As I run through the city of Munich I am first struck by the architectural beauty and food stands serving what us Americans consider “traditional” German cuisine in the market square. After a moment or two my focus shifts back to the…
Unlike the other days of this trip, the weather had turned and became cold, grey and cloudy. Loading the bus in the morning to tour Nazi Rally Grounds was not the most exciting thing in the world since I have very mixed…
Comfort in the Cracks From ashes to ashes, dust to dust. The Earth has a unbelievable ability to both nurture and relinquish life. We see and experience this never ending cycle of creation and destruction play out in many forms. The water…
It’s August 11th and our study seminar is almost over. Today we had a walking tour of Nuremberg where we got to explore the old town. On the way to the highest point where the castle sits, we admired the beauty of…
I haven’t posted pictures of many of the things we have seen and done on this trip, because I do not feel comfortable photographing sites of atrocities or memorials to horrors. We have been to Sachsenhausen, the Wannsee Villa, the Memorial of…
Our days have been so full of activity, it is often difficult to remember what we did and when. Friday was remarkable both for the volume and diversity of activities, covering an array of bases from the political to the whimsical to…
A moment that really moved me was Friday night in Berlin at the historic synagogue. From the beginning of the trip I would constantly remind my friends that here we are as Jews, in Germany, less than 80 years later. As the…
Today was the most meaningful of all the days so far. I went to Friday night services at a synagogue and saw Jewish life alive and well in Berlin. I got choked up when we sang the Shema. It has so many…
I had mixed feelings about the Jewish Museum in Berlin. On one hand, I thought that the symbolism of the building’s architecture was very powerful. I loved the courtyard that was built to look like a sukkah or chuppah, and how it…
On our 4th day we learned about Modern Germany. The discussion started with learning how Germany rebuilt as a nation after the war, led by one of leaders of Action Reconciliation Service for Peace. This organization was founded as early as 1958…
The third day of our tour was called “Remembrance & Beyond,” a day where we confronted the atrocities of the Holocaust. Located north of Berlin in the town of Oranienburg, Sachsenhausen was a former concentration camp used primarily for political prisoners from…
On our second day in Berlin, we started with a Q&A session about the Germany Close Up program. It was interesting to hear how Dr. Pruin came up with the idea for the program and how her experiences as a teenager in…