Our Journey Concludes, 5/19/25

 Our final day in Budapest was spent doing enjoyable things: shopping, cooking, eating, swimming, and cruising. Not a bad way to enjoy a beautiful Monday in May! Coming off our Danube Cruise there were more than a few tears as the reality of the end of the trip and the upcoming graduation sink in. The tears were tears of exhuastion, but also tears of gratitude. For the gift of friendship, the gift of community, the gift of time, the gift of being so profoundly blessed. The adults among us found the expression of emotion truly touching. The kids have been great on this trip and they have made an impact on all our guides, both in Budapest and Prague. 

Having traveled internationally, and with such a meaningful itinerary, our 8th graders join a minority of Americans who have had such impactful experiences in an international setting. Travel is challenging, inspiring, eye opening, fun, and formative. Our trip was all of these things and more. 

This evening we asked the kids why they thought that we, their parents and teachers, had brought them to Prague and Budapest. Due to the bustling part of town where we were at the time, we only had a chance to hear a few answers. Each answer we heard was thoughtful, but likely not as thoughtful as the answers you will get once there's been a bit of processing time. In the coming days please take a chance not only to learn who the kids roomed with and hung out with, but what they saw, what they tasted, what they learned, what they felt, what questions they had answered, what new questions arose for them... If you greet them with heartfelt curiosity, I am confident that you will be rewarded. 

I know speak for all of the chaperones in expressing our gratitude to these 8th graders, our fellow travelors. While some people are repulsed by the thought of traveling with a group of teenagers, we relished each and every moment, even the challenging ones. To see the world through their eyes is to see the world anew. They made it fun, they made it meaningful, and they made it memorable. 

This blog began with the acknowledgment that I never envisioned writing about an 8th grade trip to Prague and Budapest. It concludes with the acknowledgement that this trip may be a singular phenomenon in the history of The Davis Academy but also with the possibility that we may one day return here. The world is a complicated place and we, as an extended Jewish family, have a front row seat to that complexity. One of our security guards joined us shortly after finishing a 6 month tour of duty patrolling the Israel- Lebanon border. Our Israel-based guides return to Israel with virtually no Israel tours on their calendar. These are heavy times for the Jewish people. These are heavy times for Israel. It is my fervent prayer, which I know you share, that our 8th graders come away from this trip  empowered in the knowledge that they can be a source of light, a source of sweetness, and a source of hope. It's not fair to ask of them that they build a world that is worthy of them, but that's where we find ourselves. I'll end with the confident assertion that this trip to Prague and Budapest will fuel their passion for building that world. 

Budapest, a Complicated Home-- 5/18/25

Before reading further, I want everyone to know that today was a fun day. We spent much of the middle of the day enjoying a traditional Hungarian meal (i.e. Mexican food), sang happy birthday to a beloved classmate, posed for glorious photos with all of Budapest as our backdrop, and just came back from 90 minutes of free time that included dinner and shopping. Having said that, for those who were paying attention, there was also a chance to learn about the Jews of Hungary, past and present. 

For as long as there has been a Hungary there have been Jews at the center of it all. During the Middle Ages, Jews were so prominent and central to the functioning of the country that Hungarian currency even had Hebrew writing on it. As a well established, prosperous, highly educated ethnic community, by the 19th century, Jews made up approximately 25% of Budapest's population. Hungarian Jewry boasts many Nobel Laureates, professors, prominent scientists, artists, authors, musicians, and cultural figures. There are also many Hungarian Jews who played an essential role in the shaping of Modern Judaism, most notably Hannah Senesh (poet and resistance fighter) and Theodore Herzl (the founder of Modern Zionism). Hungarian Jews are proud of their heritage and, in spite of the darkest chapters of our story here, many of them have a deep and abiding love for Budapest, their home. 

The ultimate symbol of Jewish Hungary is the Dohany Synagogue. In a previous post I may have indicated that it is the 5th largest synagogue in the world. It turns out that it is likely the 3rd largest. Not only Jews, but virtually all visitors to Budapest, tour the Dohany Synagogue. During our time there we shared the space with hundreds of fellow tourists, most of them of faiths and traditions other than Judaism. In addition to being an exquisite synagogue, Dohany is also a Holocaust Memorial. In 1945 more than 2,000 murdered Jews were found dead and subsequently buried in mass graves in the courtyard. There is a tree there, made of metal, uprooted from the earth. Each leaf bears a name. When viewed upside down, the tree looks almost like a Menorah. As we sang Hannah Senesh's famous poem, Eli Eli, several tourists stopped to listen. One family from Northern Ireland asked what the song was and said they were moved to tears by our singing. 

How can Hungary be a site of Jewish renaissance given the horrorific way that the Holocaust unfolded here? I was not aware and you may be equally unaware, that due to an alliance with the Nazis, Hungary did not begin to deport Jews until April of 1944, when the war was already winding down in many areas. Between April and July of 1944, approximately 440,000 Hungarian Jews were deported to Auschwitz, never to return. That's an astounding number. Later that year and into 1945, when the alliance with the Nazis imploded and deportations stopped, the Hungarian Fascist Government known as the Aero Cross took it upon themselves to murder Jews on their own. They did so in ways that defy our ability to comprehend due to their complete lack of humanity such as shooting Jews and watching their bodies turn the Danube red. We contemplated this cruelty as we paid our respects at the "Shoes on the Danube" memorial. It was very moving to see our students pay such respectful homage to this painful story. It was also quite moving to see how many yellow ribbons had been added to the memorial. We concluded by saying Mourner's Kaddish, but with the reminder that as Jews we always carry our hope with us and our belief that good will win out over evil. To sweeten the mood a bit, we stopped for a little bit of cake, coffee, and chocolate. 

As previously mentioned, both of our local guides are Hungarian Jews. Since Hungary is part of the EU, living in Budapest is a choice that they have made. Why live in Budapest knowing that to be a Jew here is to live in the shadow of such a uniquely cruel and barbaric shadow? Why live in Budapest when many Jews are currently fearful that the current Hungarian Government seems to be committed to telling a revisionist history of the Holocaust where Hungarians were innocent bystanders and victims of the Nazis when that is absolutely historically inaccurate? Why not find a more stable, comfortable, or safe home? 

For our guides and for more than 100,000 other Hungarian Jews the answer is that Hungary is their home. They love the food, the culture, the energy, the unique sense of humor, the literature... Many Hungarian Jews have lived abroad only to find themselves returning to Hungary, returning to Budapest. Having spent a few days in Budapest, admittedly as tourists, I think our students and all of us who are here on this trip have a greater appreciation for the idea of Budapest as a home for Jews. Our connections here, especially the human ones, means that the story of Jews here is now a part of our Jewish story as well. 

Speaking of home, tomorrow is a day devoted entirely to fun, shopping, bonding, cooking, cruising, and enjoying our last full day together! 

Getting to Know Budapest, 5/17/25

The kids are settling into their rooms after a relatively relaxed day spent getting acquainted with Budapest. In honor of Shabbat, we slept in. Everyone appreciated a chance to "catch up" and came down to breakfast in good spirits. We enjoyed a delicious spread and made our way to our first activity of the day: Escape Rooms. 

I confess that I was a bit skeptical about how the Escape Room would "land" but was pleasantly surprised. Kids emerged from their variously themed rooms with smiles and good energy. That energy carried us through our first shopping experience in Budapest and then on to lunch. 

After lunch we visited "Heroes Square" where we got a conscice overview of Hungarian history that included an important detail-- the fact that Hungary has been on the losing end of all but one of their military/ geopolitical conflicts. 

From Heroes Square we walked a museum dedicated to Hungarian Musical Culture. We toured a unique and inspiring exhibit that focused on world music. After that we took a short bus ride to enjoy some beautiful views of the Danube and check out the Hungarian Parliament. Our guides provided a brief overivew of some of the complexities that Hungary has faced since the fall of the Berlin Wall. From there we stopped by the hotel and made our way to our Ferris Wheel ride, Havdalah service, and eventually dinner at a leisurely pace and enjoyed the bustling Karavan Market in the Jewish Quarter. When we returned to the hotel we let the kids visit the mini market across the street, a decision that was greeted with great enthusiasm. 

While our day was spent zigzagging across Budapest participating in what can only be described as an eclectic itinerary, there was an overarching theme. That theme: Budapest is a city of contradictions. Here are just a few...  the Danube River is beautiful, but it is also stained with the blood of thousands of Jews who were shot there in 1944-1945. The Hungarian Parliament is a magnificent structure ostensibly dedicated to democracy even as hundreds of thousands of Hungarians believe that their current leader is an antidemocratic and authoritarian leader. There are dozens of monuments scattered around Budapest that present contradictory versions of history, some praising the Soviets some condeming, some suggesting that the Hungarians were blameless during the Holocaust and others laying much guilt at their feet and so on. The contradictions make Budapest a challenging place to understand even if it is an easy place to enjoy. Tomorrow we will learn more about the Jewish story, past and present. More than likely the contradictions, tensions, and complexities will only increase.