Imperial J-Soc takes trip to Lithuania

The trip consisted of four intense days including a Shabbat spent with an Israeli delegation of students.

They visited the old shtetl in Žiežmariai, the grave of the famous Vilna Gaon and the building that once housed the Vilna Gemara printing press.

 The British delegation of students was joined by the Israelis for a relaxing Shabbat. And as Saturday drew to a close the students had fun with activities such as shopping, ice skating and bowling.

Sunday's activities were a more solemn occasion as they visited Kaunas, formerly Kovno, where they went to an old cemetery and the Slabokda yeshiva, which was a hub of Torah study before the Holocaust. The trip concluded with an emotional visit to Fort 9, a prison that the Nazis used to murder over 30,000 Jews during the Holocaust.

 Imperial J-Soc Co-President Noah Nathan said, 'It was very moving to experience that link to the past in the shtetls and the old synagogue. It's more a shell now, but still intact. It was an incredibly moving experience. We had a lot of fun and met new people. We had a moving insight into where our roots are.'