Jewish travelers find that visiting synagogues/communities adds an interesting dimension to trips. For all travelers, discovering Jewish historical "footprints" leads to greater understanding of cultural forces which have shaped our world. דֶרֶך צְלֵחָה!

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Middelburg, Zeeland, the Netherlands, has a history of being a haven for Jews

The capital of this southern region of The Netherlands is also known as the City of the Four Freedoms, a tribute to the descendant of a native son, Franklin D. Roosevelt. It is home to one active synagogue and two Jewish cemeteries. Pictured below is the entrance to the Ashkenazi cemetery; there is also a Sephardic cemetery, which was in use from the 16th century, when this region of Holland welcomed Jews expelled from Portugal. Middelburg is also home to the Etty Hillesum house, a moving…

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Austria's Mauthausen concentration camp: because turning away shouldn't be an option

Yes, of course, the four capitals of Central Europe we visited on our Danube River cruise with Grand Circle Tours – Prague, Vienna, Bratislava, and Budapest – were all wrapped in wonder, overwhelmed with their impressive history, expansive promenades and architectural grandeur. But it was an experience near Linz in upper Austria that most impacted me – a visit to the Mauthausen Concentration Camp, one of the first to be built by the Nazis, in 1938, and in 1945 the last to be liberated (below).…

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1 Reply · Reply by Buzzy Gordon Apr 23, 2023

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  • I´m very interested in travel to UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and so it caught my eye that on UNESCO´s latest list of 43 new sites for 2023 it included a place in north of this country called the Jodensavanne Settlement and Cassipora Creek Cemetery. This is a settlement founded by European Jews in the 1680s, includes the ruins of what they think is the the earliest synagogue in the Americas, along with cemeteries, boat landing areas, and a military post. The Cassipora Creek Cemetery, meanwhile, is the remnant of an older settlement founded in the 1650s. You learn something new every day! https://www.unesco.org/en/world-heritage/committee-2023
    World Heritage Committee 2023
    The Extended 45th Session of the World Heritage Committee was held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from 10 to 25 September. On this page, you'll find the la…
  • The progressive New York-based ¨Forward¨ (I can´t stop thinking of it as the Jewish Daily Forward lol) recently went to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and found that tourists are still coming, able to tune out all the drama, demonstrations, and such: https://forward.com/news/557308/tourism-israel-protests-judicial-ov...
    Protests? What protests? Israel's tourists enj
    The protests across Israel haven't impacted its tourism industry — in fact, tourists don't care about the demonstrations capturing headlines.
  • Recently the English-language version of Spain's top newspaper El País took a look at the Sefarad - Jewish Spain: https://english.elpais.com/spain/2023-04-13/synagogues-cemeteries-a...
    Synagogues, cemeteries, and settlements: Spain’s hidden Jewish heritage
    The expulsion of the Jews in 1492 buried homes and synagogues standing for more than a thousand years in the Iberian Peninsula
  • I follow a progressive news site called Daily Kos on a daily basis, and having visited several synagogues in the Caribbean, I was interested to come across this piece about Caribbean Jewish history a few days ago: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/6/2161781/-Caribbean-Matter...
    Caribbean Matters: This Passover, let's explore the Caribbean's Jewish history
    When the Easter holiday season rolls around, many might assume that Spanish-, English-, French-, and Creole-speaking populations of the Caribbean wil…
  • MP COMMENT And now comes the world's first kosher restaurant with a Michelin star, in the Eixample near Diagonal, and this article in the Times of Israel also discusses the city's recent campaigns targeting Jewish and Israeli visitors, called “Shalom Barcelona” and “Barcelona Connects Israel.” Oy! https://www.timesofisrael.com/hungry-for-jewish-tourism-barcelona-g...
    Hungry for Jewish tourism, Barcelona gets world’s 1st kosher Michelin-starred eatery
    The city is rolling out the red carpet and seeking to brand itself as a destination for Jews interested in exploring their heritage
  • Jewish history going back centuries is a highlight of a visit to the inviting Mediterranean destination of Malta:

    https://www.jpost.com/International/Experiencing-Malta-the-sun-dren...

    Experiencing Malta – the sun-drenched crossroads of the Mediterranean
    History, gastronomy and Jewish heritage highlight a visit to this island fortress.
  • Rare Jewish Coins from 1st Century Discovered

    An archaeological excavation along the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv Highway revealed a previously unknown settlement from the Late Second Temple period -- including a rare hoard of coins that was found in one of its houses. The hoard, which was kept in a ceramic money box, included 114 bronze coins dating to the Year Four of the Great Revolt against the Romans. This revolt led to the destruction of the Temple on Tisha B’Av (the ninth day of the month of Av) c. 2,000 years ago. 

    According to excavation directors, “The hoard, which appears to have been buried several months prior to the fall of Jerusalem, provides us with a glimpse into the lives of Jews living on the outskirts of Jerusalem at the end of the rebellion. Evidently someone here feared the end was approaching and hid his property, perhaps in the hope of collecting it later when calm was restored to the region”. All of the coins are stamped on one side with a chalice and the Hebrew inscription “To the Redemption of Zion” and on the other side with a motif that includes a bundle of lulav between two etrogs. Around this is the Hebrew inscription “Year Four”, that is, the fourth year of the Great Revolt of the Jews against the Romans (69/70 CE). 

  • Temple Sinai in Lake Charles, LA, is one of the notable landmarks on the local Preservation Society's horse-drawn carriage tour through the city's historic district. Built in 1904, the impressive building lost its distinctive twin onion-domed spires in a devastating hurricane, but it retains a unique indoor feature: a set of interior doors positioned at the rear of the sanctuary that are opened when welcoming the Shabbat queen during services on Friday nights. 

    See photos at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/21663250@N03/sets/72157642013648914/

  • Ha! I'd forgotten the ACLU's role in that, but of course, it makes sense. It was First Amendment rights, no exceptions.

    A tricky business, this democracy experiment. 

  • Many do remember the Nazi march, and the ACLU's role in defending their right to do it. In fact, the museum itself commemorates it, under the headline Skokie Invaded, but not Conquered.

    I do hope to get a chance to write about it. 

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