Ramaz Fame, Seminar in Leipzig

BERLIN

Very quick overview: personal tour of the city by community member including stop at the striking, moving, effective Shoah Memorial; stepping into the Guggenheim there where I asked if they had any remnants of my beloved high school art teacher's "Bible Stories" photography exhibit there... which they did! I bought a book with pictures from the exhibition - including photos of high school friends since we we had been the subjects of my teacher's photos. Unbelievable. Here's a link (mind the bad high-school haircut), including a photo of me and some friends posing as the jealousy story of Rachel, Leah, and Jacob; "Vashti's Blemish"; taking my headphones out to hear the "Revelation at Sinai." Click on "Divine Gestures" and flip through - you might recognize a face or two (A. Fish, J. Feldst...), or for the Ramaz-ers out there, a hallway or two http://rachelrabhan.com/Artist.asp?ArtistID=18308&Akey=Y2PRXC57.

...sleeping in the Midrasha/Yeshiva there (incredible entities!); Shabbat meals with the rabbi, more explanations of the German Jewish community; Shabbat afternoon babysitting the rabbi's adorable children in the park, growing quite attached to one another!; eating matzah and cucumber on the sidewalk; early train to Leipzig where we'd be contributing to the Pesach seminar there.

LEIPZIG

This community is incredible - their Jewish center was opened by Jews from Eastern Europe, some of whom learned about Judaism from organizations like YUSSR (Yeshiva and University Students for the Spiritual Revival of Soviet Jewry) and were thus inspired to help build Jewish life upon arriving in Germany. Many of the people we met only learned of their Judaism at age 7, 13, or later. My partner and I gave shiurim, led discussion groups, and fell in love with the people we met. By the end of the two days we spent with them, I truly felt that I'd bonded with many of the high school-ers and the people my age who run an integral institution of the German Jewish community.

During the discussion sessions, the high school girls I spoke with went pretty deep. I opened up the topic of the central importance of human-to-human interactions in Judaism, and was met with difficult, sincere questions: who says that the world was made for humans? Were humans God's mistake? What's a God? Simultaneously, my girls inspired me with their remarks about prayer - one said she feels God's presence most when falling - like a flash of "God's the only reason I'm ever breathing." Another recounted that she connects most to the prayer some say before going to sleep in which we verbally forgive anyone who may have hurt us that day - she points out the difficulty of saying the prayer with intention - do we really dispense of all grudges on a daily basis? What a hate-free existence - incredibly powerful but incredibly challenging.

Two of the girls I worked with walked me to the train station at the end of the holiday - they insisted on holding some of my bags and walking me to the door of my train car, waving as we parted. An incredible end to an incredible holiday, taking lots of memories, perspectives, and images home with me. Deeply inspired - not gonna forget this trip nor the people I met, stories I heard, or living monuments I saw anytime soon.