All Things Gann
Gann seniors Natan Charytan, Olivia Mamane and Yael Sternberg were among 9 Massachusetts students and over 14,000 Jewish high schoolers from the US and 45 countries to participate in the 2016 March of the Living (MOTL). MOTL gives participants a rare opportunity to explore their heritage and history on two continents. The trip coincides with Holocaust Remembrance Day, which the group marks in Poland with a tour of a Nazi concentration camp, followed a week later in Israel with Israel Memorial Day and Israel Independence Day.
During the journey, students retraced the steps of the “Death March” on the actual route that countless numbers of our ancestors were forced to take on their way to the gas chambers at Birkenau. They participated in a memorial service at one of those gas chambers/crematoria, and concluded with the singing of Hatikvah, reaffirming “Am Yisrael Chai – The Jewish People Live.”
Charytan, Mamane and Sternberg went on the March as part of Gann’s Ma’avar (Senior Capstone) Program, and each came back deeply impacted by both the gravity of the experience and by a swelling pride at the survival and vibrancy of the Jewish people. “I feel so strongly that this trip is something that Jewish teenagers should be doing not just for the ‘shamor v’yizkor (observe and remember)’ component, but also just to open their eyes to this beautiful Diaspora that we have!,” says Sternberg.
Mamane notes, “This trip allowed me to find an inner Zionism I never knew I had. I fell in love with the idea of a place – a home – for all Jews. A place that was able to unite all the people around me as we walked together through the streets of Jerusalem singing and speaking to each other in broken Hebrew. I have found a new love and appreciation for Israel that I hope I will continue to explore.”
Over the last 28 years more than 1,600 Marchers have returned to the Boston Metropolitan Area with a new understanding of themselves, their people, their heritage and their Jewish community. Many have described the March as among the most unforgettable moments a Jew can experience, capturing memories in Jewish history and bearing witness to the undying spirit of the Jewish people.
Charytan’s, Mamane’s and Sternberg’s experiences were made possible by generous scholarships offered by the Gann Arbeiter Holocaust Education Fund and the New England March of the Living, chaired by Irv Kempner of Sharon. Local Holocaust survivor and advocate Israel Arbeiter was at Gann for a recent post-March lunch, where student participants shared the ways that the program personally impacted them and Arbeiter spoke about some of his life story.
Teens interested in participating in the 2017 March are invited to visit the New England March of the Living website for more information.
