Jewish Poland 6th day - Krakow - Saturday 3 December 2016

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The opportunity for a lie-in, but no such luck for me. I was up with the lark and went downstairs with Don for the walk to synagogue to attend the Shabbat morning service. I am proud to say that I was the only female to make it (apart from Monica our Polish pilot). The snow had cleared but it was still cold and crisp and was quite a pleasant walk. Monica pointed out the monument to King Casimir in Szeroka square where the king gave a proclamation to the Jews advising them that they could live (legitimately) in the town of Krakow.

Rav Tzvi had been asked to help again make the minyan at the Remah shul for Shabbat, and when asked how many would be required to ensure a schacharit minyan of 10 men he was told please bring 7 at least! Thus many of us returned to the Ramu. It was quite an 'experience' for me to daven in the women’s section in what was a cloakroom at the back of the synagogue. But at least I could see and hear all that was going on. To me it was better than being in a cage in which the leaders of the prayers were contained. I was joined by a few children. One little girl told me that she was 8 and already she spoke Russian, Hebrew, English and Polish. I was struggling to speak to her in Hebrew! She really put me to shame. I was happy though to help her find her place and to follow the service. The bathrooms were outside and in order to go one had to first get dressed up warmly and there was no excuse for staying there for a long time to avoid the service as it was far too cold!

We didn’t stay for kiddush at the Remu as we were expected at the Isaac (or Izaak) synagogue, formally known as the Isaak Jakubowicz Synagogue. This synagogue was built in 1644. The synagogue is named for its donor, Izaak Jakubowicz (d. 1673), also called Isaac the Rich, a banker to King Wladyslaw IV. The synagogue was designed by Francesco Olivierri, an Italian working in Poland in that era. Jakubowicz is buried in the Remah Cemetery at the back of the Remu synagogue where we were praying in. There is an interesting legend about Izaak Jakubowicz:

It is said that the founder, Ayzik (Izaak) Jakubowicz, was a pious but poor Jew, who dreamed that there was treasure hidden under the old bridge in Prague. Without delay, he made his way there. On arrival, it turned out the bridge was guarded by a squad of soldiers and that digging was out of the question. Ayzik told the officer about his dream, promising him half of the booty. The officer retorted, "Only fools like Polish Jews can possibly believe in dreams. For several nights now I have been dreaming that in the Jewish town of Kazimierz there is hidden treasure in the oven of the home of the poor Jew Ayzik Jakubowicz. Do you think I am so stupid as to go all the way to Krakow and look for the house of this Isaac the son of Jacob?" Ayzik returned home immediately, took the oven apart, found the treasure and became rich. After this it was said: "There are some things which you can look for the world over, only to find them in your own home. Before you realise this, however, you very often have to go on a long journey and search far and wide."

Due to the very measured pace for our morning service at the Remu shul, our group arrived at the Izaak synagogue half-way through a talk by their visiting rabbi, Rabbi Avi Baumel from Efrat, Israel, who was telling us about the current Jewish community and why he is working so hard to revitalise the community. We had also missed their kiddush in celebration of a wedding taking part in the synagogue the next day. Before leaving the Izaak Synagogue on Shabbat afternoon, we davened and leyned mincha there.

We then walked to a hotel where we enjoyed a catered Shabbat lunch. We walked through Szeroca Square, the umschlagplatz - the square where the Jews were rounded up and stood until they were deported to the camps. Today, there is a fish market outside the synagogue every Tuesday. We walked past the Alteshul which was built in the 1600s and was originally made of wood.

I was very tired and so went back to the hotel for a sleep. Don went on a walking tour of the town and saw the monument of chairs outside of the pharmacy just outside the ghetto wall. The pharmacist was sympathetic to the Jews and as he dispensed medicine to the Nazis he was able to learn their strategies and tactics against the Jews and advise the leaders in the ghetto.

At the conclusion of Shabbat we ended it with a traditional havdalah ceremony. Then in the hotel we met with Pani Paulina, one of the Righteous Gentiles. A Righteous Gentile is the way that the Israeli government is able to say thankyou to members of the non-Jewish population who helped the Jews during the war. Paulina told us her story. She was 15 and lived with her parents on the outskirts of her village, therefore her home was isolated from the rest of the village. This was an important point to her story. One day a Jewish girl knocked at the door of the family home asking for food. It was German policy to kill those who helped Jews. One of the stories she told was that someone in a block of flats fed starving children and as a result all the residents of the whole block were made to come out of their homes and were systematically executed. Nevertheless her mother invited the girl in and gave her soup and told her that if she came to the house at the same time every day there would be food for her. She came every day for a few months; sometimes alone, sometimes with her siblings and on one occasion with 9 other children. After a few months she stopped coming. One day a man knocked on the door asking for shelter for him and his family. Paulina’s family couldn’t shelter the family but knew a man who could. So he loaded the family onto a wagon and took them to a man who had made a shelter under his barn. This living space was only 36 inches high!. It was under the barn and the entry was hidden by a bale of straw and the horses 'guarded' the barn. There were 17 people living in this cramped shelter for a year and a half until the war ended! We saw a plan of the layout as the youngest member of that family contacted Paulina and sent her a drawing of the barn.

There were many Poles who wanted to help the Jews despite the dire consequences, but there were also Nazi collaborators and that is why it was so important that the movement of the family had to be under the darkest secret. Unfortunately after the war many Jews were massacred by Poles when they went back to their villages to reclaim their properties.

After this very interesting talk the group sat around in a large circle to discuss what we have seen and our feelings and emotions of the trip. Sara put a number of word cards on the floor and we each chose a word. My word was 'Family' and it occurred to me that the survivors walked away from the camps alone. They had no family and no friends and were forced to face a difficult future rebuilding their lives alone. How blessed and privileged we are to have family and friends. How blessed are we to have been able to go to Israel by choice.

Don’s word was 'Relationship' and he made two points about it. First was that although neither of us had family backgrounds involving the Holocaust, we have now built relationships with friends in this circle for support and understanding. Secondly Don commented that the relationships between the Poles and Jews before, during and after WW-2 were complex and not simply 1-sided or negative as we had preconceived.

The circle continued until all had made remarks focussed around their selected words, with others commenting interactively. One particularly humorous moment occurred when Ira held up his word card upside-down. Don said "oh that is the next Polish town we will visit: Wsinoiz" which evoked laughter from the group. All agreed that Wsinoiz Poland looked similar to many of the location names we had visited in the week. And that is what you see with the word 'ZIONISM' upside-down.

With everyone's thoughtful feedback echoing in our heads, we proceeded to our rooms for bed. And so ended our final overnight together in the Hotel Wilga.

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Photos

Backward look in the Remu Synagogue - photographed during our initial Friday morning visit
This picture was taken from the men's section, looking backward into the women's section (cloakroom) where Lesley stands at the rear window with Sara beside her, obvserving the Remah's grave in the cemetery behind the shul.

The Isaak Jakubowicz Synagogue in Krakow - photographed during our initial Friday morning visit
This is where we heard current Jewish views and conducted Shabbat mincha