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OCTOBER OCTOBER 15, 15, 2020 2020 || The The Jewish Jewish Home Home
The Wandering
Jew
Wroclaw & Tallinn By Hershel Lieber
W
hen I prepare to write about some of the places that we visited, many times I wonder: is there is enough material to write about and will it be interesting enough for the readers? Obviously, certain trips were filled with exciting adventures; other times we were exposed to fascinating places and people, while some of our journeys offered us opportunities for personal accomplishments. Then there were some that lacked any special features, nevertheless Pesi and I felt gratified to have made those trips as well. Many of our trips were in conjunction with our two annual trips to Poland. During the summer, we went to the retreats sponsored by the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation, where we would teach and give lectures about Yiddishkeit. A few weeks later, we would go to Warsaw where I was officiating as the chazzan in the Nozyk Synagogue for the Yomim Noraim. After our summer trips and in between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, we would travel around different European countries. Many times, these trips offered additional
A view of Wroclaw
kiruv opportunities, and on other occasions it was mostly sightseeing. In either case, we gained so much from these experiences and my articles are based on those highlights. In 2008, after spending Rosh Hashana in Warsaw, we went for Shabbos Shuva to Wroclaw. This Polish city was actually the German city of Breslau, which was given to Poland after World War II in an arrangement made by the Allied victors. Bor-
The stunning library at the University of Wroclaw
ders were shifted so that eastern Poland was given to the Soviet Union, while eastern Germany was annexed by Poland. Before the war, there were Orthodox Jews there, but they were overshadowed by the larger Reform movement as Breslau was a leading center of the Haskalah. Immediately after the war and for a number of years afterwards, Jewish communal activities continued there but after the 1968 mass emigration only one
Orthodox synagogue and one secular club serviced the remaining Jews of Wroclaw. In the early nineties, I got to know Jerzy Kichler, who was the head of the kehilla. He tried to rebuild the community and had some minor successes but remained with major challenges. When Pesi and I arrived for that Shabbos we stayed by Rabbi Yitzchok Rapaport, his wife, and their three small children. Yitzchok arranged that I would give a lecture at his home to a group of seven Jewish university students. The theme was, of course, the coming Yom Kippur holiday. Friday was the only day that we had time to see Wroclaw. The Old Town Square and the many houses that surround it as well as the adjoining streets were created in the 13th century with many additions added over the centuries. The shapes and colors of the slim, tall buildings and their decorative features have a fairytale look. We visited some famous houses and marveled at the early 1800’s University library – truly a stunning interior which overwhelms the visitor. As usual we
Giving a shiur to university students in Wroclaw
