Category Archives: heritage travel

Mission in Support of Jewish Communities of Budapest and Prague Planned for June 16-25

A mission in support of the Jewish communities in Prague and Budapest is being planned (photo by David Leiberman).
A mission in support of the Jewish communities in Prague and Budapest is being planned (photo by David Leiberman).

BOSTON, MASS.  — Members of the Greater Boston Jewish community are organizing a first-of-its-kind upbeat cultural mission designed to show support for the Jewish communities of two of Europe’s great capitals: Budapest, Hungary, and Prague, Czech Republic.

The professionally-led June 16 – 25 mission, “Discovering Our Jewish Past & Present,” is open to all and is being organized by the Temple Israel Brotherhood of Sharon, Mass. under the auspices of Masorti Olami, the World Council of Conservative/Masorti Synagogues. Masorti is devoted to strengthening Jewish life around the world.  Space is limited and the reservation deadline is March 15.

Participants will enjoy VIP meetings with community leaders and high-ranking diplomats, 4-star accommodations, sightseeing and guided tours of both cities’ incredible architectural treasures, unforgettable behind-the-scenes experiences with the local Jewish community, and home hospitality.

Co-chairing the mission are Dr. Mark Popovsky, Vice President and Chief Medical Officerat Haemonetics, Inc., and Ron Czik, an IT Development Manager.

“Through meetings with Jewish community leaders, we can become better advocates for their communities, demonstrate ‘Klal Yisrael,’ our solidarity and support,” Dr. Popovsky said, “These proud, self-identifying Jews are bravely staying put. American Jewry has clout on many levels and this is the best way to increase awareness and show the world these communities are alive and well.”

Ron Czik said, “In light of growing worldwide anti-Semitism, this trip takes on even more meaning.” Czik has a special affinity to Hungary as members of his family are Holocaust survivors from Hungary.

Major highlights of the mission include a special Shabbat celebration with the Dor Hadash (‘New Generation’ in Hebrew) Masorti community leaders in Budapest, and VIP meetings to learn firsthand about Hungarian-Jewish relations, in partnership with the American Jewish Committee (AJC).

Besides sightseeing and special programs, the group will engage in advocacy for the safety of the local Jewish community, and leadership development.

In addition to home hospitality with local community leaders and special Sabbath services, other highlights in Budapest will include: Dohany Synagogue; Jewish Museum and Cemetery; cruise on the Danube; Parliament Building; Great Market Hall and more. Among highlights in Prague: Old City and ghetto; historic synagogues and State Jewish Museum; tour of Terezin concentration camp; Holocaust Memorial Day service; and a tour of Golden Prague.

Prague’s Jewish community dates back to the 13th century.  Very few Czech Jews survived the Holocaust; a quarter million died at the hands of the Nazis and 60 synagogues were destroyed.  Today, about 4,000 Jews reside in the Czech Republic. Hungary’s Jewish community dates back to 895 AD or earlier. Over 600,000 were killed by the Nazis. Today‘s Jewish population is about 120,000, mostly in Budapest, making it one of Europe’s largest. There are many active synagogues in Hungary, including the largest in Europe the second largest in the world.

The mission is a direct outgrowth of the 2011 Men’s Club Biennial Conference where American community leaders were challenged to find ways to connect with young Jewish professionals around the world who are courageously leading their historic communities into the 21st century.

Using Skype, members of Temple Israel of Sharon have celebrated holidays and prayed together with leaders of Dor Hadash. In 2013, Dor Hadash leaders were hosted in Sharon, Mass., during a convention of the Federation of Jewish Men’s Clubs in Boston.

Arrangements for this mission are being made by Ayelet Tours, Ltd., of Albany, NY,  which has 30 years of experience creating Jewish travel experiences around the world.

The cost is about $4,500 per person – includes airfare, 4-star hotels for 10 days, guided tours, programs, and many meals.

For more information and/or reservations, contact  Mark A. Popovsky, M.D.,  [email protected] or Ron Czik at [email protected].

 

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Burkat Global Tour Explores 3000 Years of Jewish India Up to Present

Travelers at Magen Aboth Synagogue in Alibag on the Konkan Coast following the path of Jews shipwrecked there more than 2,000 years ago. The synagogue is two hours from Mumbai by private boat and bus on Burkat Global's "3000 Years of Jewish India" tour starting in Mumbai, January 26, 2015 © Burkat Global, LLC
Travelers at Magen Aboth Synagogue in Alibag on the Konkan Coast following the path of Jews shipwrecked there more than 2,000 years ago. The synagogue is two hours from Mumbai by private boat and bus on Burkat Global’s “3000 Years of Jewish India” tour starting in Mumbai, January 26, 2015 © Burkat Global, LLC

Coming upon a pastel pink synagogue with hot pink trim is only one of the surprises travelers will uncover on Burkat Global’s 3,000 Years of Jewish India tour.  In Southern India you’ll walk in the footsteps of the Jews who arrived as spice traders 3,000 years ago and those who settled there.2,000 years ago after the destruction of the second temple.

The journey begins in Mumbai (aka Bombay), India’s  most sophisticated city, where you’ll shop in ancient bazaars and visit colonial relics.  You’ll also tour breathtaking synagogues and historic sites,  take a private boat across Mumbai harbor  to visit age-old synagogues and oil pressers on the Konkan Coast, and take another private boat to Elephanta Island to explore  early Hindu caves.

A short flight takes the group to Cochin (aka Kochi) and the backwaters of Kerala, “the Venice of the East,”  for Ayurveda massage, yoga, or just relaxing. You’ll enjoy a Kathakali performance and traditional Kerala home-style meals.   There’s also a lazy afternoon on board a luxury houseboat, dining and taking pictures of villagers fishing, palm-fringed paddy fields and brightly-painted houses and churches.

In the city of Cochin you’ll have a cooking lesson and visit  a “secret” synagogue;  tour ancient Jew Town’s spice markets, antiques shops, Jewish cemetery and India’s oldest synagogue; view contemporary art on a special tour of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale; and see the Dutch Palace, Vasco da Gama’s church and more. In Muziris, where Jewish traders settled even before Cochin, you can work with archaeologists digging up the past, and swim in the Arabian Sea.  You’ll see recently-restored synagogues and an ancient Jewish cemetery in a town where Jews, Hindus, Muslims and Christians  have lived peacefully  for millennia.

There are about 5,000 Jews left in India, Howard Burkat tells me. “Because no one really knows the exact number, sometimes the number is thought to be as many as 7,500. There were substantially fewer than 100,000 before Israel became a state. Again, an exact and reliable number is very hard to come by. The vast majority of Indian Jews left the country to settle in Israel  in the years immediately after that country’s gaining independence in 1948.

The synagogues that remain are in many cases still used as places of worship. They were built in the 17th-19th centuries and most have been used by the community ever since. However, some are in excellent condition. Some need sprucing up. And some are in terrible shape waiting to be restored.

Recently the government of the southern state of Kerala, where the synagogues around Cochin are located, has  restored a number of synagogues beautifully, he says. “In fact Dr. Shalva Weil of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who is the scholar in residence on our tour and travels with us, was heavily involved in a number of these restorations.”

Dr. Shalva Weil of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem speaking at Bombay's 1884 Temple Knesset Eliyahoo, built by the Sassoon family, prominent Jewish philanthropists. On Burkat Global's "3000 Years of Jewish India" tour, Dr. Weil is the scholar in residence speaking daily on tour destinations. © Burkat Global, LLC
Dr. Shalva Weil of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem speaking at Bombay’s 1884 Temple Knesset Eliyahoo, built by the Sassoon family, prominent Jewish philanthropists. On Burkat Global’s “3000 Years of Jewish India” tour, Dr. Weil is the scholar in residence speaking daily on tour destinations. © Burkat Global, LLC

In Mumbai on the holidays a few hundred people might attend services; out on the Konkan coast in the country outside Mumbai, fewer than a dozen people might worship. In still other synagogues, no one attends – they are museums maintained by government entities.

There is an old, beautiful synagogue, nearly 300 years old, hidden deep in the marketplace in Cochin. It is not visible from the street. You must be led to it through a large pet store and garden center whose Jewish owner will take you through his stores and into the synagogue to tell you its history.

“There are no regular services now, the last rabbi returned to Israel more than two years ago,  but on our tour, Sabbath worship will be arranged,” Burkat says., “Travelers sit under chandeliers ordered from Europe in the 1700s, and walk on tile floors from China, each one different from the next, that have been in place for hundreds of years.”

Dr. Shalva Weil of The Hebrew University, considered the world’s leading expert on Jewish India, will be the scholar in residence, traveling with and teaching the group.

Along the way there are delicious meals of Indian food—not hot unless you like it hot—and special Jewish Indian Shabbat dinners.  (Note that tour meals are not kosher, but are  vegetarian and fish.)   Hotels, all green award winners, include the legendary 5-star Taj Mahal Palace in Mumbai, Kerala’s lakeside Coconut Lagoon Resort, which Condé Nast Traveler has called one of the world’s best getaways, and the Brunton Boatyard, which combines 19th-century atmosphere with 21st-century luxury on an historic stretch of Cochin’s celebrated harbor.

There are also opportunities to meet local people. “In Mumbai and Cochin we arrange dinners with local Jewish community leaders. Our ground operator and guides are members of the Bene Israel community in Mumbai – they are leading our group into their own community.”

“3000 Years of Jewish India” makes three stops. In Mumbai and Cochin the group travels to numerous Jewish and non-Jewish sites. “Doctor Shalva Weil explains and lectures on the Jewish sites each day when we are visiting them. We also spend four days at the Coconut Lagoon resort, one of the most luxurious in India. This is a wonderful indulgence stop. There is a chance to learn about the literary heritage of Kerala and also see its famous Kathakali dances. There may be a lecture by Dr, Weill, but there is not Jewish heritage component here as there is in Cochin and Mumbai.

The tour is geared organized by the Burkat family and designed for families.

The small-group, land-only tour costs $7,995 per person, double occupancy, and includes almost everything: accommodation in luxury hotels, all intra-India transportation and transfers, daily breakfast, 21 lunches and dinners, bottled water,  sightseeing with entrance fees, the services of expert Indian Jewish guides, taxes and gratuities.  There is one departure: January 26, 2015; the tour is limited to 20 people.  International air fare is not included.

For more information about the “3,000 Years of Jewish India” tour, visit www.burkatglobal.com.  For reservations, call 914-231-9023.

 

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