Dreamscapes Travel & Lifestyle Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dreamscapes.ca/i/606819
WINTER 2015/2016 DREAMSCAPES 53 stones were brought by angels from the destroyed Temple of Jerusalem on condition they be returned upon the restoration of the Temple in the messianic age. Its attic is said to be the hiding place of the Golem, the mythical creature of clay brought to life to protect the community. The Czech Republic is seeing a resurgence in Jewish cultural exhibitions, mainly at restored synagogues. It was kick-started in 2006, when an entire year was dedicated to Jewish art shows, theatre and musical productions. AUSTRIA The gemutlich Austrian town of Linz may give you the shivers because Adolf Hitler considered it his favourite city. He attended gymnasium (high school) here but dropped out to paint and draw. And it was here he was rejected from art school. "Imagine," intones our guide gravely, "how history would have turned out had he been accepted." There is one synagogue to serve the roughly 100 Jews, and it stands on the site of the old house of worship, which was burned to the ground on Kristallnacht, the night of November 9–10, 1938, when Nazi mobs rampaged throughout the Third Reich. Located on Bethlehem Street, the 45-year-old building is a nondescript, crackerbox affair on the outside with nothing to identify it as Jewish, however its sanctuary showcases whimsical, colour- splashed frescoes on the walls depicting the biblical Twelve Tribes of Israel and cande- labras cast from the metal rubble of the old synagogue. "Jews feel safe here," says community leader Bogdan Bogancic, who fled war-rav- aged Sarajevo in the early 1990s. Still, two police officers patrol the area around the synagogue every Sabbath. Asked about the congregation's name, Bogancic throws his head back and chuckles: "I get that question from North Americans all the time. It has no name. It's the only one in town." It's the same in charming Salzburg, famous as the setting for The Sound of Music and the birthplace of Mozart. The Jewish population is said to have peaked just after World War II at 600 but today tallies all of 30 to 50 members. The synagogue here is plain but airier than the one in Linz. Other than that, there's little Jewish history to see. The person you will want to meet, though, is the president of the community, a legend named Marko Feingold, who survived four concentration camps and helped smuggle Jews out of Austria into Italy after World War II. He has a razor-sharp mind and memory and a feisty sense of humour—not bad for someone who is 102 years old. As we imagined, Vienna is draped in fili- gree and lace. Fine shops are cheek-by-jowl with fin-de-siècle bistros hawking the city's most famous cake, Sachertorte. The central synagogue, the Stadttempel, scene of a 1981 terrorist attack in which two died and 21 were injured while attending a bar mitzvah service, may be visited by appointment only. In any event, the real story of Vienna's Jews, who today number 8,500 (those who have registered) and use a dozen private homes around the city as prayer spaces, is best seen at the informative Jewish Museum, a blocky edifice at 8 Judenplatz ("Jewish Square"). SLOVAKIA Ominous clouds scud across a dun- coloured sky in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, a city that appears to be the grim, Eastern-bloc mirror image of hip Prague. No matter. The highlight here is the mau- soleum of the city's most famous rabbi, Moshe Schreiber, who died in 1839. He is buried, along with 22 other prominent rabbis, in the sole remaining portion of a centuries-old Jewish cemetery that was destroyed in 1943 when a nearby tunnel was constructed. The country's pro-Nazi govern- ment allowed the graves to be preserved entombed in concrete. With its crooked and worn headstones, the cool grotto is both unnerving and reassuring. There's a tram stop just above.