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The Wandering Jew
The Jewish Home | JUNE 2, 2022
The Wandering Jew Journeys to Belgium
By Hershel Lieber
Pesi and I have been to Belgium a number of times. Although my first trip took place before I got married fifty-five years ago, I distinctly remember many segments of that voyage. Although I have written about that journey, I will point out some of its highlights.
1967
I arrived in Antwerp early Friday morning in January from Amsterdam by train. My mother had two first cousins there – sisters who were the daughters of her uncle who moved to Belgium before the War. Toni was married to Rav Yosel Weiss, the well-known shochet of Antwerp, and Esther was married to Mr. Weissman. I had invited myself to the Weisses, who were so warm and gracious that I immediately felt at home.
On Friday night, I davened by Reb Itzikel Pshervorsker, who was a wellknown Rebbe with many chassidim. I ate the seudah with the Weiss family while the Weissmans came over after the meal. On Shabbos morning, I went with Reb Yosel to the Machzike Hadaas shul where the famous Rabbi Chaim Kreiswirth gave a drasha before Mussaf. The Shabbos day seudah I ate at friends of my parents, and for Shalosh Seudos, I returned to Reb Itzikel. That seudah was
something special since Rav Itzikel told me about my great-grandfather, Reb Yoikel Lezer, whom he knew from prewar Krakow. Coming back for Melave Malka, I was privileged to chap sherayim of the customary pieces of garlic from the Rebbe, which is a segulah for parnassah. Sunday lunch was enjoyed at the Weissmans.
All in all, I enjoyed the cozy, Yiddishe atmosphere over my short stay and got to meet and appreciate my parents’ families and friends.
On Sunday and Monday, I was occu-
pied with meeting a girl who was proposed to me as a shidduch. That was an amazing story which I previously wrote about. It suffices to say that I did not marry that girl and returned to the States as a very eligible young man.
Bridge over Bruges canal
1999
Pesi’s and my first exposure to Brussels, the French-speaking capital of Belgium, was on Sunday, August 1. We arrived in the late afternoon after spending a week at the Ronald Lauder Summer Retreat in Poland, where we were both involved in outreach work with Polish Jews. Our return to New York included a three-day stopover in Belgium. We decided to stay in the Belgian capital and make daily excursions to other places.
The Metropol Hotel was smack in the middle of the town with a classic palatial lobby. The rooms were tiny and left a lot to be desired. Like many European hotels at the time, there was no air conditioning, and those July days were sweltering hot! We went out and sat in front of the Royal Palace, where King Albert II conducted his official duties as the monarch of Belgium. Relaxing with a drink in hand, we watched the locals and the thousands of tourists wandering in and about the Place des Palais. The
Kishinev Yeshiva boys with Moshe Herman in the center
Sammy Wolf with his parents, Moshe and Rita, and his in-laws, the Fastags, in March 2000
following night, we were treated to a display of colorful lights reflecting on the centuries-old buildings accompanied by rousing classical music. On our final day, we took a tour of the palace and its stunning rooms, especially the Audience Hall where the King receives his visitors.
The next day we took a train to Antwerp where we picked up lunch and ate it in the City Park located in the middle of the heimishe section of town. We then visited the Museum of Art which was featuring a Van Dyke exhibition. We took an audio tour, which made the experience so much more interesting. Then we headed to Hoffy’s, a great restaurant with delicious food, for dinner. We also bought some food there for the next two days.
The third day we took the train to Bruges. The capital of West Flanders is an important port on the North Sea. It is referred to as the Venice of the North because of the more-than-eighty bridges over its three canals. This medieval city has stunning architecture, cobbled roads, and colorful squares. We took a boat ride on the canals and walked around the historic streets for hours. The city is known for its fine Belgian lace, although we actually bought a tapestry for our dining room.
2000
The next time I was in Antwerp was in March 2000 for the Shabbos aufruf of Sammy Wolf. Sammy was one of the bochurim who came often to help run our summer camp for the students of the Yeshiva of Kishinev. In the course of the preceding few years both Pesi and I became close friends with Sammy’s parents, Mosheand Rita. Moshe also got involved in our yeshiva and helped raise money for our project.
In March, I traveled together with Rabbi Yitzchok Aron Fischer for the forty-eight hour aufruf trip, and we stayed at the Wolf’s good friends, Izzy and Brenda Bronner. The Shabbos seudos and the aufruf at the Aguda Shul with its follow up kiddush gave me an opportunity to meet and connect with many people. I attended a shiur given by the Dayan Rav Tuvia Weiss, who later became the Gavaad of the Eidah HaChareidis in Yerushalayim. This very joyous Shabbos was then followed by a two-day working trip to Kishinev, Moldova.
2001
October 2001, eighteen months after my last trip to Antwerp, I was back. This time, I traveled with Rav Moshe Eisemann to the chasuna of Moshe Herman. Moshe was an unbelievably talented young bochur who ran the Kishinev summer camp and recruited other bochurim to teach and run the programs. Moshe also came to Kishinev for many of the yomim tovim and had a great influence on the Yeshiva students. He mastered the Russian language and involved himself in every aspect of recruiting children for the school. He was adored by the talmidim and took them for a trip to Antwerp for a Shabbos as a fund-raising project.
At Hoffy’s in Antwerp
Moshe married a Belgian girl who was involved with Kishinev’s girls’ school and summer camp. The entire student body of both the boys’ and girls’ school traveled by bus to Antwerp for this wedding. The wedding was European-style with a chuppah followed by the seudah in the afternoon and a Viennese table with spirited dancing later that evening. Our Yeshiva boys and girls really made this chasunah a special event for the entire Antwerp community. The previous day I sat and conversed with Dayan Tuvia Weiss at a different Sheva Brochos and also had the opportunity to meet Rav Leibishel Pshervorsker.
2008
The success of leading the European portion of the Gateways college student trip in 2007 was a harbinger of a new phase in our lives. After returning from that voyage, I was approached by Aish Hatorah, which ran a similar program under the name of The Jerusalem Fellowship. Geared toward university students, its goal was to bring them to Israel for a summer program of intense
At the Ghent River In front of the Royal Palace in Brussels
study and offer them a taste of Jewish life and tradition. They, too, wanted to add a European itinerary at the start of their journey. This would give the students time to relax and sights to enjoy before the serious study would begin. In addition, Europe would provide an opportunity to learn about Jewish history and culture in the countries they would visit. They asked me to arrange and lead the students on that leg of their trip.
The next trip was scheduled for June 2007, and we traveled to Budapest, Bratislava, and Vienna. The final two trips were back-to-back in May of 2008, where we toured Brussels, Antwerp, and Amsterdam.
We arrived together with the first group on Monday, May 19. In Belgium, we took the students for a bus tour of sites in Brussels, which was followed by a sumptuous lunch at Hoffy’s in Antwerp. Then we were off to Holland for two days. A week later, on Monday, May 26, we met the next group at the airport and retraced our previous itinerary. Tour of Brussels, lunch at Hoffy’s, and off to Holland.
Between the two groups there were five free days. We took advantage of having some time for ourselves by spending Thursday in Ghent. This lovely university town with large public squares and markets has a pedestrian-only town center. We took a boat trip on the Ghent River passing Gravensteen Castle and century-old monasteries and commercial warehouses. We enjoyed a cold Belgian beer as we sat at an outdoor riverside pub watching students and tourists parade by.
On Friday in Antwerp, we went to the Rubenshuis to see paintings from the famous Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens. Pesi did some shopping on De Keyserlei, the main shopping street. We stayed by our dear friends, Moshe and Rita Wolf, where our Shabbos meals and conversations never ended as we had so much to share.
Before heading home, we toured Luxembourg for two days and made stops in Liege, Maastricht, and Delft along with a Shabbos in Amsterdam, but that I will leave for a future article.
Hershel Lieber has been involved in kiruv activities for over 30 years. As a founding
member of the Vaad L’Hatzolas Nidchei Yis-
roel he has traveled with his wife, Pesi, to the Soviet Union during the harsh years of the Communist regimes to advance Yiddishkeit. He has spearheaded a yeshiva in the city of Kishinev that had 12 successful years with many students making Torah their way of life. In Poland, he lectured in the summers at the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation camp for nearly 30 years. He still travels to Warsaw every
year – since 1979 – to be the chazzan for Rosh
Hashana and Yom Kippur for the Jews there.
Together with Pesi, he organized and led trips
to Europe on behalf of Gateways and Aish Ha-
torah for college students finding their paths
to Jewish identity. His passion for travel has taken them to many interesting places and afforded them unique experiences. Their open home gave them opportunities to meet and develop relationships with a variety of people.
Hershel’s column will appear in The Jewish
Home on a bi-weekly basis.
