Shabbat

And what a Shabbat it was!!! I hope that I don't forget any important details.
Friday night we davened in the Temple, a neologue Shul that I believe was founded in the early 1800s. It is a beautiful and ornate Shul. The Shul nowadays is usually empty, it has probably been 70 years since the Shul was as full as it was this past Friday night. Cantor Adler (from the Great Synagogue in Jerusalem) led services and Rabbi Yisrael Lau (former Chief Rabbi of Israel and Holocaust survivor) gave the sermon. Rabbi Lau spoke about the importance of loving each and every Jew. He gave three interpertations of the verse "Love thy neighbor as yourself". Hopefully some of the students will be able to remember his words when they get back home. We did review his words immmediately after davening this morning, so hopefully everyone internalized his words. The one phrase that he said that I am sure that no one will forget was "We Jews unfortunately know how to die together, better that we know how to live together".
This morning everyone slept a little late and we had a late Tefilla back at the hotel. Davening was very spirited with some singing and dancing. We then had a very delicious Shabbat meal (the food has been amazing, better than ever before!!!)
Following lunch, we walked to Kasmierz, the old Jewish quarter of Krakow. We went into the Rama Shul, where we talked about the greatness, humility, and scholarship of the Rama. We noticed some unique aspects of his Shul and I know the students learnt alot from the few minutes that we spent there.
Of course we did not go into the old cemetery, because it was Shabbat. But we spoke of the greatness of the great leaders that are buried in this particular cemetery; the Rama, Tosfos Yom Tov, Bach, Megaleh Amukos, and Meginei Shlomo.
In addition, we saw several of the other restored Shuls in Kasmierz; the Isaak shul, Kupa, Stara Shul, and the AlteShul. We also went into several museums honoring the glorious Jewish past of Krakow.
Our last stop was a restored Bet Midrash that is now a building that displays Jewish culture and art. There was a very interestng exhibit presently on display. It was several paintings that were inspired by the Poland's own Issak Bashevis Singer. I must say that as soon as I saw the art, I thought of Singer.
Immediately following Seudat Shlishit, we had an opportunity to do some learning. We studied a piece written by the Meshech Chochmah, Rav Meir Simcha HaKohen of Dvinsk, who gives a fascinating analysis of Jewish exile. In this piece he unfortunately predicts the Holocaust because that would naturally follow the pattern that he lays out for us.
This evening we went to Plascow, the labor camp immortalized by the movie Shindler's List.  It is in this camp that Shindler's factory workers lived. We were fortunate to have with us a survivor who actually lived in this camp, Sam Ron. When he spoke about life in this camp he kept saying one thing. He was so frightened day after day here, worse that any other camp. Goethe, who was the commandant of this camp,  depending on his mood would randomly shoot people for no particular reason. This fright made his stay in this camp worse that any other camp that he was in during the war.
We also a heard a beautiful Havdallah and reading (by the red bus) at Plascow.
That's all for now, must get some sleep!!!
RT