Day 3: Facing the Ungodly and Godly Simultaneously
I never thought I could experience the sacred and ungodly, both simultaneously and intensely,
as I did today.
as I did today.
The Vilnius Choral Synagogue, built in 1903, is the only one remaining from 110 former synagogues and Judaic house of prayers in Vilnius. During WWII it remained intact because the Nazis installed a pharmacy in it.
One way to dehumanize people is to destroy their place of worship. Naturally, people will wonder where were you God? And, yet the perseverance of the Jewish community to rebuild this synagogue is remarkable.
We visited a Jewish cemetery, the Vilna Gaon State Museum to view the amazing artwork of Holocaust Survivor, Sam Bak, and saw the Max Weinreich Memorial, founder of the YIVO, now located in NYC.
By contrast, we visited the Ponary (Paneriai) Forest. It is the biggest site of the mass killings organized and perpetrated by the Nazi regime in Lithuania. The Vilnius Special Squad were Lithuanians who executed more than 100,000 people, 70,000 who were Jewish, from July 1941-July 1944.
In an attempt to erase all the evidence of their crimes, the Nazis forced 80 prisoners to unearth the corpses and burn them. They were told to check the mouths for gold teeth and bodies for jewelry before incinerating them. On April 15, 1944, 22 of them escaped through a tunnel which they had dug in the course of 2.5 months. Only 11 survived. Two days later Lithuania was liberated.
In Alexandra Zapruder’s book, Salvaged Pages, I read the diary of Yitskohk Rudashevski, a 15 year old teenager who chronicled his experiences in the Vilna ghetto. He describes hearing about how people were taken to the Ponary Forest to be massacred. His diary was filled with vivid descriptions of life in the ghetto, the commitment to education in spite of their conditions, resistance efforts, and hope for the future. Unfortunately, he was discovered in his hiding place and brought to Ponary for execution. His diary was found after liberation.
Today, I walked the ground that 100,000 people were forced to march on to their death. The hatred and violence that caused this horrific event is unfathomable.
I am inspired by the hope that sustained those Jews who survived. Their resilience has enabled them to create an everlasting legacy.
So, what do you do with all the pain and despair that is triggered by this day? Look at the last picture and find out.
In memory of Yitskhok and all those who perished in Ponary.
Choral Synagogue. The right side is being restored.
Choral Synagogue.
Where the Torah is kept.
Where the Torah scrolls are displayed.
Where women worship. Separate from men. Love how the light is shining through.
The cemetery of the Vilna Gaon. Greatest sage of the 18th century.
Tomb of the Vina Gaon and his family.
It is not customary to engrave pictures on Jewish tombstones, but this was
after the influence of the Soviets due to occupation. Hence Russian and Hebrew.
Artifacts at the Vilna Gaon Museum.
Artifacts at the Vilna Gaon Museum. Prayer shawl.
Samuel Bak Museum. Samuel Bak is a Holocaust Survivor who has used his artistic
talent to teach about the Holocaust.
Adam and Eve and the Partial Repair
Tree Man
Monument to Ponary Forest.
The weather was appropriate for the experience.
Memorial to the 70,000 Jews murdered.
Apparatus to place bodies into a pyramid. On the bottom, wood was placed and lit up.
On the right is where the escape tunnel was discovered.
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