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In recent decades, trips to Poland for 11th graders have become de rigueur in high schools in middle class communities.

Shabbat and Yom HaAtzmaut, Israel's Independence Day. On the surface, these holidays have little in common. One has existed literally since the beginning of creation, the other since 1948.

It

It is worth remembering another day of infamy – September 1, 1939 – the day that set in motion the destruction of six million Jews. That date is a grim reminder of a wondrous Jewish world that would soon be no more.

I remember the absence of sound,
deeper than silence
and more lonely,
like the moment just
before Creation,
all stretched and
attenuated, waiting,
except there was no time
to measure 
eternity,
so waiting was
Now.

Cafe Spindel is a quaint café in the center of Bad Segeberg, Germany that used to house a wool-processing factory. Because it was an unseasonably warm and sunny late summer day when I visited, our host, Pastor Martin Pommerening, suggested we sit outside.

On Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day 2015 (Yom HaShoah), the entire Jewish community mourns the tragic loss of life, the genocide that occurred during World War II, which resulted in the death of an estimated six million Jews.

Chocolate is a hot commodity in Israel, where you can spread it, bake it, and drink it in uniquely Israeli ways. Chocolate establishments dot Israel's countryside as abundantly as sabra (cactus) plants.