Terezin

Before leaving Prague we went to Terezin, a concentration camp/ghetto during the second world war. It was really eerie to be there, I had never been to any camp in Poland or anywhere else, so that was a weird experience just being somewhere that people had been sent to and died at during the Holocaust. Also, Terezin is a fully functioning town now, with families and people who live there, so while we were walking by the crematorium there were people rollerblading. At first I thought it was incredibly rude, and while I don't think that they necessarily should be doing that by the crematorium and the cemetery, it is their home.
Terezin as a town now, has about 7,000 people living in it. During the was it held up to 70,000 at any point. Terezin was used as an intermediate camp. Those Jews that the German's didn't know what to do with, because they were so high up in society were sent there while the Nazi Regime decided. Poets, artists, high class members of society were the first people to be sent there. Also, it was not a death camp, 35,000 people died there from disease and sickness, but not from extermination.
Another unique thing about Terezin was that the leadership of the ghetto was Jewish, and those Jews were the ones who made the lists of transports out of Terezin, and to Auschwitz or another death camp. Could you imagine being the one deciding who got to go and who got to stay? Every so often the list of names would be posted and then people had a chance to appeal the decision. They could go in front of a board of people and tell them why they shouldn't be on the transport (family, life in Terezin, etc.). The sad thing is though, if you got out of it, someone would be sent in your place.
They told us while we were there that there were people who appealed to be taken off the list, but there were also people who went to the board and asked to be put on the transport, to be with a family member or a loved one. That is all incomprehensible to me. Knowing what we know now, about where those transports went and what happened to the people, knowing that some people voluntarily put themselves there is, I guess, uncomfortable.
We also went to the crematorium, where the people who died in Terezin were, well cremated, and there ashes were just dumped elsewhere. There was this room there in which the bodies were prepared for cremation, and it was run by people in the ghetto, and the bodies were prepared in a Jewish manner.
The whole experience was eerie, and heavy and got me thinking.

Central Europe Part I

My whirlwind slam bam bang tour of Europe being over, I certainly have a lot to report. First off, our trip managed to go smoothly and there was no interference from the volcanic ash that postponed and canceled a lot of other people’s travel plans.
So after some nervousness about arriving in Budapest we got there. We were only spending one day there so we had to cram everything in very quickly. We toured an old church that was this sprawling structure with turrets and courtyards and we spent some time walking around the downtown. The evening we spent there we got to meet some Hungarian young adults (twenty somethings) who shared their experience of being Jewish in Budapest. It’s not so good, you cannot say you’re Jewish or wear a Star of David for fear of inciting violence against you. That’s scary, coming from Israel and from the U.S where there is no fear about saying you’re Jewish, it’s really weird to think that it’s something you have to hide, and not be able to publicly declare. I know that they’re not ashamed of their Judaism, it’s still weird for me to try and comprehend.

The next day in Budapest, which we spent before heading to Prague we did the Jewish thing. We saw the Holocaust memorials, and saw the synagogue, that is not used so regularly, although on the High Holy Days it is filled with thousands of people. We also visited a Jewish School in Budapest.

The Synagoguge

The school, which teaches Hebrew and Jewish history, has a majority of students who are in fact not Jewish. The interactions between the two groups was a little bit difficult so it was hard to understand the reasons behind the non-Jews attending the school. After the school we went to see an incredible Holocaust Memorial. Along this one spot on the river Danube there are these cast iron shoes that remember all of the people who were killed and their bodies thrown into the river. There are hundreds of shoes, of all shapes and sizes, and rocks and flowers sticking out of them.

The Memorial

From Budapest we drove to Prague, with an hour stop for dinner in Bratislava, Slovakia. We finally arrived in Prague at about 2 in the morning, and after a confusion over which hotel we were supposed to going to, and a twenty five minute wait outside the right hotel, we finally got in, and went to sleep.

The next day in Prague was devoted to seeing the Jewish sites. Prague has a complex of Jewish Historical Museums, it includes one actual museum, several synagogues, a historic cemetery, and one Holocaust Memorial. The Museum wasn't all that interesting, at this point in the year the Jewish museums blend together a bit, so this one wasn't all that special. The Holocaust memorial was quite incredible, it was in an old synagogue and it was walls and walls of name, after name after name, of all the Jews from Prague and that died in Prague.

Holocaust Memorial

The cemetery was also incredible, it has been around since the 1400's and there's so many people buried there that at some point they ran out of space, so they started putting bodies, one on top of another. At the most concentrated point there are twelve layers of graves, and it's estimated that there are 100,000 people buried there.

The Cemetery; A small portion of the many gravestones

The rest of the synagogues were old looking, although they all had incredible thought put into their design and decoration.

We spent Shabbat in Prague, we went to services on Friday night at the Spanish Synagogue and the services were led by a Czech man, and the community there were mostly tourists. The next morning we went to another synagogue, called the Jerusalem synagogue, but the women sat in the back behind a big sheet and couldn't really hear or see, so we didn't stay there for to long.

While in Prague we went on Several walking tours. One on Friday night, and we say the city lit up at night, which was quite beautiful, especially along the river. The Charles Bridge (i think that's the name of it) is this huge pedestrian bridge that was really lit up and beautiful. The other walking tour was during the day, and that more historic sites, although we returned to the same bridge and saw a really peculiar site. It was Jesus on the cross with Hebrew words written in an arc above him (קדש קדש, קדש, and the continuation of the prayer). The legend goes that Jewish man defaced a previous image of Jesus and was ordered to pay for a new one, the entire Jewish community stood behind him, and so they left their mark on the statue.

The Statue

Walking Tour Views

Shabbat in Cordoba, and Madrid

The main attraction of Cordoba was our ability to spend Shabbat there. Spanish Jewry has all essentially disappeared since the inquisition. We had Friday night and Saturday morning services in a historical Sephardic home (it is now a tourist site) and we were the first group of any sort of Jews to hold a service there, and in all of Cordoba in hundreds, literally hundreds of years. Coincidentally there was a touring group of secular Israeli teens in Cordoba and they joined us for services on Friday night. On Saturday morning we read from a Torah that had been donated by the father of a man we had met and had services with in Morocco.
Spending Shabbat there was wonderful, it was peaceful and it was incredible to know that we were the first ones doing it in a very long time. There were several people on our program who had Aliyahs (the act of being called to a Torah, which usually happens on one's bat/bar mitzvah) for the first time. One girl had had a Bat Torah (celebration at the time of one's bat mitzvah without being called to the Torah). There was one girl (the one student from Mexico) who had had no celebration at Bat-Mitzvah age. She had an aliyah and read from the Torah, so she essentially had a bat- mitzvah in Spain. This was not only historical for her, but this was the first time possibly ever that a girl had had a bat-mitzvah in Cordoba let alone all of Spain.
After Havdalah we took a two hour bullet train to Madrid. The next morning we met with the Israeli ambassador to Spain. He was quite engaging. He's been a diplomat for several decades and has also been the ambassador to other countries including Chile. Then we spent a couple hours at the Prado then we flew home. The Prado was absolutely incredible, the time we were given was not nearly enough to see all of much of it. We had a guided tour and they focused mainly on the Spanish painters, Diego, Velasquez and Greco, the painting were unbelievable but there was so much else there that we didn't get a chance to see.
All in all Spain was absolutely amazing. It's somewhere I definitely want to return to and spend more time. But by far it was the best trip yet.

Bienvendios a Espana!

Spain was absolutely incredible. By far my favorite country we've been to yet. I understood the language, the culture was comfortable and the food was great. In addition the feelings of the group and the things we saw were unbelievable.
Our trip started in Toledo. We stayed in a gorgeous hotel right outside of the old city. The first full day we had a tour of the old city. We went to this incredible church that was absolutely gorgeous in it's over the top showiness. We also went to an old synagogue that has since been turned into a historical site. It is Kivunim's custom to sing when we are in synagogues around the world but when we were here we had to get permission from the people working there. They were worried of extra attention being drawn to us if we were singing Jewish songs. In the end we were able to sing though.

A couple views from around Toldeo

The Outside of the Church

The rest of the time in Toledo was spent on our own, exploring and eating at some of the local restaurants. The major food theme of my trip to Spain was seafood. Seafood paella, squid...etc. There was also ham and pork everywhere but I stayed away from that....although most of our program tried it, even though they normally keep kosher (among other things; no pig products).
From Toledo we went to Grenada, with a stop along the way in Jaen (pronounced Chai-en). In Jaen there is a large initiative on the part of the government to restore the historical Jewish sites around the city. There are old Jewish homes that are being restored, and the old Jewish quarter is being brought to people's attention.

Jaen

In Grenada the main attraction was the Alhambra mosque. It is arguably one of the most impressive examples of architectural supremacy ever. It was built in the 13th and 14th centuries when Islam ruled Spain. Every single piece of the mosque is created with enormous detail and care. There are several palaces, gardens, and many many buildings all within the Alhambra complex. Overall it was absolutely unbelievable.

The Alhambra

From Grenada we moved on to Cordoba. Along the way we stopped in Seville to visit the foundation of three cultures. It is an initiative between the Spanish and Moroccan governments to establish a coexistence organization in Spain. It includes Islam, Christianity and Judaism, although the foundation prefers to refer to them as cultures as opposed to religions. This is in part due to the stigma that the word religion carries and additionally their belief that these three different groups are more of a culture than a religion.

Foundation of Three Cultures

Also in Seville I saw crew! We drove along a river and there were several singles rowing down it. It was wonderful!
Then on to Cordoba. Here we stayed within the walls of the old city. We toured La Mesquita, which used to be a mosque but in the 16th century (I believe) it was converted to a Church. It has been used a mosque twice since it has changed over. This church was also incredible. Huge with grandiose decorations although it was not quite as over the top as the Cathedral in Toledo, I think because it was originally a mosque. Mosques in general are just as intricate and thoughtful as churches, just without all the paintings and art because Islam forbids imagery of Muhammad and frowns upon imagery of other figures.

Cathedral in Toledo

The Sahara and an extended bus stop

So after a very very very very long day of traveling on a bus and then a bumpy Jeep ride we arrived at this hotel in the Sahara. It was incredible. Each room was painted a different color and had these huge beds, with these netted canopies across them. And the stars there as well were amazing. Just not quite as much as the night before in the Berber Village.
The next morning we woke up early and most of our group took camels, I walked, along the sand dunes to the peak of this one from which we watched the sun rose. At that point it didn't matter that it had taken close to ten hours of traveling to get to this point, it was incredible, impressive and one of if not the best moments of the trip. At dinner the night before Peter Geffen (the director) had told us it was our choice if next year's Kivunim would make this trip. At that point we were all thinking, what kind could be worth so much traveling, and such a long day.
The next morning was more than worth it. We were all covered in sand and tired because walking along sand dunes is quite tiring, but the sunrise was incredible.

The Sahara, the dunes, the Sunrise and the camels

After we saw the sunrise, we packed up and left the hotel, and had the same bouncy jeep ride out of the desert. Today though we could see where we were going, and the jeep ride was a lot more fun. Our task for the day was to head to Warzazat, the Hollywood of Morocco for a night, before making the trek back to Casablanca the next for the flight home. In Warzazat it was a pretty relaxing night, nothing much to report on there. The next morning was our final full day in Morocco, and the only task for the day was to make it to Casablanca, which was a four-five hour drive. About two hours into it the brakes on our bus overheated while we were stopped at a rest stop. We had to wait several hours for a new bus to come. We were stuck on the side of the road overlooking mountains, and fields and beautiful scenery, but we were still stuck there for about two and half hours. We ended up arriving in Casablanca about two hour later than scheduled, and we were supposed to have a dinner with Jewish youth there, but seeing as how we arrived after ten o'clock they were all asleep. We had a quick dinner, then made our way back to the hotel for a brief night's sleep before boarding a late (TurkishAir is always late) plane which stopped in Istanbul en route to Israel.
Overall Morocco was absolutely incredible and wonderful and amazing.

A Berber Village, the Sahara and the Hollywood of Morocco

The last couple days of the trip were the most crazy and involved the longest time sitting on a bus, but they were also the most incredible. From Marrakesh we made out way to a small Berber village called Tillhouette. Along the way we had been invited to attend a Hillulah in another small village. A Hillulah is a celebration that occurs on the day of the yortzeit (anniversary of the death) of a Rabbi or another important Jewish figure. Unfortunately I don't even remember the name of the Rabbi of the one we attended. I do remember the village though. It was a very small village, donkeys were everywhere. We wound our way up to the crest of this hill, on which a small Jewish club resided. The main feature of the Jewish club was the graves of these two Rabbi which had been built after a donation from a wealthy Jewish man in Marrakesh. A (now) old woman, who was there, was told in a dream that this was where the graves had to be put, and thus they were built there. After the Hillulah when we were making our way back down to the bus, I and two friends got caught in the middle of a sheep herd. We thought there were going to run into us and we were going to be doing a hot potato dance to avoid being trampled but it was like oil and water, they just moved around us giving us a wide berth of space.

The Sheep Herd

From there we traveled to this village; Tillhouette. It was a very long bus ride and then another hour or so in these rickety vans because the roads became to narrow for the bus to transverse. We arrived in this small Berber village and because of the trek it took to get there I am sure it is not a popular tourist spot. We toured a Cashbah (castle or fortress) which was honestly just a really really cool old building.
Then we sat around a fire with many of the local villagers. The Berber women performed dances and songs, and encouraged/forced all of the Kivunim females to join them. It was quite unreal, it looked like something you'd see in a movie.

Local Berber Child

Cashbah

There was this one hotel, I guess you would call it there, and that's where we all stayed. They made us a home cooked meal very similar to the one we had had the night before, soup and couscous. And then the evening was hours. There wasn't much to do in this village but oh my, the stars there were magical. There was no light pollution from anything, so just a black sky and an absolutely gorgeous array of stars. It was so amazing. I could have lied there forever, if only it wasn't so cold.
The next day we packed up early, took the vans back to the bus and settled in for the longest bus ride of the trip to the Sahara. Along the way we stopped at a gorge, which was quite striking. A small stream ran down the center, and on either side loomed these huge cliffs.

The Gorge

But it was nothing to what were going to see in the Sahara. The extensive day of travel ended with an hour Jeep ride in the desert to the hotel we were spending the night at. It was pitch black and we could not see where we were going in the slightest.

Shabbat in an Emperial City

The next three days were spent in Marrakesh, one of the imperial cities in Morocco. This was Thursday (night), Friday, Saturday and then we left Sunday morning. Because most of the time in Marrakesh was on Shabbat and we are a Jewish program, we didn't do all that much.
Thursday night we arrived in time for dinner, and time to explore the square. The square is this huge, and I mean huge square bustling and hustling even late at night (I think we walked around in at 11 or so). There are hundreds of people and even more vendors who all want you to buy stuff from them, and will shout somewhat random things in English just to try and catch your attention. I think I was called the names of several pop princesses (Miley Cyrus among others) and was asked if I would be willing to marry one of the vendors. On top of the vendors there were small children who would follow you trying to sell you whichever item they were peddling. When we refused to buy tissues, etc. off of the children they would become violent and begin to kick or attempt to throw punches. We had a native Moroccan as a security guard. He would mutter a couple words to the children in either Arabic or French and they would run off.
On Friday we visited the Mellah (the Jewish ghetto) of Marrakesh. All but four families have moved out and now live in other places around Marrakesh (there used to be thousands of Jews there, and now there are only a couple thousand, of which not that many are religious). We went to a 600 year old cemetery, the most recent grave is from this millennium. Then we returned to the square we had visited last night and went to a pharmacy. Rafi (our guide) knew this pharmacy that sold everything from fish spices to oil that after rubbing it on your temples would relieve stress and a headache. After this we roamed the square and went shopping! During daylight it was not nearly as overwhelming and packed as it was the night before which was a major plus. Then we had to make it back to the hotel in time to prepare for Shabbat. As a surprise when we left the hotel to take the bus to Shul, instead of a bus there were six our so horse drawn carriages that had been ordered to take us to the synagogue. So that was fun.
Saturday was a very low key day with services in the morning, lunch and down time until later than evening when we went to our local Marrakesh guide's house (Jamal was his name for dinner). Jamal is a religious Muslim but he allowed us to have Havdalah there and then we were all served dinner. Their house was incredible, huge rooms, with lots of pillows and space. We fit (all 46 of us) quite comfortably in several of their rooms. Here we had another traditional meal, that was absolutely delicious. Soup, this flaky bread type thing that was filled with vegetables and home made wonderful couscous.
Unfortunately my camera was not with me for any of Marrakesh so I do not have pictures to share.
So instead I will share a brief history lesson. There used to be tens of thousands of Jews in Morocco and all but about 3000 have moved out of Morocco, most of them to Israel. The Jewish community is dwindling still. It is customary that when kids become of age they leave Morocco for higher education and it is rare that they come back. This trend is even more prevalent among Jewish teens because their parents are able to send them abroad. As an additional note those Moroccans who emigrated to Israel were not treated very well. Because of how close the Jewish culture is with the Muslim culture within Morocco, the Moroccan Jews brought many Arab customs and in some cases even the language with them to Israel. Here they were regarded as lower class citizens and it was often the Moroccan Jews who got involved in crime and prostitution. This didn't help their social standing either. In recent years they have been more accepted, and they are not still on the bottom of the food chain, but during the waves of emigration post independence it was not that great to be a Moroccan Jew in Israel.