Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on January 16, 2010 by David Bogomolny
R. Levi Cooper told us that we should avoid experiencing our tiyul to Poland through our camera lenses. He told us that some people use their cameras as defense mechanisms.
When the tiyul participants volunteered to take responsibilities upon ourselves so that things might run as smoothly as possible, I volunteered to be one of the ‘Poland Trip 2010’ bloggers; I like writing. Then, at some point, it struck me: blogging about my trip in Poland could become like experiencing the tiyul through a different kind of lens… the lens of entertaining an audience.
Tonight, in a couple of hours, I meet the Pardes group, and we leave for the airport. We’ll be in Poland for five, bitterly cold, emotionally intensive days. We will be exploring the Jewish culture of Poland’s past and present, as well as the impact of the Shoah upon the Jewish and non-Jewish populations of this country. If our hotels provide us with Internet connections, I hope to share my impressions with you…
I hope to keep my stories as true to myself as possible; I’ll try to keep my lens clear.
Pardes trips to Poland are run in partnership with Heritage Seminars. The Claims Conference has provided trip scholarships for qualifying Pardes participants, as well as subsidies for program components directed at Jewish educators.
