Day Thirteen - Shabbat with Beit Warszawa

Today we toured the Praga district of Warsaw. Praga was another heavily Jewish area in the city pre-war. There is still much evidence to be seen of Jewish life there. One of the most typical markers of old Jewish buildings are the doorposts where the outline of an old mezuzah can be seen. This has been the easiest way of identifying Jewish homes throughout our travels.
We spent the afternoon wandering around Praga. We returned to our apartment to get ready for Shabbat and then met up with Kaja, Kasia, and Wiki to head over to Beit Warszawa for Shabbat services and dinner. Beit Warszawa is the Reform congregation in Warsaw. Services are held in a house outside the center of the city. It is a small, but growing congregation and the first of its kind in Poland since before the war. It was nice to see that there is such an established Jewish community in Warsaw that there is the need for different synagogues to fit the needs and desires of Warsaw's Jewish population. Services reminded us very much of Rodeph Sholom and we felt very welcome in Beit Warszawa. They provide Shabbat dinner every week and this gave us an opportunity to chat with some of the Beit Warszawa members and hear their stories of how they ended up there, their own personal Jewish journeys. It seems all Polish Jews have a fascinating story to tell. A wonderful thing about being Jewish is that when traveling in many places around the world on Shabbat you can find a synagogue and feel at home no matter what far corner of the world you may be in!