At Auschwitz, Jewish Students Recommit to Proud Jewish Life on Campus

As Jewish college students continue to face sharply increased antisemitism since the Oct. 7 massacre, Chabad on Campus recently led a seven-day trip to Poland. During the trip, dubbed LivingLinks, students explored prewar Jewish life in Europe and learned about the devastation of the Holocaust. Every step of the way, they were led and guided by rabbis, rebbetzins and other trained professionals who helped contextualize the experience through the lens of Jewish history, tradition, and Chassidic thought. 

Each year, LivingLinks is an opportunity for Jewish students to strengthen their connection and engagement with their own Judaism, instilling a sense of heightened Jewish pride in participants. This year, that mission was made all the more urgent amid the ongoing war in Israel and the rise in antisemitism around the world, especially on campus.

At Auschwitz, many students pledged to increase their commitment to living more Jewishly, with many students putting on tefillin outside the barracks that once housed Jewish slave laborers. They left with a renewed sense of mission in showcasing their Jewish pride and being a shining light in the face of the darkness of today’s challenges.