Shabbat in Krakow- Hope

This post is less about Shabbat but more about what transpired after Shabbat ended. I actually ended up having a great Shabbat. The people I ended up meeting turned out to be great. At last I felt like I really belonged. In this community I was not a ger but a Jew...a Polish Jew...a feeling that I had not had untill then. In America I always get the vibe that people think of me as a convert. It's hard to mask my lack of Jewish upringing- everyone always going home for the chagim or discussing their bubbe's recipees. Oh well, I guess the cultural thing comes with time. After Shabbat I inadvertantly invited myself over to a Mezzuzah Party. This meant that a girl who just moved into a new apartament hung a new Mezzuzah and then we all got drunk and talked till almost 3 AM. I have to say that this was probably the highlight of my trip. It really allowed to dig deeper into the happenings at the Krakow community and into the personal experiences that the individuals in the kehilla had. The next day I was invited to a BBQ at the newly built JCC that Prince Charles and his wife Camilla opened and so generously funded. It was a blast. The evening also promised to be fruitful as I went out to the bar with a couple people from the community. Overall a great time!

Shabbos in Krakow - Despair

This experience oddly enough will need not one but two entries. Why you might be curious. Well i had two feelings that conflicted throughout my first Shabbat in Poland. The first was of a sort of despair, anger, and disillusionment. We knew that Shabbat evening we would be eating with the small community and the Shavei Israel Rabbi, Boaz Pash and the following morning we would be eating by the Chabad shaliach. Turns out that the Rebbe changed his mind about sending shluchim to Poland. Friday night davening proved to be a powerful experience for me. The chazzan, a 92 year old Krakowian Jew and as you guessed Holocaust survivor led the kehilla in what almost seemed as anachronistic tunes of pre-War Kazimierz. Appearantly he is the Baal tefilla whenever he manages to make it to shul, which from my understaning is almost every Shabbat. The overall mood at least initially was that of despair. Small community with few prospects. Yes there is a full time Rabbi working there and yes Prince Charles opened a fancy JCC and yes there even is a Chabad family there-- but for what? The community officialy has 200 members. The Rabbi reckons there many more Jews than that, yet, they all seem to be hidding.

Arrival in Poland

So I must admit the idea of creating and blog and actually posting in it seemed a bit challenging seeing how lazy I can get. However, I am going to attempt this difficult task and hopefully the results will be positive. On a more serious note this whole journey to Poland was one that I really was not sure if I wanted to make. Many things in my life have changed so I was just not sure how returning after a three year absence would feel. As many of you know I converted to Judaism; twice to be exact, with the final conversion being the G-d willing last one. I mean how much blood and how many paper clips can a guy possibly endure. In America people talk about Polish anti-semitism quite candidly, and honestly this is the topic that is of most interest to me. I hope that through this journey I will be able to find myself as a Polish Jew and really be able to place myself in the patchwork of world Jewry, because up to now I have had a hard time really fitting in. Hopefully once I learn about practices and traditions of Polish Judaism I will feel more secure in my practice. On a lighter note, Asa and I arrived into Warsaw yesterday. The new airport is really not that pretty however its much better than the old box that Okecie had for years. Essentially we collected our baggage and grabbed a taxi for the Warszawa Centralna Railway Station. In no time did the taxi driver start complaining about life in Poland. Welcome home I guess? We bought our tickets to Krakow and found a luggage storage place at the station. We forgot that the storage office had a half hour break right when we wanted to pick up our stuff to get onto the train. The whole situation stunk of communism that somehow the one giving a certain service was more important than the costumer himself. My first screaming match in Poland because of bad service. First battle won. During our wait for the train to Krakow we had a chance of making a pit stop at Warsaw's only functioning shul. Even had a kosher meal there. The trip and reaction deserve an entry of their own. Shul starts at 19:30. If you don't know what that means shame on you! We supposed to be davening at the Remu Shul in the Kazimierz district and then hopefully we're going to eat at Rabbi Boaz Pash's. I am greatly anticipating this and hope to have a positive taste in what seems to be Judenfrei Poland.