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The Wandering Jew
Our Bucharest Weekend
By Hershel Lieber
The Romanian Parliament The Arcul de Triumf in Bucharest
The first night of Rosh Hashana of 2018 was on Sunday, September 9. Continuing a tradition which I began in 1979, and resumed annually from 1990 onward, I traveled to Warsaw to be the baal tefillah at the Nozyk Synagogue for the Yomim Noraim. During the early years, when we had smaller children at home, I made the journey alone. After our children were married or away in yeshiva, Pesi almost always was my travel mate. We would generally leave a day before Rosh Hashana and return the day after Yom Kippur. During the week of Aseres Yemei Teshuva, we would either travel to other cities in Poland or to other countries in Europe.
During the years that Rosh Hashana was on Sunday night, we were compelled to leave from the United States before Shabbos. There were no late flights on Motzei Shabbos, and we could not risk a journey from the States that would arrive in Poland on Erev Rosh Hashana. We decided that we would go to Europe a few days before Shabbos and fly within Europe to Warsaw on Sunday, Erev Rosh Hashana. This happened in 2015 and again in 2018. In 2015, we spent four days in Paris, and in 2018, we spent the same amount of time in Bucharest.
I had traveled alone to Romania in 1980. At the time, I met the legendary Chief Rabbi Moshe Rosen, who almost singlehandedly made it possible for Jewish life to coexist within the Com-
munist regime of Nicolae Ceausescu. He was also instrumental in allowing thousands of Jews to emigrate to Israel during his tenure.
Bucharest was a city of great contrasts – fading mansions and decrepit hovels side by side made up the image of this capital city. The pompous uniforms of the military and the police contrasted with the shabby appearance of the general population. The only people who made an impression on me were the Gypsies dressed in tattered clothing begging for a few coins to feed their large families. Government buildings were imposing with grand plazas, but within a block or two, the streets were made up of broken sections of pavement surrounded by ramshackle huts that were homes to the average citizen. Streetlights were out, and garbage was piled up everywhere. Stores were bereft of any decent merchandise, and even the unappealing food items were in short supply. In short, Romania was a depressing sight both in terms of the country and its dwindling Jewish population.
Fast forward to Wednesday, September 5, 2018 at 5 PM when we were picked up by the hotel car and taken to the Sheraton Bucharest Hotel. Other than twenty minutes at the gym room and eating the sandwiches that we brought along, we called it an early night when we fell fast asleep at 10 PM. As usual, I connected with Chabad before leaving the States to make arrangements for davening, eating and Shabbos seudos. Chabad’s headquarters are in the former Yeshuha Tova Synagogue, which is presently the Chabad Shul and Outreach
Choral Temple The interior of Choral Temple The Tailors Shul, which is now The Jewish Museum
Center. There is also the Bereshit Restaurant serving lunch and dinner at the same location. Baruch Hashem, our hotel was only one short block away. On Thursday morning, I went to the shul at 7 AM for Selichos and Shacharis. That’s when I met Rabbi Naftali Deutsch, the very personable Chabad shaliach, who is of Hungarian descent. He filled me in with valuable information that we would need during our stay. After a quick bite in our hotel room, we went out to conquer the town. We boarded an open deck bus, which gave us a running narrative about the sights of the city. It was very informative and quite interesting and also was a great vantage point for taking photos. We descended near the gargantuan Parliament building, which is the largest in the world. It was one of Ceausescu’s projects of self-glorification. While touring the interior of this edifice, we met a
A historic house in the Village Museum A dilapidated house in former Jewish District
Chabad shaliach Rabbi Naftali Deutsch
woman from Montreal and a man from Rio de Janeiro with whom we spent the next hour touring the Old Town together. We headed back to Chabad for an Israeli style lunch (pita, soup, beef, rice and okra). Then we headed to the Dimitrie Gusti Village Museum which was a true treat for our eyes. Located in the King Michael I Park, the museum showcases village life in many of the regions in Romania. It contains 272 traditional houses and farms that were brought from towns and farmlands throughout the country. There was even a Jewish home from the year 1860, from the district of Marmures, with Jewish religious artifacts. We spent about two hours of pure enjoyment touring this unique museum. Before leaving, we boarded a boat that took us for a pleasant ride around the Herastrau Park Lake. We took the bus on the way back but got off a few stops too early, which meant a healthy, appetite-rousing walk back to Chabad’s restaurant. Supper was basically a repeat performance of lunch, but we were hungry enough not to care. There was no minyan for Mincha/Maariv, so we returned to our room, where I started writing material for a lecture that I would be giving in Warsaw.
On Friday morning, after davening at Chabad and breakfast in our room, we met Ivan, the guide who would take us on a walking tour of the former Jewish District of Bucharest. Our first stop was the 150-year-old Choral Temple. This architectural gem is the seat of the Chief Rabbinate of Romania and still has an active choir and chazzan every Shabbos. From there, we headed to the former Polish synagogue and then to the Tailors Shul, which is now a Jewish museum. We were able to see an abandoned shul through a crack in the wooden fence that surrounds it. We went into the JDC Building which presents events in conjunction with Jewish holidays and Israeli themes to the small existing community. They also run a lunch kitchen that caters to the needy. I remembered most of these places from my earlier trip. One building from that period that was unfortunately razed was the Malbim Shul, where I was the baal tefillah in 1980. We passed the Lauder Foundation School and stopped into the Yiddish Theatre building where a play was in rehearsal. I spoke to the director, reminiscing about my previous visit which included attending a Yiddish play.
Returning to our hotel, we had tuna and tomato in a pita for lunch. Then Pesi’s filling fell out of her tooth, and we were lucky to find a nearby dentist to replace it immediately. We still had time for a one-hour nap before we got ourselves ready for Shabbos.
We rushed over to the Chabad Shul, Yeshuha Tova, to be there before candle lighting on Friday. Rabbi Deutsch asked me to daven Kabbalas Shabbos. I asked him about saying “VeShomeru,” which Nusach Chabad does not say. He told me that he does say it, in deference to his father’s Hungarian chassidishe nusach. I followed suit. The shul was packed with tourists and people who work or study in Romania, almost all Israelis. Very few were observant, however, especially the Sephardic Jews, tradition is still very important. Celebrating Friday night with tefillos and singing and a communal seudah gave them the connection to Shabbos that they so crave. We sat with a frum family and had a very nice conversation during the sumptuous and plentiful meal.
What a contrast Shabbos Shacharis was! There were two minyanim of mispallelim with a few more men plus some women joining for the seudah. We did not start davening until 10:45 AM. This time, we sat at the seudah with the Deutschs, and we had a great time telling over personal travel stories. Rav Naftali had been in Kishinev so we already had a common theme. He knew some of the people that we knew. We sang zemiros together and developed a camaraderie in a very short time.
After a nap and walk, we returned for Mincha and then Pesi joined me and thirteen men for Shalosh Seudos. We said our goodbyes to the Deutschs right after Havdalah and went back to our room to pack. There was not much of a night left, as our flight to Warsaw was leaving at 5:30 AM. Our weekend stay in Bucharest was very delightful, but our mood was rapidly transforming into a more serious mode, since in less than twenty-four hours we would be entering the Yimei Hadin, starting with Rosh Hashana.
Hershel Lieber has been involved in kiruv activities for over 30 years. As a founding member of the Vaad L’Hatzolas Nidchei Yisroel 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 Hatorah 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.
