MORAL COMPASS: Great Places to Go Where the Going Does Good

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Cultural Travel, heritage travel

Pacific Delight Launches Jewish Heritage Tours in Conjunction with Foundation for Remote Jewish Communities

October 5, 2016 MoralCompass

‘India: My Second Home’ Kosher Itinerary Departs January 10, 2017

*A local Jewish woman explains how mezuzot (encased Hebrew parchments) are common in Diaspora communities throughout India*

NEW YORK, NY – Pacific Delight Tours is teaming up with Rabbi Marvin Tokayer and the Foundation for Remote Jewish Communities (FRJC) to create a series of specialized Kosher Jewish interest tours. The program will launch with the India: My Second Home tour and will be expanded throughout Asia and other enticing global destinations where travelers can meet and learn about lesser known, yet thriving Jewish Diaspora communities.

“In addition to an interest in viewing history Through Jewish Eyes™ with an insight into the fascinating remote Diaspora communities, travelers who observe kashrut (kosher guidelines) have specific dietary requirements which are not satisfied by typical tour programs,” said Rabbi Tokayer. “In order to keep kosher in distant places, we arrange visits to Jewish Community Centers with first-class kosher restaurants. Additionally, in places where there is no synagogue, Hindu and Buddhist vegetarian restaurants allow us to keep kosher as these restaurants serve no “life” – no meat, poultry, fish, eggs or even milk. They allow us to keep kosher while experiencing some unique local cuisine.”

Dr. Katz poses with members of India's Jewish Community — *Dr. Katz poses with members of India’s Jewish Community*

Led Dr. Nathan Katz, a leading authority and award-winning author on Indian Jewish life, India: My Second Home is a two-week deluxe tour with opportunities to meet and interact with India’s diverse Jewish communities in Kochi (Cochin), Kolkata (Calcutta), Mumbai (Bombay), New Delhi and Agra. The program departs on January 10, 2017.

The program visits many “must-see” sights, including the iconic Taj Mahal, Elephanta Caves and other UNESCO World Heritage sites. Travelers will learn new traditions at Shabbat services and dinners in Mumbai and New Delhi, tour Kochi and Kolkata’s historic synagogues with local members of the Jewish community and experience Kerala’s scenic backwaters by boat while exploring rural Jewish settlements. Guests will also enjoy a scenic rickshaw ride through Old Delhi along with cultural music and dance performances.

“India is known for its antiquity and modern high-tech, its spirituality and Bollywood swagger, its bustling cities and pristine nature – a cultural kaleidoscope at the center of the world’s largest democracy. But what’s typically not known is India’s long history as one of the most hospitable homes in the Jewish Diaspora,” said Dr. Katz. “For centuries, Jews found a haven in which their traditions flourished. So too, they’ve been among India’s great mystics, taken center stage in Bollywood, served as mayor of major cities and produced the country’s greatest military hero, General J. F. R. ‘Jack’ Jacob, and most celebrated patron saint of 17th century Indian poetry, Sarmad Kashani.”

“India is fascinating not only for its sacred cow, the Taj Mahal and Hinduism, but it is also home to the least known and most benevolent Jewish Diaspora, including a Jewish kingdom established in the 5th century. Jews have lived in India for well over 2,000 years without a trace of anti-Semitism. I was surprised to learn so much about Jewish history of which I was previously unaware during the creation of this program,” noted Charmaine Lau, Operations Manager at Pacific Delight Tours. “This is truly a fascinating experience and we are very excited to work with Rabbi Tokayer and the Foundation on similar programs throughout China and global destinations.”

Pacific Delight’s kosher tours utilize deluxe hotels such as Mumbai’s five-star Taj Mahal Tower overlooking the Gateway of India and Arabian Sea. Other accommodations may include the Vivanta by Taj-Malabar Hotel in Kochi, the Oberoi Grand Kolkata Hotel, Taj Mahal Hotel in New Delhi and Agra’s ITC Mughal Hotel (hotels may be substituted with similar class accommodations at the discretion of Pacific Delight and the Foundation for Remote Jewish Communities).

The fully-escorted tour is available from $7,195 per person, based on double occupancy. Rates include deluxe accommodations, all meals (kosher or strictly vegetarian), all intra-India flights, the services of an English-speaking escort and local guides including acclaimed scholar Dr. Katz, enticing cultural events and personalized photos/travel blog of the trip. All taxes and gratuities are included so there is no need to tip drivers, escorts, guides or hotel staff.

International airfare and visa processing fees are not included and can be arranged by Pacific Delight Tours based on competitive market rates at the time of booking.

Dr. Katz is distinguished Professor, Emeritus, at Florida International University where he was director of Jewish Studies and founding director of the Program in the Study of Spirituality. He has written 15 books, including The Last Jews of Cochin and Who Are the Jews of India? A Fulbright scholar who has spent more than eight years in South Asia, Dr. Katz was delegate to the 1990 Tibetan-Jewish dialogue hosted by the Dalai Lama, which was chronicled in the bestselling book, The Jew in the Lotus.

The tour cost includes a $900 per person tax-deductible donation to Rabbi Tokayer’s FRJC, a 501(c)3 not-for-profit educational charity that is devoted to preserving and promoting the endangered Jewish communities on the periphery of the Diaspora. Since its inception in 2003, FRJC has distributed nearly $1 million for Jewish libraries, scholarships and sustainable farming projects. Learn more at www.frjc.org.

Consult your local travel agent to book, contact Pacific Delight Tours at 800-221-7179 or visit www.PacificDelightTours.com for more information.

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Jewish Berlin Tour
Jewish Buenos Aires Tour
Jewish Prague
Jewish Ghetto & Trastevere in Rome
Jewish Catacombs in Rome
Jewish Vienna Tour (new)
Jewish Culture and Food Tour of NYC
Jewish Quarter Paris Tour
Hungarian Jewish Food Tour in Budapest
Jewish Quarter Budapest Tour
Jewish Heritage Tour of London
Jewish Barcelona Tour
Jewish Amsterdam Tour
Shylock’s Venice
Sachsenhausen Camp Excursion from Berlin

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Cultural Travel, heritage travel, walking tours

Context Travel Adds Jewish Vienna to catalog of 15 Jewish Heritage Walking Tours

October 5, 2016 MoralCompass

Judenplatz, the historic Jewish Quarter of Vienna, Austria, has a museum, an archeological excavation of a Medieval synagogue, and Holocaust memorial. © 2016 Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Context Travel, which offers walking tours around the world, has added a new walking tour in Vienna to its list of 15 different Jewish history and culture tours in cities around the world, from a Jewish Buenos Aires tour to a knoshing tour of the Lower East Side

The Jewish Vienna Walking Tour is led by a small group of historians, visiting key sites in Vienna, including: the City Temple, Holocaust Memorial, and neighborhoods of notable Jewish residents like Theodor Hertzl.

Docents from the Context network around the world share their insight and views on some of the greatest Jewish Heritage sites in the world, including their favorite synagogues and critical Holocaust Memorials that you must visit if you consider yourself an informed world citizen. See:
Holocaust Memorials Around the World and Jewish Synagogues Across the World

Here are links to the 15 tours:

Founded by National Geographic writer Paul Bennett and designer Lani Bevacqua, Context Travel is a network of English-speaking scholars and professionals, including art historians, writers, architects and gastronomes, who organize and lead walking seminars in thirty-seven (37) world cities, including: Florence, Rome, Venice, Naples, Milan, Paris, London, Dublin, Edinburgh, Madrid, Barcelona, Berlin, New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Washington, D.C., Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Cartagena, Istanbul, Athens, Beijing, Shanghai, Vienna, Prague, Budapest, Amsterdam, Milan, Dublin, Tokyo, Kyoto, Hong Kong, Vancouver, Montreal, Melbourne, and Sydney. A certified B Corporation, Context Travel was named one of the fastest-growing American companies in 2011 by Inc Magazine. Travel + Leisure has called Context one of the top European tour companies for its innovative approach to travel and the depth of its programs. To learn more about Context, visit the website at: www.contexttravel.com.

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Exhibits, heritage travel, Historic Preservation, Museums & Exhibits

Photo Exhibit Honoring Elie Wiesel Opens in Moscow

August 28, 2016 MoralCompass

MOSCOW, RUSSIA — Limmud FSU, based in Tel Aviv, Israel, in partnership with the Shem Olam Institute and the Nativ organization, has just opened a photographic survey of the life of Elie Wiesel, at the Israeli Cultural Center in Moscow. The exhibition will run until the end of September.

An array of VIPs participated in the opening August 25, including Russian Chief Rabbi Avraham Shayevich; Russian Jewish Congress President Yuri Kenner; Israel’s Minister of Immigrant Absorption Sofa Landver; Conference of European Rabbis President Pinchas Goldschmidt; Euro-Asian Jewish Congress Secretary General Mikhail Chlenov; Israeli-Russian Business Council Chairman Dr. Temur Ben Yehuda; Prof. Ilya Altman, representing the Claims Conference in the FSU; American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee’s representative in Moscow, Alik Nadan; and the founder and chairman of Limmud FSU, Chaim Chesler.

Wiesel was a leading supporter of the movement to free Soviet Jewry and in 1966 wrote a highly influential book on the struggle. “It’s fitting that Elie Wiesel was honored in Moscow by the very people he helped free 50 years after writing ‘The Jews of Silence,'” said Chesler. “His memory will serve as an inspiration and a symbol of our triumph.”

Dr. Yoel Rappel, the founder and director of the Elie Wiesel Archive at Boston University, curated the exhibition, which showcases milestones in Wiesel’s life, from his youth before and during the Holocaust to his work as a novelist, journalist, Jewish leader and Nobel Prize winner.

“When I asked Wiesel how the struggle for Soviet Jewry is more important than the struggle for Holocaust awareness, he replied: ‘the Jews of Europe were exterminated physically by the Nazis; the Jews of the Soviet Union were being destroyed spiritually. The first we were unable to avoid, but we must prevent the second from succeeding,'” said Rappel.

Wiesel was born in 1928 in Sighet, Transylvania, now in Romania. He was just 15 years old when the Nazis deported him and his family to Auschwitz. His mother and younger sister perished, yet his two older sisters survived. Elie and his father were later transported to the Buchenwald concentration camp, where his father died shortly before the camp was liberated in April 1945.

“Elie Wiesel, an Auschwitz survivor and Nobel Peace Prize winner, was a source of inspiration for Jews around the world – and all free people. A philosopher, teacher, journalist and writer, he embodied the struggle against evil and for the right of Diaspora Jews to immigrate to Israel,” said Landver. “There is no one who will be better remembered as a fighter for humanity. Wiesel managed to break through the Iron Curtain and allow many Jews to return to the Jewish homeland.”

In 1978, U.S. President Jimmy Carter appointed Wiesel as chairman of the President’s Commission on the Holocaust. In 1980, he became the founding chairman of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council. Wiesel and his wife Marion established the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity, to combat indifference, intolerance and injustice. He received 140 honorary degrees from institutions of higher learning all over the world.

Elie Wiesel died in New York in July.

The entire exhibition may be viewed or downloaded here.

Limmud FSU is a nonprofit founded 10 years ago by Chaim Chesler, former treasurer of the Jewish Agency, and Sandra Cahn, a philanthropist from New York. Since its inaugural conference in Moscow in 2006, Limmud FSU has created an independent educational and communal network of annual conferences and festivals, attracting more than 35,000 participants in Russia (Moscow, St. Petersburg, Russian Far East and the Volga-Ural region), Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Israel, North America (Greater New York, the West Coast, and Canada), and Australia. Limmud FSU engages young Russian-Jewish adults, empowering them to take ownership of their identity and to connect with their communities through pluralistic, egalitarian volunteer-driven conferences of Jewish learning and culture. In this way, Limmud FSU strives to foster the next generation of young Russian-speaking Jewish leadership and so revitalize Jewish communities in the countries of the former Soviet Union, and in countries with Russian-Jewish communities, wherever they may be. Key partners include the Claims Conference, JDC, philanthropist Matthew Bronfman, Aaron Frenkel, Michal Grayevsky, Ronald Lauder, Diane Wohl, the Jewish National Fund (KKL), UJA-Federation of New York, Israel Bonds, the Jewish Agency, and others. For additional details: www.limmudfsu.org.
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Cultural Travel, heritage travel, Historic Places, Historic Preservation

American Indian Intertribal PowWow at Jamestown Settlement, Williamsburg, Oct 1-2

August 20, 2016 MoralCompass

Kevin Locke performs Hoop Dance. Jamestown Settlement is hosting an American Indian Intertribal PowWow Oct. 1-2, 2016

WILLIAMSBURG, Va.– Jamestown Settlement, a museum of 17th-century Virginia history and culture, will present an American Indian Intertribal Powwow on Saturday and Sunday, October 1 and 2, featuring song and dance by members of American Indian tribes, storytelling and a film presentation.

An Evening Concert & Flute Workshops With Kevin Locke

A highlight of the weekend event will be a Saturday evening performance by folk artist Kevin Locke, a world-renowned Hoop Dancer, an indigenous Northern Plains flute player and storyteller. Locke, Native American Music Award winner for 2009 Record of the Year and National Endowment for the Arts Heritage Fellow, will perform traditional songs and original music from his 12 albums, most recently The First Flute, Open Circle, Keepers of the Dream and Dream Catcher, combining songs on flute with American Indian stories touching on the Lakota culture and sign language. At the conclusion of the evening, accompanied by Powwow singers, Locke will perform a hoop dance, an athletic healing dance in which he uses 28 hoops to form various animals and shapes. Audience members will be selected to learn and take part in this traditional hoop dance. The evening concert begins at 6:30 p.m., and admission is $10 for adults and $5 for ages 6-12.

As a Lakota and Anishinabe, Locke works with young people on American Indian reservations to ensure the survival and growth of the indigenous culture and shares the culture’s legacies with others during his world travels. Locke will offer flute workshops at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday in which he will show children how to build and paint their own flute and teach them a song. Participants during the Saturday workshops will be invited to perform with Locke during the Saturday evening performance, and those participating in the Sunday workshops can take part in the Sunday daytime Powwow dancing event. Flute workshops require advance reservations and cost $40 per person on Saturday (includes museum admission to daytime event and evening concert) and $35 on Sunday (includes museum admission to daytime event). Each workshop, designed for ages 8 and older, is limited to 15 participants.

American Indian Intertribal Powwow activities from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. include:

Powwow Singing & Dancing

A Grand Entry with a parade of dancers will take place at 12:30 p.m. each day in a dance circle on the museum mall, followed by an afternoon of singing and dancing until 4:30 p.m. Master of Ceremonies will be David White Buffalo, a member of the Sincagu band of the Lakota Nation, and Arena Director will be Clark Stewart of the Chickahominy Tribe. Among the featured singers will be Thunder Voices of the Lumbee, from Lumberton, N.C.; Zotigh Singers of the Kiowa, from Oklahoma; and The White Buffalo Singers of the Lakota, from Rosebud, S.D.

Film Presentation

Visitors can view the one-hour documentary film “Rising Voices” 10 a.m. and 12:30 and 3 p.m. each day to learn about the endangered indigenous language of the Lakota people at. The film is part of The Language Conservancy’s ongoing effort to preserve and revitalize languages in North America. Following the film, elders and first-language speakers from the Lakota in South Dakota and Crow in Montana will be on hand to discuss the film and facilitate children’s activities.

Storytelling

Grace Ostrum of the Accohannock will present American Indian stories at 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. each day.

Birds of Prey

A “Birds of Prey” program, featuring falcons and other raptors, will be presented on the museum mall by Eagle Pines Falconry at 11:45 a.m. each day of the event.

‘Bartering for a Continent’ Special Exhibition

Jamestown Settlement visitors also can enjoy the “Bartering for a Continent: How Anglo-Indian Trade Shaped America” special exhibition through December 10, exploring the importance of trade between American Indians and English colonists, from the founding of Jamestown through the American Revolution, and the role of Virginia in the development of a new world of exchange in goods and commodities across the North American continent.

Basket Workshops

Powhatan Indians in the 17th century made baskets of bark, grasses and vines to carry items harvested on land and from waterways. Visitors can pre-register for a two-hour workshop at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. October 1 and 2 to discover the process of making twined baskets and take it home. Workshops are $20 per person and limited to 15 participants.

Jamestown Settlement features an introductory film, expansive exhibition galleries that chronicle the nation’s 17th-century beginnings in Virginia in the context of its Powhatan Indian, English and west central African cultures, and historical interpretation at outdoor re-creations of a Powhatan village, the three ships that brought America’s first permanent English colonists to Virginia in 1607, and a colonial fort.

The Jamestown Settlement Special Exhibition, Bartering for a Continent: How Anglo-Indian Trade Shaped America, is on view June 4 – December 10, 2016.

The American Indian Intertribal Powwow daytime event is included with admission: $17.00 for adults, $8.00 for ages 6 through 12, and children under 6 are free. Separate admission is required for the Saturday evening concert with Kevin Locke and advance reservations required for flute and basket workshops. Tickets are available at https://jyfemail.jyf.virginia.gov/eStore/.

Jamestown Settlement, located at State Route 31 and the Colonial Parkway (2110 Jamestown Road), is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. For more information about the American Indian Intertribal Powwow, call (888) 593-4682 toll-free or (757) 253-4838 or visit http://www.historyisfun.org/jamestown-settlement/powwow/

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Cultural Travel, heritage travel, international travel

The Nation Magazine Hosts Trip to Iran in December

August 20, 2016 MoralCompass

The Nation Magazine’s December tour to Iran will be the second one this year.

The Nation Magazine is mounting a 10-night educational excursion to Iran, specially curated for a limited group of Nation readers and supporters. The trip will offer a rare opportunity to experience the people, politics, culture, and history of a country that has been at the very center of geopolitics for decades—yet that so few Americans have ever had an opportunity to visit.

The group of about 30 will fly together the evening of December 9 from New York City, and arrive at Tehran’s international airport late the following day. After settling into one of Tehran’s premier hotels, the first two days will be spent visiting the city’s preeminent museums, experiencing important historical and cultural sites, and savoring traditional Iranian food in the city’s finest restaurants and food markets.

Next, the group will fly to Shiraz, one of the oldest cities of ancient Persia, known as the “city of poets, literature, wine, and gardens.” The itinerary also visits the historic cities of Persepolis, Naqsh-e Rustam, Pasargadae, Nain, Isfahan, Kashan, and Qom. After returning to Tehran on December 17, there will be more touring of the capital city—including its famous Grand Bazaar—as well as opportunities to meet with academics and other prominent Iranians. The group returns to New York on December 20.

The trip is hosted in Iran by Charles Bittner, The Nation’s long-serving academic liaison. Bittner currently directs The Nation’s cultural- and educational-exchange program in Cuba and Iran, and also teaches in the sociology department at St. John’s University in New York City. Additionally, the group will accompanied throughout the tour by Afshin Kepasa, one of Iran’s most experienced tour guides, who has graduate degrees in modern languages and politics from the University of Tehran.

This will be The Nation’s second tour of Iran this year. Previous participants have found Iran to be a phenomenal place to visit, that its people are exceptionally hospitable and generous, and that the delegation was treated with the utmost respect and benevolence.

“Please note that the purpose of this trip is not at all political,” Bittner writes. “Rather, our objective is to experience firsthand the culture and history of this strategically important yet largely unfamiliar country.”

The all-inclusive cost of this tour is $7,265/$7,795 per person(double/single occupancy) and includes round-trip airfare from New York to Tehran; 10 nights at four-star hotels throughout Iran; a one-way flight from Tehran to Shiraz; all travel authorizations and Iranian visas; ground transportation; airport transfers; lectures; guided visits to Iran’s renowned museums and historical sites; most meals; and many other captivating activities and events.

Space is limited. For additional information or to register, contact Charles Bittner at charles@thenation.com.

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heritage travel, Historic Places, Historic Preservation

New UNESCO World Heritage Sites Designated for Germany

August 10, 2016 MoralCompass

On July 17, 2016, the two Le Corbusier houses at the Weissenhof Estate in the Southern German city of Stuttgart were designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites, making it the first World Heritage Site for Stuttgart and the 41st for Germany.

As part of a transnational joint application, Stuttgart and destinations in seven other countries applied to have 17 of Le Corbusier’s buildings listed due to the architect’s outstanding contribution to Modernism. The two Stuttgart houses are the architect’s only buildings in Germany and include the Weissenhof Museum, which illustrates the radical change in architecture around the time of the Second World War as well as Le Corbusier’s visionary thinking.

Germany’s other 40 UNESCO World Heritage Sites include the majestic Cologne Cathedral, the expansive Wadden Sea habitat, Classical Weimar and Regensburg’s charming Old Town. They can be explored on eight different themed routes, from natural wonders to architecture to palaces and parks.

For more information about Germany’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites, visit www.germany.travel/unesco.
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