Poland Trip Application
Spring Dates Apr 1-4
Our Student Mission is led by one of the premier educators of Yad Vashem, Mrs. Hazy Flint. 2 security guards will be traveling with us at all times.
Poland Trip Spring 2026 Itinerary
February 19-22, 2026
WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 18th
Flights arriving from European Destinations
Rendezvous & Overnight Hotel in Warsaw
THURSDAY FEBRUARY 19th
Flight arriving from Tel Aviv
Bus to Lublin and tour of Majdanek Concentration Camp
Grave of Hasidic Master Rabbi Elimelekh of Lizansk
Dinner and Overnight in Krakow
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 20th
Tour of Auschwitz/Birkenau Concentration Camps & Special Ceremony
Pre-Shabbat Lchaims, Candlelighting, Prayer Services, Friday Night Dinner, and Oneg Shabbat
Overnight in Krakow
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 21st
Optional Shabbat Morning Services
Kazimierz Jewish Quarter Tour
Shabbat Lunch
Exploring the Krakow Ghetto, Wawel Castle & Market Square
Havdala and Dinner
Special Stop on way to Warsaw
Bus to and overnight in Warsaw
SUNDAY FEBRUARY 22nd
Bus to Treblinka Extermination Camp
Tour of the Warsaw Ghetto, Umschlagplatz Plaza, Mila-18, Ghetto Wall
Flights leaving to European Destinations
Flight leaving to Tel Aviv
POLAND MISSION Sample FALL Itinerary
WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 18th
- PM – Flights leave from Europe to Warsaw
- Rendezvous & Overnight in Warsaw
THURSDAY OCTOBER 19th
- Flight leaves Tel Aviv
- Bus to Lublin and tour of Majdanek Concentration Camp
- Grave of Hasidic Master Rabbi Elimelekh of Lizansk
- Restored Lancut Synagogue
- Dinner and Overnight in Krakow
FRIDAY OCTOBER 20th
- Tour of Auschwitz/Birkenau Concentration Camps & Special Ceremony
- Pre-Shabbat Lchaims, Candlelighting, Prayer Services, Friday Night Dinner, and Oneg Shabbat
- Overnight in Krakow
SATURDAY OCTOBER 21st
- Optional Shabbat Morning Services
- Kazimierz Jewish Quarter Tour
- Shabbat Lunch
- Exploring the Krakow Ghetto, Wawel Castle & Market Square
- Havdala and Dinner
- Surprise Nighttime Stop
- Bus to and overnight in Warsaw
SUNDAY OCTOBER 22nd
- Bus to Treblinka Extermination Camp
- Tour of the Warsaw Ghetto, Umschlagplatz Plaza, Mila-18, Ghetto Wall, Story of the Uprising
- Closing Session
- PM Return Flights to Europe and Tel Aviv
Poems By Taylor Freeman
After her visit to Poland
2 Poems
I think about my future constantly
I think about the man I am going to marry
I think about my career
I think about my home
I think about children
And I think about children innocence, and their hopes and aspirations
I think about their free spirit and curiosity
Today, as I stood in a forrest in the middle of Krakow,
I thought about these children
Yet they are no longer with us
No longer with innocence, and hopes, and aspirations
No longer free spirits, no longer curious
They were not allowed the chance to be or to do
And the trees stood silent, but the stories roared
And the shofar roared
And the mothers roared
All louder than the gunshots
We are louder than gunshots
We are louder than ghettos, and concentration camps, and selections
We are louder. We are resilient. We are forever.
We are Jewish.
– Taylor Freeman
UPENN
Today, I stood in a gas chamber
And I didn’t cry
I saw the ovens
And I didn’t cry
I stood aside graves
And I didn’t cry
We sung next to 7 tons of ashes
And I didn’t cry
I don’t know why I didn’t
I hear large numbers: 6 million Jews, 870,000 at Treblinka, 18,000 in one day at Majdanek
I think comprehension is impossible
When numbers are no longer statistics
But mothers gone, and children separated, and cousins shot dead, and neighbors gassed
And I don’t think I will ever understand
But I think later
I will weep
– Taylor Freeman
UPENN
Jeff Seidel – Poland Trip May 2019
Today, I stood in a gas chamber
And I didn’t cry
I saw the ovens
And I didn’t cry
I stood aside graves
And I didn’t cry
We sung next to 7 tons of ashes
And I didn’t cry
I don’t know why I didn’t
I hear large numbers: 6 million Jews, 870,000 at Treblinka, 18,000 in one day at Majdanek
I think comprehension is impossible
When numbers are no longer statistics
But mothers gone, and children separated, and cousins shot dead, and neighbors gassed
And I don’t think I will ever understand
But I think later
I will weep
– Taylor Freeman
UPENN
Jeff Seidel – Poland Trip May 2019
2 Poems
I think about my future constantly
I think about the man I am going to marry
I think about my career
I think about my home
I think about children
And I think about children innocence, and their hopes and aspirations
I think about their free spirit and curiosity
Today, as I stood in a forrest in the middle of Krakow,
I thought about these children
Yet they are no longer with us
No longer with innocence, and hopes, and aspirations
No longer free spirits, no longer curious
They were not allowed the chance to be or to do
And the trees stood silent, but the stories roared
And the shofar roared
And the mothers roared
All louder than the gunshots
We are louder than gunshots
We are louder than ghettos, and concentration camps, and selections
We are louder. We are resilient. We are forever.
We are Jewish.
– Taylor Freeman
UPENN
Today, I stood in a gas chamber
And I didn’t cry
I saw the ovens
And I didn’t cry
I stood aside graves
And I didn’t cry
We sung next to 7 tons of ashes
And I didn’t cry
I don’t know why I didn’t
I hear large numbers: 6 million Jews, 870,000 at Treblinka, 18,000 in one day at Majdanek
I think comprehension is impossible
When numbers are no longer statistics
But mothers gone, and children separated, and cousins shot dead, and neighbors gassed
And I don’t think I will ever understand
But I think later
I will weep
– Taylor Freeman
UPENN
Jeff Seidel – Poland Trip May 2019
George Deek is an Arab-Israeli diplomat. In 2018, Deek was appointed Israeli ambassador to Azerbaijan. He is the first Israeli Arab Christian to become an ambassador. Deek grew up in an Eastern Orthodox Christian family in the Ajami neighborhood of Jaffa, in a building where the other tenants included Muslims, Catholics, Jews and a Catholic priest of Jewish ancestry.[2][3] His father, who worked as a tax advisor,[3] was one of the leaders of the Christian community in Jaffa who served as chairman of the Orthodox Association, and was considered a well-known and popular figure in the city until in 2015 a square was inaugurated in his memory in Jaffa in the presence of Mayor Ron Huldai.[4] According to Deek, his grandparents fled to Lebanon for safety when the 1947–1949 Palestine war, having been told that the Jews would slaughter them if they remained in their homes, but expecting to return home once Arab armies defeated the Jews.[3] According to Deek, when the war ended, his grandparents felt that they had been “deceived”, and decided to return illegally to their home in Jaffa rather than remaining in Lebanon as refugees. Since reentering the country was illegal, Deek’s grandfather, an electrician, was arrested and jailed.
