Traces of Jewish Life in Bayreuth

With a community of around 500 people, the Jewish life in Bayreuth is aimed at getting a new impetus with the opening of a Jewish center the next year. Situated opposite the synagogue, considered the oldest still in use in Germany, the center will include a kosher café, rooms for Talmud Torah classes and other spaces for events.

It is unclear who will give the hechsher - the stamp attesting the products are kosher - or who will teach the Torah classes. Most of the community is nowadays made of Russian-speaking Jews originally from the former Soviet Union.

The synagogue

The history of the local synagogue is connected for all this goods and bads with the UNESCO-listed Margravial Opera House. During the Kristallnacht pogrom, it was not put on fire only because it was a high probability that the Opera with which is sharing a common wall, will be affected. At the end of the war, when the Allies were throwing the remaining bombs on the way out of Germany, it was the round of the synagogue to save the Opera, which was not bombed in order to spare the synagogue. 

The community center

As everywhere in Germany, and in Europe in general, the life of Jews in Bayreuth was never been easy. The first proof of Jewish life is dating back in the 13th century. Various persecutions and pogroms ceased their presence between the 16th and 18th century. Under the protection of Magrave Friedrich, they were allowded to return. Their main representative at the time was Moses Seckel, the count banker and count supplier. The community grew up slowly, with 389 persons registered in 1792 and 530 in 1837. The intensive anti-Semitism, manifested both in the everyday life and at a highly intellectual level - see Wagner's works  - reduced significantly the Jewish presence in Bayreuth. It continued to decrease constantly in the years of National-Socialism, with only 80 Jews living here in 1938. Most of them were killed during deporations, with only a couple of them surviving, mostly due to their marriage with Christian spouses. 

Walking tours aimed to highlight the Jewish life are organised via the local tourism office, featuring former Jewish properties and streets with Jewish histories, as well as places of memories, where the Jews were gathered and sent to death. 

Our 'Talibans'

Based on his direct experience as a lawyer, Yair Nehorai wrote a poetry-novel telling the story of a child growing up in an abusive household. 

Lev Tahor is a cult counting around 200 people that lately set up headquarters in Bet Shemesh in Israel, its distinctive feature being a burqa-like dress for the women. Nehorai, which is criminal lawyer, defended the son and the husband of a woman leader of the group, that was charged with child abuse. This is not the only 'unusual' case Nehorai dealt with, as he frequently defends members of extreme anti-Zionist groups like Neturei Karta.

Translated in German - this is the version I've read - as 'The Child of the Taliban Woman', it was published in Hebrew as 'Vtahiyeh li ima keveri' ('And my mother would have been my grave'). 

The block of verses are organised per years, and one can notice the increasing tension shared by the protagonist, the growing up child telling the story of his alienation from his more and more extreme mother. We have here the usual 'we' vs. 'them' contrast, which is anyway typical for a certain isolationist mindset, with a depreciative take to everything that has to do with modernity and people adopting it. But, in addition, there is a very extreme and aggressive take, which has to do with the corporal punishment and verbal abuse against children that do not conform to the unrealistic standards set by the parents. In this case, without any normal connection with the Torah learning and education, but just the result of people in high need of a psychological support. There are individuals lost in the intricacies of spiritual promiscuity and superstition, that lost the love and humanity that the word of Torah might bring in the life of people. 

Unable to know any other world and surrounded by people with similar problems, the little child is going through a stage when he acknowledges the need for punishment, agrees with the need to be treated in this way. Until his world grows up and his perspective on the world changes as well. He can see the difference and realize that he is a victim.

The poetic form of expressing this story is unique, but makes the story even more interesting and dramatic at the same time. 

I've seen many reviews in German trying to outline that this is a typical 'Ultra-Orthodox' story, but obviously it ignores the very specific cult-status of this group, which is rejected by many representatives of the strict religious groups in Jerusalem and abroad. The stories of abuse surrounding not few people belonging to this very small group are indeed shocking for everyone, but a basic knowledge and background of the group will avoid generalisations. 

'Children of Palestine'

One of the last days, I was having lunch in the Berlin district of Neukölln, where I love the authentic affordable Middle Eastern food and the many family-friendy locations. The place I chose was a simple restaurant, offering various plates, and was half-empty in the middle of the day. Friendly personnel and fast service, and a mix of customers - Muslim families and curious locals and Middle-Eastern food lovers.

In the background, on the huge TV screens, images of music video clips were rolling with sound off, showing some sheik looking boys singing together around an old tree. I was checking the screen once in a while, curious to get insights into the visual culture of a part of the world I am not extremely familiar with.

Suddenly, I remained stuck with the fork full of food on the mid-way between the plate and my mouth when a non-sheik looking young man appeared on the screen, singing in the front of the Temple Mount Mosque. Compared to the previous music displayed, the words were translated into English on the screen, so not sure what was the language used previously for the clips. But this is less important.

The words of the screen sung by Sami Yusuf were what really counted. The song was about the 'Children of Palestine', who took their destiny in their hands and started to fight the occupier. Another line from the song was that they, the 'occupiers' are doing to 'us' what other did to them, without being afraid that Gd is always on the side of the opressed, the singer assumed.

Having an intellectual reason to my very mundane food activities is what I love, and this song was of those opportunities to have a direct access to a world otherwise closed to me. 

I've been previously accused of perpetuating a mindset typical of the 'oppressor' when I say that the best weapon against any kind of oppression is education. There is nothing more valuable and worthy in this world than education, culture and education again. If someone or a group of people want to go beyond their limits, more or less politically and geographically assigned, go to learn. Learn a job, learn about the world, learn a new language. Education is the most powerful weapon and by using it, you always win. Who know, Gd is on the side of the opressed - although I have some doubts often - but with a degree, you can go beyond the condition of being assisted and poor and helpless. You start by helping yourself and as long as your mind is working, no weapon can change this. 

When individuals and groups will stop being complacent and will rather find their own ways to overcome their situation instead of crying their impotence in the front of the Temple Mount, then, they will finally be able to take their destinies in their own hand. And no, I am not assuming that right now Palestinians are a uneducated herd unable to take care of themselves, therefore the need of a strong 'occupier'. I know that there are many people among them that can and want more than that. But they are often the victims of their own rulers, the parents of those 'children of Palestine' who prefer to rather be down on their knees because otherwise the sheiks will not help them to stay in power, no matter what. But it seems that even some of the sheiks are actually having other plans and again, the 'children' are not let to grow up.

How the Hebrew Language Grew

The story of the modern Hebrew, a language brought to life by Eliezer ben Yehuda after being proclaimed for a long time dead, is fascinating and I am still looking for that coherent reference covering both the linguistic and the historical-political aspects of the revival. I had some big expactations that How the Hebrew Language Grew by Edward Horowitz will fill that knowledge gap. 

My expectations weren't meet and I was largely disappointed. However, I gained a lot of knowledge about how family of words were created based on the 3-consonant root and from the linguistic point of view this is a very impressive gain. The book presents in a systematic was the rational explanations for Hebrew linguistic phenomena, base on word building. It is such a fascinating exercise to find out the common connections between relatively unrelated words and to learn to really 'feel' the language. 

There are so many stories, probabably told somewhere in the big library, about those words and their formation, as languages and words in general are more than instruments of communication. They reflect real people and their life and grammar patterns often send back to ways of thinking. Especially in the case of languages with such a complex history, as in the case of Hebrew. Interesting too is how new words entered the language, some of them just took from other languages - French and English, among others - some adapted for the needs of the modern communication. 

The book is very systematic, with a couple of questions and exercices at the end of each chapter, therefore it makes it a good tool for students of Hebrew and middle-level linguists. 

The chapter covering words from other languages - Persian, Arabic - brought to Hebrew is a bit superficial in my opinion and I might have some doubts about some Arabic imports but otherwise it is an interesting read which brings a lot of good information for the curious reader. 

On the Landing. Stories by Yenta Mash

Born in what was once called Bessarabia in Romania, before this territory was took over the Russia (Soviet Union), nowadays the territory of the Republic of Moldova, Yenta Mash wrote and told stories in Yiddish. Either in her native country or in Israel, where she lived in Haifa since the 1970s until her death in 2013, the life she is talking about is always 'on the landing'.  I've read the short stories in translation - by Ellen Cassidy who also excellently translated Blume Lempel - but was able to listen to her voice reading stories in Yiddish. It is a rare occurrence nowadays, as those who are reading and writing in the language of the shtetl are mostly people with a religious background. At the very specific time when Yenta Mash started to write, Yiddish was the language of the rebels Zionists who broke with the religious tradition to embrace the secular ideas. Those people were 'on the landing' too.

You rarely find anything about the life of the Jews in Bessarabia/Republic of Moldova nowadays, unless it is not about Avigdor Lieberman. As in the Romanian part of Moldova, the Jewish life in the villages and settlements in the area was thriving, with a network of religious and educational institutions, besides their everyday life as such. They were a presence that you hardly notice nowadays, with full Jewish villages that were completely destroyed during the times of the Soviet Union. 

This is the world that Yenta Mash unfolds in the front of the reader's eyes. The first part of the stories are dramatic and focused on the times when Jews were sent to Siberia, as happened to the author herself who was deported for seven years and condemned to forced work. It is a reality that it is not often mentioned in historical accounts about the life of Jews in the Soviet Union. Life in Siberia was a slow death where humanity was dismissed and people were reduced to their basic needs, seldom meet. Jews never ceased to be the eternal enemy and only the fact that they belonged together was a reason serious enough for NKVD to deport full villages to far away frozen North with slight chances if return. Hence, the scream of desperation expressed by the woman in Alone: 'God! Again she screams: what have You done? The echo comes: Done? Why do You persecute us? she demands. Whose side are You on, and who is Your enemy? Some by fire and some by water it says in the Bible - is that no longer enough for You? Now you demand some by ice, too?'

This is how Gd actually appears in Yenta Mash stories, as a revengeful force which never leave us alone to leave. She questions this Gd, although there is nothing to be done against the cumulative cycle of terrible ordeals always occuring against the Jewish people. A never ending Had Gadya, the song introduced into the order of the Pesach since the 19th century, with no redemption in sight, when every single element of the creation can easily turn against us.  

And then there is Israel, the land of feareless young men and women, teaching their parents and grandparents how to be religious. A land of people who left their roots in their old countries to finish being a victim. A land which, at the time when Yenta Mash moved to, was still puzzled by its own diversity of its people, which come together so chaotically in that colourful market from Kibbutz Galuyot street in Haifa. I used myself to stroll old markets and stores in Haifa finding small fragments from my own childhood, like the old hand coffee machine, one of those small memories people brought from their old life.

Although the stories included in the second part of the story are light and the dramatism from the first part is not so pungent, there is a sense of universality and shared belonging among the characters. People survived Gulags and camps to be completely unhelpful against the Israeli bureaucracy and intricacies of the halacha put into practice, like in the case of religious divorces and marriages (as there are no civil marriages in Israel). It is like after the emotional turmoil of the first part of her life, Yenta Mash is just used with the adversities and just retreats into her own world in order to extract the resources to keep writing. 

The world Yenta Mash was writing about is long gone and with it a different kind of sensibility and approach to life. Jews do have a different life nowadays, but the shadow of Had Gadya is always staying. We are living in different times, we are different but the limits within which our life is taking place are almost the same. And so our humanity.