PT_Issue_One_Cover.jpgSome of you may know that I’m (gasp!!) involved in publications other than Jewlicious…lately, I’ve been devoting a lot of time and energy to a new magazine for Jews in their 20s and 30s (obviously, a population I may have written about before once or twice…) called PresenTense. (Website available here, with copy from previous issue–copy from new issue to follow shortly…)

To mark the publication of our new issue, Editor/Publisher Ariel Beery, the PresenTense team, and I are pleased to invite you to a photo exhibit of images from “Forgotten Heritage: Uncovering New York’s Hidden Jewish Past,” by German-Jewish photographer and PresenTense photoessayist Julian Voloj. The exhibit is produced in cooperation with JWalks and The Lower East Side Jewish Conservancy, and opens with a reception this Thursday, November 9 at 7 p.m. at the Edgar M. Bronfman Center for Jewish Life at New York University, 7 East 10th Street, New York City. (Admission is free, RSVPs helpful but not required: [email protected])

julian_photo__WinCE_.jpgNovember 9th also marks the 68th anniversary of Kristallnacht (“The Night of Broken Glass”); by showcasing Julian’s work, PresenTense honors this anniversary and celebrate the vitality of a new generation of Jewish arts and expression.
The new issue of the magazine, pictured above right, features many articles that were written in response to this summer’s conflict in Lebanon, as well as international perspectives on the issue of Jewish community and identity. Some of these international connections owe a great debt to this summer’s ROI 120 conference, which brought young Jewish innovators to Israel for a meeting of the committed Jewish minds and sparking a global inquiry into defining Jewish identity in today’s world.
Magazines will be available on-site for purchase (recommended magazine donation $5). For more information, please see www.presentense.org

About the author

Esther Kustanowitz

For more posts by Esther, see EstherK.com, MyUrbanKvetch.com and JDatersAnonymous.com.

8 Comments

  • Another fact that most people do not focus on enough re: KN, is that the Nazis at that night, they confiscated many Shules and just took them over. For example, to this day, the prestigious Opera House in Cologne (Koln), is a former Shule from this night. I am not aware if mention is made of this at that site, perhaps someone has been there can tell us.

  • The show won’t discuss that aspect of KN–but it does deal with the journey of a young German Jew through the forgotten streets of Jewish New York.

  • No. The synagogue in Cologne was set on fire – burned out and destroyed – the remains were teared down in 1943. The Opera was build later on this very place. Go to http://www.synagogen.info and look for Cologne Synagogue Glockengasse. The site contains information about (nearly) every synagoge ever existed on german soil. Depressing enough, I guess…

  • Chaim, thank you for correcting my mistake. In Cologne elsewhere in the city is one Shule left that survived WWII. I had thought there would not be any, but the read I had said it was the only one in COLOGNE, implying perhaps that others did survive.

    This shule is kept up w/ a regular minyan, there is also a Chabad in town (of course), and I read somewhere they were thinking of starting a second shule, due to over crowding or growth of a diff. neighborhood. not sure.
    the problem when visiting such places is that it becomes difficult to focus on one thing to look at because there is so much of value to visit,a nd at the same time, you are on vaca… For example, near to Cologne, you can visit Mainz, we know so well from the Yom Kippur Piyutim, and many famous graves of Tzadikim from long ago are there. Also not all graves were destroyed, in Frankfurt there are some very special graves left untouched. It’s wierd imo.

    In Cologne, there is a place to get Kosher food but it could be expensive.

    The hotels are relatively inexpensive there, you can stay in a luxurious 4 star hotel for about $60 a nite. They have a regerator there so you can store Kosher food items, I myself bring food w/ me in Europe, I find it easier than trying to find dining spots.

  • There are some synagogues left untouched, mostly because they were in direct neighbourhood to other buildings and the risk of damaging the other building was too high. Some synagogues were sold for “a fair price” (for nearly nothing) to “aryan” owners and they used the synagogues for other purposes and so they survived the shoah as a potatoe or coal-storage. Other syangogues were damaged during the allied bombings. Most of the “surviving” synagogues were destroyed in the 60s and 70s. Nobody was there to speak for them. That changed in the 80s- People started (jews and non-jews) to discover the architectural jewish heritage and preserved the few remaining buildings (for example the small rural synagoge here: http://ruhrminjan.talmud.de/synagoge.htm ). Regarding Cologne: As far as I know the community started a project to build a second community center on the other side of the river rhine (mainly to offer social services) which can be reached more easily for the community members living on the other side of the river. I highly recommend to visit the synagogue of Augsburg ( http://www.alemannia-judaica.de/images/Images%2069/Augsburg%20Synagoge%20029.jpg ) one of the nicest shuls in germany… I know it because I live in germany 🙂

  • Thank you Chaim for your tremendous posts. That Syn. looks spect. I am not sure if I will make this on my next trip but will check.

    Another thing I am interested in is some of the Klezer type bands like Nikitov if they are in Germany or performing I would love to see them when I am there soon.

    If you could discuss this and other sites where I might see what is happening
    in say Cologne on a typical Sat. nite in terms of Jewish events.

    The reason I stay in Cologe is I have a meeting over the border in Arnhem but thought for a shule and so on, it would be wiser to stay in Cologne for Shabbat then travel later on Sunday.

  • I must confess, I (recently) have no information about the current events in cologne. The community has a website: http://www.sgk.de/ but without information about cultural events – I am quite sure there aren’t so many…
    If you ‘only’ stay in cologne to visit Arnhem, you should consider staying in Amsterdam. You may choose your service (sefardi, ashekanz) and you will find plenty of historical places, kosher restaurants and so much more… http://www.nihs.nl is the homepage of the ashekanz community. http://www.jhm.nl/ is the homepage of the “jewish historical museum” with information about anything jewish in the netherlands…

  • I realize that, but I did want to see a bit of Germany as well. It will be fine. I will probably visit Mainz as well on Sunday.

    Thank you for you help Chaim.