Friday. Writer: Danny Oquendo

Majdanek was pure evil. Impossible to understand. Mass graves. Memorial full of ashes. Not the deadliest camp, but made for pure pain. Blue residue stains stains gas chamber walls. Everything intact (unlike Birkenou and Aushwitz you could see the blue remains of Zyklon B). Memorial service in crematorium.

Shabbat services in only remaining Warsaw synagogue after World War 2 (that is Orthodox). Singing and dancing. Rabbi fluent in Polish who is from New York. (We had dinner at the only kosher restaurant in Poland; there are not many Jews that remain in Poland). There was a righteous gentile at dinner that saved Jews from the ghetto and Treblinka (Maddy's additional note: She told a story of how her family and her lived in a cabin in the back of Treblinka that was surrounded by trees. I believe four escaped Jewish prisoners found refuge at her house and they rightfully allowed them to house there. She told the story of how one of the men actually stayed at her house with a trade of being a barber for shelter. They accepted and found out more about the gentleman. He was a violinist who soon started teaching the woman's siblings how to play.

After coming back to the hotel, which by the way was one of nicer hotels since the only place in Poland has money. It had some frescos, Free People looking art, and stone steps. Everyone was in the hallway of our rooms on the first floor when we got back from the restaurant. Shabbat and schmoozing had started. Sim was telling some riddles to the willing (Jason Schwartz and me a little) while everyone at dinner was figuring them out the next day. David Jacobs was watching football bloopers, Matt Miehl was talking to one of his friends that he was so excited to talk to, and Max Shafron and Phillip (the rabbi) were deciding who the top musicians were of 2010 (I must say that Phillip is well versed in our generation of rap singers! I was so impressed. He is a connoisseur of music.) Aviva, the righteous, was one of the only ones following Shabbat along with me, and probably Uri. I talked to Stash, our security guard, who is sadly gone from us. What a cool dude he is.