Today we “visited” the Jewish communities of Lublin, Kazimierz, and Sandomierz. I put “visit” in quotes because all that’s left of Jewish life in these places are plaques and cemeteries. But even these stone markers attest to the rich Jewish life that once thrived here. I asked Rabbi Poupko if he thought all that existed here is truly gone. He replied that it lives on through our own Jewish lives as well as the state of Israel. As Rabbi Sacks said, “To be a Jew is to keep faith with the past by building a Jewish future.”
But that’s not to say the loss itself can be set aside. Before we left the cemetery in Sandomierz, Rabbi Poupko called out to the gravestones: “You are not forgotten!”
Tomorrow, Auschwitz and Birkenau…