Ani Zocher:
Pilgrims' Stories

Eastern Europe/IP 2004,
by Shira Rosenbaum, Hanefesh

1st experience:

On my last Shabbat in Israel, my group was staying at Beit Nativ, and we took a short walk to Independence Park in Jerusalem. This site was an overlook of much of Jerusalem, and we could see the Kotel. As we finished davening mincha, the Shabbat siren went off. Everything around us grew silent, and the whole city welcomed the beginning of Shabbat together. The siren lasted for a few minutes, and I remember a chill going up my spine, as I reflected on the summer and the 49 people with whom I'd spent the last 6 and a half weeks of my life, and who had become my best friends.

2nd Experience:

Imagine having to navigate, not having use of one of your most important senses, eye sight. As we made our way through Hezekiah’s Tunnels, in Jerusalem I learned about friendship, and trust with 43 friends who I had just met barely 2 weeks before. Using each other for support, and trusting one another, we slowly made our way through the narrow tunnels, which were filled with icy cold water. Not being able to see hampered our abilities to walk normally, and as we moved forward, we could only be guided by the, watch out for the hole in from of you” and “duck! It gets really low coming up!” Each of us became personally responsible for the success and completion of the people behind us, and we became each other’s eyes. In front of me, a close friend Josh, who is a little person, was being carried on the shoulders of another friend Adam. Had Josh tried to walk normally, the small current of the water would have swept him off. And as I walked through the tunnels, I was not only responsible for myself, but helping my friend, Dani through the tunnels. Not only was she extremely claustrophobic, but also afraid of the dark. This was quite possibly one of the most valuable lessons I learned this summer. The trust that we put in one another really reflected our relationships. Although we had only met 2 weeks before, our experiences in Poland, and other places in Eastern Europe touring the concentration camps and areas of Jewish persecution had brought our group together. Knowing that we could trust and rely on each other to complete a task that was horrifying for some gave me a feeling of the most amazing community.

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