Courtesy of Yad Vashem.
These pages tell of the Herrlinger life.
Of a new Jewish youth community
that is in the making.
Three and a half months ago, the Jewish
rural school in
has the magic of the new and unfamiliar.
The experience is therefore still the focus of its existence.
That is why only the young people are speaking this time.
And what the children, aged 11 to 16, are presenting here
are the joyful, bright splashes of color
that fall into the gray of work, duty, and
tasks.
It hardly needs to be said that young people
who write about their lives in this way must be very happy.
They do not lack the respect,
to which they are entitled.
Life in the rural school places demands on them
that none of them have ever faced before.
They do not always surrender so willingly to their
task that it would be perceived as merely a source of joy.
But they surrender to it with seriousness, with
the awareness that the privilege offered by such an enriching
community must be earned through the fulfillment of hard duties.
The pages of
of our experiences and intentions, our
struggles and victories.
Not a school newspaper.
Not an educational newsletter.
Organ of a unique body.
Voice of our community.
Where no longer only individuals speak.
Why did I go to a Jewish boarding school?
I spent my elementary school years at a Jewish school. Then
I went to a public high school and was happy to be able to attend a public
institution, almost as happy as I am today to be attending
a boarding school that provides a Jewish education. At that time, I wanted to
break out of the narrow confines of a purely Jewish education and into the
education that every citizen enjoyed. Because I thought I was
“German” and was often even ashamed to tell a Christian friend
that I attended a Jewish school.
So I went to the state school and for years felt
superior to those who attended a Jewish school. I learned what everyone else
learned, not what was taught to a small group, to which I always
felt I belonged.
Suddenly, in the spring of
on the part of my classmates, there was no noticeable difference.
Through my years of attachment to the class and through my position
as class representative for two years, I had earned the respect and friendship
of all my classmates, until one day
the class teacher came in and
announced: "We don’t need to hold a new election, I will decide. You will
understand that no Jew is allowed to take over the leadership of the class today!"
Although the whole class later expressed their regret to me
and assured me that I had been unanimously re-elected, and the
students also spoke to the class teacher, the decision remained.
The decision had been made! Very strongly, more strongly than any other
experience, this proved to me that I did not belong there.
“I don’t belong here” was my only thought during all the lessons.
So I tried to get out of this community. Out,
back to the school where I could live freely and develop.
And so it was for almost every Jewish student. But what can we do to
become free and upright people again, what can we do to prevent
the doctrine of the inferiority of our race from eating away at
our brains?
We must reconnect with Judaism! We must learn that
being Jewish is a source of pride and not synonymous with inferiority.
I wanted to go to a Jewish school, but not an Orthodox one.
I wanted to learn about Jewish culture and literature, the full extent of
Jewish scholarship.
However, there were also some things that made me doubt the
education in Jewish schools. When I saw how teachers suddenly
went to a Jewish school without somehow
becoming aware of this change, this awakening,
I thought to myself: "Won’t I remain homeless in the Jewish school?
Will these teachers even have the strength
to lead me back to Judaism when they themselves
have not yet found the way?"
So I wanted to go to a Zionist school where the teachers
had been involved in the Zionist movement for years,
even at a time when they would have been better paid and more respected as state teachers.
I was happy to come to
country school. Here I was also supposed to experience a connection with nature,
return to the land. I was glad to come here, as I
also knew
But I discovered that this institution was not Zionist. Now,
however, I have learned that it is better to freely show the students
Judaism in its various forms. They
will then be able to decide for themselves:
or
they are already building a new homeland.
So I visit a Jewish institution, get to know my people, become
a free person and a conscious Jew.
But I am still missing some things, and it is the duty of the Jewish
school to give them to me,
then its task will be fulfilled!
A conversation between two
Swabian farmers: “Ah, here comes Arnold!” – "Are you ready to go,
where are you heading?“ – ”I’m going to the new country road because I
have to supervise the workers. Are you coming with me or don´t you
have time? – "Ha, no, I have to go to the train station because I
have to go to
goodbye and don’t miss the train!"