We started in Krakow with a trip to Jewish quarter  kazimierz  and the area which still holds a bit of the old feel from what we imagine. Close by is Shindler’s factory where they were just opening their museum to the shoah and the heroic acts of Shindler that happened there. It was a little too renovated for some of us , and for those that saw the movie, but nevertheless they are preserving it. which should be commended. We visited a concentration camp right in there heart of Krakow, and saw how people are living just where the Jewish ghetto walls were. Strange to think how it must be to live there. In one SS officer’s house where many of the torturing was executed ;currently it an active  apartment house, called the grey house then. Across the street is a colorful apt building with flower pots on the balconies.Many of the places that once were ghettos or camps were left as grassy area , most with some type of monument.

there were some delightful restaurants  there in this quarter, where ironically I had the best pirogies of my life.and we were serenaded by a sweet man playing klezmer. One needed to find the moments of peace and beauty in this trip. Krakow is a beautiful, very youthful lively city.

My trip to Auschwitz was moving , I had a lot of time to meditate, remember and say prayers  and light candles for all of those that requested, as well relatives of mine that had perished there. I was amazed by the sheer massiveness of the place, and the efficiency and propaganda ,and deception with which they carried out their massive killings. I always wondered how the Jews barely reresisted. They really believed that they were going to a better place or if they behaved they might actually be saved; really till the last minute as evidence by the massive number of personal belongings that are in Auschwitz. It is now set up as a museum, where the famous sign of work will set you free is posted above the entrance.I tell you it’s such a strange feeling to willingly walk in through those gates. As a Jew you are saying how could I enter this place where we tried so hard to leave? There was a lot of fear that arose in me my first time , till I realized the Nazis weren’t there anymore to harm me.  Although these fears were allayed something still was nagging at me knowing that other such terrible atrocities, unfortunately are still  happening  in this world.

Most of the buildings and barracks,and one remaining gas chamber are kept as is. Even the buildings that the Nazis tried to destoy and remove the evdence are left just as it was in many ways when they found it. When the Russian army came in afterwards, they did what they thought was good by helping to clean the place up and create massive graves for the bodies, instead of proper burials, although to identify the bodies was nearly impossible. Upon arrival we see very disturbing movies to this affect, then we went on to a tour where we saw the massive personal affects such as shaving brushes and mugs,pots to cook in, shoes, hair (which has lost its color over time,and will eventually turn to dust they say for lack of proper compounds known to preserve it ).

There are many building dedicated to all the different groups that lost lives there. French, Poles,Roma/Sinti commonly called gypsies.Such a vibrant and lively group nearly destroyed.I was struck at the beauty and the color and the vibrant life that virtually popped out of those pictures.

After some spartan soup and bread in their cafeteria. There is no food permitted on the grounds; we go to few minutes away Auschwitz/Birkenau where the train tracks ended and so many people are seen arriving on the platform. I am struck by the lush green of these hot June days against what was at one time so barren of any vegetation.

There is a very moving gallery called the sauna (in Birkenau)where many pictures are displayed there in a endless wall of beautiful faces, brides, babies, grandparents..

The days were spent mediating, reading names of those that perished and simply bearing witness.The mornings we had council groups,our group had ,a mixture of poles, Germans, Americans, people whose families had been Nazis and victims. it was a strong meeting. One night we saw the art of a beautiful man that passed on last year.

Marian Kolodziej's Art

Marian Kolodziej who was #432,and went into the camps in ‘41 and out at the liberation, He had been arrested as a Polish resister, so was not immediately killed. Afterwards  He became a very known set designer  for theatre, and at 80 he had a stroke,and with the advice of his DR and the help of his wife started drawings . What came out was what had been held in him all these years, the faces and eyes and the amazingly detailed and beautiful pictures that he continued incessantly drawing till his passing . The pictures are in oswiecim (the town  in which the Germans changed  to Auschwitz )in a Franciscan monastery displayed in a striking and dramatic way by him.

We extended the trip to include a teaching at a dominican monestary in Lublin ;Ohad  was asked to teach chasidut.It was an amazing  opportunity- very unique, young students plagued with questions of evil ,and its existence.We visited a theatre/museum TEATR NN there dedicated to memorializing the lives of those  who past in the shoah and those who helped them with amazingly  precise details of the life and the Jewish life in Lublin before. They deal with the difficult subjects with inspiration, creativity and love.

We ended the trip in Warsaw,there I had one of my stronger prayers in the place where the Warsaw ghetto stood, and was completely demolished. My grandpa Max Mandelbaum lived there, and Sophie, my great grandma ,before coming to Ellis Island in 1911. I imagined what he looked at and saw when he was there. The old city was destroyed but the European community was so devastated by this loss to the great Warsaw, it rebuilt this area for the 3-4 years after the war. They tried to replicate it in as much of the exact detail that it once stood.Something made me feel a bit like walking through a movie set there. but the effort is so great, and the fact the you can walk there in what it once was like is amazing.

Well that’s it, for now I bless you all with love , happiness and aliveness. one thing I saw there was the preciousness of life,and how we have been granted life, let’s live it fully with love and open heart.

Around the ashes pond. retreat 2003

Rabbi Ohad is among the clergy officiating this year at the Zen Peacemakers  Bearing Witness retreat in Auschwitz,Poland, with Roshi Bernie Glassman, along with religious leaders from all faiths.    This will be Ohad’s 7th year  joining  this very powerful retreat to bear witness to the pain and atrocities that took place there.

Bernie visited the camps on his own some 15 years ago. After witnessing the  pain that people had upon seeing the camps on  their  first encounter, he saw that there was no outlet for the devastation which the people were experiencing when they visited. They would go in and have a tremendous rush of  feelings and despair, and leave. After viewing this Bernie vowed to bring a group back to bear witness. The next year he took 150 people, and for the past 15 years there have been bearing witness retreats following that first one.

There are three tenents of the Socialy Engaged Buddhism of which this work is a part of.

The first is not knowing,

the second is Bearing Witness,

the third is loving Action.

During the retreat we first have a tour of the Jewish ghetto in Krakow. Then the next day we go to Oschwintzen, known by the Germans as Auscwitz. We stay in simple lodgings in a hostel near by the camps. we start the day with a tour of the camps. in general the days are broken down into morning  council sharing groups, where you might be with a polle, a german, children of perpetrators, and victims together. It is a very necessary and important component of the retreat. Here we have time to sort out our mixture of feelings, and share in one another’s feelings,and listen from the heart..

Later in the days we go to the camps and sit in one of the camp sites, barracks or yards for meditation sessions. The never ending reading of names of those perished in the camp is the mantra for all meditation sessions.

Every day there are also rituals taking place, of all the religions and paths present in the retreat – Christian, Buddhist and Jewish. R. Ohad is holding the Jewish ritual, accompanying it with his guitar and praying with old and new Hasidic tunes of Dvekut (= devotion, surrender).

Dawn is also coming this year for her second time to the retreat, with an intention to serve the retreat.

One thing is important to know: Auschwits is not over. it is not merely a historical site. It is a testimony to what humanity can cause to itself.

R. Ohad is planning to take part in the spiritual holding of the next retreat, coming on Nov 2010. For more info about the bearing Witness retreat and Socialy Engaged Buddhism visit the international Zen Peacemakers family website

Being The Peace

At a Rainbow Gathering in Turkey, Israelis and Iranians bond.

Rabbi Ohad EZRAHI (TRANSLATED FROM HEBREW AND PUBLISHED BY ESSENCE OF LIFE)

One Nation

In the high mountains of Turkey, there was a gathering that some would call miraculous and unbelievable, but seemed for everyone that was there so natural, as if it couldn’t have been any other way.

In those mountains we sat around a campfire, Israelis, Turks, and Persians, about one hundred men and women, young and old. We sang, cooked, ate and laughed, played and danced like best friends, as if we were one nation with no state borders, a nation at peace.

How I Got There

My good friend Gabriel suddenly arrived at my weekly Kabala lesson. Gabriel has a sense for locating places in which our society can grow. Therefore, I pay close attention to his suggestions. “Are you coming to Turkey? It’s one of the most important things going on right now. We’re meeting with people from Iran, with our Persian brothers. Come!” he tells me. And so a few days later my wife and I find ourselves making our way through a small remote village in the mountains west of Anatolia.

Hours of travel bring us to a small Turkish village so rural that the paths beyond it can only be navigated with a tractor. A villager communicates with us using hand gestures, and takes ten Israelis at a time, crowded into a cart with their camping gear by tractor up the mountain. We climb higher and higher. With each new turn we are sure we have arrived, but who ever chose this place opted for a truly remote location.

Rainbow

The Rainbow Tribe began in the 1960’s in the United States. Rainbow gatherings don’t have a defined structure or leadership. Everything is done for free, and out of good will. People hear about gatherings by word of mouth and arrive from every corner of the world. And, in every Rainbow Gathering that you come to you will be greeted with “Welcome home.”

At gatherings, volunteers build a communal kitchen in the outdoors. They also collect money into a magic hat in which every person contributes what he wants and can, and then supplies are purchased at the nearest town. One day there might be a lot of money in the magic hat and the meal will be especially lavish, and another day there might be little money and the entire circle will feel it in his or her belly, but the food is divided equally, everyone eating what there is.

During a Rainbow you learn how to be in nature, how to be part of a circle, respect the space of others, and how to sing prayers before meals. You also learn that the work that needs to be done can only be accomplished through good will and joy, and that part of the “work” is also about creating a positive atmosphere. Therefore, if for example you are a musician, you are likely to find yourself making music for people peeling potatoes in the kitchen and this may be your contribution to the community effort.

A few years ago there was an International Rainbow Gathering in Turkey where Israeli friends were surprised to meet Rainbow friends from Iran that challenged all their preconceptions about Persians.

There was a definite feeling that this was a gathering that should be repeated. And that is how we found ourselves having many conversations with new Persian friends and discovering some sophisticated and open minded people with a wonderful sense of humor.

Revelations About Iran

One evening we had a conversation with Istahar. Istahar told us about the place she grew up in. Her parents used to read Osho to her in Persian, and sometimes translated and published Osho’s materials in Iran.  She grew up in a house of spiritual people who aspires to create an Osho-style ashram in Iran. According to Istahar, books and other materials pertaining to the spiritual world, yoga and meditation classes, avant-garde theater performances – a whole world of open life reminiscent of the Western spiritual world – exists underground in Iran.

Ishatar told us that it is illegal for a woman in Tehran to wear make-up in public. If a woman is caught wearing make-up she will be arrested by the police and thrown into jail, but many women do it anyway. They will not surrender their right to wear makeup; they go to jail and meet other women who were arrested for the same crime, and then are released after a day or two. The Iran prisons, in her words, have revolving doors – people come and go.

“I’ve been living with my boyfriend for two years now, even though it’s technically forbidden. We have learned how to deceive the government and play the game in order to live the way we want and believe,” she adds.

I have met with peace activist Muslims many times before, but meeting these people from Iran was a pleasant surprise. Unlike other occasions, I felt almost no cultural gap. To my surprise I didn’t meet any supressed women or chauvinistic men that spoke about peace between nations without knowing how to have peace in their own homes.

Rather I met men that allow the women to be themselves, and spoke to us as friends, without victim or inferiority complexes. It seems to me that these people that live under extreme Islamic occupation passionately desire equality.

Peace Begins Within

Also these Rainbow people know peace is not a political slogan, but something that lives within, something that you project outwardly when you truly seek to live in awareness, without letting fear draw the map of your world.

Next year, ‘inshAllah’ we will met again in Turkey, the only county that both Israelis and Persians can easily visit without too much fuss.

Next year the gathering will be dedicated to deepening our connection. And, maybe we will even be blessed with a few Palestinians, and rainbow sisters and brothers from Kuwait or Qatar will join the Middle East peace celebrations…People that want to come together to live and be peace. Because, as one of the Persian woman said, “We are the Peace.”