Italy -- Pesaro Jewish heritage route is on again this summer

Pesaro synagogue. From www.pesarocultura.it

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

Once again, visitors to Pesaro (and locals, too, of course) this summer will be able to visit  Jewish heritage sites around the city. Though unfortunately they seem to be open only on Thursday afternoons between June 23 and September 1.

Sites include the old Jewish quarter, the synagogue, whose complex includes a mikvah and a matzo oven, and the old Jewish cemetery.

For information on the synagogue, call: +39-0721 387541-474
For the Jewish cemetery: +39-335 1746509

Nice article in the Forward on overlooked Jewish heritage sites

Wonderful carved stone in Siret. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

Michael Luongo has a nice wrapup in The Forward about the "Top 10 Overlooked Jewish Heritage Sites From Around the Globe." It's called "Forgotten History." And thanks, Mike for mentioning this blog!

When most of us think of Jewish heritage travel, places like Jerusalem or the Warsaw Ghetto come to mind. Yet, from the pre-Inquisition sites that dot Spain, to farming villages in South America, hundreds of forgotten or under-visited Jewish sites exist across the world. When we put out the call for recommendations of our readers’ favorite overlooked sites on the Forward’s Shmooze blog and Facebook page, we got a global range of answers. Not surprising, most of the suggestions were about Eastern Europe. From your recommendations and my own travels, here’s an informal list of the top 10 Jewish sites often overlooked by traveler

Read more: http://forward.com/articles/138890/#ixzz1PvK2lPPF

The sites on the list range from Europe, to Latin America to New Zealand.....

It's always hard for me to choose a favorite or "best" or "most overlooked" site -- but I nominated my beloved Jewish cemeteries and painted synagogues in northern Romania and western Ukraine.

Tourism -- An interesting essay on tourism to Jewish sites by Alex Joffe

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

There is an interesting essay in Jewish Ideas Daily about ebbs, flows and other "dilemmas" in Jewish-themed tourism, written by Alex Joffe, who is described as a research scholar with the Institute for Jewish and Community Research. He starts from considering the archeological remains of an ancient synagogue in Albania, excavated as a potential tourist site seven or eight years ago, but now languishing and all but abandoned.

Tourism, he writes, "is not just a recreational and aesthetic experience for the tourist. It is a business, and as such it poses moral questions as to the specific experiences that are bought and sold." 

Some of the issues he raises are among those I discussed both in the introduction of Jewish Heritage Travel and in the chapter on Travel in Virtually Jewish: Reinventing Jewish Culture in Europe. Such as the role of actual living Jewish communities in far-flung places, and whether or not visiting Jewish heritage sites entails any particular responsibilities or sensitivities.

Even among the dead, the ethical questions are real, and the ironies are evident. While Albanians had hoped to use their commendable historical story to draw tourists, their synagogue now languishes and decays. Meanwhile, Nazi concentration and death camps, above all Auschwitz, are sites of pilgrimage and remembrance—and a source of significant tourism revenues to Germany and Poland.

Why go one place rather than another? Albanians saved "their" Jews—are they owed something in return by Jewish tourists? Or should Jews instead visit Germany and Poland, to keep the Jewish histories of those countries from falling victim to the Nazis, to rebuild Jewish life, or even to offer prayers at cemeteries?

The scale of the problem is overwhelming, as there is no end to Jewish heritage sites. Everywhere Jews lived, they left behind schools and synagogues, dwellings, markets and factories, and cemeteries. Few of these sites are beautiful. Proportionally, sand-floor synagogues in Curaçao are vastly outnumbered by destroyed or usurped synagogues in Ukraine or Belarus. And everywhere there are the cemeteries, mass graves, and other assorted killing fields—overgrown and forgotten, ploughed up, or routinely desecrated. Another responsibility thus looms, to preserve the dignity of the Jewish dead.

But the synagogue of Onchesmos deserves to be seen—and not only by Jews. After all, remembering that Jews were a vital part of the Mediterranean world is, if nothing else, important to understanding that they remain a living part of that world today. Archeologists have responsibilities as well, not only to preserve the remains but to present them in such a way that they become at least a small part of the living present. Otherwise they should be left in peace.

I'm not sure that I find the questions and challenges (if they are really questions and challenges) he brings up mutually exclusive. There is no "should" entailed in where anyone -- Jewish or not -- chooses to visit.  Jewish heritage places are interesting and important in themselves -- in different ways. Each one tells a different story, though, of course, some of the stories are related. But it seems besides the point to make it seem an ethical choice -- or to pose it in terms of making it an ethical choice -- as to whether you will visit Auschwitz or the excavated ruins of an ancient synagogue in Albania.

(Oh, and I disagree with him when he says few of the sites Jewish "left behind" are beautiful.)

Poland -- the Chassidic Route: Sanok

Painting in Judaica exhibit at Open Air Museum.

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

Sanok, in the far southeastern tip of Poland, is a charming little town centered around a castle and nice little main market square -- it is a gateway to the Bieszcszady mountains, a beautiful region of lush hills, rushing streams and all the bucolic beauty that goes with it. I was there to write about the project constructing a replica of the destroyed Gwozdziec wooden synagogue -- and I've already posted on this.

Sanok - main square. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

But, because of its long, rich Jewish history, Sanok, where Jews settled in the 16th century, is a stop on the Chassidic Route traced by the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland, or FODZ. The town was a center of Chassidism in the 19th century, and before the Holocaust, Jews made up between 40 ad 50 percent of the local population.

There are only a few traces left of this vivid world.

The most interesting is the small but valuable collection of Judaica,  photographs, paintings and other material housed at Sanok's open-air folk architecture museum, or skansen, a sprawling display of wonderful wooden village architecture.

Photos (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

It's all displayed in a long, bright room in a complex of buildings housing examples of Christian folk art, including carved wooden figures, and centuries-old icons.

Among the skansen buildings are a couple of houses once owned by Jews. But the museum director told me that there were plans to build a replica of one of the destroyed wooden synagogues -- the 18th century synagogue of Polaniec, for which ample documentation survives. The replica, (if and) when built, will form part of a newly built replica of a smalltown market square which is to open this summer.

Polaniec wooden synagogue. Picture from virtual shtetl web site

Sanok -- unfinished replica of market square. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

In town, there are a couple of synagogue buildings, rebuilt for other purposes. There is also one surviving Jewish cemetery, dating from the 19th century -- it's next to the Catholic cemetery. Only a few gravestones remain. There is also a Holocaust memorial.

Jewish cemetery, Sanok. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

Poland -- the Chassidic Route: Baligrod

My car is parked at the entrance to the cemetery, pointing back toward the village. It was a bit tricky turning around. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

The  village of Baligrod, about 20 km south of Lesko, is another stop on the Chassidic Route itinerary sponsored by the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland (FODZ).

Jews lived here from the early 17th century and for much of the period between the 18th century and World War II they made up a majority of the residents. The synagogue and other buildings were destroyed in WWII.

The Jewish cemetery survives on a hill overlooking the town — a lovely spot with a beautiful view -- and the narrow, bumpy dirt road is clearly marked by signposts from the village. I drove up (as I didn't know how far it would be) but it would make more sense to park below and walk.

Photo: Ruth Ellen Gruber

There are supposed to be about 200 stones here;  the oldest legible date from  1718 and 1732. The Nazis used hundreds of gravestones  to pave the market square -- they are believed still to be there, covered by asphalt.


The cemetery was restored in 2008, and the stones are in good condition — and there is even an incongruous red trash can for visitors to deposite rubbish (it was filled with  used plastic water bottles) –  but when I visited the grass and weeds were chest-high , in sore need of cutting. The grass totally obscured some of the stones -- I tried to see as many as I could, but I know I didn't see them all.

Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

Still, I found many beautifully carved stones, with a variety of candlestick shapes on women's stones, ranging from crude but delicate incised images to more elaborate styles, some featuring candlesticks flanked by birds. See more candlesticks stones at my candlesticksonstone.wordpress.com site.

Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

Someone had clearly visited a short while before I did, though, as there were narrow paths tromped through the grass, and someone had piled stones and pebbles on many of the gravestones.

Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

Poland -- More on the night of the synagogues and Krakow

Sign for the Krakow JCC and a tourist map of Jewish sights in Kazimierz. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

I wrote my latest Ruthless Cosmopolitan column on the revival of Jewish spirit in Krakow, following my participation in the Night of the Synagogues -- and a conversation I had with Jonathan Ornstein, the director of the Krakow JCC, the morning after.....We both needed caffeine..... I  posted about the Night of the Synagogues last week on my this blog -- with lots of pictures.

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

June 15, 2011

KRAKOW, Poland (JTA) -- Jews in Krakow have a new slogan -- "Never Better."

The catchphrase is deliberately provocative, a blatant rejoinder to "Never Again," the slogan long associated with Holocaust memory and the fight against anti-Semitic prejudice.

It may be counterintuitive, acknowledges Jonathan Ornstein, the American-born director of Krakow's Jewish community center who helped come up with the slogan.

But it's aimed at rebranding Jewish Poland, or at least Jewish Krakow, shaking up conventional perceptions and radically shifting the focus of how the Jewish experience here is viewed.

"Because the Holocaust isn't subtle, then the rebranding, as a way to get people to understand the situation here now, also can't be subtle," Ornstein explained.

Only a few hundred Jews live in Krakow, but the community has been rebuilding in the past two decades, particularly since the JCC opened three years ago.

"When we say 'Never Better,' it's not in terms of numbers, or the amount of things in Jewish life, or the synagogues that are functioning and all that," Ornstein said.

However, he went on, "in terms of the way the Jewish community interacts with the non-Jewish community and the direction that things are going, I think that there's never been a more optimistic time to be Jewish in Krakow than there is now."

I spoke with Ornstein on a Sunday in June, the morning after an unprecedented event that in a way had been a public affirmation of the new Jewish spirit he described.

Organized by the JCC, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the Krakow Jewish communal organization, it was called 7@Night -- Seven at Night or the Night of the Synagogues.

Night of the Living synagogues may have been a better description.

From 10:30 p.m. until 2 a.m., all seven of the historic synagogues in Krakow's old Jewish quarter, Kazimierz, were open to the public.

It was part festival, part celebration and part didactic exercise. The aim was to foster Jewish pride, but also to educate non-Jewish Poles about contemporary Jewish life and culture.

An astonishing 5,000 or more people turned out, a constant flow of people that trooped from one synagogue to the next and patiently braved long, slow lines and bottlenecks at doorways. Almost all were young Cracovians.

Each synagogue hosted an exhibit, concert, talk or other activity that was produced by Jews and highlighted Jewish life and culture as lived today in Poland, Israel and elsewhere.

Events ranged from talks by Krakow Rabbi Boaz Pash on "the ABCs of Judaism" to a live concert by an Israeli rock band to a DJ sampling new Jewish music from a console set up on the bimah of the gothic Old Synagogue, now a Jewish museum, to a panel discussion about the role of women in Judaism.

All the events were free -- and all were full.

"It far, far exceeded our expectations," said Ornstein.

I've never seen anything quite like it, even though I've followed the development of Kazimierz for more than 20 years -- from the time when it was an empty, rundown slum to its position now as one of the liveliest spots in the city.

I've witnessed -- and chronicled -- the development of Jewish-themed tourism, retail, entertainment and educational infrastructure in Krakow, including the Jewish Culture Festival that draws thousands of people each summer. And I've written extensively about the interest of non-Jews in Jewish culture.

But Seven at Night was something different. For one thing, nostalgia seemed to play no role. And also, unlike many of the Jewish events and attractions in Kazimierz, this one was organized and promoted by Jews themselves.

It was their show, kicking off with a public Havdalah ceremony celebrated by Rabbi Pash that saw hundreds of people singing and dancing in the JCC courtyard.

"Never Better" was a prominent theme.

Most explicitly, it was the title of a multimedia presentation that ran throughout the night, projected on the vaulted ceiling of the 16th century High Synagogue, which today is used as an exhibition hall. The presentation featured interviews with local Jews young and old, religious and secular, all expressing a confidence in their identity and future.

It's still anybody's guess whether or not demographic realities will enable the long-term survival of a Jewish community in Krakow. But Ornstein said that may not be the point.

A key message of the current activism, he said, was to help frame the context of Polish Jewish history and hammer home that however small their numbers, Jews in Poland are not a separate, exotic entity but part and parcel of 21st century Polish society.

"The powerful message is that Judaism isn't just an idea, it's not just something that belongs to the Polish past, but there are Jews living here," Ornstein said. "We're trying to say that you can be a Jewish Pole, not just a Jew in Poland, to turn 'Jew' into an adjective instead of a noun."

I hope he's right.

Poland -- Sanok. Gwozdziec synagogue project

Laura Brown, co-director of Handshouse Studio, with replica of Gwozdziec synagogue. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

Earlier this month I spent several days in Sanok, in the far southeastern corner of Poland, visiting the site of the Gwozdziec synagogue project -- the construction of a replica of the roof and decorated inner cupola of the destroyed wooden synagogue of Gwozdziec (now in Ukraine) -- one of about 200 wooden synagogues torched by the Nazis in World War II

The article I wrote about it for the International Herald Tribune/New York Time online  is now readable  -- click HERE to read the full story

In the far southeast corner of Poland, the warm summer air is resounding with the rasp of old-fashioned iron saws and the satisfying twack-twack-twack of ax blades on wood.

Here, in the foothills of the Carpathians, an international crew of master timber craftsmen and students has been working on an intensely hands-on project that combines history, art and education. They are building a replica of the tall peaked roof and inner cupola of an ornate wooden synagogue that stood for 300 years in the town of Gwozdziec, now in Ukraine.

The replica, which will be 85 percent of the original size of the building, will be installed as one of the key components of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews, currently under construction in Warsaw and scheduled to open in 2013.

The article gives pretty much of an overview of the project, run by the Massachusetts-based Handshouse Studio -- and if you want detailed descriptions of the process, Edward Levin, of the Timber Framers Guild, has been keeping a wonderful blog about it all, with lots of pictures and theoretical musings. Click HERE to read it.

My discussions in Sanok opened a new world to me -- that of Timber Framing and master carpentry; people involved who find spirituality in working with wood. Fascinating discussions.

Here are some of my own pictures of the project, which is being carried out on the grounds of the Sanok open-air folk architecture museum.

Serbia -- Belgrade Jewish Museum downloadable guidebook

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

I just found a downloadable version (PDF) of the illustrated, 35-page guidebook to the Museum of Jewish History in Belgrade, published last year. Go to the link by clicking HERE. I will add it to the other PDF guides I have on my iPad....

Poland -- the Chassidic Route: Lesko

Former Synagogue in Lesko. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

The last time I had been in Lesko was in 2006, when I was updating my book Jewish Heritage Travel -- but also attending the annual biker and country music festival held there, "Moto Country Piknik." It was a wild night full of black leather-clad beer-drinkers, heavy metal chrome, and Polish country acts, most of whose names I didn't get.

Lesko Moto Country festival, 2006. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

Five years later, on the Jewish heritage front, I found little changed...

The imposing synagogue, just off the main market square, dates from the mid 17th century. It is the only one of five prayer houses to survive World War II. It was devastated during the war and rebuilt in the 1960s -- the reconstruction added baroque gables (which a booklet on sale at the synagogue said had been removed in the 19th century). That on the front facade frames the depiction of the Ten Commandments. The reconstruction also extended the height of the tower so that it now extends above the roof level.

All in all, I find it a very beautiful and impressive building -- and, importantly, there has long been separate signpost outside identifying it as a former synagogue and describing the history: before World War II, nearly two-thirds of the town population was Jewish. In the entry hall there are several plaques listing the names of hundreds of Lesko Jews killed at the Belzec death camp in 1942.

Memorial to Lesko Jews at Belzec. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

The synagogue is now used as a gallery displaing and selling local arts and crafts. Five years ago I bought there a wonderful naive carving of the late Pope John Paul II, wearing red shoes and with his head surrounded by angels.

Inside the synagogue gallery. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

Each time I've visited the gallery, I've found a refreshing lack of kitschy carved Jewish figures and paintings on sale -- such as those so prevalent in Krakow and Warsaw...   but one of the local artists still did utilize the "Jew and money" stereotype in a rather outrageous manner! That's real money clutched in their hands!

Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

 The Jewish cemetery in Lesko, founded in the 16th century, is one of the oldest and most historically important in Poland. It is vast, and rises up a steep hill, just down the road from the synagogue. The oldest stones are at the bottom, by the entrance -- massive slabs with vividly carved epitaphs but no other decoration. Here is where the tour groups stop --  a Polish tour group was visiting this time when I entered.

Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

Few people, however, venture and farther up the hill, except for school kids using one of the paths as a short cut.

 The higher you go  the more, and more recent, and more vividly carved stones there are. But also -- at least in early summer -- the more overgrown and untended do you find them..... it is a real wasteland; I have to say, I felt both glad to see people (like the tour group) visiting, but rather lonely and depressed that so much of the cemetery was a jungle. And this comes from someone who has seen endless overgrown Jewish cemeteries in Eastern Europe! I think the contrast of the "known" and "unknown" -- the "remembered" and the "forgotten" -- just got to me.

Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

I can't put it any better than a post I have linked to before -- a description of the Lesko cemetery on the riowang.blogspot.com  site.

Poland -- The Chassidic Route

Painting in the Judaica section of a sacred art exhibit in the open-air folk architecture museum in Sanok. photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

While in the far southeast corner of Poland earlier this month, I visited a few of the Jewish heritage sites on the "Chassidic Route" itinerary in eastern and southeastern Poland promoted by the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Hertitage in Poland (FODZ).

The Chassidic Route itinerary includes: Baligrod, Bilgoraj, Chelm, Cieszanow, Debica, Dynow, Jaroslaw, Krasnik, Lesko, Lezajsk, Lublin, Lancut, Leczna, Przemysl, Radomysl Wielki, Ropczyce, Rymanow, Sanok, Tarnobrzeg, Ulanow, Ustrzyki Dolne, Wielkie Oczy, Wlodawa and Zamosc.

I was based in Sanok, a charming town that in fact itself is on the Route, and I also visited the "route" sites of  Rymanow, Lesko, and Baligrod. In addition, I stopped in Dukla and Lutowiska. All the  places I visited were within an easy drive from Sanok through beautiful countryside. Some places I had seen in the past -- even more than 20 years ago. Others I visited for the first time: so, a mixture of big changes and new experiences....

To keep posts at a reasonable length, I won't give a rundown of all the sites all at once, but I'll devote a post to each place.