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APRIL 22, 2021 | The Jewish Home APRIL 22, 2021 | The Jewish Home
The Wandering
Jew
All Roads Lead to Rome Part I
On the streets of the Jewish Ghetto in Rome
At the Colosseum
S
imilar to the twenty-five years prior to the Yomim Noraim of 2015, we finalized our travel plans to Poland. We were going to Warsaw for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, where I would be the baal tefilla at the Nozyk Synagogue, where I had davened in 1979 for the first time. The main travel plans, the hotel we stayed at, and even the people where we ate by were basically the same year after year. The tefillos I davened, the type of lectures that I gave, and the people we met had somewhat of an established pattern, which did not change much over time. What did change drastically from year to year was where we would spend our time from Tzom Gedalya until Erev Yom
Kippur. Although there were a number of times that we stayed in Poland during that period, most years we traveled to other countries and cities within Europe. Speaking honestly, we both felt a sense of guilt traveling during these Days of Awe. Touring, sightseeing, eating out at restaurants, and the concept of having fun was just not the most proper way to spend our time during these Days of Judgment. Yet, the opportunity of being in Europe, and the relatively free time we had during those days, passionately beckoned us to visit so many cities and even to travel to some far-flung places. Interestingly, time after time and year after year, we realized that our
feelings of guilt were not warranted. Especially when we connected with the community of Jews in each locality and with other Jewish visitors, we felt justified that we made the right decision to travel during this time of year. When we spent time learning about the regional Jewish history, their local customs, and their religious commitment, we felt vindicated about the travel choices that we made. The fact that we did touring and had fun was incidental to the relationships we formed with our fellow Jews. Our trip from Warsaw to Rome that year was somewhat inconvenient. To save a considerable amount of money, we booked on Ryanair, a budget airline. The airport servicing this
Part of the Jewish Ghetto in Rome
The Arch of Titus
Inside the Great Synagogue in Rome
airline is a lot further out from central Warsaw. The amount of luggage one takes along for free is negligible, so we had to limit the items we packed or pay heftily. Also, the crowds at the airport and the amount of passengers on our flight made this journey arduous. Add in a delay in taking off and the impatient wait to retrieve our luggage, along with a lengthy taxi drive, and we did not reach our hotel until way past midnight. The taxi could not immediately find the address and then we had to wake up the manager to let us in. I must say she was very hospitable when we arrived and served us hot tea and pastries before we finally went off to sleep. We were in Rome twice before. The first time was for two days, during our delayed honeymoon trip in 1971. The second time was while waiting for a connecting flight, when we had the time to go into the city and do a bit of touring for about three hours. I wrote previously about our honeymoon trip and the one and only kosher restaurant in the city, which was unfortunately closed on December 25, the day we arrived. What a difference Rome of 2015 was, in terms of Jewish life. When I was planning our trip, I noted that there were over twenty restaurants and eateries in the city, many of them with chalav Yisroel fare, there were about fifteen shuls, about fifteen food shops and a half a dozen kosher
