swap stories with eacch other. We also had one last seder together as a group, making the total 7 seders in 4 days!

After the seder we took a tour of Jewish Minsk. it is not one of the cities that most people associate with the Holocaust, but about 100,000 Jews were killed in Minsk. We visited one of the mass graves where 500 Jews were shot by firing range. it was once a cemetery but in the bombings since the War it was destroyed. There are also monuments there to commemorate the Jewish brought from other countries to be killed in Belarus. We visited another site were a large pit was dug and the Jews were marched down to their deaths. A monument was erected in 1946- the first ever Holocaust memorial. During Soviet Rule, it was illegal to go to this memorial, but since the 1990s a memorial has been created. It was a very chilling experience to stand at the bottom of the pit feeling the cold wind, looking at the monument depicting the victims as they realized what would become of them. We left that monument with the feelings of both sadness and hope, knowing that given this horrible tragedy, we had been able to take a part in bringing Judaism back to Belarus.

We had a couple hours at the airport in Minsk, and we had a lot of snacks left from our trip so we spread matzah and tuna and various treats on the table and had a pot luck picnic at the airport! Low and Behold, our Chabad guys from the first flight came and talked to us! We told them that we are studying to be Rabbis, and we ended up having a great conversation with them! We had all been through a similar experience, and it was moving to have such a strong connection with an unexpected group.