Arlington Cemetery: at RFK’s grave

JFK’s grave

Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers

saying goodbye to our home for the last 36 days

wow - we covered a lot of states!

final bus dance party!!

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The Holocaust has never been an easy topic and for us it was equally hard to face at the end of our trip. The museum touched us all greatly.

It began with us getting a card telling you a story of a European Jew who was in the camps during the Holocaust. We crammed into an elevator where a video reinforced the horror of the Holocaust as well as a few words from a liberating soldier. Following a film of Hitler’s rise to power, we were herded into the narrow halls of the museum’s fourth floor, which explained to us the rise of Nazism. The moving display spoke not only of the 6 million Jews whose lives were taken but also of the 5 million others. On the third floor we learned about the final solution which was Hitler’s plan to exterminate all those who were not Aryan. The planks that we walked on which moved us from exhibit to exhibit felt like a bridge between the ghettos and concentration camps. The bridge was surrounded by pictures of a village and its people that no longer exists. Following this came the shoes that because they were made of leather and string, not blood and flesh, they were saved from the hell fire of the crematoriums. There was also the piles of hair as well as a barrack taken from a real camp and a model of how people were gassed. We also saw a video of the medical experiments followed by the Elie Wiesel quote “Never shall I forget that night that killed my God even if I am cursed to live as long as God himself. Never.” Across from these words lay a piece of metal used as the rack to hold the bodies in the crematorium. Tears welled up in my eyes as I stood knowing I could never live up to the 11 million lives that were lost.

I moved down the stairs knowing that I couldn’t stop even though I wanted to. On the final floor we saw the end of the war, concentration camps and Nazism, and Righteous gentiles were noted on the walls. On the bottom floor you can look back at the pictures of the destroyed village and see how many people were wiped out. I ended by going to see the eternal light display in the Hall of Remembrance and tried to remember every face I saw in the pictures.

We left the museum feeling pained and saddened from the Holocaust and one more member of the trip, Hannah Goldstein, leaving to go home. We made our way to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum as we discussed whether or not we should use information gained from the medical experiments done at the camps.

We had our choice of Smithsonians and we split up between the Art, Natural History and Air & Space Museums. They were nothing short of amazing. I went to the Art Museum. The building itself was gorgeous as were the exhibits in it. My favorite was a photo exhibit entitled “On The Beach” by Richard Misrach. They captured the solidarity one can feel at the beach even when surrounded by others and captured what the beach truly is all about.

After the museums we met with Jewish representatives of the Republican and Democratic parties. They had a debate with us as to where the parties respond to the various issues we have dealt with and why their party is the right one. They were incredibly polite but it was obvious that they disagreed with each other much of the time. We grilled them on such issues as stem cell research, abortion, health care and the size of government.

The final meeting of the day, and the trip, was with an organization called Mobilize.org. This organization works to help American youth get involved in the political process. They gave us a handbook on how to mobilize to create change and told us their stories of how they got involved. The coolest part was that Mobilize was created by David Smith when he was 22 years old. He is now 28 and left the organization because he is too old. Mobilize made us realize that we, as students, do have something to say and a right to say it. After this journey, we know what is important to us and now it is our job to make that matter to others and make a change.

We then went to dinner at Potbelly’s, which was delicious, and then went to see “Batman: the Dark Knight” at an old fashioned movie theater. One word: Fantastic.

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We woke up later today which was a nice relief after our jam packed days in Washington DC. We started the day off with a meeting at the National Coalition for the Homeless. They had three people tell us their struggles with homelessness. I found their stories inspiring and eye opening. They told us how they became homeless in the first place and how they have overcome it. We had lunch with them too which gave us more time to ask questions.

After lunch we went to the National Archives. We saw the original Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and Bill of Rights. It was really cool to see all the documents that our country STILL refers to for every decision. They were a little faded, which made it hard to read, but it was still awesome to see the big fancy “We The People” that everyone knows.

From there we went to the Newseum. This was one of my favorite parts of Washington DC. It is a brand new museum about the news but it ranks as one of my favorite museums. The video they have about 9/11 was extremely moving and took me back to that day when I watched the news in shock with my family. They also have the blood splattered notebook and ID of Daniel Pearl, the Jewish reporter who was murdered by terrorists.

on the roof of the Newseum with a great view of the Capitol

with the Newseum’s “mascot”

After the Newseum we ate dinner at Ben’s Chili Bowl which is a famous dining landmark in Washington. The walls are lined with pictures of all the celebrities eating there. The chili was amazing.

Once we were full we went to see the comedy musical group The Capitol Steps. The actors take known songs and put funny political lyrics to them. They poked fun at everyone from President Bush (Georgie on my mind) to Barack Obama (Barack around the clock) to the war (Papa’s got a brand new Baghdad). It was definitely the hardest I have laughed in a while.

The last thing we did was see the famous monuments and memorials on the Mall at night. I enjoyed seeing the ways they chose to remember and celebrate different people and events. It was interesting to see the Korean and Vietnam Memorials and how different they are and, yet, they both are in memory of people not much older than us who gave their lives for this country.

at the World War II Memorial

Vietnam Wall

with the Albert Einstein statue

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We woke up a little groggy from the full day we had yesterday. It had been a hard and fast day that had worn us down. I prayed that I had gotten enough rest for this day.

Our first meeting was with the ONE Campaign. They are an organization that fights poverty and disease in extreme third world countries in places such as India or Africa. One of the most important parts of the ONE campaign is that Bono, of U2, fronts the organization in the media. In the elevators on the way to their offices we whispered (maybe even yelled) about how exciting it would be to meet Bono. We decided that we probably would meet him. We didn’t. But it didn’t matter. Instead we met with Kim Smith, the Deputy Field Director of ONE. She explained that ONE is not like other organizations where people physically build wells, schools, etc. Instead, ONE acts at a higher level by building up a “grassroots army” to raise awareness and petition their representatives to devote a larger portion of the nation’s budget to helping these countries that need it. At this point in time, our government has devoted less than 1% of our budget to poverty relief in other countries. Actually, ONE accepts no donations of any kind but trains people to organize others to reach their congressional leaders.

After this we met with Folabi Olagbaju, the Mid-Atlantic region Director of Amnesty International. Amnesty International is all about upholding the rights that were made legitimate in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The UDHR was sparked by World War II and the Holocaust and the need for that to never happen again. Eleanor Roosevelt fronted the movement of the UDHR which was legitimized by the UN and signed by many nations in 1948. Peter Bereson, the founder of Amnesty International, was reading a newspaper and read about Portuguese students who were arrested for toasting freedom. This didn’t sit well with him so he asked people to write letters to the Portuguese government and got the students released. Amnesty focuses on individual human rights violations as well as bigger scale issues. Some of their campaigns are: abolish the death penalty, women’s rights, to abolish torture, and end the genocide in Darfur. Folabai also explained to us how people in the West thought that rights are something we own but in indigenous areas people think rights are your responsibility to the world.

After lunch, we met with Carinne Luck, the Chief of Staff for J Street. J Street is a brand new progressive lobby that is pro-Israel and pro-peace. They are searching for a two state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and aim to have a dialogue with Iran. J Street just celebrated its being in existence for 100 days. In fact we were the first school group they met with. We understand that J Street is not anti-semitic, they just wish for peace and promote democracy and diplomacy.

After that we met with NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. They would like for marijuana to be legalized. We met with R. Keith Stroup, the legal counsel for NORML. He made a lot of good points. The main one is that since marijuana is physically non-addictive, cannot be fatally overdosed on, and is not more harmful than cigarettes, why is it illegal while tobacco and alcohol are not? Think about it. He also brought up the question of what role should government have in our private lives?

After this we went to Temple Beth Sholom, the synagogue that Etgar member Hannah Goldstein goes to, for Friday night services. It is a modern Orthodox congregation so the men and women were separated. Other than that it was not so different from other services we had been to.

We then went to Hannah’s house afterwards for an amazing home cooked dinner! Afterwards, we did our wrap up at their house. While speaking about our response to NORML, Hannah’s grandfather, who is a judge, stood up and told us what he thought about our meeting with NORML. We realized how controversial many of the topics we have discussed on this trip are. It seems that everyone has an opinion about them. I hope this trip will help us form an opinion about many other issues we will face in the future.

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We woke up to our first Washington DC morning. After a quick breakfast and sleep-filled bus ride, we found ourselves knocking on the door of the non-profit organization, Jubilee USA. Named after the Torah concept of the Jubilee year, this organization is focused on relieving the debt of poor developing countries.

Next we walked by the Supreme Court and Library of Congress on our way to the Cannon Building, where many Congressional leaders have their offices, and went to meet with Congressman John Lewis of Atlanta. Congressman Lewis recalled with vivid detail his role in both the Civil Rights movement and politics today. We had followed in his footsteps during the first few days of our trip in the South. He talked about the march in Selma that he helped organize. Perhaps what was most impressive was his calm disposition as he reflected upon the beatings he took on that day which is known as Bloody Sunday. He answered all of our questions about current issues and the lessons we had learned from the Civil Rights era.

outside the Capitol building

meeting with Congressman John Lewis in his office

Billy then took us out for the quality Chinese food that Washington DC is known for.

Our next stop after lunch was my favorite of the day which was with the environmental group, Greenpeace. As I walked in I found myself overwhelmed by solar panels, daylight sensors, compressed straw furniture and other progressive eco-friendly appliances. We met with Deputy Executive Director, Bill Richardson, who told us about Greenpeace’s inspiring origin of a single ship that gained global support as it set sail to stop nuclear testing. Greenpeace gave us a refreshing and progressive view that promoted action over advocacy. Their devotion and dedication is inspiring.

We ended our meetings that day by coming full circle on a debate that had opened nearly a month ago. The issue of this debate is abortion. We met with NARAL Pro Choice America. As I walked into their offices I recalled my fierce Pro Choice view I had when meeting with the Pro Life group in Dallas. I listened to the facts and points that Adam and Kim, the NARAL Pro Choice staff members who met with us, made, and I realized that I would have followed it blindly before coming on Etgar 36 but now I found myself a skeptic. I realized that if I have learned but one thing on Etgar 36 it is to question everything including one’s strongest convictions.

speaking with the NARAL staff

the NARAL Executive Director stopped by to chat with us

outside the White House

talking with protesters in Lafayette Park by the White House

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We started the day with one of the best breakfasts of the trip. We had heard about it from the lady at the front desk but, in the morning, when Billy told us to hurry up and not miss it we took it seriously.

Our first stop of the day was the Constitution Museum. After being greeted by someone who is clearly a morning person, we went into the theater to see what Billy called a “mind boggling” experience. His passion touched me. I could see how much this play means to him. It was cheesy as we had anticipated but still pretty phenomenal. They walked us through America’s history starting with colonization and ending with current events. It was interesting to see the development of checks and balances as well as their modern applications.

When we exited the theater, Billy introduced our theme for the final days. The preamble of the Constitution was on the wall and Billy pointed out the words, “a more perfect union.” The point of these words is that while the United States can’t ever be perfect, we should always strive for perfection. He then let us go through the museum.

The museum is very high tech. It is a circular exhibit with the history on the outside and interactive political activities on the inside. There were such things as voting for president and passing a bill, so everyone was entertained. The exhibit concludes with a collection of bronze statues of all the signers of the Constitution. We all “signed the Constitution” and then went to the gift shop.

From there we walked to the Liberty Bell. Ezra taught us about its origins. It was originally rung to announce big occasions and it’s last usage was in 1846 on George Washington’s birthday. It was an important symbol during the Civil War because of the quote from Leviticus, “proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all its inhabitants.”

We then had a speedy version of the other Philadelphia landmarks such as Independence Hall, Ben Franklin’s house which was not the high tech museum Billy said it would be but, rather, a museum built in the 70s that has not been updated since.

meeting “Ben Franklin” outside his house

We then passed by some Jewish landmarks such as Mikveh Israel Synagogue. This was one of the first Sephardic synagogues in America. They had a memorial dedicated to Jonathan Netanyahu. He went to school in Philadelphia and then moved to Israel. On July 4^th, 1976, when hijackers attacked a commercial jet, they landed it in Uganda and separated the Jewish and Israeli passengers from the others. Israel put together a rescue mission in which only one Israeli soldier, Jonathan Netanyahu, and one hostage was killed.

At the Jonathan Netanyahu memorial

We also visited a sign explaining Haym Salomon, a Jewish person who helped fund the Revolutionary War. Our final stop was at Ben Franklin’s grave.

Carlton drove us to the Reading Terminal Market for lunch. It is full of stalls with just about every food you can imagine.

On the way out of Philadelphia, Billy gave us a driving tour of the rest of the city. Naturally we couldn’t leave without racing up the steps at the Art Museum famous from the “Rocky” movies. Adam Nesenoff won the race and then we were on our way to Baltimore.

As soon as we landed in Baltimore to the tune of “Good Morning Baltimore,” we headed to a meeting with Neil Rubin, editor of the Baltimore Jewish Times. He began by introducing journalistic dilemmas that we debated. He introduced the idea of self censorship, which led into a discussion about which stories are newsworthy. In the true life case presented, an inspirational Holocaust survivor’s story was exposed as a fabrication, so we argued about whether or not it was necessary to expose such an inspiring figure. Neil believes that all good newspapers create debate. He also acknowledged the need to change with the times, meaning he knows most print will become electronic. He believes it is important to read multiple sources on every topic so as to better understand the situation.

After this riveting debate, which continued outside of the conference room, we went to the Baltimore Inner Harbor. There we were able to walk around and have dinner. Afterwards, we drove to our hotel in Washington DC to rest up for some upcoming packed days. Overall, today was a nice combination of meetings, free time, and good food.

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We began the day by heading back to Harvard Square. We went to Revolution Books which is a Communist bookstore. There we met with George who is a member of the Communist Revolution Party USA. Even though I believe in Socialism, I believe that Communism doesn’t work. Two Communist leaders, Stalin and Mao, killed more people than Hitler. While I may have disagreed with George, I respect the fact that he stood up for what he believes in while living in a country that is afraid of Communism.

After our meeting with George we walked to lunch at Crazy Doughs pizza which was very good. Then we had a long ride to Philadelphia. Once we got to Philadelphia we walked to South Street where we had free time to walk around and get dinner. Many of us went to Jim’s Steaks for the Philadelphia tradition of cheese steaks. It was a great dinner! We finished the day by having our wrap up in a near by park.

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We arrived at the hotel in Connecticut after the concert at 2 AM. Everyone was exhausted, having been blown away by an amazing performance by Bruce Springsteen. I know my eyes were closed as soon as my head hit the pillow. The next morning I dragged myself out of bed and headed to the bus. Or, should I say, our home on wheels. Once the bus started rolling I passed out. Our trip to Boston passed by in a haze of bumpy roads and bright dreams.

We woke up in Concord, MA as DJ Billy played us “Revolution” by the Beatles as our entrance song to Boston. We pulled off the highway and drove to Walden Pond, the famous site of Henry Thoreau’s withdrawal from society and the setting for his book “Walden.”

We walked along a pathway half way across the pond to a clearing in the woods. We sat down and read some passages from Thoreau and spoke about what they meant to us. Billy told us that it really tied into the beginning of our trip when we visited the Dr. Martin Luther King Center and saw a statue of Gandhi. We had learned that Dr. King based his philosophy on Gandhi who took much of his thinking from Thoreau. That is what is so great about this trip, so many things come full circle.

After that we climbed back on to our mobile home and we listened to the Boston theme song “Dirty Water” by the Standells as we drove into Boston. We stopped in Harvard Square in Cambridge. We “supported the local economy” (as Billy says all of the time) by shopping and having lunch. I am sure most of us got a taste (literally) of the local culture.

After lunch we drove to the JFK Library and Museum. It was pretty interesting to learn more about President Kennedy’s life in the White House, at home and on the campaign trail, as opposed to the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas where we learned about his death. It was a gorgeous museum and had a lot of artifacts you wouldn’t expect to find.

Next was the Freedom Trail. We started in the Boston Commons where Billy told us how it provided a place for people to make speeches and help incite the revolution that birthed America. The next stop was the Park Street Church which is where the first anti-slavery speeches were given. The Old Granary Burial Grounds was next. It is a small cemetery where many famous historical people are buried. We saw the graves of Paul Revere, John Hancock, Samuel Adams, Mary (Mother) Goose, and others.

We then saw the site of where the first public school was in America and a statute of Benjamin Franklin as he attended the school.

Next to his statue is a statue of the Democratic party symbol - the donkey. We got to sit on the donkey and take pictures.

We also saw the old corner bookstore where those revolutionary thoughts that were being stated in churches and taught in schools were printed. This spurred the harassment of British soldiers which, in turn, set off the Boston Massacre. We saw the spot where the killings took place.

We visited Faneuil Hall for dinner. After that we walked through the Boston Holocaust memorial. Billy showed us how easy it is just to walk through it and not realize that it’s a memorial. Possibly this is on purpose, to symbolize the people who didn’t realize the concentration camps existed or the people who chose not to realize.

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I woke up this morning and got dressed in my Shabbat clothes to wear to church! I ate breakfast on New York bagels. We caught the subway into Harlem in order to go to a famous and historic church and experience the spirituality and passion of their services. Once we were seated in the sanctuary, I looked around and found the church to be very exquisite and large. We sat in the balcony. The preacher, Rev. Calvin Butts, was good. He spoke loudly and profoundly. He mixed comedy and politics in his preaching as he encouraged his congregation to not sleep through this election but to make sure they register to vote. The gospel choir was loud and amazing. After we left, Billy told us that it was an experience to be there and that the operatic choir was the Harlem form of gospel music instead of the more jazz/rhythm and blues of New Orleans.

We went back to the hotel and packed our bags on the bus and said good bye to Rachel Ehrlich who left because she lives in New York. We then rode down to Greenwich Village. Billy spoke about the history of the beatniks and folk music scene that thrived in the Village. We all went our own ways for lunch and free time in the Village. Aaron Wasser and I ate at an organic restaurant and then walked around in order to experience the Village and enjoyed ourselves. And that was the end of our fun day. Just kidding! We made one stop at the Magnolia Bakery to have some cupcakes and then, FINALLY….we went to the Bruce Springsteen concert. We drove to Giants Stadium and got there nice and early in order to get dinner prior to the hordes of fans. I got two kosher hot dogs and they were amazing. Even better than the hot dogs was eating them in our seats. Our seats overlooked the entire outdoor stadium. It was still light outside and the weather was perfect.

As soon as Bruce Springsteen came on stage the crowd went crazy. His presence was awesome. Aside from the amazing music, he was a great performer. He sat on the stage to sing and had the crowd push him up. The air was electric and the night was perfect. Much of our group stood and danced for the entire three and a half hours that he played. This was my first rock concert and it was an amazing start to my rock concert career. Aside from the excitement of watching Bruce, we enjoyed watching the staff dance, especially Billy who is a big fan of Springsteen. The concert was such an inspirational and even spiritual experience for everyone. We left the concert and stayed at a nice hotel with amazingly comfortable beds.

Earlier in the day, in the Village, I was standing outside on the streets in the rain. A guy was standing next to me smoking a cigarette and he began to talk to me though I wasn’t looking at or talking to him. He was saying to me how we didn’t know how good we’ve got it. We wake up in the morning healthy and happy and we’ve got it all. When he said it, I thought he was a strange guy in New York City so I walked away. Later that day in the middle of the concert, I was looking around and I agreed with him that I “got it good.” I’m on a great journey and I am healthy.

Even though cameras were not allowed inside Giants Stadium, we were still able to get some pictures with our cell phones:

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Today was a very relaxing day. After a late wake up we made our way to Central Park. The Ingbers and my parents brought us some brunch. We then relaxed at the park and listened to David Ippolito, known as That Guitar Man in Central Park. It was so relaxing and everyone enjoyed it. He plays many classic rock songs. We also walked to Strawberry Fields, a small park dedicated by Yoko Ono after John Lennon was shot and killed.

We then jumped on the subway and made our way to the Lower East Side. Billy gave us a history lesson on the neighborhood and how our ancestors moved to this area and many sold things from carts to make a living. We also learned about tenements and how they lived in the Lower East Side. We also explored Chinatown and Little Italy and ended on Canal Street. We had time to go shopping and bargain with the shop owners.

After a New York pizza dinner, we went to see the new Broadway musical, “In The Heights”. It touched on the subject of gentrification, something we have spoken about many times, and how it affects the residents. Everyone seemed to enjoy it.

When we got back to the hotel we discussed the answer to Billy’s question from a few days ago, when we saw “Avenue Q”, which was what does it mean to leave your apartment. We came to the conclusion that it essentially means to leave your safety zone and try new things and that there is much life out there but you have to go out and live it. It does not come to you.

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