From Sept. 12-22, the second Maurer Koach Program cohort travelled together to Krakow, Warsaw and Budapest, seeing firsthand the history of the Jews in the Holocaust, juxtaposed with inspiring stories of empowerment and Jewish growth in each city.

Solemn visits to the death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau and concentration camp Majdanek were mixed with amazing and uplifting interactions with the Jewish communities of Krakow, Warsaw and Budapest. Jewish life is thriving in each place. The cohort celebrated Shabbat dinner at the Krakow JCC, packed food for Ukrainian refugees, and heard the shofar and sang Hatikvah, the Israeli national anthem, with another tour group from Israel in Majdanek, next to the site where 18,400 Jews were murdered in a single day. In Warsaw they met with the Israeli Ambassador to Poland Yacov Livne, and Chief Rabbi of Poland, Michael Schudrich for updates about the war and also how the Polish Jewish community is growing seemingly every day.

A highlight of the trip was the time spent in Budapest. The Maurer Koach group joined the Horizons Young Leadership Seminar attended by a diverse group of leaders from Indianapolis, other US cities, Budapest and Israel’s Western Galilee. Participants built new bonds as they learned together at the Merkaz; Israel Cultural Institute and toured Jewish Budapest. The Maurer Koach program participants were especially moved while hearing stories from their Israeli peers about life since October 7, serving in the reserves, parenting while being evacuated and understanding the politics that underlie the current situation.

There was not a day where someone was not moved by an experience or story that they heard. Many members of this cohort expressed themselves through writing poetry and prose, which can be found at www.jewishindianapolis.org/jfgi-blogs. Participants came home with a new or renewed sense of Jewish community and a deep desire to get involved. The Maurer Koach program has three more sessions, and in each one they will continue to unpack our trip, work on skills and also look to how this group can get involved in the Federation and Indianapolis Jewish community.