tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56550499903707766082024-02-25T08:29:56.486+01:00Jewish Heritage TravelHeritage, travel and history in Europe's Jewish HeartlandRuthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.comBlogger724125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5655049990370776608.post-19935430494019251692021-03-01T10:03:00.004+01:002021-03-01T10:03:48.994+01:00New Publication -- Jewish Cemeteries and Tourism<p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGreHIHNS1dgZOh3hSQlxrkEJcoa3lw4DXM-XGwzdQNQCiaEYHIk9uGXGySbWlAs2zuu4Nx9G0sh-8itzA8gcXpQ5RXSfk9fajNQ2S7GV9t6XmsnWUFsPKnJ59ALFAQ_NUG7Y5dXS1esw/s1024/Jewish+cemetery+Wroclaw+wm1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGreHIHNS1dgZOh3hSQlxrkEJcoa3lw4DXM-XGwzdQNQCiaEYHIk9uGXGySbWlAs2zuu4Nx9G0sh-8itzA8gcXpQ5RXSfk9fajNQ2S7GV9t6XmsnWUFsPKnJ59ALFAQ_NUG7Y5dXS1esw/w400-h300/Jewish+cemetery+Wroclaw+wm1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A visitor takes a picture in the Old Jewish Cemetery in Wroclaw, Poland, long adminstered as a museum of funerary art<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Last year I was commissioned by the ESJF (European Jewish Cemeteries Initiative) to write a report on <span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #3a3a3a; display: inline !important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">“Jewish Cemeteries and Sustainable Heritage Tourism.” </span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #3a3a3a; display: inline !important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">This has now been published as part of an online </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #3a3a3a; display: inline !important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="https://e.issuu.com/embed.html?backgroundColor=%2384243c&backgroundColorFullscreen=%2384243c&d=jewish_cemeteries_and_sustainable_protection&hideIssuuLogo=true&u=esjf" rel="noopener" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; border: 0px none; box-shadow: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e73be; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; transition: color 0.1s ease-in-out 0s, background-color 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank"><strong style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">handbook on Jewish cemeteries and sustainable tourism</strong></a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #3a3a3a; display: inline !important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">.</span></span></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a3a3a; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #3a3a3a; display: inline !important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #3a3a3a; display: inline !important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj7xrxZG7Z2ADBQiyvGqetxlFfmy5E2XuJ_g07pc4AsqseIqjTqKxMMXtxBseBVIeO9s7OCyI9dojkHIYwjVjFsKJoUG8JlxnITuZWHyCKh1HkhA7bctyT9w5SP52THQBkz_ceeMjaiNU/s1164/Jewish+Cemeteries+and+Sustainable+Protection+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1144" data-original-width="1164" height="394" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj7xrxZG7Z2ADBQiyvGqetxlFfmy5E2XuJ_g07pc4AsqseIqjTqKxMMXtxBseBVIeO9s7OCyI9dojkHIYwjVjFsKJoUG8JlxnITuZWHyCKh1HkhA7bctyT9w5SP52THQBkz_ceeMjaiNU/w400-h394/Jewish+Cemeteries+and+Sustainable+Protection+cover.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><span class="js-work-more-abstract-untruncated" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></span><p></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a3a3a; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="js-work-more-abstract-untruncated" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">In my report I examine the history and background of what we can broadly describe as tourism (religious and secular) to cemeteries in general and to Jewish cemeteries in particular, with examples and recommendations on how to encourage and manage visitors while retaining the sacred character of the sites.</span></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a3a3a; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="js-work-more-abstract-untruncated" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">I discuss examples ranging from religious pilgrimage and honoring loved ones to “Dark Tourism” and appreciation of landscape, funerary art, and history.</span></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a3a3a; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="js-work-more-abstract-untruncated" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">And I provide profiles/case studies of the different ways that visitors are currently managed and/or encouraged/dealt with at Jewish cemeteries in several towns and cities in Europe, including Prague; Warsaw; London; Biala (PL) and Osoblaha (CZ); Plymouth, England; Wroclaw; Brno (CZ), and Mád (Hungary).</span></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a3a3a; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="js-work-more-abstract-untruncated" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://e.issuu.com/embed.html?backgroundColor=%2384243c&backgroundColorFullscreen=%2384243c&d=jewish_cemeteries_and_sustainable_protection&hideIssuuLogo=true&u=esjf" rel="noopener" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; border: 0px none; box-shadow: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e73be; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; transition: color 0.1s ease-in-out 0s, background-color 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank"><strong style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Click here to access the book, in the ISSUU format, which can also be downloaded</strong></a> <br /></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Table of Contents for my Jewish Cemeteries and Sustainable Tourism section:</span></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjifRH6rq6xUbvYXFfmTFrsIndV7EpoeTbG217OJxvZ8X-X2Mv92DIfZ86E5TgpiQSngXbDuXsgNxHPhlJIE4mHb-ORp9D9vIhcOA41K1EMbQ2BrJk7JACx2UdGmH22IMKy8nABWUMxrWY/s2296/ESJF-TOC2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1144" data-original-width="2296" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjifRH6rq6xUbvYXFfmTFrsIndV7EpoeTbG217OJxvZ8X-X2Mv92DIfZ86E5TgpiQSngXbDuXsgNxHPhlJIE4mHb-ORp9D9vIhcOA41K1EMbQ2BrJk7JACx2UdGmH22IMKy8nABWUMxrWY/w400-h199/ESJF-TOC2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #3a3a3a; display: inline !important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #3a3a3a; display: inline !important; float: none; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></span><p></p>Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5655049990370776608.post-58920523787558915632018-06-23T11:36:00.000+02:002018-06-23T11:36:39.440+02:00Videos of some of my public appearances<br />
I've made quite few public appearances over the past year -- and videos of some of them are posted online.<br />
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Take a look!<br />
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At the conference <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLvqgMatPRH7IeLA3GOW5ww/">Jewish Heritage Tourism in the Digital Age</a>, held in Venice October 23-25, 2017, there was an event celebrating 25 years year the first edition of my book Jewish Heritage Travel was published — and 15 years since my book Virtually Jewish: Reinventing Jewish Culture in Europe. <br />
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The event was a conversation between me and Shaul Bassi, of Ca’ Foscari University and Beit Venezia, looking back on my involvement in Jewish heritage over the past nearly 30 years. <br />
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Watch it here:<br />
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The Center for Urban History in Lviv has posted the full video of a lecture I presented in Lviv July 27, 2017 at the conclusion of the lecture series “Jewish Days in the City Hall: (Un)Displayed Past in East European Museums.”<br />
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As in the Venice conversation, in the talk I reflected on the changes that have taken place in Jewish heritage tourism since the publication of the first edition of my book “Jewish Heritage Travel” in 1992. <br />
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You can watch the entire talk here:<br />
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<br />Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5655049990370776608.post-32167029753228198042017-08-12T00:13:00.002+02:002017-08-12T00:13:42.293+02:00Ukraine Road Trip - L'viv<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIOKdCzfkQG4L2Neo-CNpo2AGlpF_onNpo6bLMsNjOpSorTnbAJs2GBAKevvbMiF-fLbejwhXlBnXoae9Go2HlJ9IdY_sAgacAtwB6cSaY85eSELJtv5hL9GQaX4rHaf6cJm4RNf7FWmc/s1600/IMG_6554.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIOKdCzfkQG4L2Neo-CNpo2AGlpF_onNpo6bLMsNjOpSorTnbAJs2GBAKevvbMiF-fLbejwhXlBnXoae9Go2HlJ9IdY_sAgacAtwB6cSaY85eSELJtv5hL9GQaX4rHaf6cJm4RNf7FWmc/s320/IMG_6554.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
I recently spent a week in Ukraine, where I gave the concluding talk, July 27, in a series of lectures called <a href="http://www.lvivcenter.org/en/chronicle/news/jewish-days-2017/" target="_blank">"Jewish Days in the City Hall: (Un)Displayed Past in East European Museums." </a><br />
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The series was organized by the Center for Urban History, where I have spoken before -- and where I have also taken part in other programs (including as a member of the jury for the design competition for three sites commemorating Jewish history in Lviv -- one of them, the Space of Synagogues, was dedicated last year.)<br />
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The lecture series focused on a number of questions related to Jewish museums in Eastern Europe: "What are the Jewish museums of Eastern Europe telling us about? What
are the challenges that Ukrainian museums face when including Jewish history
into the dominant narrative of their exhibitions? What are the perspectives for
historical museums of Ukraine in a global context? How do they see their role
and mission in developing critical perception of the history of Ukraine and
shaping participatory historical culture in the present-day society?"<br />
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In my talk, I reflected on the changes that have occurred in the Jewish heritage and Jewish heritage travel field in the nearly 30 years that I have been involved -- and specifically in the 25 years since the publication of the first edition of my book "Jewish Heritage Travel" and 15 years since "Virtually Jewish: Reinventing Jewish Culture in Europe."<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQPEkO8PUnUwyaXNO3aVadFjG1APYJnMGkzOrpTxWzbyWiULdYu-sEy7wDw12ymStd-oADrggBs3BnNnLLM2pZ-y19tPPSWyf4myAcAy48pPWGMWrUlsPykbTzbsTOkbY2mhC4S-Fqpkc/s1600/REG-speaking-Lviv-Jul+27+17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQPEkO8PUnUwyaXNO3aVadFjG1APYJnMGkzOrpTxWzbyWiULdYu-sEy7wDw12ymStd-oADrggBs3BnNnLLM2pZ-y19tPPSWyf4myAcAy48pPWGMWrUlsPykbTzbsTOkbY2mhC4S-Fqpkc/s400/REG-speaking-Lviv-Jul+27+17.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The themes were similar to those in a presentation I gave a month earlier in Glasgow, at a conference on "Dark Tourism" that focused on Dark Tourism at Holocaust, Nazi and World War II sites; my presentation was called "From Dark Tourism to Tourist Attractions".<br />
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When I started writing about Jewish heritage sites and Jewish heritage tourism, almost any
visit to a Jewish heritage site in eastern and central Europe was a form of "Dark Tourism." Most Jewish heritage sites such as synagogues and Jewish cemeteries were neglected, ruined, abandoned or transformed for other use. There were only a handful of Jewish museums and almost no Jewish heritage sites were mentioned in guidebooks or even local histories.<br />
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The evolution since then has been dramatic, regarding infrastructure,
information sources, agencies of display and deep-seated
attitudes to travel, heritage, and Jewish presence (and fate) in the region.<br />
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Ruins still abound, and
many sites and experiences remain deeply tragic. But scholars, genealogists,
tour guides, governments, cultural and heritage entrepreneurs have studied,
mapped and documented almost everything; some continue to sink into oblivion, but others have been opened up for unprecedented
travel and educational opportunities as well as for commercial touristic exploitation.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRDFGRD-jnc6quiSfwTm0bL2hihdOD8g-n6YndqlmZl1NFkwQ_aKKAs0BGidpdJreQEApJS7q6PQyJlZfMsHQeJDhUsWtiujXJRYV-1QBO-wGnieQknsXfukAdxxkK9bbFlUMyxjpe_VY/s1600/Prague+2016+signage-wm1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1000" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRDFGRD-jnc6quiSfwTm0bL2hihdOD8g-n6YndqlmZl1NFkwQ_aKKAs0BGidpdJreQEApJS7q6PQyJlZfMsHQeJDhUsWtiujXJRYV-1QBO-wGnieQknsXfukAdxxkK9bbFlUMyxjpe_VY/s400/Prague+2016+signage-wm1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Signage in Prague</td></tr>
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Local guidebooks, web
sites, and other resources provide a wealth of information. Many Jewish heritage sites that were once tragically abandoned have become attractions, increasingly on mainstream
travel itineraries that mix the "Dark" with the Destination: a glossy brochure I once read
promised that a four-star Jewish Heritage Cruise down the Elbe River would
"look both backwards and forwards, reviewing the rich Jewish culture of
key cities, confronting the atrocities of the Second World War, and embracing a
positive future."<br />
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During my week in Lviv, I took two day trips to visit Jewish heritage sites in the region -- we visited nearly a dozen. I had wanted specifically to revisit places I had seen earlier, in particular in 2006, when I researched the latest version of my Jewish Heritage Travel book, to see the changes.<br />
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Much of what I found was as distressing as I had found in years ago, or in some cases even more so -- but there were also some positive developments.<br />
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I have written about some of these visits on the Jewish Heritage Europe web site -- and I will cross post them here, too.<br />
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Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5655049990370776608.post-81839967692715101202017-05-24T15:41:00.001+02:002017-05-24T16:20:05.381+02:00Greece: Remembering Nikos Stavroulakis, z"lNOTE: This was originally published on the Jewish Heritage Europe web site, which is having server problems so it might not be possible to access it there.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzl0_cm4l0uCCWfsbGZ73EBlZ0mpdYIlQERFvkjYNbrRANoTjkEBdJ_ILq_E0pDuObqVPDiaIKtLaOuJ_eLkMSd8x_kM6FHDsI__nDVCvWD-cTdnVL-yx0ogXWXJ3o_Qup_COvnVkys4M/s1600/Nikos-wm1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="920" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzl0_cm4l0uCCWfsbGZ73EBlZ0mpdYIlQERFvkjYNbrRANoTjkEBdJ_ILq_E0pDuObqVPDiaIKtLaOuJ_eLkMSd8x_kM6FHDsI__nDVCvWD-cTdnVL-yx0ogXWXJ3o_Qup_COvnVkys4M/s400/Nikos-wm1.jpg" width="367" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nikos Stavroulakis in Sejny, Poland, 2012</td></tr>
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-</style>We are deeply saddened by the death of our longtime friend Nikos Stavroulakis, an artist and scholar who was the co-founder and former director of the Jewish Museum of Greece in Athens and the driving force behind the restoration of the <a href="http://www.etz-hayyim-hania.org/" target="_blank">Etz Hayyim synagogue </a>in the ancient port city of Chania, Crete. <br />
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Nikos, who was born in 1932, had been in failing health for some time. His death was announced May 19 on the web site of the Etz Hayyim synagogue, where he had led a pluralistic Havurah-like community for nearly two decades and where a memorial service will be held at a date to be determined. <br />
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Tributes to him poured in from around the world (see below). <br />
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“The world of Greek Jewry owes Nikos so much,” Marcia Haddad Ikonomopoulos, Museum Director of Kehila Kedosha Janina Synagogue and Museum in New York, wrote on Facebook. “He will be dearly missed.” <br />
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Nikos was the son of a Greek Orthodox father from Crete and a Jewish mother. Educated in England, the U.S., and Israel, he was a Renaissance man whose expertise encompassed subjects ranging from landscape design and horticulture to Jewish cuisine. His books included a history of the Jews of Salonika as well as a Guidebook to Jewish Greece and a Greek Jewish cookbook. <br />
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Nikos co-founded the Jewish Museum in Athens in 1977 and served as its director until 1993. He then moved to Chania where he lived in his family home and and took charge of efforts to restore the Etz Hayyim synagogue, the only surviving Jewish monument on the island.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU0C65cwjHG7j5i0rYbJa3wvv9sh_IUIWPyUEjTSrU1JSKejRVZK1F_9Ehkup8m_nwPI55l8VrPt8iEAId80e2wIjJaVWEXaWCPAgq55uAnB8tgOJgvQGvxEQfDrC2kl7Ztd9qzasJhVc/s1600/GRC_Etz_Hayim_JPEG_img-03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="799" data-original-width="1200" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU0C65cwjHG7j5i0rYbJa3wvv9sh_IUIWPyUEjTSrU1JSKejRVZK1F_9Ehkup8m_nwPI55l8VrPt8iEAId80e2wIjJaVWEXaWCPAgq55uAnB8tgOJgvQGvxEQfDrC2kl7Ztd9qzasJhVc/s400/GRC_Etz_Hayim_JPEG_img-03.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Interior of the Etz Hayyim Synagogue, Chania, Crete. Photo: World Monuments Fund </td></tr>
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The synagogue was originally a church, built in the 15th century by the Venetians and dedicated to St Catherine. Conversion of the building took place in the 17th century, re-using parts of the older building and adding a barrel-vaulted mikveh. Prominent rabbis are buried in stone sepulchres around the courtyard. <br />
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The synagogue remained in use until 1944, when the Nazis deported the community’s 263 Jews. The ship on which they were carried, which was presumably en route to a death camp, was torpedoed and sunk by a British submarine, killing all its passengers. The synagogue was desecrated shortly afterwards and stood ruined for decades, even used as a public toilet. <br />
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After fifty years of neglect, Etz Hayyim was in 1996 placed by the World Monuments Fund (WMF) on its first “Watch List” of 100 endangered sites across the world, and also targeted as an initial project of WMF’s Jewish Heritage Program. <br />
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Nikos spearheaded fundraising for the project and oversaw the the building’s conservation, and the synagogue was rededicated in 1999. Since then, it has been developed as a religious and cultural center, including a reference library, and is also used for worship — by a community that Nikos himself said “accommodates Jews of every variety of self identity as well as non-Jews.” <br />
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After <a href="http://www.jta.org/2010/01/13/life-religion/attack-on-crete-synagogue-carries-special-meaning" target="_blank">arsonists targeted Etz Hayyim in January 2010</a>, he wrote on the synagogue’s blog: <br />
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<blockquote>
<span style="color: #990000;">“…our doors are open from early in the morning until late in the day so that the Synagogue assumes its role as a place of prayer, recollection and reconciliation.” </span></blockquote>
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“This character of the Synagogue must not change and the doors must remain open,” he wrote. If not, that means “we have given in to the ignorance that has perpetrated this desecration.” <br />
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May his soul be bound in the bond of life — may his memory be a blessing!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCD1okHWkyC2F6nU61uSZfPbKvcE4D0UIlTke6tmpzfI7fivVElXcymsZP8IMQzTI191KUeIVMJZBBteI5N6Q-ikhyphenhyphenKuybk3dwn8AyN_CCtseCmI1gPs6JdQnXOLK_4P7_iJIJNromn5Q/s1600/REG-Nikos.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1513" data-original-width="1500" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCD1okHWkyC2F6nU61uSZfPbKvcE4D0UIlTke6tmpzfI7fivVElXcymsZP8IMQzTI191KUeIVMJZBBteI5N6Q-ikhyphenhyphenKuybk3dwn8AyN_CCtseCmI1gPs6JdQnXOLK_4P7_iJIJNromn5Q/s400/REG-Nikos.jpg" width="396" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nikos Stavroulakis and Jewish Heritage Europe/Jewish Heritage Travel Coordinator Ruth Ellen Gruber, 2012 </td></tr>
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<a href="http://www.etz-hayyim-hania.org/" target="_blank"><b>Etz Hayyim Synagogue web site </b></a><br />
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<br />
<a href="http://ejewishphilanthropy.com/cretes-etz-hayyim-a-synagogue-open-to-everyone/" target="_blank"><b>Article on Etz Hayyim in eJewish Philanthropy</b></a><br />
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<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2009/jul/30/crete-synagogue-etz-hayyim" target="_blank"><b>Article on Etz Hayyim in The Guardian </b></a><br />
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<a href="http://www.jta.org/2010/01/13/life-religion/attack-on-crete-synagogue-carries-special-meaning" target="_blank"><b>JHE Coordinator Ruth Ellen Gruber's column about Etz Hayyim and Nikos Stavroulakis, 2010</b></a><br />
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<b>MEMORIES AND TRIBUTES </b><br />
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We asked several people who knew Nikos to share memories or reflect on his life and influence: <br />
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<b>Samuel D. Gruber</b>, President of the International Survey of Jewish Monuments and founding director of the Jewish Heritage Council of the World Monuments Fund in the late 1980s:<br />
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<blockquote>
<span style="color: #990000;">Nikos was a Renaissance man. He knew so much about so many different
subjects - art, cooking, Judaism, the Ottoman Empire, and Greece - and
had done so many things. He had a magnetic personality, his voice was
mesmerizing, and he was such a raconteur. Even his letters, which were
long typed single spaced recitations and meditations, were somewhat
hypnotic. When I began work at the World Monuments fund in 1989 I
immediately began to correspond with Nikos. He was founder of the Jewish
Museum in Greece, and had documented (with Tim <span class="m_-5952142243243715435gmail-st">DeVinney) the synagogue of Greece, which they published in 1992.</span>.
Nikos spoke at the Future of Jewish Monuments conference in New York in
1990. He led off the first session and of course there was no stopping
him at 20 minutes ... and no one wanted him to stop. From that came, a
few years later, the WMF project to restore the Etz Hayyim synagogue in
Hania. Nikos did most of the important work on that project, but it was a
thrill to work with him for a few years to raise the money, establish
the scope of work, and promote the restoration which at the time was a
rare undertaking not jsut for Greece, but for Europe. EVentually Nikos
moved back to Hanias, and over the years he greatly expanded the
original scope of work to create a unique and vibrant multi-cultural,
ecumenical and international center that still had its roots in Crete's
ancient Jewish history - very much like Nikos himself. </span></blockquote>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgORz-14pJd8d14_70fS43dIhohtqpQ5RNpC4-Hq00000_u1jLD1varO8Qy4hzysm4FB2jK9DYZnNVs5Xm0uBBatvb39HM3biW0UXg3BJzq-I_Fw4zY-75NJUloWO8uCYhzc63Fl1rlYuw/s1600/Krzysz-Nikos-wm1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="747" data-original-width="880" height="338" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgORz-14pJd8d14_70fS43dIhohtqpQ5RNpC4-Hq00000_u1jLD1varO8Qy4hzysm4FB2jK9DYZnNVs5Xm0uBBatvb39HM3biW0UXg3BJzq-I_Fw4zY-75NJUloWO8uCYhzc63Fl1rlYuw/s400/Krzysz-Nikos-wm1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Krzysztof Czyzewski and Nikos Stavroulakis, Sejny, Poland, 2012 </td></tr>
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<b>Krzysztof Czyzewski</b>, Director of the Borderland Foundation, in Sejny, Poland <br />
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<blockquote>
<span style="color: #990000;">A great man of the borderland is gone. Philosopher, museum-man, artist, writer, storyteller, and the best chef in the Mediterranean region….Once I asked Nikos what ‘ethos of dialog’ means for him. As his wont, he smiled wryly, and answered: “I came back and rebuilt a synagogue because I couldn’t get in peace with this story about a sunken ship of Jews from Chania. And beside that a ruined synagogue is an open wound for Crete, which by itself is a bridge between East and West — and being a guardian of that bridge is what I understand to be a Cretan. And when the synagogue was rebuilt, a group of old women knocked on its doors, three orthodox Greek women, dressed in black, asking if they can pray inside. I would not say I was passionately interested in intercultural dialog but I could not say “no” to them. After this, it was a kind of natural thing that I invited also some Turkish Muslims to cross a synagogue’s threshold. But later on somebody wanted to blow the synagogue up, and another time somebody set fire to it … And I had to fundraise again for the restoration of Etz Hayyim. This is how I became a man of dialog, although it would be more adequate to say: I am living in a fire of dialog!” </span></blockquote>
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<b>Journalist Liam Hoare</b>, who wrote about Nikos Stavroulakis for<a href="http://ejewishphilanthropy.com/cretes-etz-hayyim-a-synagogue-open-to-everyone/" target="_blank"> EJewish Philanthropy in 2014</a>: <br />
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<blockquote>
<span style="color: #990000;"> Everything about his biography suggested determination and tremendous vision, but the man I met also possessed a fierce intellect, a passion for and deep and broad knowledge of Jewish and Cretan history and culture, and a sentimental attachment to the island he made his home in the final years of his life. The mission of the synagogue he brought back to life—rooted in history and open to everyone, encapsulating the very best of Diaspora values—is as best a lasting testament as any man could hope to have. I feel privileged to have met Stavroulakis and wounded to think that Etz Hayyim must find its way without him. Greek Jewry and indeed Greece as a whole is in his debt. </span></blockquote>
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<b>Marcia Haddad Ikonomopoulos</b>, Museum Director of Kehila Kedosha Janina Synagogue and Museum in New York: <br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #990000;">I first met Nikos Stavroulakis when he was in the process of creating the Jewish Museum of Greece, when the collection of artifacts were being stored in the synagogue in Athens. I had started my research on the Jews of Greece and was visiting Jewish communities throughout the country to learn more about what had happened to my own family in Salonika. I was fulfilling a promise I had made to my Nona Marika to find out what had happened to our large family from Salonika who had disappeared in the concentration camps. I heard about this man, Nikos Stavroulakis, who was collecting artifacts of Greek Jews from all over Greece. I had naively hoped that he might have something of my Errera and Russo families. It was not to be, but this is when I first became an admirer of Nikos. He […] showed me how important and powerful remembering can be. <br /><br />Nikos and I went on to become friends […]. Probably, my most endearing memories of Nikos came from my visits to Hania, first shortly after he was successful in having Etz Hayyim nominated to the World Monument Fund as “One of the Most Endangered Sites in the World” in 1996 and, then, repeated visits as Nikos’ vision of the restoration became a reality. It was during one of those visits that I approached Nikos to help me apply to the World Monument Fund for Kahal Shalom Synagogue in Rhodes. I had learned during a visit in 1997, when approached by the then President of the Jewish Community of Rhodes, Alberto Kovos, that the synagogue was caving in due to dampness in the porous stone. Everyone told me that I did not have a chance, that Kahal Shalom looked “too good” to be considered. This is when I learned one of the most valuable lessons of my life. Nikos said to me, “Marcia, what have you got to lose? All they can say is no. If you do not dream, nothing will happen.” I took my dream of restoring Kahal Shalom to the World Monument Fund and, fostered by the words of Nikos Stavroulakis, proposed Kahal Shalom to become “One of the Most Endangered Sites in the World” for 1999. We succeeded and the oldest still-functioning synagogue in Greece was saved from destruction. <br /><br />During this time, I was fortunate to be treated to Nikos’ cooking and to marvel at his library but, by far, the most important gifts Nikos gave to me were his encouragement and the knowledge that you have to be a little crazy and very obsessed to do what we do. Thank you Nikos. May your memory be Eternal.</span></blockquote>
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<br />Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5655049990370776608.post-56519226639324200592017-05-24T12:27:00.000+02:002017-05-24T12:29:05.658+02:00Lithuania: Restored wooden Pakruojis synagogue reopens (watch video)<br />
NOTE: This was originally published on the Jewish Heritage Europe web site, which is having bad server issues and may not be accessible.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkGHhImyKfhbm6tQLbPRSGVZfmibZki_V_VDhhrchaZVTey3BIuuVwEsHRBlgEfVMXM6sAHlpAy5owUywjOxpZGxSOgblX8jZg2ya5YsHsPM-uoV97GWHcZZ9FFi58PS_JMPA_oASh1TQ/s1600/Pakruojis+mural1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="395" data-original-width="700" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkGHhImyKfhbm6tQLbPRSGVZfmibZki_V_VDhhrchaZVTey3BIuuVwEsHRBlgEfVMXM6sAHlpAy5owUywjOxpZGxSOgblX8jZg2ya5YsHsPM-uoV97GWHcZZ9FFi58PS_JMPA_oASh1TQ/s400/Pakruojis+mural1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: Pakruojis municipality</td></tr>
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The historic wooden synagogue in Pakruojis, Lithuania has been
reopened after a major restoration project that used old photos to
recreate the whimsical polychrome images on its walls and vaulted
ceiling.<br />
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The building will house a children’s literature section of
the Juozas Paukštelis Public Library and also host concerts and other
cultural events. An exhibit tells the history of the Jews of the
Pakruojis region.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOCRBgq6d4yUB0BVZMYRrHsZKfZtEh5lYJlv88KiaCl_e1r1mw0761lVs45CiSu6u31BrRqfjaeQEBYXAvZ_TXbhGpFOItzoTf19DwZ1O_KC10UPIy8TZ5QsWdQBIFqz1Ait9o4vwnB1g/s1600/Pakruojis-EEA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1500" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOCRBgq6d4yUB0BVZMYRrHsZKfZtEh5lYJlv88KiaCl_e1r1mw0761lVs45CiSu6u31BrRqfjaeQEBYXAvZ_TXbhGpFOItzoTf19DwZ1O_KC10UPIy8TZ5QsWdQBIFqz1Ait9o4vwnB1g/s400/Pakruojis-EEA.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Interior, Pakruojis synagogue. Photo: EEA</td></tr>
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The more than €750,000 project was carried out over nearly three years by the Pakruojis Regional Administration, with <a href="http://eeagrants.org/project-portal/project/LT06-0003" target="_blank">more than €568,000 in financing</a> from Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein under the European Economic Area and Norway financial grants mechanism.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrCcD2PW-HMGzZlL6NqfZl4RpPd9qJ8UluHqgcgk28py8uCb41rULpW9pILP7_J1EUyjik0Op55bG78530vHjNVjHgTn84P2j6GYAtQ390PxcZjeN9LuNuGGnrcnjr4KV6Lpvn18ap92Y/s1600/Pakruojis-EEA-ext.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrCcD2PW-HMGzZlL6NqfZl4RpPd9qJ8UluHqgcgk28py8uCb41rULpW9pILP7_J1EUyjik0Op55bG78530vHjNVjHgTn84P2j6GYAtQ390PxcZjeN9LuNuGGnrcnjr4KV6Lpvn18ap92Y/s400/Pakruojis-EEA-ext.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Exterior, restored Pakruojis synagogue. Photo: EEA</td></tr>
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The opening ceremony May 19 was attended by Deputy Norwegian
ambassador Turid Kristin Lilleng, deputy Israeli ambassador Efrat
Hochstetler, and director of the Lithuanian Ministry of Culture’s EEA
Financing Program Dalia Stabrauskaitė, as well as the head of the
Lithuanian Jewish community and other representatives.<br />
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Watch a video of the open — and see the restored building:<br />
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Built in 1801, the synagogue is the oldest surviving synagogue in
Lithuania. Pre-WW2 photographs document the interior — with a carved
bimah (which was not restored) and wall paintings that include charming
depictions of trees, plants, animals, houses and even a train.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: Pakruojis Municipality</td></tr>
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The building <a href="http://jewish-heritage-travel.blogspot.it/2009/08/lithuania-update-on-fire-damaged.html">suffered severe damage in a fire in 2009</a>. <br />
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Some 200 or more elaborate wooden synagogues were found in eastern Europe before World War II. Almost all were destroyed. Lithuania is one of the few countries that still has wooden synagogues — about 14 altogether. All of them, however, are fairly simple buildings that probably survived destruction because of their relatively nondescript appearance. <br />
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After World War II the Pakruojis synagogue was transformed into a movie house; it was also used as a sports hall, and then eventually abandoned.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhJB-YJel6kbC6GeLWx48rhL-rxzYQqsfoSyRPeBCoYyJb3A-ePFDsdM27QVSlDwazj0rhbZs6oKX0e5J6Qy4lRC8boqrjFpO-DiHiT4P8bTB6ebZGIUAFvxlLuJZsSwQgI7Kzs_rnlY8/s1600/Pakruojis+2006+REG-wm1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="435" data-original-width="580" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhJB-YJel6kbC6GeLWx48rhL-rxzYQqsfoSyRPeBCoYyJb3A-ePFDsdM27QVSlDwazj0rhbZs6oKX0e5J6Qy4lRC8boqrjFpO-DiHiT4P8bTB6ebZGIUAFvxlLuJZsSwQgI7Kzs_rnlY8/s400/Pakruojis+2006+REG-wm1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pakruojis synagogue in 2006</td></tr>
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The Center for Jewish Art at Hebrew University in Jerusalem created an excellent digital presentation about the synagogue that illustrates the history of the synagogue and the Jewish presence in the town — noting that there were once three synagogues in Pakruojis. It includes a digital recreation of the building, inside and out, showing the architectural and artistic features.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiocWYGLKaQJc-l69Uz5Rp0udYwMhCNUHNBmNda_lqqrxVDPdIzns2MVoSE8-dy-KtlaRJP8NrBYJxUD8vRy7sFh0I4UTgaIV8QXnQCadlRl5VosozQ0myUguNMtIOe2jQqhPcUlaibWGA/s1600/Pakruojis-CJA-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1202" data-original-width="1294" height="371" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiocWYGLKaQJc-l69Uz5Rp0udYwMhCNUHNBmNda_lqqrxVDPdIzns2MVoSE8-dy-KtlaRJP8NrBYJxUD8vRy7sFh0I4UTgaIV8QXnQCadlRl5VosozQ0myUguNMtIOe2jQqhPcUlaibWGA/s400/Pakruojis-CJA-3.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Digital recreation of the Pakruojis wooden synagogue. Screen grab from CJA presentation</td></tr>
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It also includes the striking photo documentation of the synagogue made in 1938, showing the painted decoration on the ceiling and the carved ark and bimah, that was used by the restorers to recreated the ceiling paintings and even the wallpaper.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_EBHoqVYGULtTXG3dHTVzG0rCGaT_v7cpOcfvwTglN3xLOHG7HuatXAO9jaHYk1L2TbWfstlyviyB5ps_f46W-vEo3iLDZyhq34hC9V9ZUUwpAFhhJ7uJoaNGTxQdT_26Dw9x2ObQni4/s1600/Pakruojis+mural2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="670" height="143" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_EBHoqVYGULtTXG3dHTVzG0rCGaT_v7cpOcfvwTglN3xLOHG7HuatXAO9jaHYk1L2TbWfstlyviyB5ps_f46W-vEo3iLDZyhq34hC9V9ZUUwpAFhhJ7uJoaNGTxQdT_26Dw9x2ObQni4/s320/Pakruojis+mural2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span id="goog_1548698405"></span><span id="goog_1548698406"></span><br />Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5655049990370776608.post-44059395320519031442017-02-19T22:24:00.000+01:002017-02-19T22:26:42.629+01:00In an Interview, I reflect on five years of Jewish Heritage Europe<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZSEldNUveiIHhM8DBjhGeIdFlL4RLGMCkuye7s8lj0igPHkx-_pLqbu4C3HMukTZF3wAVwG2D6xg1MKAvSMcYRMKHChoM87ATKRZO2Hwu3cHdffNS12jOugtCjp5iLjq2ts7UOrqshkI/s1600/eg-Kalvarija-Sam.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZSEldNUveiIHhM8DBjhGeIdFlL4RLGMCkuye7s8lj0igPHkx-_pLqbu4C3HMukTZF3wAVwG2D6xg1MKAvSMcYRMKHChoM87ATKRZO2Hwu3cHdffNS12jOugtCjp5iLjq2ts7UOrqshkI/s400/eg-Kalvarija-Sam.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me at the ruined Great Synagogue in Kalvarija, Lithuania, the town my great-grandparents came from. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber</td></tr>
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February 2017 marks the fifth anniversary that <a href="http://www.jewish-heritage-europe.eu/">www.jewish-heritage-europe.eu</a> — the web site that I run as a project of the Rothschild Foundation Hanadiv Europe — has been online. <br />
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In <a href="http://ejewishphilanthropy.com/ruth-ellen-gruber-celebrates-five-years-of-jewish-heritage-europe/">a lengthy interview with Liam Hoare of eJewish Philanthropy</a>, I reflect on developments since I’ve been involved with Jewish heritage work — where we’ve been, and where we may be going. <br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #990000;">By Liam Hoare</span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;"> eJewish Philanthropy </span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;">Since its launch five years ago,</span> <a href="http://www.jewish-heritage-europe.eu/">Jewish Heritage Europe</a> <span style="color: #990000;">has become an essential one-stop shop for news, information, and resources concerning, as the name indeed suggests, matters of Jewish culture and built heritage in Europe: museums; synagogues; cemeteries, and so on. Ruth Ellen Gruber, the author of Virtually Jewish: Reinventing Jewish Culture in Europe who has chronicled Jewish life in Europe for over twenty-five years for the JTA among other places, edits the site, which is supported by the Rothschild Foundation (Hanadiv) Europe. Here, I talk with Gruber about the site’s development and how European attitudes towards Jewish heritage have changed in the time she has been reporting on these issues. </span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;">* </span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;"><b>What was the impetus behind setting up Jewish Heritage Europe five years ago? </b></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;">JHE builds on and expands a previous version of the site that was launched after a major conference on the Future of Jewish Heritage, held in Prague in 2004. The decision by the Rothschild Foundation (Hanadiv) Europe to relaunch and expand came as a follow-up to a conference held in Bratislava, Slovakia in March 2009 that discussed the state of Jewish heritage sites in Europe as well as strategies for their restoration, use, and upkeep. That seminar, attended by international Jewish heritage experts as well as by representatives from Jewish communities in more than a dozen countries, also resulted in the</span> <a href="http://www.jewish-heritage-europe.eu/bratislava-declaration">Bratislava Statement</a>, <span style="color: #990000;">a major statement of specific ‘best practices’ about how to deal with Jewish heritage sites. </span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;">JHE’s aim is to facilitate communication and information exchange regarding projects, initiatives, and other developments such as restoration, ongoing projects, best practices, advisory services and more. Its primary focus is Jewish built heritage: synagogues, cemeteries, mikvaot, Jewish quarters and other physical traces that attest to a Jewish presence on the continent stretching back to Antiquity, but it also includes material on Jewish museums and other cultural institutions. </span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;"><b>Is there anything that stands out for you in terms of how Europe‘s Jewish heritage is discussed, studied, and cared for in the five years since you’ve been running the site? </b></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;">Jewish heritage and particularly Jewish built heritage is a field that has been continually developing over the past few decades. When I first became involved with Jewish heritage issues in eastern and central Europe nearly thirty years ago, I was entering largely unexplored territory. Little was known about what still existed in those countries – I felt I was ‘filling in blank spaces’ and literally putting Jewish heritage sites back on the map. At that time, even in western countries, Jewish built heritage was often ignored or overlooked. </span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;">That is no longer the case. In post-communist Europe, many Jewish heritage sites are still empty or in ruins, and most Jewish cemeteries are neglected or abandoned. But there are lists, inventories, databases, and online resources that tell us where they are. Surveys have documented synagogue buildings and Jewish cemeteries. Projects have mapped old shtetls to position destroyed buildings, and other projects have digitally recreated destroyed buildings or have even recreated them in replica form. Moreover, projects of various sorts have restored, cleaned up, fenced, preserved, or protected hundreds of sites. </span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;">I see all this on a day-to-day basis as I compile the</span> <a href="http://www.jewish-heritage-europe.eu/news-items">JHE News Feed</a>. <span style="color: #990000;">Probably the site’s most powerful asset, it’s essentially a ‘wire service’ about what’s going on the Jewish heritage world today. To date, I have posted more than 1100 articles from dozens of countries, which probably constitutes the most extensive searchable database on contemporary Jewish built heritage issues. Thus, running JHE has enabled me to recognize the widespread reach, range, and scope of Jewish heritage initiatives all over Europe, as well as the challenges and controversies, from protection and preservation issues to religious concerns, the uses of new technology in research, to the various ways that Jewish heritage sites are used – and also abused. </span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;">Of course, Jewish heritage work, and the situation of Jewish heritage, is different from country to country, city to city, and is dependent on many factors: Jewish community organizational matters; local and national politics; funding shortfalls, and actual on-the-ground possibilities. My feeling is that seeing what’s going on in other countries, or in other projects, can be useful to help inspire activists or help them in creating strategies for their own work. I think it is important for activists today, though many are still working on their own or in relative isolation, to realize that they are not as alone as were the Jewish heritage activists who, often on their own, blazed the trail in earlier decades. </span><br />
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<b><a href="http://ejewishphilanthropy.com/ruth-ellen-gruber-celebrates-five-years-of-jewish-heritage-europe/">Click here to read the full interview</a></b></blockquote>
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<br />Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5655049990370776608.post-4355661442800517592016-12-12T12:38:00.000+01:002016-12-12T15:23:14.144+01:00Romanian Jewish heritage: my first (long-ago) impressions<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggOwD1B_ry_My3z_4R-THTdn3lqHtr_vH0b5mhPcth8nQIkqldDU3pcKuAlqzgiRHSMAYn4zN-DAJj9GlKDLqK3Lj1qDV3NGTxzBym8uoAeITsdVck-Z35k_cZEqK2uw-A9eD-EbexUcY/s1600/IMG_8816.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggOwD1B_ry_My3z_4R-THTdn3lqHtr_vH0b5mhPcth8nQIkqldDU3pcKuAlqzgiRHSMAYn4zN-DAJj9GlKDLqK3Lj1qDV3NGTxzBym8uoAeITsdVck-Z35k_cZEqK2uw-A9eD-EbexUcY/s400/IMG_8816.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Suceava synagogue</td></tr>
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I've been writing seriously about Jewish cultural heritage and contemporary Jewish issues for nearly 30 years, but my "first contact" came about a decade before that, when I was the Bureau Manager based in Belgrade for United Press International, responsible for coverage of the Communist Balkans.<br />
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One of my first extended trips was to Bulgaria and, mostly, Romania, at the end of December, 1978. It was Hanukkah, and I toured the country with the then-Chief Rabbi, Moses Rosen, on his annual "Hanukiada" trip to scattered Jewish communities. My brother Sam, who was visiting me, came along, too -- we were with the trip for six days, visiting 19 synagogues and communities.<br />
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I wrote in the introduction of my book Jewish Heritage Travel that this trip sowed the seeds of my interest. And I also wrote about parts of the trip for UPI, including the stop we made at Radauti, where were found the grave of our great-grandmother in the unkempt Jewish cemetery.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZhPCwMyjoj1iHhmMFWrLAXp2FHT29Td-Dxulte-QP6qnv2AURx0g3POYTM_ckiP0l3i1rW797mx1tz-rXBZRBb0O3BITaH2XtpH9RenwqysT8bLoMo8knsoJhT5Gpa3ZMxjVO3jAr4R4/s1600/radauti1978.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="330" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZhPCwMyjoj1iHhmMFWrLAXp2FHT29Td-Dxulte-QP6qnv2AURx0g3POYTM_ckiP0l3i1rW797mx1tz-rXBZRBb0O3BITaH2XtpH9RenwqysT8bLoMo8knsoJhT5Gpa3ZMxjVO3jAr4R4/s400/radauti1978.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I have now -- by chance -- found a letter that I wrote to a UPI colleague (but apparently never sent) describing that trip. Though I'm describing a journey I took in the dark and very cold days of Ceausescu's Romania in December 1978, it reals remarkably similar to descriptions I read of trips taken today to some places.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9M38t5-cxJzmmR8Dfj_qejkujNtPhjhqEOrJXkuf0n5oByd4khFKwdOVsGuaiK_xxrlXdmlBRK2ejGrVTT6Osk2KUYRgy5ioEFA0Jt2nZh2Y8NjuT8s7tEOsnnZDIh9WsB66ph8OBVhQ/s1600/Romania+letter+Jan+1979.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9M38t5-cxJzmmR8Dfj_qejkujNtPhjhqEOrJXkuf0n5oByd4khFKwdOVsGuaiK_xxrlXdmlBRK2ejGrVTT6Osk2KUYRgy5ioEFA0Jt2nZh2Y8NjuT8s7tEOsnnZDIh9WsB66ph8OBVhQ/s640/Romania+letter+Jan+1979.jpeg" width="452" /></a></div>
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I have re-visited some of these places over the years and decades, <a href="http://www.jta.org/2009/10/01/life-religion/ruthless-cosmopolitan-discovering-an-ancestors-footsteps" target="_blank">including Radauti</a>.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF1N05bp-Cy1VAYP9YPg6LJtennTtT8omdQcUhOV6gnt1KkPs8fW2bsYIqY_HIEEwihSys-Pt75OV6cXmgaxq4fv764mJrmAXPoDdrS8q7rfUn6TLmQt9TqIqBTJs9y-eA9anPz9HALzk/s1600/radauti-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF1N05bp-Cy1VAYP9YPg6LJtennTtT8omdQcUhOV6gnt1KkPs8fW2bsYIqY_HIEEwihSys-Pt75OV6cXmgaxq4fv764mJrmAXPoDdrS8q7rfUn6TLmQt9TqIqBTJs9y-eA9anPz9HALzk/s320/radauti-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1991</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx30s7oZHPIDK1r3-tBckVxVoQbTDwKeWIDed_ENiBollYY0MBv0JMHr6-UQ-fykzl00rftn_LOp_3QyM3tEkk-Mx2V1nUIdz-T82Z3mFfFlpQgSgB8VlBqdXTKw8Mz6FYBWbkwdIXbOA/s1600/reg%253Aettel+cropped+jun+06" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx30s7oZHPIDK1r3-tBckVxVoQbTDwKeWIDed_ENiBollYY0MBv0JMHr6-UQ-fykzl00rftn_LOp_3QyM3tEkk-Mx2V1nUIdz-T82Z3mFfFlpQgSgB8VlBqdXTKw8Mz6FYBWbkwdIXbOA/s320/reg%253Aettel+cropped+jun+06" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2006</td></tr>
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The Jewish community continues to dwindle, and a number of the synagogues I visited in 1978 are in longer in use. Some, however, have undergone recent restoration and maintenance.<br />
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<div style="color: black;">
<span style="color: maroon;"><span style="color: black;">According to FEDROM, the Federation of Jewish Communities in Romania, there are at least </span></span>821
Jewish cemeteries in Romania, 17 of which are listed as historic
monuments. They are located in more than 732 cities, towns and villages
all over the country: in only in 148 of these places is there a Jewish
presence (whether a small organized community or simply individual
Jewish residents).</div>
<div style="color: black;">
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FEDROM owns 87 synagogue buildings, only 42 of which are used
regularly for religious services. Some of the others are used
occasionally for services, but most others are vacant. For a few former
synagogues, FEDROM has arranged long-term lease agreements under which
the buildings are rehabilitated and used for cultural purposes. In
addition, a number of other synagogue buildings not owned by FEDROM also
still stand, in various states.<br />
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Thirty-four synagogue buildings are listed as historical monuments.<br />
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A new web site highlights photos of about <a href="http://www.romanian-synagogues.org/" target="_blank">15 Romanian synagogues</a>, and I post continued updated <a href="http://www.jewish-heritage-europe.eu/tag/romania" target="_blank">news about Romanian Jewish heritage</a> on the Jewish Heritage Europe web site.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPbA8M0WZI9pAg4APCaMeYQxBrwOAEkp71MN7tHkl61gAQwhEzuOAKlMszi0MX2MU5jgip8Nk9yeBLlPNoCJAksWLLBobvs6K4jmbCWpPXY5Ej2wq74jqUXhlMGDiTnIFxmg3h2wFXtDE/s1600/DSC04918.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPbA8M0WZI9pAg4APCaMeYQxBrwOAEkp71MN7tHkl61gAQwhEzuOAKlMszi0MX2MU5jgip8Nk9yeBLlPNoCJAksWLLBobvs6K4jmbCWpPXY5Ej2wq74jqUXhlMGDiTnIFxmg3h2wFXtDE/s400/DSC04918.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Synagogue in Bystrica, Romania, used as a concert hall</td></tr>
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<br />Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5655049990370776608.post-54178998419969554012016-04-17T11:39:00.001+02:002016-04-17T14:35:40.917+02:00I'm interviewed in USAToday -- 10 great places to experience Jewish history<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The bimah and top of the ark in the synagogue Mikulov, CZ, part of the 10 Stars project</td></tr>
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The newspaper USAToday has run <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/destinations/10greatplaces/2016/04/15/jewish-history/83033592/" target="_blank">an interview with me</a> by Larry Bleiberg, in which I note 10 of my favorite Jewish heritage sites -- not just in Europe, but also a couple in the United States.<br />
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I gave him a much, much longer list, but he had to pare it down to just 10, to keep variety and also geographic spread -- alas, as he had to leave out some of my very favorite places. The article runs in the travel section as <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/destinations/10greatplaces/2016/04/15/jewish-history/83033592/" target="_blank">10 Great Places to Experience Jewish History</a>.<br />
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The 10 include: the art nouveau <b>synagogue in Subotica, Serbia</b>; the <b>ghetto in Venice</b>; the <b>Amsterdam Jewish Cultural Quarter</b>; the <b>Hamburg Altona Jewish cemetery</b>; the <b>synagogue in Iasi, Romania</b>; the <b>pioneer Jewish cemeteries in the American west</b>; <b>KKBE synagogue in Charleston, SC</b>; the <b>Belzec Nazi death camp memorial in Poland</b>; the <b>10 Stars project sites in Czech Republic</b>; and <b>Sataniv and other fortress synagogues in Ukraine</b>.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/destinations/10greatplaces/2016/04/15/jewish-history/83033592/" target="_blank">Read the full USAToday article</a></b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfLKLXYC4zjQkuFlAcxelfFdhlcQDd6XyjYkbACWpXgqm86GnA8IgOpVKCNILzFDWI9zq4D-poe6M0jqRwPOANAk089_1IJmuoWnAPLc_17Hvvjk4f5xvOC_ejQ9ouZZw3EK7PJ5Q5lW0/s1600/IMG_5957.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfLKLXYC4zjQkuFlAcxelfFdhlcQDd6XyjYkbACWpXgqm86GnA8IgOpVKCNILzFDWI9zq4D-poe6M0jqRwPOANAk089_1IJmuoWnAPLc_17Hvvjk4f5xvOC_ejQ9ouZZw3EK7PJ5Q5lW0/s400/IMG_5957.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In the Venice ghetto</td></tr>
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When my book <b><i>National Geographic Jewish Heritage Travel, a Guide to Eastern Europe</i></b> came out in 2007, JTA also ran a story asking me to list my favorites -- the geographic scope was more limited, so the list is a bit different, though it does include some of the same sites, such as the synagogue in Subotica, the Belzec memorial, fortress synagogues including Sataniv, synagogues (like Iasi) in northern Romania, and the synagogues and Jewish quarters in the Czech Republic -- <a href="http://www.jta.org/2007/04/25/arts-entertainment/grubers-top-10-sites-to-see" target="_blank"><b>see it HERE</b></a>.<br />
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It includes: the historic <b>Jewish cemeteries and painted synagogues in northern Romania</b>; the J<b>ewish cemeteries and fortress synagogues in Ukraine</b>, including Sataniv; the <b>baroque synagogue and Jewish cemetery in Mad</b>, in northeastern Hungary; the <b>synagogues in Lancut, in southeastern Poland, and in Tykocin, in northeastern Poland</b>; the old Jewish quarters, synagogues and cemeteries in <b>small towns the Czech Republic</b>; anything to do with the Hungarian architect <b>Lipot Baumhorn (1860-1932)</b>, modern Europe’s most prolific designer of synagogues, such as the grand synagogue in Szeged, Hungary, and Baumhorn’s tomb in the Kozma utca Jewish cemetery in Budapest; the remaining few <b>wooden synagogues</b>, about a dozen of which survive in out-of-the way villages in Lithuania; the elaborate <b>synagogue in Subotica, Serbia</b>; the <b>Holocaust monument complex in Belzec</b> in southeastern Poland; The <b>Holocaust memorial in Plunge, Lithuania</b>, which features a profoundly moving installation of massive wooden sculptures by the late Jewish wood-carver Jakob Bunkas and his artist friends.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.jta.org/2007/04/25/arts-entertainment/grubers-top-10-sites-to-see" target="_blank">Read the JTA article</a></b></div>
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Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5655049990370776608.post-50156244030200258672016-02-24T14:40:00.002+01:002016-10-04T11:33:40.098+02:00Jewish Culture, etc Festivals in Europe, 2016<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.9px;">As usual, I am trying to put together a list of as many as possible of the numerous Jewish festivals -- culture, film, dance, etc -- that take place each year around Europe. </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.9px;"><span style="color: red;">Please help me by sending me information!</span></i><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.9px;">The big culture festivals and other smaller events make good destinations around which to center a trip. Some, like the annual Festival of Jewish Culture in Krakow, are huge events lasting a week or more, which draw thousands of people and offer scores or sometimes hundreds of performances, lectures, concerts, exhibits and the like. Other festivals are much less ambitious. Some are primarily workshops but also feature concerts. Many of the same artists perform at more than one festival. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.9px;">The list will be growing and growing -- and again, </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.9px;"><span style="color: red;">I ask my readers to please send me information and links to upcoming events. Thanks!</span></i><br />
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<b>ALL OVER EUROPE </b><br />
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September 4 -- <b>many countries</b> -- European Day of Jewish Culture (theme this year: Jewish languages)<br />
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<b>CZECH REPUBLIC</b><br />
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July 7-10 -- <b>Boskovice</b> -- <a href="http://boskovice-festival.cz/news" target="_blank">24th Festival for the Jewish Quarter</a><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.9px;">August 1-6 -- </span><b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.9px;">Trebic</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.9px;"> -- </span><a href="http://www.samajim.cz/" style="background-color: white; color: #336699; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.9px;" target="_blank">Samajim Festival</a><br />
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September 19-27 -- <b>Olomouc</b> -- <a href="http://www.olmuart.cz/dzko/" target="_blank">Days of Jewish Culture</a><br />
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<b>DENMARK</b><br />
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May 31-June 6 -- <b>Copenhagen</b> -- <a href="http://www.jewishculture.dk/en/arrangementer.html" target="_blank">Jewish Culture Festival</a><br />
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<b>GERMANY</b><br />
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February 25-28 -- <b>Fürth</b> -- <a href="https://juedischefilmtage.wordpress.com/filme/red-leaves/" target="_blank">Jewish Film Days</a><br />
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March 4-13 -- <b>Fürth</b> -- <a href="http://www.klezmer-festival.de/" target="_blank">International Klezmer Festival</a><br />
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July 9-August 12 -- <b>Weimar</b> -- <a href="http://yiddishsummer.eu/" target="_blank">Yiddish Summer Weimar</a><br />
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<b>GREAT BRITAIN</b><br />
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August 15-19 -- <b>London</b> -- <a href="https://www.jmi.org.uk/event/klezfest-2016/" target="_blank">Klezfest</a><br />
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<b>ITALY</b><br />
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March 14-18 -- <b>Trani</b> (various venues)-- Lech Lecha festival<br />
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<b>POLAND</b><br />
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June 16-19 -- <b>Oswiecim</b> -- <a href="http://lifefestival.pl/" target="_blank">Oswiecim Life Festival</a><br />
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<b>SLOVAKIA</b><br />
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June 29-July 2 -- <b>Kosice</b> -- <a href="http://mazaltov.sk/" target="_blank">Mazal Tov festival</a><br />
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<b>SPAIN</b><br />
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March 5-6 -- <b>Besalu</b> -- Ciudad Judia<br />
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June 8-June 13 -- <b>Cordoba</b> -- <a href="http://www.andalucia.org/es/eventos/festival-internacional-de-musica-sefardi/" target="_blank">International Festival of Sephardic Music</a><br />
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<br />Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5655049990370776608.post-13694092175232513682015-11-26T17:53:00.000+01:002015-11-26T18:07:32.441+01:00Happy Thanksgiving -- with Jewish Turkeys<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIY4i5nYWftMva_H6jhanySDbMsM3jZUlJEy3lY2A9LLQjNOMSV4w0rxGgcq-s8io6-qgGOehLD1HJIJc1il5tqPrRW6qGjM3rz700I9TB7RXJADjbW-2_uamrGPMleG3YfY9c-baLIYU/s1600/Turkey-Gwozdziec.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIY4i5nYWftMva_H6jhanySDbMsM3jZUlJEy3lY2A9LLQjNOMSV4w0rxGgcq-s8io6-qgGOehLD1HJIJc1il5tqPrRW6qGjM3rz700I9TB7RXJADjbW-2_uamrGPMleG3YfY9c-baLIYU/s400/Turkey-Gwozdziec.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Happy Thanksgiving!<br />
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I'm reposting this item from my Jewish Heritage Europe web site -- an online resource to Jewish heritage across the continent. <a href="http://www.jewish-heritage-europe.eu/2015/11/26/happy-thanksgiving-to-our-american-readers/%E2%80%9D">See the full post here</a>.<br />
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Thanksgiving is often called “turkey-day” because of the tradition of eating roast turkey at the Thanksgiving dinner. <br />
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The bird that we call “turkey” was native to the Americas, and was brought back to Europe by the first European explorers, where it quickly became popular. As can be seen above in the replica of the early 18th century painted ceiling of the destroyed wooden synagogue at Gwozdziec — now in the POLIN museum in Warsaw — its image was used two centuries ago in East European synagogue decoration. <br />
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An almost identical image, for example, appears in the painted wooden synagogue of Chodorow, now replicated at the Bet Hatfutsoth museum in Tel Aviv — see below.<br />
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<img alt="" src="http://www.jewishjournal.com/images/bloggers/Chdorow-turkey.jpg" style="height: 435px; width: 480px;" /><br />
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For a fascinating look at the Turkey in Jewish artistic (and culinary) tradition, <a href="http://samgrubersjewishartmonuments.blogspot.com/2015/11/a-note-about-turkey-for-usa-thanksgiving.html">Samuel Gruber has posted a lengthy description</a> — with illustrations — on his blog. <br />
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Among other things, he notes that Thomas Hubka, author of Resplendent Synagogue: Architecture and Worship in an Eighteen-Century Polish Synagogue, writes: “At first, it is difficult to imagine how the North American turkey could have been painted in an early-eighteenth-century Polish synagogue, but books depicting the exotic flora and fauna from beyond the European world were widely available at the time.” <br />
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He writes that Hubka links the presences of exotic animals in the decoration to Jewish ethical literature and writings that celebrate God’s creation. According to Hubka:<br />
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<span style="color: firebrick;">“The illustrated Perek Shira (chapter of
song) was a popular “exotic creature” book specifically written for a
Jewish audience. the book was a collection of hymnic sayings in praise
of the Creator placed in the mouths of various animals, especially
exotic animals. Many animals and their sayings emphasized the wonder and
incomprehensibility of God’s creation as, for example, written next to a
drawing of a dragon “What does the dragon say? Sing unto him, sing
psalms unto Him: talk ye of all his wondrous works (Psalm 105;2). As a
measure of its popularity and ethical function,Perek Shira was included
in some of the earliest printed prayer books in Eastern Europe…thus the
unknown turkey was to be contemplated by pious Jews as an ex maple of
the unfathomable variety of God’s creatures. as they did with the exotic
ostrich and unicorn, the artists of the Gwozdziec Synagogue may have
placed the turkey in a prominent central location so that the
congregation would “Lift up [its] eyes…to obtain knowledge of the works
of the Holy One” (II:231b). (Hubka, Resplendent Synagogue: Architecture
and Worship in an Eighteen-Century Polish Synagogue, p. 103.)</span></blockquote>
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Gruber also discusses turkeys on the Jewish dinner table, quoting the early 19th century memoirist memoirist Pauline Wengeroff (Rememberings: The World of A Russian-Jewish Woman in the Nineteenth Century, various editions), describing how her family in Bobruisk (now in Belarus) in the 1830s ate turkey for Pesach and Sukkoth. <br />
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For Pesach she describes the process of kashering chickens and turkeys, and at a noon meal on Pesach, following the seder, “there had to be stuffed turkey neck.” She also mentions eating roast turkey on Shmini Atzeres and Simchas Torah.
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<a href="http://samgrubersjewishartmonuments.blogspot.com/2015/11/a-note-about-turkey-for-usa-thanksgiving.html"><b>Read Samuel Gruber's full blog post here</b></a><br />
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<br />Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5655049990370776608.post-27961424729678898392015-10-18T23:34:00.001+02:002015-10-18T23:41:26.972+02:00NY Jewish Week profiles me & my Jewish heritage work<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me in Hostice, CZ, in front of the long-abandoned synagogue</td></tr>
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Writing in the <a href="http://www.thejewishweek.com/features/travel/heritage-tourism-europe" style="color: #0252aa; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 1000ms, background-color 1000ms, opacity 1000ms;">New York Jewish Week</a>, travel writer Hilary Danailova profiles me and my Jewish heritage and Jewish heritage travel work, including the <a href="http://www.jewish-heritage-europe.eu/" style="color: #0252aa; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 1000ms, background-color 1000ms, opacity 1000ms;">Jewish Heritage Europe</a> web site. </div>
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<span style="color: firebrick; line-height: 26px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">Heritage Tourism In Europe<br style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" />10/13/15<br style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" />Hilary Danailova</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: firebrick; line-height: 26px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">From Poland to Portugal, nobody knows Jewish Europe like Ruth Ellen Gruber.</span></div>
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<span style="color: firebrick; line-height: 26px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">On a given week, the Philadelphia-born journalist might be checking out a newly opened museum, inspecting the restoration of a prewar synagogue, or picking her way through forest brambles in search of long-lost tombstones. That explains how Gruber found herself recently in the wilderness south of Prague, where she stumbled onto an 18th-century Jewish cemetery in a clearing near a faded sign marking “Synagogue Street.”</span></div>
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<span style="color: firebrick; line-height: 26px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">“Here’s this place in the middle of nowhere, and actually, there used to be a synagogue here,” recalled Gruber, who was sleuthing with the aid of locals. “It gave me that sense of discovery that I used to find everywhere. When I find a place that thrills me or makes me feel that sense of wonder again … I loved it.”</span></div>
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<span style="color: firebrick; line-height: 26px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">The thrill of discovery is something Gruber shares with a growing number of enthusiasts through the website she oversees, <a href="http://www.jewish-heritage-europe.eu/" target="_blank">Jewish Heritage Europe</a>. A project of the Rothschild Foundation (Hanadiv) Europe, JHE is a comprehensive web portal for all things Jewish overseas: festivals, institutions, scholarship, synagogues and cemeteries.</span></div>
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<span style="color: firebrick; line-height: 26px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">Under Gruber’s direction, JHE has evolved into an essential travel resource. With an engaging redesign and the recent launch of “Have Your Say,” a feature that invites interactive commentary, JHE makes Jewish Europe more accessible — and more communal — than ever.</span></div>
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<span style="color: firebrick; line-height: 26px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">Gruber has long occupied a front-row seat for the show that is modern Europe. Since the 1970s, she has reported from abroad for many major news outlets in North America; currently JTA’s senior European correspondent, next summer she will lead her first European Jewish heritage tour for The New York Times. [...]</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://www.thejewishweek.com/features/travel/heritage-tourism-europe" target="_blank">Read the entire article on the Jewish Week web site</a></span><br />
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Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5655049990370776608.post-1667034408580706352015-08-31T15:11:00.000+02:002015-08-31T15:11:12.472+02:00Heads up -- European Day of Jewish Culture is next weekend<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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By Ruth Ellen Gruber<br /><br /> If you are in Europe -- in virtually any country in Europe -- next weekend, you will be able to experience the European Day of Jewish Culture, an annual continent-wide festival of Jewish heritage and history that is celebrating its 16th edition this year. <br /><br /> Each year events revolve around a common theme -- this year it is “Bridges” — and many events stress aspects of dialogue and inter-religious and other cooperation, while others highlight "spiritual" bridges and other meanings of the concept: anything that "joins or connects." <br /><br /> Events are scheduled in more than 30 countries, and while there are only a couple of events in some countries, in other countries the “day” has become “days” or even a full week of events.<br />
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<br /><br />Italy, whose Jewish history goes back more than 2000 years, is one of the main countries taking part in the EDJC — this year events are scheduled in some 72 locales up and down the peninsula, with Florence the focus of central observances. (There are Jewish communities in only about 20 towns and cities in Italy, with total membership in Jewish communities under 25,000 people.) <br /><br /> Highlights include everything from the opening of a Jewish bookstore in Rome, to conferences to book launches to concerts to round-table discussions, to guided tours of historic Jewish quarters; the ancient synagogue in Ostia Antica; Jewish catacombs; the medieval mikvah in Siracusa, Sicily; synagogues and Jewish cemeteries. <br /><br /> <b><a href="http://www.ucei.it/giornatadellacultura/">See full Italian program here (in Italian)</a></b> <br /><br /> <br /> Spain also has a very rich program, coordinated by the 24-member Network of Jewish Quarters. <br /><br /> <b><a href="http://www.redjuderias.org/jecj/index_es_2015.html">See the full Spain program</a></b> <br /><br /><br /> And Britain, too, has a very full schedule of events, stretching over several days -- <b><a href="http://www.jewisheritage.org/jh/upload/edjc/pdf/PDFText_226_English1.pdf">see the full UK program here</a>. </b><br /><br /> All told, all over Europe there are hundreds of individual events to choose from – lectures, concerts, food-tastings, book fairs, and more — plus many guided tours and informal visits to Jewish heritage sites that are generally closed to the public or limited in access. <br /><br /> Events are geared primarily for local people — Jews, but also, in some cases overwhelmingly, non-Jews: the Day is aimed at education as well as tourism. <br /><br /> You can access some programs in participating countries at the website of the <b><a href="http://www.jewisheritage.org/web/edjc">AEPJ -- European Association for the Preservation and Promotion of Jewish Culture and Heritage</a></b>. (Unfortunately the program search does not always function correctly.)Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5655049990370776608.post-88697237530160218252015-07-28T11:01:00.000+02:002015-07-28T11:01:43.569+02:00Lodz Ghetto photos -- my article<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Downtown Lodz today</td></tr>
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T<a href="http://jewishquarterly.org/2015/06/memory-unearthed-the-lodz-ghetto-photographs-of-henryk-ross-2/">he Jewish Quarterly publishes my review </a>of the book Memory Unearthed: The Lodz Ghetto Photographs of Henryk Ross, a fascinating collection of posed photographs and unexpected snapshots taken in the WW2 Lodz Ghetto and hidden underground until after the war.<br />
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<span style="color: #990000;">By Ruth Ellen Gruber <br /><br />June 22, 2015<br /><br /> The extraordinary images reprinted in Memory Unearthed: The Lodz Ghetto Photographs of Henryk Ross are survivors, both physical and symbolic. <br /><br /> Ross, born in Warsaw in 1910, was one of the more than 200,000 Jews imprisoned in the World War II Lodz ghetto. Thanks to his background as a photo-journalist, he was appointed to a privileged position—an official photographer for the Statistics Office of the Ghetto’s Jewish Council (Judenrat). <br /><br /> He worked in that capacity from 1940 to 1945, taking thousands of photographs that documented the widest possible range of ghetto life—and death. <br /><br /> On the one hand, his official work produced everything from ID portraits and group photos of ghetto police, to Potemkin village-like shots of ghetto inmates, smiling at their benches as they laboured in Council-run workshops, or “resorts”, including those that employed young children. <br /><br /> But he turned his lens, too, on other scenes far outside the purview of propaganda—scenes of violence and mass deportations, scenes of murder and malnutrition, scenes of death. Often taken on the sly, from a camera hidden under his coat, these images are chilling but almost familiar in the Holocaust horror they depict. <br /><br /> Ross, though, also immortalized intensely personal moments that put the death, destruction and degradation in a much more intimate, even unlikely, context: kids at play, a smiling bride at her ghetto wedding, friends clowning, a couple stealing a kiss. <br /><br /> Ross, who survived the Holocaust and emigrated to Israel after the war, knew just what he was doing and just what he wanted to do. <br /><br /> “Having an official camera, I was secretly able to photograph the life of the Jews in the ghetto,” he wrote in 1987, four years before his death. “Just before the closure of the ghetto in 1944, I buried my negatives in the ground in order that there should be some record of our tragedy, namely the total elimination of the Jews from Lodz by the Nazi executioners. I was anticipating the total destruction of Polish Jewry. I wanted to leave a historical record of our martyrdom.” <br /><br /> In January 1945, after the Red Army liberated the ghetto, he went back and dug up what he had hidden. Fewer than 3,000 of the 6,000 negatives he had buried survived intact; others were severely damaged from seven months under ground. <br /><br /> But by bringing them back to light, he brought them, and what they represented, back to life. Ross unearthed not only shadowy strips of celluloid; he unearthed direct testimony to the cruelty of life inside the ghetto, and direct testimony, too, to life itself – the lives lived by ghetto inmates, intimate glimpses of humanity side by side with the horror.</span><br />
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…<a href="http://jewishquarterly.org/2015/06/memory-unearthed-the-lodz-ghetto-photographs-of-henryk-ross-2/"><b>Continue reading</b></a><br />
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<br />Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5655049990370776608.post-33518633002817674472015-07-18T11:31:00.000+02:002015-07-18T11:32:11.010+02:00Visiting Jewish Heritage in Padova, Italy<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>In the 16th century Jewish cemetery on via Wiel, Padova. Photo: Gadi Luzzatto Voghera</u></td></tr>
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On a stiflingly hot day a couple weeks ago, I spent an afternoon in Padova (Padua), Italy, visiting some of the centuries-old Jewish heritage sites in the city -- they are being developed now as both a resource for
local people and as an attractive itinerary for tourists and other
visitors.<br />
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The sites I visited included the new <span style="color: #3366ff;"><a href="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/006e11cfa8f9d9201895e9a8e/files/ThejewisheritageofPadua.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3366ff;">Museo della Padova Ebraica (Museum of Jewish Padova)</span></a></span> which opened in June. <a href="http://www.jewish-heritage-europe.eu/2015/06/15/new-jewish-museum-openings-padova-and-schwabach/%E2%80%9D" target="_blank">As I wrote on the Jewish Heritage Europe web site ahead of the opening, </a><span style="color: black;">it is housed in the former “German,” synagogue, Sinagoga Tedesca, used by the
Ashkenazic community, which was inaugurated in 1525 in the heart of the
Jewish quarter, or ghetto, in the city’s historic center. (Note -- part of this post is a repost of my article on Jewish Heritage Europe.)</span><br />
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<span style="color: black;">The
synagogue, on via delle Piazze, was severely damaged during World War II when it was torched
by local Fascists, and it stood derelict until it was completely rebuilt
in 1998 (the ark was transferred to Tel Aviv in 1956). The museum exhibition includes before and after photos.</span><br />
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The exhibit includes items from the Jewish
community’s extensive collection of Judaica objects from past centuries
to the present. Among them are a very rare Mameluk parochet from Egypt
dating back to the 15th or 16th century.<br />
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There is also an 18th century Megillah of Esther, a 16th century
Torah scroll, exceptional silver torah ornaments, and several ketubot. A backlit photographic reproduction of the Ark occupies the space where the Ark once stood — the ark now being in Tel Aviv.<br />
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Two
films are included in the exhibition. One is a general introduction to
the history of the community. The other — projected on the walls of the
sanctuary where the exhibit is located — tells the story of Padova Jews
through the life stories of several prominent members of the community
over the past five centuries or so, portrayed by actors. I was somewhat dismayed that this film does not include reference to any women in Padova Jewish history....perhaps there were no famous women, but it was the women who kept the community alive, and I believe that their role must also be highlighted, even if it simply means through exhibits dealing with food and marriage customs.....<br />
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Other sites I visited included the 16th century <a href="http://www.synagogues360.org/synagogues.php?ident=italy_006" target="_blank">Italian rite synagogue</a>,
which is still used by the small local Jewish
community, and the Jewish cemetery on via Wiel — dating from the 16th
century and the oldest of the five Jewish cemeteries in the city. (You can download an article about these cemeteries <a href="https://www.academia.edu/5544518/Renaissance_in_the_Graveyard" target="_blank"><b>HERE</b></a>.)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="The ornate wooden Bimah in the Padova synagogue. Photo © Ruth Ellen Gruber" class="size-full wp-image-12122" src="http://www.jewish-heritage-europe.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Padova-wm6.jpg" height="366" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="550" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bimah in the Italian rite synagogue. Photo © Ruth Ellen Gruber</td></tr>
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The sanctuary of the Italian synagogue is a small, rather long and
narrow space, with an elaborately carved Ark and a delicate wooden Bimah
positioned to face each other from the middle of the long sides of the
room. The Bimah is believed to have been carved from the wood of a
single tree that fell in the botanical gardens.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Ark in the Italian rite synagogue in Padova. Photo © Ruth Ellen Gruber" class="size-full wp-image-12123" src="http://www.jewish-heritage-europe.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Padova-syn2.jpg" height="500" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="333" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ark in the Italian rite synagogue in Padova. Photo © Ruth Ellen Gruber</td></tr>
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The Jewish cemetery behind a high brick wall in via Wiel, in central
Padova near the Old Town and of ghetto, has been restored and is
beautifully maintained by the Jewish community. Opened in 1529, with
more than 90 16th century tombs, it is the oldest surviving Jewish
cemetery in Padova and one of five Jewish cemeteries that remain in the
city. (Fragments from two 15th century gravestones from a cemetery
destroyed in 1509 are displayed in the city museum).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Jewish cemetery on via Wiel, Padova, founded in 1529" class="size-full wp-image-12131" src="http://www.jewish-heritage-europe.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Padova-wm11.jpg" height="333" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="500" /></td></tr>
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Jewish cemetery on via Wiel, Padova, founded in 1529</div>
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The most famous people buried there are Me’ir Katzenellenbogen, or
Maharam, a renowned Ashkenazic rabbi who died in 1565, and his son,
Samuel Judah, who succeeded him and died in 1597.<br />
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Mainly because of them, Padova is believed to be the only place in
Italy where devout followers make pilgrimages to the tombs of their
masters. Indeed, Jewish community leaders say that these pilgrims often
do not contact the Jewish community to obtain the key to the cemetery,
but climb over the wall to pray, leave kvittlach (written messages) and
light candles.<br />
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Katzenellenbogen gravestones are (rather charmingly) marked by the crest of a crouching Cat (“Katze” in German).<br />
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Another noted personality interred here is <span data-reactid=".3w.1:4:1:$comment594998583936937_594999500603512:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".3w.1:4:1:$comment594998583936937_594999500603512:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody _1n4g" data-reactid=".3w.1:4:1:$comment594998583936937_594999500603512:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".3w.1:4:1:$comment594998583936937_594999500603512:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.0"><span data-reactid=".3w.1:4:1:$comment594998583936937_594999500603512:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.0.$end:0:$text0:0">Anselmo
Del Banco (Asher Levi Meshullam) who died in 1532. A powerful banker
(owner of several loan-banks in the Venice area), he was the head of the
Jewish community in Venice and represented the community when in 1516
the authorities decreed that Jews there must live in a ghetto.</span></span></span></span></span> His gravestone is notable for its fine and unusual carving.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Gravestone of Anselmo Del Banco (Asher Meshullam) d. 1532" class="size-full wp-image-12136" src="http://www.jewish-heritage-europe.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Padova-wm15.jpg" height="333" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="500" /></td></tr>
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Gravestone of Anselmo Del Banco (Asher Meshullam) d. 1532</div>
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Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5655049990370776608.post-65178493887259804562015-07-17T23:50:00.000+02:002015-07-17T23:50:01.450+02:00July Jewish Heritage Europe Newsletter is out!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In a 16th century Jewish cemetery in Padova, a carved cat adorned the gravestone of a member of the noted Katzenellenbogen rabbinical family.</td></tr>
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The July edition of the Jewish Heritage Europe monthly Newsletter is out — <a href="http://us6.campaign-archive1.com/?u=e8df7ee0a87dd66b8c7776c6a&id=7a1d81486f&e=053fe35371" target="_blank"><strong>read it by clicking here</strong></a>.<br />
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News, information, images and updates from around the continent, with a particular emphasis this month on Italy.<br />
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Subscribe on the <strong><a href="http://www.jewish-heritage-europe.eu/" target="_blank">JHE Home Page</a></strong> — where you can also sign up for the daily Jewish Heritage Europe Newsfeed and follow JHE on Facebook and Twitter.<br />
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<br />Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5655049990370776608.post-84946745973950474082015-05-08T17:07:00.001+02:002015-05-08T17:07:49.543+02:00I consider Dark Tourism, in a comparative persective<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf178Q_RMM7SvHv0TP8WH_ZKxDaSkbSw1Q37u4c2Z8WAn_jHIkHLq6jrjXRaJGqxC3E-NSkcXk-p_qSGib11EMpcE8llUf6EFiQgzIzOvBdgaAOaIrm71fNI3e1AFKbf09BQsvBfruNSE/s1600/BooneHall-sm1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf178Q_RMM7SvHv0TP8WH_ZKxDaSkbSw1Q37u4c2Z8WAn_jHIkHLq6jrjXRaJGqxC3E-NSkcXk-p_qSGib11EMpcE8llUf6EFiQgzIzOvBdgaAOaIrm71fNI3e1AFKbf09BQsvBfruNSE/s320/BooneHall-sm1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tourists visit slave cabins at Boone Hall plantation, near Charleston</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf4Ymwq8k2q5kbCJPIvm6z3F6b-GBd4wGmvGWdgUeEDLG_b50SueRbNo6mj1-wLumFhj4eixj8_B62sS0a9GxPzsIe8VkzArjefBHjIpxuOFlBx6vEWPiobxdcPOAaqWxm_d11AkZeWP4/s1600/Auschwitz+Jul+13-wm1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf4Ymwq8k2q5kbCJPIvm6z3F6b-GBd4wGmvGWdgUeEDLG_b50SueRbNo6mj1-wLumFhj4eixj8_B62sS0a9GxPzsIe8VkzArjefBHjIpxuOFlBx6vEWPiobxdcPOAaqWxm_d11AkZeWP4/s320/Auschwitz+Jul+13-wm1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Visitors walk past barracks at Auschwitz, which house exhibits</td></tr>
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By Ruth Ellen Gruber<br />
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I've been in Charleston, SC, for the past four months, teaching this semester as the Distinguished Visiting Chair in Jewish Studies at the College of Charleston.<br />
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During my stay, I've begun to consider parallels -- and dissonances -- between the way Jewish heritage and history, including the Holocaust, are presented in Eastern Europe and the way African American (including slave) history and heritage are presented in the Charleston area.<br />
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Here's a brief essay I wrote, for <a href="https://draytonhall.wordpress.com/2015/04/28/dark-tourism-a-comparative-perspective/" target="_blank">the web site of the Drayton Hall plantation</a>, exploring some of the issues.<br />
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<span style="color: #990000;">- - - - <br /></span><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #990000;">More than 20 years ago I wrote a book called Upon the Doorposts of Thy House: Jewish Life in East-Central Europe, Yesterday and Today. The title referred to the mezuzah—the encased prayer scroll Jews place on their doorposts, indicating a house as the home of a Jew. </span><br /><span style="color: #990000;"></span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">In post-Holocaust Europe you could often find the grooves or scars where mezuzahs had been removed or painted over during or after the Shoah—thus forming symbolic mezuzahs that indicated a house where Jews once lived. In my book, I extrapolated further, suggesting that the surviving physical relics of pre-war Jewish life—synagogue buildings, Jewish cemeteries, even if abandoned, in ruined condition or transformed for other use, also served as symbolic mezuzahs to mark towns, villages, cities, and even countries where Jews once lived and do not live now. </span><br /><span style="color: #990000;"></span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">My intent was to show how buildings and other physical sites can be talismans and touchstones, opening the way into memory and history. </span><br /><span style="color: #990000;"></span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">George McDaniel made this same idea explicit in his introduction to the panel of Drayton Hall descendants. “History did not happen to someone, somewhere else, but to you,” he said. “You grow up a product of history. Preserving buildings means also preserving the story behind the buildings, making a connection with people. Why is a place important? How do you feel connected?” </span><br /><span style="color: #990000;"></span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">From the Jewish perspective, visiting Jewish historical sites in post-Holocaust, post-Communist Europe can be a very positive experience, emphasizing Jewish life, history and culture; but the experience also falls under what is now known as Dark Tourism—tourism to sites of what we can call “negative” history, “negative” experience: death, destruction, war. </span><br /><span style="color: #990000;"></span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">Sites of slavery also fall under Dark Tourism, though this aspect of a historic site (such as a plantation or genteel antebellum home) often becomes masked, elided, or simply footnoted in the presentation of beautiful buildings and gardens for tourist consumption. </span><br /><span style="color: #990000;"></span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">Much of this boils down to “who controls the narrative”—and to whom is the narrative directed: issues that we have been dealing with in the class I have been teaching, “Memory, Heritage, Renewal.” Although the main focus of our class is Jewish heritage and memory and their role and representation in Europe, we have been able to draw parallels with the way that African American heritage, history, and culture are presented here in Charleston and the Lowcountry. </span><br /><span style="color: #990000;"></span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">I was delighted that students from my class were in attendance at the panel presentation featuring the descendants of Drayton Hall, as the discussion clearly demonstrated the parallels we have been dealing with, touching on issues such as the point of view of interpretation and interpreters; messages and signage; how the same place can have different symbolic meanings and generate different memories for different people. </span><br /><span style="color: #990000;"></span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">I found particularly compelling a part of the film about Drayton Hall’s African American descendants that parallels the post-Holocaust Jewish experience in Europe. People were filmed sitting in the African American cemetery at Drayton Hall, speaking about how many of the deceased buried there had no markers for their graves, no one to talk about their history. In Eastern Europe, when I visit an abandoned Jewish cemetery, I often ponder the fact that most of the thousands and thousands of people buried in these places are also forgotten, with no descendants to tend their graves or even remember who they were. </span><br /><span style="color: #990000;"></span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">Drayton is not alone in trying to present a more inclusive past in the plantation context. Boone Hall has installed an extensive presentation on slavery and African American history centered on the nine preserved slave cabins there. Magnolia Gardens features special programs to bring to life its recently renovated row of cabins. And Middleton Place, which I have not yet visited, presents a permanent exhibit titled “Beyond the Fields” in a two-family tenant residence called Eliza’s House, in memory of Eliza Leach, a South Carolina African American born in 1891, and the last person to live in the building. The much less elaborate Hampton Plantation also incorporates the site’s slave history in well researched text panels, both in the Big House and along the path leading to it. </span><br /><span style="color: #990000;"></span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">After the Drayton Hall panel, I was excited to visit McLeod Plantation with Mary Battle, public historian at the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture, and her class. McLeod, which served as local headquarters of the Freedman’s Bureau following the Civil War, has the potential to interpret not only slave life but the postwar experience of the newly freed men and women. McLeod’s signage uses a phrase that could be the site’s “slogan”—describing it as a place of both “tragedy and transcendence.” I found it interesting that this formulation echoes what we sometimes call sites of Jewish heritage in Europe—“sites of tragedy and sites of triumph.”</span></blockquote>
<a href="https://draytonhall.wordpress.com/2015/04/28/dark-tourism-a-comparative-perspective/" target="_blank"><b>Read article on the web site </b></a>Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5655049990370776608.post-51001265533699570072015-03-18T21:36:00.002+01:002015-03-18T21:36:24.459+01:00March 2015 Jewish Heritage Europe Newsletter is out!<br />
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The new Jewish Heritage Europe Newsletter is out!<br />
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News & info from Poland, Italy, Latvia, Croatia, Portugal and the UK and more... with a focus on synagogue history, architecture & preservation.<br />
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<br /> There also are calls for fellowship applications, papers, workshops and conferences as well a links to a photo gallery of the symbolic decorative image of the hands raised in priestly blessing.<br />
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Check it out -- and subscribe to both the monthly newsletter and the regular item-by-item news feed!<br />
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Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5655049990370776608.post-21517022119866267952015-02-22T16:03:00.001+01:002015-02-22T16:03:33.135+01:00Check out the February Jewish Heritage Europe Newsletter!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE6F6dCfrzW9C-CLyGPNpRVBVcNY2EX2tU6QW9056712Fa6hvInrtRm8v-B0UrCNG3E64n63dIQkH2qSHGSp698wLsuk8tru81uConOevBZ538kjV_shciu7v805o-XiLCY2cpMRlPQcg/s1600/NLI+scroll-wm1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE6F6dCfrzW9C-CLyGPNpRVBVcNY2EX2tU6QW9056712Fa6hvInrtRm8v-B0UrCNG3E64n63dIQkH2qSHGSp698wLsuk8tru81uConOevBZ538kjV_shciu7v805o-XiLCY2cpMRlPQcg/s1600/NLI+scroll-wm1.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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The <a href="http://us6.campaign-archive1.com/?u=e8df7ee0a87dd66b8c7776c6a&id=27523463e7" target="_blank">Jewish Heritage Europe Newsletter for February</a> shares calls for fellowship applications, papers, workshops and conferences -- including a training session at the National Library of Israel.<br /><br />We also highlight new books on Jewish heritage in Ukraine, Slovenia, and Poland, as well as preservation initiatives and issues in Poland, Lithuania, England, Italy, Croatia, Spain, and Romania. For a change of pace, we even posted about an 18th century Jewish cemetery in the United States.<br /><br /><i><b>Please keep me informed about your own Jewish heritage projects, concerns and ideas so that I can share information with our expanding readership. Thanks!</b></i><br />
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<br />Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5655049990370776608.post-36227467400981604302014-12-17T16:24:00.003+01:002015-10-14T22:17:18.582+02:00Jewish Culture, etc, Festivals in Europe 2015<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh391q-hd_cDRyN8dP-t1r08rqOqdgIXvzFSZojXK84xJ1AEp0pz62ZZI_PLMWgsqXShGT9F-a019dk_63ddjqn9jsJZXQ-o654S8L6AzxP2uGJVXmjF-3QZQuUuDGcov3Bg_9yupymah0/s1600/IMG_0855.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh391q-hd_cDRyN8dP-t1r08rqOqdgIXvzFSZojXK84xJ1AEp0pz62ZZI_PLMWgsqXShGT9F-a019dk_63ddjqn9jsJZXQ-o654S8L6AzxP2uGJVXmjF-3QZQuUuDGcov3Bg_9yupymah0/s1600/IMG_0855.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dancing at the Yiddish Summer Weimar</td></tr>
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As usual, I am trying to put together a list of as many as possible of
the numerous Jewish festivals -- culture, film, dance, etc -- that take
place each year around Europe. <i><span style="color: red;">Please help me by sending me information!</span></i><br />
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The big culture festivals and other smaller events make good
destinations around which to center a trip. Some, like the annual
Festival of Jewish Culture in Krakow, are huge events lasting a week or
more, which draw thousands of people and offer scores or sometimes
hundreds of performances, lectures, concerts, exhibits and the like.
Other festivals are much less ambitious. Some are primarily workshops
but also feature concerts. Many of the same artists perform at more than
one festival. <br />
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The list will be growing and growing -- and again, <i><span style="color: red;">I ask my readers to please send me information and links to upcoming events. Thanks!</span></i><br />
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<b>CZECH REPUBLIC</b><br />
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July 27- August 1 -- <b>Trebic</b> -- <a href="http://www.samajim.cz/" target="_blank">Samajim Festival</a><br />
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October 7-14 -- <b>Olomouc</b> -- <a href="http://www.olmuart.cz/dzko/" target="_blank">Jewish Culture Days</a><br />
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<b>FRANCE </b><br />
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June 7-23 -- <b>Paris</b> -- <a href="http://www.festivaldesculturesjuives.org/" target="_blank">Festival of Jewish Cultures</a><br />
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August 2-6 -- <b>Carpentras</b> -- <a href="http://www.festival-musiques-juives-carpentras.com/" target="_blank">Festival of Jewish Music</a><br />
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<b>GERMANY</b><br />
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February 19-22 -- <b>Fürth</b> -- <a href="https://juedischefilmtage.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Jewish Film Days</a><br />
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February 22 - March 22<b> -- Various </b>-- <a href="http://www.juedische-kulturtage-rheinland.de/" target="_blank">Rheinland Jewish Culture Days</a><br />
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March 6-8 -- <b>Fürth</b> -- <a href="http://www.klezmer-festival.de/" target="_blank">Klezmer Festival Intermezzo</a><br />
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<b>GREAT BRITAIN</b><br />
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August 18-21 -- <b>London</b> -- <a href="http://www.jmi.org.uk/event/klezfest2015/" target="_blank">Klezfest</a><br />
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<b>ITALY</b><br />
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April 19-30 -- Rome -- <a href="http://www.italiaebraica.it/italiaebraica/component/jevents/icalrepeat.detail/2015/04/19/2283/56%7C55%7C57%7C60%7C64/sefarad-a-roma-dal-19-al-30-aprile-mostra-cultura-e-cucina.html" target="_blank">Sefarad in Roma: festival of culture and cuisine</a><br />
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<b>POLAND</b><br />
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March 17-20 -- <b>Szczeczin</b> -- <b> </b><a href="http://szczecin.gazeta.pl/szczecin/1,137466,17576461,Dni_Kultury_Zydowskiej__Adlojada_o_prawie_i_kulturze.html" target="_blank">Days of Jewish Culture</a><br />
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April 18-27 -- <b>Warsaw</b> -- <a href="http://nowamuzykazydowska.pl/" target="_blank">Festival of New Jewish Music </a><br />
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May 5-10 -- <b>Warsaw</b> -- <a href="http://www.jewishmotifs.org.pl/index.php?s=en" target="_blank">Jewish Motifs Film Festival</a><br />
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June 11-14 -- <b>Tarnow</b> -- <a href="http://www.avotaynuonline.com/2015/05/remembrance-days-tarnow-poland/" target="_blank">Galicianer Shtetl days</a> <br />
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June 17-20 -- <b>Oswiecim</b> -- <a href="http://lifefestival.pl/" target="_blank">Oswiecim Life Festival </a><br />
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<b>SLOVAKIA</b><br />
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June 24-27 -- Kosice -- <a href="http://mazaltov.sk/kategoria/program-2015/" target="_blank">Mazel Tov festival</a><br />
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<b>SPAIN</b><br />
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Feb. 28-March 1 -- <b>Besalu</b> -- <a href="http://www.besalu.cat/promocio-destacada/besalu-ciutat-jueva-28-de-febrer-i-1-de-marc-2015/" target="_blank">Besalu Jewish City</a><br />
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<b>UKRAINE</b><br />
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August 22-30 -- <b>L'viv</b> -- <a href="http://www.klezfest.lviv.ua/en/" target="_blank">L'viv Klez Fest</a><br />
<br />Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5655049990370776608.post-40203991928787429322014-11-26T11:30:00.001+01:002014-11-26T11:30:42.272+01:00Check out the latest Jewish Heritage Europe Newsletter<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9ueVpTV5ezsVBfA2Vtxli5F_j6qLiN_VoBsCkc92doOCA3zt0cHOoMndELo5s1qG5eWbji-jjXGs4lkIi6DikT5smFSWo3oI1yZH0OUKCYDCwypFiRVBmhB2HSIp-QYbRRnDwnB0nJNI/s1600/ceiling1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9ueVpTV5ezsVBfA2Vtxli5F_j6qLiN_VoBsCkc92doOCA3zt0cHOoMndELo5s1qG5eWbji-jjXGs4lkIi6DikT5smFSWo3oI1yZH0OUKCYDCwypFiRVBmhB2HSIp-QYbRRnDwnB0nJNI/s1600/ceiling1.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Painted ceiling, replica of Gwozdziec wooden synagogue, in the POLIN museum.</td></tr>
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The <a href="http://us6.campaign-archive2.com/?u=e8df7ee0a87dd66b8c7776c6a&id=8626fc328d&e=3942ff0512" target="_blank">Jewish Heritage Europe newsletter this month</a> has links to posts and pictures from Poland, Italy, Germany, Romania, Serbia -- and more!<br />
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This month's theme is "Dedication! Celebration!"<br />
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Links include links to photo galleries on the new POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw and the Old and New Jewish cemeteries in Venice, Italy.<br />
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<b><a href="http://us6.campaign-archive2.com/?u=e8df7ee0a87dd66b8c7776c6a&id=8626fc328d&e=3942ff0512" target="_blank">Click here to access the Newsletter online</a></b><br />
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<br />Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5655049990370776608.post-40493034833984616102014-10-21T18:55:00.002+02:002014-10-21T18:57:17.643+02:00Photo gallery: Beautiful but Desolate Kerepesi Jewish cemetery in Budapest<div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="" src="http://www.jewishjournal.com/images/bloggers/Kerepesi-wm16.jpg" style="height: 360px; width: 480px;" /></div>
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By Ruth Ellen Gruber<br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: xx-small;"><i>(This post also appears on my <a href="http://www.jewishjournal.com/enroute/item/photo_gallery_beautiful_but_desolate_kerepesi_jewish_cemetery_budapest" target="_blank">En Route blog</a> for the LA Jewish Journal)</i></span><br />
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In Budapest earlier this month, I visited the Jewish cemetery on
Salgotarjan street, which was founded in 1874 and is the oldest Jewish
cemetery in the Pest side of Budapest.<br />
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It is actually the Jewish section
of the city’s Kerepesi monumental cemetery, where national heroes are
buried — and is the final resting place of many wealthy and influential
Hungarian Jews of the time. Massive family tombs of Jewish noble
families and industrialists line the perimeter; but there are also the
graves of ordinary people. There is also a section where Holocaust
victims are buried.<br />
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I had not been there in years -- despite some efforts at clean-up some
time back, the cemetery is more densely overgrown than ever and
tragically neglected, and I was glad that a friend came with me, as I do
not like wandering around there by myself. There used to be a lot of
stories of homeless people camping down there, or others coming in to
rob the graves. Once I was startled to flush out a pheasant. There is
decent security now, though, and a responsible young caretaker (who tied
up his dogs when we arrived).<br />
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Still, many of the huge tombs of families who once wielded social,
political and financial power are literally crumbling; collapsing and
being swallowed by vines and other vegetation. Some of them have been
broken open: you can even see the coffins in the crypts.<br />
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Quite a few of the tombs are the work of leading architects of the day —
such as Ignác Alpár, Sándor Fellner, Albert Körössy, Emil Vidor and
Béla Lajta. Lajta, whose work prefigured art deco, also designed the
entry way from the street and the massive Ceremonial Hall (now
roofless), built around 1908.<br />
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I posted a gallery of photos on www.jewish-heritage-europe.eu, the web
site that I coordinate for the Rothschild Foundation Europe.<br />
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Here are just a few of them (all photos © Ruth Ellen Gruber) -- <a href="http://www.jewish-heritage-europe.eu/galleries/hungary-photo-galleries/kerepesisalgotarjani-utca-cemetery-budapest"><b>click here over to Jewish Heritage Europe to see the full selection</b></a>.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.jewish-heritage-europe.eu/galleries/hungary-photo-galleries/kerepesisalgotarjani-utca-cemetery-budapest" target="_blank">Click to see more pictures </a></b> </div>
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Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5655049990370776608.post-22198253676181055062014-10-20T22:38:00.001+02:002014-10-20T22:38:57.234+02:00Jewish Heritage Europe October newsletter is online<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-DC6D_26dI7rDVQMlPuDD_fjBifHmkMneILkP4wJRaOzyZPlEKBkUU75ONsdOULkSxzmcBprLP7z1tCBhfiHadWy2HzgtiTHQ-UudneRw5oqB7e1lNgwXpy9eeFszimSwGEd_JguGwhk/s1600/Kozma-wm2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-DC6D_26dI7rDVQMlPuDD_fjBifHmkMneILkP4wJRaOzyZPlEKBkUU75ONsdOULkSxzmcBprLP7z1tCBhfiHadWy2HzgtiTHQ-UudneRw5oqB7e1lNgwXpy9eeFszimSwGEd_JguGwhk/s1600/Kozma-wm2.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In a grand family tomb in the vast Kozma utca Jewish cemetery in Budapest</td></tr>
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The<a href="http://us6.campaign-archive2.com/?u=e8df7ee0a87dd66b8c7776c6a&id=3d53a0f084"> Jewish Heritage Europe Newsletter for October</a> went out last week….<br />
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This issue focuses on important completed synagogue restoration
projects in several countries -- Spain, Czech Republic, Slovakia,
Hungary, and Lithuania -- plus other news highlights from around the
continent that have been featured in recent weeks on <a href="http://www.jewish-heritage-europe.eu/">Jewish Heritage Europe</a>, the web site that I coordinate as a project of the Rothschild Foundation Europe.<br />
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There is also a link to the <a href="http://www.jewish-heritage-europe.eu/galleries">JHE Photo Galleries</a>,
a growing collection of galleries where many new images have been
posted...Take a look -- one of the new galleries celebrates Simchat
Torah with a series of <a href="http://www.jewish-heritage-europe.eu/galleries/images-of-the-ark-aron-ha-kodesh">images of decorated Arks</a> from synagogues around Europe.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Ark, Roman, Romania" height="400" src="http://www.jewishjournal.com/images/bloggers/Roman-ark-wm1.jpg" style="height: 400px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; width: 300px;" width="300" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ark in synagogue in Roman, Romania</td></tr>
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You may submit your own photos to add to the galleries.<br />
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<a href="http://us6.campaign-archive2.com/?u=e8df7ee0a87dd66b8c7776c6a&id=3d53a0f084">Click here to see the Newsletter in your browser</a>
-- better still, sign up for automatic monthly delivery that will link
you to a fascinating selection of updates and images from all around
Europe.<br />
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There's a lot going on -- synagogue restorations, clean-ups of Jewish
cemeteries, exhibition openings, guided tours, Jewish culture festivals
-- and more.<br />
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You can also receive more frequent news by subscribing to the almost-daily newsfeed (blog) using the box on the the <a href="http://www.jewish-heritage-europe.eu/">JHE home page</a>.<br />
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Thanks!<br />
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<br />Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5655049990370776608.post-53751417476534059762014-09-28T22:19:00.002+02:002014-09-29T10:32:23.932+02:00Nearly 25 years later, revisiting the old question : Should old synagogues in Eastern Europe be restored?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxJYl9hZd5VYCn8OoJYxs2NXHHXtSlMSm8cLrv-Jfco8rqfsofkPOrXGoggYUKx6xAns0-uNwqmuHVn7mmdLjXOrzCKnD9sTLpxMd9_3AT1Z3YZJ_UWJvfFRIH8PF-ux-Lxi0-8xu6kTQ/s1600/Rumbach-2011-ext1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxJYl9hZd5VYCn8OoJYxs2NXHHXtSlMSm8cLrv-Jfco8rqfsofkPOrXGoggYUKx6xAns0-uNwqmuHVn7mmdLjXOrzCKnD9sTLpxMd9_3AT1Z3YZJ_UWJvfFRIH8PF-ux-Lxi0-8xu6kTQ/s1600/Rumbach-2011-ext1.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Exterior Rumbach st. synagogue, Budapest, December 2011. Photo © Ruth Ellen Gruber</td></tr>
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I'm crossposting this item that I put up today on <a href="http://www.jewish-heritage-europe.eu/2014/09/28/posing-the-question-in-1990-should-old-synagogues-in-eastern-europe-be-saved/%E2%80%9D" target="_blank">Jewish Heritage Europe</a>, the web site that I coordinate as a project of the Rothschild Foundation Europe. It looks back over the past quarter century of Jewish heritage preservation and priorities -- showing that despite progress that has been made and mind-sets that have changed, much still resonates:<br />
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Writing in September's Moment Magazine, Phyllis Myers posed the old question: <a href="http://www.momentmag.com/old-synagogues-eastern-europe-worth-saving/">should old synagogues in eastern Europe be saved</a>?<br />
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Her answer — and mine — is, of course, a resounding YES.<br />
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It is important to remember, however, as Myers points out, that this answer was not self-evident — or even all that widely held — when she, and others involved in the field, first posed the question a quarter of a century ago, after the fall of the Iron Curtain.<br />
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Myers first did so in a long article, also in Moment, published in 1990, called <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2YTniFpmANhYm5rY2JwRWk5QjQ/edit?usp=sharing">“The Old Shuls of Eastern Europe: Are They Worth Saving?”</a><br />
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It’s worth reading again today to get a sense of the situation on the ground — and in people’s mind-sets — back then, just as the movement to document and restore Jewish built heritage in eastern and central Europe was getting under way. In a sense, her article represented a sort of blueprint for what could — and should — be the preservation priorities for the coming generation.<br />
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<span style="color: #cc0000;">As more restoration takes place, the need for integrity and creativity in communicating the many dimensions of the Jewish experience will grow. The answer is not just a series of plaques on the buildings. Or more exhibit cases of Jewish ceremonial objects. Or lists of famous Jews. We must strive to evoke a unique encounter between visitor and place. We need to remember that as time passes a n d travel increases, visitors will want to know more about how Jews lived as well as how Jews died. </span></blockquote>
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A quarter of a century later, the essence of what she wrote still holds true. The priorities she outlined are still priorities that should be addressed, and — despite the many successes and great strides accomplished — her message and the concepts she framed still have a powerful resonance. Indeed, one of the synagogues whose deteriorated condition she specifically mentioned in 1990 – the Rumbach st. synagogue in Budapest — still languishes in a sorry state despite sporadic efforts to restore it.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoQlqVY63cWq56NCggxlJ6hmslDUROuQLwdAaTSPl0D8B_159nMcxTuILFBBue5mMjrlxf08-Ej3OkdzFXQa_3HWyC4ERcN9TH6Z6M9GdFKA0oLZXN-uVdFb8NtqXpTrEOskuNrXnPEj0/s1600/Rumbach-20121.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoQlqVY63cWq56NCggxlJ6hmslDUROuQLwdAaTSPl0D8B_159nMcxTuILFBBue5mMjrlxf08-Ej3OkdzFXQa_3HWyC4ERcN9TH6Z6M9GdFKA0oLZXN-uVdFb8NtqXpTrEOskuNrXnPEj0/s1600/Rumbach-20121.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Interior of Rumbach st. synagogue, 2011</td></tr>
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“We preserve—buildings and places, the simple and the awesome—for many reasons,” Myers wrote in 1990.<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #990000;">We preserve to remember. For decades, Jewish preservation in Eastern Europe has focused primarily on places of death. Chasidim have tended cemeteries, especially the graves of Tzadikim (charismatic leaders), while other Jews have ensured that death camps remain as witnesses to a story that could otherwise become myth.<br />But preservation means Jewish life as well as death. When we walk in the footsteps of our forebears, contemplate their lives, stand in the places where they lived—and were betrayed—powerful linkages occur between their lives and ours.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #990000;">We preserve to learn. American architectural historian Carole Herselle Krinsky writes, “Synagogues…reveal especially clearly the connections between architecture and society.” Clues to self-perceptions of Jews over the centuries, the evolution of faith and culture and relations with Gentile neighbors abound in the shapes, materials, designs and settings of synagogues. Did a community choose Gothic or Moorish ar chitecture, site its synagogue on the street or set it back off a courtyard, retain a separate entrance for women or build a gallery in the main hall? Did it raise a dome high or low in the community’s skyline, place the bimah (pulpit) in the center of the main hall or on the east wall? Did it hire a Jewish, Gentile or Viennese architect? Why did poor Jewish artists in old Poland decorate their synagogue walls with colorful, representational frescoes and pious prayers?</span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #990000;"> <br />We preserve to provide settings for dialogue. It is true that in many places in Eastern Europe few, if any, Jews are left, and to talk about understanding, much less recon ciliation, would be glib. Yet a dialogue that goes beyond the “chamber of horrors” of the Shoah is clearly underway, fostered in special ways by sites embedded with memories. [...]</span></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #990000;">We preserve to transcend. On Simchat Torah, 1989, Cracow’s revered Remuh Synagogue, rebuilt but used continuously since the mid-1550s, reverberated as 40 Israeli teenagers took over the service from a forlorn group of elderly survivors and vibrantly danced and sang “Am Yisrael Chat”—the people of Israel live. The benefactor who paid for the Szeged synagogue’s restoration put it this way: “I just want to know that the synagogue I remember from my childhood is still there.” [...]</span></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #990000;">We preserve to fulfill our commit ment to life. For preservation to play this role—or any successful role—in Eastern Europe, sites need to be accessible, marked and interpreted in compelling ways. [...]</span></blockquote>
<span style="color: #990000;"><br /> </span><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2YTniFpmANhYm5rY2JwRWk5QjQ/edit?usp=sharing"><span style="color: #0b5394;">Click here to read Myers’s 1990 Moment article </span></a><br />
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<br />Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5655049990370776608.post-65065006283430270242014-08-29T16:41:00.003+02:002014-08-29T16:41:48.430+02:00More than 40 Jewish Culture, etc, festivals each year in Poland!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Singer's Warsaw Festival, 2011</td></tr>
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By Ruth Ellen Gruber<br />
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Readers of this blog know that each year since 2009 I have tried to put together<a href="http://jewish-heritage-travel.blogspot.it/2014/03/jewish-culture-etc-festivals-2014.html" target="_blank"> a list of Jewish culture, music, film -- etc -- festivals</a> that take place around Europe.<br />
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This year (so far) the list includes 40 or so, in more than a dozen countries.<br />
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My list is far from totally comprehensive -- I know I miss quite a few events. But I believe it is still probably the most complete list of such festivals Europe-wide.<br />
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Still, my list's incomplete-ness is borne out by a list of Jewish culture and other festivals in Poland, researched and complied by Agnieszka Gis, a young volunteer at the Krakow Jewish Community Center who this summer is working as an intern at the Taube Foundation in San Francisco.<br />
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Agnieszka's list includes <a href="http://www.jewish-heritage-europe.eu/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/JewishFestivalsPoland.pdf" target="_blank">more than 40 festivals, of all sorts</a>. That's 40 Jewish culture, film, music and other such festivals in Poland alone -- a country whose Jewish community today numbers probably some 15,000 or so!<br />
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There are big festivals, such as the Jewish Culture Festival in Krakow and the Singer's Warsaw festival in Warsaw. But many are in small towns and even far-flung villages. Most are organized by non-Jews and directed at a non-Jewish audience, perfect examples of what I have I described as the "virtually Jewish" phenomenon.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.jewish-heritage-europe.eu/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/JewishFestivalsPoland.pdf" target="_blank">Click here to see Agnieszka's list in PDF form (you will have to enlarge it to read)</a></b><br />
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<br />Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5655049990370776608.post-66447231625971987282014-08-19T15:17:00.001+02:002014-08-19T15:17:33.173+02:00The August Jewish Heritage Europe Newsletter is Out!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggw-CuMagyCOcD_nA3S-2TMeDYbGGGJ1h1l2NxFCqRiYoA5E51EG6YlY6DNritV0Uq8QsqeFVMfJkYuSA480xAeqU9Zvznj0jp7_qqeHvIXCixhmxkukJUtRp6OIk8w20-EE1PqQW3pOY/s1600/Orla-Wejman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggw-CuMagyCOcD_nA3S-2TMeDYbGGGJ1h1l2NxFCqRiYoA5E51EG6YlY6DNritV0Uq8QsqeFVMfJkYuSA480xAeqU9Zvznj0jp7_qqeHvIXCixhmxkukJUtRp6OIk8w20-EE1PqQW3pOY/s1600/Orla-Wejman.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Synagogue in Orla, Poland. Photo: W. Wejman/Shtetl Routes</td></tr>
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The latest edition -- August -- of the <a href="http://us6.campaign-archive2.com/?u=e8df7ee0a87dd66b8c7776c6a&id=5bc787f9d2" target="_blank">Jewish Heritage Europe monthly Newsletter </a>is out, and up online.<br />
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It features a selection of items that were posted on <a href="http://www.jewish-heritage-europe.eu/news-items" target="_blank">JHE's regular Newsfeed</a> over the past month.<br />
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Top story is the series of "field notes" from the ambitious Shtetl Routes project, a Jewish heritage tourism project in Poland, Belarus and Ukraine that is under way with a more than $400,000 grant from the European Union.<br />
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Other stories range from the completed restoration of the synagogue in Tulcea, Romania to archaeology at Krakow's Old Synagogue.<br />
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Take a look!<br />
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It's <a href="http://us6.campaign-archive2.com/home/?u=e8df7ee0a87dd66b8c7776c6a&id=60fff76b28" target="_blank">easy to subscribe</a> -- you'll get the Newsletter automatically in your email inbox.<br />
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Also subscribe to the regular Newsfeed for more frequent updates about what's happening in the Jewish heritage world.<br />
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<br />Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.com0