Shabbat

We're headed to the New Synagogue on the Oranienbuergerstrasse where the egalitarian minyan meets. Most of the congregation has already headed up north to Limmud.de and we'll be joining them tomorrow. Completely coincidentally we met the other Germany Close Up trip on the way to Leipzig yesterday so we'll see them again in the morning.

We'll post some more photos--from Limmud and our goodbye dinner--after Shabbat.

We say goodbye to Brandon tomorrow but the rest of us have another day together. It's hard to believe the trip is almost over!

a Napoleon complex of sorts

This morning, on our fascinating tour of Leipzig, we stopped at the Voelkershlachtdenkmal (Monument to the Battle of the Nations) which marks Napoleon's defeat in 1813.

this one is for Adena

Rabbi Ducky and Martin Buber (together in Worms).

Worms and it's many splendored delights...

We could have shown what we really did in Worms, which was check our email (free wireless in front of the Rashi House, the museum and reconstructed beit midrash that marks Rashi's visit to the city) but instead I'll suggest that we listened very carefully to our guide Maria....

(Here we are just outside the cemetery in Worms--the second oldest cemetery in Europe with a gravestone that dates to the 11th century--about to take a tour.)

We're fine, I promise!

We've all heard from family and friends worried about the e-coli situation in Europe. We've been very lucky--this is a meat eating crowd--and no one has even had a hint of cucumber (or produce) related illness.

Here's the group in the women's section of the synagogue in Speyer, right in the heart of medieval ShUM (Speyer-Worms-Mainz) aka Ashkenaz.

And we're back!

Sorry for the long delay! Internet access was less than optimal in Heidelberg and Leipzig (though the breakfasts were divine).


Here's the group last night at dinner in Leipzig's famous Auerbach Kellar, made famous by Goethe in Faust, and made infamous by the devil who came out and performed live right after this picture was taken.