The annual Bruriah Historia trip is a truly special opportunity for the juniors to become familiarized with various Jewish communities throughout the New York-New Jersey area in order to promote inclusion, awareness, inspiration and beauty between the different sects of Judaism. The trip started on Wednesday morning with the first leg of their trip in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Juniors first met with Mrs. Deutsch, who spoke about the importance of chesed in the Satmar community; their message in performing mitzvot is to help—no matter who, what, where or when. The juniors then traveled to Monroe where the girls heard from Mrs. Katina who spoke about the joy, and also the challenges, of her life with her six adopted children who have Down Syndrome. The girls were inspired by the pure emunah Mrs. Katina showed through her stories of how she overcomes her everyday struggles with happiness.

After a long day, the girls fueled up at Evergreen with snacks and were then off to the Palisades Mall for some fun activities. There they enjoyed an Escape Room team-building experience.

Day two of the Historia trip started in Crown Heights with a tour of The Jewish Children’s Museum, followed by a panel of Chabad high school girls, who spoke about the joy and beauty of being Lubavitch. Afterwards, the students were off to the Lower East Side to visit the gorgeous Bialystoker Shul and hear from Rabbi Tzvi Romm about the community in the Lower East Side and how it’s changed through the decades. They were fortunate to hear words from Rabbi Dovid Goldwasser as well, who spoke about the yeshiva world in America. The girls then visited the Sephardic community in Flatbush to hear from Mrs. Mansour, who explained the different customs of the Sephardim and their origins.

As the trip came to a close, the girls had dinner in Flatbush. The perfect closing to this two-day adventure came when Rabbi Paysach Krohn spoke about finding your own place in klal Yisrael. Shira Pfeiffer, a junior at Bruriah, reflected on the day that, “Visiting so many different Jewish communities on this trip has given me a new respect and appreciation of the various Jewish groups and customs.”

Devorah Fink is a junior at Bruriah.