Shalhevet is a two-week educational program to Poland and Israel initiated by the Bureau of Jewish Education and the Holocaust Center of Northern California. This March, seniors Tal Cohen, Nadav Perl, Gal Michael Peleg and Yasmin Santis went on this inspirational program.

“Shalhevet, the Hebrew word for flame, is often associated with remembrance and the passing of knowledge,” Peleg said. “The goal of this trip was to learn about pre-Holocaust life for the Jewish people, recognize the historical and social context of the Holocaust with its connection to the establishment of Israel, and to understand our responsibility to act as witnesses.”

Cohen said that she went on the trip because many of her family members died in the Holocaust. “It was important for me to go there and see what millions of Jews had to go through,” Cohen said. “I have learned so much and heard so much about the Holocaust that I felt like I had to take this opportunity and see this important part of my history”

The students’ journey through past generations began in Krawkow, Poland. They traveled through the Krakow Ghetto, Oscar Schindler’s Factory, the Warsaw Ghetto, The Jewish Cemetery and Pleszow Work Camp. The most difficult part of the trip for many of the participants was visiting the multiple concentration camps. The students went to Auschwitz/Birkenau, Majdanek and Treblinka.

Concentration camps are very disturbing and powerful sites and not that many people have a chance to witness the horrors that happened there during World War II. “Every participant felt differently at the camps,” Peleg said. “Some were overwhelmed emotionally and broke down, others were clearly submerged in silence and thought.” The students understood that there was no “right” way to react to what they were seeing and that each individual would have to handle the experience their own way.

“Majdanek was the hardest camp for me because as soon as we got there we stepped straight into the gas chamber, which is still intact and covered in cyclone B gas residue and fingernail scratches all over the walls,” Cohen said. “It was one of the most intense feelings of my life to stand in a room and know that people’s lives ended there and they were just regular people.”

After five emotionally strenuous days in Poland, the teens went to Israel where they started their trek upward to the Golan Heights. They also went to Jerusalem, where they met with Arab-Israeli teens. Next, they went to Tel-Aviv where they visited the Israeli Defense Force Historical Museum, Yitzhak Rabin Square and swam in the ocean.

“Flying to Israel was so moving for me,” Perl said. “It was just so great to get off that plane and be in such a great country. Many of my friends were kissing the ground because they were so excited to finally be in Israel.”

The trip had a combination of Israelis who had either lived in Israel or traveled there many times, and Americans. Each participant took in the experiences differently. “For me, the best part of the trip was coming together as a group,” Peleg said. “I couldn’t help but feel astonished by the rareness of 23 kids hugging at the gates of Auschwitz, or supporting each other at the Krakow Ghetto, or dancing and cheering on the Tel Aviv beach.”

The participants attend a weekly meeting where they are encouraged to share their experiences in a public setting. “The History Channel may provide the factual background, but there is no substitute to experiencing something with your own two eyes.” Peleg said.