Temple Travels on Zoom!
Temple Travels is a unique opportunity to visit diverse Jewish communities all over the world, guided by locals. Register for as many destinations as you like! We will send you the Zoom links and all other information prior to each session. This program is funded by a New Horizons for Seniors grant; all ages are welcome to participate!
Jewish Krakow, Poland
Thursday, May 19th – 12 noon
Jewish Krakow, Poland
Anna Maria is a licensed tour guide in Kraków with over 7 years of experience in providing meaningful tours for international visitors to Poland. In her work as a tour guide, she specializes in the Jewish history of Poland and Polish – Jewish relations. During her virtual tour, Anna Maria will take us on a journey through the best-preserved Jewish Quarter in Europe with its old Jewish cemetery and pre-war synagogues. Kazimierz (the Jewish District) was the center of Jewish life in Krakow for over 500 years, until World War II. Rediscovered in the 1990s, thanks to Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List and Jewish Culture Festival, Kazimierz has become a popular tourist destination for visitors from Poland and abroad. Nowadays, Kazimierz is home to the growing Jewish community, local artists and students and many who decide to visit this amazing place.
Jewish China
Thursday, June 16, 2022, 12 noon
Many people are surprised to learn that there is a long and rich history of Jewish communities in China. In this session of Temple Travels, we will explore the three places with the most relevant historical presence of Jews: Kaifeng (where a community was established in the Middle Ages and whose descendants still live there today); Harbin (where a community from Russia thrived around the Trans-Siberian Railway), and Shanghai (where thousands of Jews came as refugees during WWII). We will also learn what Jewish life is like today for those Jews currently living in China.
Originally from Argentina, Pablo Faivel Levinton is a fluent Yiddish speaker and was studying for a Master’s degree in China, when the pandemic began. Pablo runs the popular YouTube channel on traveling, “A mole around the world,” dedicated to faraway places where there are, or have been, Jewish communities. He is currently in Argentina continuing his studies and sharing his travel experiences online.