Haredi students break barrier, embark on Poland trips
For first time, ultra-Orthodox high-school students will join school trips to concentration camps in Poland, an Israeli rite of passage for secular students
Haredi high-schools have traditionally avoided participating in visits to concentration camps in Poland. The reluctance to partake in those journeys mainly stemmed from an unwillingness to address questions of religion and ethics that arise as part of the general Holocaust discourse.
But recently, haredy institutions have expressed a new interest in exposing their students to the issue, Yedioth Ahronot reports.
"Up until recently, teaching about the Holocaust focused on physical abilities in overcoming the adversity, issues with which the haredim cannot identify," says Rabbi Avraham Krieger, Dean of the Shem Olam Institute for Holocaust Studies, who will be training haredi instructors accompanying the student delegations to Poland.
According to Krieger, haredi trips to Poland will integrate Holocaust studies as taught to secular students with the history of Hassidic and rabbinical cultures before and during the Holocaust, as well as religious education in Jewish ghettos.
The students taking part in the trips will also discuss issues of faith, community, and ethics.
Education Ministry has allocated a special fund aimed at assisting students who cannot afford the high costs of the trips.
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