Budapest 2

Budapest 2

This morning we walked from our hotel to the old Jewish area.  Everywhere we walked we saw workers cleaning the sidewalks, maintenance men watering the city’s hanging plants, and a lot of construction and remodeling going on. I haven’t looked into the current economy of Hungary, but on the surface it appears to be thriving.

Prior to WWII, there were 200,00 Jews in Budapest with    about 200 synagogues.  Like Jewish communities everywhere in Europe, the majority of the population died during the war because of starvation, illness, or extermination.  I don’t mean to sound like Lithuania revisited (for those of you who read my Lithuanian blog), it’s just a fact that becomes very real when you travel in this part of the world.  For my non-Jewish friends, I want you to know I visit cathedrals for their beauty and history wherever I travel. Tomorrow our tour is taking us to one of the more interesting cathedrals on the Buda side of the river.    In Turkey, Tunisia, and Egypt,  I found the diversity of the mosques fascinating. When it comes to religious edifices, I’m an equal opportunity explorer.

The Budapest Grand Synagogue is the largest in Europe, and Budapest has the largest Jewish population in Europe. 

If you sit toward the back, you need a telescope to see the bimah (altar).  Included in the price of admission is a tour available in multiple languages.  While we were waiting for the English language tour, we heard guides call out, “Aleman, Français, Español, Italiano, Ivrit (Hebrew).”  The sanctuary is so large that 6 tours were going on simultaneously and yet we weren’t disturbed by any of them. It was truly a Tower of Babel but not a noisy one.   Our tour guide reminded me of the guide we had in the synagogue in Roma.  Yes, she spoke English but with such an accent that she was difficult to understand.  There were 30+ people in our group and surprisingly about 1/3 were not Jewish so part of her tour was explaining the symbols and traditions.   She would ask questions and Dan, the A+ Bar Mitzvah student, would shout out the answers.  Surprisingly there was a large organ in the synagogue.  Jews were not allowed to play it because for religious Jews it is a violation to “work” on the Sabbath, but it was OK for non-Jews to play it, which many famous musicians did including Saint Saëns. 

We also visited the Rumbach  Synagogue. The entire interior was torn down, but the remnants were left scattered all along the sides of the sanctuary in magnificent ruins.  I wanted to take a souvenier—a hanging lamp, a mosaic tile, or part of the door, but Dan restrained me from committing grand theft.

My favorite synagogue was a large, Orthodox one in the Moorish style somewhat similar to the one in Vilna.  The cupola as well as the stained glass in the ceiling were breathtaking.  The best part of this synagogue was our guide.  We were the only visitors and she gave us a personal tour in excellent English.  She was born in 1944 in the Budapest ghetto, the last remaining ghetto in Europe.  Her father escaped from the Ukraine and walked for 3 months back to Budapest.  I’m not sure how she and her family survived without being deported but obviously they did.  Her mother had been a non-religious Jews, but vowed that if her husband returned alive, she would attend the Orthodox synagogue.  He did, and she did.  Forty to fifty families worship there today, but it is so cold in winter they move to a smaller building next door.  Obviously it is unheated.  Two levels of balconies for women surround the sanctuary and only men are allowed to enter the front door.  For me and most of my friends, this patriarchal perspective is a major problem in Orthodox Judaism.

After a short taxi ride from our hotel, we arrived at our ship, which was built this year.   While our room isn’t huge, it is a comfortable size with a desk, dresser, his/her closets, and a decent bathroom, much larger than some cruise ships I’ve been on.  My only concern is that the walls are paper thin.  If there were younger people on board, we might be treated to “interesting” noises, but since the average age is about 110, all I’m hearing is someone’s loud coughing and TV’s turned up to extra loud because the guests’ hearing aides aren’t working. 

After lunch in a lovely dining room, we explored the ship, which took all of 5 minutes.  The common rooms are light, airy, and comfortable.  If the weather is nice, which it is today, there’s a top deck outside with shelter from the sun.  I’m still looking for the swimming pool, casino, and spa.

Back to the age of the travelers, the bad news is that the average age is 110  the good news is that the average age is 110, which gives Dan and me hope that we’ll still be traveling if we live to be that old!

Later:    We went to a champagne reception and got an introduction from the captain, cruise director, and others on staff.  The captain was hysterical.  He said, “Don’t put anything in the toilet unless it comes from you.  If you do,we’ll all be in shit.  We have a special device to unclog the drains.  We’ll use it to find what you put in the toilet and deliver it to you.”   I kid you not!!!   Then we got a lecture on not smoking on board.  Later in the evening, he was walking on the top deck with a cigarette dangling from his mouth! 

Dinner was delicious.  We ate with two widows and an elderly husband and wife.  Aren’t they all!   I’m afraid I often have preconceived ideas about people, which often turn out wrong.  That happened in this case.  One of the women was a chemist, the other an economist; the gentleman attended the Coast Guard Academy, the Monterey Naval school for an advanced degree, and commanded a boat in Viet Nam.   My initial impression was that they were a bunch of hicks!

After dinner, we cruised the Danube past all the beautiful nighttime lights.  Magnificent!

Good night