Passport to the World: A BBYO Travel Experience

March of the Living

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Length: 15 Days
2009-2010 Grades: 10,11,12
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This April 8-22, 2010, join thousands of Jewish teens from around the world on a two-week, life-altering journey that marks the tragedy of the Holocaust in Poland followed by a celebration of the establishment of the modern State of Israel in the Jewish Homeland. Learn more about the program below or sign-up now by starting at Registration Instructions.

**REGISTRATION UPDATE**

New registrations for the April 2010 March of the Living are currently being accepted on a limited basis. If you are interested in taking part in the April 2010 March of the Living experience, follow the Registration Instructions (note: entire program balance is due with registration). We expect that registration will be closing shortly, so please act NOW if you wish to join BBYO's delegation to the March of the Living.

Itinerary Overview

WEEK #1 / POLAND. We travel to Poland to memorialize the Jewish community of the past and connect with Poland's Jewish community of today. To mark Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), participants from over 60 countries take part in an emotional 2-mile march between the concentration camps of Auschwitz and Birkenau.

WEEK #2 / ISRAEL. Fly from Poland to Israel to join millions of Israelis in celebrating Yom Ha'Atzmaut - Israel's 62nd Independence Day. Travel from the Galilee to the Dead Sea to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Walk in the footsteps of 3000 years of Jewish history and experience the modern day miracle of Israel.

BBYO's March of the Living program is open to members and non-members alike.

Learn More:
March of the Living - Registration Detail (2010)
March of the Living - Testimonials
March of the Living - Sample Itinerary
March of the Living - Photo Gallery
March of the Living - Pre-Trip Info Sheet (2009)

About the Experience

Confronting Tragedy in Poland

We begin our travels in Poland learning about the rich history of the Jewish People in Europe prior to the Holocaust. Explore the old Jewish Quarter of Krakow, the restored Nozyck Synagogue in Warsaw, and the famous Yeshiva of Lublin where Jewish life thrived since medieval times.

With this deeper appreciation of our proud past, we confront the destruction of the Holocaust with visits to the concentration camps of Treblinka, Majdanek, and ultimately, Auschwitz-Birkenau. Along the way, we will stop at the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising memorial, Mila 18, and Oscar Schindler's factory.

The March of the Living experience in Poland culminates on April 11th, Yom HaShoah - Holocaust Memorial Day, with a three kilometer march from Auschwitz to Birkenau, the largest concentration camp complex built by the Nazis during World War II. Retrace the steps of the “March of Death,” the actual route which countless numbers of our people were forced to take on their way to the gas chambers at Birkenau. However, our march will be a “March of the Living” concluding with the singing of Hatikvah which reaffirms “Am Yisrael Chai – The Jewish People Live.”

Our emotional journey in Poland concludes by encountering the resurgence of Jewish life in Warsaw -- with newly re-dedicated synagogues, schools, organizations and youth groups. Stand hand-in-hand with the modern day Jewish community who continues to keep the flame of our People alive in Poland.

Celebrating Renewal in Israel

Departing Poland, we fly overnight to Israel where we land in a new and vibrant Jewish State. Our travels in Israel begin in Tel Aviv where we recount the founding of modern Israel in 1948 and experience the heart of modern Israeli culture.

From Tel Aviv, we head north to the Galilee and step back in time to a world of mystical rabbis in the ancient city of Tsfat. The Galilee is Israel's greenest region, and along the way we will enjoy rafting down the Jordan River, hiking down a canyon on the Golan Heights, and enjoying a sunset cruising on the Sea of Galilee.

From the Galilee, we begin our ascent to Jerusalem -- the eternal capital of the Jewish People. In Jerusalem, we will explore the alleyways, rooftops, and tunnels of the Jewish Quarter in the Old City. Here we will stop at the Kotel, the Western Wall, for an emotional moment of reflection.

On Yom Hazikaron, Israel's Memorial Day, we will join together with all of Israel to mourn fallen soldiers and victims of terror. The following day is Yom Ha'Atzmaut, Israel's Independence Day, and all of the March of the Living delegations from around the world will re-join in Jerusalem for a second march followed by an international celebration event. Having witnessed the darkness of the Holocaust firsthand, these life-affirming experiences in Israel are especially moving.

Our journeying in Israel concludes with the unforgettable experience of hiking up to Masada at sunrise followed by floating on the Dead Sea, the lowest point on earth.

Although the stay in Israel is short, it will certainly lay a significant foundation that will encourage you to seek more meaningful Jewish experiences for the rest of your life.

The goal of the "March of the Living" trip is to educate Jewish teens about the richness of our past, to keep that past alive and to perpetuate our Jewish future. Past participants have maintained their level of Jewish commitment by returning to Israel, seeking a Jewish lifestyle in college, acting to protect human rights, and developing a sense of leadership and responsibility for the Jewish World around us.

Learn More:
March of the Living - Registration Detail
March of the Living - Testimonials
March of the Living - Sample Itinerary
March of the Living - Photo Gallery
March of the Living - Pre-Trip Info Sheet (Last Year)

Registration Details & More Info

  • Program Cost: $4,650

  • Eligibility & Preparation
    This program is approriate for Jewish high school students from North America who exhibit maturity, leadership potential, and the ability to communicate their experiences with others. Each participant must submit a recommendation and should independently obtain permission to miss two weeks of school.

  • Registration Instructions
    Registration for the March of the Living is slightly different than all other BBYO Passport experiences in terms of the steps and the payment timeline. There are only a limited number of spaces available for the 2010 March of the Living program, so we encourage you to register early. Learn more: Registration Instructions

  • Questions about the March of the Living?

    - Program related questions: 
      Sherrie Stalarow (Program Director)

    - Registration related questions: 
      Alisha Hess-Haber (Registrar)

Calling All Adults

BBYO is inviting parents and other adults (aged 21 and over) to take part in the March of the Living experience along side our teen mission. The cost of the program is $4,950 per person (based on double room hotel occupancy) and includes round trip flights from New York City. Adult participants do not need to be the parent of a teen on the March. Adults wishing to register for the program should submit the Adult Registration Form.

Not Able to Travel in April?

BBYO Passport is offering a 4-week trip to Poland and Israel this coming June 28 - July 25, 2010. Program details are available at Euro-Israel Journey Poland.

Trip Profile

Trip Dates & Costs

  • April 08 - April 22 / $4,650

Accommodations

  • Hotels
  • Guest Houses

What's Included

  • Round-trip international flights from NYC
  • Accommodations
  • All meals (kosher)
  • Activities & entrance fees
  • Professional guide educator
  • North American counselors
  • Deluxe motorcoach
  • Medical insurance (non pre-existing conditions)
  • Security escort & central monitoring

Program Highlights

  • Learn about the rich history of Krakow's Jewish community dating back to medieval times
  • Confront the horror of Auschwitz, Birkenau, Treblinka, Majdanek concentration camps
  • Retrace the heroic story of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising
  • Affirm the unity of Jewish People marching from Auschwitz to Birkenau hand-in-hand with 1000's of teens from around the world
  • Travel to Israel and re-trace the footsteps of 3000 years of Jewish history
  • Spend a spiritually uplifting Shabbat on the shores of the Sea of Galilee
  • Recount the modern-day miracle of the State of Israel's founding in Tel Aviv
  • Celebrate Israel's Independence Day on Jerusalem's Ben Yehuda Street pedestrian mall
  • Float on the Dead Sea and climb Masada!

Sample Itinerary

We have provided the following sample itinerary to give you an idea of what this travel experience is all about. Keep in mind that the actual itinerary may vary from the schedule below. That said, this sample itinerary is meant to give you a taste of the overall program. A formal itinerary, including a list of accommodations and phone numbers, will be sent to you 4-6 weeks prior to the start of the program.

DAY 1

  • Depart for Poland on a group flight from JFK Airport, New York

DAY 2

  • Arrive in Krakow
  • Walking tour of Kazimierz – Krakow’s old Jewish Quarter
  • Visit to Remuh Jewish Cemetery, dating back to the 1500’s
  • Explore the Galicia Jewish Museum
  • Return to hotel to prepare for Shabbat
  • Celebrate Shabbat service at a Krakow Synagogue
  • Overnight: Krakow Hotel

DAY 3

  • Shabbat morning service
  • Walking tour of the Old City of Krakow
  • Explore the famous Wawel castle
  • Visit the Market Square of Krakow
  • Share in a special Havdalah ceremony to mark the end of Shabbat
  • Evening: Preparations for the March
  • Overnight: Krakow Hotel

DAY 4

DAY 5

  • Visit to Oscar Schindler’s factory in Krakow
  • Travel eastwards to Lublin
  • Visit to the Lancut Synagogue en route
  • Overnight: Lublin Hotel

DAY 6

DAY 7

  • Tour of the historic Jewish cemetery of Warsaw
  • Visit the Krochmalna Street Orphanage where Janusz Korczak worked
  • Visit to the Warsaw Ghetto Museum
  • View the walls of the Warsaw Ghetto
  • Umschlagplatz - Gathering place before transfer to Treblinka
  • Evening: Closing ceremony at the Nozyk Synagogue
  • Return to airport for late night flight from Poland to Israel

DAY 8

  • Arrive to Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport in the early morning
  • Welcome ceremony at old Jaffa seaport overlooking Tel Aviv
  • Recount Israel’s quest for Independence at the Palmach Museum
  • Celebrate the founding of modern Israel at Tel Aviv’s Independence Hall
  • Shopping and free time along the Mediterranean beachfront of Tel Aviv
  • Travel northwards to the Galilee in the afternoon
  • Overnight: Galilee Accommodations

DAY 9

DAY 10

DAY 11

DAY 12

DAY 13

  • Crawl through the archeological caves at Beit Guvrin
  • Re-join with groups from around the world for the March in Jerusalem
  • Final celebration at the March of the Living's Central Event
  • Evening: Group night out on Ben Yehuda Street
  • Overnight: Jerusalem Area Accommodations

DAY 14

  • Wake up early and travel to the Judean Desert
  • Ascend Masada via the Snake Path at sunrise
  • Tour of the Masada desert fortress complex
  • Relaxation and floating time on the Dead Sea
  • Closing desert tent dinner feast in the Judean Desert
  • Return to airport for late night flight

DAY 15

  • Arrive back to JFK Airport, New York in early morning


Shabbat in Krakow

The city of Krakow not only once was home to 80,000 Jews, but was a cultural center and still is the capital city of Poland. The Jewish community there today has been revived, though much smaller than it had been in its heyday. We will spend a very moving Shabbat there, attending Shabbat services in the main synagogue, and enjoying festive Shabbat meals with the community, leaving aside ample time to tour the Old City and its art district.

Auschwitz

 The most notorious of all the Nazi concentration camps, Auschwitz was actually split up into three camps: Auschwitz I was the administrative center and a detention and death camp for prisoners of war and political prisoners. Auschwitz II (Birkenau) was a labor and extermination camp, where nearly 1 million Jews were killed. Auschwitz III was a labor camp. The first site that prisoners on the cattle cars would see upon arrival in Auschwitz I was the infamous black gate with the inscription reading “Arbeit Macht Frei” – “Work Makes (One) Free”. At the gate, prisoners were immediately sorted into groups which would immediately be exterminated and those that would be transferred to the labor camps.

The March of the Living

In a testament to Jewish survival, we will march from Auschwitz to Birkenau and enter Birkenau extermination camp through the same gate through which millions passed. At the site of the bombed out Birkenau crematoria, we will take part in a memorial ceremony with thousands of other participants from around the world.

Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin

Founded by Rabbi Meir Shapiro in 1930, Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin (the Hebrew name roughly translates as “Seminary of the Scholars of Lublin”) was one of the premier Jewish educational institutions in Europe during the brief period during which it operated before the Holocaust. It is said that to gain admission into the Yeshiva, a prospective student would have to take the “pin test”. A random volume of Talmud would be selected by the interviewing rabbi, who would insert a pin through the cover. Wherever the pin stopped, the student would have to recite the entire page from memory. When the Nazis captured of the city, the Yeshiva’s interior was gutted, its vast library burned in the city square, and ownership of the building transferred a university and later used by the Medical University of Lublin. In 2003 it was given back to the Jewish community and now serves as a synagogue with plans to house a museum.

Majdanek

Majdanek was a Nazi labor camp that housed – and killed – thousands of people, primarily, though not exclusively, Jews. Perhaps the most disturbing thing about Majdanek concentration camp is not the number of victims murdered there (79,000) or the mausoleum (which today still holds tons of ashes of the camp’s victims); what many people find most appalling is the fact that the camp was situated within the city of Lublin, and what was happening in the camp was evident to the residents of the city – yet they said and did nothing. After capturing the camp, the Soviet Red Army decided to preserve it – completely intact and capable of being made operational within 24 hours – as a memorial for all humanity.

Warsaw Ghetto

The Warsaw Ghetto was the largest Jewish ghetto in Poland under the Nazi General Government during the Holocaust. At its height, it had a total population numbering an estimated 450,000 Jews until the population was reduced due to disease, starvation and deportations to concentration and death camps. In 1943 the remaining Jews in the ghetto launched an open rebellion, standing up to the Nazi war machine for three months before finally being defeated and the ghetto totally liquidated. We will tour the ghetto and see the remnants of the walls, the single-family dwellings that served as home to many families at a time, and the permanent Memorial to the Ghetto Heroes.

Old Jaffa Seaport

Jaffa is an ancient city perched on the coast of the Mediterranean just north of Tel Aviv. Imagine a maze of stone alleys and a colorful local artist community, perhaps one of the most memorable aspects of this seaport city.

Mystical Tzfat

Located in the green hills overlooking the Sea of Galilee, Tzfat has long been a center of Jewish mysticism and intrigue. This ancient city is full of stone alleys, rich history, and colorful legends. In more recent times, a unique artist colony has found a home in Tzfat. A fascinating stroll...

Rafting Down the Upper Jordan River

The spring-fed upper Jordan River begins in the snow-capped mountains of the Golan and Lebanon, and continues down Israel's eastern border to the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea in the south. Get ready to get wet, splash your friends, and race down the river, as its cool waters refresh you.

The Kinneret (Sea of Galilee)

You will return to the Kinneret for a nighttime perspective on this beautiful natural lake. Small towns ring the Kinneret, giving you the sense of being surrounded by hundreds of tiny points of lights.

The Old City of Jerusalem

After spending our first night in Jerusalem, we will spend the morning exploring the ancient alleys, public squares, and rooftop passages that comprise the Jewish Quarter of the Old City. As you will see, Jerusalem's Old City is full of fascinating stories, charm, and energy. As we make our way through the Jewish Quarter, we will witness and learn about the striking changes that Jerusalem has undergone through the past 3000 years. Finally, we will arrive at the Kotel (Western Wall), where we will have time to think and reflect about our spiritual connection to Jewish history.

Yom HaZikaron / Israeli Memorial Day

In Israel, Memorial Day is not a day for picnics, but a day for remembrance and introspection. At the start of Yom HaZikaron at sunset, all across Israel, sirens sound and everyone comes to a complete standstill – even on the highways. Again in the morning, the siren sounds. Finally, at the end of the day, the siren sounds again – marking not only the end of Yom HaZikaron, but the beginning of Yom Ha’Atzmaut / Israeli Independence Day. We will participate in an Israeli Memorial Day service, which should prove to be a very moving experience.

Yad VaShem

Yad VaShem is Israel's national Holocaust memorial. Situated in pine forest hills of Jerusalem, Yad VaShem is a uniquely solemn memorial complex. After walking through the main museum area, we will visit the central shrine area, the Sculpture Garden, the Forest of the Righteous Gentiles, and the especially powerful Children’s Memorial.

Yom Ha’Atzmaut / Israeli Independence Day

After spending the day visiting Har Herzl, Israel’s national military cemetery, and Ammunition Hill, site of one of the bloodiest battles for Jerusalem in the Six Day War, the sun will set, sirens will sound, and we will join the citizens of Israel in celebrating 62 years of Independence with a bonfire dinner!

Hike up to ancient Masada desert fortress

Masada is desert fortress built on the heights of a flat-topped mountain that overlooks the Dead Sea. After climbing to its plateau summit along the Snake Path route, we will tour Masada's ancient ruins and bring to life the ancient legend of the mountain's inhabitants from two thousand years ago.

Trip Q & A

The answers to most basic questions can be found in the March of the Living Information Sheet. If there's something we've missed, please feel free to contact Alisha (for payment and registration issues) or Sherrie (for program details). For Passport program-wide info, check out the General FAQs page.