First Day in Warsaw

Our first day of touring in Warsaw was focused mainly on the general culture and secular sights. Not far from the hotel and dominating much of the skyline was the huge Palace of Culture, erected by Stalin as his gift to the city. It was chosen to be built rather than a subway system. Some say the best view of the city is from this palace since when one is inside you are unable to see it. Our guide for the day was Renata. Our first stop was the large Lazienki Park in which is a small palace formerly used for the king. Outside the park gate through which we entered was a statue of General Josef Pilsudski, a great hero of Poland during the interwar period in the early 19th century. We used the steps of his monument to take a group picture.
Near the park was the former Polish Presidential Palace. During Lech Walesa’s years as president, he decided this building was too small and moved to a larger palace. Traffic made it extremely difficult to hear the guide but when the leaf blowers began their work in the palace yard, hearing the guide’s explanations was impossible. Upon entering the park we came upon a lovely area with a rose garden and a monument for Chopin. During the summer Chopin concerts are held. When it rains the piano is put under a tent. At this spot we saw one of a number of specially designed granite benches to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Chopin. By pressing the button on the bench one hears a short excerpt of his music. The seat contained a map where one could find other such benches throughout the city.
The walk through the park was highlighted by an Orangerie (orange orchard), a royal palace of Stanislaw Augur Ponuiatowski, Poland’s last monarch, and other royal buildings, fountains, ponds and statues. One building of interest had four facades each exactly the same as the others. From the park we rode around the city with Renata pointing out buildings of note. We passed a statue of Charles DeGaulle considered a friend of the Polish people. Eventually we came to the old town area.
During WWII almost all of Warsaw was destroyed by the Nazis. Eighty per cent of the buildings throughout the city were built after the war. The old town area was rebuilt in its originals style and finished in 1962. This reconstruction was done so well that it became a UNESCO World Heritage site, even though the town is a “copy”.
Next we visited inside the Royal Castle on the edge of Old Town. It was rebuilt between 1971 and 1984 at a tremendous cost. Furniture, accessories and lighting had to be reconstructed or were accumulated from other countries. There were many original paintings that actually survived because caretakers removed them before the Nazis had a chance to confiscate or destroy them. They were hidden in various locations including the basement of the National Museum, which one would think to be too obvious a hiding place. Wandering through the rooms of the royal residence we were inundated with detailed explanations of the furniture and artwork. One highlight for me was finding a bust of the nobleman, Ioannes Zamoyski. Karen Reese, Temple Sinai’s office manager’s maiden name is Zamoyski. We promised to look for any signs of her family heritage which includes a palace that we were unable to visit. The bust was the best we could do.
Upon leaving the castle we walked around the old town. In the central square was a statue of Syrena, the symbol of Warsaw, a mermaid who protects the city. To our surprise, on her shield was the pink ribbon for breast cancer awareness. It seemed quite fitting. After a short break for lunch we visited an imposing monument commemorating the 1944 Polish uprising against the Nazis. This revolt was at the end of the war by the Polish resistance movement whose symbol looks like a “P” on an anchor- etched on the columns behind the monument. The Russian army was on the eastern edge of the city but held back, leaving the Polish resistance vulnerable to the Nazi killing machine in Poland. During that time the Nazis were able to defeat the resistance and then destroy most of the city as an act of brutal vengeance. Some estimate as much as 90% of the city was leveled to the ground.
For our final stop of the day we visited the Emanuel Ringelbaum Jewish Historical Institute. We began with a short documentary movie about the Warsaw Ghetto. Even after being in the camps, this movie added more disturbing images of the Nazi barbarity. Displayed on the wall was an interactive map of cities, towns and shtetls that were once home to more than 3.5 million Jews. The Institute featured an exhibit and a small bookstore. We met a gentleman there, Yale Reiner, who helps people trace family roots. His contact information is familyheritage@jhi.pl. The Institute is located perpendicular to the site of the once Great Synagogue in Warsaw, now taken up by a high rise bank.
In the evening we gathered in the hotel lobby before heading to a private Chopin recital. Janusz, our tour leader and chaperone for the entire trip, won over all the women as he presented a red rose to each and every one. The concert was held at a musical library building. The pianist , an instructor at the Academy of Music and frequent concertizer was dynamic, and presented exciting renditions of the chosen pieces. The more musically knowledgeable members of the group, including Barbara Dechario, commented on the interpretation of the music as very different from how Chopin is played in the United States. At intermission we were offered glasses of champagne which added to the lovely ambience of the evening.
Our evening concluded with a group dinner at a typical Polish restaurant, Chiopskie Jadlo. It had a rustic atmosphere, and we sat at three long tables, prepared family style. The first course: herring prepared two different ways with bread. The vegetarians were offered slices of fried goat cheese. The main course: platters of various meats and polish specialties such as stuffed cabbage,piogies and potato pancakes. The amounts were overwhelming and the group may have dented the food but it looked like over 2/3 of it was left over. We were sorry for not being able to finish it and hoped that it will somehow be used.

Day 10 Krakow to Waraw

Day 10

Dzenh dobriy - good morning! Today is our last day in Krakow, with a morning tour of Polish historical sites, free time in the Old Town Square for eating, looking, and shopping, followed by Poland’s “Amtrak” train to Warsaw for just under 3 hours, leaving Krakow at 2:00 p.m. Henryk, our dependable bus driver, left with our luggage early to drive the 6 hours to Warsaw, after dropping us off at our first site, Wawel (pronounced “Vavel”) Castle and cathedral complex.
The previous evening gave us all another chance to explore the charming city center with its magnificent square, the Rynek Glowny, and the Cloth Hall, the Sukiennice, which inside is filled with stalls selling wonderful Polish crafts and gifts, such as wooden boxes, amber jewelry and ceramic pottery. Some of us found an intriguing vodka tasting shop with such flavors as wormwood and herbs, chocolate, blueberry, and many others. Most of the group found traditional Polish cuisine to round out the evening.
This morning our beloved guide Janusz, needed to pay a visit to a medical clinic to check out his hoarse voice. In his stead, we were fortunate to be led by his close colleague, Edita, who charmed us with her smile, her detailed knowledge of Polish history (and dates), and the “valued added” stories. Upon entering the complex, she regaled us with Krakow’s famous dragon tale: There was a dragon that was terrorizing the city. A young lad set out to slay the dragon. He offered the dragon a sheep stuffed with phosphorous. The dragon swallowed the sheep and then, out of thirst, drank water until he burst. End of dragon.
First stop in the complex was the courtyard of the castle of the kings built in the 14th Century. The novel Renaissance style of the building was copied by Polish nobles all over the country. Of note were the resident 136 large tapestries designed and made in Belgium centuries ago and ultimately moved from country to country to preserve them during the Nazi era. These tapestries were finally retrieved from Canada in the late 1960’s. We learned that during the Nazi era, the castle was the home and office of Hans Frank, head of General Government, the title of Nazi occupied Poland. His son used to bike in this very courtyard.

St Stanislaus (Patron Saint of Catholic Poland) Cathedral, high above .the Old Town Square, is the burial place of Polish kings. In their honor, the church is adorned with sarcophagi of silver, and all manner of precious materials, along with tapestries, a throne for the reigning archbishop, and decorative columns, friezes, and statuary, reflecting styles across the centuries. At the entrance of the cathedral, three gargantuan bones hang from one wall. The legend insists that these are the bones of the dragon, but we learned that they are, in fact, the bones of a rhino, mammoth, and whale. The centerpiece inside is the ornate silver reliquary of Stanislaus. Our guide also detailed the reign of young Queen Jedwiga (married at age 12 and from Lithuania) to King Jagiello, whose legacy in the early Middle Ages paid for the construction of the Cathedral. The king’s legacy is Jagiellonian University, the oldest in Poland and Alan’s alma mater from his summer course in 1988. A familiar chuckle was had by all as we observed the bricks in the wall of the castle complex engraved with the names of the donors who maintain the area.

From the heights, we descended into the Old Town Square. Once in the Old Town Square, largest in Europe according to our guide (and tourist center), first pause at small, very old church in the center of the square - St. Adalbert or alternatively St. Wojciecha - Joe and Elise’s namesake. From there, the Jagiellonian University where the highlights were buying JU hats, viewing a copy of Copernicus’s Manuscript and watching 3 foot high figures of King Jagiello and Queen Jedwiga circle in and out of two open windows under a ceremonial clock in the courtyard of the oldest university building, to music. According to our guide, when the clock mechanism works this Prague-like phenomenon happens 3 times a day - at 9 and 11 a.m. and at 3:00 p.m.

Left on our own at 11:30 a.m. the group pursued two separate and important missions - shopping (especially at the open stalls of the “cloth market” ) and indulging in hot soup or coffee to ward off the morning chill, and it was chilly! People watching in the square was only trumped by a statue of the large head of Eros, permanently installed from a 2005 open air art festival, lying on his side, with bands around the lower half of his eyes. Interpretation: Love is blind or Marriage is eye-opening. We also got to see/hear the famous bugler from a turret window of St Mary’s Church on the square. Historically, he played to warn the locals of the oncoming invasion of the Tatars, but was tragically cut off in medio res when an arrow hit his throat. Thus the bugling stops abruptly each time it is heard, in our times.

Sated from lunch, purchases (amber jewelry, local pottery, wooden boxes), and unexpected sunshine on a very cold day, we met up with Janusz and followed him for the 20 minute walk to the train station. Train left on time and off to Warsaw amid convivial bantering and food and vodka sharing, and the promise of yet another (and our final) destination.
Our arrival in Warsaw was smooth. We walked across the street from the train station into a beautiful modern mall. Upon arriving at the other end of the mall we crossed the street and immediately entered the Holiday Inn. People were on their own for dinner and began to explore the streets of the Polish capitol.

Day 9 Auchwitz-Birkenau

Day 9
Auschwitz - Birkenau
　
Could we have imagined what we would see, how we would feel and react to this day? Our collective anticipation was palpable - some of us quiet on the bus, some queasy, some curious in order to be prepared, and some reflecting on the reports of prior visitors. The bus ride to Auschwitz through the countryside took one and a half hours. The camp abuts the town of Oswiecim, the Polish name for the camp, - either a “disconnect” to the gut-wrenching concentration camp, or conversely the proof that life goes on, and progresses from the past.
As the camp now welcomes well over a million visitors each year, according to our special guide for the day, Wanda, there are kiosks, a restaurant, and book stores on the site as park-like grounds surrounding the entrance and parking lot. Like Yad Vashem in Israel, the site is so crowded that we all wore earphones to hear our tour guide throughout our 2 and a half hours at Auschwitz. Wanda reviewed the historical context around the camp, offered all the significant dates for the Nazi invasion of Poland on 9/1/39 and subsequent establishment of the labor, concentration (Auschwitz I), and death (Birkenau, or Auschwitz 2) camps for the different victims in Poland - political prisoners, gays, gypsies, Poles’ hiding Jews, and Jews, the last of whom the only ones destined for the death camps. Auschwitz today is a museum, and to some surprise, clean, with building exteriors intact, pathways easy to navigate, and the vestiges of the Polish military baracks, the camp’s original purpose. It could have been a prison, at first look. It was entering the blocks (brick barracks), each dedicated to a different phase of life in the camp that uncovered the true nature of the site and peeled away our own composure. It should be mentioned that at the entrance, once again (first at Terezin) is written Arbeit macht frei (work makes one free). As Wanda reminded, this “freedom:” was only death here. We began in Block 4 focusing on extermination, with George Santayana’s famous quote on the wall in the foyer “the one who does. not remember history is bound to live through it again.” In this block are displayed all the statistics related to the number of Jews transported to Auschwitz from throughout Europe as well as photos extant from a German photo-journalist of the times, and also a model of the largest gas chamber/crematorium, the ruins of which we would later see at Birkenau.
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Block 5, perhaps the most unbearable to see, contained behind glass the remains of Jews collected by the Nazis - now colorless mounds of hair, suitcases painted with names on the inmates, their place of origin and birthdate - the privilege of labeling luggage was one way the Nazis allayed the fears of the arrivals and kept them in the dark as much as was possible about their future - also, the mounds of shoes, shoe polish containers, combs, brushes, kitchen utensils. . . . .remains of life snuffed out at a moment of living it.
Block 7 began with the quote: “This former prisoner’s barrack shows living conditions in the main camp Auschwitz I. They differed according to the period of the camp’s existence. The number of prisoners assigned to each barrack varied from 700-1000.” At the beginning of the camp, all arrivals were photographed for Nazi records, but as of 1943, tattooed numbers were used exclusively at Auschwitz because the Jewish inmates could no longer be recognized. In this block along the walls are rows of those who were photographed with both the date of entry to the camp and date of death. We noticed that the period from one date to another was 3 to 6 months for almost all. On display in the side rooms were both original and reproductions of bunks, long trench-like washing basins, and medical rooms used for human experiments.
Next we stopped in the courtyard between the barracks and the prison, where those who disobeyed the Nazis in any way were temporarily held and then executed at that spot, where a memorial wall stands.
Block 27 holds the memorial room. Much like the Hall of Remembrance at the Yad Vashem Museum in Jerusalem, this was our opportunity to stare at the memorial in the center of a large room, broken stones under glass, listen to Elise chant the memorial prayer, El Malei Rachamim, recite the Mourners Kaddish together, listen to the recorded, haunting male cantorial voice again chant the memorial prayer, and confront our own reactions and feelings to our experience at Auschwitz and all that happened there, as we shed tears and were so very silent for those who were silenced.
We walked down the second road of barracks to the edge of the camp to view the substantial house outside the camp where its commandant, Rudolph Hoess, and his family lived, outside the fence. He was served poetic justice as he was hung after the war (April 16, 1947) on gallows raised up just inside the walls in viewing of his former house.
We ended our tour of Auschwitz walking through a small gas chamber/crematorium.
After a short break, we bussed with our guide to Birkenau – Auschwitz II, the killing camp. We had no idea of its endless dimensions. While Auschwitz contained c. 30 barracks, Birkenau had over 300. The barracks had been destroyed by the Poles after the war. Later, leftover materials were salvaged and a row of barracks was restored so that visitors can more realistically imagine the scope of life and death in this camp. Strangely, the “heating systems”, that is, the chimneys were not destroyed. The onlooker sees miles and miles of chimneys soaring from the ground on both sides of a central “avenue” where the train tracks ran through the camp.
Birkenau is a T-shaped camp and the 5 crematoria were positioned across the top of the T so that new arrivals would not see their fate right away. We toured a barrack, having housed 400 and more where 50 would have been crowded. We were told that the “heating system” never worked, the 2 toilet rooms for all the prisoners were inefficient and resulted in rows of latrines affording no privacy, no possibility of maintaining sanitation, and continued diarrhea from the bread that was mixed with sawdust, making up the main staple of the camp diet.
We walked along the central axis, along the tracks to the memorial at the end between the destroyed crematoria. At that place, we lit memorial candles, and Rabbi Katz and Elise once more led us in prayer. It was a tender moment, made more so by other visitors, mostly non-Jews, stopping to listen with respect and emotion, along with our non-Jewish Polish guide. We walked back, noticing bouquets of flowers placed on the railroad track that ends abruptly at the top of the T (we were told that trees were planted at the end, now behind the memorial, to fool arrivals into thinking that the tracks extended beyond the camp and that this was not the final stop). All in all, it was the most difficult day of our journey thus far.
Contrary to the observation that Auschwitz I is too commercial because books are sold there in kiosks, food is sold in a small restaurant, and many of the barracks are now museums, our group agreed that the information and images displayed offered a compelling education on the atrocities committed here and at all the camps.

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We have arrived back in the States but realize that the Blog is not over. There will be more posts this week Thanks for followng us.

Days 7 & 8 in Krakow

DAY 7 and 8 KRAKOW
Our departure from Budapest began slowly as once again our bus ran into heavy traffic (we left from the Dohany Syagogue). We finally got on the road for our Journey to Krakow. After our few free hours that morning, we did make a stop at the Holocaust memorial of bronzed shoes by the river. Between that stop, a lunch stop, and heavy traffic it took us over 9 hours until we arrived at the hotel in Krakow.
The scenery was extremely beautiful especially as we drove through the Tatras Mountains in Slovakia and Southern Poland. The group also had the extra experience of being in one more country, Slovakia, which was not entirely expected. We stopped at a rustic in appearance country roadside restaurant for a quick lunch. It was a log building with many stuffed animal heads mounted on the wall. There was a ram, a fox, a boar, deer and even a large pheasant. There were also embroidered dresses and blouses in the traditional folk style. We sat at wooden tables with benches, sometimes sharing them with strangers.
We arrived in Krakow which has changed dramatically since 1988, before the end of Communism. Our hotel was located a short walk from the walled old city and next to a Galleria Mall. The Andels Hotel is fairly new, lovely and modern and had a Japanese feel to its style. The rooms were beautiful with large bathroom facilities with both a large tub and a separate shower that had a glass partition between it, the toilet and the rest of the room. Even at the late hour a few of the group headed to the town center for dinner while others remained in the hotel.
Our first full day in Krakow began with much cooler temperatures than we had experienced up to this point. We drove over to the Jewish Quarter known as Kazimierz. When we arrived at the Szeroka square in front of the Remu Synagogue we were not able to enter because a group of Hasidim were holding a service. Janusz spent some time giving us an introduction. This neighborhood was established in the 14th century to give Krakow’s Jews a place to settle with special privileges. It also moved them out of other parts of the city. 22 years ago it had been quite run down but over the past 2 decades quite a bit has been done to restore old buildings and create a very lively and thriving neighborhood with a Jewish theme. The square is filled with restaurants and hotels as well as the two oldest synagogues. After a while we were able to enter the Remu synagogue before other groups because Janusz was friends with one of the two Jewish gatekeepers. Most of the Hasidic group moved outside the synagogue to the adjoining cemetery.
Remu (or Rama) was Rabbi Moses Isserles who wrote the Askenazic emendation to Joseph Karo’s Shulchan Arukh, (the set table) the major code of halacha. This commentary is known as the Mapa (the table cloth). This is the second oldest synagogue in Krakow; originally built in 1558 and restored a couple of times in later centuries. (We did not visit the oldest, the Old Shul, because of time restraints. It contains some Judaica but we had already seen quite a bit.) The Remu is still used for worship although not very large. The cemetery seems more organized than it did in 1988. It contains Rabbi Isserles’ grave and and those of other Tzaddikim. The Hasidic group was Vishnitzers from Israel. Besides praying at Remu’s grave they also gathered around one other. There is a wall in the synagogue that is made up of many pieces from broken stones. That way the stones remain as a memorial rather than for a secular purpose.
We walked a short way from the plaza and ended up near the Isaac Shul. This Synagogue has now been given over to Chabad. There is a wonderful story about the poor baker Isaac who travels to Prague seeking a treasure based on a dream. There he is caught by a palace guard who sets him free and allows him to return home. The guard said that he too had a dream but his was of a treasure under the floor of a poor Jew named Isaac in Krakow. When Isaac returns he finds the treasure and with his riches builds this very same synagogue.
We passed a building designated as a JCC (also not here in 1988). Near it was the High Synagogue, named not for the height of the building but because the worship space is on an upper floor. Nearby we arrived at the Temple Synagogue. It was Krakow’s attempt to create a non-Orthodox expression of Judaism. Many people call it the “Reform Temple” but its only changes were the mixed seating and a large organ. It may have also had the sermons delivered in Polish rather than Yiddish. It was a very lovely building that was built in the Moorish style of other synagogues we saw in both Prague and Budapest. Today the synagogue hosts both concerts as well as services.
The South-Eastern part of Poland as well as much of the Ukraine and a few other areas are known as Galicia. We use the term Galitziyaner for a person from this area as opposed to the Litvaks who came from Lithuania. We visited a museum dedicated to Jewish culture of Polish Galicia. It contains many wonderful photos; some from the past but most of what remains in these towns in recent years. There are pictures of destroyed and restored synagogues. There was also a picture of a synagogue that is now used as a furniture warehouse. Our docent was an Austrian young man who is doing national service in a foreign country. Why was he at this museum - because it was the only museum that offered such an internship.
Lunch time! People spread out to a few nearby restaurants to sample such things a pirogis, potato pancakes and hearty soups. These foods wash down well with some Polish beer (Piwo, pronounced Pivo).
Back on the bus for a short ride over to the new museum at the Oskar Schindler factory. The museum opened this past summer and tells the story of WWII both for the Polish citizens of Krakow and the Jewish community. It is creatively set up as the visitor walks through the maze - like and often dis-orienting path of the exibition. It contains multi-media presentations beyond the pictures and collected items on display, primarily testimonies from people who lived through those terrible years. One video featured the testimony of Professor Jerzy Vetulani, who I had met in 1988, and spent time with him and his wife and son. Jan ran into a Jewish man, a survivor (of the Plaszow camp – see below) from Israel who returned with his son, who now lives in the US. He was describing all the details in the photos – his own childhood. Most of us felt it was too little time in this museum.
From there we drove over to Ghetto Heroes’ Square. This is a plaza that commemorates the place from where many were sent on the transports from this ghetto of Podgorze. There are many empty chairs spread throughout the plaza signifying the emptiness left behind with the loss of these victims. On the corner is the famous drug store (apothecary) called the Pharmacy Under the Eagle that was run by a Polish Catholic, Tadeausz Pankiewicz. He was the only non-Jew who chose to remain and operate a business in the ghetto. From his store he was able to help many Jews.
Our final stop in our day’s tour was the site of the concentration/work camp, Plaszow, on the edge of the city. There is nothing left of the camp. On the top of a hill is a large Soviet period monument. It is an abstract sculpture of sad-faced and downtrodden human forms. There are also two much smaller monuments that were put here in honor of Jewish victims. The larger of the two was erected by the Jews of Krakow for the thousands of Jews from Poland and Hungary who were tortured, murdered and incinerated. The second, put up in 2000, pays tribute to Jewish Hungarian women who were in Plaszow before being sent to Auschwitz. The Soviet monument de-emphasizes the reality of the Jewish deaths and was dedicated to all nationalities murdered by the Nazis. For some, this area seems to be nothing more than a park. As we were standing and listening to our guide Janusz, there were two young women sitting nearby on a bench just talking and laughing. We also saw people walking by and baby carriages being strolled around. For us, these simple leisure activities were out of place on the grounds of a concentration camp.
Spielberg filmed much of “Schindler’s List” in and around Krakow. The authorities would not let him construct a replica of the concentration camp on the actual sight. We could see a row of trees not too far from the camp. Behind them was the location of the set. After a couple of years it was taken down and nothing remains of it.
The dinner this evening was at Restaurant Ester on the main square in Kazimierz. We were supposed to meet with Rabbi Tanya Siegel but she never arrived. Earlier in the day she told Janusz she’d be late due to a Beit Din, a rabbinical court. She leads the small liberal Jewish community. Since I knew nothing about this group it would have been informative to hear from her.
Dinner was lovely and we were entertained by a small klezmer trio. There was a singer, an accordion and a clarinet player. Their music was enjoyable with a small catch. Everyone noticed the cross around the neck of the singer. We were told the other members of the trio were also not Jewish. This brought up the irony that we witnessed a rebuilt Jewish quarter, synagogues, museums and culture in Krakow. However, except for a gatekeeper at the Remu Synagogue, we encountered no other Jews.

DAYS 5 & 6

Days 5 and 6
Hungary
Our visit to Hungary was brief and hurried. After a midday flight on a propeller plane from Prague we were picked up at the airport by Henryk, our bus driver until we depart for the States. Actually when we walked outside of the terminal (again 100% luggage arrival) he was not there. Janusz, our tour leader, found him a road level above us at the departures area. Construction prevented busses, but not cars, from coming to the arrivals zone. The trip into Budapest took longer than expected due to heavy traffic and more construction. Traffic and tour delays became an ongoing problem for the two days. At times we found ourselves circling around for 10 minutes in order to make a single turn.
We met our guide Peter Kovacsi outside of the Dohany Synagogue, built in 1859 in the popular Moorish style of that era - same style as both the Spanish and Jerusalem Synagogues in Prague. In order to enter the synagogue and the other sites on that property we had to go through an extensive security screening one by one. It was Friday afternoon so we hurried into the synagogue, second largest in the world after Temple Emanuel in New York City. The group was amazed at both its size and beauty. A few hours later that evening we returned for Kabbalat Shabbat services. The majority of Hungarian religious Jewry practices a unique stream of Judaism called Neolog. It falls somewhere between Orthodox and Conservative: separate seating for men and women but no formal mechitza. On Friday evenings there are both an organ and a choir with women’s voices. Elise was politely asked to remove a kippah because it is not the custom of this congregation. I was told that Neolog has moved closer to orthodox and that practices often depend on who is the rabbi at the time.
We were informed by two young men that the cantor who led the entire service was a substitute. One of these young men who desires to study to become a rabbi apologized for the cantor. He had a strong voice but many of his tunes were unfamiliar to our group. At the end of the service the rabbi, dressed in a black clerical robe, donned his tallit and gave the three-fold benediction, the Yivarechecha, which was all he did in the service. We met a group from Tiferet Israel (formally known as The Temple) from Cleveland. We would see them again Shabbat morning at the Reform synagogue.
On our afternoon tour after we left the synagogue we walked over to the Jewish Museum in the same complex. This building is located on the spot where Theodor Herzl was born. A museum highlight was a stain glass window dedicated by a patron named Wertheimer. Alan Wertheimer brought on the trip an elaborate family tree and believes some of the branches lived in Budapest. Other pieces of note in the exhibit included ceramic seder plates, unusual channukiyot, one with a miniature Napolean figure and others with a Polish and Habsburg Eagles perched on top. This engaging collection also inluded a small section dedicated to the Holocaust and a few of the Righteous among the Nations, including Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat, who saved many Jews by issuing them Swedish documents to keep them off the transports heading to the camps.
The central courtyard of the museum became a Jewish graveyard in the final days of WWII. The preset grave stones aren’t necessarily set over their namesakes, but reflect names of Hungarian Jews who died in the Budapest Jewish ghetto. At the end of the courtyard is a block shaped white stone synagogue called the Heroes Synagogue. It is much smaller than the Dohany Synagogue and is used in the winter so that the larger building does not need to be heated. The Heroes Synagogue was built after WWI to honor Austro-Hungarian soldiers who died fighting for the Axis powers. One of our group, Julie Griesinger, had shown me a picture of a great uncle who sent a picture postcard to a family member just before he departed from Pague while serving in the Austro-Hungarian army.. He was killed shortly after that. Such soldiers were honored by that synagogue. Yet again, a member of our group was able to make a connection with what we saw.
Behind the Heroes Synagogue is a silver weeping willow tree that also looks like a menorah. Its construction was funded among others by Tony Curtis in honor of his family, who were Hungarian Jews. On each leaf is a name of person who died at the hands of the Nazis. It stands not far from another memorial to the Righteous among the Nations. This memorial consists of a free-standing stained glass window, a black grave stone etched with more names and a number of small pillars with more names.
We hurried back to the hotel but once again traffic and construction made what should have been a 5 minute ride into a 20 minute circuitous journey. In less than an hour we met in the lobby to walk over to the Dohany Synagogue for the service described above. Upon its conclusion we walked over to the Carmel Kosher Restaurant for our Shabbat dinner. After Kiddush and motzi many were surprised by the “gefilte” fish that was our first course. It was a slice of boiled fish , stuffed in the middle, perfectly appropriate since gefilte means “stuffed.” The meal that followed included soup, goulash with barley, and potatoes prepared three ways for the vegetarians.. The dessert was fruit compote. We concluded the dinner with song and Birkat Hamazon.
On Shabbat morning we went to the Jewish Community Center which houses one of the two Reform Synagogues in Budapest, Beit Orim. The rabbi, Fernec Raj (pronounced Roy) is Hungarian born but served his rabbinate in the US. After retiring from a congregation in Berkley, California, he was approached by a group who were forming this congregation to be their founding rabbi. In his sermon to us, he related the story of his uncle, also a rabbi and killed in the Holocaust by the Nazis. He felt the memory of the loss of his uncle and his uncle’s son compelled him to accept the position here, in order to honor them. He said he had no choice.
At the service Rabbi Raj was warm and gracious to all the visitors, our group and the one from Cleveland. He invited Elise to sing Nisim bechol yom and Psalm 150. Alan and Judy Wertheimer were honored with an aliyah and the hagba (lifting the Torah) honor was offered to me (Rabbi Katz). The young Hungarian cantorial soloist, Flora, was singing at her first Saturday morning service as the congregation usually holds services only on Friday night.
After services we were invited to a lovely Kiddush lunch prepared by members of the congregation, and had a chance to talk with congregants - among them a recently married couple and a couple soon to be married. Beit Orim is part of a revival of Progressive Judaism along with a second congregation, Sim Shalom. They are not recognized or supported by the formal Jewish community and have great challenges just to keep afloat. Our group agreed that this was a wonderful encounter and we were glad to have the chance to worship in this setting (even the prayer books were in Hebrew and English).
We spent the remainder of the afternoon touring Budapest. We met with Peter, our guide at the hotel. We drove to a central plaza known as Heroes’ Square. In the center is a large monument with statues of seven men on horseback representing te seven Magyar tribes that came to Hungary and settled the land. Here are also two large arc shaped structure with statues of many Hungarian Kings. On the top there are two statues representing War and Peace. Finally in the front there is a memorial to the unknown soldiers. There are two museums on the two sides of the plaza; one for fine arts and the other for ethnic art. Behind the plaza is a large city park that contains a large municipal pool, a Lunar Park, a zoo, and a large facility with thermal hot baths.
Later we crossed the river from Pest to Buda to the Castle district that looks over the Danube. We were unable to enter its famous Cathedral because of a wedding but did get a glimpse of the bride as she exited her car. We went up on the Fishermen’s Bastion once a defensive position and now an exquisite viewing terrace.
While some window shopped in the small stores in the Old Town of Buda, I went with our tour leader to pick up good Hungarian wine for havdalah later that evening. We bussed back across the river and passed the Parliament building which is the second largest in Europe after London. We stopped at an unobtrusive park full of families enjoying the beautiful day, and in the middle of the park is a monument dedicated Raoul Wallenberg. Once again Peter shared the terrible story of the plight of Hungarian Jews. Peter it seemed to all of us, is an extremely, sad, depressed and pessimistic person not only in regards to the past but also concerning the present situation for Jews in Hungary.
From there we drove to a place on the river where we embarked on a one hour boat ride on the Danube. It was a bright sunny afternoon and the views of the city from the river were quite lovely. It was a restful and enjoyable hour before returning to the hotel and going out for dinner.
The next morning before leaving the city and heading off to Krakow we stopped by the river. Once again we had numerous detours and traffic; this time complicated even more by a marathon. We walked down to a haunting memorial to Jews who were shot by the Arrow Cross, Hungarian Nazis, in the final days of the war even when the Germans were pulling out of the city. It consists of bronzed empty shoes making one think of the people who were no longer there. We found it very disturbing that the plaques spoke of the victims without saying they were Jews. No other Hungarians were slaughtered in this manner. Throughout Budapest and Hungary there is an attempt to ignore that most of the attrocities were directed against Jews both by the Germans and the Hungarian Fascists. Sadly, according to Peter there is a political party of the same philosophy with about 10% of the seat in parliament that exists and supported today. A final sad commentary.

Day 4 The Jewish Quarter of Prague

Day 4
This morning was our opportunity to tour the Jewish Quarter of Prague known as Josefov. This area near the river is relatively small, containing a number of synagogues and the old and famous Jewish cemetery. Most of the synagogues are now used as museums exhibiting only part of the magnificent Judaica collection known as The Precious Legacy, which according to our guide, Luba, is the largest Judaica collection outside of Israel. The separate synagogues are really part of one collective museum and even with the numerous exhibits you can see only a part of the extensive collection. Judaica pieces are stored in various places around the area, rotating into exhibits, as well as a travelling Precious Legacy exhibit which has been to the US in years past and may be return in a few years.
We began our tour next to the cemetery in the Ceremonial Hall which housed the Chevre Kadisha, the burial society. Before entering, Luba pointed out a balcony, jutting out from this building, from which rabbis who were cohanim (priests) were able to conduct funerals since they are not supposed to be in contact with corpses or graves based on the rules of ritual purity for priests. The exhibit highlighted items associated with death and funerals. There were exquisite tzedaka boxes which were carried at all funerals to collect funds to support the survivors. We viewed a series of paintings by an anonymous artist depicting many scenes from the sickbed to the burial. These representations give us the most accurate view of what actually took place at the time. There was a magnificent ceramic pitcher used for the purification of the body and its silver cover with a representation of men carrying a casket. We learned that because of the low lying area of the cemetery near the river and the high water level, caskets, which were not common throughout Jewish European communities centuries ago, were permissible here.
From the Ceremonial Hall we proceeded immediately next door to the Klaus Synagogue which serves only as a museum. Here Luba related the stories of the preservation of the Judaica and Torahs. She mentioned there is no hard factual evidence to the usual explanation that the Nazis saved these items to open a museum in memory of an extinct culture.
From there it was a short walk down a street lined with open stalls of souvenirs, some Jewish, some not, on to the famous Old-New Synagogue, the Alt Neu Schul. It is the oldest synagogue in use remaining in all of Eastern Europe. Built in 1270 it is only predated by the synagogue in Toledo which has not functioned as a synagogue since the 15th century. We heard two reasons for its unusual name. The first was that there was an original building without a women’s section. When they constructed the women’s section they now had an old and a new part. The second more colorful explanation was that they had used stones from the Temple in Jerusalem to build it on condition (in Hebrew al t’nai) that they will be returned when the Temple is rebuilt. The Hebrew al t’nai sounds like alt neu.
This synagogue is still functioning and Luba pointed out that her father had a permanent seat there. It is most famous for Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel, known as the Maharal, from the 16th to the start of the 17th century. He was a scholar of Kabbalah and mysticism and according to legend created the Golem a “Frankenstein-like” monster out of the clay to protect the Jewish community of Prague. He wrote the Hebrew letters alef-mem-tav, emet which means truth, on the Golem to give him life. By erasing the alef you are left with the word meyt, which means death and takes away the Golem’s life. There is even another embellishment to the legend, namely, that the Golem is living in the attic of the synagogue but none of us caught even the slightest glimpse of him.
Our next stop was at the truly lovely Spanish Synagogue. It is not named for any Sehardic presence but rather because it is built in an 18th-19th century Moorish style. This style is the same as Central Synagogue in New York City and The Plum Street Temple in Cincinnati. Today the Spanish Synagogue is used by Beit Praha, a second local Reform group made up mostly of ex-pats. Also, on many evenings concerts are performed here.
Outside and immediately to the left of the synagogue we stood by an unusual statue in honor of Franz Kafka. It is a man with only a concave oval for a head and a smaller man sitting on the larger man’s shoulders. They say it is a man looking at himself. It is also said that Kafka lived in this area among many places because he often didn’t pay his rent and thus moved often. Later in the day Joe and Elise Wojciechowski joined Janusz, our tour leader, Jan and myself at the Kafka café for cup of coffee. In this café, next to the Kafka Book Shop there are many pictures of the Jewish district in former times. At the end of the 19th century many of the old, crowded and simple buildings were replaced with much more elegant structures. Today the Jewish Quarter is one of the upscale neighborhoods, with fancy Parizka (Paris) Street for upscale shopping. One might wonder about how life in the Jewish Quarter could have once been considered a ghetto.
Next we walked to the Maisel Synagogue. This synagogue was built by Maisel a wealthy financier, for his own family. Now it is only a museum with historical information about the community. A more fascinating object in the collection is a yellow hat that Jews were required to wear when they ventured out of the Jewish quarter into the rest of the city.
The final synagogue on our tour was the Pinkas Synagogue. It is now a memorial to Czech Jews slaughtered in the Holocaust. The names of those who perished are written on the walls in alphabetical order by family. In the background one hears a 24 hour reading of all the names interspersed with the chanting of el malei rachamim memorial prayer. Seeking and finding a family member’s name among the list is poignant experience, as evidenced with our group alone. Anita Langen found a name that could very well have been her grandmother, of blessed memory. Her discovery provided a touching moment for all of us, to be thus connected to a close relation.
From the memorial, we entered the cemetery, now unused for 200 years. Given its small area adjacent to Pinkas Synagogue the approximately 12,000 buried there were often stacked up to 12 bodies. Today crowds circle the graves in a “tourist walk” to see the upright gravestones packed together. There are few monuments that stand out such as the small sarcophagus for Maisel, of synagogue note. Among the graves is the Maharal, Rabbi Judah Loew of Golem fame.
Our formal tour with Luba ended here. Our group dispersed for lunch, more street-walking and sight-seeing and rest. We ended up going to a different section of the city. We visited the Jerusalem synagogue, another stunning example of Moorish architecture. It was built as the Jewish population spread out around the city. From there we went to the Mucha Museum. Alphonse Mucha was the artist who designed posters for the actress Sarah Bernhardt, among others. His works and style are quite familiar but it was wonderful to see more of his art and learn about him in a detailed documentary at the museum.
Dinner for a few of us in a restaurant by the Charles Bridge – polished Czech fare. By way of a vicarious taste, one very delicious first course featured a round of baked goat cheese on a honey walnut bread accompanied by heated fresh figs and a slightly sweet frisee salad. We opted out of dessert at the restaurant since a party of what seemed like 100 noisy men sat adjacent to us. The din abated only when their meal courses were served.

Day 3 Terezin

Day 3
Terezin – “Death Camp” Without Gas Chambers
We knew today was going to be the first of the emotionally difficult days which are an essential part of this journey. We set off for Terezin Concentration Camp, called Theresienstadt by the Germans (“shtetl” comes from “shtadt”, meaning small town). We met our guide for the day, Luba Poleva. Her mother was Ukrainian but she identifies herself as Czech and Jewish. The ride was just under an hour, north of Prague. On the way we saw a vast expanse of large warehouses, labeled Puma, Levis, etc. They are situated in this place because of the Czech Republic’s central location between Germany, Austria, Hungary and Slovakia. Once off the highway we drove past smaller villages until our destination. The guide noted that the railroad station in the town closest to Terezin, but still several miles away, was the initial drop off point for all those inmates transferred to the camp from all over Europe and from which point they marched on foot to the camp.
Terezin is divided into two: the small fortress, a prison for political prisoners, and the main town, also surrounded by walls and used by the Nazis as a model concentration camp, primarily functioning as a transit camp to other labor camps and ultimately to the death camps. We began our visit in the town, to most people’s surprise, today a functioning town. Some of us found it incomprehensible that people could come to live in this place for the first time or return after being evicted by the Nazis. Luba explained that very inexpensive housing costs were the primary lure. Terezin was originally built by Joseph II the son of Maria Theresa in the eighteenth century as a fortress to protect the country from a Prussian invasion from the north, which never happened. He named it after his mother. The soldiers stationed there developed and inhabited the adjacent town. In 1941 the Nazis removed the 6-7000 residents in order to bring in Jews. Our guide estimated 140,000 people “passed through its gates” (expression stressed by our guide to describe the continuing movement of inmates in and out of Terezin) during the years of WWII. Many died there while others were deported to the killing camps in Poland; Auchwitz-Birkenau, Majdanek and Treblinka.
We made our way on bus through the narrow streets of the town viewing the restaurant where the 3 International Red Cross members dined with the Nazis on their 6 hour infamous visit to the camp during WWII, after which they pronounced Terezin the model camp (what were they thinking!), the boys’ school –turned camp barracks - turned Czech Police Station - turned ghetto museum, the building where many of the young children created art work that survived to show us what the camp was like through their eyes, vestiges of the Nazi transformation of a small town into a ruthless camp, and trace of the no longer existing railroad tracks built mid-war to bring more Jews to Terezin, and faster and make it easier for the soldiers who had to accompany them.
We stopped first at the cemetery and crematorium. Here the crematorium was not used as part of a killing area but rather a way to dispose of dead corpses after they had died and there was no more room in the cemetery. In addition to the Jewish cemetery was a memorial to Russian soldiers who came as liberators and also died because of the rampant typhus epidemic at Terezin at the time of liberation. We heard how The Americans also entered and liberated Terezin according to an agreement between Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin. Luba related that the Americans showed up on May 8, 1945, but could have arrived earlier on May 5. Somehow Stalin mandated that the Americans wait 3 days to enter the camp, three precious days when many more died and could have been saved. To the rear of the cemetery was a replica of a leafless tree symbolizing a real tree planted by children for Tu B’Shevat as one of many memorials to those thousands who died at Terezin and were buried there. The original tree died in the floods of 2002 and some say it died because it was transferred from its original location outside the camp and never rooted. Nearby was a young sapling, hopefully to replace the original.
On the outside front wall of the crematorium was a stone-sculptured owl, representing the darkness inside. Many owls inhabit the poplar trees that dot the cemetery and crematorium area. Inside the crematorium we viewed the extant remains of a dissecting room, which the Nazis claimed to the International Red Cross was used to discover cause of death. In truth, this was the place where gold teeth were extracted from the deceased. In the entrance room was a large stone brought from Israel by President Chaim Herzog as another memorial. After walking through the building and seeing the black ovens as they existed when in use, we lit memorial candles and recited the Mourners Kaddish.
We proceeded to the Magdeburg Barracks. The first part was a reconstructed room that had about 50 bed spaces but most likely housed many more. The conditions were spartan and intolerable by any humane and hygienic standard. This building contained recently developed exhibits of residents who were musicians, artists, writers, poets and playwrights. It demonstrated the vast amount of artistic talent that was present and lost in this camp alone. One need not stretch the imagination too far to think of the unfulfilled potential in that and the next generations. We saw a copy of the Brunderbar Children’s Opera which has been produced in Rochester. This was one of the many performances that engaged the Jewish population in the camp.

Next stop – Ghetto Museum, newly established in the former boys’ school. We were hardly there long enough to absorb, even peruse quickly the exhibit and information about the camp, we were struck by the crowds – bus upon bus of high schoolers, most from close-by Germany. We did stop to admire the wall of artwork by Helga Weiss, who lived in Terezin at age 12, and survived. We saw pictures of flowers and fields, her early drawings, and then her father told her to draw what she saw in the camp, and she did. Her work then is collected in a book entitled “Draw What You See” – a comprehensive look at camp life through the eyes of a child.
The hidden synagogue – another miracle of the time, discovered in the courtyard of a family who moved back to their residence after the war and used their former barn to store potatoes. Lo and behold they discovered Hebrew writing on the walls behind the potatoes, were advised by a priest not to touch the writing and the rest is history. What exists in this smallish room is an arched ceiling, quotes from Tanach and Talmud, which we often see in a synagogue (e.g. da lifnay mi ata omed - know before whom you stand) along with a wall painting of candlesticks. Here – another poignant and precious moment – a short service highlighted by Elise leading us in singing the 23rd Psalm , El Malei Rakhamim, the memorial prayer and Kaddish once more for the lost generation.
Although a transit camp in name, the lack of hygiene, sickness, hunger and hardship were killing machines in themselves here. Not to be undone completely by the pervasive sadness here of man’s inhumanity to man, we drove to the small fortress, which housed political prisoners – these were any individuals (including Jews) who were identified as committing acts against the Nazi regime and Czechoslovakian government. Barracks piling 400 prisoners into a room for 20 – 30 people, 5 minute showers (cold water only for the Jewish prisoners) once a week for the inmates and later none at all, 2 bathrooms for those 400 prisoners, and no chance of escape (only three made it out alive during the war successfully. Luba reported, they knew to escape on December 26, a holiday when most of the soldiers and guards went home and the remaining ones were drunk. These escapees the only ones to be able to tell the rest of the world what was happening inside – and no one listened). Here in the prison, there was also a “show” for the International Red Cross, specifically a “barbershop room” with rows of sinks against the wall on both sides of the room and mirrors (but no running water) – it’s mind-boggling again how the Red Cross did not see beyond the façade. Poetic justice reigned here – the same small cell in which Jewish prisoners were packed, without light and little air (formerly a stable) was used to house the Nazi commandant of the prison after liberation for 6 months prior to his execution.
Walking around the grounds of the fortress, we stopped at (1) a spot at which 50 inmates were shot and killed a few days before liberation by the Nazis just for fun, (2) gallows used for prisoners at will, and a new and extraordinary statue of suffering inmates, including a mother and child, and a cadaver. The woman and child have a story. As it turns out, there was in this prison an artist, his wife and 3-year old son. The artist was transferred to the camp at Terezin and later died. The wife and child were put in a light-less cell and she went mad. Another artist and wife, friends of the former, had a similar fate. This artist also was taken to the camp, and survived. He somehow maintained all the artwork of his dead friend. He and his wife adopted the young boy as their own. That very young boy collected art work from Terezin and donated all of it to the Terezin exhibit. It is this young boy and his family who is the subject of the large outdoor sculpture.
Our last stop at the large fortress centered on the cemetery for 10,000 – prisoners who died there, many with names and dates etched on their gravestones. A large cross dominated the cemetery with a circle of barbed wire at the top. Jews and non-Jews alike, who stood up and acted out against the fascism and the Nazi regime.
Once back in Prague late in the afternoon, we went our separate ways, mostly to rest, some to one of many afternoon and evening concerts held in churches, only used for that purpose today. The majority of us ended up at Mucha, a restaurant specializing in Czech food and named after the late 19th- early 20th century Czech artist, Alphonse Mucha, who personally drew for Sarah Bernhardt for many years. The charming restaurant, complete with piano player of American show tunes, exhibited Mucha’s exquisite posters of Sarah B. The lighting and atmosphere were “1920’s” and a lovely time was had by all. We walked back, window shopping the ubiquitous Czech crystal and garnet jewelry.

Day 2

Breakfast buffet at the President hotel was delicious. There was a large assortment of foods to please anyone’s palate. The group was on the bus at 9:00 to meet our guide for the morning tour, Vida Neuwirthova. Although she was a substitute for our scheduled guide, her presentation was enlightening and in her droll manner she had a wonderful sense of humor. Vida shared with us that she learned of her Jewish identity only at age 14. She told of her organization of Jewish children’s puppet theater under Communism (under the guise of cultural education) and her present volunteer position as coordinator of the one Jewish day school and one Jewish afternoon school in Prague.
We crossed the Vlatava River and ascended to the Prague or Hradcany Castle. Outside the gates of the castle, from where Czech leaders ruled for over 1,000 years, was a statue of Tomas Masaryk, the first president of a united Czechoslovakia in 1918. He was a great friend to the Jewish people, and in Israel there are streets, a cafe and a kibbutz named after him. Two soldiers stood at the entrance gate to the Palace in uniforms designed by a movie designer who worked for film director Milos Forman, a friend of the former President of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Havel. On top of the gate are two fighting giants who are there for protection, and to their sides are an eagle and a lion, both national symbols – truly awesome!
Through the entranceway one immediately sees the imposing St Vitus cathedral. This magnificent structure contains tombs and relics of many Hapsburg kings. Although there are still services on Sunday and holidays, our guide told us that the Czech Republic is the most “atheistic” country in Europe. Within the grounds of the castle are other buildings such as the Basilica and Convent of St George and the Lobkowicz Palace. The latter was given back to the Lobkowicz family after the fall of Communism because of their anti-Nazi stance during the WWII.
Walking down from the heights to center city, we appreciated beautiful views of the city and the river. We strolled through a formal garden with an outside exhibit of the liberation of Chechoslovakia at the end of WWII by the Russians and the Americans. Vida told us that during Communist years they were taught in school that only the Russians were liberators. Her father said that he must have been liberated by Russians in American uniforms.
We crossed Charles Bridge which is one of the landmarks of Prague. It is about 500 yards long and is bordered by many statues of saints and religious figures. The two “stand-outs” were (1) statue of the priest who happened to be the queen’s confessor and when asked by the king to reveal he secrets, the priest refused and had his tongue cut out. Today, touching the base of the statue brings one luck, so they say. Some of us tried it. (2) the last statue – one of Jesus, with his crown of thorns surrounded by solid gold letters IN HEBREW spelling Isaiah’s famous quote: kadosh, kadosh, kadosh, Ado-nay tzva’ot shmo”. The story goes that a recalcitrant Jew in the 15th century was punished by having to pay for this golden quote and by living the insult every time a member of the Jewish community looked at the statue. Artists, photographers and crafts people selling their wares along the cobblestone bridge and hub of the city. We were warned to be aware of pick pockets, which are often at this locale. We all arrived at the other side unscathed.
A short distance away from the Bridge, on the corner of the New Town Hall, we stopped to gape at the statue of Rabbi Judah Loeb, 16th century rabbi responsible for creating the famous Golem of Prague. A surprise to all was the naked angel of death (really a beautiful woman) clinging up the side of Rabbi Loeb. Our guide explained that the angel threatened that the rabbi would die if he ceased to study, so he studied day and night. Once while studying the angel in the guise of an alluring woman brought him a rose. He put the rose in water and spelled it, absorbing the poison it held, and then he died. The most amazing aspect of all this is that a statue of a rabbi was erected on a civic building. This is a source of pride for the Jewish community.
We arrived at the Old Town Hall in the Old Town square just before 1:00 p.m. in time to watch the Apostles parade through open windows on the hour atop the Astronomical Clock, along with the immediate community of tourists in Prague on any given day. The bells chimed and a trumpet played its call. A full morning was had by all.
Lunch was a highlight at an authentic Czech restaurant, Mlwjnice, decorated with antiquated farm implements. Most of us were there, with beer, good food (goulash, borsht, gnocchi, roast duck, etc.), and good cheer frozen in time with reciprocal photo-taking throughout the meal. The remainder of the day was free for more sightseeing, shopping or resting.
This evening many of us attended a performance of Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni (Don Juan, to our ears) staged by the National Marionette Theater – truly a joy and a delight and not a cultural event indigenous to Rochester, NY.

day One

. DAY 1

21 of the 26 participants gathered at Rochester International Airport to begin our journey. Our first flight was uneventful to Philadelphia. We took a shuttle bus to the main terminal to wait for our flight to Frankfort. Traveling to Frankfort was also easy but there was a bit of a challenge when we needed to connect to Prague at the Frankfort airport. We were unaware that upon landing in Europe we were supposed to go through passport control and then to our terminal for our flight to Prague, which is considered domestic. There was also no gate listed until less than an hour before departure. Albeit the tendency to worry about thee details in a strange airport, the flight to Prague was short and had more leg room than the long international flight (which featured several broken monitors, seats and slo-o-ow service). Lo and behold everyone’s luggage arrived and we met our tour coordinator Janusz who will be with us throughout our stay. The bus ride was about 30 minutes and we all checked in to a very lovely Hotel President right on the banks of the Vlata River.

At 3:00 p.m. most of us met in the lobby to ostensibly take a prescribed walking tour to such sites as the Powder Tower (original gate to the walled city and subsequent gunpowder storehouse) and House at the Black Mother of God (example of cubist architecture) . After changing money to Czech Kronas (17 Kronas to the dollar), we walked through the charming streets of the old part of the city, with long and short stops for shopping, drinking world famous Czech beer, and watching those famous 12 Apostles make a circle above the astronomical clock in he old town square. Each building presents another architectural delight with its own statuary, etchings, friezes, and shape – either we are in a land of make believe and we are time travelling to the land of kinds, queens, and knaves.

The weather is cool and gray, but no rain – fitting for the surroundings. The group is gay and funny and interested in all things – we are completely balanced.

Dinner at the hotel at 7:30 introduced by Sylvie Wittmann, a leader of the Reform Jewish community in Prague. In a short time, Sylvie brilliantly enlightened us on the history of the progressive Jewish community in Prague. Contrary to our assumptions, the progressive community is older than the orthodox and conservative community here. Moreover, Sylvie emphatically stated that here intermarriage has been a blessing. This is so because during WWII the children of intermarrieds were protected from Hitler until 1944, while those without a non-Jewish parent were victimized as early as 1941. In the time before the fall of Communism, no one was really differentiated here in their Jewishness – it was the fall that resulted in differentiating the Jews in Prague. From then on, Jews who did not want to answer to Chief Orthodox Rabbinate regarding their ancestry opted to be marginal and secular and not a “member of the community.” And, then there was Sylvie who sought a religious Jewish identity not governed by the orthodox. I n 1990 she founded Bet Simcha Reform Jewish community with 11 members – having grown to 200 today. Sylvie explained that the survival of the ½ dozen or so Jewish congregations in Prague are mostly due not to individual membership dues, but rather the real estate holdings of each congregation and their rental value. Sylvie gave us lots to chew on.

Dinner: cream of asparagus soup, salmon and boiled potatoes on a yellow sauce (tasty but a very yellow-colored dish), and “to die for” dense chocolate cake for dessert. Sated and ready to say Laila Tov.