We then took a quick walk to where Leah would be staying at an incredible apartment with a guy named Dominik. We walked in and found the most wacky room we had ever seen. There were crazy costumes and posters everywhere. He seems
like a really cool guy.Then Leah, Kaja, and Jason went for a walking tour of the district of Krakow called Kazimierz. It is considered to be the old Jewish quarter of town. Decrees were made in Krakow, saying that Jews could not live in the town, and at that time, Kazimierz was outside the Krakow. So the great King Kazimierz offered land for the Jewish inhabitants to settle. We visited the beautiful main square where there once stood four different synagogues. The oldest one is a museum today, so is another one, and the Remuh synagogue still operates and holds services regularly. Rabbi Remuh is famous for a very influential book he wrote called the Mapach (He
brew for tablecloth), which is considered to be the Ashkenazim codification of Rabbi Yoseph Carro's Shulchan Aruch (the set table). We also visited the Remuh cemetery, which was the cemetery for the town of Kazimierz, it was destroyed during the war, the Nazi's used it as a garbage dump. However, it was recovered and cleaned up, and the stones were reorganized and it is now very well kept. The town was not destroyed as Warsaw was during WWII, so many of the structures are pre-war architecture. The town has a charming feel to it.In total, Kazimierz had eight synagogues, and countless private hou
ses of prayer before WWII. There were 65,000 Jews that lived in this relatively small area, and it was a place where Jewish life flourished. Another beautiful synagogue (the progressive one) managed to survive, also by being Nazi horse stables during the war.Present day, there is one mikvah that is located in a hotel owned by a Jewish family. Technically, there are about 150 registered Jews living in Krakow, many of them very old. However, we are learning that this does not account for the actual Jewish population here, because being Jewish in Poland is a legal matter that does not include people who are recently finding out they are Jewish or have Jewish roots.
Following our wonderful walking tour of Kazimierz, we went to the JCC and met with the director whose name is Jonathan. We learned that the building was built just last year due to extremely charitable contributions from Prince Charles. Who, after a visit to Krakow that moved him deeply, decided that the Jewish community could use some help. We took a full tour of the beautiful facility, and spoke with Jonathan about the goals and expectations he has for this place. He told us about the incredible interest from the Jewish population and non-Jewish population in Krakow. They hold many lectures and teach Hebrew multiple times a week. There is a senior's club, and Shabbat is held weekly. The place was very impressive, but I think we were even more impressed with Jonathan's goals and energy that he brings to his job.
We then enjoyed a delicious lunch with Kaja and her friend Garrett. He is also a Skidmore alumni (like Kaja) who decided to move to Poland rather randomly. A very nice guy.
We returned to the JCC for a lecture with the Rabbi, followed by a guest speaker. Most of it was in Polish, and Monika and Kaja tried to help translate, but it was rather difficult to understand. Regardless, we were very happy to be doing something with a Jewish community on Shavuot.
I (Jason) went out with Monika, Dominik, and three of their friends to a traditional Polish bar. The music is surprisingly good, and the people were incredibly fun. We joked and danced for a while. I felt incredibly welcomed and very comfortable with these people even though I have only known them for one day.
Sleepy time now. We have a big day tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment