Last night was the Jewish new year, so I decided to attend services here in town. We have a beautiful old synagogue not far from the center. When I arrived, through a nondescript side entrance, most of the crowd was over 50, in fact all of them were. Upon entering the building I took a paper kipah from the pile that they offered (perhaps in hope of) to guests. The service was very short, without the shofar or anything, but was satisfying nonetheless. After the service one guy in particular took an interest in my presence – I did rather stick out – and asked me a few questions. He was interested in my job as teacher and when I told him that I was from Boston, he mentioned that he’d visited Brookline. Considering this whole conversation was in Romanian, I was quite satisfied with it all. Isn’t is amazing that I would run into an old Jew in Romania who’s been to Brookline? Well, he also mentioned that iniante razboi there were over 6,000 Jews in the city where I live here. Amazing and terribly sad. I can only imagine that some of the people at the service were survivors of the Holocaust. I’m not sure if I will have any further involvement with the community, but I am glad that I went.
Today I was reminded that I was in Eastern Europe. Tracksuits are quite popular here among the men. Well, I’m walking from my apartment to school and see one guy. He’s got a blue tracksuit, with the top part unzipped about 80% of the way. Underneath, he’s got a big gold chain, which hangs about halfway down his torso, with a giant gold dollar sign (5 inches at least) at the very end. He was standing and smoking next to a VW – who knows??
Click here for a good op-ed article from the New York Times about the controversy regarding the military offering Peace Core service as an option for fulfilling active duty. I’ve written to Senator Kennedy but didn’t get a response. I hope this is killed, and quickly.
Salut
I’m impressed that you can carry on full conversations in Romanian now. And that’s only after a few months, too. I bet there’s a number of people at that synagogue who would be interesting to talk to, although I know you’re pretty short on time.
In that vein, it’s always something of a shock to me to think that there are still people alive who experienced the Holocaust first-hand. It’s horrible enough, and historical enough, to have the same timeless feeling as the Civil War or the plague – I can’t believe I’m sharing a timeframe with people who experienced one of the most horrific events in recent history.
Not to suggest that the Holocaust is on any level with the current world situation, but I wonder sometimes what role today’s focus on terrorism will play in sixty years.
As for the tracksuit dude, it sounds like you saw a chav (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chav)
Hey dude – Did the PC-HQ tell you about the “Books for Romania” project? I don’t see your name on your blog, but noone who is getting books from, us is from Boston that I recall.
We even have some books with Jewish subject matter. 🙂 How better to practice/learn English?
By the way, I seem to have missed the name of the town you are in.
John
estielmo(at)yahoo(dot)com