Not Another INTERESTING Day!

Interesting Entry to Budapest

To understand how INTERESTING our transfer to Budapest has been you will have to refer to our first INTERSTING travel day! New definition for INTERESTING (It’s time to get a real travel agent)

Our day started with a trip to the airport for a “quick” flight from Prague to Budapest. Checking in for our flight we discovered that Rabbi Dinner’s ticket was once again botched. This time she had two reservations. In and of it self that is not so interesting. However, it did not take much time for that not so interesting mistake to become INTERESTING. When our tour guide tried to check in he was told he had missed his flight because he had accidentally been scheduled for a flight earlier in the day. Seemed like an easy fix – since Rabbi Dinner had two tickets, she volunteered to give him one of hers. That was impossible the agent replied because the plane was full. He would have to purchase a new business class ticket.

After an hour of conversations between the local representative of our rapidly reaching the infamous status travel agency Ayelet, the Czech Air rep, the tour guide, and Rabbi Dinner, we learned some interesting airline doublespeak:
1) Rabbi Dinner’s two confirmed tickets were only good for one airline seat
2) Our tour guide could for a revised price receive a new business class ticket
3) Even though there were “no regular seats available” on the plane, the “business class seat” that our tour guide purchased happened to be right in the middle of the “regular class” section of the plane.
We considered ourselves fortunate because this time we didn’t even have to run to make our plane.

After an introduction to Budapest through the view at the City Park of their Statue of Liberty we headed to our hotel. Interestingly, (meaning isn’t this inconvenient) our hotel is located on a street that is under construction. That meant the bus had to park a block and a half away from the hotel. (luckily the hotel sent Strong Bellhop MEN to fetch our luggage). Interestingly, (meaning this is beginning to look more than just inconvenient) as we wove our way down the broken pavement to the hotel we noticed a building being reconstructed with lots of heavy equipment and all its accompanying noise and dust right next door to our hotel.
Interestingly,(meaning inconvenience is looking more and more like travel agent
negligence) the hotel Ayelet selected had no rooms with two beds, though all but four people on the trip paid for rooms with two beds. After having to miss Erev Shabbat services in the famous Dohaney Synagogue, and hours more of phone conversations with Ayelet and its local agents, four guests were transferred to another hotel, a few dark alleys (that we’re hoping won’t become interesting) away from the original hotel.
After an almost tolerable dinner of chicken nuggets and rubber beef, we had a lovely introduction to the Reform Jewish community of Budapest by Gabor, a congregation leader. Saturday morning we will be at the Jewish Community Center for the Reform congregation’s service. Then we have a free afternoon.
Interestingly, (meaning is some Greater Source trying to send us a message) the new hotel, wherein Rabbi Dinner is residing, along with her computer and access to uploading the blog, does not have a compatible internet connection with her computer. And the internet connection is completely down at the hotel where most of our group is staying.

Thank God, despite all of the interesting developments, our group is resilient and even still jovial. God willing (it is beginning to look like it will take Divine Intervention) we will be able to enjoy the rest of Shabbat and our touring in Budapest the next few days.
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Singing on the bus


Marionettes in Budapest too!



Rabbis with Hermanuv Mestic Ministers

Trip to Hermanuv-Mestec

Stephen Jurovics has said that nothing happens by accident. Three years ago a group of students from Southeastern Baptist Seminary came to visit Temple Beth Or and Reb Raachel showed them our Czech Torah. Then the rabbi said that, unfortunately, the town that the Torah came from had been destroyed, as had been the synagogue. "The Torah came from the town of Hermanuv-Mestec," she said, and immediately, one young woman spoke up: "No. The town survived and the synagogue has been restored. I know because I'm from the town of Hermanuv-Mestec."

So, the odyssey of bringing the Torah back to its home began on that day. Yesterday was that day. Not only was the Torah brought back to the synagogue and placed in its original Ark, but the members of this group held a weekday service. And, it wasn't by accident that on this trip, we had a flautist, Stacy Grove, a chanter, Sarah Stein, 2 Rabbis, Rabbi Lucy Dinner and Reb Raachel Jurovics, and every member of the group who participated.

The guide who brought us to the synagogue was a Holocaust survivor from a nearby town. And one of the participants in the service was our congregant, Hungarian-born Peter Gabor. His mother had been at Terezin. When he talked to our guide, he discovered that she and his mother had been on the last return transport from Belsen-Bergen to Terezin, during the last chaotic days of the war. Both women, because of that route, survived the Shoah. Peter had never met anyone before who had been on that same transport.

The service was attended by the townspeople of Hermanuv-Mestec, and not one was Jewish. But, those townspeople had been the ones who supervised and helped with the restoration of the building. The temple was typical of nineteenth century Reform synagogues, beautifully decorated in the Moorish style. None of us can describe the feelings of this once in a lifetime experience. You will hear more about this day when we return, because we cannot put this into words at this time.

Fun Picture Flash Back to 1st Day

Reb Raachel when she learned, in the limo drive between LGA and JFK that our plane would be leaving for Prague in less than an hour. (One hour earlier than on our itinerary!)

Spectacular Marionette Opera

Written by an anonymous Temple Member

I think most all of us are having a great time -- Prague’s nightlife is just wonderful – so many things to choose from. Looking for something indigenous to Prague, we decided on what was a ‘spectacular Marionette show’ according to our guides and friends back home. So six of us set off for dinner and to see the Marionette Opera, Don Giovani. We were led by our esteemed Rabbi Dinner.

After wandering around charming cobbled streets, that became less and less charming as we traveled a ‘few’ more than necessary, we found a restaurant that was deemed ‘acceptable’ by all six of us – a miracle in itself! And it turned out to be better than acceptable. A few dishes were five-star with two dishes -- a roast chicken liver dish in gravy and a cabbage salad – that by themselves were worth the cost of the TBO trip!

So with our bellies full, once again we set off with our esteemed Rabbi at the helm, all the while assuring us she knew the route to the show and it was ‘just a few blocks.’ We should have questioned her navigational capabilities by this time, but she IS the Rabbi, after all. ‘A few blocks (maybe a few hundred) and roughly 20 minutes later, with ‘a bit’ of help along the way from two policemen, the maitre ‘d of a sidewalk café, and a cab driver, we finally spied overhead a 5’ x 8’ banner with a rather scary looking marionette Don Giovani . And lo and behold just to the left was the – only slightly larger than the banner – entrance to the theatre. Two of our party who already had tickets in hand went ahead to begin the trek up a daunting looking flight of stairs while we got our tickets.

We joined the other two at the top of the stairs only to find we had a little surprise. OOPS! Seems there were TWO marionette theatres, and the two of our group (who shall remain anonymous lest they try to sue for leading them astray) who pre-purchased tickets were tickets for THE OTHER theatre. Exhausted from the trek around the city, those two decided this was the last straw and returned to the hotel – ahhh! they were the smart ones – if only we’d known. After climbing another staircase, this a winding one as long as the first, we reached our. .. er .. rather rock hard bench seats, looked around and noticed we were the only four old enough to buy liquor. Hmmm, interesting we thought. The curtain opened and out popped sor ely-in-need-of-new-paint-and-new-wigs marionettes. We managed to sit for 40 minutes of puppets knocking each other down, performing other acts we chastise five-year-olds for, and finally engage in some quite unsavory x-rated activities with the ladies. I’d like to say we behaved as the model of decorum, but we left the theatre and barely got out the door before we were overcome with laughter. I think the memories of our night will be much sweeter and far more memorable for our laughter than the memory of even a wonderful Don Giovani would have been.

So the moral of this story is always trust your rabbi to take you in the right direction even if it takes a little longer than you expected!

Significant Visit to Terezin

April 2, 2008

Today we went to Terezin. The tour was filled with mixed emotions. Terezin was a town built as an army barracks in the 1800’s. It has fortification all around it as an army base. When the Nazis took over they forced the Czech’s who lived there out and transformed the whole town into a concentration camp. All of the barracks were converted into mass housing for the 135,000 Jews who were sent there between 1939 – 1945. 30,000 died there because of the harsh conditions, most of the others were sent to death camps where they later perished.

Terezin is where the Children’s opera Brundibar was composed and performed over 55 times by children. Most of these children went to their death shortly thereafter. Many artists in Terezin were able to draw pictures of the stark reality of life in the camp and hide them away in the barracks. As recently as the last ten years more sketches have been uncovered. There are two faces to the art. One is the face of a serene village – the Nazis forced the artist to depict Terezin as a a self governed Jewish town with serene and content Jews. The other is the face of their world in its bare reality that these artists risked their lives to draw and then to stash away wherever they could.

The town experienced major flooding a few years ago, and most of the buildings have a fresh bright coat of paint on them now. This in stark contrast to the Terezin where Jews lived in conditions of starvation, no protection from the elements, forced labor and more. Many died from disease from the unsanitary conditions.

After the war many of the Czechs who had been evicted during the war came back to reclaim their homes. One found and preserved a small shed that had been converted into a one room synagogue. The family kept the synagogue secret and intact for decades until 1989 fall of communism, when they turned it over to the Holocaust remembrance organization. The small synagogue had beautifully illuminated walls and ceiling with Hebrew verses from Torah seeking redemption. The flood of a few years ago washed away much of the painting, but we were able to see the remnants. We held a beautiful memorial service there, where Peter Gabor shared the story of his mother who had been sent to Terezin from Bergen-Belzin at the end of the war.

A lot to absorb in one day. The pictures tell their own story.

Magnificent Prague

March 31st & April 1st, 2008

Our entrance into touring has led us into intrigue, charm and appeal.

Our guides Artur and Margetta are terrific and Prague is actually fabulous. The weather has been wonderful. About 62 degrees and sunny.

Yesterday we saw the Castle district of Prague. We walked for five hours, (our guides have us training for a walkathon!) The architecture is magnificent. Every street is filled with incredible statues and ornate sculptures. The Prague Castle, which is now the President’s office is well guarded by towering statues armed with bats and swords. They provided perfect protection for our tour group.

Today we toured the Jewish Quarter. Prague’s Jewish quarter has among the most preserved synagogue district in E. Europe. The Nazis were not able to destroy the synagogues and they are all in good condition. Most Czech’s are not particularly religious, so many of the old synagogues and churches are used as cultural centers for music and the arts. Tonight the old Spanish Synagogue is featuring a Gershwin Review! We saw the synagogue where the Maharal created the Golem and the Jewish cemetary. In the Jewish museum our guide showed us Hannukah Menorahs with two shammas, so that on Shabbat the Shammas can be used for Sabbath candlesticks. The Jewish Quarter is among the top tourist sites in Prague for people from around the world. It was teaming with school children and tour groups from around the world.

Margetta gave us a half a day off from our marathon training this afternoon. Tonight several of us are going to a Czech puppet show play and others to hear chamber music in a converted church.

Funny find of the day: These Confederate soldiers at a tourist kiosk along side Torah yads - It's probably the only tourist kiosk in the world with this particular combination!

Interesting Start!

Sunday, March 30, 2008

It’s been nothing if not an interesting beginning to our journey! (Ha! Ha!) (Interesting, code word for “unexpected”).

We started this morning with some funny name changes on our plane tickets. Rabbi Dinner’s new moniker for the trip is Rabbi Dibber, and Betty Fried will go by Netty. Of course the Department of Homeland Security was not too fond of the fact that our passport names did not match the new names that Ayelet, our travel agency, had

Our Interesting Arrival in Prague

assigned to us. So, after much ado we have all reverted to our original passport names.

The name game was just to keep us diverted from the plane game. After we boarded and taxied down the runway for our New York flight the pilot stopped the plane and announced the plane was experiencing some difficulties. Sitting on the middle of the runway he informed us that airplanes today were very similar to computers, and he was just going to turn the plane completely off for a few minutes (like you do to fix your computer when it misbehaves) and then we would be on our way. Interestingly (code word for “unexpected to the pilot but not to the rest of us”) that did not work. We taxied back to the gate, thankfully were able to deplane, and two hours after our original departure time we actually took off. Just enough time to make our next flight, though the timing would be tight.

Interestingly, (code word for “are we really destined to make this journey?”) Ayelet, the travel agency, neglected to book the promised bus to transport us from LGA to JFK. Fortunately, our fearless leader Reb Raachel snagged two limousines and we were on our way. During our scenic ride, we received an interesting (code word for perhaps we should get a new Travel Agency, before we get to Europe) phone call from one of our fellow travelers who was to meet us at JFK. The scheduled itinerary that we all had received was erroneous. Our international flight would be leaving one hour earlier than Ayelet had told us.

With God’s grace, we arrived at JFK at 3:25pm, checked in, x-rayed all our bags, went through international security, and got on the plane at 4:00 pm, just as they were shutting the doors for our 4:10pm departure.

Even with all the “interesting” developments we have a jovial and excited group. Friday night’s service at Temple Beth Or, with the blessing for travelers and the Torah reading from our Hermanuv Mestec Torah, set the tone for the sacred journey that lies ahead of us. We have gotten wonderful coverage on WRAL all weekend. You can check it out at: http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/2647408/

Yonat Shimron, from the News & Observer, has also begun work on a story about the trip that will be completed after our return.

These pictures are of the group who were blessed at our Shabbat worship service. We had hoped to add a few from the airport as well, but the “interesting” developments pre-empted that regularly scheduled program. There is one of our safely arriving, before our opening breakfast at the Prague Savoy hotel.

God willing, with a few less “interesting developments” the next blog will be after a good night’s rest and a wonderful day of travel in Prague!

Your Interesting TBO Travelers,