Poland Day 3

“A BEAUTIFUL THING”

After spending the Sabbath with the Beit Warszawa community, it came time to mark the end of the Day of Rest with the ceremony of Havdallah. 3 young girls lit the twisted candle, and we all sang prayers to usher out Shabbat. As is their weekly tradition, the group then pulled me in for some traditional Israeli dancing. We joined hands, clapped, and did a whole lot of grapevining. As my grandfather watched on the side, I could see this look on his face – something like amusement, disbelief, wonder. I could only imagine what he was thinking after the Nazis invaded his homeland, murdered his family, put him in a concentration camp, and persecuted anyone who had the audacity to believe whatever they believed. I could only imagine what he thought he might find coming back to Warsaw. At the end, he walked over to the group. “No wonder I survived Auschwitz. If I can live to see this, I can live to see anything.”