By Joe Kallman

One place that really touched me was Ellis Island.  Walking and seeing where the first wave of European immigrants came through got me questioning. Do I have ancestors who passed through Ellis Island? I remember coming here before but never thought of this before.

I found in the Ellis Island directory a family member that I was named after. As Billy told us when we started the day, “Our ancestors came to America to give us a better opportunity and life.” I wanted to thank all of the people who got me to this point. New York showed me firsthand how many people felt that coming to America would be best for their family even though their own struggle would not improve once they got here.

ferry to Ellis Island, with the Statue of Liberty in the background

After Ellis Island we had lunch and walked to Wall Street, where we saw how part of the American Dream is realized. From there we went to pay our respects at Ground Zero. We all spoke about the memories we had of that tragic day. Billy made a connection of how our ancestors came to America in pursuit of the American Dream and that is tied into Wall Street and how if people don’t feel they have access to opportunities they may do things as unexplainable as what happened on 9-11.

the bull statue by Wall Street	9/11 memorial at St. Paul's Chapel next to Ground Zero

We made our way back to our hotel to get ready for Friday night services. We attended Shabbat services at Bnai Jeshurun, where they had a band play music during services and everyone danced through parts of the service. We ended the evening by going to a kosher deli for dinner.