A Mish Mash

It's the Subtle Differences
Today Leo made his classmates laugh. Apparently, the Czech language has some subtle differences. When his teacher asked the kids to get out their peros, Leo took out his pen and said pero with a long emphasis on the e. Unbeknownst to him, when you emphasize the "e", pen becomes penis. Why, Leo asks, would a people create a language where such errors would occur?

L'Shanah Tovah
When we first learned we were coming to Prague, I researched some synagogues and read about the Spanish Synagogue as being a beautiful and welcoming place for the holidays. My new friend, Liz, who is a close friend of Sarajane, one of our Early Childhood families, turned me onto a progressive Jewish congregation. I looked up their website and was shocked to discover they were Reconstructionists, too. Who'd a thunk? They advertised their services to be at the Pinkas Synagogue, which is known for the inscriptions on its walls of all those from Bohemia and Moravia who perished in the Holocaust (Madeline Albright's family members included). So, I took Tram 17 to the Pinkus Synagogue and saw no signs of Jews congregating for Rosh Hashanah. I asked the security guards about a service and they didn't seem to know. I went to a museum around the corner and asked, but got a surly woman (my first) who declared I must be part of the Jewish community to attend services. I said I was, and she pointed me to the Spanish Synagogue. I walked through its lobby to see a woman putting out an oneg of apples and honey, wine and challah. It felt so comforting to wish her L'shanah Tovah, and to be understood. The sanctuary was stunning with detailed designs and gorgeous stained glass windows. It was a small space with an intimate gathering of about 20 people--some young in their late teens, early 20s, others middle aged and beyond. Two rabbis led the service, one American and the other from the Czech Republic. When it came time to say the Mourner's Kaddish, the Czech rabbi talked about one of their congregants who either died that day or her yartzheit was that day; I wasn't sure, but she was the congregation's only Holocaust survivor and had lived to age 100, so we held her in our hearts for that Kaddish. One of the lighter moments came when the rabbi asked an older couple to come up for an alliyah. The man refused, but his wife stood up, plucked the kippah from her husband's head, and to chuckles throughout, made her way to the bimah. When she was done, she sat down and her husband good naturedly plucked the kippah from her head and placed it on his.

images of the Spanish Synagogue