Carl and Carol's 2025 European Gambol

Okopowa Cemetery in Warsaw is all about life. Miraculously mostly spared destruction during the War, its over 250,000 graves  tell both the glorious story of two centuries of Jewish life in Warsaw and also the tragedy of the Holocaust. Touring the Cemetery, we came across Marek Edelman’s matzevah. Rooted in the Jewish socialist tradition of the Bund (Jewish General Labour Bund of Poland), he believed emancipation should be fought for where Jews lived—through class struggle, secular Jewish culture, and workers’ rights—rather than through Zionist emigration to Palestine. Edelman's burial site and unusual matzevah. At his request he is buried close to his Bund comrades and his casket was covered by the Bund banner. The unusual design of the headstone perhaps artistically evokes the Star of David This conviction framed his leadership in 1943 when he and a tiny band of poorly armed fighters halted the Nazis’ plan for deportation and death. Edelman was one of only a few to survive. Mir...

Neither Carol nor I had ever met her but when we arrived in Warsaw on Thursday and were introduced, but it was love at first sight. Irena Krzywicka is one of 34 unique rooms/suites at the Chopin Boutique Hotel in Warsaw. Each is named after a Polish literary figure. Irena was actually born in Siberia in 1899 to a Jewish family that had been exiled from Warsaw by the Russian rulers (Warsaw was part of the Russian partition of Poland since 1795). The Krzywickas had run afoul of the authorities due to their clandestine activities both as socialists and as activists in the Jewish self-education movement. Returning from Siberia, Irena became a social activist, feminist, and writer of many novels and translations. She survived the Nazis by changing her name,  going into hiding and collaborating with the Home Army to fight the Germans. High ceiling and windows, beautiful art and antique furniture Staying in a room honoring such a resilient woman feels fitting given the hotel's own remarka...

  Last week Trump called hundreds of generals and admirals to an extraordinary meeting. There was no purge nor arrests but visiting the Professors' Garden of Jagiellonian University in  Kraków a few days afterwards we were reminded of it. From a display in the Garden, we learned about another extraordinary meeting. This one took place on November 6, 1939. Statues of professors in academic gowns in the garden. Jagiellonian University was founded in 1364, and the garden was established soon after, initially as a small subsistence farm. On that day, University professors were called to a meeting, a lecture about education under the new Nazi regime in Poland. About 180 attended. But it was a trick and there was no lecture. Instead, they were addressed by a Gestapo officer:  "The university here has begun the academic year without prior consent from the German authorities. This is an expression of ill will. Furthermore, it is common knowledge that the teachers have always been...

  We fell in love last week. It was easy. We spent eight days in Quetta, a small northern Italian village (population less than 200), nestled among other small villages, the Dolomites, and ubiquitous apple orchards sporting a cascade of the fruit in many different colors and varieties. What’s not to like? View from the back deck as we prepare to celebrate Rosh Hashonah with Federica's challah and local honey. Another view, of the nearby village of Denno, its apple orchards and distant snow covered Dolomites Nearby villages, with population and distance from Quetta. Grown on small family farms, the apples provide the basis of the area’s prosperity. The farmers’ cooperative model centralizes all post-harvest activities up to and including, most importantly, sales. Their cooperative, called Melinda,  is one of Italy’s largest apple grower cooperatives and a major European player. View of apple orchard Apples up close Apart from the beauty of this agricultural area, you can’t beat...

A startling news report appeared in the regional paper last week about Trento (near where we are staying). A 16 th century building had been sprayed with paint overnight. The building was on the site of an ancient synagogue and the writer suggested a possible anti-zionist connection, especially since a national strike blocking ports and roadways occurred a few days earlier to protest Italy’s collaboration with Israel in the Gaza war. Further investigation produced an even greater shocker. That building - a former synagogue - showcased two 18 th century bas relief carvings depicting a catastrophic blood libel pogrom against Trento’s Jewish population in 1475. One was about the martyrdom of Simonino and the other, the glory of Simonino. Neither carving was defaced and in fact few know the site is that of a former synagogue, so the act was probably not targeted at Jews. But a public memorialization of the “martyrdom” and “glory” of Simon of Trent? The Latin inscription under the medal...