Discovering Deutschland

This week marked not only my 11 month milestone but it was also the last movie night for the summer. In Duisburg throughout the year we've been hosting monthly events for Jewish young adults. One event I've been hosting bi-monthly is our Jewish film night or "Kino Abend". This event was passed down to me by my predecessor Amira, who never fails to help me choose the latest title. We've done all kinds of movies ranging from "Kaddisch fur einen Freund" or Kaddish for a friend, a story about a young Palestine refugee who moves into an apartment below a Jewish old man in Germany and the friendship that they develop. Perhaps the most thought provoking event was our movie night and discussion about the "Hannah Arendt" movie. She was a famous Jewish German historian/philosopher who wrote about the "banality of evil" in reference to Nazis during WWII. This movie was inspired in fact by a course I took in university where we r...

Generally I don't post about my vacations, but the latest trip I took with my mom Lithuania seems to fit with the theme of my Jewish experience in Europe so here we go anyway. Last week we went to find our roots in Lithuania. This needs some backstory. My grandma was born in a town called Memel (now Klaipeda) in Lithuania in the 1920s. When she was 6-weeks old my great-grandparents decided to move to South Africa. Since then my grandmother has never been back, despite being an avid world traveler. So when my mom decided to come to visit me in Germany it seemed like a great opportunity to do some heritage hunting. My mom has been researching our family tree for years now and managed to locate the towns and villages that our ancestors were born in so off we set to go see what these places were like today. Vilnus old city, Capital of Lithuania  Rather naively I underestimated how heavy and emotional this journey would be. Living in Germany of course I'm quite aware ...

Here we are in month 11 of this German adventure meaning we are back to summer in Germany (at least on the days it's not raining). Of course as an American the beginning of July and summer starts off with a (literal) bang for the Fourth of July. This year American Independence day coincided with Friday night shabbat dinner as well as my last shabbat with my co-fellow  Brianna . It's hard to believe she's already leaving Germany for Israel next week! It's been a truly remarkable year and I can't imagine what it might have been like without her perspective, understanding and support. Couldn't help myself from gushing just a little! First we spent the whole day Friday cooking, which of course is exactly my cup of tea. Brianna perhaps wasn't quite so passionate but the apple crumble, American flag cake, mac & cheese etc. made the kitchen time worth it.  After learning how to make piecrust last week, the carmel apple crumble ma...