Lately I’ve been thinking about the 1930s, Hitler’s rise to power, and Nazism not just in Germany but around the world.  I’m writing a book about a Dutch Jewish cabaret singer, who married a non-Jewish German socialist, who had settled in Holland in 1936.  In my search for information about his time in Holland, I… Read More When Nazism Came to Los Angeles

We have been crossing borders for the past three days, since my last posting. As I wrote this we are on the road from Daugavpils (the name in Latvian, Dvinsk in Russian, Dineburg in Yiddish) to Vilnius (known as Vilna in Yiddish and Wilno in Polish) and are crossing the Latvian/Lithuanian border. Both states have… Read More From Lukashenko’s Belarus to the EU: Polotsk, Breslau, Daugavpils, and Lithuanian Shtetls

On our first evening in Vilnius (Vilna, Wilno, ווילנע), we heard reports from our tour guide that the city’s newly elected mayor had finally decided to remove the four statues adoring the Green Bridge, one of the most important crossings of the Neris River, which runs through the city. The four statues–one with two hetero… Read More Vilna Says Its Final Goodbye to Its Nearly 50 Year Soviet Past

Once upon a time, Rabbi Eliyohu Ben Shloyme roamed the streets of this beautiful medieval city, which has had a continuous Jewish population since the mid 14th century. This 18th century rabbi, who earned the name “the Vilna Gaon” or ” genius” (one translation of the Hebrew word “gaon”) fought fierce battles with the Hasidim,… Read More Vilnius, Vilna, Wilno, ווילנע: Once the Jerusalem of Lithuania

The singing began in a courtyard of a building, opposite the city’s Lenin statue, that once was the place of Marc Chagall’s home in Lyozna. Singing is an integral part of Yiddishkayt’s Helix program. At first I didn’t understand its power, but as we move from city to city and see the effect our voices… Read More Coming Home to Chagall in Lyozna and Vitebsk

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. Today’s tale of two cities began with a walking tour of Mogilev. The city hall overlooks the Dnepr River and marks the site where Tsar Nicholas II was arrested by the Provisional Government in March 1917. Therefore, as a way of marking the moment,… Read More Mogilev and Shklov, A Tale of Two Cities

We left Minsk and headed to Bobruisk, but on the way, we made a side trip to Smilovichi.  You would be forgive for asking why one would stop in Smilovichi.  In case you were wondering, this small town in the middle of Belarus is one of the few remaining places that still has a street named after… Read More A Day Full of Presence: Smilovichi, Bobruisk, Bychov