Friday,Shabbat, Sunday, January 28-31

On Friday we participated in a lecture with Professor Avigdor Shinan, the Associate Prof. of Hebrew Literature at Hebrew University, a known expert on midrashim. He dealt with the significance and symbolism of Water in the Rabbinic Literature, focussing particularly on the symbolism within the narritive of the Kriyat Yam Suf.
Shabbat, we were on our own, I went to the Kotel friday night, bumping into several Skokie natives, davening was inspirational, and ate dinner by a rebbe of mine in the Old City. I studied with several students and spoke at an Oneg Shabbat for students at Yeshivat Netiv Aryeh.
Shabbat Day, I davened in Katamon area by Rav Binny Lau's shul and ate lunch with an old chavrusa in Sansimon. It was an apartment belonging to his in-laws, and happened to be the very first place that my wife and I were in the same room (about 9 years ago), though we didnt meet at the time!

Sunday morning, we visited Herodian, a place just outside of Jerusalem in the desert in which Herod constructed a palce and fortress. The Herodian sar on the flattened top of a hill that rises about 400 feet above the surrounding terrain. Though the roof and upper stories no longer exist, recent archaeology discoveries have unearthed the remains of what they believe to be Herod's tomb.
Inside the collosal structure are tunnels which were built for water storage and later used for hiding and military advantage in the time of the Bar Kochba revolt. One of the rooms, originally built as a banquet hall, is believed to have been used as a synagogue by the later inhabitants. Check out this video of the synagogue and mikvah at the end of this post!

One of the highlights for rabbis was to see our colleague Rabbi Zev Shandalov, who used to chair the JUF mission himself when he lived in Chicago.


Sunday evening we had dinner with Rabbi Michael Melchior of the Meimad party and former Member of the Knesset.

We said sadly said goodbye to the Holy Land as we departed for Ben Gurion.
Monday monring, landed in Ohare...

looking forward to sharing these and more experiences with you.

Thursday, January 28 2010

We began today with Hirsch Goodman, the Senior Research Associate at the Institute for National Security at Tel Aviv University. He briefed us about current issues involving Israel's seecurity in the face of an Iranian Nuclear threat, Lebabnon, Syria, Egypt and the internal threat from Gaza.

Next we had a fascinating meeting with a family from an Arabic country who faced tremendous persecution while living there. They were rescued through the heroic efforts of the Jewish Agency in Israel, and are now integrating in Israel nicely. They shared with us their struggles both before coming as well as afterwards, and we learnt about the incredible feats accomplished by the Jewish Agency to save Jewish lives from all over the world.

After lunch we had a special meeting in the Ben Gurion Hall at the Jewish Agency Headquarters. We were briefed on some of the upcoming efforts and goals for reaching and aiding world Jewery, particularly in the FSU and Germany.

We then had the distinct priveledge to meet with Natan Sharansky, the world famous refusenik who changed forevor the face of Soviet Jewery, and called the world to action in matters of human rights. He now serves as the Chairman of the Executive Board of the Jewish Agency for Israel.

Wednesday, January 27 2010

We started the day with a brief from Danny Gechtman, a representative from the JDC, and then went to visit with Nahlat Avot Azriel, a home for the aged as well as Beiteinu, a youth organization for the Ukrainian Jewish teens.

In our travels, we passed by the infamous Beilis court house.

We also went to the St. Andrews market and purchased some Ukranian fur hats and matruska dolls.

Later on we visited with two local Jewish schools, the Simcha School is a day school. They have about 140 students who learn Jewish and secular studies, they study Torah in Ivrit. The children are respectful and filled with life. We were even treated to a small play with song and dance. The high school is equally as impressive. It occurred to me that though they do not have the same funds as our day schools, (as they had to keep most of the lights off to save money), they display a passion that we would be proud to see in the United States school system. It goes to show you that sometimes you can accomplish a great deal more with an enthusiastic and talented teacher than you can with a smart board.

Below is a video I took on my phone:


We ended the day with a visit to the JAFI Center of the Jewish agency, where we learnt about the unique bnai mitzvah program with participants and their parents.
I am closing my computer now as we get ready to board the plane to Israel.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

"No monument stands over Babi Yar. A steep cliff only, like the rudest headstone...."

These words begin the famous Poem by Yevgeni Yevtushenko, "Babi Yar".

Without a doubt, the most sobering part of our trip thus far.

Babi Yar is a ravine in a park, named after the fact that Bubbe's would take their children to play in the park. It was also the cite of one of the most notorious massacres to take place in the Holocaust. In the end of 1941, as the Nazi's had encroached on Ukrainian soil, and in these Einsatzgruppen they went on killing sprees in every single city containing Jews. One of the largest of these massacres occurred on September 29–30, in which Jews were herded and killed under the observation of their Ukrainian neighbors. In the two days, 33,771 were murdered. All that remains today is a ravine, covered in snow, where the burnt ashes were dumped. There stands a small monument on the location commemorating the victims. We recited Av Harachamim, El Malei, and read Yevtushenko's poem. The most shocking aspect is that this mass grave is right next door to a home, and is right off of the main drag, ironically a strip of land which once housed a Jewish cemetary (since razed to the ground) and a building for the chevra kadisha.

We read some of the works of Isaac Babel, and walked in his footsteps on our way to Zhitomir - Babel became a writer who was appointed during the Russain revolution as a reporter for the Red Army. He spent six years away from any remnant of Jewish life, later encountering the Jewish community, and the Chernovitzer Rebbe. On Tisha Ba'av he is in Kozin and describes the plight of the Jewish people of Ukraine as a reliving the tragedies of the time of the destruction of the Temple. Babel had a complicated relationship with Judaism as it had become known to him, he often described the corruption and decay of European Jewry and predicted the final demise as he asked "can it be that this is the end of the Jewish people?"

In 1920 he is killed in prison, probably stopped writing as he found himself conflicted as a quasi Bosheivik and quasi Jew, most likely the cause of his assasination. It just so happens to be Babel's yarzheit this evening.

In Zhitomir , the first stop was "The Chesed" a project of the JDC, established in 1920's and because so successful in its work with the elderly that the word "Chesed" has now been entered into the Russian dictionary.

Currently there are 3,100 Jews in Zhitomir, down from 5000 Jews in the year 1991.

We visited the shul in Berdichev, and with Alexander Mar, an older man, who had a stroke 9 years ago, lives with his wife in a tiny dilapidated apartment. Alexander has no hot water, and is unable to leave his 5th floor apt. They recieve money and food from the JDA on a regular basis.

We visited the grave of Rav Levi Yitzchak Mi'Berditchev, the great Chassidic master and "Defender of Israel". A Talmid of Rav shmelke of Nikolsberg, in the late 1700's and early 1800's, author of the classic work the Kedushas Levi. I have studied many of his Torah thoughts in the past, and was now able to do so in his hometown, a truly inspiring experience!

We came back to Kiev and had dinner with the Israeli Jewish Agency, and some local Ukranian students. Met a young man of 22 years, named Timyrbek. He is proud to be a Jew, even has a Magen David tatood onto his arm. To us this may seem halachically and socially appalling, but to Timyrbek it is the only way he knows to identify with his Judaism. We exchanged emails, I would try to recruit him as a member of KCT, but from what I gather Aliyah is more immediately on the radar for him.
till tommorow...

RSG

Monday, January 25, 2010

This is now the second JUF mission which I have been a part of. It presents a unique opportunity as it brings together rabbis from the Orthodox, Conservative and Reform movements, fostering achdus and collegiality.

We embarked yesterday on the first leg of our journey from Ohare to Frankfurt en route to Kiev. Unfortunately, we were delayed for a few hours in Frankfurt due to some inclimate weather. This did however present us with an interesting experience; davening shacharit, donning tallis and tefillin in Germany. My thoughts went to the Jews who had been there before me, who were not granted such freedoms, to say the least. I caught myself before removing my tefillin to take a moment and truly contemplate the enormity of the moment and the significance of a minyan of Jews davening in the Frankfurt airport.

At last, we arrived in the Ukraine, and were off the the first stop in Kiev, the Sholem Aleichem memorial. Sholem Naumovich Rabinovich, the popular Yiddish author and playright from Ukraine who lived at the turn of the previous century. Sholem Aleichem's popular charachter Tevye the Milkman eventually became the basis for the famous 1964 musical, Fiddler on the Roof. We saw the building in which he lived and a monument erected in his memory.

We then went to the Brodsky Synagogue, originally built in the end of the 19th century by a wealthy merchant named Lazar Brodsky. Brodsky pursued higher education to learn how to extract sugar beets, through which he made his fortune. Brodsky had personally financed much of the needs within the Jewish community. The Nazis ravaged the synagogu which was rebuilt in the year 2000, and is currently run by the local Chabad.

After helping to make a minyan, we finished the evening with a dinner at Kiev's one and only kosher restaraunt, the King David Restaraunt. In case you dont believe me that there is actually a kosher restaraunt, I have attached a picture of myself and Rabbi Vernon Kurtz outside of the establishement.

Over dinner we met with Zena Kleinman, Israeli Ambassador to Ukraine. We learnt about the state of the current political elections and the possible impact on the relationship with the State of Israel as well as upon the 400,000 + Jewish citizens in the Ukraine.