Teens Take Life Changing Trip

The senior class of Bais Chana Academy in Orange, CT, recently returned from a year end trip to Poland and Prague.

Six seniors joined Rabbi Yasef and Mrs. Chaya Mushka (Solomon) Rivkin for a most memorable seven days during which they retraced the footsteps of Am Yisroel throughout the terrible years of the Holocaust.

Visiting Warsaw, Krakow, and Lublin, students walked the ground where entire communities were rounded up and sent to their death; davened in the Maharal’s shul; and saw the kever of the Chozer of Lublin.

BCA senior, Ayala Fershtman stated, “Learning about the Holocaust and the history of our people did little to prepare us for the atrocities which took place during those difficult years. We saw and witnesses with our very eyes how man’s inhumanity to man reached unfathomable proportions. When we stood in the gas chambers, we could see the scratches and marks that the Jews left behind as they tried to escape. But there are also the words, Am Yisrael Chai etched into the walls. Yes, despite this awful time in history, Am Yisroel is here, and we have a tremendous responsibility to live for those who perished.”

An uplifting and inspiring Shabbos in Prague with Shluchim, Rabbi and Mrs. Barash, was the highlight of the trip. There, students saw the rebuilding of a European community, and the revival of Jewish life in post-World War II Czechoslovakia.

“Not only did the seniors bond during the week together, but each one came back expressing what a life changing trip it was and how they will never look at the world the same way. They articulated how easy it is to go about our business on a daily basis, unaware and unconcerned. This trip showed them, in a very real way, that the only way to counter all the evil in the world is to reach out with unconditional Ahavas Yisroel to each and every person,” said principal, Mrs. Bluma Hecht. “We are grateful to have been able to give our students this special opportunity.”

For more information about Bais Chana High School, please call 203-795-5261.