SHABBAT IN WARSAW - AMAZING

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Tonight we had the most amazing evening. We arrived in Warsaw and had a quick half hour to get ready to go to Beit Warsaw to services. The congregation is a progressive (Reform) congregation, affiliated with the World Union for Progressive Judaism.

And here is what we discovered:

1) The main rabbi of the congregation, Rabbi Burt Schuman, was away this week. The second rabbi at the congregation is Rabbi Tanya Segal -- who was once an Israeli rabbinical student (immigrated from former Soviet Union) who I befriended back when she was on a semester at HUC-JIR in New York maybe four years ago. And visited with back in Israel the next year. We always had a very special connection the few times we were thrown together - and here she was! Amazing! She even remembered how she and I had sat up one night brainstorming Kabbalah symbols and ideas when Temple Beth El was designing the Kabbalah windows in our chapel.

2) Theodore Bikel was traveling around doing a special symposium for minority groups, getting them together to sing. The night before he had done a concert at this synagogue, and now he was going to be the guest singer at the Friday night services.

So, it was a fantastic evening. Our whole group was so enamored! We arrived and were greeted by John (Jan?) who grew up in the States but spent vacations in Poland as a child and moved back here years ago. He ran some kind of NGO that had to do with bringing groups together in dialogue over in Chelm, but a month ago became the executive director of this congregation. He greeted us and then showed us a DVD about the congregation. We have a copy to show back in New Jersey. A member of the congregation, Magrushka (?) who also called herself Sarah, came as well to talk with us about the congregation and herself. Then, in the back behind us at the end of the DVD was Severyn Ashkenazy, the man behind this congregation. After the short film, the three of them answered questions about why the Orthodox will not recognize them; how different kinds of people find their way to the community: by word of mouth or through newspapers; the kinds of reasons people arrive at the community: because they know they are Jewish but don’t know what it means, or they suspect they have Jewish roots, or they are merely curious about this religion that used to be such a big part of Polish culture. They told us how the normal progression is for someone to explore Judaism for a long time before even admitting he or she may have Jewish ancestry. And then even longer before they will say “I’m a Jew.” They don’t push anyone. They are an “open” community where anyone can investigate. Their basic class is called “Judaism step-by-step” and it’s not a conversion class. That’s something else.

They shared with us how 2 weeks ago they held a conversion ceremony for 14 people (adults and children) using the mikvah in Krakow (the Warsaw one was denied to them.) The one in Krakow is in the Eden Hotel, and Peter just happened to notice the sign for it earlier today when we did our Jewish tour of Krakow. He thought it was odd to see a “mikvah” plaque on a hotel. Turns out, the hotel is kosher and for $5 you can use the mikvah. The Beit Warsaw people told us how they didn’t know this and someone went through a big negotiation and payment to the Warsaw Orthodox rabbi to get his permission to use the Krakow mikvah. Then, when the rabbis got to Krakow to ask the hotel owner to let them use it, he informed them that they never needed the Warsaw rabbi’s permission! Just pay the $5 and they were more than welcome! (Before this time, they were doing the conversions using a river in Warsaw…)

We heard such wonderful stories. One was about how often young people do not know they have Jewish roots until a grandparent tells it on his or her deathbed. That’s what happened to one woman: her Catholic grandmother on her deathbed revealed that this woman’s mother was actually Jewish (taken in by the grandmother). But this woman’s mother wouldn’t talk about it. Later, this woman shared more over dinner with some from our group. Her mother’s hair was kept short because it was dark - but she had blue eyes so she could pass as Catholic during the Holocaust. She had to carry a basket with lard or pork around to prove she wasn’t Jewish. When the woman we met married she did not yet know she had Jewish roots. Her husband’s family was anti-semitic. He even asked her if she was sure she wasn’t Jewish before they got married --- because he could not marry a Jew. Later, they divorced, but not over this issue. She has become an active member of the community, and her younger son (teenager) comes along often and is in the Sunday school to learn more.

We heard of people who did not know they were Jewish, but found themselves married into families where their in-laws assisted in turning over Jews to the Nazis during the war.

We met one of the women from Western Poland who came 450 kilometers to spend Shabbat with the congregation. They are starting a liberal Jewish community out where she lives - and Rabbi Segal will spend a weekend out there in another month or so. We met a young man in his early 20’s (at the most) named Matt. His maternal grandparents were both Jewish. His grandmother was born in 1911. She fled to the east during the Holocaust, surviving in Russia, and returned to Poland after the war. Though she married someone Jewish, her children grew up without religion during Communist time. He was raised in an “atheist” household, he said, but then he corrected this. “We always believed there was a Lord.” His parents are still atheists, but he himself has been coming for a while weekly to Beit Warsaw. He is at Warsaw University in his third year of law studies (out of five years). He goes Friday nights and Sautrday mornings to the congregation, and his only complaint is that 10:00 am on Saturdays is too early in the morning for him.

We loved the service - with all the melodies we do back at Temple Beth El. And the rabbi playing guitar; and Theodore Bikel singing Craig Taubman’s Rom’mu melody; and a delicious dinner; and ending with a group photo in front of their Ark - with Rabbi Segal and Theodore Bikel. An evening to treasure. Am Yisraeyl Chai! The Jewish people lives, and we all wanted to be part of this revival.

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