MAY, 2013
Hi from quaint, art nouveau Kiev after 30+ hours of travel and 3 hours exploring solo on foot, think I'm tired now! finally got lost at 10 pm right near my hotel! typical of me. See foyer, what a disappointing slum.
Opera Hotel, Kiev
Its very safe, the Mafia has marked the building it operates from ( see below).
MAFIA headquarters, Kiev
Fred Morgan's tour starts tomorrow evening so more time to myself tomorrow after which less time and energy to email.
My vast Russian vocabulary consists of: spaciba (thank you) and isvinitia (excuse me).
People are warm and polite apart from my kidnappers who haven't offered me any vodka and sponge cake yet.
See the Yiddish writing beneath the bust (below) of David Epstein - along with other busts
of famous Kievites.
David Epstein, honoured Soviet, Yiddish writer.
Thanks my friends for sending me off (up) so lovingly.
Art nouveau architecture abounds in Kiev
The Karaites are a sect that follow the Old Testament in Hebrew but don't accept the Talmud nor any rabbinical interpretation. By accident, I discovered the Karaites Kanesa (synagogue) in Kiev.
Karaites Kanesa, Kiev
Built in 1902, the Karaite Kanesa is now used as a theatrical space, below, House of Actor.
House of Actor, a performance and theatrical meeting place, is now the purpose of the old synagogue,
the Karaite Kanesa, Kiev
The original dome was destroyed by the Nazis - see image below with dome, from Wikipedia entry: Karaite Kanesa Kiev.
Original dome, desecrated by the Nazis, of the Karaite Kanesa, Kiev
Fred Morgan's tour will be taking us to the countryside in a few days outside Vilnius to see another Karaite Kanesa.
Second day in Kiev sees some amusing shots of Kiev:
I marvel at the contrasting architectural styles, on the one hand, the spare style of Stalin's austerity for a municipal building:
as against the lavish treatment for religious Russian Orthodox opulence!
A modest desert for one at dinner - creme brulee, chocolate mousse, sourbet and chocolaty chocolate with even more chocolate on top.
In the countryside, outside Kiev, we're visiting the tombs of Rabbis Levi Yosef Itzhak of Berdychiv , Mordechay of Chernobyl and Aharon of Zhytomir, whose colourful mausoleum has at its left the owner of this farmland returning to work the soil after we depart.
Tomb of Aharon of Zhytomir, 18th century Hasidic Rabbi
Owner of the land, that Rabbi Aharon's tomb stands on, chats to our group.
Berdychiv Jewish Cemetary
18th century Tzadik Levi Yosef Itzhak, much loved guru figure who lived and taught in Berdychiv until his death in 1809 - see photo of his lavishly adorned tomb above.
We drove out to these country destinations through verdant greenery and forests; Kiev is said to be the greenest area in Europe. These country districts once formed the Hasidic centre for large Hasidic populations.
The Unspeakable
We were bussed along the same route Mum's brother with his wife and baby were transported along to the site of massacre called Babi Yar. I was tearful and my heart palpably twisted in pain. I was paying respect and homage on behalf of our family, especially on behalf of Mum. No-one else in our family had yet undertaken this confronting journey. Fred Morgan led us in reading together aloud Yevtushenko's poem "Babi Yar" followed by Kaddish. Our Jewish Ukranian guide preceded this with testimonies by a German soldier (made at Nuremburg) and one by a Jewish survivor.
Babi Yar by Yevgeny Yevtushenko
Translated by Ben Okopnik
No monument stands over Babi Yar.
A steep cliff only, like the rudest headstone.
I am afraid.
Today, I am as old
As the entire Jewish race itself.
I see myself an ancient Israelite.
I wander o'er the roads of ancient Egypt
And here, upon the cross, I perish, tortured
And even now, I bear the marks of nails.
It seems to me that Dreyfus is myself. *1*
The Philistines betrayed me - and now judge.
I'm in a cage. Surrounded and trapped,
I'm persecuted, spat on, slandered, and
The dainty dollies in their Brussels frills
Squeal, as they stab umbrellas at my face.
I see myself a boy in Belostok *2*
Blood spills, and runs upon the floors,
The chiefs of bar and pub rage unimpeded
And reek of vodka and of onion, half and half.
I'm thrown back by a boot, I have no strength left,
In vain I beg the rabble of pogrom,
To jeers of "Kill the Jews, and save our Russia!"
My mother's being beaten by a clerk.
O, Russia of my heart, I know that you
Are international, by inner nature.
But often those whose hands are steeped in filth
Abused your purest name, in name of hatred.
I know the kindness of my native land.
How vile, that without the slightest quiver
The antisemites have proclaimed themselves
The "Union of the Russian People!"
It seems to me that I am Anna Frank,
Transparent, as the thinnest branch in April,
And I'm in love, and have no need of phrases,
But only that we gaze into each other's eyes.
How little one can see, or even sense!
Leaves are forbidden, so is sky,
But much is still allowed - very gently
In darkened rooms each other to embrace.
-"They come!"
-"No, fear not - those are sounds
Of spring itself. She's coming soon.
Quickly, your lips!"
-"They break the door!"
-"No, river ice is breaking..."
Wild grasses rustle over Babi Yar,
The trees look sternly, as if passing judgement.
Here, silently, all screams, and, hat in hand,
I feel my hair changing shade to gray.
And I myself, like one long soundless scream
Above the thousands of thousands interred,
I'm every old man executed here,
As I am every child murdered here.
No fiber of my body will forget this.
May "Internationale" thunder and ring *3*
When, for all time, is buried and forgotten
The last of antisemites on this earth.
There is no Jewish blood that's blood of mine,
But, hated with a passion that's corrosive
Am I by antisemites like a Jew.
And that is why I call myself a Russian!
1 - Alfred Dreyfus was a French officer, unfairly dismissed from service in 1894 due to trumped-up charges prompted by anti- Semitism.
2 - Belostok: the site of the first and most violent pogroms, the Russian version of KristallNacht.
3 - "Internationale": The Soviet national anthem.
At the Kiev National Art Museum, I found this disturbing painting done in 2001 by Arsen Savadov, Savadov is a noted Ukranian conceptualist photographer and painter of Armenian descent. This painting is one of a series, entitled Karaim's Cemetary, consisting of eight powerful renditions of desecrated or neglected Karaite graves.
Karaim is the Hebrew plural form for Karaite. More about the Karaites in
Lithuania.
Savadov was born in 1962 in Kiev, where he now works, as well as in New York.
No comments:
Post a Comment