As the school year goes on and Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy (HBHA) quickly approaches March, the entire Upper School prepares for what will be one of the busiest and most exciting times of their high school careers: Upper School Trips.
A biennial tradition at HBHA, the Trip Year is one of the most work-heavy yet rewarding experiences for an Upper School student at the Academy. The anticipation of the trips at the start of the year is quickly subdued by the months of learning and preparation, and then quickly revived as March comes around the corner.
As the 9th and 10th graders prepare to embark on a week-long Civil Rights Trip in the South, the 11th and 12th graders get ready for their three-week journey across Europe and Israel — the Jewish Heritage Trip.
The Jewish Heritage Trip is one of the most renowned and celebrated experiences that a student at HBHA has the privilege of experiencing. The school made the decision when the trip first began years ago to share it with the entire community, opening the trip to any Jewish juniors or seniors in the Kansas City community that wish to go.
Though the trip is a welcome and open community endeavor, most of the real work of the trip happens privately in HBHA classrooms during mentoring sessions, classes and meetings throughout the year.
Preparing for the Jewish Heritage Trip is no small feat. It is very common for upperclassmen to feel like the learning is almost never-ending. However, the excitement ahead of the trip is enough to motivate us through the heavy workload. Talks of Jeep rides and Dead Sea swims in Israel, meaningful experiences across Bulgaria, Poland, and Germany, and the itinerary of the trip overall is enough to keep the excitement at a high.
HBHA students make their way through Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust Remembrance Museum. (HBHA)
The schedule of the trip is extensive and confusing even for those of us going on it, who have heard it several times. The trip begins on March 5, and we make our first stop in Sofia, Bulgaria, a stop completely sponsored by Jewish Federation of Kansas City. Our time there will be filled with presentations, teaching and community service at Sofia’s Jewish community dayschool.
After Sofia, the education portion of the trip truly begins. We stop in Berlin first, and after a few days of museum/landmark touring there, we head to Poland to visit several concentration camps.
On our itinerary for the trip, the concentration and death camps included are Auschwitz-Birkenau, Treblinka and Majdanek. This bulk of our trip is emotionally heavy, and though it will be difficult for both students and teachers, it is arguably the most essential aspect of our time in Europe.
Once we complete this portion of our travels, we head to Israel. Undoubtedly, this is the most looked-forward-to part of the trip. The 10 days in Israel at the end of the trip are highly anticipated by both students and chaperones.
From the Dead Sea to Kineret boat rides, to shopping in the Machne Yehuda street market, the list of things all of us are looking forward to in Israel is endless. The experience of being in the Jewish homeland and learning not only about the Israel we know today, but also learning more about the rich and complicated history of Israel in years before, will be a major highlight of the trip.
As those of us upperclassmen look ahead to the trip, we expect weeks filled with education, rich Jewish experiences, bonding and fun among our classmates. The Jewish Heritage Trip is not something we take for granted, and everyone in both the 11-12th grades and the HBHA community are extremely grateful for the opportunity.
