Today marked a special stop on our itinerary: Rychnov. 

And what brought us there?

As you may know, each year 8th grade collaborates on an interdisciplinary project that showcases their historical knowledge of the Holocaust. This project is unique in that it weaves skills from their history classes, the arts, Jewish studies, and Reading/Writing workshops into a culminating experience. You'll see our project at our Images of Displacement and Hope evening! But last year, the class of 2023's project brought a torah, which miraculously survived the Holocaust, to our school on permanent loan. This Torah, Survivor #1089, is one of 1,564 Czech Torahs that were entrusted to the Czech Memorial Scrolls Trust, and was originally from Rychnov.

Read on to learn how visiting this community impacted us.

Gabe: As we made our way trudging through the Czech countryside, we made a stop in the town of Rychnov. A quaint town of 16,000 people, Rychnov is nestled on hills that reach far and wide beyond it. In Rychnov, we visited the castle home to a currently living aristocratic family, visited the local synagogue (which has now been designated as a historical monument), and Jewish stepping stone memorials throughout the town. Something important and interesting I found about Rychnov is that even though the Jewish people of this city were mostly wiped out and the synagogue is functioning no more, the wonderful people of Rychnov have still managed to keep the memory of the Jewish people alive for 82 years now.

Emma: I found Rychnov to be an important stop on our adventure because of how happy the people were that we visited. It's a small town and I could see that the people who gave us the tour of the town didn't have very many visitors. While we were there, we listened to the stories they shared about the Jewish history, left roses on the stepping stones honoring Jewish people who perished, and visited a historic synagogue. I know that just the act of us being there was meaningful to us and the residents of Rychnov. I truly feel like it was a mitzvah fulfilled. 

Savannah: While in Rychnov, we immersed ourselves in the history of the Jewish people within the town. While the whole experience was truly amazing, one thing that truly stuck out to me was the fact that although there was nobody Jewish living in Rychnov, the historians of Rychnov worked long and hard to honor the Jewish history within their town. It was heartwarming to know that even though we are far from our Jewish community back home, there are people who value and support us and our history. 

Sydney: While we were in Rychnov we visited the synagogue that has been around since the holocaust, but is no longer in use. After our tour, the tour guide and his wife told our history teacher Doc Ellison that "we made the synagogue happy again" as this was the most Jews that had been there since the genocide of the holocaust. It was a very touching experience knowing that we were able to honor a synagogue that has survived so much.

Anna: For me, Rychnov was not only interesting and packed with culture, but it was also extremely meaningful. After exploring the reconstructed synagogue where our school's torah is originally from and learning about the history of Jews in Rychnov, Doc told us something that made the whole experience more meaningful: "the tour guide's wife said we made the synagogue happy again because we were the most amount of jews that had been in the synagogue since the holocaust." That quote made the whole experience much more meaningful and showed me the real reason we are on this trip. 

We will be arriving in Prague pretty soon and signing off for Shabbat. We can't wait to tell you which shuls we visit, what we see on our walking tours, and what it was like to experience Shabbat in a new setting in our next post. Shabbat shalom!