taubertravels

"Az der rebbe zingt...And when the rebbe sings..." is the title of a moderately well-known Yiddish song created originally by the opponents of Hasidism in Eastern Europe to mock the Hasids who followed their rebbe in ways that suggested unthinking devotion. But the Hasidim found the song delightful, not in the least because it indicated that their critics and rivals were paying attention to them and their ways. The song caught on. It's been passed down through the generations and across the ocean to a remote part of northwestern Connecticut. On a recent Shabbat evening I found myself at Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center singing it gustily in the company of a spirited fellowship of comrades in prayer, song, study, and friendship, all of us part of Jewish Renewal's Davennin' Leadership Training Institute (DLTI for short). ... read more

Early tomorrow morning I return to the East Coast, leaving the majesty of the Rockies behind no less than four straight days without getting into a car to go anywhere. The days spent here have not been a vacation, but they have been rejuvenating and inspirational. There is first and foremost time spent surrounded by people who've chosen to dedicate a good part of their lives to consciously seeking out ways to bring joy, understanding, insight, and hope into the world. They put their various talents, experiences, values, and passions to this effort. Some are artist-rabbis, musician-educators, poets, cantor-song-writers, liturgists, story-tellers, community builders, spiritual directors...There's a judge who spent six years after work studying and now continues to be a judge while helping to co-lead a small congregation. Self-worth is not tied up with how much ... read more

The title of this blog post written from the lobby of the Hotel Kazimierz in the former Jewish section of Kraków exquisitely sums up the complex contradictions and richness of this week's visit. Yesterday our voyage began early with an excursion to the famous Roman Catholic stronghold of Czestochowa. A new museum to the Jews of that city has just opened. The exhibition, narrated by one of its creators and designed in conjunction with the new Polin Museum of Jewish history in Warsaw captures the adaptability, initiative, and dare I say Polishness of that once vibrant community. But there was a tragic underbelly to this place because it became one of the hotbeds of not only Nazi bestiality during the war, but also because of a particular Polish strain of antisemitism, with some roots to that ... read more

Thank goodness for the wonderful breakfast buffet the hotel provides. It's a chance to sit together with fellow travelers and talk before the long journeys ahead in the day. Getting to know each other' stories and impressions and create new connections. All the more important because this journey through a vanished world-the traces of which we are deciphering- carries with it for me a tremendous sense of the need to affirm life and blessing in the face of such total devastation and absolute brutality that the disappearance of Polish Jewish life represents for me. A stark example was yesterday's trip. We drove far to the east in the direction of Ukraine. Our first visit to the village of Markowa was to visit the newly opened museum dedicated to rhe Poles who saved Jews during the war. ... read more

A joke from the Eastern European Yiddish pre-war repertoire: Question: Why is it that when all the other peoples of the world make a toast, they say, "To your health" but the Jews say, "L'chaim - To life"? Answer: First let us live, then we'll worry about our health. While I get this joke, I have tended to disagree with its negative spin on the origins of "to life." I don't want to take it too literally, and I want to emphasize instead the way Judaism insists on the gift, sanctity and blessing of life. Do we not find, after all, as far back as the book of Deuteronomy (30:19) the famous injunction by God to the Israelites to choose blessing over curse, and to embrace life? We are commanded to break any Sabbath restriction to ... read more