Today we took an excellent—if soggy—walking tour of Jewish Vilnius. If the book were only about being a Jew whose family emmigrated from Lithuania, each of these sections of photos could be a chapter. Here, I give you the highlights without commentary because I’m still processing:
(A Note: For some reason alt text and captions stopped working early in formatting this post. I'll add these when we get back to Salzburg and Im not working just on my phone.)
The Small Ghetto:
Vilna Gaon:
The Choral Synagogue:
The Big Ghetto:
(Our trip to the larger ghetto was postponed because of rain.)
The Jewish Cemeteries:
Vilnius, sometimes called "Jerusalem of the North" or "Jerusalem of Lithuania," is a city I very much would love to visit. "Litvak" and "Litvish" are words that have been part of my Jewish world for a very long time. While I am not a "Litvak" or do much that is "litvish" other than employ some methods of Talmud study made famous in this city, I am of Hasidic roots (on my mother's side) and would have been excommunicated by the ban the Gaon of Vilna placed on the Hasidim and their works. Truth be told, even though I would not have been welcomed in the Gaon's circle, I do like some of the Gaon's commentaries and would have liked to meet him. Try has he might, he couldn't erase Hasidism and their influences from the Jewish world. I'll stop by his grave and simply let him know that both the Litvak and the Hasid can co-exist in the Jewish world.
Beautiful pictures seeping with emotion....not all that familiar with the Jewish connection to Lithuania as my family emigrated from Ukraine and Austria. I certainly appreciate your taking these footsteps back through the past of ancestors not forgotten.