March of the Living The March of the Living is recruiting for its 2023 tour of Poland and Israel.
The following announcement was provided by New England March of the Living:
The Anti-Defamation League reports a 34 percent increase in antisemitic incidents in the last year — including assault, vandalism and harassment.
One program designed to educate future community leaders on the history of antisemitism and teach lessons on how to deal with it is March of the Living which since 1988 has brought thousands of high schoolers to Poland and Israel with the overarching theme of “Never again.”
The New England Friends of March of the Living is recruiting for the 2023 trip scheduled for April 16 – 30. NEF MOTL has increased scholarship support to $2,000 per Jewish Massachusetts teen who is approved. Participants may also receive additional support from temples and other organizations. The trip brings high school juniors and seniors to Poland to study the roots of antisemitism, where. on Holocaust Memorial Day, thousands march silently from Auschwitz to Birkenau, the largest Nazi concentration camp. Several days later they travel to Israel to celebrate Yom Ha-Atzma’ut / Israel Independence Day.
The 2023 trip will be memorable due to these historic milestones:
- 75th anniversary of the State of Israel
- 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
- 35th anniversary of the international March of the Living
Participants are led by professional guides including rabbis, educators, Holocaust survivors and their Second Gen children. Irv Kempner, son of Holocaust survivors and NEF MOTL Chair, says, “This experience complements the 2021 Massachusetts law mandating that genocide education be taught throughout the Commonwealth. If you know of high school teens who may be interested in attending the 2023 trip, please contact us. Meanwhile we’re continuing to raise funds for scholarships.”
On December 20, NEF MOTL will sponsor a virtual community event honoring Jane Taubenfeld Cohen, daughter of a Holocaust survivor who has earned national acclaim as a visionary Jewish educator and pioneer. She is the third recipient of the Stephan Ross Excellence in Holocaust Education Award. That award is named for Ross survivor, founder of the New England Holocaust Memorial. The event website ishttps://www.wizevents.com/nemotl2022/
For information about MOTL 2023 applications and scholarships, contact Aaron Kischel at kischel7241@gmail.com, (781) 799-4765. To make a tax-deductible donation to provide teen scholarships, contact Development Chair Jim Slovin: jim@motlnewengland.org / (508) 846-2448, or Irv Kempner: IrvKempner@gmail.com / (617) 285-8620. Donations of $1,000 will be matched dollar for dollar by the Kempner Family Foundation. Tax-deductible donations may be made via credit card online: http://motlnewengland.org/.