I have read a number of books and seen different movies with scenes that take place at Ghetto wall in Warsaw, however, none of this prepared me for what I would feel as I stood by the Ghetto wall today – small, isolated, cut off, trapped. I was struck by the height of the wall!
As I thought about this throughout the day I reflected on other times I was in a space that made me feel “small”. I specifically recalled feeling that way when visiting the Grand Canyon. Yet, there I was in awe of how vast the canyon was and how far I could see. There was no end. I was overwhelmed by feelings of peace, hope, and freedom. How different for those individuals sent to live in the Ghetto.
In one of the readings shared with us, “The World Of the Warsaw Ghetto”, Y. Gutman addresses what it was like for the Jewish people living in the Ghetto. He writes
“A mother is trying to explain to her child the concept of distance. Distance, she says, ‘is more than our Leszni Street. It is an open field, and a field is a large area on which the grass grows, or ears of corn, and when one is standing in its midst, one does not see its beginning or its end. Distance is so large and open and empty that the sky and the earth meet there.’ A child cannot imagine its wonderful description.”
I can’t stop thinking about that. Those in the Warsaw Ghetto could see only as far as the ghetto wall. There was a beginning and an end to the space in which they were living.
And yet, this mother was trying to bring her child beyond the wall – even if only in their imagination.
