Dear Greece,

The entirety of our learning this year began with Greece. The wisdom guiding us throughout all our of journeys has been the Delphic Maxim: “Know thyself,” brought to life as we stood at the ruins of the temple of Apollo, where the ancient oracle stood for centuries. Our time was full of spiritual heights: staring out at the urban sprawl of Athens from the magnificent Acropolis or at the trees and cliffs from the mountaintop chapels of Meteora. In the same days, we felt harsh depths as we walked the silent streets and prayed in empty synagogues of Thessaloniki, Veroia, and Ioannina — once-thriving Jewish communities wiped out in the Holocaust, as well as Distomo, a town of non-Jews killed by the Nazis. Unique to our visit to Greece was a drive to appreciate all layers of its rich history, from ancient times to present, being at the center of the world for numerous empires and religions. Wherever we have gone and will go, the impact of Greece on our politics, theology, arts, science, thought, and very existence is ever-present.