Jerusalem – A group of 22 young Poles who recently discovered their Jewish roots arrived in Israel yesterday, August 15, 2010, for a special three-week educational seminar organized by Shavei Israel. The participants, most of whom were raised Catholic and are now in their 20’s, came from an array of cities throughout Poland, primarily Krakow, Katowice, Warsaw, Tychy, Gdansk and Cieszyn. For some of the participants, this marks their first time visiting Israel.
Join our WhatsApp groupSubscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
The seminar will take place in Jerusalem and will be held entirely in Polish. As part of the program, the participants will travel throughout Israel, studying Hebrew and learning Jewish culture, religion and the history of the State of Israel. Shavei Israel has arranged for Polish-speaking Israeli educators to teach the young group and guide them on their visits to various parts of the country.
Today, there are approximately 4,000 Jews registered as living in Poland, but experts suggest there may be tens of thousands of other Jews in Poland who to this day are either hiding their identities or are simply unaware of their family heritage. In recent years, a growing number of such people, known as the “Hidden Jews of Poland”, have begun to return to Judaism and to the Jewish people.
“Since the fall of the Iron Curtain, an increasing number of Polish youth have begun to rediscover their families’ Jewish heritage, which was often hidden out of fear of persecution by the Nazis and the Communists,” said Michael Freund, Founder and Chairman of the Shavei Israel organization. “Many are seeking to reconnect with their Jewish roots and with the State of Israel, so we organized this special seminar for them in order to facilitate this process. For us, this is an exciting and historical task.”
We should translate the Veyoel Moshe to them before going to israel otherwise what is the difference between a polish and a zionist
how do we know they arent doing it just so that they can be israeli citizens
Jewish heritage and Isreali history will never produce an erliche yid they should go to a bal tshuve yeshiva Yerusholaim
Unfortunatly # 1 really means it
Maybe they just doing it because they want to get a free trip who says they will stay jewish its a good summer vacation for them
If these young people are in fact from Yiddish mothers, then we as Yidden have an obligation to encourage their return if requested. What takes place subsequent to their visit to Israel is totally dependent on how well the sponsors convey the message and what Hashems wishes are for these young people. Hopefully they will all become shomer Torah mitzvah.
#11 so ‘we’ as yidden whats your next step? what do you plan to do..besides posting here what “‘we’ as yidden have to do”? let me know what you did,ok?