Yesterday, I stood in the place where 5,000 Jews were murdered. Today I stand where every Jew from around the world is welcomed. What a stark contrast. What a remarkable feeling, and what a wonderful way to enter into Shabbat! I must say that although I was here only three weeks ago, I was just as emotional upon landing at Ben Gurion as if I had not been here for years. I can not begin to explain nor to properly describe the exuberant feeling I had as the wheels touched down. I was HOME…
Our group arrived at 12:30am Friday morning and we were already at a briefing by 8:45am! No rest for the weary…We heard from Linda Gradstein, a NY Times correspondent and NPR personality. She spoke of the current political situation in Israel; the great economic divide and many other fascinating topics. After that it was off to Ir David and a briefing from Shahar Shilo an “Ancient Jerusalem” specialist. The amount of tourism to Ir David has grown ten-fold in the past few years...from approximately 50,000 visitors a year to a half million. Having been here about 7 times in the past few years, I can say that it is incredible to have watched the PHYSICAL growth and change along with the popularity growth as well.
For Shabbat, the group will be together at the hotel (Dan Panorama). During Shabbat, the group will also have the zechut to hear a Shiur on Parashat haShavua from HaRav Schwartz. I wish THEM all a Shabbat Shalom…as I will be heading out for Shabbat!
I will be in Maale Adumim (IYH, our future home) for what will be a wonderful experience. I personally have the zechut of speaking (English) at an Oneg Shabbat on Friday night and then again (ikn Ivrit) Shabbat morning at a Bet Kenesset near my host. It is a thrill to be able to combine Shabbat + Torah + Maale Aduimim into one experience!
That is it for now…time to get ready to go! I wish each and every one of you a Shabbat Shalom and greetings of peace from the world capitol of the Jewish people….Jerusalem of Gold.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Thursday, January 24, 2008
From Minsk to Jerusalem
Today, our last day in Belarus, we spent the time in Minsk learning of the WWII history of the Jewish community and visiting some of the establishments as well.
We started with a walking tour where we saw 1 of the 99 (!) shuls that had been active in the early 1900’s and had been taken over by various governmental interventions. The one we see, a choral shul, is monstrous, as is the parsonage home that was used by the Rabbi.
There was a law under Soviet rule that said that a cemetery that had not had a burial for 25 years may be plowed over or paved over to be used as public parkway. We stand in one of those Jewish cemeteries that no longer is recognizable as a cemetery. Over time, some of the community have taken the few remaining headstones that had been visible and lay them near each other on the ground to mark that, indeed, this was/is a cemetery. How sad it was to see these headstones strewn about as if they were mere rocks. We read some of the headstones that are still legible. Some are of little children and some of elderly…how heartbreaking.
Our next stop was the Minsk ghetto. We visit a place known as “Appelplatz.” This is similar to Umschlagplatz in Poland where from this point 100,000 Jews were sent to their deaths in the camps. In Minsk, as opposed to many other communities, thousands of Jews were murdered in the city and often in front of their neighbors and (non-Jewish) friends.
Our final stop in the area was a large ravine in the heart of the city. This location reminds me of Babi Yar and other killing fields that we have visited over the past few years. Here, on Ta’anit Esther 1942 approximately 5000 Jews were rounded up and shot to death in this ravine. It is a mass grave, that has a memorial to these Kedoshim. We once again, pause to reflect on their sacrifice as Jews and recite the Kel Maleh memorial prayer.
It is somewhat ironic that during our final few hours in Minsk, that for the first time since we arrived, the sun has begun to shine. The weather has been relatively speaking, not too bad. The temperatures have hovered between 20-30 degrees all of this time. (Compared to the 10 degree weather back in Chicago, I feel fortunate to be in the “warmth” of Belarus!)
Our last stop before our trip to the airport is to a location that I had honestly never heard of—Khaytin. During WWII, there were 619 villages around Belarus that were literally burned to the ground. Of those, 168 of them were never re-built. That means they were physically wiped off the face of the Earth. In Khatin, there is a memorial unlike any other I had ever seen. It spans the area of the entire village (that used to stand here). There are 26 houses represented by foundations and a chimney…houses that were burned to the ground with all of their residents inside. At one point, almost 150 people, men, women and children, were ordered into a barn, and the barn was set on fire. Those who tried to escape from the barn were shot to death outside the barn. Only 3 people survived…There is a massive sculpture of a man, face twisted in pain, holding the body of a child, his child, that died in the father’s arms. There are bells that ring every 30 seconds memorializing those who perished here. While there are many other symbolic items, I will mention only these. I must say that while we were standing there, it was perfectly silent. Yet, in my mind, the silence was broken by the sounds of the flames as they licked the wood buildings. A stark contrast…the sunny sky and the peaceful area…
And now, we are off to the airport (I am writing this on the bus ride to the airport). I can hardly contain my excitement knowing that in a few hours, I will arrive home in Israel. Although I was there only 3 weeks ago, I feel like I have not been there in months.
Every year, at the end of this part of the Mission, I think about the same thing. On Tisha B’Av, we recite a Kina that juxtaposes what the Jews felt like as they left Egypt compared to how they felt as they left Jerusalem to go into exile. The end of this Kina closes with the prayer, the hopeful prayer that once again we will sing in joy as we RETURN to Jerusalem. Today—I return to Jerusalem!
We started with a walking tour where we saw 1 of the 99 (!) shuls that had been active in the early 1900’s and had been taken over by various governmental interventions. The one we see, a choral shul, is monstrous, as is the parsonage home that was used by the Rabbi.
There was a law under Soviet rule that said that a cemetery that had not had a burial for 25 years may be plowed over or paved over to be used as public parkway. We stand in one of those Jewish cemeteries that no longer is recognizable as a cemetery. Over time, some of the community have taken the few remaining headstones that had been visible and lay them near each other on the ground to mark that, indeed, this was/is a cemetery. How sad it was to see these headstones strewn about as if they were mere rocks. We read some of the headstones that are still legible. Some are of little children and some of elderly…how heartbreaking.
Our next stop was the Minsk ghetto. We visit a place known as “Appelplatz.” This is similar to Umschlagplatz in Poland where from this point 100,000 Jews were sent to their deaths in the camps. In Minsk, as opposed to many other communities, thousands of Jews were murdered in the city and often in front of their neighbors and (non-Jewish) friends.
Our final stop in the area was a large ravine in the heart of the city. This location reminds me of Babi Yar and other killing fields that we have visited over the past few years. Here, on Ta’anit Esther 1942 approximately 5000 Jews were rounded up and shot to death in this ravine. It is a mass grave, that has a memorial to these Kedoshim. We once again, pause to reflect on their sacrifice as Jews and recite the Kel Maleh memorial prayer.
It is somewhat ironic that during our final few hours in Minsk, that for the first time since we arrived, the sun has begun to shine. The weather has been relatively speaking, not too bad. The temperatures have hovered between 20-30 degrees all of this time. (Compared to the 10 degree weather back in Chicago, I feel fortunate to be in the “warmth” of Belarus!)
Our last stop before our trip to the airport is to a location that I had honestly never heard of—Khaytin. During WWII, there were 619 villages around Belarus that were literally burned to the ground. Of those, 168 of them were never re-built. That means they were physically wiped off the face of the Earth. In Khatin, there is a memorial unlike any other I had ever seen. It spans the area of the entire village (that used to stand here). There are 26 houses represented by foundations and a chimney…houses that were burned to the ground with all of their residents inside. At one point, almost 150 people, men, women and children, were ordered into a barn, and the barn was set on fire. Those who tried to escape from the barn were shot to death outside the barn. Only 3 people survived…There is a massive sculpture of a man, face twisted in pain, holding the body of a child, his child, that died in the father’s arms. There are bells that ring every 30 seconds memorializing those who perished here. While there are many other symbolic items, I will mention only these. I must say that while we were standing there, it was perfectly silent. Yet, in my mind, the silence was broken by the sounds of the flames as they licked the wood buildings. A stark contrast…the sunny sky and the peaceful area…
And now, we are off to the airport (I am writing this on the bus ride to the airport). I can hardly contain my excitement knowing that in a few hours, I will arrive home in Israel. Although I was there only 3 weeks ago, I feel like I have not been there in months.
Every year, at the end of this part of the Mission, I think about the same thing. On Tisha B’Av, we recite a Kina that juxtaposes what the Jews felt like as they left Egypt compared to how they felt as they left Jerusalem to go into exile. The end of this Kina closes with the prayer, the hopeful prayer that once again we will sing in joy as we RETURN to Jerusalem. Today—I return to Jerusalem!
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
I can now say: "I learned in Volozhin!"
Our travels today took us to Volozhin. I had been waiting with great anticipation for this visit. After all, Volozhin is in fact the mother of all Yeshivot around the world.
The founder of the Yeshiva, Rabbi Chaim Itzkowitz (R Chaim Volozhiner) is buried in a nearby cemetery. So we visited both the Yeshiva and the cemetery. It is quite difficult to describe this visit. First of all, I had a mental image of the yeshiva which, of course, was nothing like I pictured. Sadly, it is in complete disrepair, but it is a building inside which we can stand.
Once inside, we gathered around Rabbi Schwartz as he taught a section of the Nefesh HaChaim written by R. Chaim of Volozhin (See picture to left) . In addition to the moving experience of learning the words of R. Chaim in the location where he himself taught, there was yet an additional that made this such a moving experience. Rabbi Schwartz was teaching us this Torah in the very Yeshiva that his grandfather learned in…right there in Volozhin! While it was freezing in the Yeshiva, it was a truly heart-warming experience.
After the visit to the Yeshiva, we visited the cemetery where R. Chaim is buried. The cemetery itself is also in complete disrepair with headstones all over the ground. However, the Kever of R. Chaim is maintained and has a relatively new headstone. We said a Kaddish at the site and pause to reflect about the the master of Torah, at whose grave we stood.
It should be noted that there are no Jews at all in Volozhin today.
I can now truthfully say, “I have learned in the yeshiva in Volozhin” !
We returned to Minsk in the early afternoon, and our first stop was the Jewish Campus. It is here that most of the services that are available to the Jewish community through JDC are housed under one roof in one complex. (Such services as I mentioned yesterday: Jewish Family Services, Hillel, Chessed Organization, etc). We visted the Jewish Museum, that while small in size has a rich amount of artifacts and archival information. One amazing story that we heard had to do with a Torah that had been discovered only a year ago. It had been cut into sections and used as a base for this person’s attic insulation (rachmana litzlan) just after the war. When the museum curator went to the home to verify if indeed what was being reported to her, that this Torah was there and in such a condition, she interviewed the homeowner. She asked him if things were okay in his home. He said that in fact there had been a tragedy onlya few years back. His wife (Jewish) had died in a fall from the upper level of the home. The curator told him that in her opinion it might be due to the fact that he was keeping a Jewish Torah in his attic in such a disgraceful position/condition. He gladly gave up the entire scroll but asked for no money. He only wished to have new “insulation” placed in the attic!
One of our final stops of the day was a visit to the JAFI (Jewish Agency for Israel—the Sochnut) Center. Here we learned of all the programs that are available to the residents with the focus in every way being ISRAEL. These programs include:
· Ulpanim
· Youth Clubs (strengthening Jewish identity and roots)
· Aliyah Programs for Youth (Na’aleh, Sela and others)
· Summer and Winter Camps
· Heftizbah Jewish Day Schools
· Aliyah Clubs
· Taglit-Birthright
· MASA/Israel journey
This truly was an amazing day filled with vibrancy, learning and growth. Tonight, we are to be addressed by the US ambassador to Belarus.
The founder of the Yeshiva, Rabbi Chaim Itzkowitz (R Chaim Volozhiner) is buried in a nearby cemetery. So we visited both the Yeshiva and the cemetery. It is quite difficult to describe this visit. First of all, I had a mental image of the yeshiva which, of course, was nothing like I pictured. Sadly, it is in complete disrepair, but it is a building inside which we can stand.
Once inside, we gathered around Rabbi Schwartz as he taught a section of the Nefesh HaChaim written by R. Chaim of Volozhin (See picture to left) . In addition to the moving experience of learning the words of R. Chaim in the location where he himself taught, there was yet an additional that made this such a moving experience. Rabbi Schwartz was teaching us this Torah in the very Yeshiva that his grandfather learned in…right there in Volozhin! While it was freezing in the Yeshiva, it was a truly heart-warming experience.
After the visit to the Yeshiva, we visited the cemetery where R. Chaim is buried. The cemetery itself is also in complete disrepair with headstones all over the ground. However, the Kever of R. Chaim is maintained and has a relatively new headstone. We said a Kaddish at the site and pause to reflect about the the master of Torah, at whose grave we stood.
It should be noted that there are no Jews at all in Volozhin today.
I can now truthfully say, “I have learned in the yeshiva in Volozhin” !
We returned to Minsk in the early afternoon, and our first stop was the Jewish Campus. It is here that most of the services that are available to the Jewish community through JDC are housed under one roof in one complex. (Such services as I mentioned yesterday: Jewish Family Services, Hillel, Chessed Organization, etc). We visted the Jewish Museum, that while small in size has a rich amount of artifacts and archival information. One amazing story that we heard had to do with a Torah that had been discovered only a year ago. It had been cut into sections and used as a base for this person’s attic insulation (rachmana litzlan) just after the war. When the museum curator went to the home to verify if indeed what was being reported to her, that this Torah was there and in such a condition, she interviewed the homeowner. She asked him if things were okay in his home. He said that in fact there had been a tragedy onlya few years back. His wife (Jewish) had died in a fall from the upper level of the home. The curator told him that in her opinion it might be due to the fact that he was keeping a Jewish Torah in his attic in such a disgraceful position/condition. He gladly gave up the entire scroll but asked for no money. He only wished to have new “insulation” placed in the attic!
One of our final stops of the day was a visit to the JAFI (Jewish Agency for Israel—the Sochnut) Center. Here we learned of all the programs that are available to the residents with the focus in every way being ISRAEL. These programs include:
· Ulpanim
· Youth Clubs (strengthening Jewish identity and roots)
· Aliyah Programs for Youth (Na’aleh, Sela and others)
· Summer and Winter Camps
· Heftizbah Jewish Day Schools
· Aliyah Clubs
· Taglit-Birthright
· MASA/Israel journey
This truly was an amazing day filled with vibrancy, learning and growth. Tonight, we are to be addressed by the US ambassador to Belarus.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Bobruisk or Bust...
Today we learned of the history of the Jews of Minsk and travelled 2 ½ hours from Minsk to Bobruisk. On the way, we learned of the work of JDC in this region. Among some of the general facts that we learned about Belarus:
· 2 million residents of which 80% live in private-owned apartments
· There is a very high rate of divorce…nearing 55%
· If a resident wishes to leave the country for more than 72 hours, he must register at the Ministry of the Interior
· Once a business is successful, the government often steps in and “asks” the company to become their partner and then the company “offers” to give the government 55% (!!) of interest in the company
The JDC was faced with a situation when the doors of post-Soviet times opened that looked like this: In 1989, there were no Jewish schools, no synagogues, virtually no identification of any Jewish affiliation, illiterate in Hebrew and on and on and on…There also was no infrastructure for supporting the Jewish community. Rebirth of Judaism and Jewish life began in earnest in 1991.
Currently, Minsk has 30,000 Jews. Many have made Aliya and many speak of moving. Yet, the vast majority seem to be here for the long haul. Since 2001, Minsk has a Jewish Campus housing all forms of services under one roof. It is open to ALL Jews.
JDC’s work breaks down into three main areas:
a) Chessed: What began as packages of food for the poor in 1991 has evolved into a network of institutions all across Belarus. Hundreds of needy Jews are fed daily; home health care, home visits for those who can’t leave their home, subsidies for those needing medicines…are merely a small portion of the work done by The Joint. They even arrange to repair small appliances and other items for those who would not be able to afford it.
b) Jewish renewal: For 70 years, Jews were cut off from being able to practice (publicly) ….life and tradition was lost for 2-3 generations. Via many different means and methods, JDC has been instrumental in the re-birth of Jewish life. Something as small as baking challot before Shabbat as a method to re-introduce Shabbat is only one of dozens of such actions to bring about this re-birth. They also run over 50 different programs with the same goal. One example is summer camp. Another amazing example is something we, from the USA, take for granted but is un-heard of in Belarus: Mainstreaming children with mental and physical disabilities into various programs and schools.
c) Children’s Initiative: This section deals with children at risk. This encompasses anything from kids from abusive homes, alcohol-related issues, etc.
After our long bus ride, we arrive in Bobruisk. This city, until 1941, was home to 26,000 Jews. On November 7, 1941, there was a mass murder of 20,000 of those Jews in a 24 hour period. We arrived at the site of a mass grave to 10,000 of the murdered where a memorial stands in their memory. There are two ravines on either side of this area where Jews were lined up and summarily executed. Besides a marble memorial, there are large numbers proclaiming “10,000” with no other description. It stands in silent memory of those buried there. A number of people light memorial candles in their memory after reciting a Kel Male. The memorial has steps leading up to it that are made of red granite as a reminder of the blood that flowed there years ago.
Next we visited a JCC where all of the activities, whether for the young children or the adults who are there for Yiddish club revolved around the theme of Tu B’shvat, as today is indeed Tu B’Shvat.
We had the opportunity then to meet at the home of one of the clients of the Chessed. He receives aid in terms of food, money and medicine from JDC. But that is only half the picture. To see his living conditions is to understand abject poverty. While the square meters of his apartment are not too small, the CONDITION is atrocious. His “kitchen” (the seize of a closet) is in total disrepair and his bathroom (you will excuse me) is made up of a tub from 60 years ago and has a pot next to it. How very sad.
A visit to the cemetery where we encountered some very interesting history regarding Chabad and a visit to the JAFI (Jewish Agency for Israel—the Sochnut) where WE participated with some of the local teachers in a Tu B’Shvat activity rounded out our time in Bobruisk. All in all, a VERY interesting and enlightening day.
We had the honor of hearing from the Israeli ambassador to Belarus at dinner.
Tomorrow it is off to Volozhin. I am VERY much looking forward to this day as the history of the location and the personalities who came from there are legendary.
Until then…off to try and get some sleep!
(And I keep thinking to myself: “Thursday night I will be home in Israel…!”)
· 2 million residents of which 80% live in private-owned apartments
· There is a very high rate of divorce…nearing 55%
· If a resident wishes to leave the country for more than 72 hours, he must register at the Ministry of the Interior
· Once a business is successful, the government often steps in and “asks” the company to become their partner and then the company “offers” to give the government 55% (!!) of interest in the company
The JDC was faced with a situation when the doors of post-Soviet times opened that looked like this: In 1989, there were no Jewish schools, no synagogues, virtually no identification of any Jewish affiliation, illiterate in Hebrew and on and on and on…There also was no infrastructure for supporting the Jewish community. Rebirth of Judaism and Jewish life began in earnest in 1991.
Currently, Minsk has 30,000 Jews. Many have made Aliya and many speak of moving. Yet, the vast majority seem to be here for the long haul. Since 2001, Minsk has a Jewish Campus housing all forms of services under one roof. It is open to ALL Jews.
JDC’s work breaks down into three main areas:
a) Chessed: What began as packages of food for the poor in 1991 has evolved into a network of institutions all across Belarus. Hundreds of needy Jews are fed daily; home health care, home visits for those who can’t leave their home, subsidies for those needing medicines…are merely a small portion of the work done by The Joint. They even arrange to repair small appliances and other items for those who would not be able to afford it.
b) Jewish renewal: For 70 years, Jews were cut off from being able to practice (publicly) ….life and tradition was lost for 2-3 generations. Via many different means and methods, JDC has been instrumental in the re-birth of Jewish life. Something as small as baking challot before Shabbat as a method to re-introduce Shabbat is only one of dozens of such actions to bring about this re-birth. They also run over 50 different programs with the same goal. One example is summer camp. Another amazing example is something we, from the USA, take for granted but is un-heard of in Belarus: Mainstreaming children with mental and physical disabilities into various programs and schools.
c) Children’s Initiative: This section deals with children at risk. This encompasses anything from kids from abusive homes, alcohol-related issues, etc.
After our long bus ride, we arrive in Bobruisk. This city, until 1941, was home to 26,000 Jews. On November 7, 1941, there was a mass murder of 20,000 of those Jews in a 24 hour period. We arrived at the site of a mass grave to 10,000 of the murdered where a memorial stands in their memory. There are two ravines on either side of this area where Jews were lined up and summarily executed. Besides a marble memorial, there are large numbers proclaiming “10,000” with no other description. It stands in silent memory of those buried there. A number of people light memorial candles in their memory after reciting a Kel Male. The memorial has steps leading up to it that are made of red granite as a reminder of the blood that flowed there years ago.
Next we visited a JCC where all of the activities, whether for the young children or the adults who are there for Yiddish club revolved around the theme of Tu B’shvat, as today is indeed Tu B’Shvat.
We had the opportunity then to meet at the home of one of the clients of the Chessed. He receives aid in terms of food, money and medicine from JDC. But that is only half the picture. To see his living conditions is to understand abject poverty. While the square meters of his apartment are not too small, the CONDITION is atrocious. His “kitchen” (the seize of a closet) is in total disrepair and his bathroom (you will excuse me) is made up of a tub from 60 years ago and has a pot next to it. How very sad.
A visit to the cemetery where we encountered some very interesting history regarding Chabad and a visit to the JAFI (Jewish Agency for Israel—the Sochnut) where WE participated with some of the local teachers in a Tu B’Shvat activity rounded out our time in Bobruisk. All in all, a VERY interesting and enlightening day.
We had the honor of hearing from the Israeli ambassador to Belarus at dinner.
Tomorrow it is off to Volozhin. I am VERY much looking forward to this day as the history of the location and the personalities who came from there are legendary.
Until then…off to try and get some sleep!
(And I keep thinking to myself: “Thursday night I will be home in Israel…!”)
Monday, January 21, 2008
Welcome to Minsk...
Our journey began in Chicago, jumped to Washington, DC, lumbered to Vienna and meandered on to Minsk. The bulk of our flights were on Austrian Air. I must admit that it was disconcerting to hear the announcements in German and doubly disconcerting to see the flight attendants all dressed in bright red.
(In my mind, all I could see on their sleeves was a black swastika…it is hard to separate the history of Austria vis-à-vis the Jewish people and modern times. While not one of the attendants was old enough to be alive during WWII, I could not help by wonder, “what were their grandparents doing in the early 1940’s?” )
As in past trips, we had the opportunity to daven with a minyan in the airport of a country that once wanted to eradicate Jews from the planet….such a nice feeling!
I must make mention before continuing this log of a few points. We are privileged to have with us on our trip (as in all past trips) HaRav Gedalia Dov Schwartz, shlit”a, Av bet Din of the Chicago Rabbinical Council and the Bet Din of America. His knowledge of both the depth and breadth of Halacha, Jewish history and its personalities and his undying love for his fellow Jews adds an immeasurable dimension of wisdom and sagacity to our trip. In addition, we are privileged to have Rabbi Yehiel Poupko as our scholar-in-residence and as our teacher/guide. His ability to bring to life both the old and the new as far as history, people, places and time periods helps to make this trip that much more meaningful.
(MINSK) I must say that when we (finally) arrived in Minsk and after going through the airport, I felt like I was back in Kiev; the Soviet garb, Soviet-looking facility and the uniformed airport personnel. (The woman who stamped my passport had an army uniform complete with three stars on her lapel. Does she receive another star with every 1,000th customer??) The personnel looked like they were right out of central casting for Stalin-era actors! I assumed that this would be the type of city that would greet us, but the truth is that it turns out to be much more cosmopolitan and Western than I had anticipated.
Already on the bus from the airport, we learned some of the recent history of Minsk and of its Jewish population…how at one time Minsk was nearly 50% Jewish (!). Since the brain is a little fuzzy due to the long trip, I will save the details and add them to the events of Tuesday.
No matter all the travelling…this is going to be a wonderful and educational trip.
Assuming I am able to get an internet connection each night, I will add to this blog on a daily basis.
Your comments are always welcome!
(In my mind, all I could see on their sleeves was a black swastika…it is hard to separate the history of Austria vis-à-vis the Jewish people and modern times. While not one of the attendants was old enough to be alive during WWII, I could not help by wonder, “what were their grandparents doing in the early 1940’s?” )
As in past trips, we had the opportunity to daven with a minyan in the airport of a country that once wanted to eradicate Jews from the planet….such a nice feeling!
I must make mention before continuing this log of a few points. We are privileged to have with us on our trip (as in all past trips) HaRav Gedalia Dov Schwartz, shlit”a, Av bet Din of the Chicago Rabbinical Council and the Bet Din of America. His knowledge of both the depth and breadth of Halacha, Jewish history and its personalities and his undying love for his fellow Jews adds an immeasurable dimension of wisdom and sagacity to our trip. In addition, we are privileged to have Rabbi Yehiel Poupko as our scholar-in-residence and as our teacher/guide. His ability to bring to life both the old and the new as far as history, people, places and time periods helps to make this trip that much more meaningful.
(MINSK) I must say that when we (finally) arrived in Minsk and after going through the airport, I felt like I was back in Kiev; the Soviet garb, Soviet-looking facility and the uniformed airport personnel. (The woman who stamped my passport had an army uniform complete with three stars on her lapel. Does she receive another star with every 1,000th customer??) The personnel looked like they were right out of central casting for Stalin-era actors! I assumed that this would be the type of city that would greet us, but the truth is that it turns out to be much more cosmopolitan and Western than I had anticipated.
Already on the bus from the airport, we learned some of the recent history of Minsk and of its Jewish population…how at one time Minsk was nearly 50% Jewish (!). Since the brain is a little fuzzy due to the long trip, I will save the details and add them to the events of Tuesday.
No matter all the travelling…this is going to be a wonderful and educational trip.
Assuming I am able to get an internet connection each night, I will add to this blog on a daily basis.
Your comments are always welcome!
Sunday, January 20, 2008
The Journey Begins
For the sixth year in a row, I have the privilege of participating in a Federation-sponsored trip to Eastern Europe and Israel. This trip by a group of rabbis from Chicago has evolved over the past few years into a wonderful mix of history, culture, learning and personal growth. We learn so much of Jewish History in the places it occurred; we learn of the wonderful work of the JDC (Joint Distribution Committee) and the Federation; and we have the opportunity to meet Jews of all types in large communities and small rural settings.
As in the past, I plan to document our trip via this blog. Unlike in the past, I am doing this via a "regular" blog and not regular email. This is my first shot at a regular blog, so we'll see how that goes!
Our trip this year is taking us to Belarus; specifically to Minsk, Volozhin and other towns in-between. We will be arriving IYH in Minsk on Monday afternoon and remain there until Thursday evening when we will board a plane to Israel.
I welcome your feedback and comments on this trip and hope you will enjoy "travelling" with me via this journal.
As in the past, I plan to document our trip via this blog. Unlike in the past, I am doing this via a "regular" blog and not regular email. This is my first shot at a regular blog, so we'll see how that goes!
Our trip this year is taking us to Belarus; specifically to Minsk, Volozhin and other towns in-between. We will be arriving IYH in Minsk on Monday afternoon and remain there until Thursday evening when we will board a plane to Israel.
I welcome your feedback and comments on this trip and hope you will enjoy "travelling" with me via this journal.
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