R.I. Teens join March of the Living

On April 28, thousands of Jewish teens, from 40 countries around the world, will share in a once-in-a-lifetime experience when they march 4.8 miles from Auschwitz to Birkenau, the largest concentration camp complex built by the Nazis during World War II. The greater Rhode Island community is sending nine teenagers on this trip. The New England delegation includes 41 people from Rhode Island, Hartford, New Haven, Stamford and Boston. Survivor Siegmund Listwa, accompanied by his son and nephew, will be going on his second March of the Living trip prepared to educate and join in with the teens as they march to the camp where he once lived.

The march commemorates Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. The Rhode Island delegation will be there along with more than 10,000 participants marching shoulder to shoulder for this historic March of the Living. The teens’ experience will be in direct contrast to the tragic fate of hundreds of thousands of Jews and others who were forced by the Nazis to take part in the infamous “death marches” across vast expanses of European terrain under the harshest of conditions. At one of the gas chambers in Birkenau, the teens will participate in a memorial service that will conclude with the singing of Hatikva, reaffirming am Yisrael chai – the Jewish people live. The participants will also visit Lublin, Zamosc and Warsaw. From Poland, the Rhode Island teens will fly to Israel to join thousands of Israelis in celebrating Yom Ha’Atzmaut, Israel’s 66th Independence Day on May 6. The teens’ week will include a march in Jerusalem, a visit to Providence’s sister region of Afula/Gilboa and a climb up Masada.

Prior to the trip, the Rhode Island teens have been attending a weekly class taught by Rabbi Barry Dolinger of Beth Shalom along with Rabbi Wayne Franklin of Temple Emanu-El, May-Ronny Zeidman of the Holocaust Education and Resource Center of Rhode Island (HERCRI) and Matan Graff, our Israeli Shaliach (emissary}. The students have been learning about the rich Jewish life in Europe prior to the war, the specific locations in Poland they will visit and how Israel was established. They have read the book “The Search for Meaning,” written by psychiatrist survivor Viktor Frankl.

Participants are high school juniors and seniors from all over the state: Jesse Brenman, Nili Levine, Miriam Heath, Ben Harpel, Kevin Sock, Julie Penn, Makenna Kobrin, Alexis Kutenplon-Rayess and Candace Powning. The trip is supported by the Jewish Alliance and its synagogue partners, the Touro Fraternal Association and HERCRI.

Jana Brenman, director of teen education and engagement at the Jewish Alliance, and the regional director for the New England delegation of the March of the Living International, said she is looking forward to providing this powerful transformative experience for these teens. “They will develop a deeper sense of Jewish identity by listening to stories of survivors and sharing this meaningful experience with Jewish teens from all over the world. The Israel part of the trip deepens their commitment to and love of the land of Israel, the homeland for the Jews.”

She said the New England region is fortunate to have experienced Jewish Alliance staff, including Matan Graff, Elanah Chassen and Erin Moseley, join the trip. Rabbi Barry Dolinger is the clergy and educator for the trip.

For more information on the March of the Living or any other of the many teen programs at the Jewish Alliance offers, contact Jana Brenman at 401-421-4111, ext. 181.