Rabbi Emil Fackenheim once wrote: "Jews are forbidden to hand Hitler posthumous victories, they are commanded to survive as Jews, lest the Jewish People perish."

After returning from Poland and learning about the Holocaust, I agree with Fackenheim's quote now more than ever. As modern Jews, we need to keep our Jewish faith and culture in order to pass it on to the next generation. In keeping our faith, we will not give Hitler these posthumous victories and show that we are a strong people who can survive through everything. I personally feel responsible to follow Fackenheim's quote and preserve my own Jewish faith as I continue into adulthood. To accomplish this, I plan to remain Jewish for the rest of my life and raise my children Jewish, teaching them the same values I have learned in my life.

I feel that Fackenheim is completely correct in his statement. The need to preserve Judaism has always been pertinent, if not even more in modern times. I have no problem with assimilation (I am an extremely liberal reform Jew), but many people are straying farther and farther from traditional Judaism, and some could say that this is a problem. I think preserving Judaism  - both in faith and in culture - is one of the most important issues for modern Jews, up there with the conflict in the Middle East. We must continue to be Jewish in any way possible, to survive as a Jewish people, or, like Fackenheim says, the Jewish people will perish. Again returning to Fackenheim's quote, in a post-Holocaust world, Jews need to prove that we are strong. We need to uphold the Jewish faith and its vibrant culture to show everyone that we are stronger than Hitler's armies and the lasting impact of the Holocaust. Through preserving our faith and culture, we can accomplish this.

In theory, this idea is simple; in practice, however, it takes conscious decisions to uphold these values. I personally plan on remaining Jewish and following this quote in order to preserve Judaism. I will remain Jewish for my entire life in both faith and cultural values. I will hopefully lead a meaningful Jewish life, following the commandments I find meaningful. I hope to celebrate the holidays with my family and attend high holiday services. Most importantly, I want to teach my children the Jewish values taught by the Torah in order to pass down the faith to the next generation. This is how the Jews will remain a people, and this is how Hitler will not gain any posthumous victories.

Before traveling to Poland I don't think I felt this strongly about this issue. Sure, I knew that the Jewish people needed to remain strong, and I knew that I wanted to remain Jewish. But now I have a reachable goal, a reason for my Judaism. I believe Fackenheim could not have been more right in his reasoning, and I think all Jews should think about this issue.

I currently have less than three days before leaving for Poland, and frankly, I am still unsure of how it will go. I don't know if I will be emotional or distant, somber or not. Nothing I have or will ever do can prepare me for the experiences I will have in the next week. Maybe this trip will create a more emotional connection between the Holocaust and me. Maybe not. No matter what, I will learn a lot and probably forget most of it due to the emotional exhaustion of the week.

Two full days. In these days I have to pack my bags, move out of my room, and somehow attempt to prepare myself, both physically and emotionally, for Poland. I still cannot fathom the importance of this trip, and I don't think I will truly understand it until much later. The next week will be difficult and challenging, and I only hope to have a meaningful experience that I will remember forever.

I just finished reading yet another article about Israel. This article is about a new book by Simon Schama called "The Story of the Jews." From the article, it seems like Schama is essentially re-writing our entire Jewish history course and boiling it down into a few volumes. He writes of all the viewpoints on our history, which seems very difficult to put into words. I think it is important to see all viewpoints, because only then can you form your own opinions and ideas. According to the article, Schama also uses humor in his language. I think this too is important, because everyone, including the Jews, needs to be able to laugh at their history. From what I read, I think Schama's book seems very interesting, and I may read it at some point.

This week I read another article about AIPAC, the pro-Israel committee. AIPAC has always worked with the United States government in cooperation with Israel, and in recent years they have worked to stop Iranian nuclear missile development by promoting sanctions. Their bipartisan actions have come into question recently, even though it seems to be working. I think that AIPAC should continue to promote bipartisanship, because the majority of Americans support Israel in the long run. Only working with one party would  be bad for American politics as a whole, especially considering the political climates in the United States and the Middle East. In my opinion, AIPAC needs to continue to work with the entire United States government and not lose sight of the final goal pf peace in the Middle East.

Tonight was our first conversation about the Poland trip in just a few weeks. I honestly don't know how to feel about the trip. On one hand, I'm nervous for the rush of emotions at the concentration camps, but on the other hand I know the experience will be memorable for the rest of my life. I have learned a lot about the Holocaust from nine years of Jewish day school, but it has always felt almost distant; I had no family in the Holocaust, and I have met only a few survivors. The part of Poland that I am most anxious for is the pure reality of it. I will be there, where the Holocaust actually happened, and I don't think I will ever be prepared for that.

I recently read another article about an art exhibit in New York called "What I Be: Jews of New York." The controversial exhibit shows a spectrum of Jews from reform to orthodox. It was originally going to be shown at Yeshiva University, but the school pulled out of the project, which led to accusations of censorship. I agree that the exhibit, which shows people and their insecurities, can be seen as very controversial, and I understand the university's decision to back out. If it were my decision, however, I would have kept the exhibit at Yeshiva University. It would have given the students there a venue to see expressions of other Jews and maybe even express themselves. Even though it may be controversial, the What I Be project's goal is to promote conversation, and I think that this would have been achieved had the exhibit been at the university.

Today was our first day back at the kibbutz after ten days of travel. Over the past ten days we visited Masada, Ein Gedi, the Bedouin tents, Gadna, Eilat, and Kibbutz Lotan. While Eilat, with the sun and the beach, was my favorite part of the trip, my army experience at Gadna was definitely the most memorable of them all.

Truthfully, I was pretty unprepared for the army - I didn't really know what to expect, even for the five days we were there. I've never thought about joining the army, American or Israeli, and my mentality for Gadna was that I would just get through it and be done, but after completing my week, I can see that I actually had a good experience in the army. Aside from the inefficiency of moving in ten second intervals, I learned a lot in Gadna: how to shoot a gun, follow orders exactly, fall asleep without a pillow or any blankets, and a lot of Hebrew, which was probably the best part of Gadna for me. I have worked on improving my Hebrew a lot over the past month, and hearing the language spoken 24 hours a day helped my understanding tremendously.

Overall, my feelings for the army barely changed for better or for worse. I still think the IDF is an important part of Israeli culture, but it is not for me. I believe that I should try to do some service for Israel at some point in the future, but it probably won't be through the army.