"Jewish Revival" in Poland

[colkitto]

This  sounds eerily like many of the "Celtic" festivals you get nowadays.


> Mr. Levin, just curious, what language did you use to explain the signage
> to the woman at the gate?
>
>
>> [Original Message]
>> From: Jules Levin <ameliede at EARTHLINK.NET>
>> To: <SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU>
>> Date: 7/12/2007 8:07:03 PM
>> Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] "Jewish Revival" in Poland
>>
>> At 05:28 PM 7/12/2007, you wrote:
>> >Dear SEELANGers,
>> >The Jewish Revival in Poland has been going on for some time. I was
>> >fortunate to stay at Hotel Ester, next to a beautiful Synagogue in
>> >Krakow three summers ago (in the heart of the newly, and fabulously,
>> >renovated Jewish district), and I had ample opportunities to sample
>> >Jewish cuisine, Jewish music, and Jewish culture.
>>
>> I also stayed at a hotel in Kazimierz, and was touched by the
>> eagerness of the young
>> university student staff to provide shabbat assistance to observant
>> guests.  There was a
>> lot of good will there, but in the end Kazimierz can be summed up in
>> 3 words--Jewish Theme
>> Park.  It is like the American Indian pavilion at a World's Fair,
>> with periodic demonstrations
>> of the most stereotypical cultural artifacts.  The "Jewish" cuisine,
>> decidedly not kosher, is on menus
>> that include pork products, the Jewish music is performed by groups
>> imitating old records, and the
>> Jewish culture includes souvenir shops with carved figures of dancing
>> Hasidic rabbis, etc.  In short,
>> Jewish kitsch.   One memory stands out--during Yom Kippur services at
>> the Rema shul I went out into
>> the courtyard for some fresh air, and I noticed two women opening the
>> gate.  Since the gate has a notice
>> (in Polish and English) that tourists were not admitted when services
>> were going on, I directed her attention to
>> the sign and explained what it meant, she argued [not rudely] that
>> she just wanted to look around for a short
>> time, etc.  I told her that in any case she could only go into the
>> women's section in the back, which was very crowded,
>> and really, she should come back another time (she had a German
>> accent, which didn't help my emotional response).
>> Finally she left, reluctantly.  For me this illustrated the tension
>> between the very modest effort to carry on with real Jewish
>> life, and the maintenance of the tourist-attracting theme
>> park.  Finally, I must say that my wife and I had only positive contacts
> with
>> the local Polish inhabitants of Krakow.
>> Jules Levin
>>
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