A Shabbat full of music, meaning and ruach!

I had the privilege of participating in our morning Shabbat service that we entitled “Shabbos at the Ritz”. You can guess which hotel we were at! This was an opportunity for FOURTY FIVE cantors to participate in our minyan. Each cantor, as you can imagine, made their section of the liturgy uniquely theirs while bringing in new and innovative melodies. It was a chance to see what melodies and styles our own congregants responded to. The kahal was also privy to a wonderful d’rash/interactive dialgoue with the wife of one of our CA officers, Rabbi Laura Metzger. Many commented on how well the red heifer story was explained. To really understand these stories, we have to live them; we have to experience them. This had to be the most musical, most inspiring 4 hour shabbat service I’ve ever attended.

In the evening we walked to the Jewish Museum of Berlin, which happens to be the most visited museum in the entire city (and there are hundreds of museums here). Since Shabbat didn’t end until almost 10:30, we get another talk by Professor Berke plus a private tour of the museum followed by a latin flavored Melava Malka concert. Shavua tov indeed!! A few points to ponder from Professor Berke:

1) One must understand the appeal AND the the fear of communism
2) In WWI, German soldiers were convinced they could have won the war without the depression (finding both a political and economic scapegoat)
3) From WWI to 1920 to 1928, the rate of mark to dollar went from 4 to 1 to 8 to 1 to 12 to 1 to, eventually, one BILLION to one dollar. Germany’s unemployment rate was hovering around 25% (for context, spain, winner of this year’s Euro cup, suffers a similar unemployment rate).
4) Anti Semitism in the bar is one thing, but in the hands of the elites is another (fyi we’ll travel to Munich where Hitler famously used the beer halls to spread his rhetoric)

What a whirlwind of experiences and emotions these past 3 days. I’ll be posting each day’s activities and reflections in separate blog posts.

Day 3: We begin our day with the 2nd lecture by our scholar Stephen Berke. Professor Berke beautifully illustrates the timeline leading up to World War I, and will eventually tie in the years of the Nazi regime. The holocaust was not a moment without context, and German Jewry’s response to the rise of fascism must be viewed without the context of Germany’s history.

A few major points brought up by Berke:
1) Moses Mendelssohn, father of the Enlightenment and affiliated Jew, had only 4 of 56 descendants who identified as Jews by 1850 (most notably, his son Felix converted).
2) Similarly, Henirich Heiner converted to get a university position (non were offered to Jews at the time), to which he remarked “God will forgive me, it’s his job.”
3) So what was Germany like before WWI? To give context, we again think about the National Liberal Party- was it more “liberal” or more “national”? “National” meant the people wanted a constitution. Bismarck, the “blood and iron” chancellor, was the 1st conservative to play the national card by creating the 2nd Reich. For Jews, they had their bumps in the road in the late 19th century. It’s important not to romanticize, for while there were no legal restrictions for Jews in the 2nd Reich, they still had their limitations. Jews felt that anti-semitism was a vestige of the medieval period. Even in 1873, when a depression cripples the economy in large part to a Jewish financier’s ponzi scheme (sound familiar), there is no violent act against the Jewish population. They feel more German than Jewish. In 1890, they may have classified themselves as “Germans of the Mosaic personality- ours happens to be Jewish.”

4) Again, personalities- they are just as important to the historical narrative as any other factor. Often we minimize the role of the individual- saying that if Person A didn’t invent blank, Person B would have figured it out. This point, reiterated during Saturday night’s lecture, is a difficult one when we consider that if there was no Hitler, there would have been no Holocaust. To think if Hitler had been accepted into art school or had received a harsher punishment for his treasonous actions, he may not have been in a position to become Fuhrer of Germany. As Berke summed up, history is not mathematics, chemistry or physics. For as much as Germany was the pinnacle of a civilization at the turn of the 20th century, for Germans AND German Jews, as much as the 20th century may have appeared to be the century of the Germans (and not the Americans), history weaves its way in many directions because of unknown or alien forces.

This point is reiterated by our next presenter, Ms. Emily Haber, German State Secretary. Her first few minutes were heartfelt and emotional, as she put everything out on the table- no “one story for this group, another for another group”. As Germany looks to repair its image in the Jewish world, Ms. Haber pointed to individuals in government as forces of friendship. While she toed the party (or often the EU) line, Ms. Haber appeared a genuine friend of both the US and Israel (little known fact- her 50th birthday present was a trip to Israel).

Our next presenter, US Ambassador to Germany, spoke again of the friendship with Germany and its support of Israel. His ironic factoid of the morning is the fact that the Israeli Ambassador’s residence in Berlin is the former Nazi Affairs Clubhouse.

After a morning of politics we head to our day tour of the neighboring city of Potsdam. We cross the Glienicke Bridge, a famous exchange point for Soviet spies during the days of the Cold War. We visit the Cecilienhof Manor, site of the famous 1945 meeting between Truman, Churchill, and Stalin. We learn a little more about Federick the Great as we travel to the Sanssouci Palace and Gardens.

In the evening, we take over the Berlin Concert hall (a little factoid- since many of these halls/institutions were created during the Cold War, Berlin now has 3 opera houses, 2 concert halls, 2 national museums and 2 zoos- with each receiving 30% support by the government). This is chance to sing with a wonderful local choir, as well as utilize the wonderful organ. Cantors received many of the pieces beforehand to help bring the choral singing to the pews. We sang many pieces whose composers wrote specifically for the German population or were of German descent themselves. What a venue!

Services conclude close to midnight. A Shabbat Shalom- a peaceful shabbat, and what will become a Shabbat Shaleim, a complete day of rest and meaning.

Since the mission didn’t go into full gear until the evening, this morning began with a 9:30am breakfast, where I was joined by Dan and Cindy Wohl (for context, all of our Jacksonvillians took different flights at different times, and I’m glad everyone got a few extra days in the explore other cities/countries). I had accomplished most of what I wanted to during my long walks/bus and subway trains of yesterday. One item not on our CA mission agenda was the Kaiser-Wilhelm Gedachtnis Kirche, one of the most haunting symbols of Berlin. Following 7 bombing raids in 1943, the ruins of the tower were left as a memorial. This happens to be fairly close to Kurfurstendamm, a trendy area with great architecture and fun shops. One of the more trendy streets in Kurf. is Fasanenstrausse, home of the Jewish community house. Housed where the Charlottesburg synagogue once stood (destroyed on Reichskristalnacht), only the portal remains. I arrived via bus to Breitscheid Platz and could not for the life of me find the church. I finally took out my guidebook where I had a picture of the church and the surrounding buildings. Finally I realized that the modern building in front of me was actually scaffolding! The church is undergoing repairs!! The symbol, the memorial, is being prepared. I’m still digesting how I feel about it. Needless to say, 0-1. I make my way over to the Jewish house looking for Gabriel’s, a great fleisch restaurant…until this past January! 0-2!! Thank heavens for Bleiberg’s, a kosher dairy restaurant a few blocks away!

The mission begins in the late afternoon as we travel far north and east from central Berlin to a gorgeous synagogue (again, pictures to come later). Our beautiful Maariv service was preceded by our Scholar-in-Residence, Professor Stephen Berke, who points out some amazing and important anecdotes to lead us through our mission. A few to ponder:

-From 1819 to 1933, there was NO violence against the Jews in Germany. Anti-semitism yes, violence no. I always think about while people didn’t leave (and actually a large percentage of Berlin Jews did leave).

-Frankfurt 1948- an anthem used by the liberal national party, eventually picked up by the Nazi regime as their anthem (the swastika too is an adapted symbol). The anthem was originally meant as a “we are the world” anthem of the liberal agenda- but liberalism could not deliver, dooming the Jews of Germany.

Germany was home to the Third Reich, but it was also home to Moses Mendelssohn and the Haskalah, Reform Judaism and some of the most important Jewish music that we still use today. I’m looking forward to taking a whirlwind tour of past, present, and future with the Cantors Assembly.

Our plane arrived from Newark an hour early, 7:30am local time Wednesday. We fly through customs and are at our hotel within the hour. Checking our bags at the hotel gives us a little time to search the local area. Our hotel is situated a block away from the Kulturforum, a museum of 13th-17th century artwork. For those Albrecht Duhrer or Rembrandt fans out there, this is a must see. A 3 day museum pass gives access to many of the main attractions throughout Berlin. Using this newly found treasure, I make my way across the square (where one could find the Berlin Philharmonic) to find a collection of 750 exhibits at the Museum of Musical Instruments (even have pictures of Frederick the Great’s harpsichord!). I’ve fought through the jetlag (watched 3 somewhat decent movies on the plane, including the movie “Footnote”) to make my way on a M200 bus through the heart of Berlin. I make my way to Museum Insel, home to many of the top museums in the country as well as the Lustgarten and Berliner Dom (the largest dome in Europe, just a few centimeters larger than the Basilica at the Vatican). As a side note, I do not find myself in away uncomfortable wearing my kippah here in Germany. When I visited Eastern Europe (primarily in high school), the thought never donned on me to wear a kippah (I was probably too obsessed with my hats anyways). While my kippah is always on wherever I am in Jacksonville, my travels often have me putting on a hat instead. Here, I feel that the kippah is not only a reminder to me of my relationship with God, but in some ways, a reminder to those around me that “yeah, I’m here.” Food for thought

After touring the Pergamon Museum (amongst others), I make the hour plus walk back to the hotel. I travel down Unter de Linden, originally a royal birdle-path linking the Stadtschloss (the king’s residence) and Tiergarten. This leads me to Brandenburg gate. For context, Germany did not become a country until the late 19th century, and Berlin as a city now encompasses smaller municipalities, amongst them Mark Brandenburg. The Brandenburg Tor (gate), built in 1789-91, has been the backdrop of many events in the city’s history. Today, The Tiergarten side was covered with Euro 2012 glitter, a backdrop to a public viewing party (as of this blog post Germany was defeated by Italy in he semifinal). Immediately to the south one finds the Holocaust memorial (more on that on friday). Like many places of the Shoah, Germany struggles to recognize what took place in the past while becoming a new, more tolerant Germany of today. My bus stop at the Philharmonic had a little blurb about 20,000 homosexuals who were sent off to their death from that very place. Germany does not hide these things- if anything it sometimes seems like too much. In viewing pamphlets from our hotel, the top 2 tours of Berlin are the “Third Reich” and “Concentration Camp” tour. To think that Brandenburg Gate may have been a place of celebration tonight right on top of the Holocaust memorial. What a strange site that would have been!

Overall it was jam packed first day in Berlin. Our mission begins officially on Thursday evening at the Synagogue Rykestrausse, restored to its original form when it was built 100 yrs ago.