This past July, the Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Chicago (JUF) held its third mission to Poland since 2019 for Evangelical Christian leaders. Two dozen leaders that included presidents of universities from around the country, professors and professionals in the evangelical media participated in this year’s mission. The trip, which was led by Wheaton College President Dr. Philip Ryken, was designed to instill in these Christian leaders an understanding of the depth and breadth of European Jewry, starting with its cultural richness and contributions to the world and ending with its devastating destruction in the Holocaust. 

JUF’s Rabbinic Scholar Rabbi Yehiel Poupko, who staffed the trip, explained the importance of this journey for strengthening the Christian-Jewish relationship.  “When Christians understand the complexity of Jewish life over the past millennium, they appreciate Judaism as more than a religion, but as an all-encompassing civilization possessed of language, familial peoplehood, Torah and land. This helps them have a deeper understanding of the entirety of the Jewish people and how we have contributed to broader society as well as a greater appreciation for our current circumstances and challenges. This knowledge is key to building bridges between the two faith communities.”

JUF’s Chief Public Affairs Officer Dan Goldwin, who joined the trip, added that while there is no shortage of tours to Poland, what distinguishes this experience from others is that this trip is not about only visiting places where Jews were murdered, but it’s also about what Ashkenazi Jewry brought to the world. “It’s not just that the Nazis killed six million of our people, but they killed a civilization, a culture,” he said.  “It’s an important lesson that helps non-Jews understand the ultimate depravity and loss that was the Shoah.”

The trip began with a visit to Warsaw’s Jewish cemetery and continued to Tykocin (Tiktin) to learn about the four centuries of shtetl life, the Lublin Yeshiva that symbolizes the Golden Age of Polish-Jewish Civilization beginning in the 16th century and that was extinguished by the Nazis just as it reached its apex, Warsaw, which was a major center of Jewish life and culture, Kazimierz Dolny that has a rich Jewish history dating back to the 11th century, and the Jewish Quarter of Krakow. 

From the symbols of life and Jewish culture the group visited sites representing the three different phases of the destruction of European Jewry, including Tykocin, Treblinka, Majdanek and Auschwitz-Birkenau, where the Nazis perfected industrialized genocide.

The group also explored the seeds of the modern-day Zionist movement. “Many Jews and Christians have what I call ‘the Ben Gurion view of Jewish history,’” Rabbi Poupko said. “There is the destruction of the Bet Hamikdash - the Temple - and Jewish history comes to an end and starts again in 1948.” But they skip over two thousand years of rich cultural life of Ashkenazi Jewry and the emergence of Zionism. He added, “The greatest creation of Polish Jewry is the State of Israel. And to be in the sites where Zionism in all its varieties was founded and flourished helps Christians to understand who we are.” Goldwin, whose work focuses on relationship building, views this experience as a foundation for continued education and dialogue between the two groups.  He encouraged all participants to insert the lessons from the trip into whatever means they communicate, whether it’s the classroom, the pulpit or written periodicals. 

The impact and relationships will continue far beyond the week-long journey. For example, Rabbi Poupko shared that following the Hamas massacres of October 7, one of the five largest mainline denominations of Christianity issued a rare statement in support of Israel.  This was a result of the bishop’s experience on a prior year’s trip.

Rabbi Josh Stanton, AVP of Interfaith & Intergroup Initiatives at Jewish Federations of North America and a participant on the trip, said that one of the most poignant moments for him was at the gas chambers in Majdanek, where the group was brought to tears after witnessing the extent of Nazi barbarism and symbols of the systematic murder of Jews. Stanton said that the participants were forever changed by this experience, and that many of them who teach about the Holocaust and antisemitism in the classroom shared that they feel a responsibility to teach about these horrors they witnessed.

Stanton also noted the critical importance in investing in these relationships across the Federation system, and why outreach to Evangelical communities is a key piece of Federations’ interfaith strategy. “There are 90 million Evangelical Christian in the United States. Many are already supporters of Israel and have a deep interest in learning more about Judaism. We have an opportunity to build deep authentic relationships that help both communities thrive, and also to ensure that the next generation feels as deeply connected to the Jewish community and Israel as their own generation.”