Explaining Simchat Beit HaShoeva

At the end of the period of teshuva and the Day of judgement, the festival of Sukkot is the time of full. Compared to other festivals in the Jewish calendar - none on Pesach and one time on Shavuot -, the association between Sukkkot and joy is mentioned three times. According to Deut. 16: "And you shall rejoice on your festival and you shall be only joyous" and "And you shall be exceedingly joyous". "And you shall rejoice before Hashem, your Gd" (Leviticus 23:40). 

Source: Temple Institute

When the Temple still stood, the most important celebrations associated with the festival were Simchat Beit HaShoeva (Rejoicing - simcha - of the place - beit - of water drowing - hashoeva), the height of the holiday joy of the Sukkot. Not explicitly mentioned in the Torah, during the seven days of the festival, water was poured on the altar as a libation that accompanied the daily morning sacrifices, a ceremony called in Hebrew nisuch ha-mayim. Usually at the time, every day of the year, after the sacrifices were burned, an offering of wine was poured on the altar, but during Sukkot, the water was added.Symbolically, there were used water from Shiloh, from a source not affected by any human intervention. 

Each morning, the Kohanim were going to the pool of Shiloh (in Silwan), in the City of David, near Jerusalem, to fill a golden flask. Shofar blasts were greeting their arrival. The water brough was poured on the alter, at the same time with the wine. At the end of the celebration, the immense candelabrum in the Temple courtyard was lightened and it was hardly any courtyard in Jerusalem which didn't reflect its light. The Levi'im prepared the orchestra of flutes, trumpets, cymbals and harps to accompany the torchlight processions and the celebrations.  

The Tractate Sukkot (51:a) says that 'Whoever has not seen the Festival of Water Libation has never seen joy'. It used to take place every night during the Sukkot festival, except the first day and on Shabbes. The Kohanim, Levi'im, Israelim, elders, pious men and men of good deeds, all joined the celebrations that used to last even for more than 15 hours. Although it was not the Purim, many of the great sages were joining the celebrations, some of them in postures hard to imagine. It was said that Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel juggled eight torches and raised himself on hand stand with only two fingers. Rabbi Levi juggled with many knives, while Shmuel was able to hold eight glasses of wine without spelling the content. It is written in the name of Rabbi ben Hanania: "When we used to rejoice at the place of water drawing, our eyes saw no sleep", meaning that after the celebrations, they were ready to return back to learning and the service in the Temple.

According to other interpretations, the ritual was part of a larger inducement of rain intent. On Sukkot, the world is judged by water (Mishneh Rosh Hashanah) and "Day of the Rains are as great as the day of Giving of Torah" (Talmud Ta'anit 7a). 

Nowadays, the festival is held in the diaspora, but the height of the celebrations are in Israel, especially among the many Hasidic sects in Bnei Brak and Mea Shearim. Shuls, places of study or yeshivot, all are opening their doors to music and dances. One of the most famous are Karlin, Breslev, Toldos Aharon, Belz or Toldos Avrohom Yitzchok.

Simcha at Ponevetz Yeshiva

When Hasidism is fun. Their fun

Hasidism sells in America, but not in the good way. After TV-shows and pathetic articles explaining to a shocked audience the duties of going every month to the mikwe, something new is on the market: an show that starts with a discussion about the eruv and ends up with casual discussion about porn. Nothing wrong with discussing such issues - the last one, I mean - but not by exploiting the innocence of a guy you 'met' on Craiglist at 'platonic love' section. 

Part of her 'installation' about faith, Annie Berman got in touch with Hasidic 25-year old married mad, with whom she talks about eruv, her love life failures and daily religious life. The guy, speaking good English, in full innocence, is opening his heart to her, but for the sake of the art installation, the context and probably the social context of the guy doesn't matter. It's more important to exploit the conversation till it leads at the yellow media level, when he's mentioning sex and other things that for the outside world might look so exotic. 

What bothered me the most was to hear the tonality of the voices of the two participants at the dialogue: she, with the arrogance of self-assumed intellectual superiority and condescension versus the innocent guy, lacking a proper contact with the non-Jewish world but still ready to clarify and help and share his thoughts with someone out of too much loneliness, maybe.   

I have no idea if this discussion brought any high audience or clarified the author's - calling a journalist someone who promise a recorded conversation on one topic and ends up in a completely different direction is abusive - curiosity or big life questions. But for sure, the approach is not professional and lack a proper honesty of a human being approaching other fellow human. 

It might sound pathetic for the illuminated minds, but sharing such normal feelings like compassion, love and respect are the chore of the daily normal human interaction, Hasidic or not. 

What the next year will stand for?

Regardless how brave I pretend I am or how optimistically I gaze at the future, with an idiotic smile on my face, this beautiful 5774 was a year of failures. On exactly old plans, starting with this blog and ending up with the domestic mess. Nothing really went on as I was expecting at the beginning of the year. Nothing at all. 

Put into a larger life perspective, this was the most challenging year of my life and I bet will have a lot of more consequences to deal with in the next weeks and months. I'm not that naive to pretend that everything should go smoothly always, but not that pessimistic either to believe that it's perfectly fine that everything you want to do is deemed to a happy failure. 

Not even my terrible will to overcome difficulties and always survive is not it used to be, perfectly turned into small little pieces by the stubbornness to accept a very distorted reality. Probably I wanted too much and was used always to receive what I was looking for and the challenges of the last months were completely out of my usual context. 

Now, when I am done with the overexposure of the recent past, and still hope that things can be changed for the good, or that everything happened was always, but always for the good, I cannot be fully supportive of my dreams and plans. 

Does it make to plan anything after all? Not that I'm suddenly the prey of a dramatic turn of faith and entering a dark age stage of nihilism. As for now, I decided to take a completely new attitude to life: getting less and less involved in planning. After so much planning and worries and too much thinking about what will happen if, I decided to give up. This year, a shmitta year, I don't look after the fruits, just will go and on with my life.

Who knows?

New adventures in JDate online dating (1)

This dating post is talking about old 'adventures' but thought that instead of turning the piece of paper with the old notes into little pieces, I rather use it for publishing on my blog. Sooner or late, I'm sure that someone will resonate with my impressions too.

I always felt that online dating is a sign of terrible failure. It works only for people that in real life are guilty of big social inadequacies, well known for an enormous record of problems - including domestic violence and various religious transgressions - and even though you might gain a match through it sooner or later you will end up single. Better single than the victim of a sociopath and potential murderer. 

Anyway, at the time I was in a relatively desperate dating situation. Y. disappeared - apparently for good - among the black hats of who knows what yeshiva in Jerusalem coping with its newly discovered religious fervour and the latest frum match I was into it was in fact one of those irreversible cases of people with a perfect yichus but unacceptable psychological problems, even for a poor BT girl as me, with a complicated yet resourceful enough heritage for writing an interest book about just another Jewish family from Eastern Europe. 

As usual, things were getting confused and the perspective of 'for ever alone' was more real than never. In fact, it was a perspective I was pretty ready to accept wholeheartedly. Isn't it better than being heartbroken in the painful other people's process of becoming a better Jew or being tricked by a smiling shadchan from Golders Green? 

For the next months I was frantically traveling as often as possible, trying to keep myself away from computers, social media networks and spending instead a lot of time learning, reading, doing some writing and eventually sleeping more than usual, maybe who knows, some answers to my singleton problems will be sent through the Kabbalistic waves of Y.'s new teachers through my dreams. After three months, nothing happened and a dramatic break up with the nice yet unstable frum match - ended up with the delightful observation 'Woman, you are crazy!', guess who's talking - I decided that it is about time to do something until it's not that late. Of course I was still dreaming about that family of mine, some children - not the old magical 10 - and a life immersed in learning and some meaningful trips along the way. Dream on, former little girl, dream on...

I had a look around my shul maybe something will miraculously jump along my way and rescue me from loneliness. Maybe one day. Started to ask discretely my relatives about some maybes, who knows perhaps they still be helpful after all. But it was also some other resource, except of course some valuable shadchamin resources specialized in 'Russian Men for Jewish Girls': the damned JDate. Back in the old country, I started to use it of for a while, out of boredom and a bit desperate that will never be able to find my Jewish boy. I didn't find him through it, but at least I did have some interesting conversations. The two guys I've met after some months of discussions were definitely not my style, and I wasn't their either but at the time, I was taking life more lightly.

After another seconds of regrets and badmouthing the one and only Y. who...read above what he did to me...I set up the profile on a late Saturday evening. - the same timing of years ago - and started to look around. Surprisingly enough, online there were some characters I've been in touch years ago, they grew up more mature, with updated pictures, far away in their 40s. What happened? This is what's waiting for me too? A decade or even more of online hanging looking for the one and only? 

With every new profile I was discovering, my desperation increased. Here he was again, the Swiss guy that used to show off as a non-religious OTD guy when he was only looking for some out of the bed adventure...

The more desperate you are, the more tempted you are to believe that money can solve almost all your problems! Should I maybe buy a 6-month plan, my maximum deadline for finding - again - a one and only? What gonna happen this time? Wish that this time I knew much better! For good!

to be continued...

Jewish memories in Thale, Germany

The region of Harz mountains, in Germany, was famous for the high concentration of Jewish population, especially in the 17-18th century. Despite the permanent threats of pogroms, the local landlords allowed the Jews to establish here, set up their own business and schools and even create important institutions of Torah learning. But as in many other cases, it was short lived and the persecutions in the 1930s lead to vandalism of synagogues and places of prayer as well as the significant diminishing of the Jewish population. 

Nowadays, there are almost no Jews left, most part of them being murdered.

The memories are strong though and one might find memorial notes about famous local families and personalities that leaved in various cities. 

One of such case was this mention, on a wall near the Karl-Marx street in Thale. It reminds the family Dessauer, who lived here for a while, before the war. Dessauer was a common name in the region, with similar names encountered in Magdeburg or Halberstadt, but the clear connection between them is not obvious. Dessauer might be a name that in fact can mention the common place of origin, the city of Dessau. 

Jewish memories in Hamburg: Otto and Paul Lang

The - sometimes strong - connection between national socialism and sport, especially in the case of the big sport associations is not yet fully explored. One of such cases is the famous and extremely popular FC Pauli in Hamburg. In the 1930s, many players of Jewish origin were either dismissed from their sport clubs or simply encouraged to do so by themselves.

One such a case are the brothers Lang, Otto and Paul, in whose honour a memorial stone was inaugurated a couple of years ago. The memorial stays at the entrance to the stadium. 

Both of them had an important contribution to the development of the local rugby. They left FC Pauli in 1933, the clear conditions of the departure not being documented in full details. 

Otto left shortly after Germany via Antwerp, from where he moved in the United States where he died in 2003. His brother, Paul, stayed in Germany and was deported to KZ Theresienstadt in 1945. He survived and returned to Hamburg after the war, where he died in 2003.

Jewish memories in Hamburg: Brandenburger Haus

A Hansa city, with an intensive trade activity, Hamburg also used to have a very rich and sophisticated Jewish community, whose representatives contributed greatly to the well-being of the city and its citizens. The free economic status that supposedly also involved a certain free mind frame. It was not always like this, but at least, for a certain period of time, Jews living in Hamburg had a good time. They invested in the local economy and constructions, their contributions remaining as part of the history of the city. 

During a short visit to the city of Hamburg, I discovered close to the Gansemarkt, the imposing Brandenburgerhaus. It has 4 stores and bay-windows, a typical architectural element from Liverpool, in England. This 'kontorhaus' - tradesman house, usually used as offices for businesses - was built following the plans of Johannes Wald.

The house belonged to Isidor Hirschfeld that wanted to build the house for his wife, born Brandenburger. Isidor, together with his brother Benno, had before the war a successful fashion owner based in Hamburg, with offices in Hannover, Bremen and Leipzig. Isidor died in 1937, but Benno shortly before the end of the war, at Buchenwald. 

Memories of Jewish life in Schöneberg, Berlin

In the Western part of Berlin, Schöneberg is one of the areas where used to live many Jewish intellectuals, among which Albert Einstein, that used to live on Haberlandstrasse 8, Gisele Freund, Leo Baeck on Fritz Elsasstrasse 15 or Erich Fromm, on Bayerischer Platz 1. Marcel Reich-Ranicki, the leading literary critic of German literature also lived here for a while, and in his memory, a local school is bearing his name.

Aiming to remember the terrible times, an artistic project of Renata Stih and Frieder Schnock is aimed to raise awareness about the absurdity of the racist legislation at the time. Near the street lamps, on the main streets from the Bayerische Viertel, where Jews used to live, small billboards were placed with the texts of the interdictions the Jews were victims thereof. 

Jews were not allowed to go to school, own dogs or visit the doctors. Even though, later in the project, various mentions were added aimed to specify the context where those decisions were taken, reading all those messages on the light of the day in 2014, doesn't sound very pleasant.

The 80 signs are doubled signed: on one side there is a fragment of the German Nuremberg law and on the other side, there is a graphic description of the interdiction. 

As the signs are written in German, the target of the live exhibition is the German speaking population, but I suppose that after a while, those living around got used with the signs ending up by completely ignoring them. 

This exhibition is part of the larger project 'Places of Remembrance', aimed to outline the lost Jewish heritage of Berlin and can be considered as one of the most significant in the Western part of the city.

In the Schöneberg area used to live around 16,000 Jews, out of which 6,000 were deported from the Munchenerstrasse. At no. 37, there used to be a synagogue and Jewish school, mostly destroyed first during Kristallnacht and after by the bombings. The Orthodox synagogue was opened in 1909, answering the spiritual needs of the growing Jewish population. 

Schöneberg used to be called the 'Jewish Switzerland', but nowadays, there are only the Stolpersteine and the various memory projects that reminds about the past. This is how things are in this part of the world. 

Jewish memories in Berlin: Wittenbergplatz

After going out through the exit of the Wittenbergplatz U-Bahn Station in Berlin, after admiring the old adds and the modernist architecture of the station, the traveler will arrive close to the Ku'damm main shopping attraction: the historical KaDeWe retail center. Before that, near the main entrance, a list of places of infamous resonance is mentioned, a reminder of how the Jews were took over in the trains of death in the very center of the German capital city. The list of names was inaugurated there in 1967.

During the anti-Semitic attacks from the 1930s, the area near this station was often the scenery of boycott and vandalism of the Jewish shops. On Ku'damm and Tauentzienstrasse it used to be a high concentration of Jewish shops and businesses. One of the main representative was the KaDeWe, opened in 1907 by the Jewish businessman Adolf Jandorf and later sold to the Jewish family Tietz. The Jews themselves did not give up and openly protested against the situation, without too much chances of changing the overall mood of the population. 

There are different kinds of Torah teachers

Shavuos is one of the best times of the year to think about teachers and ways of teaching Torah. This year, I was not too tired, so I spent the whole night taking part to different shiurim, focused on catching up with the style of the teacher as well. 

First, it was the rebbetzen, speaking passionately about the story of Ruth, discussing, asking and answering questions, using her notes for bringing more ideas, but generally enjoying the dialogue rather than the monologue, translating the story of Ruth into our daily life. As I always had serious struggles to really go into the deep sense of this megillah, I had enough food for thought for the next days. And energy to keep up with the learning for the rest of the night.

After, I moved into a more complicated register, keeping up with the discussion about Shavuos and its signification, but through the reading of texts in Hebrew with translation, discussion line by line in a systematic way. After a while, around 2 o'clock, one might feel tired and exhausted, but between trying to read the proper Hebrew and investigating the sense of a word, the time passed very fast and didn't acknowledged that it's already 4 o'clock. I did learn a lot of new things here as well, even though I cannot openly say that I fully enjoy the intellectual discussion, as it was rather a monologue, with a couple of questions and different short observations from the participants. 

And there are always the very interesting shiurim of the rav, whose style took me a while to understand. He starts explaining a word, and the context, and goes further on with clear analysis looking for the hidden meaning. Everything told with a quiet voice, like counting the seconds before telling something new. We should be cautious yet respectful when talking about Torah.

Three different styles of teaching Torah the same learning. As for me, I never have enough of learning more and discovering new teachers helping me to find more meanings. 

Jewish life: Halle (an der Saale) Memorial

Relatively close to the central historical area, but hidden between blocks of houses, there is a small square in Halle (an der Salle) called Jerusalem Square /Jerusalmerplatz with a big arch in its center with a symbolic metal door in the middle, whose lines are united in the 6-star corners of many small Magen David. Although while arriving in the city by bus, I noticed close to the entrance the black stones of a Jewish cemetery, it seemed that the place was either too far away from the center or completely unknown to the locals I'd asked about after, so this was the only Jewish memory I encountered in Halle.

The first official Jewish presence is recorded somewhere in the second half of the 12th century. After the houses of many inhabitants were burned and looted by the locals, the Jewish presence diminished till the 14-15th century, when they returned in relatively bigger numbers. Halle used to be a very important trade knot in the Eastern side of Germany, with many fairs held around the year. 

In 1933, there were 1,100 Jews living here, representing 0.5% of the total population. Comparatively, in 1700, there were only 12 families. On November 10 1938, the synagogue and communal center were demolished, and the small memorial - called 'Judentores'/Jewish door - , where I completely arrived by accident as there were no specific information about it, is in the memory of this tragic incident. In July 1944, there were only 92 Jews living here, and their number decreased since then. 

Here is the place where the tragic events in the life of German Jewry are celebrated. A quiet place, with some green areas, and a bench where to stay and remember those terrible times.  

Jewish Memories: Gleis 17 Berlin

I visited the Gleis 17 from the Berlin Grunewald station the last August. It was a very sunny beautiful day and the noble houses from the area were breathing a majestic peace. The station was first opened in 1879 and bore different names till the current one. The entrance has the shape of a castle and was finished in 1899. 

Various arrows and historical references are leading the visitor to the Gleis/Platform 17, one of the many stations from the Berlin network where the trains are coming and going every 15 minutes almost. It was a certain ambiance of normality that I'm afraid to think it used to be during the terrible times too. Some were taking the train to Berlin, others to death.

From 18 October 1941 till beginning of March 1945, from this station left 183 trains with Jews deported to, first, Litzmannstadt and Warsaw and from 1942 on, to Auschwitz and Theresienstadt. The number of the victims that went through this station is of around 55,000 persons. 

Nowadays, the line is not used being changed into a memorial in the memory of the person deported with the Deutsche Reichsbahn. The inheritors of the then German rail company, Deutsche Bahn, contributed to the establishment of a memorial officially inaugurated on 27 January 1998. At this date the Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps were liberated. 

The platform is separated into 183 steel plates, with details of the trains that left the station. It includes the date, the destination and the number of deportees. 

Stones in the memory of the victims, according to the Jewish tradition, are set on various places near the platform. Regularly, reunions in the memory of the victims are held, and most Israeli delegations visiting Berlin include Gleis 17 as part of their program. 

Remembrance has an important role in the Jewish tradition. The victims should be remembered individually and their name kept in the book of life. 

I spent there probably more than one hour, walking slowly and quietly the platform, putting one stone in one corner. No one around, only my silent steps on the steel. There is a lot of sadness and depressive feeling about the human condition. But there is also hatikva/hope, that such atrocities are not possible nowadays as we do have our state to protect and safe us from all evils.  

Book review: Rivka Guber Signal Fires of Lachish

Pesach is that time of the year when I have time to catch up with reading, and especially after a couple of busy weeks, I finally found the peace for books. Trying to follow the general topic of the holidays, stumbled upon a book by Rivka Guber, a pioneer in the domain of education and absorption policies in the newly created state of Israel.

The signal fires of Lachish is written in the journalist style, rather as a testimony than a literary account of the first years of the state. When you work hard to build a country, who does have time of literature and poetry? The style reminds me of some early Soviety/Russian feature reports, that probably Guber was used with, as she was born in Ukraine and spent some time in the country before moving to Israel. Involved in the creation of the new education system, especially the integration of new Jewish immigrants from all over the world, she mentions several times that she used the pedagogic principles of Makarenko in creating equal opportunities for the Jewish children. 

Even though the book doesn't have high literary or journalistic qualities, it is a valuable testimony of the beginning of the state and not less important, a very intimate account of the sociological and demographic changes underwent by the state of Israel. The issue of the so-called Eastern communities - North Africa, Iran, Yemen, Iraq, Kurdistan area - is presented carefully, without the usual ethnic bias, but with the generous aim to create an integrated society. The first stage of the ingathering of exiles brought together the sophisticated and less religious Askenazim with traditional families from Morocco and Yemen and the meeting wasn't a happy one. Prejudices of old generations against Eastern communities were based of a lack of understanding and contact with those fellow Jews. Some of those prejudices I try to do not hear tomorrow, but I should be thankful for living in a different stage of Jewish history, when I don't feel different of the welcoming Iraqi Jews from whom I am happy to learn every time something new. The educational state policies contributed to bring all of us at the same level of Jewish knowledge and made all of us feel as part of the same community, assuming our differences and histories. Guber's book helped me to understand  - even though I deeply disapprove - the root of the stereotypes and lack of understanding towards the 'Oriental' Jews, and to appreciate the tremendous progress achieved in only in one generation that diminished many of the misunderstandings.

I went more than one jealous of the extraordinary experiences she witnessed, the enthusiasm of building a new country, the discovery of the lost Jews and all the difficulties of the new beginnings. But still, the same difficulties persist and even though the challenges are different, the passions remain.

Especially one story at the end of the book made me think about some recent stories that maybe I will talk more about one day: a family of fresh Polish immigrants, mother and son, were expressing their dissatisfaction with the situation encountered in Israel. They were speaking only Polish and the son was photographer, a job not necessarily sought at the time. Rivka Guber suggests them to try to find out a low level job till they will be able to get a proper training for competing for the job market. They refuse to accept the reality and prefer to complain about the lack of promises in the 'promise land' and threaten with leaving the country. Sounds familiar? At least for me does...

I recommend this book for the sociological information, but also because it shows how fast we were able to move fast forward in such a short time.  

Haggadot to make you think this Pesach

There are only a couple of hours left till Pesach and after days and for many even weeks of preparations, it's time to slow down and think about the meaning of the holiday: a holiday of freedom when we recognize what are the things that really matter into our life. Reading together the Haggadah is one of the most important moment of the seder - besides the delicious food, of course. Here are some recommendations to read this year, or later. The meaning is always the same as it is never enough to start a new life.

The Ethiopian Haggadah was published a couple of years ago by Koren and reunites the fantastic stories and memories of the exodus to Israel of the Ethiopian Jews. The first time when I'd read their stories and their courage to defy death, going by foot for months till they reached Jerusalem, I was deeply impressed. Used with the comfort of booking a flight to Tel Aviv as often as we can, we forget sometimes the deep meaning of coming home. The Ethiopian stories, illustrated with pictures and detailed with documents are a testimony of am Yisroel's strength. 

Yemeni traditions are fascinating and distinguished from the Askenazi and Sephardi customs, not only when it comes to the composition of the Siddur (prayer book) but also regarding the overall setting and culinary choices of the Pesach seder. 

The original Algerian Haggadah has various Berber influences, and different customs, such as the one of serving the guests from the Seder plate. I was told that this is also the minhag among Morrocan Jews Special songs are also sung, with the specific Hebrew intonation. The Aleppo Haggadah  reunites commentaries of the Syrian rabbis from the 17th to the 21st century. Besides the beautiful illustrations, it has useful information about the history of the Jews from Syria and their traditions.

Vilna Gaon (GRA) Haggadah I discovered a couple of years ago and I continued its reading long time after the holiday was over. The commentaries added of his son, Rabbeinu Avraham are outlining hidden Kabbalistic interpretations and a strong message of hope for the geula (redemption). 

The Indian Haggadah, used by the Bnei Israel, Jews from Indian or 'Black Jews', was discovered three years ago by accident, during a garage sale. It is written both in Hebrew and in the local Marathi dialect, sending interesting information about a group of Jews able to keep the traditions despite being isolated from the main centers of Jewish thinking, but still keeping their traditions and names. Similarly with the fate of the Jews in Egypt, at a certain extent.

Before Rav Ovadia Yosef zt''l, Ben Ish Chai was the most important representative of Iraqi Jews during modern times. His Haggadah is not only guiding the process through the various pre-Pesach preparations, including the burning of chometz, but also reunites various commentaries and stories that can turn the seder into a learning experience. 

Considered one of the oldest Haggadot, the one from Sarajevo contains special illuminations, in the art of the Middle Ages manuscripts in Europe. It was created in Barcelona, in 1350, written on bleached calfskin with cooper and gold illuminations. 

Proof that every Haggadah tells a story of freedom is the one made by the 3rd Battalion of Palmach in 1948, fighting in the Galilee during the War of Independence. The Haggadah takes into account the victories and fragile peace and the hardships of the newly created state. 

With so much inspiration, wishing all my readers Chag Kosher v'Sameah!

History and histories

There is a lot of debate in the last weeks and months about 'truth' when it comes to events related to the Jewish life in Europe in between and after WWII. There is still a lot to be told, and the discretion of most old hasidic rabbis in getting public or writing about their experiences. Some, as many in my family, will simply refuse to disclose any details, especially about circumstances, people and locations. It was hard to understand what was going on and what was the right decision to make. Probably it was even harder to give advice to other people about what to do. It was like a night, and everyone was trying to swim against the current in that night.

After everything was gone, the constructed narrative were often based on personal accounts and not in a few situations, the escapes were miraculous. How politics, individual religious interpretations or various other reasons influenced the decisions for or against moving to Israel, there is a separate story. The Satmar, for instance, kept being against the state of Israel as usual, and their opposition didn't change. The decisive religious explanations given as an irrefutable fact about the reasons why 6 million people were killed is widely exaggerated and denies a basic right of the Jews: to never stop asking questions.

As for the decision of making aliyah, I assume it is individual and should be done when one is completely convinced it must be done. At the end of the screening process, one makes this fundamental step when fully aware of the reasons to be done: not because wants an outstanding career, or to find a mate, or to get rich, but because it is obvious that the Jews should live in their country and build their country against all odds. There is no other country for the Jews. The stories I am hearing recently of people moving back from Israel after 2-3 or even one year of aliya because disappointed of the economic situation or disillusioned about the different reality of their 'Zionist dreams' are sad. Maybe before making aliyah, people should really get in touch with the reality and their own reasons of moving in Israel.

The post-Holocaust generations, religious or not, grew up with the burden of the Shoah. Stories about what our grandfathers and parents went through were transmitted from generation to generation, not only in the shuls, but during the secular weekend afternoon. The acknowledging of the reality was equally shared to religious and non-religious children and the fear that this could any time happen again, was hunting us all. But it was this fear that made many of us powerful: strong enough to assume a religious identity that our parents couldn't have because their own parents were turned into ashes too early to learn them Shma; strong enough to assume in the front of the goyim that we are Jews; strong enough to face anti-Semites of all colours.

Despite all the small or big histories, real or not, about salvations and punishment, it is a clear historical reality: they wanted to kill us. That's obvious from all the official documents and policies of the interwar period. The Germans were helped by other smaller Amaleks, hysterically drunk with the idea of finally making real their old killers dreams, nurtured by their religions. This was the reality of Europe before and during the war: overwhelming hate against the Jews. Of course it was no clear reason to stay, but at the time, it was no state to defend us. Now we do, and it is our Army and they our our Jews, sons and grandsons of those who were killed.  

The instrumentalisation of our huge misunderstanding of the reasons why the tragedies happened for fighting one against the others is sad. Obliterating very often who our real enemies and where the serious dangers are. 

Jewish Berlin: Minna-Schwarz-Heim

On Brunnenstrasse 41, a glass plate reminds of what once used to be a philanthropic Jewish institution in the Eastern part of Berlin. Minna Schwarz was born in Pyritz, Poland, at the end of the 19th century, and died in 1936. In 1888, she created the first Bnai Brith Lodge for women in Berlin. Bnai Brith is the oldest Jewish service organization for social service, philanthropy and mutual aid.  

In the yard of this block of houses was created at Schwarz's initiative a kindergarten for abandoned children and a refuge for single mothers. Between 1932-1940, the 'Heim' was named after the founder, who dedicated her time and energy to help the women and children in need, although herself childless. From 1940, the building was used as a 'Judenhaus', a residence where Jews were living in a kind of ghetto. From here, many of them were sent to death.  

Jewish memories in Europe: The new cemetery in Leipzig

Early spring in Leipzig. On the way to the Book Fair, I spotted a Magen David and the shadows of some tombstones and decided that I am rather late to the fair than missing the opportunity of having a look at a slice of Jewish history. I go out of the tram and go back for another 5 minutes till the entrance from Delitzcher strasse. 

I first look through a big hole on the walls, through which one can enter the cemetery avoiding the main entrance that is open only between certain hours. Desecration of Jewish cemeteries happened in Leipzig too, but apparently for the moment, there are no specific threats. The entrance is not guarded and everything looked safe.

 Out of the hole, a peaceful area, with a lot of green and trees, as in all the Jewish cemeteries.

At the entrance, a quote in German: 'Only love is stronger than death', a shortened adaptation of a verse from Shir Hashirim.

Most tombstones are well preserved, erected at the beginning of the 1930s, and after the war. 

Old white stones with black spots of the new ones. The old area is almost empty. When I entered, I say 'Shalom' to two ladies exiting, that were looking a bit surprised at me. Jewish life is recorded in Leipzig since the 12th century, many Jews travelling regularly to town because of the fair trade. Officially, Jews were allowed to settle only in 1847. The first cemetery was created in 1815, till then the local Jews being buried in other places around, including Dresden. 

In 1935, there were 11, 564 Jews living in Leipzig, the city being the sixth largest community in Germany. In 1942, the deportation began, and in 1945, there were only 15 Jews left. 200 returned from Theresienstadt and other concentration camps. Eugen Gollomb was the most important post-war leader of the community, between 1967-1988. Born in Breslau and with studies at the Rabbinical seminary in Lublin, he served in the Polish army, and was prisoner in several camps, including Auschwitz Birkenau. He also was in touch with the Polish resistance. After the war, he moved to Germany, but kept considering himself more Polish than German. He never was member of the communist party, and was labelled in the documents of the intelligence service STASI as a 'dangerous Zionist'.

Torah scrolls who are damaged are no more kosher hence cannot be used any more for ritual purposes. According to the Jewish tradition, the writings cannot be destroyed or discarded, but buried according to a specific ceremonial in the genizah - a word that means hide/put away - a special repository or place either in the attic or basement of the synagogue or in the cemetery. At the Leipzig cemetery, were buried Torah scrolls stolen from Poland during the war and recovered later in the century. 

The number of Jews living in Leipzig increased especially after the end of the Cold War, when many Russians from the former Soviet Union arrived. Nowadays, there is a Jewish center and a limited kosher supervision, and since 2006, a mikvah/ritual bath, a clear message that in town are living observant families. 

As always when I go in a Jewish cemeteries, I respectfully walk near the stones. The Jewish practice does not encourage excessive visits to the cemeteries. G-d is one and we don't need intermediaries for sending our wishes and prayers. The general etiquette when visiting a Jewish cemetery is to be respectful, refrain from shouting, walking or consuming beverages or foods.

The Jews in Leipzig were usually middle class business persons, busy with trade, hence a slight investment in the outlook of the graves. Rich and poor should be buried alike though, according to the Jewish tradition, and the visual barriers between the social classes don't find their place in the cemetery. 

However, on the influence of the reform and Haskala, many Jewish cemeteries, especially in Germany - and Western part of Poland were adorned with artistic models and art nouveau decorations.

An interesting phenomenon that I noticed in Leipzig was the apparition, in the new section of the cemetery, of an area of tombs with many flowers. When I visited, during a day of full spring, a couple of women speaking Russian were there, cleaning the tombs and planting new flowers.

The planting of flowers on Jewish graves, and any adornments in general, are not part of the Jewish practice. As the flowers, the body is ephemeral and what is left is the soul, often symbolized by the small stones that we place near the burial sites in remembrance. 

Asked about the practice of bringing Jewish flowers to the grave, Rabbi Chai Elazar Shapiro of Munkacs (1871-1937) was categorically against it. Mentioning the need to avoid making any differentiation between poor and rich Jews, he also outlined that it is generally forbidden to have benefit from anything associated with the grave, thus the smell and beauty of the flowers should be avoided. The memory of the deceased is usually remembered by good deeds, tzedaka (charity), sponsoring a communal meal or learning in the memory of the dead. Excessive grave visitation can be also associated with idolatry, one of the reasons statues are not allowed for adorning the cemeteries.

In the Jewish practice, the excessive visits to the cemeteries are not encouraged. The visits are recommended on decisive moments - at the end of the shiva time, on yohrzeit. Also many go on the fast days and the first days of the months of Nissan and Elul, but not on happy occasions such as Purim, or chol hamoed of Pesach and Sukkot. 

On visitation, many recite the psalm 119.

I left the Leipzig cemetery, interested to return one day and meet some of the Jews living here. The past and future should be always connected by the present.