Saturday, October 5, 2013
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Yiddish and Esperanto
Claude Piron was a highly respected Swiss Esperanto speaker, guitarist, psychologist and UN translator. Later I discovered he had partial Jewish roots. He wrote on the influence of Yiddish on the International Language.
http://claudepiron.free.fr/articlesenesperanto/jidainfluo.htm
Gary Shapiro, a journalist who came to several Language Rights events near the UN titled on "Esperanto, the World-wide Yiddish".
http://blogs.forward.com/the-arty-semite/134095/esperanto-the-worldwide-yiddish/
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Palestinians are more divided than ever-- 2013 --Palestinanoj estas dividataj
La palestinanoj estas pli dividataj ol iam ajn kiam temas pri la rilato al Basxir Assad Registaro en Sirio. Fatahx subtenas lin, Hxamas subtenas rebelantojn. En septembro 2013, Usono subtenos la rebelantojn, igxante amiko de Hxamas. Israelaj araboj estas ankau' dividataj.
Fatah is for Assad government in Syria. Hamas is for the rebels. Israeli Arabs are also divided.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/pomegranate/2013/05/palestinians-and-syria
Fatah is for Assad government in Syria. Hamas is for the rebels. Israeli Arabs are also divided.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/pomegranate/2013/05/palestinians-and-syria
Friday, August 23, 2013
Bike-share NYC Utopia Vs Reality
I together with 60,000 other New Yorkers joined BikesshareNYC to use the 6,000 bikes, now placed in over 200 stations. I understand that within a year there will be 10,000 bikes at 300 stations, extending into the Upper West Side and Park Slope Brooklyn, two neighborhood I occasionally visit.
I didn't bike much in New York City, without this option. I give biking a modest rating in the quiet streets of The West Village, but even here there is a lot of construction going on with narrowed streets and few people know what to expect.
Here are several burning problems.
1. I believe that most new separate bike lanes are officially One-way but there are many people abusing this rule. Should the rule be changed? Should the bike lanes be repainted?
2. On Fifth Avenue trucks ore unloading their wares for lengthy periods of time on both sides of the street. Could lengthy unloads be on ONE side of the street?
3. Pedestrians are walking or standing in the bike-lanes more than necessary at corners. Pedestrians are entering the bike lanes without even looking if a bike is coming.
4. I do not recommend bicycling north of 14st on any avenues that don't have a SEPARATE bike-lane. I have be predicting accident and a few have already occured (on 5th Ave, and a front page Taxi-driver-bicyclist-pedestrian incident this week in August 2013.
5. Bicycling with two bicycle lanes on one way cross-town street. When when a car is between two bicyclists (rather than one behind another) even one way streets become too crowded and dangerous. What side of the street should bicyclists generally use, if I am correct to say that one lane is correct and safe.
6. Commercial vendors walking their carts on the bike path.
7. How long does a taxi need to pick up or drop off customers. On one way narrow streets (like adjacent to the arc at Washington Square Park) why do they need to stop on the green colored bike path (unless a customer is disabled)???? Keep taxis off the green painted bike paths.
I like a few guide-lines I found in PDF:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/dot_bikesmart_brochure.pdf
I will look for answers at
1. The Bike Share NYC website http://citibikenyc.com/
2. Transportation Alternatives website www.transalt.org
3. National Public Radio's specialty website www.transportationnation.org
4. League of American Bicyclists http://www.bikeleague.org/
I didn't bike much in New York City, without this option. I give biking a modest rating in the quiet streets of The West Village, but even here there is a lot of construction going on with narrowed streets and few people know what to expect.
Here are several burning problems.
1. I believe that most new separate bike lanes are officially One-way but there are many people abusing this rule. Should the rule be changed? Should the bike lanes be repainted?
2. On Fifth Avenue trucks ore unloading their wares for lengthy periods of time on both sides of the street. Could lengthy unloads be on ONE side of the street?
3. Pedestrians are walking or standing in the bike-lanes more than necessary at corners. Pedestrians are entering the bike lanes without even looking if a bike is coming.
4. I do not recommend bicycling north of 14st on any avenues that don't have a SEPARATE bike-lane. I have be predicting accident and a few have already occured (on 5th Ave, and a front page Taxi-driver-bicyclist-pedestrian incident this week in August 2013.
5. Bicycling with two bicycle lanes on one way cross-town street. When when a car is between two bicyclists (rather than one behind another) even one way streets become too crowded and dangerous. What side of the street should bicyclists generally use, if I am correct to say that one lane is correct and safe.
6. Commercial vendors walking their carts on the bike path.
7. How long does a taxi need to pick up or drop off customers. On one way narrow streets (like adjacent to the arc at Washington Square Park) why do they need to stop on the green colored bike path (unless a customer is disabled)???? Keep taxis off the green painted bike paths.
I like a few guide-lines I found in PDF:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/dot_bikesmart_brochure.pdf
I will look for answers at
1. The Bike Share NYC website http://citibikenyc.com/
2. Transportation Alternatives website www.transalt.org
3. National Public Radio's specialty website www.transportationnation.org
4. League of American Bicyclists http://www.bikeleague.org/
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
The Good Bonobo, The Agressive Chimp
Kial Bonoboj Ne Mortigos Unu La AlianDe Claudia DREIFUSPublished: July 5, 2010
Brian leporo, asistanto profesoro ĉe la Duko Instituto por Menso Sciencoj ĉe Universitato Duke, kaj Vanessa Woods, de esploro sciencisto en la fako de Evolua Antropologio en Duke, faru kompar- studoj sur la kognitiva disvolviĝo de bonobo simiojn, ĉimpanzoj kaj homoj. Ms Woods, 33, eksa ĵurnalisto de Aŭstralio, ĵus eldonis libron pri ilia geedzeco kaj laboro, "Bonobo Manpremo: Memor-libro de Amo kaj Aventuro en Kongo." Ni parolis pasintmonate post kiam ili aperis en la Mond Scienca Festivalo en Novjorko. Versio eldonita de la konversacio sekvas:
Jeremy M. Lange por The New York Times
Laboro de teamo Brian Leporo kaj Vanessa Woods ĉe Universitato Duke pasintmonate.Scienco Twitter Logo.Konekti Kun Nin sur Socia Dosieroj
@ Nytimesscience en Twitter.
Scienco Raportistoj kaj Tekstiloj on Twitter
Kiel la scienco tablo en Facebook.
Q. Vanessa, vi ne estas trejnita PRIMATOLOGIST. Kiel vi venis labori kun bonobos?
A. Vanessa: Per serio de feliĉa akcidentoj. Dum granda parto de mia 20s, mi ne scias, kion mi volis fari kun mia vivo. Do mi iris al Afriko kaj faris iom de ĉiu. Mi laboris kun ĉimpanzoj por iom kaj poste mi faris iom da filmado kaj mi laboris iom en infanaj libroj.
Kiam mi renkontis Brian en 2004 mi estis 27 kaj volontulado en Chimp sanktejo en Ugando. Brian estis provante la ĉimpanzoj 'kapablon por kunlaboro kaj interŝanĝo.
Tiam Brian got invitis al Kongo por plenumi la saman eksperimentoj sur bonobos, niaj aliaj proksimaj simio rilatoj. Ĉu mi venus kune kiel helpanton? Mi malamas la ideon. Mia patrino, la monda plej granda feministo, ĉiam diris: "Neniam sekvu viro - fari vian propran aferon." Mi sciis preskaŭ nenion pri bonobos. Mi pensis: "Ĉu ne tiuj de la simioj, kiuj havas multan sekso?"
Brian: Tion plej multaj homoj scias pri bonobos: ili havas multe da sekso. Tio ne estas kio estas interesa pri ili. La n-ro 1 Tial ili estas interesaj estas ke ili ne mortigu unu la alian. La demando estis al mi en Afriko Chasing estis: kial oni Chimp enir severa lukto kun alia - eble mortigi aŭ Maimon ĝin - dum bonobo, en la sama situacio, ĉu ne? Mi estas esence antropologo. Kaj en rigardante la psikologiaj kaj sociaj propensiones de niaj proksimaj parencoj, lerni pri iliaj diferencoj en kutimaro, eble ni povos fari iujn induktojn pri kio okazis dum la homa evoluo.
Q. Kiaj eksperimentojn vi faris?
Al Brian: La tipo de eksperimentoj kiuj kreskada psikologoj provi homaj temoj por vidi kiel ili volas konduti en certaj situacioj. Kun la simiojn, mi desegnis provoj kaj ludoj kie ili povus akiri dolĉaĵoj - pomojn, bananoj - se ili kompromitis en la aktoj de kunlaborado.
La chimps, ĝi rezultis, ĝi estus nur kunlaboru se ili asociis kun aliaj de egala statuso. Se vi metas ilin per subulo aŭ pli alta statuso chimps, ili fariĝis neeltenebla. Kiam vi havis egalan statuson-chimps kune en provo, ili povis solvi konfliktojn de intereso, negoci kun sukceso kaj varbi kunlaborantojn. Sed kiam ni ŝanĝis simpla afero, ni volas disbati ilia kapablo kunlabori. Ni prenis apartan amasoj de dolĉaĵoj kaj kombinis ilin en unu. Tuj, la ĉimpanzoj komencis konkurenci kun la alia kaj ĉiuj kunlaboro disfalis.
Poste, kiam ni estis en Kongo, ni proponis la saman demandon al la bonobos. La amasoj de manĝo estis kunfanditaj. Neniu problemo. Ĉiuj dividitaj. Mia tezo doctoral konsilanto ĉe Harvard, Richard Wrangham, pensas ĉi tio eblas ĉar ĉimpanzoj evoluis en situacio de nutraĵo malabundo dum bonobos disvolvita en la giganto salato bovlo de Kongo baseno tie estis abundo.
Vanessa: Alia afero: bonobos estas matriarcal. Se ĝi estas kutima virina chimps to get puŝis sin kaj mistraktita de maskloj, bonobo inoj kuri aĵoj. Iam, dum en Kongo, mi vidis Tatango, ĉi tiu juna viro bonobo, komencas fari kio la chimps en Ugando regule faris: kiam li iris al la alfa ino, Mimi, kaj duflanka ŝi trans la vizaĝon. Ŝi donis al li la plej Withering rigardo. Ene de sekundoj, kvin nerilataj virinoj persekutis lin en la arbaro. Kompatinda knabo. Ili preskaŭ prenis liajn testikojn malproksime. Post tio, li neniam faris alian problemon. Bonobo inoj ŝajnas scii ke se ili batas kune, la viroj ne povas regi.
Brian varo estis vere estas problemo, kiam ni unue alvenis en Kongo. Li iris rekte al la bonoboj, faris cxiujn tiujn laŭta ekranoj, kiuj kutime logas ĉimpanzoj kaj igas ilin volas ludi kun vi. La masklo bonoboj timegis de Brian kaj la inoj ne rilatus kun li. Mi devis kuri al la eksperimentoj ĉar ili ŝajnis akcepti min pli facile. Fojo ke fariĝis klare, mia rolo fariĝis pli granda ol tiu de "helpanton." Kun la tempo, la laboro farigxis Miaj edzinoj, tro.
Q. kie ĝuste vi faris ĉi tiuj eksperimentoj? MI SUB la impreson, ke bonobos estas malfacilaj ESPLORO ĉar ilia HABITAT ESTAS EN LA WILDS DE LA CENTRA afrika pluvarbaro.
Al Brian: Nu, ni iris al la semiwild. Estas ĉi tiu mirinda konservisto, Claudine Andre, kiu fondis sanktejon en Kinshasa por bonobos orfoj de la arbetajxo karno komerco. Ŝi volas konvinki la konga lasi sxin uzi ĉi tiun 100 acres ligno kun lilio fiŝlagoj kaj arbaroj, ke iam estis estinta bucólica retiriĝo por Mobutu Sese Seko.
Laborante kun la orfoj en la sanktejo, ili estis multe pli kiel sovaĝaj bestoj ol la allogas bonobos oni povus studi ĉe zoo. Estis evidente multe pli facile vidi kaj interagi kun ol bestoj en la arbaro.
Q. vi trovis RESPONDOJ AL LA SCIENCA DEMANDOJ Vi estis demandas?
Al Brian: provizora respondoj. La esploro estas daŭranta. Kelkaj el la diferencoj inter chimps kaj bonobos devas fari kun kio okazas al ili dum ilia evoluo. Esence bonobos kaj chimps havas similajn kondutojn kiel gejunuloj. Kiel bonobos, junula chimps estas tre tolerema, pacema. Kiam ili iros tra pubereco, ili ŝanĝos. Do kio okazas al adoleskanto bonobos? Nenio! Ili ne ŝanĝi. Iliaj niveloj de ludo, iliaj niveloj de interŝanĝo kaj sekso, ĉion subtenas iras. Ili estas Petro kaseroloj.
Q. KIEL Endangered ARE bonobos?
A. Vanessa: Tre. Estas probable ĉirkaŭ 10.000 ceteraj en naturo. Neniu vere scias. Estas malfacile eniri tien kaj kalkulu ilin ĉiujn.
Estas tre malmulte agrikulturo en Kongo. Kaj multe da ĉaso. Bush karno estas kiel la homo akiri sian proteino. Kaj bedaŭrinde, bonobos vere premiitaj mangxajxo por ĉasistoj ĉar ili vivas en komunumoj. Se vi trovis unu, vi trovis tridek ke vi povas pafi kaj mortigi ĉiujn samtempe. Kompreneble, bonobos ne estas la respondo al nutrante la konga popolo. Esas 68 milionoj konga kaj 10.000 bonobos. La homoj bezonas helpon, iu speco de agrikultura programo por ke la labranza igas daŭrigebla, kaj paco.
Brian leporo, asistanto profesoro ĉe la Duko Instituto por Menso Sciencoj ĉe Universitato Duke, kaj Vanessa Woods, de esploro sciencisto en la fako de Evolua Antropologio en Duke, faru kompar- studoj sur la kognitiva disvolviĝo de bonobo simiojn, ĉimpanzoj kaj homoj. Ms Woods, 33, eksa ĵurnalisto de Aŭstralio, ĵus eldonis libron pri ilia geedzeco kaj laboro, "Bonobo Manpremo: Memor-libro de Amo kaj Aventuro en Kongo." Ni parolis pasintmonate post kiam ili aperis en la Mond Scienca Festivalo en Novjorko. Versio eldonita de la konversacio sekvas:
Jeremy M. Lange por The New York Times
Laboro de teamo Brian Leporo kaj Vanessa Woods ĉe Universitato Duke pasintmonate.Scienco Twitter Logo.Konekti Kun Nin sur Socia Dosieroj
@ Nytimesscience en Twitter.
Scienco Raportistoj kaj Tekstiloj on Twitter
Kiel la scienco tablo en Facebook.
Q. Vanessa, vi ne estas trejnita PRIMATOLOGIST. Kiel vi venis labori kun bonobos?
A. Vanessa: Per serio de feliĉa akcidentoj. Dum granda parto de mia 20s, mi ne scias, kion mi volis fari kun mia vivo. Do mi iris al Afriko kaj faris iom de ĉiu. Mi laboris kun ĉimpanzoj por iom kaj poste mi faris iom da filmado kaj mi laboris iom en infanaj libroj.
Kiam mi renkontis Brian en 2004 mi estis 27 kaj volontulado en Chimp sanktejo en Ugando. Brian estis provante la ĉimpanzoj 'kapablon por kunlaboro kaj interŝanĝo.
Tiam Brian got invitis al Kongo por plenumi la saman eksperimentoj sur bonobos, niaj aliaj proksimaj simio rilatoj. Ĉu mi venus kune kiel helpanton? Mi malamas la ideon. Mia patrino, la monda plej granda feministo, ĉiam diris: "Neniam sekvu viro - fari vian propran aferon." Mi sciis preskaŭ nenion pri bonobos. Mi pensis: "Ĉu ne tiuj de la simioj, kiuj havas multan sekso?"
Brian: Tion plej multaj homoj scias pri bonobos: ili havas multe da sekso. Tio ne estas kio estas interesa pri ili. La n-ro 1 Tial ili estas interesaj estas ke ili ne mortigu unu la alian. La demando estis al mi en Afriko Chasing estis: kial oni Chimp enir severa lukto kun alia - eble mortigi aŭ Maimon ĝin - dum bonobo, en la sama situacio, ĉu ne? Mi estas esence antropologo. Kaj en rigardante la psikologiaj kaj sociaj propensiones de niaj proksimaj parencoj, lerni pri iliaj diferencoj en kutimaro, eble ni povos fari iujn induktojn pri kio okazis dum la homa evoluo.
Q. Kiaj eksperimentojn vi faris?
Al Brian: La tipo de eksperimentoj kiuj kreskada psikologoj provi homaj temoj por vidi kiel ili volas konduti en certaj situacioj. Kun la simiojn, mi desegnis provoj kaj ludoj kie ili povus akiri dolĉaĵoj - pomojn, bananoj - se ili kompromitis en la aktoj de kunlaborado.
La chimps, ĝi rezultis, ĝi estus nur kunlaboru se ili asociis kun aliaj de egala statuso. Se vi metas ilin per subulo aŭ pli alta statuso chimps, ili fariĝis neeltenebla. Kiam vi havis egalan statuson-chimps kune en provo, ili povis solvi konfliktojn de intereso, negoci kun sukceso kaj varbi kunlaborantojn. Sed kiam ni ŝanĝis simpla afero, ni volas disbati ilia kapablo kunlabori. Ni prenis apartan amasoj de dolĉaĵoj kaj kombinis ilin en unu. Tuj, la ĉimpanzoj komencis konkurenci kun la alia kaj ĉiuj kunlaboro disfalis.
Poste, kiam ni estis en Kongo, ni proponis la saman demandon al la bonobos. La amasoj de manĝo estis kunfanditaj. Neniu problemo. Ĉiuj dividitaj. Mia tezo doctoral konsilanto ĉe Harvard, Richard Wrangham, pensas ĉi tio eblas ĉar ĉimpanzoj evoluis en situacio de nutraĵo malabundo dum bonobos disvolvita en la giganto salato bovlo de Kongo baseno tie estis abundo.
Vanessa: Alia afero: bonobos estas matriarcal. Se ĝi estas kutima virina chimps to get puŝis sin kaj mistraktita de maskloj, bonobo inoj kuri aĵoj. Iam, dum en Kongo, mi vidis Tatango, ĉi tiu juna viro bonobo, komencas fari kio la chimps en Ugando regule faris: kiam li iris al la alfa ino, Mimi, kaj duflanka ŝi trans la vizaĝon. Ŝi donis al li la plej Withering rigardo. Ene de sekundoj, kvin nerilataj virinoj persekutis lin en la arbaro. Kompatinda knabo. Ili preskaŭ prenis liajn testikojn malproksime. Post tio, li neniam faris alian problemon. Bonobo inoj ŝajnas scii ke se ili batas kune, la viroj ne povas regi.
Brian varo estis vere estas problemo, kiam ni unue alvenis en Kongo. Li iris rekte al la bonoboj, faris cxiujn tiujn laŭta ekranoj, kiuj kutime logas ĉimpanzoj kaj igas ilin volas ludi kun vi. La masklo bonoboj timegis de Brian kaj la inoj ne rilatus kun li. Mi devis kuri al la eksperimentoj ĉar ili ŝajnis akcepti min pli facile. Fojo ke fariĝis klare, mia rolo fariĝis pli granda ol tiu de "helpanton." Kun la tempo, la laboro farigxis Miaj edzinoj, tro.
Q. kie ĝuste vi faris ĉi tiuj eksperimentoj? MI SUB la impreson, ke bonobos estas malfacilaj ESPLORO ĉar ilia HABITAT ESTAS EN LA WILDS DE LA CENTRA afrika pluvarbaro.
Al Brian: Nu, ni iris al la semiwild. Estas ĉi tiu mirinda konservisto, Claudine Andre, kiu fondis sanktejon en Kinshasa por bonobos orfoj de la arbetajxo karno komerco. Ŝi volas konvinki la konga lasi sxin uzi ĉi tiun 100 acres ligno kun lilio fiŝlagoj kaj arbaroj, ke iam estis estinta bucólica retiriĝo por Mobutu Sese Seko.
Laborante kun la orfoj en la sanktejo, ili estis multe pli kiel sovaĝaj bestoj ol la allogas bonobos oni povus studi ĉe zoo. Estis evidente multe pli facile vidi kaj interagi kun ol bestoj en la arbaro.
Q. vi trovis RESPONDOJ AL LA SCIENCA DEMANDOJ Vi estis demandas?
Al Brian: provizora respondoj. La esploro estas daŭranta. Kelkaj el la diferencoj inter chimps kaj bonobos devas fari kun kio okazas al ili dum ilia evoluo. Esence bonobos kaj chimps havas similajn kondutojn kiel gejunuloj. Kiel bonobos, junula chimps estas tre tolerema, pacema. Kiam ili iros tra pubereco, ili ŝanĝos. Do kio okazas al adoleskanto bonobos? Nenio! Ili ne ŝanĝi. Iliaj niveloj de ludo, iliaj niveloj de interŝanĝo kaj sekso, ĉion subtenas iras. Ili estas Petro kaseroloj.
Q. KIEL Endangered ARE bonobos?
A. Vanessa: Tre. Estas probable ĉirkaŭ 10.000 ceteraj en naturo. Neniu vere scias. Estas malfacile eniri tien kaj kalkulu ilin ĉiujn.
Estas tre malmulte agrikulturo en Kongo. Kaj multe da ĉaso. Bush karno estas kiel la homo akiri sian proteino. Kaj bedaŭrinde, bonobos vere premiitaj mangxajxo por ĉasistoj ĉar ili vivas en komunumoj. Se vi trovis unu, vi trovis tridek ke vi povas pafi kaj mortigi ĉiujn samtempe. Kompreneble, bonobos ne estas la respondo al nutrante la konga popolo. Esas 68 milionoj konga kaj 10.000 bonobos. La homoj bezonas helpon, iu speco de agrikultura programo por ke la labranza igas daŭrigebla, kaj paco.
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
I'm hard of hearing. Mi estas parte surda.
I'm happy that a friend of a friend is involved in the hearing impaired in Israel:
http://shemaenglish.wordpress.com
I didn't know for much more than a decade that I'm partly deaf.
http://shemaenglish.wordpress.com
I didn't know for much more than a decade that I'm partly deaf.
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Friday, May 24, 2013
Elstaraj gxis-dataj statistikoj pri PAGITAJ libera tempo/ferioj/festoj en industria mondo--Great stats on PAID free time/vacations/holidays in the Industrial world
http://www.cepr.net/index.php/publications/reports/no-vacation-nation-2013
As a retired US teacher with nearly 2 month vacations, I feel that vacations are essential to the mental well-being of the individual, to the well-being of the traditional family of a husband, wife and two children (allowing quality time of the individuals and the whole family to relax together), to the well-being of international relations, since vacations allow for travel and direct contacts of all nations and classes, reducing prejudices around the world.
Please note how United States-American citizens have no rights and are in another class of being, even totally different than other English speaking countries, such as Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. I didn't always know how different the USA-lifestyle was from the rest of the native English-speaking world. (Note: Canada is officially bilingual.)
Besides Canada's 10 paid vacation days it has 9 paid holidays, resembling much more Europe than its neighbor to the south.
As a retired US teacher with nearly 2 month vacations, I feel that vacations are essential to the mental well-being of the individual, to the well-being of the traditional family of a husband, wife and two children (allowing quality time of the individuals and the whole family to relax together), to the well-being of international relations, since vacations allow for travel and direct contacts of all nations and classes, reducing prejudices around the world.
Please note how United States-American citizens have no rights and are in another class of being, even totally different than other English speaking countries, such as Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. I didn't always know how different the USA-lifestyle was from the rest of the native English-speaking world. (Note: Canada is officially bilingual.)
Besides Canada's 10 paid vacation days it has 9 paid holidays, resembling much more Europe than its neighbor to the south.
Thursday, May 23, 2013
40 other Esperantists from 24 countries and I in Northern Poland: Gdansk, Gdynia, Sopot, Malbork.
I am in the center at the headquarters of the Polish Union, Solidarnoszcz, Gdansk. There are several pictures. My long-time Israeli friend, Yinon Meiri (Kiryat Tivon) is among us.
Mi estas en la centro apud sidejo de Solidarnoszcz, Gdansk, Pollando:
http://xurb.freehostia.com/805/m08.html
Friday, May 10, 2013
Living in Brasilia/Bicycling in Brasilia.
I bicycled around the neighborhood of Guara II and Guara I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oKyXG8Xdak
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqtyE0KMIuc and today in May 2013 I found some films of
bicycling around Guara as I did dozens of times.
Mi logxis jaron en Brazilo kaj pluraj monatoj de Brazijlo kie mi multe biciklis.
I ate in the following restaurant a a few times.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYEsBT1H6Lg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oKyXG8Xdak
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqtyE0KMIuc and today in May 2013 I found some films of
bicycling around Guara as I did dozens of times.
Mi logxis jaron en Brazilo kaj pluraj monatoj de Brazijlo kie mi multe biciklis.
I ate in the following restaurant a a few times.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYEsBT1H6Lg
Saturday, May 4, 2013
Zamenhof Clinic: Large Zamenhof "Object" Under Demolition
When I arrived in Israel, April 2013, I already knew that Zamenhof Clinic, was under demolition. The wikipedia article appear in Hebrew. Over 50 apartments will replace it, one costing over 10,000,000 dollars.
Inter la plej grandaj Zeoj en la mondo jam estas duon-detruata. Anstatau' Kliniko Zamenhof , Telavivo, komencos aperi 50 apartamentoj. La tegmenta apartamento kostos pli ol 10,000,000 usonaj dolaroj. Domagxe. http://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/
There is another building a block away on Zamenhof Street for health purposes. Pharmacy Zamenhof, maybe.
A similar report in the Jerusalem Post mentions Esperanto.
http://www.jpost.com/Business/Real-Estate/Tel-Aviv-Side-Walks-Understanding-Zamenhof
Here is good reason for a hospital to bear the name Zamenhof:
Inter la plej grandaj Zeoj en la mondo jam estas duon-detruata. Anstatau' Kliniko Zamenhof , Telavivo, komencos aperi 50 apartamentoj. La tegmenta apartamento kostos pli ol 10,000,000 usonaj dolaroj. Domagxe. http://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/
There is another building a block away on Zamenhof Street for health purposes. Pharmacy Zamenhof, maybe.
A similar report in the Jerusalem Post mentions Esperanto.
http://www.jpost.com/Business/Real-Estate/Tel-Aviv-Side-Walks-Understanding-Zamenhof
Here is good reason for a hospital to bear the name Zamenhof:
Language and medicine in the Zamenhof family.
By means of Google Maps I took the following pictures. (I visited in April 2013 and it was already mostely destroyed).
https://www.facebook.com/neil.blonstein/media_set?set=a.10151550986848964.1073741888.670528963&type=3
]
Department of Pathology, Maria Sklodowska-Curie, Memorial Bialystok Oncology Center, Ogrodowa, Poland.
AMHA - Acta Medico-Historica Adriatica 01/2010; 8(2):287-92. pp.287-92
Source: PubMed
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Women Will Bring Peace--Someday--Virinoj portos Pacon--Iam
Mi rimarkas ke esperantistinoj malofte debatas pri politiko. Mi opinias ke VIRINOJ estos la fonto de LONG-TEMPA PACO: Nur kiam virinoj regvidas sociajn prioritatojn al direkto de edukado, infanoj kaj familio kaj kontaktas inojn en malamikaj landoj ni povas havi esperon. Sam-cele, mi volas rimarki ke 3 cxefaj ESTRINOJ de partioj (centraj au' maldekstraj) en Israelo estas INOJ, do lau'-dire gxi estas la unua lando en la mondo kie 3--TRI--cxefaj partioj estas estrita de virinoj. (Estas cxirkau' 20 partioj en Israelo kun reprezentigxo.)
http://www.jewishjournal.com/
I am concerned that female Esperantists aren't participating in political debate. Women, I believe, will be the source of long-term peace. Only when women redirect human priorities to education, children and family....and contact other women in lands in conflict with them will we have grounds for hope. On that note I view positively the fact that 3 parties (centrist and left) in Israel are now headed by women. (There are about 20 political parties in Israel with representation in the Israeli Parlitament/Knesset.) Israel seems to be the first country with 3 major parties headed by women.
I have noted that the Muslim countries with modestly stable relations with the west had leaders who married western women.
1. Tunisian founder and head Borguiba married a French-women
2. Egypts Anwar Sadat married a partially British women
3. Egypt's Husni Mubarek married a British woman
4. Jordan's King Hussein married an American born women, Queen Nur, of Jordanian ancestry.
Monday, March 25, 2013
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Zamenhof's Synogogue Popular Tourist Site
A Jewish cultural revival - minus the Jews
Throughout Europe, tourists are flocking to restored Jewish sites and heritage festivals, often in places where there has been no Jewish presence since the end of WWII.
By Moshe Gilad | Oct.26, 2012 | 11:13 AM | 1
The ‘breathtaking’ Tykocin Synagogue in Poland, which attracts over 40,000 tourists a year. The synagogue was renovated by the Communist regime in the 1970s, an unusual step at the time. Photo by Moshe Gilad
THIS STORY IS BY
Moshe Gilad
RELATED TAGS
Jewish Diaspora
Europe
Europe Jews
Jewish World
In Haaretz
The Jewish cemetary in Krakow. Photo by Moshe Gilad
Tykocin, near Bialystok in northeast Poland, is an interesting place. Not a single Jew lives there today, but its synagogue - the oldest in Poland - is a tourist attraction, with over 40,000 visitors a year. The security guard explained with hand motions that the synagogue is closed on Mondays. He spoke only Polish. Afterward, when he saw the disappointment on my face, he scratched his head and signaled me to wait for a moment next to the gate. Two minutes later he returned with a large key and said, "But only for a moment."
The doors of the synagogue were opened and the sight was breathtaking. Large colored paintings cover the white walls. The ceiling is high, there is a large bimah (dais ) in the center of the hall, surrounded by four arched columns that support the walls. The Holy Ark is on the eastern wall. Many biblical verses and proverbs are painted on the walls in black. Next to them are illustrations of animals and plants. When he saw my eyes light up, the guard smiled and signaled that I could stay for another moment.
A spiral staircase leads to the top floor, where a two-room apartment that was used by the synagogue rabbi has been restored. The synagogue in Tykocin was built in 1642, after the revocation of restrictions imposed by the Polish authorities on Jewish religious structures.
During World War II, after Poland was occupied by Nazi Germany, part of the synagogue was destroyed and what remained was used as a warehouse. The local residents carried out several pogroms against the Jews, confiscated property and encouraged them to flee. In August 1941, the Nazis assembled all the Jews of the town - about 2,500 in number - in the central square and sent 1,400 of them to the nearby Lopochova Forest, where they were shot and buried in pits. About 150 people managed to escape to the Bialystok ghetto.
After the end of the war, several Jews tried to return but they encountered a hostile attitude and left. The Jewish community in Tykocin had reached the end of the road, but the magnificent synagogue remained in place. Somewhat surprisingly, the building underwent a thorough and comprehensive renovation between 1974 and 1978, at the height of the Communist period.
The guard parted from us with a handshake, but didn't leave. He pointed several times to a corner of the square and signaled that it was a good idea to eat there. A few dozen meters from the synagogue, there is a restaurant called Tejsza, a Jewish (nonkosher ) restaurant that supposedly recreates the atmosphere in a Jewish home in the late 19th or early 20th century. The menu in Tejsza (the name is written in Hebrew and Polish ) comprises two pages, one listing Jewish foods and the other listing other foods that can be found in any cheap restaurant in Poland.
The Jewish foods are quite familiar: kreplach (cooked or steamed dumplings ); tzimmes, a sweet and quite disgusting carrot dish; and kugel, a kind of greasy quiche. The decor is supposed to be Jewish, with heavy curtains, country-style wooden furniture, tablecloths in two colors.
Above the bar are chains of garlic and on the table are candlesticks, a Hanukkah menorah and several dolls representing Hasidim. A shtreimel, the traditional Hasidic fur hat, hangs in the corner and thunderous Hasidic music blares in the background. An entire quasi-Jewish culture is now flourishing in Tykocin, a town without a single Jew.
Festivals galore
Ruth Ellen Gruber is an American researcher and journalist who lives in Europe part of the time. Gruber has published several books on what she calls "the reinvention of Jewish culture in Europe." Her book "Virtually Jewish: Reinventing Jewish Culture in Europe" (University of California Press ) was published in the United States ten years ago.
In a phone interview, Gruber explains that the phenomenon is not limited to Poland, but can be found all over Europe - the west as well as the east. "In recent years there has been a big wave of interest in Jewish culture," she says. "Dozens of European cities hold a Jewish Heritage Day every year, and most of the participants aren't even Jewish."
Gruber cites Italy as an interesting example of the trend, and of the interest in Jewish culture. Only about 25,000 Jews live in the country today, but Jewish heritage days are held in 60 cities and towns, attracting hundreds of thousands of people.
A research project conducted by a British foundation called the Institute for Jewish Policy Research surveyed all the Jewish cultural events that took place between May 2000 and April 2001 in four European countries with small Jewish communities: Italy, Belgium, Sweden and Poland.
The results astonished the researchers, as Prof. Jonathan Webber - one of the heads of the foundation - explained shortly afterward at a conference in Budapest. Over 700 cultural Jewish events took place in those countries during the 12-month period. Among them were 27 Jewish culture festivals, 13 of them in Italy alone. According to a quick calculation by Webber, that year there was one cultural event for every 125 Jews.
Everyone understands, of course, that there is no correlation between the number of Jews and the large number of events. In Poland alone, where the Jewish community is estimated at about 10,000-20,000, there were 196 cultural events and seven Jewish culture festivals.
Gruber believes this phenomenon has become increasingly strong in the past decade. Krakow, in southern Poland, is an excellent example, which Gruber says served as inspiration to many other places. Almost every visitor who comes to Krakow, whether a Pole or a foreigner, visits the Jewish sites in the city's Kazimierz quarter. Krakow is one of the only cities in Poland that was not bombed during World War II and in which all the buildings remained standing.
On the neighborhood's main street, Szeroka, opposite the ancient Rama synagogue (named after 16th-century scholar Rabbi Moses Isserles ), there are about 10 cafes and restaurants of a quasi-Jewish nature, with elements of Jewish tradition.
In one, called Haim Cohen, we listened to music by Israeli clarinetist Giora Feidman for over an hour. More than 10 tour guides, armed with microphones and loudspeaker systems, fought for the attention of their groups. At least half the groups were composed solely of tourists from East Asia, who showed great interest in the small 16th-century synagogue and the large cemetery concealed behind it.
It started in Krakow
Krakow pioneered the trend more than 10 years ago, with the first quasi-Jewish cafe opening in the city in 1992. According to Gruber, the process gathered steam as a sequence of private initiatives that followed quickly on from their predecessors' commercial success. The government had prepared other plans for developing the Kazimierz quarter, but these were changed after officials understood the organic and independent "restoration" of Jewish culture, Gruber explains.
Tykocin is different from Krakow and other places because the synagogue there was restored back in the 1970s, at the initiative of the government. Gruber notes that it's one of the only synagogues in Europe that was restored during that period, making it quite unusual because nothing was then done with it. In other places, synagogues were renovated during the Communist period in order to win the affections of the Jewish community - but, of course, there is no such community in Tykocin. The Jewish sites were opened as museums and were seen at the time as evidence of the government's "broad horizons" and cultural approach.
"It was a kind of commemoration of an extinct civilization," says Gruber, "something reminiscent of the attitude toward the Mayan or Incan cultures. But with one significant difference - the members of those civilizations have become extinct, whereas the Jews live in other places.
"The interesting point is that nobody in the Communist period expected Jewish life to flourish again," she adds. "The museum established in the Tykocin synagogue was designed to sum up the culture that had disappeared. Somewhat surprisingly, 15 years later it turned out that the culture had not disappeared or become extinct. That may have been somewhat embarrassing for the 1970s renovators but, by that point, in the 1990s, they were no longer around to apologize, and people began to exhibit a totally different attitude to these Jewish sites."
Most of the visitors to the Tykocin synagogue are Jews and Israelis. Gruber says the main reason for this is its distance from other sites. If you look at other places, such as Krakow, or Prague in the Czech Republic, or other countries such as Germany or Italy, it's easy to see that the visitors are more varied and include many non-Jews who are interested in the ancient culture, she adds.
Filling a 'black hole'
Gruber says the major turning point was in November 1988, in West Germany, when the country marked the 50th anniversary of Kristallnacht (a series of violent anti-Jewish pogroms in Germany and Austria, often called the Night of Broken Glass ). The events that were held aroused tremendous public interest, far beyond the organizers' expectations. "It started a big boom, which picked up tremendous speed in the early 1990s, with the collapse of the Communist regimes in Europe," Gruber says.
"In those days," she continues, "freedom of religion and employment were restored, and the preoccupation with Jewish tradition was seen as another way of getting close to the West. It attracted large numbers of young people who discovered a somewhat exotic culture close to home, something they hadn't known about. And now, they were allowed to take an interest in it. It was suddenly considered cool to study the Jewish past and Jewish sites."
The Czech Republic is the best known example of the swift change. Almost overnight the ancient synagogues of Prague, and its unique cemetery, became a significant tourist attraction, for non-Jews too. Similar, somewhat slower, processes took place in other Czech cities, too. For example, the Jewish quarter in Trebic, today a city without any Jews, was restored and rehabilitated - 123 houses were meticulously painted, repaired and preserved. Today one can visit the two local synagogues. The smaller one is still used as a church. The main synagogue of Trebic, which was built in the 17th century, is considered the city's principal tourist attraction and has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage site.
A similar process is also taking place, albeit more slowly, in other former Communist countries. "There was quite an easy opportunity here to restore a 'black hole,' or to fill in empty spaces on the tourist map," Gruber says.
"The intellectuals in those countries took it upon themselves to find ancient synagogues, and documented them." In Poland, the process began even earlier, Gruber adds. In the 1980s it was semi-subversive or opposition activity - a kind of declaration that "we can rehabilitate history and memory. It's part of our culture."
Gruber compares this preoccupation to the search for the lost continent of Atlantis. "An entire world, an entire culture, disappeared for decades from the eyes of young intellectuals," she says. "It was there on their doorstep but they had never heard of it. Suddenly, in the early 1990s, they discovered their history, and since then they refuse to stop investigating it." The presence of Jews in the place is not essential. Gruber agrees with researcher Jonathan Webber, who said recently in an interview: "The Poles are examining themselves when they examine Jewish culture, and they are doing it very seriously."
A few minutes after we finished lunch in Tykocin's Tejsza restaurant, while we were still plodding heavily to the car, a large silver-colored bus entered the parking lot. Fifty young, loud Americans wearing skullcaps disembarked.
Their tour guide, a young man with a heavy beard and ultra-Orthodox garb, explained, in American-accented Hebrew, that this was a group of high-school students from all over the United States. They were touring Poland and had come to pray Minha, the afternoon service, in the famous Tykocin synagogue. "It's important, Reb Moshe," said the bearded man, slapping me hard on my shoulders. "You should join. We have to show them."
I made my excuses and walked to the other side of the square, to see the house where the parents of Eliezer Zamenhof, the inventor of Esperanto - the language of hope - used to live.
Throughout Europe, tourists are flocking to restored Jewish sites and heritage festivals, often in places where there has been no Jewish presence since the end of WWII.
By Moshe Gilad | Oct.26, 2012 | 11:13 AM | 1
The ‘breathtaking’ Tykocin Synagogue in Poland, which attracts over 40,000 tourists a year. The synagogue was renovated by the Communist regime in the 1970s, an unusual step at the time. Photo by Moshe Gilad
THIS STORY IS BY
Moshe Gilad
RELATED TAGS
Jewish Diaspora
Europe
Europe Jews
Jewish World
In Haaretz
The Jewish cemetary in Krakow. Photo by Moshe Gilad
Tykocin, near Bialystok in northeast Poland, is an interesting place. Not a single Jew lives there today, but its synagogue - the oldest in Poland - is a tourist attraction, with over 40,000 visitors a year. The security guard explained with hand motions that the synagogue is closed on Mondays. He spoke only Polish. Afterward, when he saw the disappointment on my face, he scratched his head and signaled me to wait for a moment next to the gate. Two minutes later he returned with a large key and said, "But only for a moment."
The doors of the synagogue were opened and the sight was breathtaking. Large colored paintings cover the white walls. The ceiling is high, there is a large bimah (dais ) in the center of the hall, surrounded by four arched columns that support the walls. The Holy Ark is on the eastern wall. Many biblical verses and proverbs are painted on the walls in black. Next to them are illustrations of animals and plants. When he saw my eyes light up, the guard smiled and signaled that I could stay for another moment.
A spiral staircase leads to the top floor, where a two-room apartment that was used by the synagogue rabbi has been restored. The synagogue in Tykocin was built in 1642, after the revocation of restrictions imposed by the Polish authorities on Jewish religious structures.
During World War II, after Poland was occupied by Nazi Germany, part of the synagogue was destroyed and what remained was used as a warehouse. The local residents carried out several pogroms against the Jews, confiscated property and encouraged them to flee. In August 1941, the Nazis assembled all the Jews of the town - about 2,500 in number - in the central square and sent 1,400 of them to the nearby Lopochova Forest, where they were shot and buried in pits. About 150 people managed to escape to the Bialystok ghetto.
After the end of the war, several Jews tried to return but they encountered a hostile attitude and left. The Jewish community in Tykocin had reached the end of the road, but the magnificent synagogue remained in place. Somewhat surprisingly, the building underwent a thorough and comprehensive renovation between 1974 and 1978, at the height of the Communist period.
The guard parted from us with a handshake, but didn't leave. He pointed several times to a corner of the square and signaled that it was a good idea to eat there. A few dozen meters from the synagogue, there is a restaurant called Tejsza, a Jewish (nonkosher ) restaurant that supposedly recreates the atmosphere in a Jewish home in the late 19th or early 20th century. The menu in Tejsza (the name is written in Hebrew and Polish ) comprises two pages, one listing Jewish foods and the other listing other foods that can be found in any cheap restaurant in Poland.
The Jewish foods are quite familiar: kreplach (cooked or steamed dumplings ); tzimmes, a sweet and quite disgusting carrot dish; and kugel, a kind of greasy quiche. The decor is supposed to be Jewish, with heavy curtains, country-style wooden furniture, tablecloths in two colors.
Above the bar are chains of garlic and on the table are candlesticks, a Hanukkah menorah and several dolls representing Hasidim. A shtreimel, the traditional Hasidic fur hat, hangs in the corner and thunderous Hasidic music blares in the background. An entire quasi-Jewish culture is now flourishing in Tykocin, a town without a single Jew.
Festivals galore
Ruth Ellen Gruber is an American researcher and journalist who lives in Europe part of the time. Gruber has published several books on what she calls "the reinvention of Jewish culture in Europe." Her book "Virtually Jewish: Reinventing Jewish Culture in Europe" (University of California Press ) was published in the United States ten years ago.
In a phone interview, Gruber explains that the phenomenon is not limited to Poland, but can be found all over Europe - the west as well as the east. "In recent years there has been a big wave of interest in Jewish culture," she says. "Dozens of European cities hold a Jewish Heritage Day every year, and most of the participants aren't even Jewish."
Gruber cites Italy as an interesting example of the trend, and of the interest in Jewish culture. Only about 25,000 Jews live in the country today, but Jewish heritage days are held in 60 cities and towns, attracting hundreds of thousands of people.
A research project conducted by a British foundation called the Institute for Jewish Policy Research surveyed all the Jewish cultural events that took place between May 2000 and April 2001 in four European countries with small Jewish communities: Italy, Belgium, Sweden and Poland.
The results astonished the researchers, as Prof. Jonathan Webber - one of the heads of the foundation - explained shortly afterward at a conference in Budapest. Over 700 cultural Jewish events took place in those countries during the 12-month period. Among them were 27 Jewish culture festivals, 13 of them in Italy alone. According to a quick calculation by Webber, that year there was one cultural event for every 125 Jews.
Everyone understands, of course, that there is no correlation between the number of Jews and the large number of events. In Poland alone, where the Jewish community is estimated at about 10,000-20,000, there were 196 cultural events and seven Jewish culture festivals.
Gruber believes this phenomenon has become increasingly strong in the past decade. Krakow, in southern Poland, is an excellent example, which Gruber says served as inspiration to many other places. Almost every visitor who comes to Krakow, whether a Pole or a foreigner, visits the Jewish sites in the city's Kazimierz quarter. Krakow is one of the only cities in Poland that was not bombed during World War II and in which all the buildings remained standing.
On the neighborhood's main street, Szeroka, opposite the ancient Rama synagogue (named after 16th-century scholar Rabbi Moses Isserles ), there are about 10 cafes and restaurants of a quasi-Jewish nature, with elements of Jewish tradition.
In one, called Haim Cohen, we listened to music by Israeli clarinetist Giora Feidman for over an hour. More than 10 tour guides, armed with microphones and loudspeaker systems, fought for the attention of their groups. At least half the groups were composed solely of tourists from East Asia, who showed great interest in the small 16th-century synagogue and the large cemetery concealed behind it.
It started in Krakow
Krakow pioneered the trend more than 10 years ago, with the first quasi-Jewish cafe opening in the city in 1992. According to Gruber, the process gathered steam as a sequence of private initiatives that followed quickly on from their predecessors' commercial success. The government had prepared other plans for developing the Kazimierz quarter, but these were changed after officials understood the organic and independent "restoration" of Jewish culture, Gruber explains.
Tykocin is different from Krakow and other places because the synagogue there was restored back in the 1970s, at the initiative of the government. Gruber notes that it's one of the only synagogues in Europe that was restored during that period, making it quite unusual because nothing was then done with it. In other places, synagogues were renovated during the Communist period in order to win the affections of the Jewish community - but, of course, there is no such community in Tykocin. The Jewish sites were opened as museums and were seen at the time as evidence of the government's "broad horizons" and cultural approach.
"It was a kind of commemoration of an extinct civilization," says Gruber, "something reminiscent of the attitude toward the Mayan or Incan cultures. But with one significant difference - the members of those civilizations have become extinct, whereas the Jews live in other places.
"The interesting point is that nobody in the Communist period expected Jewish life to flourish again," she adds. "The museum established in the Tykocin synagogue was designed to sum up the culture that had disappeared. Somewhat surprisingly, 15 years later it turned out that the culture had not disappeared or become extinct. That may have been somewhat embarrassing for the 1970s renovators but, by that point, in the 1990s, they were no longer around to apologize, and people began to exhibit a totally different attitude to these Jewish sites."
Most of the visitors to the Tykocin synagogue are Jews and Israelis. Gruber says the main reason for this is its distance from other sites. If you look at other places, such as Krakow, or Prague in the Czech Republic, or other countries such as Germany or Italy, it's easy to see that the visitors are more varied and include many non-Jews who are interested in the ancient culture, she adds.
Filling a 'black hole'
Gruber says the major turning point was in November 1988, in West Germany, when the country marked the 50th anniversary of Kristallnacht (a series of violent anti-Jewish pogroms in Germany and Austria, often called the Night of Broken Glass ). The events that were held aroused tremendous public interest, far beyond the organizers' expectations. "It started a big boom, which picked up tremendous speed in the early 1990s, with the collapse of the Communist regimes in Europe," Gruber says.
"In those days," she continues, "freedom of religion and employment were restored, and the preoccupation with Jewish tradition was seen as another way of getting close to the West. It attracted large numbers of young people who discovered a somewhat exotic culture close to home, something they hadn't known about. And now, they were allowed to take an interest in it. It was suddenly considered cool to study the Jewish past and Jewish sites."
The Czech Republic is the best known example of the swift change. Almost overnight the ancient synagogues of Prague, and its unique cemetery, became a significant tourist attraction, for non-Jews too. Similar, somewhat slower, processes took place in other Czech cities, too. For example, the Jewish quarter in Trebic, today a city without any Jews, was restored and rehabilitated - 123 houses were meticulously painted, repaired and preserved. Today one can visit the two local synagogues. The smaller one is still used as a church. The main synagogue of Trebic, which was built in the 17th century, is considered the city's principal tourist attraction and has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage site.
A similar process is also taking place, albeit more slowly, in other former Communist countries. "There was quite an easy opportunity here to restore a 'black hole,' or to fill in empty spaces on the tourist map," Gruber says.
"The intellectuals in those countries took it upon themselves to find ancient synagogues, and documented them." In Poland, the process began even earlier, Gruber adds. In the 1980s it was semi-subversive or opposition activity - a kind of declaration that "we can rehabilitate history and memory. It's part of our culture."
Gruber compares this preoccupation to the search for the lost continent of Atlantis. "An entire world, an entire culture, disappeared for decades from the eyes of young intellectuals," she says. "It was there on their doorstep but they had never heard of it. Suddenly, in the early 1990s, they discovered their history, and since then they refuse to stop investigating it." The presence of Jews in the place is not essential. Gruber agrees with researcher Jonathan Webber, who said recently in an interview: "The Poles are examining themselves when they examine Jewish culture, and they are doing it very seriously."
A few minutes after we finished lunch in Tykocin's Tejsza restaurant, while we were still plodding heavily to the car, a large silver-colored bus entered the parking lot. Fifty young, loud Americans wearing skullcaps disembarked.
Their tour guide, a young man with a heavy beard and ultra-Orthodox garb, explained, in American-accented Hebrew, that this was a group of high-school students from all over the United States. They were touring Poland and had come to pray Minha, the afternoon service, in the famous Tykocin synagogue. "It's important, Reb Moshe," said the bearded man, slapping me hard on my shoulders. "You should join. We have to show them."
I made my excuses and walked to the other side of the square, to see the house where the parents of Eliezer Zamenhof, the inventor of Esperanto - the language of hope - used to live.
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