Our Trip to Poland

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Passport photos of my parents, Lewi (Leo-1929) and Fayga (Fay-1928)


Dear friends and family,

In the summer of 2019, Carol and I visited the Auschwitz exhibit at the Jewish Heritage Museum in NYC. I realized then that I did not understand enough about what was lost in the Holocaust. I did not understand enough about who I am. Not just millions of Jews but also a rich Jewish world and heritage was destroyed. That is my heritage. It is a treasure, writes Warsaw-born Jewish theologian and rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, that is “now contained in us... the present generation is still in possession of the keys to the treasure. If we do not uncover the treasures, the keys will go down to the grave with us, and the storehouse of the generations will remain locked forever ....”  


So, we decided to visit Poland, seeking to uncover those treasures, and to learn more about my family’s roots. And here we are. We hope to physically, emotionally and intellectually experience as much as possible of that Jewish life. Luckily, in recent years through the efforts of both Jews and Poles there has been a significant effort to recover and memorialize that life, through Jewish museums established, cemeteries recovered, synagogues restored, historic plaques placed and so forth.

   It is of course impossible to even remotely restore what was lost. The period of Jewish sojourn in Poland – roughly 1000 years – and the development of Ashkenazic culture and Jewish religion was a “golden period” of Jewish history.  We hope to learn more about how Jews thrived and struggled; what was developed and what lost.

   We will attempt to highlight important elements of our experience as we go along and share it with family and friends in the form of a blog. Of course your comments are always welcome, and if you want to come off the list let me know.

Peace and love,

Carl and Carol

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