A living bridge Haifa-Dzierżoniów

Since Hanukkah week was during our meeting in Poland the candles were lighted every evening. The day we were in Wroc ław we went to the synagogue, where the candles were lighted publicly. It was a special atmosphere, standing in front of the Stork synagogue, where one by one the first three candles were lit. Then Hanukkah songs were sung and danced. Afterwards we met the Rabbi ' s wife, who actually was from Israel, living in Poland for two years by now and she would talk with us (in Polish and Hebrew) for more than an hour. It was very interesting to listen to her story.

It's a big question to nature: “Where is snow?”. Unfortunately we didn't see snow during our visit to Poland. But it would be so great, especially at the Wroclaw Christmas Market.  By the way, Christmas Market looks magically. With all this lights, candles, spicy scents and tasty food. And what wonderful decorations, just look:

Today we had trip to Centrum Historii Zajezdnia. This museum located in old depo. Here was a strike that started the Wrocław Solidarity movement. It happend at 1980. We saw in the museum an huge exhibition. Everything is very colorful and interesting, you can really feel how life looked a long time ago.

For our trip to Krzyzowa, we prepared presentation about Israel. A few interesting facts about history, our schools and inventions. Just look at how we presented our work:

On Monday we visited a hometown of part of our group — Dzierżoniów. We were pleasantly surprised at how such a small city can have so interesting history. During the walk we visited the city central square. Really curiously was the story about one of the oldest local church. From start it was Evangelical church, but in 1962 the church was converted into a warehouse and a furniture store. The store worked in the church near 10 years and now it's spiritual place again. Also here is one of the unique synagogues in Poland. It was built almost 150 years ago. During the II World War, the synagogue thankfully was not destroyed, as it was bought by a local gardener.

 After having visited Hebrew Reali school in Haifa it was the most natural thing to go to the 1 LO Dzier żoniow. First we enjoyed some icebreakers, repeated - for example - the „How are You”-game in Hebrew and Polish. And then - we went to class: The schoolbuilding is very old, a 100 years for sure. But there was a special biology class prepared: We had the opportunity to dissect real hearts of chicken. That was cool. We had heart models to compare and microscopes to have a closer look at certain parts of the hearts.

Today we had a workshop on history: polish and israeli history of the years since the proclamation of the Israeli state and Poland regaining independence. It was fun to find out that both countries have such an important anniversary this year. Both countries have histories that go back for many years more but still 1918 and 1948 were of exceptional importance. For Poland it meant regaining an independent state after more than 100 years – for Israel it meant to establish a country, where - for the first time in hundreds of years - every Jew would be welcome. Many of the first citizens of Israel had come from Poland and ever since then the histories of the two countries were in close contact. We looked ad the stamp issued on occasion of these anniversaries and discussed, which other motifs could have been used.

After a long day of talking and working we went bowling! It was FUN! Some of us had talent, some of us were like grandmasters of bowling, some were even better – and some enjoyed themselves even though the bowlingball did not obey very much. Or not at all.

Ksionzh Castle is the largest castle in the Silesia region. The castle is just incredible. Also nature around castle are amazing – so many trees! And this landscape, just wow! But in the same time this beautiful place has very tragic history associated with World War II. During World War II, the castle was seized by the Nazi regime. Supervised by SS and Organisation Todt personnel, the building complex at Książ became part of the vast underground Project Riese complex, presumably a projected Führer Headquarter and a future abode for Adolf Hitler. Construction works were carried out under inhumane conditions by forced labourers and inmates of Gross-Rosen concentration camp, until the castle was occupied by Red Army forces in the wake of the Vistula–Oder Offensive in 1945. During the construction of the underground for the Nazis, hundreds of prisoners were killed here. Now parts of the tunnel complex beneath the castle are currently used by the Polish Academy of Sciences for grav

On the first day in Krzyzowa we had guided tour. We visited local Palace and House on a hill, where during the II World War meetings. It was an anti-Hitler opposition group, later called the "Kreisau Circle". Members of the group was motivated by different ideologies, but together worked on plans to renew the democratic values of Germany and united Europe. They suffered a bitter fate – eight of them were killed by the Gestapo. But their work was not useless. Half century after the end of the war at the estate of the founder of the "Kreisau Circle" Helmuth James von Moltke started work the Krzyżowa Foundation. The Foundation bases work on principles of the “Kreisau Circle” and continues to look towards developing understanding between persons from different social, political and cultural backgrounds. The reunification of Germany and symbolic "Reconciliation Mass" preceded the creation of the Foundation. Exactly in Krzyżowa, three days after fall of

During our trip, we were able to train a bit with languages. It was not easy, but we tried it. For true, it’s imposible to read on a hebrew when you are from Poland and don't know this letters. But we used transliteration and it’s helped :) It was fun and cognitive. Few example from our “language survival kit”:

Today we started our training in Poland. At the beginning, we tried to remember the names of our new friends. It was not easy, but we almost managed to. A bit of games - and everything is ready.

Last Day in Israel, time to say goodbye but also time to take a look at Poland, where we will meet in a few weeks time. We interviewed some of our friends from Israel, asking them about Poland: Why do you want to come to Poland? -We want to meet new friends and try polish food. We want also see for the first time the snow. Do you know any celebrity person from Poland? -Yes, sure. I know the most famous player-Robert Lewandowski. What do you think about polish teenagers? -I think that we are similar. Just the language is difference. Which city do you want to visit in Poland? -I want to visit Krakow. It is interesting for me to see the old city. Is it important for you to come to Poland? -Yes. It is important to see historical places and find out the history of Jews. Did you visit any country in Europe? -I visited England, France and many other. What do you think about Poland? -When I listen "Poland" it is associate with sad situa

Jerusalem is one of the most important places of religious worship in the world. Center of Christianity, Islam and Judaism. On Sunday in the afternoon we had an occasion to see an valid monument in the city – the Western Wall. First we walked inside the area of the cult. Then we divided into groups of males and females as the wall had two sections, one for men and one for women. The most shocking was that the part for men was bigger than that for women . As it turned out there were more women than men. We could see, how great was the people´s respect for the place. Some people were behaving in a very interesting way, especially the Orthodox Jews. They were bowing and coming backwards faced to the wall after they finished praying, showing a prominent esteem to their God. People call this place "a phone to God", they write their wishes on a sheet of paper and put it into the holes of the wall – between the stones. That was our experience in Jerusalem. By: Kate, Matt and

On Sunday we were in Masada. Our trip took us about 2hours from Eilat . Before sightseeing we watched a short movie abo u t the history of this place. Our tour guide lead us to the cable car which got us to the top of fortres. We didn't think that there is such a beutiful landscape. We saw ruins of old buildings, settlements and the D ead S ea . Masada is an important place because it is o n the UNESCO World Heritage List. The h istory of this place is extensive and interesting. It's the one of the largest archeological sites in Israel. In 72 a.d the Romans besieged Masade. Led by Flavius Silva, a legion of 8,000 Romans built a siege wall and an inclane on the west side of the mountain made of wooden supports. On April 15 73 a.d the Romans captured the summit and found two women and five children because the rest had killed themselves the night before . Masada is an important object and it was worth vi sit ing it . Karolina, Sabina, Zuzanna

Friday afternoon wasn't very nice for two people from our group. They went to an A rab marketplace and they found a nice t-shirt and they decided to buy it. They searched for a seller but they couldn't find him. After a few minutes he came with a very misrable look on his face. They asked for a pri s e , he told them an unacceptable high ammount , so they tried to haggle and he rejected the offer. They left since they had no choice. Then suddenly the man got mad and started yelling and swearing at them. There's a rule on eastern markets that when you show your interest to the product you must buy it, otherways it's impolite. There's a stere otype that an A rab person will alawyas want to haggle when he sells his items and we saw that it is not always so . By: Matt and Marta

Entering Eilat we felt as if we were driving in Las Vegas. All the hotels seemed to be built in a similar style. In the city we could find many stalls, where we bought beautiful souvenirs, cosmetics from the Dead Sea and local delicacies. Walking on the promenade, we were getting past a lot of international shops, local bazaars and great restaurants. Going on, behind the promenade we saw a campsite and then we reached the border with Jordan. Unfortunately the gateway was closed, so we have just seen a big fence. Afterwards we went to the beach. Everyone was shocked by the fantastic view. It looked like the Bahamas or another luxurious place for holidays. The beach made a big impression on us, because there were many palm trees and the water was very clean. But it wasn’t a perfect place, because the sand was like gravel, so we didn’t like it. Water was warm enough to swim, so almost everyone was bathing and having fun. We spent most of the day on the beach and did the shoppin