Teens from Congregation Rodeph Sholom traveled to Berlin as part of our Confirmation program. Guided by Associate Rabbi Deborah Goldberg, Associate Director of Religious Education Jessica Cohen, and Jolie Widawsky students spent several days exploring the city’s layered history, engaging deeply with Jewish life in Germany, the legacy of the Holocaust, and the ongoing responsibility of remembrance.
Through historic sites, memorials, museums, and daily reflection, the trip invited students to wrestle with important questions about history, identity, and the role they will play in shaping the Jewish future.
Beginning with Berlin’s Story
The group began their journey by exploring Berlin’s modern history. At the Berlin Wall Memorial, students learned how the wall divided the city beginning in 1961 and saw the portraits honoring individuals killed while attempting to cross it. The memorial also recognizes the many people whose stories were never fully recorded.
The group welcomed Shabbat at a Reform synagogue in Berlin. The service included a cantor, organ, and choir, giving students the opportunity to experience both similarities and differences between Jewish life in Berlin and their own community at CRS.
Discovering Jewish Life in Berlin
One day was focused on the broader history of Jewish life in Berlin. Students traced the story of the Jewish community from its earliest references in the 13th century through centuries of intellectual and cultural contribution.
They learned about figures such as Moses Mendelssohn, the philosopher whose ideas helped spark the Jewish Enlightenment and influenced the development of Reform Judaism. The group also explored the legacy of Henrietta Herz, whose salons helped shape intellectual life in Berlin and helped advance women’s participation in education and public conversation.
Along the way, students encountered Stolpersteine, or “stumbling stones,” small brass plaques embedded in sidewalks throughout Europe. Each stone commemorates someone who was deported by the Nazis, listing their name, deportation date, and known fate. As people pause to read them, they must lower their gaze—a quiet act of remembrance embedded in everyday life.
At the Jewish Museum in Berlin, students explored how architecture itself can tell a story. In the powerful installation Shalekhet (Falling Leaves), visitors walk across thousands of metal faces scattered across the floor. As the metal pieces shift and echo throughout the room, visitors are confronted with the scale and humanity of the loss during the Holocaust. Students reflected together on the experience and shared their reactions.
The History of the Holocaust
Another day of the trip focused on understanding the rise of Nazism and the implementation of the Holocaust.
In the Bavarian Quarter, students encountered a powerful neighborhood-wide memorial that documents the gradual legal restrictions placed on Jews beginning in 1933. Each sign pairs an everyday image with a Nazi law, illustrating how daily life for Jewish citizens was slowly stripped away through legislation.
The group also visited Bebelplatz, where Nazi students burned more than 20,000 books in May 1933. Today, an underground memorial of empty bookshelves marks the site. Nearby, a quote from German writer Heinrich Heine reminds visitors:
“Where they burn books, they will ultimately burn people too.”
Students also spent time at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, where thousands of concrete slabs create a landscape meant to evoke feelings of confusion, isolation, and reflection.
The group later visited Wannsee Villa, where Nazi officials met in 1942 to coordinate the logistics of the “Final Solution.” Standing in a beautiful lakeside setting where such devastating decisions were made created a powerful moment of reflection.
At another site, students learned about the deportation of thousands of Jews from Berlin and paused together to recite Mourner’s Kaddish. The experience raised profound questions about memory, responsibility, and the role of faith in the face of unimaginable loss.
Reflecting Together
Throughout the trip, students gathered regularly to reflect on what they were seeing and learning.
In one reflection exercise, students were asked to capture three photographs:
- something they wanted to share with someone at home
- something that should be preserved for history
- something that can only truly be understood by experiencing it in person
The discussions that followed were thoughtful and meaningful, as students listened to one another and shared the questions and emotions that stayed with them.
Experiencing Berlin Today
Alongside their historical learning, students also experienced modern Berlin. They explored neighborhoods known for vibrant street art and visited a preserved section of the Berlin Wall that has been transformed into a gallery of murals expressing messages of freedom, hope, and remembrance.
Students also had opportunities to spend time together as a group, sharing meals, exploring the city, and reflecting on the experiences of the day.
Looking Ahead
On the final evening, students reflected on highlights from the trip, questions they continue to hold, and what they believe moving forward.
Among their reflections:
- “I believe we have a right and responsibility to learn our history.”
- “I believe that Jewish people are resilient.”
- “I believe we have a responsibility to share what we learned with our communities.”
Students described their experience with words like inspired, educated, proud, motivated, grateful, and hopeful.
Rabbi Goldberg shared with the group:
“The thing I believe every day is that the Jewish future is in good hands. When I spend time with teens, I know that the Jewish present and future are not only secure but very bright.”
We are deeply grateful to the educators, staff, and community members who made this trip possible, and to our teens for approaching this journey with curiosity, respect, and thoughtful reflection.
Their learning will continue far beyond Berlin, as they carry these experiences forward into their lives and communities.
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The Berlin Confirmation Trip is made possible through the generous support of The Susan Goodstein Lerner Youth Engagement Initiative, established by Larry and Elisabeth Lerner in loving memory of their wife and mother Susan.
