Ani Zocher:
Pilgrims' Stories

Poland Seminar 2004,
by Sara Lopatin, METNY

My summer with Group 6 on Poland/Israel Pilgrimage was absolutely amazing. I saw some things that I'll never forget, laughed harder than I knew was possible, and made incredibly intense connections with the best friends in the world. But thinking back on the whole experience, I realize now that the most important thing I experienced was the extreme electricity that I felt throughout the whole summer.

That electricity was there in Poland, and it was also there in Israel, but it was never as strong as it was the day we boarded an El-Al plane and flew from Poland to Israel. The night before, my group gathered in a room in our hotel in Warsaw, and discussed why we were so excited to go to Israel. Honestly, I don't remember much of what was said, but I do remember the tears that clouded my eyes at the end of the night, thinking about the next 24 hours.

We woke up the next morning, went through early check in at the hotel, and headed to the airport. Many of us chose to daven in the terminal, and the rest stood around the glass wall and stared at the blue and white plane, talking about how it was technically Israel, so we would be in Israel in a matter of minutes.

Once we took off, that atmosphere on the plane was chaotic. The 80 of us (the two second departure Poland groups) didn't sit down for one minute of the ride. Everyone had headphones on, and we were all singing whatever was playing on the airplane sound system. We danced up and down the aisles, and hung Israeli flags from the overhead compartments. As we began to descend, we gazed out the windows, staring down at Israel. As the plane rumbled down and hit the runway, we sang Yerushalayim Shel Zahav with thunderous volume. Once again, tears clouded my eyes.

I had the kind of emotions that can only be caused by emotional energy, and I was crying because I actually felt that electricity tingling up and down my spine. All of my pent up emotions from the previous week in Poland spilled over, and I realized it before I even stepped off the plane that I was home.

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