Dear Visitors

Even though this blog has no been updated in a while, I am aware that we are still getting visitors. If anybody has recently been to Kochin or any of the places mentioned is this blog, or is planning on going, please send me an email and tell me how the people are doing.

Thanks in advance,

Eli

Belated Welcome

To all visitors:
Welcome to the blog! Thanks for stopping in. Please feel free to contact me if you are interested in more info. regarding the articles and posts on this blog.
elimarcus@gmail.com

Thoughts from Berlin

I just wanted to share a few interesting thoughts, which occured today and in the past days here in berlin.

One of the Librarians at the Potsdamer Plats Staats Bibliothek spoke english with a lisp but spoke german without a lisp.

Unfortunately I have seen people with all sorts of Machles Nfk"g, here in Berlin. Blind, dumb, and one frightening looking youngster with, Nebach, completely deformed facial features (Sorry for sharing this but I think the parents should not bring this child into the public. It really gave me a shock, kal vachomer children....) Just wondering why g-d is showing this to me and in of all places here in Berlin

People here are more civilized, for example, the subway doors close once. Not reapetedly like in new york because of people blocking them.....

Each train door is by the push of a button on the door. If you dont push the button, the door dont open. I dont understand why they arent that adavnced in the states.
The button is on either side of the door.

I went sightseeing "by accident", as ND put it. I was on my way to some place when I became aware that the train will not be continuing after the Potsdamer Platz stop, so I get out and there I found myself looking at remnants of the Belin Wall....

E
Currently in Berlin

News from Berlin

(Written a week ago but only completed now)

To all:

At the moment i find myself in Berlin, Germany, a city which was home to the Rebbe from 1928 up until the Yimach Shimoy'nicks rise to power in 1933, hence the purpose of my journey.

Tonight (last week mon.) will conclude a cycle of seven days that i have been in Berlin and as of late there is not much that i have to say.

Upon alighting the airplane i was surprised to hear a woman, speaking on her cell phone in German, suddenly switch to Hebrew! At the close of her phone conversation I greeted her with a surprised Shalom! and we began conversing in Hebrew. Turns out she is very familiar with Chabad in Berlin, where she currently resides with her husband of 4 months, and happens to be an einikel of the Alter Rebbe. Its always more comforting to meet a fellow Jew in a foreign country.

Berlin is a very clean city comparatively to other large cities. On par with the classic Yecke lifestyle. While driving in the taxi from the airport it seems as if you can hear the buildings. Different from the usual loud boasting of city houses the buildings here seem to be peacefully coexisting. The apartment houses, a collection of resembling blocks, each house matching perfectly to the other, whisper quietly amongst themselves. The residents (at least the majority of them) seem to mirror that too.

At this time of the year the Chabad is very quiet. Camp has ended and the Bochurim of the Yeshiva are on summer vacation. There are Minyanim thrice daily attended by approx. 15 to 25 worshipers. On shabbos the Shul fills up with over 100 people in attendance.

The "Rohr Judisches Bildungszentrum" (Jewish Learning Center) was completed one year ago. For the opening festivities many a V.I.P. were present, including Uncle Fried to entertain the masses. The building is very beautiful and has received an award for its unique architectural design, primarily for the design of the Womens Gallery which is suspended on 3 sides. Included within the "compound" are a restaurant, fest. hall, Mikva, guest rooms, library, and a computer lounge. There is also a special lounge reserved for the important guests who visit Berlin. Past visitors include MK Eli Yishai, R' Lev Leviev, Harav Lau and others.

Also under the auspices of Chabad is a Yeshiva of 10 bochurim who learn during the evening with local Baalei Batim, a school with 130 children, and new for this year, the Torah College, which is a part time yeshiva for Baalei Teshuva. There are currently 13 students enrolled.

The people who come to the Chabad are mostly Russians, as is the local population. The people here are very nice and cordial and enjoy coming to Chabad in spite of the fact that there is another Ortodox shul not too far away. The second shabbos was more lovely as the first as i got to know the people here better.

ok thats enof sed for now.

Germany

Grüsen fun Berlin!!
BH I have arrived safely in Berlin, once home to the Lubavitcher Rebbe (1928-1933).
Will be working here with Chabad. I'll try to get some stuff up during the trip.
Peace arois.
(maybe i need to change the name of the blog??? )

What should really happen "Interveigins"....

Today was an unbelievable day.

Just to recap a little, after leaving Cochin we moved over to the other coast of India to a city called Pondicherry, a nice beach town with a fair share of tourists and ex-pats residing therein. Next door is a place called Auroville. Many Jews especially Israelis living there with some very interesting views on life. We won't go there.
We stayed there for about two weeks and met with many people of all backgrounds. Our stay was brought to an end due to an impending jewelery in Bombay which we were requested to be here for. Once again we made travel arrangements to fly from Chennai (about 2 hours from Pondi.) back to Bombay.
As long as were going there we thought we might as well hang around and see the place, and as it turns out its a great town, perhaps the best city in India. When I called Rabbi Holtzberg to inform him of our plans, he told me that there is a Jewish family, with whom he is in contact, who have just had a baby boy and if we have the time to please stop by and see what they need. So I gave David a call and he got very excited when i told him i'm from Chabad. "So your'e coming to do the circumcision?" (Shechita, maybe soon. Milah, no way.) When I said no he was a bit disappointed but still eager to see us.
B.h. we arrived safely at his place and we went inside and sat down. He lives in a beautiful apartment in the city center, very warm (no pun intended) and very pleasant. We started talking and it turns out that they just had their first child, a boy, and there is no mohel available to perform the bris (on time) which is why he got so excited at the start. Anyways, we chatted a bit, got to know each other a bit. He began telling us about the economic boom and the different ways how India can still improve even though they have come a long way and about his job which is to finance and invest in the rural towns, basically setting up a profitable business for the locals which they can eventually buy off on their own. We touched on other subjects and topics amongst them what we are doing in India, the Jewish community in Chennai, and other important stuff.
After about an hour, he told us that he had to go to another appointment soon, so we offered to put on teffilin with him, to which he readily agreed. Afterwards we gave him a yarmulka from Chabad which he promptly perched proudly on his head for the duration of our stay. (after we left i couldn't say.)
I would like to take this opportunity to thank David for allowing us usage of his car. Thankfully we were able to sight see just a bit and visit with another yid before going to the airport.
With that we moved on to the next leg of our excursion.

To sum it all up, when we asked him what its like to see another Jew in Chennai he said, "It's absolutely thrilling."

Sadhana Forest.....(dont ask)

Manjali

For today we decided to travel to Manjali. Located in between Mala and Parur, which both used to have a decent Jewish population but today are left with only a Synagogue, it is the home of one lone Jewish family who moved there for business purposes.

Once again, after calling a half dozen times figuring out where they live and giving the driver directions, we set our eyes on the road once more. After about an hour we reach the country roads and beautiful scenery of Manjali (not to be confused with Manali), and the home of Mr. and Mrs. Namia.

Facing the road and the lake.

The Namias house.

In the front room of the house. Notice in the previous picture that there is no glass in the front window frames.

They moved to Manjali 26 years ago from Alvei, where there is a small Jewish community, to enjoy the quiet country life and to oversee the agricultural activities on the land he owns.
Mr. Namia does not speak english very well so most of the conversation was directed towards his wife. They have 3 children who live somewhere, i have forgotten, and they probably have jobs too. Being that they live on their own, Mr. Namia learned how to shecht in Israel and thereby prepares his own meat and keeps a kosher kitchen. They were very proud to show us the menorah which they have prominently displayed in the 'living room', next to the pictures of their children.

Mendy and Mr. Namia

The view from the second story porch

Checking out the view. (it was simply gorgeous.)

After enjoying the cool breeze up on the porch we inquired with regards to any other Jews living in the area. They were kind enough to provide us with the telephone numbers of their siblings who live in Alvei, and some others who live in that area.

Figuring out where to go next.

A boat.

House on the lake.

The boat again

The view of the house from the road.

Unfortunately Mr. Namia did not want to put on teffilin, saying that he has his own teffilin and he goes to the Synagogue in Mattancherry once in a while and he puts them on there. So after a short visit we decided to move on and see what, and who else we could find to 'spread the light'.

Saying good bye. (Oh wait, aren't we not supposed to do that?)

Enjoy!

Bs"d thats all for now.

2nd day in Cochin

After spending a day with the Jews of Jew Town, we moved on to the other side of the river to a city called Ernakulam. Once there we met with Mr. Elias Josephai, affectionately known as Babu (which means Sir), a friendly store owner. It took us about an hour to find the place because, as we have come to learn, the local cab drivers do not know the city very well and have to stop every 5 min. to ask for directions. That's why we're constantly getting lost. He gave us a quick run down on the history, of course, and he said that the song 'Mah Navu' was written by Jews from this community.
Being that is the last member of the community, the shul was bequeathed to him and he is now the sole owner. Unfortunately he converted it into a shop where he sells live fish and other fish tank accessories. The Jewish families who live there are quite spread out so it was hard to arrange any other meetings. Later on we met with Sam Abraham, a car salesman, and chatted for a few minutes. Mr. Babu.
The Aron Kodesh
A once beautiful shul. Notice the painted chandeliers and the trimming on the windows.
The upstairs Bima as mentioned before.
Getting a sip from the well.
The well.

Gami locking up the shul after Mincha. Later on that night we went back to Mattanchery and davened Mincha.
Family Wagon.
One of the Israelis staying in our hotel.
Another Yid. He politely refused our offer to put on teffillin.
Dont worry he's not dead. Just taking an afternoon nap.
Enjoy.
Bs"d thats all for now.