For an organization such as the Forum, whose mission is realized mostly through direct contact and conversation, the pandemic poses a real challenge. Nevertheless, despite restrictions, we do not lose track of what is important in our work. This time of isolation has been an opportunity for us to tighten our relations with our friends and participants of our programs from Poland, Israel, and the U.S. We see them each week at the newly launches Zoom in on the Forum sessions of online meetings. Our international friends and allies have an opportunity to participate in calls that aim to, among others, introduce them to Leaders of Dialogue or present a story of reconnections between descendants of Jews from a Polish town with its current inhabitants. This June, we have also begun Polish sessions addressed to participants or affiliates of the Leaders of Dialogue, Shared Heritage, and School of Dialogue programs.

Up until now, we had an honor to host meetings with esteemed individuals, such as Dariusz Stola, the former Director of the POLIN Museum or George Elbaum, a Holocaust Survivor, who shared his life story and explained why it is so important for him to have young people hear it. We have also hosted a meeting on the temporary exhibition at the POLIN Museum “This is Muranów”, whose co-curators, Jacek Leociak and Zofia Waślicka-Żmijewska talked about the ideas behind the exhibition, working with archeological artefacts found during the construction of the museum building, and artistic projects connected with the exhibition.

These meetings offer an opportunity to not only learn more about Forum’s programs and the issues we deem important, but also for us to learn more about the community of friends and allies, inspire, and learn from one another. The sessions are a unique space in which we remind ourselves about what unites us: a shared sensitivity towards Polish/Jewish relations.