My New Column

Here's a link to my first of a planned monthly "Rootless Cosmopolitan" column for JTA.

The Rabbi Dances

Rabbi Edgar Gluck dances in the Tempel Synagogue after the close of Shabbos during the Jewish Culture Festival in Krakow.

Wroclaw -- White Stork Synagogue

In Wroclaw, I visited the White Stork Synagogue. Renovations have been proceeding slowly.... but now the front facade as been restored, and the Aron ha Kodesh (ark) is also almost ready.

We attended a concert by the Norwegian Jewish singer Bente Kahan, who has settled in Wroclaw (thanks to her Polish husband) and in 2006 established a foundation to raise funds to restore the synagogue and also promote educational programs about Jewish heritage and culture and the Holocaust.

I spoke to Bente in her office, which is in the complex of buildings surrounding the synagogue, which also now houses the Lauder Jewish school, a hostel, a couple of cafes.

She told me that enough funding has been secured to enable the completion of the renovation of the synagogue by 2010. She's managed to do this by making her foundation a "neutral, non-profit organization" that, because of its neutrality, can navigate the sometimes treacherous waters between the municipality and the Jewish community.

Wroclaw en Route to Krakow

The Jewish Culture Festival in Krakow begins tonight...and I am heading there this afternoon from Wroclaw, where I took part in a fascinating conference on Modern Jewish Culture at Wroclaw University. Organized by the university's Jewish Studies Department and the Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, it grouped scholars from North America, Europe, Israel and Austria. Several speakers either quoted from or made mention of my book "Virtually Jewish" in their presentation, and it was gratifying and a little overwhelming to see what an impact the book seems to have had.

Coincidentally, or probably not coincidentally, an interview I conducted months ago with Wojtek and Malgosia Ornat, the Jewish tourism entrepreneurs in Krakow who run Klezmer Hois, ran today in the Forward. The Ornats also run the Austeria publishing house, which published "Letters from Europe (and Elsewhere)".

Synagogue in Jicin, CZ, Restored

Yet another synagogue in the Czech Republic has been restored and opened to the public. Jicin is northeast of Prague -- I saw the building was work was just beginning, in 2006.

Here's the report on the restoration from the International Survey of Jewish Monuments

Restoration of Baroque Synagogue in Jičín (Czech Republic) complete
by Samuel D. Gruber (ISJM)

Following nearly eight years (2001-2008) the restoration of the
magnificent Baroque synagogue in Jičín, North Bohemia (Czech Republic)
is complete. The Prague Jewish Community will officially open the
building to the public on Thursday, June 19, 2008. The restoration
project is part of a continuing effort by the Czech Jewish Community
to reclaim, protect and preserver its historic, cultural and artistic
heritage.

A Jewish settlement is known to have existed in Jičín in the second
half of the 14th century, but Jews were expelled from the town in
1542-45 and again in 1557-63. The now-restored synagogue was erected
in 1773, more than a century after Jews are known to have been
readmitted to the town. According to Dr. Arno Pařík of the Prague
Jewish Museum, "this is an exceptionally pure example of a small, late
Baroque synagogue." It is a rectangular building, approximately 12.5
meters long and 8.2 meters wide, with a fairly high saddle roof over a
barrel-vault, supported on traverse arches and 90 cm. thick walls.
The sanctuary is well-lit by three tall arched windows on the south
and north walls. Smaller windows are set in the west (façade) and east
walls, the latter dominated by the well-preserved masonry Ark, flanked
by twisted columns. The vivid wall paintings – mostly in reds and
blues – have been restored to their 1840 appearance. Photos of the
restored building will be posted soon at www.isjm.org
The building is now one of best preserved late Baroque synagogues
remaining in Central Europe.

The restoration of the synagogue was supervised by engineer Mojmír
Malý at Matana a.s., Administration of Buildings and Cemeteries.
Heritage supervision is provided by the Zecher Foundation for the
Preservation of Jewish Monuments through Dr. Arno Pařík, and the
National Heritage Institute – specialist department in Pardubice.
Financing has been provided by the Jewish Community of Prague, the
Czech Ministry of Culture, the District Authority of Hradec Králové,
and the Municipal Government of Jičín. Financial support for the
synagogue renovation has also been provided by the Jewish Heritage
Program and World Monuments Fund.

A Torah scroll from Jicin is now in the possession of Temple Shir
Tikva in Wayland, Massachusetts (USA).

For more on the history and architecture of the building see Arno
Pařík, "History and Renovation of Jičín Synagogue," Judaica Bohemiae
(40/2004), 104-122.

Synagogue in Straznice, CZ, Restored

I was delighted to learn that the wonderful synagogue in the small town of Straznice, in southeast Czech Republic (southern Moravia) near the border with Slovakia, has been restored and will now be used as a local museum and cultural venue.

The synagogue was reopened with a festive ceremony June 5. It had been undergoing restoration work in fits and starts for acout 15 years. The synagogue is a barnlike building whose facade was enhanced by a sun dial. It stands amid ample remnants of the former Jewish quarter, with several other former Jewish buildings in the network of little streets. In an unusual arrangement, the synagogue is surrounded on three sides by the Jewish cemetery -- it always reminds me of a village church surrounded by a churchyard.

According the a Czech news agency report, the restoration cost 10 million Czech crowns (approx 16 crowns to one U.S. dollar).

When I visited Straznice in 2006, the outer walls had already been restored. Straznice is the latest in a series of restorations of Czech synagogues to be completed in recent years. The Czech Jewish community has developed (and implements) a clear strategy of preservation, conservation and restoration of Jewish heritage sites -- and this in turn falls within a general Czech strategy for monuments preservation.

Pictures here show the synagogue and surroundings in 2006.

Part of Poznan Jewish Cemetery Rededicated

A part of the Jewish cemetery in Poznan has been rededicated. See the link

Jewish Cemetery in Slawatycze, Poland is Restored

Monika Krawczyk, the head of the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland, reports that the Jewish cemetery in the town of Slawatycze has been restored and will be rededicated at a ceremony May 19 that will be attended by descendants of Jews from the town now living in North America and Israel.

The project was joint-venture of the Slawatycze Landsmanschaft from the USA and Canada, the Warsaw Jewish Community and the Foundation. Work was carried out under the supervision of the Rabbinic Commission.

Slawatycze is a tow located on the eastern border of Poland. Jews settled there in the 17th century. In 1921 the town's population was 1864 persons - among them 902 Jews. In 1939 a group of Jewish activists were shot and killed by the Germans, then buried in the cemetery in a mass grave. The remaining Slawatycze Jews were transferred to a ghetto
in Miedzyrzecz in May 1942, and from there to Treblinka. Very few survived.

For 60 years after the end of the war, the cemetery was neglected and became almost invisible among the surrounding local fields and medows.

Monika reports that:

"In 2004 the initiative to restore and commemorate the cemetery was brought to the attention of the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland by Alan Metnik and Henry Gittleman who contacted other descendants of Jews and started the fundraising for the project. The Foundation was responsible for all logistics, construction and legal issues. In 2007 restoration was completed, the cemetery is now fenced, with memorial gate and plaque, grass is cut and looks presentable - although we are very sad for the tragedy of the Holocaust we are proud for the fact that the memory is preserved. At a rededication ceremony on 19th May 2008 we will proclaim the triumph of unbroken Jewish spirit among 50 landsmen coming from Canada, USA and Israel."

POLIN Portal to Jewish Heritage in Poland

The POLIN web portal to Jewish Heritage in Poland is growing by leaps and bounds. There are dozens of new photographs and video clips of Jewish heritage sites around Poland -- to date, about 270 sites are shown; the aim is to present online documentation of 1,200 places.

POLIN is a project of the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland.

Prince Charles and My New Book

Prince Charles of England was in Krakow at the end of April to open a new Jewish Community Center.... at the ceremony, he was presented a copy of my new book, Letters from Europe (and Elsewhere), by Malgosia Ornat, who, with her husband Wojtek, runs Austeria press, which published the book earlier this year.