I promised I'd tell you all when Emil landed safely in Israel and he did, yesterday, flying from Warsaw to Tel Aviv on what he told me afterward was probably the strangest flight of his life. The flight itself was fine, of course...but the contrast between Sunday's visit to Auschwitz, Monday's visit to Treblinka, Tuesday's tour of the site of the Warsaw ghetto and Wednesday's arrival first at Ben Gurion and then in Jerusalem-if there's a traveler's version of the lung condition divers face when they travel through the ocean's depths too quickly to give themselves time to adjust, I'd say that would be precisely what Emil, his co-counselors and the eighteen teenagers in their charge are experiencing. Still, although I think divers best avoid the whole thing, for travelers...it can also be exhilarating, and I think that's just how it played itself out for these young people. I myself always get emotional when my plane touches down in Israel...but I'm sure I've only experienced the tiniest part of what Emil and his group must have felt as the plane landed.

I got a lot of responses to my e-letter of last week, more, I believe, than to any previous one. A number of you were surprised that I talked about Emil being more safe in Israel than in Poland. True, Warsaw is further from Gaza than Tel Aviv is...but I've always felt totally secure in Israel and I imagine those of you who travel there frequently feel the same way. (It's hard to explain, actually, but it is a real, visceral feeling for me. Believe me, I'd rather stroll down Ben Yehudah Street in Tel Aviv at 2 AM than down most parts of Queens Blvd.) But more of you took issue with my ambivalence about the larger concept, insisting that USY is right to organize these pilgrimages to the camps and to the sites of former ghettos, and that these places need to be visited if they are to be kept alive in the mind of the public as places not only of horror and death, but also of resistance, of courage, and, above all, of martyrdom. I agree to all that...but, deep in my heart, there is still a father's desire to keep safe his children and, at least for me, that includes keeping them away from evil and from places in which evil once flourished. What can you do? It's not that I don't know how I feel, after all...just that I feel both ways! And, at that, strongly!

I'd like to let Emil speak for himself. This is part of a letter he wrote me Monday night from Warsaw:

Saturday, we walked to the old Jewish section in Krakow and met with two other USY groups in a huge shul which is now only rarely used and we davened there as a group. Then we went back along a different route than the one we came on and had lunch, then some free time. Sunday, we went to Auschwitz 1 and Birkenau . Birkenau was our first stop, and the idea was to walk from there in silence on the train tracks into Auschwitz I, which was the part of the larger facility that was devoted solely to murder. Birkenau itself was very moving. (Some kids decided to wrap Israeli flags around their backs as we walked.) We walked around the entire camp, which is enormous-and much bigger than I had imagined it-and I led the memorial service afterwards. It went well, I guess, but it was just such a small gesture against the enormous evil you can still feel there! Still, I'm glad we did it. Then after a five minute drive and lunch, we went to Auschwitz I which-did you know this? - which was originally a Polish army base that the Nazis converted into a killing center. (Now, it's been turned entirely into a museum.) We all were a little burned out by it all by then, I think, but worse was to come. When you come face to face with a metric ton of human hair, and you know where it all came from, there's not much you can say. Dad, I think maybe you're right is right about this place, but I also understand why so many people think it is so important to come here. But I do agree that there's something incredibly weird about being here as tourists. I guess the strangest part of that is realizing that there's a whole nation here, millions and millions of Poles for whom Poland isn't just Auschwitz, but a regular place that they live regular lives in. For instance, today, as soon as we got to Warsaw, we got off the bus to see part of the remaining wall of the Warsaw Ghetto, and I was shocked to see that we were not in a museum or a memorial park, but in the middle of the apartment complex that now surrounds it. I can't imagine how anyone can possibly live across from the Umschlagplatz and not be obsessed with the history of that place, but everybody we saw seemed to be living normal lives. Some even looked irritated that we were photographing their homes. There is a lot more to say about this whole trip, but, in the end, being here has made the entire Shoah seem much more real. After all, up to now, I've only seen movies about what happened and pictures of the camps, but only when I actually got here did it hit me that it all that stuff actually happened to real people. It's hard to think that it's not just some made-up horror film, but something real from only sixty years ago. Tomorrow, we are going on a tour of the all the memorials in Warsaw. If I can't get to a working phone tomorrow, I'll call as soon as we're on the ground in Israel....

I guess that says it all. It's good he went. I hope others go. I still have this deep ambivalence about exposing our children to places of such suffering, but maybe I do have to get over it. Whatever...Emil's letter really does clarify a lot...for me...and perhaps for some of you as well.

There's another issue I'd like to raise with you all as well. Last month marked the one-year anniversary of the kidnapping of Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, by Hamas terrorists in Gaza and it has been nearly a year since the abductions of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev by Hezbollah. To show support for the soldiers and their families, the UJA and some other organizations have scheduled a huge rally for Monday, July 16th at 12 noon at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza (near the U.N. at First Avenue and 47th Street) to show the world that we have not forgotten and will not forget our captives. Ehud Goldwasser's parents will be there to speak and I think it will be a very memorable experience for those who go, plus also a meaningful way to express worry about their fates. I'm going to be out of town that date, but I encourage those of you who could be there to consider attending.

Finally, I'm off on vacation for two weeks, then back for a week, then away again for the rest of my vacation time. When I'm here, I'll write to you all and check in. Until then, I wish you all a relaxing, peaceful summer filled with all the best things. If you can attend that rally in Manhattan on the 16th, I think it would be a huge mitzvah to go.

Shabbat shalom,

Rabbi Martin S. Cohen