Ed. Note-- We've set up a special blog so Ben can tell us about his trip while he's away. Check out the daily quizzes and see if you're up to the challenge! He has had the privilege of being invited to participate in an extraordinary journey. In celebration of the 150th anniversary of Theodor Herzl's birth, the American Zionist Movement has arranged to take 40 young Jewish leaders from around the world on a city by city voyage, visiting important sites from Herzl's life. This trip will include visits to Paris, Basle, Vienna, Budapest, and Jerusalem. See what Ben is exploring and learning each day, here at the blog.
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Jerusalem 4/20
After 2 extra days in Europe, we have officially landed in Israel. From the airport we are going directly to Mt. Herzl for a Yom HaAtzmaut celebration followed by a session on Theodor Herzl. We're all very excited to finally be HOME!
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We will be flying to Israel in the morning, God willing. The volcanic ash cloud seems to have subsided a bit and El Al is optimistic about our chances to get out safely.
 As for Budapest, we have made the most of our time in this beautiful, old, European city. Despite the country's relatively small Jewish population (estimated between 7,000-15,000 Jews), we have taken part in a number of meaningful activities to commemorate Yom HaZikaron and tonight, we began celebrating Yom HaAtzmaut. If being in Israel is the best way to celebrate these two holidays, being stranded in a foreign city with passionate Israelis may be second best.
Over the past 30 hours, we've had a solemn ceremony where many of the Israelis on our group shared personal stories of friends and family that have been lost due to warfare and tonight, we brought in Yom HaAtzmaut with a "dance cruise" on the Danube River which runs right through the middle of Budapest. I've experienced Yom HaZikaron ceremonies and Yom HaAtzmaut celebrations my entire life and while not in Israel as we had planned, I can honestly say that this has been the most meaningful way I've ever spent these holidays.
I'm looking forward to being in Israel tomorrow and I'm hoping to see everyone in school on Sunday!
Chag Sameach,
Ben |
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We are now at the halfway point of our journey and just finished a beautiful Shabbat in Budapest. We participated in services at the Dohany Street Synagogue, the largest synagogue in Europe. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the building as we were only able to go on Shabbat, but it's well worth a search on google images to see this gorgeous building. Following services we toured the Jewish area of Budapest including two other synagogues. Of these two shuls, one is small and functions as the orthodox community's congregation while the other, the Rumbach Synagogue, once beautiful and ornate, now lays in disrepair. The Jewish community has been battling the Hungarian government for control over the building and even if they achieve possession, the costs of restorations are in the tens of millions.
 Following havdalah our group went to an underground coffeeshop run by the young, counterculture Jewish community. It's name, Shirai, has two meanings; it is the name of a bird in Hungarian and also means "my song" in Hebrew. In the picture below you'll see the band that performed, named "Sheket," meaning quiet in Hebrew.
Now for a travel update - We were supposed to be in Israel by now preparing for Yom Hazikaron, Israel memorial day. However, no flights are going in or out of most of Europe due to the ash cloud from Iceland's volcano. Our group, scrambling to try to make something work, will be taking a 30 hour bus ride to Athens where we are supposed to be getting on a plane to Israel on Tuesday morning! Needless to say, the group is a bit discontent that we will be missing Israel Memorial Day and Israel Independence Day (Yom Haatzmaut), but this is sure to be an interesting story...
That's it for now, and I'm not sure when I'll next be able to write. Looking forward to returning to NY!
Update from Budapest:
Due to concerns about air travel from Greece, our group will NOT be going to Greece as I wrote previously. At this point, we are staying in Budapest tonight (Sunday) and hoping that we'll be able to get out to Israel on Monday or Tuesday. I'll keep you posted. |
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4/16 - Vienna, Austria
After an overnight train ride from Switzerland to Austria, we began our morning at the Museum Judenplatz in Vienna.
We had the opportunity to meet with the Israeli Ambassador to Austria and a member of the Austrian government. It was a meaningful discussion given all of the anti-Semitism present in Austria, but the leaders with whom we met couldn't have been more thankful that so many young Jews from around the world had come to Vienna. Following our breakast meeting we had the opportunity to tour one of their synagogues as well as take part in a walking tour of Jewish Vienna. It is clear that Herzl left his mark throughout Europe and that Vienna was critical to his developent as an intellectual leader. The Viennese Jewish community is currently very small (around 7,000 people on record), but its place in Zionist history is critical.
We're headed to Budapest in a few hours and from there we head to Israel.
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Vienna Synagogue
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The only kosher restaurant in Vienna
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4/15 - Basel, Switzerland
For our shortest stop of the journey, we spent a few hours in Basel. Not known for being a hotbed of Jewish activity, Basel is remembered for being the home of the First Zionist Congress in 1897. We spent about an hour at the Basel Casino (not a casino at all, but rather a magnificent music hall). The program was sponsored by JNF, one of the organizations dreamed of by Herzl. He saw the need to create organizations that would be able to build the new Zionist nation from the ground up and so in addition to meeting with the Israeli Ambassador to Switzerland we met with leaders of JNF as well. It was quite remarkable being in the same location, mere feet from where Herzl opened the First Zionist Congress. At the conclusion of the program we sang Hatikva, Israel's national anthem, and we were all truly overwhelmed with emotion. I'll be in Vienna tomorrow morning, hoping to blog again soon.
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Basel Casino
(don't let the name fool you)
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The main synagogue of Basel
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