I’ve grown up in synagogues all my life. As a young girl, Temple Beth Emet, in Anaheim, California was where I went to Hebrew school and had my bat mitzvah . You spend a lot of time in these places of worship. You learn about how to have relationships with other Jews, family, and G-d. It’s a place to reflect, learn, and even flirt. And I’m not talking about just with G-d. I’ve actually never laughed harder anywhere else in this world than in the top balcony of my synagogue as a preteen. I was married in a beautiful synagogue in West Hollywood, California. My children continued the cycle with their Hebrew school days and B’nai mitzvot. The synagogue can be a center of your whole world as a Jewish person.
Walking into the last standing synagogue in Warsaw, Poland, Nozyk, had the familiarity of its beauty and grandeur like most synagogues in this world. But the knowledge of the fate of the families that spent their life cycle moments here hits you harder than its dark wooden benches. Laughter, tears and emotions of a life well lived happened there and were cut off too short. The enormity of this tragedy is starting to sink in.
I’m so grateful for this experience. It’s giving me an appreciation of my life and the importance of giving back to my community and the community at large. I’m so grateful this beautiful synagogue has the chance to continue life cycles for its congregants. May there be many more throughout the city and country as time marches on.
