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.