Dear Ms. Pasternack:
This Wednesday, the Jewish Museum of Florida is hosting a “Passports for Life”* Event with Polish Ambassador Marek Magierowski.
On the surface, this appears as a milestone for the esteemed Jewish Museum of Florida. In actuality, you are allowing the voices of Holocaust Revisionism into your institution. That latter point is of great concern.
Since 1991, the Polish government served as a beacon to nascent democracies since the downfall of the Iron Curtain. That has changed since 2015 when Poland started taking an illiberal path.
This change resulted in Holocaust revisionism: from the government funding of the Pilecki Institute, to deputizing the Institute of National Remembrance(a very Orwellian name). The Pilecki Institute is behind the “Passports for Life” event that is to take place in your museum.*
The purpose of these agencies is many, from whitewashing the role many Poles took during the Holocaust to emphasizing that Poles, like Jews, were just as victimized by Nazi Germany (the Double Holocaust Theory).
Ms. Pasternack, please understand that this letter is written by a person who has visited Poland numerous times since 2001. Even though my parents’ (hence my) family were nearly wiped out during the War, there are many aspects of the country I love.
I implore you to meet with your Board. You have two options at this point: cancel the event or have some well educated people pose hardball questions towards the ambassador and not “lob softballs” towards him. Then, you will be a true Jewish Museum of Florida.
Respectfully submitted,
Saul Chapnick, MSW
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* The link for this event is here.
** for one article about the Pilecki Institute please see here.
Saul Chapnick was raised in an Orthodox home with deep familial Hasidic roots. Educated in yeshiva and later earning a Master of Social Work degree from Yeshiva University's Wurzweiler School of Social Work, Saul has continued throughout his life to embrace Jewish learning in many settings—from studying at Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion to maintaining a weekly chavruta for ongoing Torah study. His lifelong journey has given him a deep appreciation for richness of Jewish tradition across the spectrum of Jewish life.
For more than thirty-five years, Saul has devoted himself to the study of Jewish history, with a particular focus on Jewish life in interwar Eastern Europe. Inspired by the mitzvah of Zachor (to remember), he has explored both the extraordinary vibrancy of the Jewish world that was destroyed in the Shoah and the enduring questions of Jewish memory, continuity, and identity. Through extensive travel, archival research, and conversations with survivors, scholars, communal leaders, and public figures, he has sought to understand not only what was lost, but also what those vanished communities continue to teach us today.
His writing explores the intersection of Jewish history, personal memory, Israel, and contemporary Jewish life, seeking to connect the voices of the past with the challenges of the present.
A gifted storyteller and engaging speaker, Saul has lectured throughout the United States and abroad on Jewish history, Yiddish language and culture, modern Poland, Israel, and post-Holocaust Jewish identity. His presentations blend scholarship with personal experience, inviting audiences to explore the enduring relevance of Jewish history to contemporary Jewish life. He has also prepared adult participants of the March of the Living by providing historical and cultural context that deepens their understanding of both Poland's Jewish past and its emerging Jewish present.
Saul is the author of a widely read weekly Substack newsletter and a contributor to The Times of Israel, where he reflects on Jewish life, history, Israel, memory, and current events. His essays weave together personal experience, historical research, and contemporary issues, encouraging readers to reflect on the challenges and opportunities facing the Jewish people today.
For the past thirteen years, Saul has served as the Substitute Chaplain through the Greater Miami Jewish Federation Chaplaincy Program at Miami Jewish Health. During rabbinic transitions, he has served as the community's interim spiritual leader, leading Shabbat and holiday services, reading Torah, delivering Divrei Torah, teaching adult education classes and study groups, and providing pastoral care to residents and their families.
Professionally, Saul brings more than two decades of executive leadership in healthcare and human services. He specialized in turning around distressed assisted living and memory care communities by rebuilding staff morale, restoring occupancy, improving quality of care, ensuring regulatory compliance, and returning organizations to financial stability. Today, he draws upon that experience as an expert witness in legal matters involving senior care, assisted living, and long-term care communities.
Whether teaching Torah, leading prayer, writing, or speaking, Saul believes that Judaism is best experienced through learning, storytelling, meaningful relationships, and a deep respect for every individual's Jewish journey.
At the same time, Chapnick has witnessed a limited reawakening of Jewish life in his family’s ancestral homeland of Poland. He has spoken at numerous venues on the contemporary relevance of Yiddish and Yiddish culture, the significance of the 19th- and 20th-century Jewish world to modern life, and the shaping of post-Holocaust Jewish identity. He also prepares adult participants of the March of the Living to engage meaningfully with modern-day Jewish Poland.
Chapnick shares his insights and reflections in weekly blogs on https://saulchapnick.substack.com, where readers are welcome to subscribe.
