Slovakia: This Summer Travel the Slovak Jewish Heritage Route

Trencin, Slovakia. Former Synagogue (now art gallery). Photos: Samuel Gruber (2005) click here for more information

Slovakia: This Summer Travel the Slovak Jewish Heritage Route

Summer is here, and thousands - maybe tens of thousands - of tourists will go in hunt of Jewish sites in Europe. Twenty years after the fall of Communism and the opening of Central and Eastern Europe to visitors there is no slowdown in the number of individuals and groups on art, roots or religious pilgrimage to the former Jewish centers. Most visitors still make their way to the big four cities - Warsaw, Krakow, Prague and Budapest. But as readers of this blog know, there is much more of Jewish and, I think, general interest once one breaks from that standard itinerary.

Liptovský Mikuláš, Slovakia. Former Synagogue. Photo courtesy of Slovak Jewish Heritage Center. For more information click here.

This summer consider visiting Slovakia, a beautiful country of stunning scenery, historic towns and a wealth of fascinating Jewish sites. Centrally located, Slovakia contains cultural elements related to Poland to the north, Ukraine to the East, Hungary to the South and German and Czech speaking cultures to the West. For the past several years the Slovak Jewish Heritage Center in Bratislava under the leadership of Dr. Maros Borsky has worked with local Jewish communities and government agencies to put together a Slovak Jewish Heritage Route through the country. now, you can read about the route and get details on all the historic synagogues included.

The full publication about the route can be read on line or downloaded here.

The route includes Jewish heritage sites in Bratislava, Stupava, Malacky, Trnava, Šamorín, Sereď, Nitra, Komárno, Nové Zámky, Šurany, Šahy, Trenčín, Banská Štiavnica, Zvolen, Žilina, Liptovský Mikuláš, Košice, Spišská Nová Ves, Prešov, Spišské Podhradie, Bardejov.

Malacky, Slovakia. Former Synagogue (now an art school). Wilhelm Stiassny, arch. (1886). Photo courtesy of Slovak Jewish Heritage Center For more information click here.

Some of these buildings are still active synagogues, a few like Nitra, have been turned into Jewish museums and Holocaust memorials. Some buildings like Šamorín are art galleries, and others, such as Stupava are still empty or in restoration.

Most of these buildings are situated in interesting towns, and there are other Jewish sites- especially cemeteries - in close proximity. One can begin the trip in Bratislava - less than a hour from Vienna, and then head east. Travel by car is recommended, but backpackers could make use of trains and buses. Travel information is available on the Slovak Jewish Heritage Center website.

For armchair travelers, the Heritage Center maintains an online monuments database that can be consulted here.

Conference: Mikveh: Space, Function, Law and Motive in Wroclaw, Poland.

Cologne, Germany. Mikveh. Parts of the mikveh date at least to the 9th century. Most of the impressive structure visible today was rebuilt during the Romanesque period. Photo: Samuel Gruber 2007.

Mikveh. Mss. illustration. German, c. 1428. Hamburg Staats und Universitatsbibliothek, Codex hebr 37 folio 79, verso, dtl. This is one of the earliest (the earliest?) known representation of a mikveh.

Conference: Mikveh: Space, Function, Law and Motive in Wroclaw, Poland.

The 8th Wroclaw Conference in Jewish Studies is devoted to the them Mikveh: Space, Function, Law and Motive and will take place on May 25th-26th, 2011.

The conference is organized by the Jewish Studies Department of the Wroclaw University . The aim of the conference is to initiate interdisciplinary studies on the mikvah understood as a cultural and architectural space, connected with the tradition as well as the religious and state law. For more information please visit the website of the Jewish Studies Department of the Wroclaw University http://www.judaistyka.uni.wroc.pl/judaistyka

Siracusa (Sicily), Italy. Mikveh. Photo: Alberto Jona Falco in A. Sacerdoti, Guide to Jewish Italy.

Boskovice, Czech Rep. Mikveh in house basement across from synagogue. Photo: Samuel Gruber (2004)

Cleveland, Ohio (USA). Former mikveh, Morrison Ave. now Morrison Ave. Missionary Baptist Church, built 1925. Photo: Samuel Gruber (1997).

The conference language is Polish. Here is the schedule.

Conference Program (in Polish)

VIII Wrocławska Konferencja Judaistyczna
Mykwa – przestrzeń, funkcja, prawo i motyw

25 V 2011 (Instytut Filologii Polskiej, pl Nankiera 15, sala Nehringa)

9.45-10.45 otwarcie konferencji,
słowo wstępne:
Mariola Apanel (Urząd Miasta Wrocławia);
Rabin Icchak Rapoport (Gmina Wyznaniowa Żydowska we Wrocławiu): Mykwa według halachy (prawa żydowskiego i haszkafy (ideologii żydowskiej)


I sesja ( prowadząca Joanna Lisek)
11.00-11.30 Marta Kowalska (Uniwersytet Wrocławski): Rytualne łaźnie żydowskie na przestrzeni wieków
11.30-12.00 Bartłomiej Stawiarski (Uniwersytet Wrocławski): Mykwy aszkenazyjskie w średniowieczu
12.00-12.30 Lara Lempertiene (Uniwersytet Wileński): O biednych niewiastach i białych koszulach (czystość rytualna w czasachWaadu Litewskiego)
12.30-13.00 Ignacy Einhorn (Zawodowe Studium Medyczne w Kłodzku): Uzdrawiająca moc wody – mykwa z punktu widzenia historyka medycyny

13.00-13.15 przerwa

II sesja (prowadząca Bella Szwarcman – Czarnota)
13.15-13.45 Karolina Szymaniak (Uniwersytet Jagielloński): Genderowe odczytanie motywu mykwy w literaturze jidysz
13.45-14.15 Joanna Lisek (Uniwersytet Wrocławski): Problematyka mykw w księgach pamięci
14.15-14.45 Marzena Szugiero (Instytut Historii PAN): Obraz mykwy w reportażach Wandy Melcer Czarny ląd – Warszawa
14.45-15.15 Sylwia Karolak (Uniwersytet Adama Mickiewicza): Uniwersum polskich zobowiązań – o Mykwie Piotra Rowickiego raz jeszcze
15.15-15.45 Anna Małecka: The Mikvah Project - o współczesnym doświadczeniu mykwy

15.45-17.30 przerwa obiadowa

17.30 zwiedzanie synagogi i mykwy wrocławskiej
19:00 film produkcji czeskiej Golet v udoli (1995), reż. Zeno Dostal, scenariusz na podstawie powieści Ivana Olbrachta - Jana Dudakova [Synagoga pod Białym Bocianem]


26 V 2011 (Instytut Filologii Polskiej, pl Nankiera 15, sala Nehringa)

III sesja (prowadząca Agnieszka Jagodzińska)
9.00-9.30 Marek Tuszewicki (Uniwersytet Jagielloński): Cadyk w mykwie - rytuały oczyszczające Chaima Halberstama z Nowego Sącza (1793-1876)
9.30-10.00 Anna Ciałowicz (Gmina Wyznaniowa Żydowska w Warszawie): W mykwie na sadogórskim dworze
10.00-10.30 Piotr Grącikowski (Uniwersytet Wrocławski): Isze, nidde, mikwe - wierzenia, zwyczaje, przesądy ludu żydowskiego związane z menstruacją. Refleksje nad nienapisaną rozprawą Reginy Lilientalowej
10.30-11.00 Hanna Grzesiak (Uniwersytet Adama Mickiewicza): ”Mikwa parties” – ich przebieg i znaczenie w życiu wybranych etnicznych grup żydowskich
11.00 – 11.15 przerwa


IV sesja (prowadząca Karolina Szymaniak)
11.15-11.45 Monika Krawczyk (Fundacja Ochrony Dziedzictwa Żydowskiego): Ochrona mykw w Polsce.
11.45-12.15 Grzegorz Syrek (Pracownia Architektoniczna ASPA), Jerzy Kichler (Gmina Wyznaniowa Żydowska we Wrocławiu): Mykwa przy ulicy Włodkowica 9 we Wrocławiu - przestrzeń zapomniana – przestrzeń odzyskana
12.15-12.45 Agata Rybińska (Uniwersytet Wrocławski): Mykwa niechciana-mykwa zapomniana? - mykwa nieobecna w procesie modernizacji Żydów niemieckich w XIX wieku?
12.45-13.15 Tamara Włodarczyk (Uniwersytet Wrocławski): Przepisy prawne dotyczące mykw w Polsce w okresie dwudziestolecia międzywojennego i ich egzekwowanie na przykładzie powiatu włocławskiego

13.15-13.30 przerwa

V sesja (prowadząca Lara Lempertiene)

13.30-14.00 Bella Szwarcman-Czarnota (Stowarzyszenie „Midrasz”): Źródło Miriam w Torze i literaturze midraszowej
14.00-14.30 Aleksandra Przeździecka-Kujałowicz (Instytut Badań Literackich PAN): Nowe rytuały związane z mykwą.O feministycznym podejściu do tradycji rytualnego oczyszczenia
14.30-15.00 Anna Wiatr: Brud i ‘oko patrzącego’. Żydowski feminizm wobec przepisów ablucji kobiet
15.00-15.30 Artur Kamczycki (Uniwersytet Adama Mickiewicza): Jona w paszczy ryby. Genderowe refleksje nad wodą Zamknięcie i podsumowanie konferencji

Organizatorzy:
Zakład Studiów Żydowskich Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego
Związek Żydowskich Gmin Wyznaniowych w RP Odział Wrocław
Patronat:
Fundacja Ochrony Dziedzictwa Żydowskiego w Polsce
e-wydawnictwo.eu Portal Publikacji Naukowych

Poland: Szczebrzeszyn Jewish Cemetery Restoration Project

Szczebrzeszyn, Poland. Jewish cemetery, new wall in construction. Photos courtesy of The Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland (2011)

Poland: Szczebrzeszyn Jewish Cemetery Restoration Project

The Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland has begun the first stage of the Szczebrzeszyn Jewish cemetery restoration project. The town is just a short drive west from Zamosc. Part of a large stone wall facing the Cmentarna St. is being erected.


The Jewish cemetery in Szczebrzeszyn was established established in the 16th century and was used until the World War II. today, over 2,000 matzevot (gravestone) survive, making it one of the best preserved Jewish cemeteries within the boundaries of modern Poland.

The Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland is implementing the 1st stage of the Szczebrzeszyn Jewish cemetery restoration project. Within its framework a part of the fence facing the Cmentarna St. is being erected. The Jewish cemetery in Szczebrzeszyn was established in the 16th century and used until the World War II. Over 2,000 matzevot (gravestones) are thought to survive there, making it one of the better preserved Jewish cemeteries within the boundaries of modern Poland - but everything is relative. Most stones are toppled, and only about 400 were clearly visible before work began, the others are covered with vegetation or have fallen and been covered with years of accumulated debris. Before the restoration began the area was filled with trash. To see pictures before the restoration click here.

Walling or fencing Jewish cemeteries is usually a necessary step to ensure their long term protection and preservation. Buildings wall, however, especially around large cemeteries, is a difficult and expensive endeavor.

See more pictures of the wall construction here.

Szczebrzeszyn, Poland. The synagogue has been used as a local cultural center. Photo: Wikipedia Commons.

Spain: Lorca's Medieval Synagogue Excavation Unharmed in Earthquake

Lorca, Spain. Two views of synagogue excavation with protective covering. Photos: Samuel Gruber, 2009.

Spain: Lorca's Medieval Synagogue Excavation Apparently Unharmed in Earthquake

by Samuel D. Gruber

According to friends in Lorca, the medieval synagogue was not damaged in yesterday's earthquake. That sounds odd to report, since the building is already a ruin. It was meticulously excavated over several seasons a few years ago. I've written about the excavation and the accompanying exhibition before. I am sure that the site will have to be carefully examined, but there were few tall elements to be weakened. The new protective cover over the site will need to be checked.

There were deaths reported in the southern Spanish town, and damage to the historic city town center. I'll post more news from Lorca and Murcia when I receive it.

The exhibition Lights of Sepharad was recently on view until March 27th at the city of Roman Theater Museum in Cartagena. Hopefully it was all securely packed at the time of the quake. Pieces of more than fifty glass synagogue oil lamps were found in the exhibition, and many of these were painstakingly reconstructed at the Archaeological Museum in Lorca.

Moldova: First Survey of Moldova Jewish Sites Released

Dubăsari (also Dubossary, Dubasari), Moldova. Holocaust execution site and memorial (1989).

Rashkov, Moldova. The impressive Baroque-style synagogue, built in 1749, is only a ruin with its outer walls and part of the Aron ha-Kodesh (Holy Ark) intact.

Orhei, Moldova. Monument in Jewish cemetery.

Moldova: First Survey of Moldova Jewish Sites Released
by Samuel D. Gruber

(All photos courtesy of Igor Teper and U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad)

Few countries in Central and Eastern Europe have as rich a Jewish history and collection of Jewish history sites as small Moldova, nestled in between Romania and Ukraine. Long a crossroads of cultures, modern Moldova today, however, is little known and rarely mentioned. Jewish communities and Jewish heritage sites in neighboring countries garner more attention and more tourists, though most of the Jewish sites in the region are starved for funds for basic maintenance, let alone restoration. Seven years ago the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad, of which I was Research Director, teamed with the Joint Distribution Committee to identify, document and survey as many Jewish historical and Holocaust-related sites as possible within a year.

Orhei, Moldova. House of Haim Rappoport. The story of the Rappoport family parallels the history of the Jews in Bessarabia in the last century. In 1941 the Rappoport family was deported to the concentration camp in Dumanovka where they were kept until 1944. Four of Haim’s sisters died in the camp, but he and his brother survived. After the war, Haim Rappoport returned to Orhei, where he faced repression and false accusation. In April, 1949 until 1956, his family was exiled to Irkutsk (Siberia) by the Soviet government, and his house was requisitioned by the state. Since Moldovan independence, Haim’s son Semeon has managed to successfully claim the property, and after a court decision, it was returned to the family in 2003.

Rybnitsa, Moldova. Memorial to the Martyrs of Rybnitsa Ghetto, dedicated 2004.

The Survey

The survey was carried out by Igor Teper. I collated the information and edited the report which has now been put online at the Commission website. Since I oversaw the survey, edited the report, I take the liberty of quoting one of the sections I wrote, a summary of the history and condition of Jewish Monuments in Moldova (Report, pp. 6-8)

Jewish Monuments in Moldova
(excerpted from Jewish Heritage Sites and Monuments in Moldova (Washington, DC: US Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad, 2010).

Prior to the Holocaust, the area that is present-day Moldova was home to a thriving Jewish culture that built and maintained a large number of community buildings for religious, educational, and charitable purposes. In addition, there were many Jewish cemeteries throughout the country serving Jewish communities. The second half of the 19th and the early 20th centuries witnessed the greatest growth of organized Jewish institutions and that is the period from which most surviving buildings date. These include synagogues and community buildings such as schools, hospitals, and old age homes. Some of these institutional buildings are the Jewish sites that have survived best because the facilities have been most easily adapted and reused by successor institutions, often providing services similar to the original.

The destruction wrought during the Holocaust, when German and Romanian occupiers destroyed many synagogues and other Jewish sites, was severe. Further destruction continued during the nearly half century of Soviet rule when scores of buildings were either demolished outright, or were destroyed over time by neglect; and when hundreds of buildings were confiscated by the state and adapted to new uses. It is only in the past several years that efforts have begun to identify all these sites. One important reason is to negotiate the return of many community properties to the Jewish community, or to arrange for proper financial compensation for many others which are not easily returned.

Before the Second World War, there were more than 70 synagogues and prayer houses in Chişinău. Most of these and other communal properties have been inventoried by the Joint Distribution Committee as part of an ongoing effort separate from the survey this report concerns.

The purpose of th[is] survey, which was carried out over a period of one year, was to collect as much information as possible over the location and condition of historic Jewish sites in Moldova – particularly what might be called “sites of memory” – those places where the lost Jewish culture and its destruction can be most closely encountered and best remembered. These places especially include former synagogues, extant cemeteries, and Holocaust-related sites, such as places of execution, mass graves, and post-Second World War commemorative monuments.

Kalarash, Moldova. The attractive classical-style synagogue was built in the middle of the 19^th century and it served the Chabad community until 1940. After the war it was used as an archive and warehouse, and it was returned to the Jewish community in the early 1990’s. The local Jewish community doesn’t have the means to restore it.

Most cemeteries were founded in the 19th century, though there are a few older ones, including the important sites of Dubosari, Lipcani, Markuleşti, Nisporeni, Orhei, Otachi, Rashkov, Rezina, Teleneşty, and Zguritsa. The cemeteries of Chişinău and Bălţi are very large – approximately 100 hectares each – and each probably has more than 20,000 graves. These are the largest recognizable and self-identifying Jewish sites in Moldova. Some Jewish cemeteries, such as Ungheni, are adjacent to, or part of, municipal cemeteries. Some cemeteries, such as Markuleşti, are in very bad condition.

Many older cemeteries still preserve scores – and even hundreds – are beautifully carved gravestones. All have carved epitaphs and many include distinctive decorative reliefs, including favorite motifs of paired rampant lions, the blessing hands of the kohanim, menorahs and rosettes. These carvings are the most typical examples of Eastern European Jewish folk art, and are related in form to other traditional craft representations – particularly those of synagogal wood carving and synagogue and domestic paper cutting. While many stones have been stolen or destroyed in the past half century, the Commission’s survey shows that many survive – unrecorded and also unprotected. Photographs of many lost carved stones survive in the in the work of David Goberman, who recorded Jewish cemeteries in the region during the 1950s and 1960s.

Rashkov, Moldova. The 20,000 sq. meter cemetery is surrounded by a ruined stone wall. The cemetery contains more than 5,000 extant gravestones that date from the 18^th to the 20^th century.The site is now deserted and overgrown and more than half of the stones are toppled or broken.

The newer cemeteries have many more graves, and the monuments at these sites are often more ornate and include multi-stone constructions which combine horizontal and vertical elements. Cemeteries also contain other elements – metal fences around graves, remains of pathways, and in some cases the remains of pre-burial halls where the body of the deceased was prepared for burial, and where mourners could gather to prayer.

Berlintsy, Moldova. Holocaust Monument. On July 7,1941, the entire Jewish population of Berlintsy was executed in the fields outside the town. In 1952, a memorial obelisk was established on the site of their deaths. Semion Katerberg, whose family was killed in the execution, cares for the monument

There are few surviving pre-Second World War synagogue buildings, and the most impressive, the Baroque-style synagogue at Rashkov, is in ruins. The 18th century synagogue of Zguritsa still stands, but is in poor condition. Other, more recent synagogue buildings, when they could be identified, were also found to be in perilously bad condition. The small former synagogue in Gershunovka was transformed into a school during the Soviet period. It is now abandoned, neglected, and in very bad condition.

Chimishliya, Moldova. The Jewish cemetery occupies an area of about 2,000 square meters and contains around 250 extant gravestones. There is also a monument to the victims of the Holocaust. More than half of the stones are toppled or broken. The oldest stones date from the 19^th century. The site’s only protection is a broken wall; it has no regular caretaker.

Vandalism of Jewish cemeteries has continued to be a problem in Moldova, although it appears that there are fewer incidences now than in the 1990s. The worst recorded vandalism was in Tiraspol, capital of the Transnistria breakaway region. In April 2001, the synagogue was attacked with pipe bomb, and then again with a Molotov cocktail in 2004. Also in 2004, the cemetery was the target of vandals who painted 70 gravestones with anti-Semitic graffiti. Local authorities were not helpful in the aftermath.

Nisporeni, Moldova. The Jewish cemetery occupies an area of approximately 20,000 sq. meters with more than 100 gravestones still visible.

There is evidence of vandalism in nearly all the Jewish cemeteries in Moldova, but it is impossible to know exactly when and why this was carried out. Most often, destruction seems random, or to be related to the theft of stones – presumably to be reused elsewhere are either re-cut gravestones or for construction material. This is a situation that has been common throughout all of Central and Eastern Europe for many years. It is hoped that the identification, description and photography that was part of the Commission’s survey will help to control this vandalism, and will also provide basic information about protective and conservation needs at many sites. Already, more cemeteries are being regularly cleared of trash and overgrowth. While this does better expose many sites – including historic gravestones – for both visitors and potential vandals, it is generally believed that the effort to care for long-neglected cemeteries helps to inform local communities (Jewish and non-Jewish) of the value of these places, and encourages local people to better monitor the sites.

According to the Stephen Roth Institute, several Jewish cemeteries have been desecrated since the period of this survey. In early May 2006, 11 gravestones were broken at the Jewish cemetery in Bander, and other cases were reported in Tiraspol, Soroca and Orhei. Nazi symbols and anti-Semitic insults were painted on some graves. The number and location of the execution sites and mass graves of Jews from the period of the Second World War is still being researched. Often, the location of these sites is known only to a few elderly residents, who either personally remember the events, or who heard of them in the post-war period.

Slovenia: Maribor Synagogue Becomes Independent Jewish Culture and Research Institute

Maribor, Slovenia. Medieval synagogue restored as museum and cultural center.
Photo courtesy of Kulturni Center Sinagoga Maribor.

I last wrote at length about the medieval synagogue of Maribor, Slovenia in September 2009. Ruth Ellen Gruber now reports the latest from Maribor on her blog Jewish Heritage Travel:

Maribor Synagogue Becomes Independent Jewish Culture and Research Institute; Calls for Participants in Arts Competition:

The medieval synagogue in Maribor, Slovenia, which was restored 10 years ago to become a culture center, was transformed last month into "an independent public institution serving as a museum and a cultural and research center dedicated to preserving the heritage of what was once a thriving Jewish community in Slovenia."

To celebrate both the 10th anniversary of the restoration and the new independent status of the institution, the Maribor Synagogue - the Center of Jewish Cultural Heritage has issued a call for artists to take part in an international competition called "Images of the Maribor Synagogue".

The synagogue is one of Slovenia's most important Jewish heritage sites and one of the oldest known synagogues in Europe.

Read more here.

Egypt: Two Views of the Jewish Past

Cairo, Egypt. Haret El-Yehud in 1931. Photo: Keystone-Mast Collection, UCR/California Museum of Photography, University of California at Riverside.

Egypt: Two Views of the Jewish Past

I am indebted to the blog Point of No Return for links to the following two articles about (formerly) Jewish Egypt. The first, an article from Al-Ahram online, takes a tour of the Haret El-Yehud, what was once Cairo's "Jewish Alley," a site of Jewish habitation for centuries. It concludes with the ambiguous line "Over the past few years, the Supreme Council of Antiquities funded the restoration of most significant Jewish landmarks in Cairo. One thought that the council’s attempt was to enrich Egypt’s heritage. However, the quarter seems to have remained the same. If the Jewish buildings have been restored, they are empty of the people who once filled them."

Click here see beautiful images of some of the Jewish sites remaining in Cairo and Alexandria by photographer Zbigniew Kosc, and especially the 18th-century Italian inspired Haim Capusi Synagogue of Haret El-Yehud (prints of Kosc photographs can also be ordered). For more on the synagogue see: David Cassuto, The Rabbi Haim Capusi Synagogue in Cairo & its Uniqueness," (in Hebrew with English summary). (Misgav Yerushalayim, Institute for Research on the Sephardi and Oriental Jewish Heritage: Jerusalem, 1987). Unlike the more famous Ben Ezra and Ramban synagogues, The Capusi synagogue has not been restored.

Cairo, Egypt. Hayyim Capusi Synagogue of Haret El-Yehud. Photo: Zbigniew Kosc (2007).

Cairo, Egypt. Rambam Synagogue in 1948. Photo: Levana Zamir, The Golden Era of the Jews of Egypt.

In these days of attention to the Palestinian exodus from the land incorporated into the State of Israel - land that many Arabs assumed they would shortly regain - it is important to remember the hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees from Egypt, Libya and elsewhere in the Arab world, who were uprooted from their homes during and after the 1948 and 1956 wars.

The second article presented here, from Foreign Policy, is a reminder of how different Egypt - and especially Alexandria - was a half century ago, when bikinis and other beachwear were more common than hijab. what the future brings for the city - and country- remains unknown. "The pictures from Moreno's collection, taken on the 1959 visit and several beach trips in previous years, capture the last days of an Alexandria that would be all but unrecognizable today, in which affluent young Egyptians of Arab, Sephardic, and European descent frolic in a landscape of white sand beaches, sailboats, and seaside cabanas. Two years later, in 1961, the structural steel company Moreno's father ran was nationalized by Nasser, and his family left for the United States shortly thereafter. Moreno, who went on to found a semiconductor company in Los Angeles, wouldn't visit his birthplace until he was well into middle age."

Street Smart: The Jewish alley of Old Cairo
Ahram Online visits part of Egypt’s lost heritage, the Jewish alley of Old Cairo, known as Haret El-Yahud by Farah Montasser (posted Wednesday 11 May 2011)

The journey begins at one of the gates of Old Cairo, Bab El-Fotouh (Renaissance Gate) that dates back to the Fatimid dynasty. To the right, the small street Seknet Borgwan (Borgwan District) that takes you to Darb El-Asfar (Yellow Alley) and Beit El-Seheimi (El-Seheimi House). Just next to Bab El-Fotouh, to the left, is the enchanted El-Akmar Mosque, built in 1120 AD. Opposite the mosque, the entire right side is full of small copperware houses and small antique shops that sell old home appliances that date back to the 1940s and 1950s.

Further down that pedestrian road, El-Moez Street is on the left with Le Riad Boutique Hotel, which opened in the past few years, to the right. "The entire area of Bab El-Fotouh and El-Moez Street has been renovated recently to attract tourists to this area of Old Cairo,” a policeman told Ahram Online.

Leading the way to Haret El-Yahud (the Jewish alley), the policeman stood at the corner of a narrow street, Khoronfoush Street, and pointed right to where the quarter is. Khoronfoush Street marks the first residential area outside the alley, where Jewish families once lived. It is also known as the former home of a six-year-old boy, Gamal Abdel Nasser, former president of Egypt, and his family.

“Being brought up within the Jewish community in 1936, didn’t stop him from forcing the Jews out of country from 1956 to 1967, on a 'Never to Return' agreement," argues communist thinker Youssef Darwish and journalist Jack Hasun in their book Jews Of The Nile. One of the local inhabitants of the small alley says he witnessed the departure of one of his Jewish neighbours. “Abdel Nasser forced the Jews of the alley out, allowing each family 20 Egyptian pounds only at the time, while leaving their fortunes and businesses behind,” said Hagg (Mr.) Assad.

Nasser’s evacuation of Egypt’s Jews , argues Joel Beinin in his book The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry, was borne from the embedding within Egyptian society of a large spy network from 1945, prior to Israel’s establishment as a country in 1948 following the defeat of Arabs in the Israeli-Arab War.

The network’s main mission, entitled “Suzanna”, was carried out in 1954. The mission involved bombing the main post office of Alexandria, the American Information Services Office in Cairo, Cairo’s Railway Station, in addition to a number of major cinemas across Alexandria and Cairo. In December 1954, the Egyptian police forces arrested the perpetrators. Following Nasser’s nationalisation of the Suez Canal in 1955, Great Britain, France and Israel declared war on Egypt in 1956, triggering the idea to evacuate Egypt’s Jews.

Assad opened his carpenter warehouse in 1948 and has lived in the quarter for his entire life. “I had a lot of Jewish friends in the alley. They mostly worked in gold and silver and left their businesses to their young employees,” he told Ahram Online. “Those young employees eventually sold their businesses to new owners,” he stated.

Khoronfoush Street leads to both Haret El-Yahud and Haret El-Shaarani, which “once stood as Midan El-Kholafaa (Rulers’ Square) during the Fatimid dynasty next to the Castle of the West in the Muslim Empire,” says the policeman. The street takes you a few steps down into Haret Khoronfoush (Khoronfoush Quarter), which is full of small bakeries and local food shops, including falafel and seafood sandwiches, and the famous Egyptian dish, koshari.

The road to the Jewish quarter, known today as Darb El-Masreyeen (Alley of the Egyptians), get narrower and narrower. The Jewish Quarter was renowned as the home of the best jewellers of all Cairo, yet today only a few remain and have nothing to do with Jews.

Once upon a time in Egypt: Beaches and bikinis from when Alexandria was Club Med.

The late 1950s marked the end of an era in Alexandria that had begun in the late 19th century, when the port - then the largest on the eastern Mediterranean - emerged as one of the world's great cosmopolitan cities. Europeans -- Greeks, Italians, Armenians, and Germans -- had gravitated to Alexandria in the mid-19th century during the boom years of the Suez Canal's construction, staying through the British invasion of the port in 1882 and the permissive rule of King Farouk in the 1930s and 1940s. Foreign visitors and Egyptians alike flocked to the city's beaches in the summers, where revealing bathing suits were as ordinary as they would be extraordinary today.

But by mid-century, King Farouk - a lackadaisical ruler in the best of times - had grown deeply unpopular among Egyptians and was deposed in a CIA-backed coup in 1952. Cosmopolitan Alexandria's polyglot identity -- half a dozen languages were spoken on the city's streets -- and indelible links to Egypt's colonial past were an uncomfortable fit with the pan-Arab nationalism that took root under President Gamal Abdel Nasser in the late 1950s and 1960s. "[W]hat is this city of ours?" British novelist Lawrence Durrell, who served as a press attaché in the British Embassy in Alexandria during World War II, wrote despairingly in 1957 in the first volume of The Alexandria Quartet, his tetralogy set in the city during its heyday as an expatriate haven. "In a flash my mind's eye shows me a thousand dust-tormented streets. Flies and beggars own it today -- and those who enjoy an intermediate existence between either." By the time of Hosni Mubarak's rule (and largely in response to his secularism), Egypt's second-largest city had become synonymous with devout, and deeply conservative, Islam.

Read the full article and see all the pictures here.

See also: Letter from Alexandria: Grasping for the past, falling into the future by Sonia Farid in Al Arabiya (Wednesday, 11 May 2011)

Of Alexandria, she writes: "It is indeed very intriguing that the most liberal of Egypt’s cities has now become one of its most conservative and I sometimes think it is the former that led to the latter.

A city as diverse and multicultural as Alexandria was an ideal battleground for all those who took it upon themselves to eliminate “vice” and promote “virtue” and erasing a centuries-long history of tolerance and coexistence was the only way to do so. I am not going to go about babbling again about the role the regime played in fostering such bi-polar animosities throughout its 30 years of “leave them breathless” policies because this has now become quite ipso facto.

I would rather trace the whole thing more than 50 years back when the post 1952 Revolution regime embarked on what seemed like a purging campaign that might have had Jews as its main target, yet by doing so managed to undermine the basic social structure upon which Alexandria was based. Whether on purpose or unintentionally, the Nasser government established a direct link between the creation of the state of Israel and the presence of Jews and acted accordingly, announcing, “All Jews are Zionists and enemies of the state.”

As Jews, born and raised in Egypt, suddenly became a threat to national security and consequently expelled and having their property confiscated, the first nail was driven into the coffin of Alexandria’s religious and ethnic makeup. The disappearance of the Jewish community in Alexandria heralded the city’s fall as a model of diversity and shortly thereafter other communities followed, not necessarily because they were persecuted or kicked out, but simply because it was no longer the friendly homeland it had once been. The black-and-white era had begun and their “grey” identity had no place in it.

They are gone, but the purge is not over… only the target changed. And don’t fall into the trap of thinking that the Coptic community is the only opponent because all Egyptians who strive for a civil state are. It is a long process of alienation that ascribes to the same dichotomy promoted by former regimes and that aims to alienate any party considered “other,” be that Copts, Seculars, Leftists, moderate Muslims… you name it!"

Bosnia-Herzegovina: Survey of Jewish Sites Released

Sarajevo, Bosnia. Gate to Old Sephardi Cemetery before restoration. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber / US Commission for Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad (2000)

Sarajevo, Bosnia. Pre-burial house at Old Sephardi Cemetery during restoration. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber / US Commission for Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad

Bosnia-Herzegovina: Survey of Jewish Sites Released
By Samuel D. Gruber

I am pleased to report the release by the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad of a report on the survey of Jewish Heritage Sites of Bosnia-Herzegovina. The survey of over 60 sites was organized and sponsored by the Commission, and carried out by researcher Ivan Ceresnjes, a former leader of the Bosnian Jewish community who is now with the Center for Jewish Art in Jerusalem. I edited the report and contributed to some of the sections when serving as Research Director of the Commission. Ruth Ellen Gruber also provided important information.

Most of the data and photos in the report were collected from the early to mid-2000s. Some additions and corrections were made as late 2008. For the most part the situation for Bosnian Jewish sites has gotten worse except in the major centers of Sarajevo and Mostar.

Mostar, Bosnia. Memorial at Jewish Cemetery.
Photo: Samuel D. Gruber / US Commission for Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad

Donja Gradina, Bosnia. Execution site and memorial. Photo: Ivan Ceresnjes / US Commission for Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad

The report includes information on synagogues, Jewish cemeteries and Holocaust sites in about three dozen towns. Most of this materials has never been published.The survey focused on cemeteries and Holocaust-related sites. Synagogues and former synagogues are listed and briefly described, but photos of synagogues are no not included.

Tuzla, Bosnia. Boot-shaped"gravestones at Jewish cemetery.
Photo: Ivan Ceresnjes / US Commission for Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad

I first got involved in Jewish heritage sites in Bosnia when the Commission helped raise funds and organize the restoration of the prayer and pre-burial house at the venerable Sephardi cemetery in Sarajevo. The cemetery had suffered greatly during the Siege of Sarajevo and the building had been heavily damaged by fire. A picture of the restored structure is on the cover of the report. Many other sites have not fared so well. Many sites are still in ruins, and cemeteries are overgrown. Some cemeteries may still have landmines from the civil war.

The Commission has also recently posted edited versions of my reports on the surveys of Jewish sites in Romania and Moldova. In all, the Commission organized close to 20 countrywide surveys of Jewish and other religious and ethnic minority sites during the years I was involved as Research Director. We did this work on shoestring budgets, always collaborating with local experts and enthusiasts and making our findings available to local Jewish communities and government cultural authorities. You can read more here about the Commission's work and consult some of the surveys.

Greece: Last Month's Arson Attack on Corfu Synagogue

Greece: Arsonists Attack Corfu Synagogue
by Samuel D. Gruber

(ISJM) I have been remiss in reporting last month's arson attach on the Scuola Greca synagogue on the island of Corfu, Greece. Because of the many tourists who vacation on Corfu, the synagogue is one of the better known Jewish sites in Greece. The synagogue, built in a modest Italian baroque style is one of the oldest and most impressive still open in Greece. It dates to a time when part of the Greek Jewish population was closely linked to the economic and cultural world of the Adriatic, dominated by Venice.

You can tour the synagogue sanctuary here, thanks to synagogues360.org.

This is the second major arson incident against a Greek synagogue in the past two years. In early 2010 the Etz Hayyim Synagogue in Hania, Crete was attacked and set fire twice causing extensive damage to artifacts, books, manuscripts and the building (ISJM has raised approximately $35,000 toward the $100,000 in restoration and replacement costs).

The April 19th attack in Corfu is similar in nature. The back door was forced and here the vandals were more methodical, piling valuable and holy scroll and books in a pile that was then set alight.

According to local police "They made a pile of books and documents in front of the rabbi's platform, or bimah, on the synagogue's first floor and set them on fire. The synagogue was closed at the time and nobody was injured. The fire was spotted by a passing police patrol." Two days after the attack to individuals were arrested.

These attacks are a reminder of continuing anti-Semitism in Greece, some of which is traditional - dating back centuries, but which is also regularly spurred by Mideast politics and even Greece's current economic woes. Jewish cemeteries in Ioannina, Salonika and elsewhere have been frequently vandalized, too, including that of Corfu in 2009. Two suspects were arrested in Corfu two days after the attack and their specific motive is still unknown.

Corfu, Greece. Scuola Greca Synagogue. Photos: Stavroulakis, Jewish Sites and Synagogues of Greece

From: Terrible Arson in Corfu Synagogue by Gavriel Queenann for Arutz Sheva

"Former President of the Jewish community of Corfu, Vino Shohi, described the crime, “They came at 3 a.m., put all the books together and burned them. At first I was very upset. I was ashamed that something like this happened here in Corfu, but we have received the support of all the political parties and the archbishop. They all came out in support of us and told us they were our brothers.”

Giorgos Petalotis, a spokesman for the Greek government, condemned the attack Wednesday, saying,, “The burglary that took place in the Jewish Synagogue in Corfu and the destruction of sacred liturgical books is an immoral and appalling act, which the Greek government condemns in the strongest possible manner,”

“I've said before and I say once again," Petalotis said. "Under this unfortunate circumstance, that bigotry and anti-Semitism are concepts incompatible with Greek culture and alien to the mentality of the Greek people. This act cannot overshadow the longstanding tradition of friendship and mutual respect between the two peoples. The Greek authorities have already received instructions to carry out intensive efforts to identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice”.

Police on Corfu are investigating the crime. Jewish officials said they had faith the authorities will find the assailants.

“There’s no fear here,” Shoshi said. “There never has been any fear and there never will. We are well-established in Corfu and nobody will make us afraid.”

The Jewish community in Corfu is ancient with roots dating back to antiquity, but most Jews on the island were murdered by the Nazis during the holocaust. The holy books and torah scrolls survived the holocaust, however, in the hands of gentiles who safeguarded them.

“After the war they gave us all our books back,” Shoshi said. “We had books from the 15th, 16th and 17th century from Trieste, Padova and Verona. Now they are gone.”

The community of Corfu's loss is a loss for the entire Jewish people. The Corfiote Rite is distinct and its liturgy has many peculiarities that set it apart from the mainstream Ashkenazi and Sephardic liturgies most Jews are familiar with today.

Corfiote prayer books, which contain emendations from Mazal-Tob, Isaac ben Abraham, Abraham ben Gabriel ben Mordecai, and Moses ha-Kohen, are rare and unique cultural treasures. This, in addition to the destruction of the sacred Torah scrolls.

Joseph ben Abraham, the popular commentator of the Maḥzor, lived in Corfu in 1554."

See: "Greece: Synagogue targeted by arsonists"