Author Archives: cantorlichterman
CBITOLEDO MISSION TO EUROPE MAY 2015
CBI JEWISH MISSION TO EUROPE MAY 5 – 18, 2015
INTRO
I have been working with Lee and Gail Kwait for over a year now to put together this eagerly anticipated Jewish heritage mission to Europe. It takes a tremendous amount of effort and time and making connections to pull something like this off and trying to satisfy a divergent group each of whom has different needs and interests is complicated to say the least. But the Kwaits and I led a mission to South Africa recently which was fantastically successful so on request from people who heard about the South African tour we decided to offer this followup. There are several repeat participants on this mission from our last trip.
It’s been a few days already since we departed Toledo for Europe. Except for a little free time here & there it’s been exhausting so I have had no time to blog unfortunately. When we finally check in at night from long days, as exhausted as I am I work on planning the next day and researching the Jewish components so often I don’t get to sleep till late at night, then the next day I am usually first so I can make sure along with our other tour leaders that everyone is where they are supposed to be…
PRAGUE
As a fan of architecture and history Prague in the Czech Republic is a dream. Unscathed and not bombed during World War II everything is intact though over 40 years of Communist rule brought some neglect but it’s been restored to its former glory as one of the most beautiful and great cities of the world with intact buildings dating back as much as 800 years.
Similarly much of the Jewish heritage is also intact making it a great treasure though the reason is sinister and chilling as the Nazis planned Prague’s Jewish area as ‘The Museum To The Extinct Jewish Race!’ Consequently they have the largest Judaica collection in the world and many magnificent synagogues within close proximity to each other. This is very different to for example Poland particularly Warsaw which was a Jewish community many times larger than Prague (350,000 vs 58000 Jews) and Germany where almost everything was destroyed and obliterated.
HIGHLIGHTS TO DATE
The 3 experiences that stand out most in my mind are our visit to Terezin Ghetto/Concentration Camp, the many shuls we visited and Friday night shabbat service followed by dinner which I will now describe in more detail. I have visited Auschwitz Birkenau twice for missions so when I mentioned to my mother we were going to Terezin she said compared to the death camps where she and my father were interred in the war, “Terezin was a picnic!”
PERSPECTIVE
Although this jarring remark by mother is very realistic I would say that going to any place where our People were concentrated for the eventual purpose of destruction, is an equally sickening and sobering experience. I actually was not planning to go to Terezin and thought I would stay with those of our group who did not want to go and we’d do some fun sightseeing. But when 18 of 19 members of our group signed up to go, I wasn’t go to leave them as I am the spiritual leader of our group so I prepared an appropriate service to conclude our visit, as one cannot leave a place like Terezin without some “separation” and spiritual upliftment.
TEREZIN
The sick thing about this sad place is that it’s an old Czech fortress town from which the local general population was expelled to create a “holding” place, a temporary transit point for Jews from the area till its inmates could be transferred to their next “destination” often Auschwitz or other such places, most resulting in death.
I will not report any more on this visit except to say that after 5 grueling hours there, the climax occurred at the end. This was due to careful planning by our excellent guide Luba, a young Jew from the Ukraine who heads Precious Legacy Tours, and myself. I asked her for an appropriate place where we could do our short ceremony I planned for the conclusion and she said she had the perfect place.
CEREMONY
About 20 years ago a tiny hidden secret synagogue was found there with beautiful painted biblical quotes of inspiration such as beseeching God to hear our prayers, and Stars of David painted on the walls. It was a secret shul. So we did our readings and chants there including Kaddish, poems by the children of Terezin, and concluding with Hatikvah. I was impressed everyone remembered to bring the service I had Includes in the packs each person had received from me for the trip with all kinds of pertinent materials and articles on all the places on our itinerary etc.
I had texted my wife Jan to tell her we were going to Terezin. Jan who was supposed to go on the trip but had to cancel due to family emergency, texted me an inspirational note I shared with our group during the service, which mentioned that our son Mayron who is a surgical resident in Michigan had just received some prestigious medical awards, and she added, ” they tried to kill your lineage…so as much as they tried to get rid of us we are excelling and achieving!”
Everyone in our group cheered and clapped, it was a deeply emotional moment for us all, specially for me who lost 100s of relatives in the war and a half sister aged 4. As Lee Kwait read the poem I Never Saw Another Butterfly written by a young boy in Terezin who perished, he could hardly finish reading, we were all choked up…but left with the words ringing in our ears of Hatikvah “lih’yot am chofshi b’artseinu….to be a free people in our land…”
PS we have just crossed the border by bus from the Czech Republic into Germany as I write this!!
THE JEWISH AREA OF PRAGUE
Concentrated in one small area of Prague where the Jewish ghetto once was, are an ancient Jewish cemetery as well as 6 impressive synagogues and a beautiful building of the Chevrah Kadisha – the Jewish Burial Society which played a vital social services and Tsedaka role in the community. In addition a little further away is the magnificent Jerusalem Synagogue which was not on our tour as its too far but I went there in the morning during free time and am sure glad as its magnificent. It is still in use as are several others although the community is tiny compared to pre-war, a few 1000.
Described in local literature as ‘the most beautiful synagogue in Europe’ is the Spanish Synagogue so called because of its magnificent Moorish architecture. It is very reminiscent of Florence Italy’s synagogue though much smaller but both rank amongst the most beautiful in the world without question. We took lots of photos outside too by the weird statue of Franzen Kafka, the famed Jewish writer about whom Prague jokes ‘everyone’s heard of him no one has read him.’ This saying we learnt from our tour guide from Precious Legacy Tours Luba who was outstanding and deserves special mention as having a good make makes a huge difference on tour.
Also awe inspiring is the Alt-Neu Shul, the oldest in the world in constant use (except during the Second World War) dating from 1270, yes just imagine standing in this holy space where over 750 years our People have continuously davened to Hashem!! By the ark is the 400 year old seat of the great legendary saintly tsadik Rabbi Judah Loew known as The Maharal, So integral is he to Prague history that a statue attributed to him stands in front of city hall. Next to the Altneu Shul is the Jewish town hall with its famous Hebrew clock.
The cemetery close by has 1000s of graves on top of each other as they ran out of room, including the Maharal’s grave.
PINKAS SYNAGOGUE HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL
On all the walls of this Shul are inscribed the names of every Jew from Czechoslovakia who perished in the Shoah some 78000 names filling every corner of every wall including lobby, corridors etc. Other than names the building is deliberately and starkly bare except for an outline of ark & bimah..it is as powerful as visiting Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. I am so glad our group had the following experience described in my next paragraphs after exiting this memorial…
SHABBAT SERVICE IN PRAGUE
We concluded our Jewish experience here with an amazing coincidental climax by returning to the Spanish Shul for Friday night service followed by kosher shabbat dinner at the Solomon Restaurant. We had no idea what to expect at the service ~ I had contacted them and they said they were expecting 1 other group but when we arrived there weren’t many seats. I asked if they could bring out more and they said they thought it would be enough as at that point there were some 50 people which was all they were expecting but the crowd just kept growing with mostly young people and growing till there were some 150 or so packed in and they ran out of chairs and siddurim. We started 20 minutes late. It was a typical Conservative service very similar to Reform so our group were familiar with and able to follow the service and sing along and men and women sat together.
A RARE HONOR
I introduced my group to the service leader who was a regular congregant from Ukraine (I don’t know if they have a Rabbi or Hazzan) and he asked me to sing the various Kaddish prayers which I was glad to oblige as singing there is a hugely emotional experience and honor.
The acoustics were fantastic and I could hear my voice reverberating off the arches of the magnificent structure. When the leader asked people where they were from we were happily amazed to find some young Jews knowledgeable of the service singing at the tops of their voices filling this great Shul with davening from all over Eastern Europe including Warsaw Poland where my family is from, Rumania etc.
DEATH TO LIFE
Keeping the flame of Judaism alive in these places where it almost disappeared is a real kiddush Hashem – a sanctification of God’s name. What a contrast to the ghostly walls of the bare Pinkas Shul we had beheld a mere hour before..the young people’s voices still ringing in my ears Lecha Dodi – Come my beloved…let us greet the shabbat queen…and these young people live where? In Israel? No! In America? No! In Poland, in Rumania, Hungary, Czech…Ezekiel’s dry bones coming to life vision!
SHABBAT DINNER
Dinner at the Solomon was delicious – traditional Jewish chicken soup, beef over cholent etc but more inviting than heimishe cousine was joining with the group next to us of French Jews as we sang together with great ruach zemirot and Israeli songs and I grabbed one of them & we danced ecstatically at the joy of bringing together Jews with from all over the world in this great place once called by some ‘the museum of the extinct Jewish race…!!
GERMANY –
REGENSBURG
First stop here was Regensburg, a beautiful historical college town well preserved of centuries of history dating back to Rome. I only felt it worthwhile to do these countries so associated with Jewish suffering if we were going to do experience something positively Jewish so I set out during free time to find the Shul which I did with no problem, bumping into Joanne Rubin and Leah Connor exploring the town, whom I took along to find the Shul that was nearby.
It was locked of course, no security. There were 4 call buttons on the gate. I pressed them continually never being one to give up quickly. As Joanne and Leah began to leave a woman’s voice answered. I identified ourselves and our mission and soon the front door opened and a custodian opened for us. We explored the whole Jewish center and took photos. It is in the building that before the War housed the community offices. This survived though the Shul part of the complex burnt down on Kristalnacht. There is a new center which they are going to enlarge as it is too small to accommodate the reemergent community now numbering 1000 with the influx of Russian Jews as all over Germany.
MIZRACH
Later as our whole group toured the town, we saw 2 sights of Jewish interest – Oskar Schindler’s home and a Holocaust memorial on the sight of a former ancient synagogue which was revealed recently through excavations. The memorial is by an Israeli sculptor and in the place where the ark stood is a stone with the Hebrew word mizrach – meaning ‘east’ carved, symbolizing the direction of Jerusalem but also meaning to shine as in light shining, the intent being for people to dwell in harmony. It was Sunday, the weather was perfect and the memorial was filled with many young people relaxing and enjoying the bright sunshine…I wonder if they grasp the significance of that once holy place or the word mizrach?.
When I told our group about the Shul some wanted to see it so I took them before retiring to the boat to depart Regensburg.
SMALL WORLD
Two amazing coincidences – in Prague we stopped in the old town for lunch at a small local cafe when a woman jumped up and yelled ‘IVOR’ – it was Judy Gatchell from my former synagogue in Tucson whom I met 15 years ago when she needed a mohel for her grandson. We had reconnected last year when she attended a concert and scholar in residence program I did there. It was emotional to see her here in the middle of Prague – I told her we were going to the Conservative synagogue Friday night so she came too and said how much she enjoyed hearing me singing there…a long way from Arizona…
Second small world coincidence – the manager of our boat which by the way is gorgeous, brand new one month old – is a Hungarian who spent 14 years in Cape Town and married a South African and lived about 12 blocks from my mother in a city of 4 million!
OFF TO DINNER
On the boat you dare not miss a meal –
it’s a religious ritual –
Shouldn’t be a problem – I am religious and I know ritual, right?
Wrong – these buffets are chaos –
you can’t find an entrance to the line –
have to push your way in –
like they’re going to run out of food?
It extends round and round – like a wedding ring – no beginning no end
Like a merrygoround.
All 181 people on board attack simultaneously…
my African background should come in handy, that animal instinct of the jungle –
see a target? See food. Haven’t eaten in an hour. Attack! attack! Claw your way Cantor
come on don’t be shy…
thought I’d go in the reverse order but even starting with dessert doesn’t help –
the line extends beyond that too.
Might as well just wait it out
but by then everyone at your table’s all done and you’re left holding the bag…
Tomorrow morning there will be breakfast, won’t there?
SOUTH AFRICAN BNAI ISRAEL SYLVANIA MISSION 2013
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- Lions Shul – downtown Johannesburg
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- Feeding the vultures outside our hotel at Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.
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- interesting architecture of our hotel at Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe
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- looking up toward upper cable way station
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- hospital in Cape Town where 1st heart transplant was performed
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- now houses the Cape Town Jewish Museum
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- Director of the Cape Town Holocaust Center
INTRODUCTION
While I was hoping to blog everyday I find myself almost a week into the trip with my 1st opportunity to blog now at the airport on Tuesday morning, as we are about to part from the city of my birth beautiful Cape Town.
My heart is heavy with mixed feelings as we have spent the most wonderful 5 days here in perfect weather in the presence of my dear mother Miriam who Fortunately I had the privilege to see in March when my brother & I made a 90th birthday celebration for her here. It is a rare blessing to have been able to see her face to face twice in 1 year. We have also had the pleasure of our middle child our son Ari & his dear wife our daughter (in law) Hayley who arrived a few days before us & are staying a few more days to be with my mother before going on to Johannesburg where we might have an opportunity to connect next weekend.
We are a fantastic group of 25 including Ari & Hayley who have jelled together and are getting along beautifully. We arrived last Thursday night at midnight after 2 exhausting flights 1st from Detroit to Amsterdam then onto Cape Town direct, the 2nd flight almost 12 hours with a 7 hour time difference.
Our hotel the Protea in Sea Point a gorgeous beach area where many of Cape Town’s Jews live, was recently upgraded and at a beautiful location near the ocean.
1ST DAY- JEWISH CAPE TOWN
HERZLIA JEWISH DAY SCHOOL
We started with the Herzlia Jewish day school where I spent all 12 years of school before going on to the army and college. It is hard for our group to envisage a Jewish community of some 16000 with a day school on 6 campuses comprising a student body of 2100 which is an extremely high percent of the children of the community. We began with an assembly during which the students were working on a recycling project and their excellent marimba band entertained us. We saw their new state of the art gym recently donated and just dedicated. While the original buildings in which I spent those 12 years are still there they are incorporated within a much larger campus which for our group was more like a college campus than a typical Jewish day school in the USA. Herzlia is 1 of the best known jessie schools in the world and I received a superior education there both in secular and Hebrew studies.
MY FATHER’S SHUL
From there as we headed to the Jewish campus downtown we passed 3 of the 4 homes in which I grew up all still looking good as the neighborhoods are still very desirable. Then a deeply emotional visit to my dear late father Jakub’s former synagogue now an antique oriental furniture store. Fortunately it was open for business so I introduced our group and explained my background to the owner who was glad to let us in and poke around. I’m sure though he would have been happier had we bought something; had we been in the USA, I’m sure he would have found some avid customers.
My father served there for over 30 years from 1950; I was brissed there in the hall which is now a Jehovah’s Witness church, had my bar mitzvah there and my soul is imbued with fond deep memories of events and sounds in this great building that shaped my persona and especially my career. Standing in the large space now crammed floor to ceiling with antiques, I shared legends of the famous former Vredehoek shul with our group, showed them where my mother and I sat and where the bimah was once located. We were even able to climb the stairs to the women’s balcony, it having been an Orthodox synagogue like most in South Africa. I could hear my father’s resonating tenor piercing the commotion of the weirdly juxtaposed business that was now being conducted in this former holy space that was so integral to my life. Ari was overwhelmed by the associations, for he never met his Gpa Jakub who died 27 years ago and Ari has only heard many legends of his Gpa who devoted his life to am yisrael and survived the Warsaw Ghetto and several concentration camps as well as the loss of his 1st wife and daughter my half sister.
When I grew up I wanted very much to become an architect of synagogue design, partly as a result of the influence of this place. Having followed in my fathers footsteps to become a cantor I devote my life to what happens in these spaces rather than the spaces in which these services were contained. It was the sounds of my father’s music and voice that influenced me more than the bricks and mortar. Still the memories are so profound…
JEWISH CAMPUS
From there we headed to the campus that now includes the Great Synagogue, erected over 100 years ago, its predecessor building (the 1st built in South Africa), the Jewish museum ( now housed in the old shul as well as in a new impressive building), the Holocaust which includes testimony from my dear mother Miriam, the Jewish library, a kosher restaurant and other communal institutions and offices. When I grew up there, there was only the synagogue; now thanks to its visionary leaders it is a world class campus of Jewish life. It is worth noting that although the numbers of the Jewish community have dropped 40% over the last 40 years, the infrastructure has vastly intensified so that the blessed residents of this unique Jewish community are Jewishly far better off than before.
Our group was fascinated to hear the amazing work Richard & the Holocaust Center do particularly on South Africa’s unique racist history and we enjoyed an interesting tour of the Museum of South African Jewish history. The Great Synagogue, also known as the Gardens Shul because of its beautiful location in the beautiful botanical gardens, is not open for visitors on Fridays so I arranged with the Cantor Ian Camisar to open for us as it is a spectacular building not to be missed,
GROOTE SCHUUR HOSPITAL & U OF CAPE TOWN
The lovely Cafe Riteve on the Jewish campus hosted a delicious buffet kosher lunch for us after which we headed to the suburbs to visit the massive famous Groote Schuur Hospital where Dr Christian Barnard performed the world’s 1st heart transplant. Then we headed to the close by University of Cape Town campus where I received my Bachelors And Honors degrees. It is 1 of the most beautiful campuses in the world built on the slopes of the mountain. The campus Rabbi Thurgood showed us around particularly the Kaplan Center for Jewish studies which has its own building.
SHABBAT
For Friday night services we attended the Marais Rd Sea Point Shul well known in SA as once 1 of the largest Jewish congregations in the world. The cantor is a good friend of mine and our group was thrilled to find out there is another Cantor Ivor (his name being Ivor Joffe) and our group despite the fact that the women sit in the balcony, enjoyed a typical South African Friday night shul service with cantorial music and male choir, a tradition I grew up with. The dynamic Rabbi is a good friend of Toledo’s Chabbad Rabbi. Our group was surprised by the large crowd of several 100 who attend Friday night rather than Saturday, a South African tradition. Upstairs the women in our group sat with my mother. For me it was wonderful to see my mother surrounded by our women as well as my daughter in law Hayley. Dinner was back at our hotel, catered by a kosher caterer who owns 1 of the local kosher restaurants, a traditional Shabbat dinner of brisket , chicken etc that was excellent and graciously hosted.
Our group toured spectacular coastal Cape Town sights while I spent shabbat with my mother, Ari and Hayley. I received an Aliyah and we were invited to the Rabbi for a wonderful cholent lunch we all enjoyed. The Rabbi being Chabbad there was much ruach and lively singing. On Saturday night we were invited to my cousin from Brasil (originally Israeli) Lea & her husband Selwyn who live there and 19 year old son Jonathan, who, at Friday night dinner fielded many questions from our group on being a student in present day South Africa. Several of our friends were invited as well as the Hazzan of the Great Synagogue and his wife.
3RD DAY – SUNDAY
On Sunday we attempted to take the cable car up what is 1 of the wonders of the world the magnificent Table Mountain on which slopes Cape Town lies. The weather is often windy up there so the cable car cannot run which was the case that morning. We admired some of the most breathtaking and spectacular views in the world from up on the mountain and from the other side of the city where all the amazing photos are taken and paintings done of Table Mountain. We also enjoyed a visit to historical buildings downtown such as the Malay Quarter and the Castle which is the oldest building in the country dating back to the late 1600’s. I shared stories of my military service when I was stationed at the Castle. I was conscripted into the army in 1971 and served for a full year, 8 months in Pretoria and 4 at the Castle. The reason for my transfer was that I was hired by a synagogue to lead High Holiday services in Cape Town and because of the government’s great respect for religious freedom (a bit of a contradiction with their political system) they felt it was their responsibility to fly me 1000 miles at their expense to be available to the congregation that needed me. So instead of giving me off the 10 days or flying me twice they transferred me to Cape Town. We saw the beautiful historical city hall where Nelson Mandela went immediately on release from prison to deliver his 1st speech as a free man.
ROBBIN ISLAND
A highlight of the trip and Sunday was a visit to Robbin Island where Mandela was incarcerated for 18 of the 27 years he spent in prison. It can only be accessed by boat, a 30 fast speed boat ride. Our tour guide at the prison on the island was a former inmate who was there 5 years as a political prisoner. We saw Mandela’s tiny cell and heard about horrible conditions. I invited my mother to join us but she refused and it became apparent when we arrived why, as it looks a bit like a concentration camp though there is no analogy except in the idea of racial hatred and discrimination.
4TH DAY – MONDAY
The Cape area is famous for amongst other things the wonderful wineries producing some of the best wines in the world. These were established by the French Huguenots who came here in the late 1600s to escape religious persecution. We visited the beautiful Huguenot monument in the picturesque town of Franschhoek and the wonderful Babylon Garden followed by a wine and cheese tasting and lunch at the famous Fairview Winery which has become 1 of the premier producers of wine, cheese, beer, chocolate etc in South Africa.
The owner is Charles Back from a prominent Jewish family whose grandfather purchased the winery in the 1930’s. I had contacted him by email hoping he would greet and welcome our group but never heard from him. He is extremely busy with his many ventures and impossible to get hold of. But our luck our tour guide spotted him sitting in his restaurant. Since he knows my family I approached him and asked him to meet briefly with my group which he did. We were very fortunate that he was on the spot at the time and willing and available to meet with us.
OUR TOUR GUIDE
I should point out that our tour guide Tessa Easingwood is fabulous, we all love her, extremely knowledgeable and fun and easy going, a mixture of Afrikaans background and English. She has gone to great lengths to make everything perfect for us as well as to explain the complicated racial complexion of this rainbow of people that make up a truly amazing country.
Stellenbosch and Paarl are 2 of the towns that are centers of this wine region and integral to my own story. My professional career began in the town of Wellington in this region when I was 15 years old and was invited to assist with High Holyday services. The following year I moved up to a larger community in the area when invited to Belleville which is close by, for the same role.
A member of our group Bill Garber had yahrzeit for his father and wanted very much to say Kaddish with a minyan so we stopped in front of Stellenbosch’s lovely historical shul to chant Psalms & Kaddish. We drove through the downtown campus of Stellenbosch U which is the Harvard of Afrikaner culture. 3 prime ministers who served the Apartheid regime came from this university.
TABLE MOUNTAIN
On our way home we found out that Table Mountain had opened (it often closes due to high winds) so part of our group rushed up there before it closed at dusk for this is a spectacular adventure that Cape Town is known for all over the world, something we did not want to miss. We were so fortunate the weather was perfect and we had an unforgettable experience while still making it down in time for me to attend with my mother (Professor) David Weinberg’s lecture for the Kaplan Center of Judaic Studies. Since I was the “shadchen” who set up this guest lecture for David and my mother very much wanted to attend, the subject of anti semitism being very pertinent to her life, it would have been unthinkable for me not to show up, but I also wanted to chaperone my group up Table Mountain, a highlight of any trip to this part of the world. David had previously hosted Prof Shain at Wayne State as well as our synagogue so for David and Judy this trip was therefore the fulfillment of a dream begun with Milton’s visit to Toledo.
LEAVING CAPE TOWN
On the 5th day of our trip we departed for Durban, a 2 hour flight to SA’s 3rd biggest city to begin a real African continent experience of safaris, Zululand, Swaziland etc. Our 1st stop was at the St Lucia estuary where we took a wonderful boat trip to see the hippopotami. The next day we rose at the crack of dawn to go on our 1st safari at the famous Hluhluwe game reserve national park which is the 2nd oldest national park in the world after Yellowstone in the US. We saw close up buffalo, elephants, warthog, zebra, rhinos, impala, giraffesand other animals, birds etc. To see these in their natural habitat is such a different experience to visiting a zoo…
Before we departed a huge herd of buffalo came speeding down the mountain side and crossed the road literally feet in front of our jeeps closely followed by a dazzle of elegant zebra (a term I just learnt) a truly spectacular sight. We hoped to spot lions as that was what our Guide thought provoked that stampede but no lions…yet…
7TH DAY – SWAZILAND
We are now in this small independent country on our way from our 1st safari to the world famous Kruger National Park which is in South Africa. The government has a deal with Swaziland to encourage tourism and so they cut through Swaziland en route to Kruger which we will reach tomorrow after spending sometime in this country which is totally surrounded by South Africa. We visited a local crafts enterprise which includes candle making, cloth all made here to encourage local productivity. I purchased a metal carving of a colonial band member playing trumpet which is my instrument from which I learnt to blow shofar. Look for it to be displayed proudly in my office back at Bnai though it’s not the most African thing I could have found. We also saw the parliament as we are in the capital Mbabane as well as the tomb of the King Suzukwe who negotiated independence from the British in the 1960s. He served incredibly for over 60 years and was very popular.
Some concluding thoughts from our amazing June 2013 Israel Confirmation trip
Its been 2 days since we returned home from Israel. I am up most of the night as my mind and body think its day and during the day they think its night! This has been a most exhilirating 8 days. I was privileged to lead 17 of our Confirmation students and 2 adult chaperones who joined me on the trip of a lifetime.
No doubt each of us especially the children, all but 2 visiting Israel for the 1st time, have come back changed Jewishly in the most positive way forever. Many want to return soon to visit, study…many rated the trip 11 on a scale of 1 – 10 and though its possible their answers were tainted by my posing the question directly to them face to face, I am getting feedback that this is their genuine feeling.
Monday June 17th at our final farewell dinner at Tel Aviv’s wonderful Maganda restaurant, I asked each participant to say 1 nice thing they enjoyed on the trip about the person sitting next to them, seating having been random as they entered the restaurant. What emerged from this exercise was a revelation, for example 1 participant said about their neighbor that they had known him all their life since preschool and never said a word to them in all these years, now they realized what a great person he was and wanted to be friends, hang out etc. Our whole group bonded into a tight family, a great by-product of the trip, besides a deeper understanding of their Judaism and appreciation of Israel.
I would like to cite last weekend as an example of the wealth and intensity of our students’ experiences: in a matter of 3 short days they were exposed to what most Jews don’t experience their entire lives:-
- Friday morning we laid tefilin at the Kotel, put prayer notes in the Wall, explored the excavations and walked the narrow stoned streets of the Old City where our greatest sages poured forth pearls of Torah and Talmudic brilliance.
- Friday night at sunset we joined the throngs again at the Kotel. We held our own service away from the Wall so boys and girls could join together equally, as the Kotel is segregated in Orthodox tradition. Then we joined 100s of Israeli soldiers dancing euphorically to Am Yisrael Chai! There must have been 10,000 Jews from the most ardent to secular there, plus some non-Jews who came to witness this miracle of Israeli and Jewish rebirth.
- Saturday we attended the service at the Italian Sephardic Synagogue which houses a 400 year old ark and furniture from the former synagogue in Conegliano Veneto near Venice, which was sent to Jerusalem in 1951. I wanted the students to observe a service so different from ours, we did not recognize a single melody and some words and customs are also different.
- Then for contrast we attended the nearby Ashkenazic Great Synagogue, known for its splendor, its hazzanut and choir. After the service their executive director, a dear friend of mine Rabbi Zev Lanton explained the symbolism of the synagogue to our group and pointed out the magnificent historical mezuzah collection.
- We had a sumptuous picnic lunch at the beautiful Hapaamon Park by the Windmill and toured historical sights like the King David Hotel and architecturally significant YMCA building.
- Sunday we hiked the snake path up Matsada and learnt the amazing history of this last bastion holdout against the Romans, followed by a float in the Dead Sea and camel rides and dinner at Abraham’s Tent which recreated life at the time of Abraham.
- Monday morning Yad Vashem, a solemn tour of the Holocaust Museum, ending in our own ceremony during which I shared stories and articles about my parents and sister who were in the Shoah, to personalize it for our group.
- An hour later we were at the shores of the Mediterranean at old Jaffa and modern Tel Aviv where we witnessed Ben Gurion’s declaration of independence at Independence Hall. The guide dramatically illustrated that after World War II everyone had a place to go home to except the displaced Jewish refugees of Europe. Now we do.
From the Kotel to Matsada, from Yad Vashem to Israel’s Declaration of Independence, our group experienced the lows and highs of 4000 years of Jewish history and modern Israel’s dynamic miracle. We all want to return now!
Here are some memorable associations from our trip:- (inside jokes)
Bari – would you switch seats with me? Always nice
Ben – our blog guru kicked out of 3 stores in the shuk for overeager bargaining
Daniel – hay what’s up Mindel? Anyone have some scissors?
Deena – tell me if you see a walking stick for my Dad’s stupid collection! Back to the Ahava store
Emma – Israeli lookalike blended well with local population
Jennie – I can take care of myself, I burn easily
Jolie – perpetual smile
Jonathan – got spat on in the shuk for saying shabbat shalom to wrong religion
Josh Brody – Dad can I shower in your room, Sababa? Where does he put all that food?
Josh Sherman – 1st one up Matsada (under 21 minutes), went up to find Molly but she wasn’t there
Kayla – ayfoh hasheirutim? No never mind
Kyle – # 1, salty diet, cool shades
Lauren – conscience of the group
Morgan – aka Mindel, always polite, considerate, Brody’s cushion
Nathan – Mr Nice Guy
Noah – great speech about Ilan at farewell dinner, time to call/text Ann
Sari – I gotta keep an eye on my mom
Security at front desk – I don’t do toilet paper
Jill – a decent shower and some fries with it – prefers Dead Sea to Agron Hostel
Stuart – is it cocktail hour?
Ilan our guide – shuttup! They’ll catch up.
Alex our driver – take your feeeet off my seats!!
Hazzan – number off – stick together – curfew at midnight – time to daven, let’s put on tefilin – listen up – you guys are great!
Favorite expressions, words, names etc…
fizzybubbly, Mindel, Vered, can we switch Ilan for Rose? WHERE’S MOLLY? Been replaced by Rose at the olive oil factory.
Welcome – Beruchim Haba’im
I’d like to welcome you to my blog which has been inaugurated in time for my trip to Israel February 2012 to participate in a Toledo Jewish Federation Congregational Leadership Mission under the auspices of The Jewish Agency Partnership 2Gether.
I hope to report as often as possible about the trip from our region, the Western Galilee and anywhere else the trip takes us. So check back on this blog for updates and news and some photos. I am an avid photographer so as soon as I have the opportunity I will share pictures for your interest and enjoyment.
I am most grateful to the Federation for this opportunity, particularly since its been way too long since the last time I was in Israel and I am anxious to see the progress Israel has made since I was last there as well as to experience 1st hand programs of the Partnership and meet panim el panim with some of the wonderful people who make this all possible.
Cantor Lichterman 