News for Jewish Heritage Travel Blog

Here's some organizational news for this blog.....As of today I now have a travel blog called En Route: Jewish Heritage and Travel with Ruth Ellen Gruber that is hosted by the Los Angeles Jewish Journal.... so -- I will be posting items to that blog, and then reposting on this site (or, I guess, occasionally vice versa).

This will not affect the Jewish Heritage Travel Facebook page.

And all the archives and other material on this Jewish Heritage Travel blog will remain here intact.

Slovakia -- Trencin and the mixed emotions of visiting Jewish sites

Synagogue in Trencin, 1993. Monotype by Shirley Moskowitz (c) estate of Shirley Moskowitz

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

There usually comes a time when you visit sites of Jewish heritage in Eastern and Central Europe when the impact of the past -- the destruction wrought in the Holocaust -- breaks through and grabs you. I have experienced this often: I love looking at the synagogue buildings and admiring the architecture and recalling the richness of Jewish history and recognizing their importance to the cultural heritage of society at large and applauding the way that many by now have been restored for cultural use. Likewise when I thrill to the wonderful carving on Jewish gravestones and appreciate the creativity and aethestic verve that produced them. Still, I sometimes find myself unexpectedly choked up, even weeping.

I wrote about these contradictory feelings at length in the introduction to my book Jewish Heritage Travel.

And Rabbi Andrew Goldstein touched on this theme in the sermon he gave after our trip to Slovakia this month following the Slovak Jewish Heritage Route (which I posted HERE). That is why he and his wife, Sharon, held informal "services for synagogues" in a couple of the  synagogues we visited -- notably the still semi-ruined one in Liptovsky Mikulas and the Status Quo synagogue in Trnava, now an art gallery.

Sharon Goldstein chanting in the Trnava Status Quo synagogue. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

My friend, the wonderful (and wonderfully outspoken) musician Mark Rubin experienced this several years ago when he visited the Slovak town of Trencin and saw the magnificent synagogue there -- one of the most impressive buildings in town, besides the hilltop castle.

Trencin synagogue with hilltop castle in the background. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

Mark wrote a lengthy, eloquent -- and angry -- post about his feelings on his blog.

There indeed is a fine synagogue in Trencin, but there will be no shabbes here. There are no Jews here. The stark, sudden and complete realization that though this building may still stand and from the outside is beautiful and all, there are no Jews here to pray with. Not tonight, and probably never again I imagine. A wave of depression and sadness flushes over me. I mean what was I thinking? Jews must have prospered here, I mean why else would you have such a grand house of worship? Sure, as if after all the pogroms, the harassment by fascists from within and without, and then the gentle graces of the Soviets and their labor camps that there would be anyone left? These are the kind of things I see every time I head into the Eastern parts of Europe and this is just the sort of internal conversation I have with myself nearly every time. Much like a child finding out over and over again that there is no Santa Claus, I have to tell myself yet again; “Jews used to live here.”

I have to say that I have never bit hit by this feeling when in Trencin -- and the first time I was there was about 20 years ago. On the contrary, I have always regarded the magnificent synagogue there as a magnificent survivor. You can't undo the Holocaust. But in contrast to many other synagogues, the Trencin synagogue was always maintained in pretty good shape and regarded by the town as a key component of its urban core. As long as I have been going there, it has been marked with a plaque identifying it as a former synagogue -- and there has also long been a plaque commemorating the Jews of Trencin who were killed in the Holocaust: some 1,619 Jewish lived in the city in 1940, but only 326  survived the Holocaust. Also, the synagogue complex includes a small prayer room which is still used by the handful of Jews that still do live in the town.

Today, the huge sanctuary is used as the municipal art gallery. The art on display was, um, not the best. But the sanctuary has been restored and is maintained. The wonderful stained glass and the intense blue painting of the cupola have long been cared for -- but recent restoration work has uncovered polychrome decoration on the walls that had been painted over in white. It's not sure whether this is going to be recovered.

Above photos (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

Ukraine -- Jewish Travel Web Site and Tours, etc

Fortresslike 16th century synagogue building in Sharhorod, Ukraine. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

People are always asking me for advice on "traveling Jewish" in Ukraine -- arranging trips and tours, finding places, accommodation, information, etc.

A new (or newish) web site and organization, "JUkraine" may now be the answer.

I just came across the web site -- jukraine.com -- and it looks at if it will be very helpful.

I hope so! Ukraine is a huge country, rich with fascinating Jewish heritage sites and also home (in some places) to active Jewish communities. To date, my chapter on Ukraine in Jewish Heritage Travel is one of the only Jewish guides to the country -- but it only minimally scratches the surface.

What are your favorite overlooked Jewish sites? Forward wants to know

Painted ceiling of synagogue in Siret, Romania. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

The "Schmooze" blog on The Forward wants to know readers' favorite -- overlooked -- Jewish sites, worldwide. Post your recommendations to TopTen@forward.com or at http://blogs.forward.com/the-shmooze/137771/#ixzz1MJZwJQEy

From the pre-Inquisition sites that dot Spain to farming villages in South America, some Jewish places are so surprising and little known that not even the most traveled among us have stumbled across them in our journeys. Help the Forward’s Michael Luongo select the top 10 Jewish historical sites that most of us have never heard of, to rescue them from cultural oblivion and once again make them part of our cultural awareness. Whether it’s Ballarat Synagogue in Australia, Ohel Moishe Synagogue in Asia or the Marrakech Mellah in the Middle East, nominate your favorite overlooked Jewish sites from around the world by posting comments here, or send your thoughts to TopTen@forward.com. Then watch for the final list in the July 1 issue of the Forward. Read more: http://blogs.forward.com/the-shmooze/137771/#ixzz1MJZwJQEy

Back in 2007, when Jewish Heritage Travel came out, I was interviewed for JTA by Dinah Spritzer about my own "top ten" list of Jewish sites. It was really difficult to choose -- and in fact the article was headlined "So many sites, so little time."

My favorites -- as readers of this blog may have guessed -- are probably the elaborately carved Jewish cemeteries in northern Romania and western Ukraine (and parts of Poland).

Here's what I told Dinah were my top ten -- you can find pictures of many of them by searching this blog.:

* The historic Jewish cemeteries and painted synagogues in northern Romania. The tombstones feature elaborate carving and the synagogue interiors boast beautiful decoration. The most impressive cemeteries are the three in Siret, on the border with Ukraine. Nearby towns with painted synagogues and cemeteries include Botosani, Suceava, Radauti and Piatra Neamt.

* The Jewish cemeteries and ruins of fortress synagogues in Ukraine. In Sataniv, the synagogue hauntingly retains some of its interior decoration and the tombstones feature elaborate carving, including rare examples of a mystical motif showing three hares joined by the ears chasing each other in a circle. The village of Sharhorod has a fortress synagogue, fascinating cemeteries, extensive remains of shtetl architecture and a small Jewish community.

* The baroque synagogue and Jewish cemetery in the village of Mad, in northeastern Hungary. The synagogue recently underwent a full restoration.

* The synagogues in Lancut, in southeastern Poland, and in Tykocin, in northeastern Poland. Both have been restored and are used as Jewish museums.

* The old Jewish quarters, synagogues and cemeteries in the towns of Boskovice, Trebic and Lomnice, near Brno in the Czech Republic.

* Anything to do with the Hungarian architect Lipot Baumnhorn (1860-1932), modern Europe's most prolific designer of synagogues. Particularly recommended are the grand synagogue in Szeged, Hungary, and a ruined synagogue in Lucenec, Slovakia; Baumhorn's tomb in the Kozma utca Jewish cemetery in Budapest; and the monument to him outside the former synagogue he designed in Szolnok, Hungary.

* Wooden synagogues. Eastern Poland, Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine once boasted elaborate wooden synagogues, all of which were destroyed by the Nazis, but about a dozen simple wooden synagogues survive in out-of-the way villages in Lithuania. Most look like barns. The ones in the villages of Kurkliai, Pakruojis and Ziezmariai are particularly striking.

* The elaborate synagogue in Subotica, Serbia, is an extraordinary example of Hungarian art nouveau architecture.

* The Holocaust monument complex in Belzec in southeastern Poland. Opened in 2004, this is a breathtaking and overwhelming memorial that uses the entire death camp site as a sculpture. It includes an excellent little museum.

* The Holocaust memorial in Plunge, Lithuania, features a profoundly moving installation of massive wooden sculptures by the Jewish wood-carver Jakob Bunkas and his artist friends.

 Here's the full interview I gave Dinah:

PRAGUE -

When she set out to write the first comprehensive Jewish travel guidebook on the countries of the former Eastern bloc, Ruth Ellen Gruber might as well have been documenting the secret life of a New Guinea tribe of cannibals.

Seventeen years ago, little was known among mainstream U.S. travelers about the Jewish heritage of the countries that had just emerged from behind the Iron Curtain.

Cemeteries had been destroyed or forgotten, synagogues were collapsing and little information was available at the region's town halls or tourist centers about hundreds of years of Jewish history.

Now the fourth edition of Gruber's guidebook, "National Geographic Jewish Heritage Travel: A Guide to Eastern Europe," reveals a revolution in monument care and the return of Jewish culture -- or a least tributes to that culture -- in areas where it had long been dormant.

Researching the first guidebook, Gruber said she "could go to a town and they would mention a 17th-century cathedral or 19th-century palace, but nobody included anything Jewish."

Gruber, a JTA correspondent, said that among Jews and non-Jews in the United States and Europe, "there was an assumption that nothing had survived the Holocaust and there was very little desire to know that there was vestiges of the pre-Holocaust Jewish world."

How times have changed.

"I remember in 1990 looking at sites in Czechoslovakia, and we sort of recognized that if we saw a clump of dirt in a field and a broken wall it was probably a cemetery," said Gruber, who has residences in Budapest and near Rome. "Now all of these places are known and documented."

Jewish heritage travel has made it into the mainstream, according to Gruber, who has written two other books on the recent revival of Jewish culture in Central and Eastern Europe.

"It's extraordinary, and extraordinarily important, that National Geographic is now publishing" her new guidebook, she said. Nation! al Geogr aphic is "recognized over all the world. It gives an imprimatur of importance to Jewish sites."

The book includes everything from directions to little-known heritage sites to addresses of Jewish communal institutions.

Insider anecdotes and hard-to-find information is presented for Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Bulgaria.

The restoration of so many Jewish monuments in these countries is due to myriad factors -- generous help from the West; decent planning by local governments, renewed Jewish community pride, non-Jewish devotion to history and the realization that Jewish sites could attract tourism.

"The Czech Republic is where things have changed the most," Gruber said.

"Look at the synagogue at Ustek," said Gruber, who notes in her book that the 18th-century synagogue, located on a scenic perch, was just a "pile of rubble" in the early 1990s.

"It's been restored in a fantastic way," she said. "In three other towns near Ustek the Jewish cemeteries were scenes of devastation. Now they are cleaned up, marked with monuments."

Throughout the Czech Republic there are exhibitions in restored synagogues, and that in 2006 the country devoted an entire year to Jewish culture, staging art shows, concerts and theater productions.

What went on in the Czech Republic has gone on to some extent across Central and Eastern Europe, said Gruber, who also has written "Virtually Jewish: Reinventing Jewish Culture in Europe" and "Upon The Doorposts Of Thy House: Jewish Life In East-Central Europe, Yesterday And Today."

The rebirth of Krakow's former Jewish district, Kazimierz, has not only led to the reclaiming of Jewish synagogues there but to a more general revival that has turned the neighborhood into a top night spot with Jewish-themed restaurants and trendy bars.

"There was only one cafe there! when my book first came out," Gruber said.

She gave mixed reviews to monument care in the rest of Poland, but said there were plenty of sites that would impress tourists, such as Lesko in southeastern Poland.

"It has a beautiful synagogue that is a landmark of the town, it's an art gallery," Gruber said. "The cemetery has about 2,000 intricately decorated tombstones dating back to the 16th century."

Gruber also had high praise for the Holocaust monument at Belzec, where the Nazis murdered some 500,000 Jews from the Galicia region in 1942. The monument was erected in 2004 with the help of the American Jewish Committee.

"It's breathtaking and unbelievable," Gruber said of the monument, which features slag that appears like a field of ashes and iron letters spelling out the name of former Jewish shtetls in the region.

In Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine and eastern Poland, surviving but little-known wooden synagogues have become Jewish attractions, Gruber noted.

"About a dozen wooden synagogues have been identified within the past decade, and are really worth seeing," she said.

Of the more ornate Jewish cemeteries, Gruber urges tourists not to miss those in Romania and Ukraine because of their "sheer architectural beauty."

There is a small but vocal living Jewish presence in the region, and Gruber points out that has also undergone a revival.

For example, Prague's Jewish community has only 1,500 registered Jews, but "a tourist can now go to five or six services on Shabbat," Gruber noted.

That contrasts with the communities' moribund state during the communist era, when actively participating in religious life could lead to persecution by the secret police.

Gruber acknowledged that some people have an image of the former Eastern bloc as teeming with anti-Semitism, an image she seeks to dispel. Gruber notes a tremendous sea change among non-Jews -- not just toward Jews but toward foreigners in general,! in coun tries where xenophobia once was prevalent.

In Luboml, Ukraine, Gruber met a local young historian obsessed with Jewish history, as is often the case for historians reclaiming their countries' past after communism made Jewish topics more or less forbidden.

"There had been a Jewish distillery; he gave me the labels of bottles to take home," she said. "You meet people like that all over the place. Of course you sometimes meet people who are awful, but that's true wherever you go."

Book Event semi-washed out....

Heavy rain, alas, washed out my book event today in Budapest promoting Zsido Emlekhelyek, the Hungarian edition of Jewish Heritage Travel .... it was supposed to have taken place in an open-air courtyard of Gozsdu udvar, a long series of connected courtyards that leads from Kiraly street through to Dob street.

For the past few days, Gozsdu udvar was the scene of a book and crafts fair that was part of Budapest's annual summer Jewish festival.

With the weather threatening, the publisher, Geographia kiado, organized another venue for the event -- a slide-illustrated talk by me -- in the upstairs cafe of one of the main branches of the Alexandra book shop, just around the corner from the Dohany St. synagogue.

About a dozen intrepid souls found their way to the new venue, and the presentation was a much more intimate experience than anticipated....

Still, people were very interested -- and the publisher says the books has been selling well, comparable to sales of a paperback novel!

Budapest Jewish summer festival celebrates its Bar Mitzvah

 Part of the festival in 2009. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

Adam Lebor in Budapest writes a nice piece in the Economist online about the annual Budapest summer Jewish culture festival celebrating its 13th edition -- its bar mitzvah, so to speak.

The festival opened last night with a magnificent concert by the Boban Markovic Orchestra, the world's best known Serbian gypsy brass band ensemble, in the Great Synagogue on Dohany Street in downtown Pest. The synagogue, which holds 3,000 people, is the centre of Jewish life in Hungary. The synagogue was built in the mid-19th century in a neo-Moorish style and has been beautifully restored to its former glory. Playing to a packed house the orchestra kicked off with a rousing rendition of "Hava Nagila", probably the best known traditional Jewish song. The thumping Balkan beat soon had even dowager grandmas clapping along. The Boban Markovic Orchestra is the latest in a long line of renowned musicians to perform here: a century ago both Franz Liszt and Camille Saint-Saëns played the synagogue's organ.It was an interesting choice to open a Jewish cultural festival with a Serbian gypsy band. Partly because of their shared history of persecution, Jews and Roma often feel a kind of kinship. But despite the glorious life-affirming emotion of hearing "Hava Nagila" inside the synagogue, there was a poignant aspect to the concert, for this corner of Dohany street is a haunted place. The small Jewish cemetery behind the main hall houses the remains of perhaps 2,000 people who died of sickness and starvation during the winter of 1944-45 as the Hungarian Nazi Arrow Cross ran wild and the Red army steadily advanced, until the ghetto was finally liberated in January 1945.

On Monday, the festival features a presentation of Zsido Emlekhelyek, the Hungarian edition of my book Jewish Heritage Travel. I'm due to give an illustrated talk about Jewish heritage in Europe.

Hungarian edition of Jewish Heritage Travel presentation

The new Hungarian-language version of my book "Jewish Heritage Travel" -- Zsido Emlekhelyek -- will be featured during the book bazaar of the annual summer Jewish festival in Budapest.

I am scheduled to give an illustrated talk about the book on August 30, at 4 p.m., in Gozsdu Udvar.

Come one, come all!

Budapest -- Shameless Self-Promotion!

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

I can't help it. I love to see my books piled up in nice displays in book stores or prominently positioned in the window. About a week after the book launch of the Hungarian edition of Jewish Heritage Travel, I found "Zsido Emlekhelyek" in almost every book store I chanced on in Bpest.

Budapest -- Book launch a big success!

There was an overflow crowd at the Budapest International Book Festival for the official launch of Zsidó emlékhelyek Közép- és Kelet-Európában -- the Hungarian edition of "Jewish Heritage Travel." It was really great to see so many people -- and I was gratified that most of them were people I didn't know!

We had some technical problems setting up the projector, which delayed the start of the event -- my photo-illustrated talk about Jewish heritage sites around the region. And also, the book's editor at Geographia press, who was supposed to moderate the event, wasn't there -- he got stuck in New York because of the volcanic ash cloud.....

Still, it went off well, and the audience I'm sure would have stayed much longer than the allotted hour.... 

I'm told that even though the book is not yet in most stores, there is a lot of buzz about it, and the publishers are thinking about having a few more events, which would run longer and enable more discussion with the audience.

This interest was certainly demonstrated today -- the book is a handsome, hardback edition and costs the equivalent of $20 a copy -- there were lots of sales during my book signing: one man bought four copies! And I'm told there will be articles and reviews in the press here.

I want to thank all involved for taking on the project and bringing out this edition!

Me with the book's translator, Laszlo Benke, after the signing

Hungary -- Book launch today

Today is the book launch for the Hungarian language edition of Jewish Heritage Travel at the Budapest International Book Festival..... I'm interested in seeing who turns up for my presentation.

Yesterday I attended the opening -- hundreds filled the venue's main theater to hear a "conversation" with Amos Oz, and then see Oz receive the festival's Grand Prize from Budapest Mayor Gabor Demszky.

Israel is the "country of honor" for the festival -- somehow my book (which doesn't touch Israel) is on the program as part of that!

Hungary -- Jewish Heritage Travel Hungarian edition to be launched April 23

For anyone in Budapest April 23 -- the launch is at the Budapest International Book Festival, Kner Imre terem, 5 p.m.

Hungary -- Update on Jewish Heritage Travel's Hungarian edition

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

I've been informed that the Hungarian language edition of "National Geographic Jewish Heritage Travel" will be launched at the Budapest International Book Festival in April. (I hope this is true, as the pub date has been postponed already a couple of times...)

For anyone in Budapest around that time, I am scheduled to give some sort of presentation at the Book Fair at 5 p.m. on April 23....The Hungarian edition is being published by the Hungarian branch of the parent publisher, National Geographic.

Each year the Budapest Book Fair honors one country, and this year it will be Israel, with special guest Amos Oz. He and I are to be among about 100 foreign authors from two dozen countries, as well as some 400 Hungarian authors who will be highlighted as part of readings, signings, talks, etc.

The Book Festival takes place in the Millenaris exhibition space.  It draws about 50.000 to 60.000 visitors annually and features tens of thousands of books.

"Jewish Heritage Travel" at Warsaw Airport

It's always nice to see a book on sale where it should be sold -- a friend of mine found National Geographic Jewish Heritage Travel on sale now at Warsaw airport. Cool!

Jewish Heritage Travel -- in Hungarian!

I've just found out that a Hungarian translation of Jewish Heritage Travel: A Guide to Eastern Europe will be coming out at the end of the summer, published by the National Geographic affiliate in Hungary.

I met with the translator this morning, at the "BarLadino," one of the trendy new cafes in Bpest's Seventh District Jewish quarter... He tells me that the launch is planned for the annual Jewish Culture Festival held in Budapest at the beginning of September, with maybe further events in the pipeline.