Now that I have been back from Poland for almost a week, I am able to reflect on the experiences I had there. Even one week is not enough; it will take much longer to realize the extent to which this trip had on me. From the sadness of Majdanek and Auschwitz to the sights of Krakow and Warsaw, the images and memories from Poland will last forever. But from all the things I saw in Poland, the message was always the same: we had a vibrant culture in Poland, which was taken away forever. No amount of rebuilding can ever replace the communities destroyed in Poland. The only thing we can to is remember and rebuild what we can, both culturally and religiously. And that is what I want to do – not only survive as Jews like I wrote about before, but to rebuild and remember what we had and what we can have.

Seeing the vibrant Jewish communities from before the Holocaust was particularly haunting for me. Going to Tykocin and seeing the remnants of a once vibrant, thriving Jewish community. Visiting the multitude of museum-like old synagogues in Krakow. These communities will likely never regain the level of Judaism they once had before the Holocaust. And so we must rebuild. Israel is now the land of the Jewish people, and just as Poland was the center of Jewish culture then, Israel must be its center now. The rebuilding stage in the post-Holocaust world has been going on for decades now, and my generation must be the one to continue this and create a Jewish cultural hub rivaling that of Poland. This means Jewish art, Jewish music, Jewish architecture, Torah study, every type of Jewish culture possible. And once this is created, as much of it already has been, it is our job to continue its tradition and not let it almost disappear again.

But just rebuilding is not enough. There are only sixty-six students on EIE yet countless of other young students around the world without this experience. To rebuild and continue the tradition of Judaism, we must educate everyone in order to keep Judaism alive. The vibrant Jewish life of Poland was destroyed by Hitler and Nazi Germany, and this must never happen again. Along with the rest of EIE, I visited Majdanek, Auschwitz, and Birkenau. The haunting realization of what happened in these three places was enough for me to want to continue Judaism more than ever. I wasn't necessarily sad in these camps, rather I was angry. Such an amazing culture with amazing people was completely destroyed, never to return. And so we must remember. We must remember the six million that died and the countless generations of their descendants never to be born. We must teach of the horrors of the Holocaust so it is never repeated. We must commemorate those who saved their Jewish neighbors and risked their lives for others.

When asked what I took away from Poland, I was almost confused. My experience led to the strengthening of my own Judaism, but this was difficult to put into words. I don't necessarily feel more Jewish, but rather more connected to the past, more in touch with the history of the Jewish people, a history which I want to continue. And there it is: I took away a collective memory of my people which I want to continue and enrich in every way possible.