MONTREAL — Montreal will again lead the world in the number of participants from one city in this year’s March of the Living, set to depart April 28, local organizers say.

“We have more going than New York, Miami, Chicago,” said Mark Spatzner, who along with Elaine Dubrovsky are the Montreal co-chairs of the annual somber two-week sojourn to Poland and Israel.

“It is always the largest single contingent.”

Spatzner said 249 Montrealers – close to one-third of the expected Canadian total of 800 – will be filling a record seven buses on the trip, which concludes May 11.

“I think it’s for two reasons,” he said. “It shows how vibrant our Jewish community is, and it also reflects the fact how much of a ‘survivor community’ we are, too.”

The trip is primarily meant to allow mature, psychologically ready teens to bear witness to the Holocaust while later rejoicing after heading “home” to Israel.

The Montrealers and teens the world over will get to Israel in time to celebrate its 60th Independence Day, Yom Ha’atzmaut, on May 8.

The two co-chairs are March veterans.

Spatzner, 51, has been on three previous Marches dating back to 2000. Dubrovsky, 59, is also a veteran of three previous marches going back a full decade. She co-chaired last year with Howard Stotland.

Both also have children who have been on Marches and relatives who perished in the Holocaust.  

In an interview, the two said that this year’s trip will follow the established format of juxtaposing the vibrant historical  legacy of Jewish life in Poland before the Holocaust with the great tragedy that befell European Jewry.

On May 1, the eve of Yom Hashoah – Holocaust Remembrance Day – teens from around the world will converge at Auschwitz for the traditional three-kilometre trek to the Birkenau death camp, the backs of many draped with the blue-and-white colours of Israel.

It’s that very image, Spatzner and Dubrovsky said, that lingers in the hearts and minds of so many.

“You never come back with answers,” Spatzner said, “only more questions. The Holocaust was such a horrific thing, and 500 survivors are dying every day.

“One of the fundamental reasons for [the March] is to give respect to those who died because they were Jews. But I also see it as a great opportunity to make the world a better place.”

For Dubrovsky, the March also represents an opportunity for Jews to transmit to the world the values they cherish.

“There are people still perpetrating genocides, so outreach and increasing awareness is more important than ever.”

As well, the goals of the March of the Living have “become clearer” over the years, she said.

While she said that it’s as vital as ever to focus on the Holocaust, that doesn’t mean “dwelling” on it.

“We also want to show the great beauty of the traditions of the people who perished.”

Tears are common during the trip, both said, but they’re also shed with the joy derived from the awareness the Jewish People and Israel have ultimately prevailed.

This year’s trip, while in some ways  resembling others, they said, will also reflect the March of the Living’s evolution locally and as a whole since 1988.

As usual, participants will be accompanied by Holocaust survivors, educators, and scholars, and Rabbi Reuben Poupko will again lead his separate, always-in-demand young adult group.

But the Montreal trip is also seeing an increasing number of Sephardi participants, and a possible “rapprochement” program with Polish teens is in the tentative stages of being planned.

In Israel, the Montrealers are also scheduled to meet with peers in Sderot, the town that’s been the target of Qassam rocket attacks from Gaza.

“The program is growing each year, from cousin to cousin, sibling to sibling. It’s a life-changing experience,” Spatzner said.

Dubrovsky said that as the March of the Living has evolved, it has required “much more preparation,” with meetings called on an almost-daily basis.

Key to its successful planning locally, she and Spatzner said, has been the tireless efforts of staffers at the Bronfman Israel Experience Centre (BIEC), the department at Federation CJA responsible for co-ordinating the March.

“It’s just an amazing program,” Spatzner said.