Seniors Participate in March of the Living

A group of 117 Milken seniors recently returned from the transformative two-week March of the Living trip. Beginning in Poland and ending in Israel, the experiential program brought together teens from all over the world to study the history of the Holocaust and examine the roots of prejudice, intolerance, and hate.
 
The Los Angeles delegation included five survivors who acted as guides and story tellers — valuable resources to keep the memories alive. Noted Isabel Bina ‘17, “Our delegation was blessed with five beautiful survivors whose presence brought great meaning to our journey.” Michael Schulman ‘17 commented, “The most impactful thing about March of the Living was hearing the stories of the Survivors. I have grown up taking a lot of classes on the Holocaust, reading books, and watching movies, but I do not think I truly understood it until I heard the individual stories.”
 
While in Poland, students stayed in Warsaw, Krakow, and Lublin, visiting concentration camps in Treblinka, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Majdanek, and a mass children’s grave site in Zbylitowska Gora. They also visited Okopowa, one of the largest, oldest Jewish cemeteries in the world. Okopowa contains an estimated 250,000 individual graves as well as mass graves of victims of the Warsaw Ghetto.
 
Survivors led the way as the students made the silent three kilometer march along the railroad tracks from Auschwitz to Birkenau on Yom Hashoah to honor all of the victims of the Holocaust. Tammy Shine ’17 was selected to light one of the memorial candles during the emotional closing ceremony, which ended with the reciting of the mourner’s Kaddish. Recalling the event, Tammy expressed her feelings on being chosen for the privilege, “I felt truly honored to be given the opportunity to express commemoration for the Shoah by representing my delegation, and the US delegation as a whole, when lighting the candle at the March of the Living Ceremony.” 
 
The second leg of the trip brought students to Israel where they commemorated Yom HaZikaron in Tel Aviv and celebrated Yom Ha’atzmaut, and a joyous March of the Living through Jerusalem. They also toured Israel’s national cemetery, Har Herzl, the military cemetery where fallen Israeli soldiers are buried and American “lone soldier” Michael Levin was laid to rest. 
 
The final night of the trip concluded with the mega event closing ceremony at Latrun, a celebratory event, which included performances, videos, dancers, a mosh pit, and fireworks. Isabel remarked, “With fireworks decorating the night sky all the delegations stood united singing the Hatikva; it was one those moments where I could feel an electrical current going through my body; a moment in which I felt an overwhelming sense of pride for my Jewish identity as well as hope for the future of our homeland."
 
Isabel summed up the trip, "March of the Living was an experience that will forever live on in my memory.
 
Indeed, our students will not soon forget this life changing trip that linked the past to the present and provided an invaluable learning experience, helped strengthen their Jewish identities, and deepen their commitment to Israel. 
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