March of the Living
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Traintracks Through Hell to the Promised Land
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t’s perhaps one of the most profound journeys into the past. Its mission is to enable Jewish teens to bear witness to a human atrocity in modern history, ensuring that they will never forget and will always remain vigilant against it happening again. It’s called The March of the Living, which had its first pilgrimage in 1988, and it is a tribute to victims of the Holocaust. A 2-mile walk in silence, from the concentration camp Auschwitz to another called Birkenau, marks the trip. It’s also serves as a hopeful counterpoint to the horrific experiences of hundreds of thousands of Jews, and others, the Nazis forced to march across vast expanses to the death camps. Many perished along the way. 2012 marks the 25th anniversary of MOTL, a procession that takes place each April, corresponding to Yom HaShoah or Holocaust Remembrance Day. Auschwitz More than 11,000 Jewish teens, adults and Holocaust survivors from around the world come together for a week in Poland, a gathering that culminates with the march. Participants from diverse faiths and backgrounds, including some who experienced contemporary persecutions in Rwanda and elsewhere, also join in. In the days before the march, this massive group of people visit other sites of Nazi persecution in Poland – Treblinka, Majdanek and the Warsaw ghetto – as well as former communities of once-thriving Jewish life and culture in Krakow and Galicia, home of the famous Yeshiva of Lublin. “The gut-wrenching experience by the end of the week finds relief only when marchers link arms and become one voice as they sing the Hatikvah (Israel’s national anthem and the Hebrew word for hope), and reaffirm Am Yisrael Chai (Hebrew for The Jewish People Live),” said Joel Katz, a 16-year MOTL volunteer and chaperone from New Jersey. Liz Goodman, a chaperone from Temple Beth Sholom, accompanied 11 Jewish teens from Las Vegas on the trip a few years ago. “The joy begins after we board a plane in the dark of night back in Warsaw, and land in Tel Aviv (Israel) in the morning sun,” she said. “There we were greeted by a celebratory welcome breakfast on the
beach. It was so amazing and uplifting!” A weeklong tour that corresponds to Yom Hazikaron (Israel’s Memorial Day) and Yom Ha’Atzmaut (Israel’s Independence Day) follows the commemorative arrival. Participants journey to such places as Jerusalem and the Dead Sea, tracing the founding of modern Israel in 1948 and 3,000 years of Jewish history, while joining millions of Israelis in festivities celebrating their independence. “We literally were dancing in the streets,” said Las Vegas teen Remy Schlossberg, who went on the trip this year as a high school sophomore. “In Poland I was so angry,” she recalled. “I was overwhelmed by feelings of revenge for what Hitler did. But once in Israel, as I stood on a rooftop in Tsfat, overlooking what seemed like all of Israel, I realized that the Jewish people were the victors in the end by thriving in this beautiful country that they built from scratch, and that gives so much to the world.” Remy maintains this sentiment through her involvement with BBYO, and Tzofim – an Israeli scout troop with a chapter in Las Vegas, where she is a counselor. “Even though this was my second trip to Israel, this time was different,” said Joshua Wexler, a college sophomore whose first pilgrimage was as a high school junior. “I was never so proud to be a Jew … and to feel so committed to never letting this happen again to the Jewish people, or to any people. At school I’m an AIPAC student activist; I’m involved with our campus Hillel; I go often to Friday night services; and I’m a brother in a Jewish fraternity.” Sandy Mallin and Shirley Chaplin, both congregants at Temple Beth Sholom Las Vegas, were aware of the life-changing impact that MOTL has on Jewish teens. Shirley’s grandchild in New York and Sandy’s nephew in Florida had both been on the trip. Six years ago, when their good friend and fellow congregant, Audrey Merkin, passed away, they wanted to honor her by creating a scholarship fund in her name. DECEMBER 2012 DAVID
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Joshua Wexler second from right. A sad moment along the march
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“Shirley suggested MOTL as the beneficiary of the fund,” Sandy said. Freddie Glusman, owner of the iconic Piero’s Italian restaurant just off the Strip, offered to underwrite the MOTL fundraising luncheon that Sandy and Shirley chair each year. “At that point we were off and running,” Sandy said. “One hundred percent of the proceeds from the luncheon go to the Audrey Merkin March of the Living Scholarship Fund. The fund gives money to teens to help make it possible for them to go on the trip,” Sandy continued. “The effort grew substantially, however, when the Las Vegas Jewish Federation stepped in with considerable support.” Federation President and CEO Elliot Karp views his organization’s contribution to MOTL as an important investment in the future. “The Federation initially gave $1,000 to each teen who wanted to go on the trip. In its initial years, that translated to between two and seven teens. As MOTL awareness grows throughout the greater Las Vegas Jewish community, more teens are wanting to go. It’s a fairly expensive trip and the Federation is committed to making it possible for all interested teens to participate,” Karp said. The Federation’s allocation committee approved a $25,000 award
Carly Saxe outside the death bunks at Auschwitz
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Remy Schlossberg far left carrying March of the Living Banner
to MOTL, or essentially $2,000 per teen. “Truth to tell,” Karp said, “the Federation will increase that amount if necessary to send as many students as possible who wish to go. The Federation feels strongly that this trip not only teaches teens, first hand, about the lessons of the Holocaust and the birth of the State of Israel, it best ensures that they will become living legacies to this critical chapter in our history, especially as we lose more and more survivors each year.” One of the trip’s hallmarks is to have a Holocaust survivor accompany teens on the journey. Las Vegas survivor Ben Lesser, 83, made the trip in 2010. “MOTL was one of the most important events I have ever participated in,” he said. After telling his charges about his own experiences, Lesser offered this wisdom: “Remembering the past is the greatest method we have of preventing history from repeating itself. We have taught, shared and shown you all that we can. It is now up to you.” Las Vegas teen Carly Saxe went on the trip, and agrees. “It’s every Jewish teen’s responsibility to attend this life-changing journey. We must pass on the stories of the Holocaust survivors to our children and our children’s children for generations to come, so we can ensure that the horrors NEVER happen again.” MOTL International is the first trip of its kind and it’s geared toward Jewish youth. But it has spawned similar sojourns for varying demographics, including Germans who make the Poland trek to confront horrors perpetrated in some cases by their own parents or grandparents. Tenth-grader Julia Vogt made the pilgrimage. “It’s something we always have to deal with, that our country did something like that,” she said. “I feel proud to be German, but we can’t say it that way because of what happened.” MOTL organizers view the trip as having several goals, the loftiest of which is to “inspire participants to commit to building a world free of oppression and intolerance; and a world of freedom, democracy and justice, for all members of the human family.” For more information or to sign up for the trip, call the Jewish Federation at 702-732-0556; or email Sandy Mallin at SMallin685@aol.com.
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Blanche Meisel, Giver Community Leader, Art Lover and Philanthropist Blanche Meisel is an eshet hayil (Hebrew for a woman of valor and wisdom) by all standards. Married to Phil Meisel for 63 years, she raised four sons and has 10 grandchildren; she has been a pillar of strength, generosity and contribution for 57 years to her family and in the communities she’s served. She and Phil retired to Las Vegas from New Jersey 14 years ago, but Blanche has continued to give her time, leadership and financial support to such organizations as AIPAC, Temple Beth Sholom, Jewish Federation of Las Vegas, Solomon Schechter Day School, Jewish Family Service Agency, Adelson Educational Campus, Florence Melton School for Adult Jewish Learning, Hadassah, Jewish Community Center, Las Vegas Art Museum, Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health and the Las Vegas Jewish Film Festival. Blanche is honorary chair for the 2012 Women’s League (WL) for Conservative Judaism’s biennial convention (held this year in Las Vegas). She has been a WL board member since 1978, including a stint as president of the former Northern New Jersey Branch, including vice president and Torah Fund patron chair supporting the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS). Unfazed by her numerous recognitions, she prefers to focus on the needs and deeds of others.
MEISEL: No. Prior to the Temple, a neighbor suggested I go to a Hadassah meeting. I loved it! One night a week I got to leave my darling children at home to attend meetings. It was a nice break! I eventually became a vice president. But Sisterhood is where I contributed and held leadership roles at the local branch (now called regional) and national levels all these years.
DAVID: What’s the driving force behind your years of dedicated giving?
MEISEL: Soviet Jewry introduced me to broader social action issues. We don’t live solely in our own small or large communities. Helping our fellow goes beyond our backyards.
MEISEL: I would have to say gratitude. I was raised by loving immigrant parents in a beautiful, historic neighborhood of Chicago, and (I am) grateful for the opportunities they gave me. Gratitude fuels giving. I’m also blessed with a caring and responsible husband, who’s made it possible for me to do what I do. DAVID: How did you and Phil meet? MEISEL: At college at the University of Illinois. We got married in 1949 and for a while moved around either for Phil’s education or work. I worked … as a nutritionist, social worker and teacher … and our boys were born. Eventually, we settled in Springfield, N.J. We joined Temple Beth Am, a Conservative congregation. Our children attended Hebrew School there and I joined the Sisterhood, which is what it was called back then … now it’s Women’s League. DAVID: Your volunteer resume reads more like a Ph.D in Tikkun Olam (Hebrew for “repairing the world”). Did your career begin with the Sisterhood?
DAVID: Any eye-openers along the way? MEISEL: Our WL branch was involved with a division of the Jewish Federation that was helping Soviet Jewry. We learned of their plight from speakers, including Avital Sharansky, who was fighting for her husband Natan’s freedom from imprisonment in Siberia. A few years later, I traveled to the Soviet Union with a dieticians group. Of course, I ventured beyond and met with Jews in Moscow and other cities, bringing back information and smuggled out their notes and letters. Locally, I later helped to resettle those who came here. DAVID: Did this have an impact on your sense of social justice?
DAVID: Much of what you support involves Jewish education. MEISEL: Education at all levels defines our moral and ethical behavior and thus how we choose to live our lives. That’s why I also supported The Las Vegas Art Museum as a docent and board member for 10 years before it closed. The best part was taking the schoolchildren around, many of whom had never been to a museum, and for whom this was a revelation. I was also thrilled to have brought the Prate Hagaddah from the JTS Library to the museum for a very successful exhibit. DAVID: You and Phil continue to stay involved with so many worthy causes. How do you manage it? MEISEL: Sometimes I feel like Barbra Streisand’s character in The Way We Were — one project after another. But, then again, isn’t that what life’s all about?
58 DAVID KISLEV / TEVET 5773
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