Poland-Israel Report (8/8/09)
Hazzan Abraham Lubin
Poland was once a land of more than 3.3 million Jews. It was once the main locus and guiding star of all Jewish religious and secular movements. And it was there that so many of our own families emigrated, bringing to America the heart and soul of East European Yiddishkeit. As Poland’s Chief Rabbi, Michael Shudrich has noted “Where would Israel and American Jewry be without the Polish Jewish history.?”
We are all aware of the massacres of Jews carried out by Nazi Germany on Polish soil; we also know, too well, that so many Poles were complicit in these crimes. But to see Poland today and what developed there in the past 20 years, since Communism’s collapse, is a remarkable story which should give us all hope.
It was for these reasons and for the fact that the rich repertory of East European Hazzanut began in Poland; some of the greatest Hazzanim of the 19th and early 20th centuries lived and served in all its cities and Shtet’ls and some 1330 Hazzanim perished in Auschwitz, Birkenau and other concentration camps,that The Cantors Assembly’s leadership, of which I am proud to be a past president, had the vision more than two years ago to hold this year’s annual convention, in Poland and Israel.
Almost 100 cantors and some 300 congregants from the US., Canada, Israel and other countries, including a group of us from Beth El, were privileged to be part of this memorable and transformative Mission to Poland.
Let me share some of the highlights:
1) An opening evening Ma’ariv service at the Nozyk Synagogue, Warsaw’s only remaining pre-Holocaust congregation. The Service was led by cantors Lichterman, whose father was the last Hazzan at the Nozyk Synagogue, prior to World War II.
2) A memorial ceremony and musical program which I was honored to lead at the Warsaw Ghetto. This event coincided with the official groundbreaking for the new Museum of the History of Polish Jews. This museum will reflect the lasting legacy of Jewish life in Poland in the course of a 1000 years. It is projected to open in 2011.
3) A sell out concert of Jewish music sung for an audience primarily non-Jews at the National Opera House in Warsaw. The Opera House Orchestra and choruses of adults and children accompanied the members of the Cantors Assembly. The Polish prime minister, Warsaw’s mayor and Iserael’s Ambassador to Poland. The opera’s children’s chorus walked off the stage singing the Hatikvah and the concert concluded with all the cantors appearing on stage with Tallitot and singing the famous Lewandowski Halleluyah. The emotion was palpable as we all wiped our tears.
4) A performance of Yiddish Theater classics at the famous Ida Kaminska Yiddish State Theater.
5) A Shacharit (morning) Service at the Auschwitz Concentration Camp was held, the morning’s Torah reading was from a Torah saved from the Holocaust and brought to the site by the Cantors Assembly. At the conclusion the Torah was unwrapped and a number of survivors and their children who were present were enveloped with tallitot and the Torah. A most powerful moment of the day.
6) In Krakow, a beautiful city not destroyed by the Nazis, the Cantors performed a Fourth of July Americana concert at the Krakow Philharmonic Hall. Again a sold out audience primarily of non- Jewish Poles, made it a truly great event.
7) A remarkable event in Krakow is the annual Jewish Music Festival which has now been held for the past 20 years. It is a city wide event that draws both Jewish and non-Jewish audiences and attracts Klezmer musicians from all over the world who perform 10 days of concerts and other cultural programs. About 15,000 to 20,000 of Polish community members, mainly of the younger generation, were present for the closing night musical extravaganza, where members of the Cantors Assembly performed a traditional Saturday night Havdallah ceremony. It was truly an awesome and moving experience.