Hello, my name is Loui Dobin, and I am the Executive Director of the URJ Greene Family Camp. My wife Sheila and I have the pleasure and honor of accompanying your kids through Europe as the Senior Staff Member representing the URJ. I participated last year as well, and had such a great time, I came back!
Our group is composed of campers from Greene Family Camp and the Henry S. Jacobs Camp along with some wonderful new friends from all over the country. The group seems to be getting together famously and everyone is merging into one big family…and we have only been together since JFK Airport on Sunday. After taking attendance about a million times, we all boarded our Delta flight for the 7 hour trip to Prague. I made friends with the gate agent, the purser and the captain, all of whom fell in love with your kids. Apparently not every large group of teens says “yes, ma’am”. Go figure.
Upon landing in Prague, we cleared Czech customs and immigration and were met by our cheering staff members. Shira, Avi, Guy, Mor, Dafne, and Omri had banners welcoming us, and we quickly loaded and boarded the bus into Prague proper. After a quick check-in, we took our bus to the Old Town Square, where all were given funds to purchase dinner at all of the authentic (and not so authentic) retaurants that dotted the neighborhood. The place was really hopping at night, in spite of the on-again off-again rain. Then back to the hotel for a very quick intro program.
Yesterday was spent touring the Jewish quarter of Prague with its synagogues and Jewish landmarks. We walked the Charles Bridge, visited the Castle compound and Cathedral, and had lunch in a mall with a great food court, including authentic Czech sushi. Plenty to eat. We also got to see something that our group is the only one to see – the John Lennon Peace Wall (Google it and Czech it out). An exhausted group of kids went back to the hotel for supper and an evening program. I had the privilege of leading a bit of an indoor “campfire”.
Today we woke up early and drove towards Poland. The first stop of the morning was the town of Terezin. Home to the infamous Terezinstadt concentration camp, we learned the history of that unique institution – how it had served at a propaganda device for the Reich, and bred an astonishing array of Jewish creativity under the worst of circumstances. We visited all parts including the “Secret Synagogue” where we had a brief ceremony. We then went throughout the Camp, ending at the site of its crematorium, where we had another ceremony and sang “The Last Butterfly”, a song from a poem written by a youngster in Terezin.
After lunch, we boarded our bus and Yanik, our bus driver, brought us eight hours to Krakow. I just checked into my room, so there isn’t much more to tell about today. Tomorrow is another busy and intense day that includes visits to Oskar Schindler’s factory (“Schindler’s List”), the original town square, and the Jewish quarter. In the evening we will be briefed on the next day’s pilgrimage to Auschwitz-Birkenau. That is a totally incomplete list of what we will be doing.
We have packed a week’s worth of new experiences and friends into the first 48 hours of our journey. We southerners love the fact that the temperature in mid-June is in the 50s and 60s. And all of us love the fact that we are doing well over 10,000 steps a day on our Fitbit.
Back with more later in the week. I hope you are having as good a time as we are.