Poland -- Hidden Beit Midrash in Bedzin

Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

It's always inspiring to meet yet more people who take it upon themselves to care for and promote sites of Jewish heritage in Poland (and elsewhere). This week, I accompanied Tomek Kuncewicz and his group of fellows at the Auschwitz Jewish Center to the run-down town of Bedzin, where we visited a nondescript apartment that was once a private Beit Midrash, or prayer house -- and still has traces of the vivid paintings that once covered its walls.

photos (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

In March of this year, young people in the town created a Foundation -- the Fundacja Brama Cukerman (Cukerman's Gate Foundation) -- to conserve and protect the prayer house and make it available for visitors as part of Bedzin's rich Jewish heritage.

The Prayer House is located in an upstairs apartment at Aleja Kollataja 24 -- in a building that was part of a grand complex of tenement dwellings and businesses owned by Nuchim Cukerman. You have to enter a narrow courtyard (open at one end) and climb the stairs.

Courtyard. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

Front of Cukerman house. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

After World War II, the Prayer House was divided into two rooms and a kitchen, to serve as a flat. The paintings were covered over by cheap paint and stenciling. Apparently the owner always knew about the hidden murals, which became known publicly a couple of years ago, when highschool students were brought in to clear off some of the over-paint with sponges and water.

The discovery of the Cukerman prayer house came on the heels of the discovery four years ago of another private prayer house, known as the Mizrachi synagogue, in a building nearby. The Mizrachi synagogue is closed -- and apparently the paintings have deteriorated seriously over the past four years.

The Brama Cukerman Foundation is also placing plaques on former Jewish sites, including places of business, such as a one-time Jewish cinema house, around town, to create a heritage route.

Hundreds of non-Jewish Poles have dedicated their time and passion over the past 20-30 years to preserve and protect sites of Jewish heritage and memory in Poland. For 10 years now, they have been honored by the Israeli Ambassador each year with an award initiated by the American lawyer Michael Traison and now presented at a ceremony during the Jewish Culture Festival in Krakow.

Award ceremony, at Galicia Museum. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

This year's honorees came from Lodz, Rymanow, Ryki and other towns...

Poland --the power of a Jewish graveyard

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

I've written for years about the power and emotions evoked by Jewish cemeteries, particularly those in Eastern Europe.... Now Britain's Foreign Secretary David Miliband has felt the pull -- as he recounts in an article in the Jewish Chronicle. Miliband visited the new Museum of the History of Polish Jews project. Had he headed south, he could have felt perhaps even more palpable evidence of the endurance of the Jewish spirit (if not a sizable Jewish population) at the Festival of Jewish Culture (which I still expect to comment on here).

Visiting Poland gave me a poignant link to my roots - and hope for the future [...]

This was my first visit to Poland. There must have been a deep ambivalence at the heart of this delay. Poland is my roots. But Poland is the scene of terrible tragedy — mass murder on an unimaginable scale. This counterpoint — normality and tragedy, centuries of construction and a decade of destruction, heroism alongside sadism — is at the heart of the new Museum of Polish Jews that begins construction on June 30, on a site in the heart of the former Warsaw Ghetto (www.shtetl.org.pl ).

The haunting void where once was the ghetto seems permanently wrestling with present and past —when I visited, dog walkers were to be found alongside an Israeli art group.

New Storey Restaurant at Taman Pelangi, Johor Bahru

New Storey Restaurant (N1°28.700' E103°46.508') is located at Jalan Sri Pelangi which is opposite the hawker center and beside a budget hotel, same row with Hong Leong Bank, Taman Pelangi.

I had been follow this restaurant since 1994. Initially it's located at Jalan Storey (N1°28.220' E103°45.806'), then it swiftted to Jalan Perang of Taman Pelangi (N1°28.922' E103°46.468') and it move again to this new location as mention above.

What I really love about this restaurant is the Fried Chicken, Black Pepper Crab & the Fried Dry Mee-hoon. (Some said other place is better, but I just like this...)

We were having our 'Father's Day' dinner at this restaurant.

Our Order : -
1) Fried Mee-hoon
2) Fried Chicken (Signature Dish)
3) Kampung Chicken (Less fat)
4) Tou-fu with mince pork
5) Jelly Fish
6) Fried Squids
7) Vegetables

Fried Mee-hoon

Fried Chicken - Signature Dish

Kampung Chicken

Tou-Fu with mince pork

Jelly Fish

Fried Squids (Sotong)

Vegetables

All foods are good!! We finish all within 30 minutes....everyone satisfied with it. We had double of the Fried Mee-hoon and Fried Chicken.
No crab for the night because some of us don't really love it...but not me! :)

empty plates after 30 minutes...

Total Damage : MYR170.00 for 8 adults & 4 children. It's cheap!

Give a try if you happen to be that area...and don't forget to order the Black Pepper Crab.

Photos of another visit on December of 2009

Sweet and Spicy Clams

Deep Fried Skinny Fish

Their foods quality maintain very well! Our common foods is the Dry Mee-Hoon and the Fried Chicken, the taste very consistent and Good!

Map Location of New Storey Restaurant at Taman Pelangi, Johor Bahru.



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Roasted Duck of Sin Keong Kee - Kulai, Johor

Sin Keong Kee Restaurant (N1°39.095' E103°36.623') is located at Jalan Susur Kulai 2, same roll with Public Bank Kulai. It's just beside the main road of Kulai.

This is my favorite Roasted duck within the Johor area. I couldn't find any roasted duck come close to it! Of course, I call it the BEST Roasted Duck I ever taste before!

We actually taken our lunch but it's too tempted and we cannot resist our self to eat again! Haha! So we just order the duck and a bowl of soup without rice.

The Sin Keong Kee Roasted Duck at Kulai, Johor.

The peanut soup

The duck was very well marinated, you can enjoy it in your mouth before swallow it! Beside, the BBQ pork & Roasted Pork also nice!

The boss busy serving...

The damage was MYR25.00 included drinks for 3 persons. We actually ordered the portion for 2 persons only. I considered this was cheap because of the Delicious Roasted Duck!


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Budapest - Hot Town, Summer in the City

I've been in Budapest for the past couple of days, soaking up the summer heat and checking out the courtyard (and other) cafes in the downtown 7th District old Jewish quarter, which is where I have my apartment.

Unfortunately, my laptop is acting up -- so, despite the free WiFi service in many cafes in the area, I have been having some trouble connecting (and uploading pictures).

On this trip, I used the popular Barladino cafe, on Dob utca, as a sort of "office," sitting at the wall, where electric plugs are located, using the Wifi and sampling the fare, and meeting people. Barladino is known for its generous 3-course lunches starting for the equivalent of 6 or 7 dollars.

Just down the street, on Kertesz utca, is the Hummus Bar -- wonderful half-size falafel pitas for the equivalent of about $1.75.

I didn't have enough time to check all the other places, but I glanced in to several of the courtyard or garden cafes in the district while hurrying to get somewhere else. These places, located in the courtyards of abandoned buildings or in vacant lots where buildings have been pulled down, have become a popular tradition in Bpest. Minimalist decor, very casual; often open very late.

Bentayan Hawker Center, Muar - Johor.

Bentayan Hawker Center (N2°02.955' E102°34.391') is located at the end of Jalan Bentayan where it's connected to main road. My last visit is about more than a years ago, this time I found the hawker center was renovated to a better environment.

Bentayan Hawker Center, Muar.

I believe some of the stalls here started their business many decades ago...(It might bring back some memories for you?!)
Once we found a table (Not really crowded in Saturday night), we started to order some light foods to fill the table...

And not to miss out the Otah-otah from Muar.

Muar Otah-otah

The Otah-otah was not so good compare with the one selling at residential area (N2°04.263' E102°34.445'), it was not juicy & spicy enough.

The stalls of Bentayan Hawker Center

We also order the Fried Oyster which was not bad! It's better than those I had it at JB.

Fried Oyster of Muar

The name Bentayan is started from the Fortaleza de Muar built by the Portuguese to defend the attacks of Dutch and Aceh, this fort (triangle shape) went through ONLY two battles at Muar river in 1615 and 1616. The modern and present name of this site called "Bentayan". (You can Google more about the history of Muar from the internet)
But you will not see any structures related to the Fort around this area anymore...it was 393 years ago...


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Map of Bentayan Hawker Center, Muar

Muar related post :-
* Exploring Muar Town - The Historical Town

MY TRIPS - Home

Poland -- Cornerstone of Museum Laid

Site of new Museum. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

The cornerstone of the long-awaited Museum of the History of Polish Jews was laid in Warsaw at a high-profile ceremony Tuesday. The museum, years in the making, will be located in what was the World War II Warsaw Ghetto, across from the Ghetto Heroes monument erected there in 1948.

"Prior to the Holocaust, the Shoah, Warsaw was one of the world's main centres of Jewish life where politics, culture, publishing and Jewish theatre thrived -- in fact it was the leading centre, surpassing other cities in the US and Europe," project director Jerzy Halbersztadt told guests at the site.

During the Holocaust, the district was inside the infamous Warsaw Ghetto, where all told Nazi Germany imprisoned more than 400,000 Polish Jews, many of whom died of starvation or disease or were sent to death camps.

The bricks used as the cornerstones came from the World War II-era foundations of the last headquarters of the Council of Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto, the scene of a famous wartime uprising, Halbersztadt said.

"So we have come full circle and beginning the construction of the museum is also an element of closing this circle," he added.

Read AFP story