In Valencia

We have now driven down the centre of Spain from Madrid, visiting Toledo and then on to Cordova before visiting Seville and Malaga on the Costa del Sol. In all of these places we were able to find remnants of Jewish life that existed here before the Inquisition. It is a sad fact, but true, that Jewish life here was extensive before it was completely destroyed between 1390 and the 1600s when the Jewish population was forced to leave or convert. Even though every town seems to have some small remnant of it's jewish past,the current popultion seem largely ignorant of the jewish history. It does get mentioned, but only in passing. If you are prepared to look for the history, you can find it.

Having arrived in Valencia now, and not finding many references to its jewish past, I found this link http://travel-watch.com/jewsofvalencia.htm which is indicative of much of Spain's attitude to it's Jewish past. I'm sure my mother would have loved this trip to Spain, as her ancestors were from here before the Inquisition. They eventually arrived in the Netherlands in the 1600s after the Inquisition was brought to bear on the Jewish population here

Toledo 12th June, 2012

Day 2 in Spain, Sarah and I took a tour to Toledo. Another centre of Judaism, pre Inquisition. Leaving the hotel in Madrid at about 8:30 Tuesday morning, we took a coach tour to Toledo. The drive was over an hour and the countryside was not particularly outstanding. In many sections,it felt as though we could have been anywhere including somewhere on the Hume Highway, between Sydney and Melbourne. The terrain is fairly dry, just as you would find in Australia. The only differences of note, were the more numerous small towns along the route, and many abandoned industrial sites, and building sites, possibly as a result of the financial meltdown.
Before the expulsion, Toledo was the capital of Spain and one of the leading centres of Jewry in Spain. At the end of the 14th century, after the Jews had been expelled, eight of the city's 10 synagogues and it's five Talmudic schools were destroyed. The remaining Synagogues were converted into churches. One of those synagogues that remained, the Transito Synaggue, was built in 1357 and is full of Moorish carvings. Two years after the expulsion it became a Catholic Church, and since 1972, a Sephardic Museum, with historic Hebrew inscriptions and a beautiful panelled wooden ceiling. Regretably, although called a "Sephardic Museum", it appears to be run by the church. It was still beautiful to see, and to see the one remaining Magen David still visable high up on one interior wall.

Overlooking Toledo

                        
Santa Maria La Blanca is the other synagogue, but is now empty. Built by Arabs in the 12th century, it looks more like a mosque than a synagogue.

We enjoyed a number of tours through the town and saw other sights including the Iglesia de Santo Tome, a church with a beautiful Mudejar tower, housing El Greco's masterpiece, The Burial of the Count of Orgaz. Also toured the cathedral, built on the site of a Visigoth cathedral and a mosque, this incredible structure is one of the largest cathedrals in Christendom.

One of the other fascinating tours was through the Alcazar, the national army museum, which has been beautifully restored and renovated since the 2nd World War.
Early in the tour we met a couple of Americans, Karen and Doris, and had a "typical" lunch with them in a restaurant overlooking the town. Not bad since it was finished off with a good glass of red wine.
Before heading back to Madrid, our tour stopped at a Toledo foundry, making jewellery, and swords and knives. Toledo was a cetre of armoury development, but today, all that remains, appears to be small scale manufacturing for tourism. We got back to Madrid around 6pm, and took a red bus tour around Madrid city, before eating dinner around 10pm. The normal time for dinner in Spain.

On the way 11th June, 2012

Left Sydney at last. Have been looking forward to this break for a long time. Nine hours and twenty minutes to Honkers. I've read my Tele and a few Women's mags brought on by Sarah. Ate our "lunch", a bit of lukewarm beef and a some noodles, the "Beef and Blackbean Sauce with Hokkien Noodles and Asian Greens", lovely.

Watched a couple of movies, "Man on a Ledge" with Sam Worthington - not too bad, and the "Rum Diary" with Johnny Depp....

quote "human beings are the only animals that have a belief in g-d, and the only animals that act like they don't".

Landed in Hong Kong and made our way through the terminal to Transfers. Almost immediately, we needed to go to Gate 17 for our British Air flight 26 to London. It was one of the larger Boeings, a 747-400, and seemed to be absolutely packed, unlike the plane out of Sydney. Bad news though. Once in the plane we were told that the air conditioning would not work on this plane until the engines were started for take off. The next bit of bad news was that a go slow on flights leaving in that time of the morning over China was being enforced and our flight was to be delayed on the runway for one and three quarter hours. The heat in Hong Kong was oppressive, even at one in the morning and on the closed plane even more so. I was sure we would suffer some medical emergencies with one or more of the passengers succumbing to heat stroke. Everyone was removing clothing and fanning themselves. Water was offered continuously and eventually we were given the "all clear" to take off, thankfully just over 80 minutes late. After about another hour in flight the temperature finally cooled down, dinner was served once more and we settled into our 12 and a half hour flight to London. I watched the latest Mission Impossible movie with Tom Cruise but it was largely forgettable, and read an interesting novel on Amish life, "Growing up Amish" by Ira Wagler.

Finally landed in London, and just made the flight to Madrid.

The Marriot Palace dining room.

The British Air - Madrid flight was comfortable, and only 2 and a half hours thankfully. Regretably, due to the change over, my luggage was lost on route. We waited at Madrid airport for 3 hours for it to turn up,but no luck, so taxied in to our hotel sans luggage.

                 

The Hotel, Marriot Palace, in Old Madrid, is beautiful, and Sarah and I wandered through Madrid during the afternoon, passing through the Puerta del Sol with it's shops and cafes, and finally settling for a lunch in the Plaza Mayor - originally a site for bullfights, executions, pageant and trial by Inquisition.We watched the crowds and buskers, until heading back to the hotel, where I collapsed into a deep sleep,still in the afternoon, only to be awoken at 11pm by staff who had just received my luggage from the airport.

Prison visits

I have been a volunteer visiting an inmate in the NSW prison systen for about five years now. It has been an interesting education, both for the inmate and myself.
The experience started when I answered an advertisement in the AJN for volunteers who were interested in assisting the Prison Outreach programme. I took up the challenge, and after an initial interview, an orientation course and police clearance, I was allocated an inmate.
He was, in a sense, a "special needs" inmate, as he was of advancing years, isolated from family and friends, and had asked shown some interest in having a visitor from Jewish Welfare.
The prison he has been housed in is a number of hours out of Sydney, high security, and suffers very cold weather conditions.

I try to visit about once every five weeks, and, despite being aware of his history, and being careful not to be too familiar with each other, we have nonetheless formed a bond over the last four years.
He is also visited once or twice a year, by the rep from the Welfare society and the Chaplain, but in the main, I am his only face to face link with the outside world.
His family have in the main abandoned him, and the only link he has to them is an ex son-in-law who occassionaly speaks to him via the phone, and conveys messages to his family for him.
He is of course suffering the normal age related illnesses that anyone would expect as they get older, and on a number of ocassions he has related to me that he has "blacked out.
Last week when I visited him, I was ushered into the High Security visiting area.He had had a pacemaker fitted during the previous week and was not well enough to be frisked.He was wearing his standard prison garb, unable to change into his "visitors" overalls ashe was in too much pain. His shirt was undone to the waist so that the pressure of the shirt would not hurt him,but he had no jumper or warm jacket as all of his personal property had been stolen during his visit to the hospital. I was told that his family had not yet been informed of his hospitalisation due to the security risk. Today,he is sitting in his cold cell, without proper clothing or decent food.I wish him luck recovering.

My Mum

Miriam's obituary

17th March, 2012

Thank you, everyone, for coming to respect our mother on the sad occasion of her passing.

Although many of you knew her, very few of you knew my mother’s story.

This is my view on the story of the life of my mother, Miriam Adele Meinrath.

My mum’s life was one of struggle, hardship, and determination.

78 years ago, she was the second child born to Solomon and Violet Emden in Wellington, New Zealand. Mum’s elder sister Dolores was named after Dolores del Rio, a star of Hollywood films of the silent era, and it was clear Miriam’s parents had ambitions for her in the theatre. By the age of 5 she was already singing, dancing and acting on the stage and had received critical acclaim in the press. Mum’s theatre agent recommended that she should move to Australia to further her acting career. Her mother and father then emigrated here with their two little girls. Miriam’s career flourished and she got more breaks within the entertainment industry.

Within two short years though, the dream fell apart. Solomon and Violet were running a General store in Sydney and Solomon suffered a heart attack that killed him immediately. As a single mother with two small children Violet felt compelled to return to the security of her family in New Zealand. Regrettably, this move was doomed to failure, as Violet, a strong and independent woman felt stifled living under the same roof as her brother and sister-in-law. Violet decided to return to Sydney and raise the children by herself. The voyage across the Tasman was frightening. It was the middle of WWII and a German U-Boat trailed them across the Tasman, almost to Sydney Heads.

Arriving in Sydney alone and with no financial support, Violet set up home for herself and the two little girls in a private garage - all they could afford. Running water, cooking facilities and toilets were a problem, but Violet struggled on. She managed to support herself and the girls, and ran one little general store after another in various suburbs around Sydney including Mortlake and a number of different stores in Paddington. The girls thrived. Dolores married, and Miriam graduated Form 3 at the new Dover Heights Girls Domestic High School.

Shortly after graduating, Miriam was apprenticed as a dressmaker at Saks Exclusive Dressmakers, specializing in high class couture. She was very highly skilled and her work was intricate

Meeting Hilton at the age of 17 at dance at “The Macc”, the meeting place for most of the young Sydney Jewish community in the 50’s, she was swept off her feet - and 4 years later she married her Prince Charming. Naturally Miriam made the gowns for her entire bridal party, including her own dress, a heavily beaded and sequined gown. The designs were made by sketching gowns she had her girlfriends model in upper class bridal stores in the city, and then translating them into her own designs.

Miriam and Hilton set up home in a flat in Petersham in Sydney’s inner West where Nigel, Aviva and Geoffrey spent their early years. Mum was a terrific homemaker. She made many of her childrens’ clothes and was an accomplished cook. She was a member of the National Council of Jewish Women and the Sorels, a group for Jewish Women, where she met many of her lifelong friends.

In 1968, Mum and Dad took advantage of a job opportunity in Melbourne, and  the family relocated to Elwood in Victoria.

By chance, we had moved into the same street as Rabbi Chaim Gutnick and his family, and he and Dad became good friends. I won a scholarship to Yeshivah College and I and my two younger siblings began our Jewish education. Mum and Dad embarked on a journey of Yiddishkeit.

In the early years in Melbourne Mum started work again as a seamstress, but wanting greater opportunities and challenges, She embarked on a career in the Navy at the Australian Defence Force. Slowly but surely, Mum advanced her career, but eventually found her way blocked as her educational qualifications were not sufficient.

I married Sarah in 1976. At the same time Mum decided to upgrade her education. She commenced her Matriculation studies, and shortly after hearing that Sarah was pregnant with Yoni who is her first grandchild, mum announced that she was also pregnant with her 4^th child, Shimon. This news was topped off by her successful matriculation a few weeks before giving birth to him.

Mum went back to work, and within a few short years, her daughter Aviva and then her son Geoffrey were married. Many grandchildren and great happiness followed, but so did tragedy.

In January 1995, my parents were returning to Melbourne after spending time in Sydney visiting family and celebrating the 60^th Birthday of my Uncle Raymond. Tragically Mum & Dad were involved in a massive collision with a semi trailer in the early hours of the morning while only 2 hours from Melbourne. Both of them were so seriously injured that after the “jaws of life” cut them out of their mangled car, they were flown separately to hospital on life support. They had both sustained many broken bones and punctures to their lungs. Thankfully, Dad recovered within a few months, but Mum’s injuries were far more serious and she remained on life support for a long time, only eventually recovering by a miracle. Along with many other injuries she sustained serious brain injuries. In the months and years that were to follow, she never gave up. Although mum had lost her memory she was determined to get better. Initially, she had to learn to talk again. She had to remember who all the members of her family were. She had to learn to read all over again. Her position at work was threatened, and the Department of Defence made it difficult for her to retire. She taught herself computer and admin skills again and worked voluntarily for the council, assisting others in the community.

Eventually, due to retrenchments at her work, mum transferred to working for the Commonwealth Employment Office where she was employed for a few more years before eventually being able to retire.

At last, my mother was able to enjoy her life, and she took every opportunity to see her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren who she loved dearly.

She took every opportunity she could to visit Sydney to see her family there. She started to travel a little and with the help and encouragement of Shimon, she and Dad holidayed in Europe and Israel for the first time.

Mum and Dad enjoyed a cruise and visit to the U.S. and they took a number of trips within Australia, meeting up with friends and acquaintances from their younger days.

Regrettably, a year ago, Mum found out that she had a serious cancer that gave her little chance of survival beyond three months. Miraculously, she fought and survived another 14 months until one week ago when it was discovered that the cancer had returned again. This time it was relentless.

On Shabbos morning we lost our dear mother, Miriam bat Shlomo Yehuda.

She was adored by her family and was the glue that held us together.

She was a wife, mother & mother in law of four children and their spouses, grandmother to 17 and great grandmother to 10.

In all, 15 of her closest family were with her as she passed away peacefully, and we felt so lucky that we were able to say our goodbyes to her.

Her grand-daughters, Dvora and Jordana who are overseas in Canada and Israel, sent their love to their nanna.

Mum had a special gift of making everyone in the family always feel as though they were her special person. She made everyone feel loved and in return was so loved and cherished by all her family.

 The loss of my mother will create a hole in our hearts that will never be filled.

Mum was the most patient, gentle person that we have ever known. She had a special insight and determination, and she was the rock in our lives.

We will miss her forever.

Old Delhi

My plans for today were to start the day slowly and explore parts of Old Delhi.
The weather was warm. 26 to 39 today with 'widespread dust & haze'.
As usual, the immediate comparisons between the comforts of the haves, compared to the deprivations of the have nots are glaringly obvious.

From the absolute comfort of my hotel room at the Hilton New Delhi Mayur Vihar, my view is of slums where people live in absolute poverty. 
The hotel was opened about twelve weeks ago. It is of 4 1/2 star quality. The staff are obliging, and the service is excellent. Every facility is on hand. Four complimentary bottles of spring water are provided every day. Cable television is beamed into the rooms. Wireless internet is on hand, and all fittings are flawless.
400 metres away, people are living in the dirt. Tin sheds form their housing, and ablutions are carried out almost in the open. Adjacent to their dwellings are assorted cows and pigs, wallowing in a festering green waterhole..
Around them construction continues at a breakneck speed. New commercial and residential buildings are being built everywhere....
I, on the other hand finished my breakfast, had my coffee and read "The Times of India".
The taxi driver from yesterday, Nelu, was reliable, so after breakfast I called him, and organised that he should be my tour guide for the day.
I gave him carte-blanche to use his own imagination as to where we should go.
First stop was Humayan's tomb. An impressive early Mughal tomb built for the Emperor Humayan in the mid-16th century by his Persian born wife. Elements of the design of this building, including the dome, and the formal gardens were later to be refined and used in the design of the Taj Mahal. A very beautiful and impressive memorial, surrounded by large tranquil gardens.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humayun
After leaving the tomb, we visited the shrine of one of the world's most famous Sufu saints, Nizamuddin Auliya. Again, fascinating. This is one of the sites that Nelu visits regularly for meditation, and is quite near the Humayan tomb.
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nizamuddin_Auliya
From the Sufu shrine, we motored on to the Gurdwara Damdama Sahib, a sikh shrine. After wearing a head covering, removing my shoes, washing my hands, and then walking through a foot bath, I was allowed to enter the temple. Within the temple is a shrine to their holy book. Raised on a plinth and surrounded by fresh flowers, this temple is a site for quiet meditation. The sikhs at this site provide clean drinking water and have a large kitchen where they cook and provide food, for anyone who needs.
http://www.sikhiwiki.org/index.php/Gurdwara_Damdama_Sahib_(Delhi)
When I was leaving the "gurdwara" Delhi police were filling an urn with fresh water, and locals were collecting sandwiches from the kitchen.
From the the sikhs we moved on to visit the famous Red Fort within Old Delhi.
Getting there was half the fun. Firstly, pushing our way through the traffic, eventually we got as close as possible to the fort, where we stopped and I continued my journey on a cycle-rickshaw. The poor driver rode through heavy traffic for about half an hour before depositing me at the entrance to the Red Fort.
The Red Fort is one of the Indian World Heritage sites and is a popular tourist destination. Entry is via security checks, very official looking, but I suspect rather innefective. After going through the security checks I bought an entry ticket for 250 rupee ($5), the locals pay 10 rupee (.20c).
More security, metal detectors and body searches. A number of militia with old rifles standing guard.
The Red Fort was built in the 17th century and was the residence of the Imperial Family of India. It is fantastic.., and a combination of many beautiful buildings.
Check out  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Fort
After walking around the site for over an hour, I returned to my patient rickshaw driver who returned me to my taxi driver whe had also been waiting patiently. Before heading back to the hotel, I was "encouraged" to visit another little shop with Indian handcrafts. Lovely, but I'm afraid one is the same as the next..
Just before getting in the cab however, I was treated to a snake charmer, sitting nearby who had two cobras performing...
More than enough excitement today.

Connaught Place

Started the day off slowly today after a good sleep.

I watched the morning news and was informed that the yoga Baba Randev is about to start a fast so as to force the government to crack down on corruption and on black money accounts stashed overseas. 

The government is worried. Why?


Wandered down to the restaurant on the 3rd floor with the imaginative name "Cafe on 3". Pleasant enough. I started with a nice OJ and a pretty good filtered coffee. Thought I'd stick with the Indian theme today so ordered a Rice Dosa for brekky. had my Dosa with a potato masala filling, accompanied by some coconut chutney, some chilli paste and some green unidentified goo.

Really nice start for the day, and once I'd read the Delhi City Times, and had another sip of coffee I was ready for my first excursion. 


Collected my cameras, and worked out some transport. Caught a cab from the hotel with my driver Nelu from the "Hilton Hotel Taxi Service". Poor bugger has been sleeping in his cab in the hotel car park for the last 3 days. He gets approximately 2-3 fares a day if he is lucky. The cab was clean and he assured me that he was too !! I paid him 400 rupees (About 8 aussie dollars) for his 40 minute drive, and he'll probably get two fares today. The rent for his 2 room apartment is 700 rupee a month ($140). He struggles paying it...
He drove well, managing to avoid all oncoming obstacles. He did his duty and warned me of the touts.
Connaught Place is the geographical heart of New Delhi. Designed in 1932 by the architect Robert Russel, it is an imitation of the Royal Crescent in Bath, England. Architecturally, it may be similar, but the cultural differences separate the two by a million miles. Every metre of footpath and road is under constant demolition (by hand of course). I'm not sure that it ever gets repaired again. Probably not, by the looks of things.
Connaught Place is designed as a number of concentric circles of grand English architecture, but the dirt is everywhere, and not just the piles of dirt all over the footpaths where they are being dug up, and dug up again, but the buildings, which are painted white, all which have paan stains smeared over the base of the columns. The stains look like faeces, but thankfully are not. (You will have to look up paan yourselves in wikipedia)  or http://thegoriwifelife.blogspot.com/2009/01/paan.html
Regrettably, the poverty is everywhere. There are mangy dogs sleeping in nearly every entrance and hidden corner. They have no hope of being healthy. Many poor street children, covered in detritus are also sleeping fitfully in hidden alcoves.
Even though I was acutely aware of the touts and con artists, I was targeted immediately,  and was conned into taking a tuk tuk to "the shopping mall down the street". Goodness knows why I succumbed, I have no interest in buying anything, but I don't think my visit would have been complete without getting tricked into visiting a shop that I had no interest in visiting. After being harassed and befriended one time too many I hardened up, and as even able to ignore the nagging children.
A number of the shops were interesting though, and the better ones were constantly being mopped out or if they were shoe shops or book shops, they were being dusted almost constantly.
After three or four hours of battling the heat, dust, dirt and touts I was exhausted and headed back to the hotel with a kamikaze tuk tuk driver. He managed to zigzag his way around potholes, pedestrians and cyclists, but got hopelessly lost as he got close to the hotel. Eventually I was deposited at the hotel where I had my bags x-rayed before I could enter the foyer.

I had a nice lunch of a mixed vegetarian mezze plate before coming back to the room and chilling out.