So we woke early in Moscow and found ourselves....guess where....at the synagogue eating the same breakfast as yesterday! Except, oddly, there was caviar on top of the hard-boiled egg-halves. Many in the group found this to be fabulous, others, slightly relpulsed. (Put me in the not-so-interested in fish eggs for breakfast category!)
After breakfast, we got onto the bus. This day was shaping up to be the coldest we'd encountered yet, and I was wearing my long underwear and as many layers as a girl could handle...brr it was cold! So, we took the bus to Red Square. Why were we going to Red Square? Well, from 10am-1pm, the Square was only open as a memorial shrine because during that time, Lenin's Tomb was open for viewing. (Read about Lenin's Tomb) This is a very momentous time for Russians, and the whole Square has rules like no talking and no cameras...very strict, these Russians. Anyway, our guide assured us that we wanted to arrive on the dot at 10am, and the whole works. We were all very excited to see this shrine....okay, that's not the word. Many of us were slightly repulsed by what we were going to see (I think this is the second use of this word in today's blog!) -- after all, who really wants to see a dead body? Most of us don't see them very often, and we probably attend more funerals than the average joe, if you know what I mean....but that doesn't mean we were super-excited about the deceased remains of Mr. Lenin. But....Rabbi Yehiel Poupko, our erstwhile educator, was eager for us to see this important piece of Russian history. So off the bus we went, bundled up against the bitter cold. Our bus dropped us off, actually across the street from our old hotel, the Metropole (we had already checked out, though), and left to drive around Red Square to pick us up on the other side after our visit with our friend Lenin. So we stood outside for a few moments, freezing our tushies off, when our guide discovered that Red Square had been abruptly closed. Closed!? Why, you might ask, would they close the square? Well....there was the possibility of a political demonstration, and the Russians, not fully committed to the concept of true openness of government yet, I suppose, decided to close down the Square rather than allow a demonstration there. As we stood, shivering, waiting for our bus driver to return (he had to be called, and then fight through considerable Moscow traffic to get back to where we were), a row of Russian police officers dressed in long grey coats buttoned up and furry Russian hats (picture those hats again), and very stoic and grumpy looking, walked out of Red Square to guard its perimeter. They took up position around the smaller square adjacent, and I understand that they basically ringed the whole outside of Red Square, not just this little piece where we were standing. It was a little creepy -- their uniforms made us a tad nervous -- think Soviet-era strangeness....and of course, we were darn COLD! (A side note, however, my feet were nice and warm in my Chicago funeral boots. Hooray!) Finally, after a lot of standing really close together to stay warm and a lot of complaining and laughing, our bus returned and we got on it....with all our fingers and toes still intact, I believe. (well, i had all of mine)
After that propitious false start to the day....we continued on our way. By now it was snowing....not too hard, but enough that in Chicago we'd have been discussing whether or not we might have the possibility of closing....Hebrew School! You can see how we're all in the same profession. Our way was taking us to the Lippman School, a Jewish Day School that is in fact a public school. That is how this works in Russia -- you can "take over" a public school and create a kind of magnet school for a particular subject or religion. This was a pretty cool place -- to see 400 Russian kids learning Hebrew and interacting in a school setting was really neat. I sat in on a first grade, where they were learning Hebrew from an Israeli teacher. Talk about coming far from the Soviet era! I was also able to read my first Russian words -- I deciphered "Tu B'Shevat" from a sign on the wall. Okay, perhaps the pictures of trees helped. But cyrillic has been daunting, let me tell you. It's hard to be in a country where you don't speak the language and can't even read it...and where almost no one speaks English. Our security guards on the bus, for example, were the strong, silent type...and we're pretty sure they didn't understand a word we spoke. A little unnerving, I tell you. Anyway....
The school was pretty incredible, and it was there that we were treated to perhaps the best meal of them alll.....okay, that was truly not the case. Turned out we were being served a "box lunch" that had been delivered about three hours earlier and had been sitting in a classroom waiting for us....it was the scariest looking chicken and potatoes I've ever seen....not to mention that they'd forgotten a vegetarian option. But have no fear -- Phyl's backpack to the rescue with peanut butter and oranges and more of those yummy Natural Ovens cookies...I think there was a granola bar involved as well. Okay, but aside from the food (as we kept reminding ourselves, we didn't come to Russia to eat or to sleep...we could do that in Israel and trust me we were looking forward to eating and sleeping!) ....
Over lunch we met with two young rabbis, Gregory Kotlyar and Nelly Schulman. You may have read the article written about Nelly in the New York Times a few weeks ago, but if you didn't you can access it here: http://photos.wupj.org/media/publications/downloads/nelly-shulman.pdf ) These two young rabbis are the only Reform rabbis around...and Nelly is the only woman for...well....time zones! For the women in the group it was very cool to have a colleague in the FSU, and it was interesting to talk to these two. This was the first time we'd been addressed by someone from the WUPJ (World Union for Progressive Judaism), and it was interesting to have the non-orthodox perspective. Our orthodox colleages on the trip were, I think, a bit put-off by this, but I think it was important to have this perspective. I know that the WUPJ is working hard to establish a presence in the Former Soviet Union, but they are having a hard time just like any other religious movement. Still, there are many Progressive synagogues that have been established in Russia...so I guess it just takes time and money!
After this, it appeared to be snowing even harder. Driving was becoming tricky and traffic was terrible. But we really wanted to see Red Square (okay, this part might be a little out of sequence. I'm trying to remember how it happened.) even if Lenin's Tomb was closed. So after lunch, we drove over there and we decided to give it a shot. Our guide, Svetlana, was assured that the Square was now open for visitors, even though Lenin's Tomb was closed. (This was better, I suppose, because we could take pictures) Not all of us wanted to do this -- after all, it was snowing fiercely and seriously cold. But I and a few brave souls decided to go for it. Red Square is an open plaza, and the snow was driving -- my eyelashes were freezing shut! But we saw St. Basil's Church and also the outside of Lenin's Tomb. Also, we saw the Capitalizm -- the Versace stores in Red Square as well as the Lexus ads. Who knew....
The blizzard was crazy, and were trying to make sure we got everyone -- when we discovered that we had lost two members of our group (I think they should remain nameless here in my blog....but suffice to say that they were #1 and #26 in our count!) We sent out a few emissaries, including one of our security guards, to find them, and we decided to take the group to the next stop on our trip, so as not to waste everyone's time. Oy....the stress of this was quite great, not sure if these two group members were okay, we were all worried. After all, the weather was frightful and the possibility for slipping and falling....etc....you get the point. So we all went off to the Tretyakov Museum, where they made us wear blue booties over our shoes. It's funny, in Russia they're relatively obsessed with coat-checks. It's not like, "you CAN check your coat," it's like, "you MUST check your coat." Even in the Lippman School where it was freezing, they were adamant that we had to leave our coats in the direcor's office. Everywhere, someone was reaching out to take our coats. It was a little bizarre. Anyway....
The Tretyakov Museum (to which we trekked in ever deepening snow!) was quite lovely, but a lot of artwork. In fact, it is the largest collection of Russian art in the world -- we found this worth giggling about because doesn't it make some sense that the largest collection of Russian art would be in...RUSSIA!? I think by this time we were all getting a little punchy. Anyway, our guide took us on a brief tour of the museum and during the tour we learned (the magic of cellphones!) that our group members had been found. One had actually stopped a police officer and was waiting in a police car, thank goodness. The other had made his way to our hotel! So both were found safe and sound, with only a few years of worry for all of us, especially those who were in charge. (Yes, we lost your rabbi in Russia. Doesn't sound so good, I guess!:-)
Anyway, after the Tretyakov, we were hungry and tired, but we made on more stop, at the Poklonnaya Gora Synagogue and Museum. This was a pretty cool stop, (and I think I may have the order of this all wrong, because I am pretty sure we davened Mincha here and I can't remember if it was before or after the Lost Rabbis Incident, but either way, you'll get the picture.), because it was a memorial synagogue -- meaning it was not a congregation, just a beautiful synagogue for memorial purposes. This makes a lot of sense in a country where they build churches as memorials. The sanctuary was beautiful and there was a multimedia memorial presentation on the downstairs level. So the whole thing was very moving and cool. (and I can't find for you a web information about it but here's a picture courtesy of my new favorite alphabet soup, JAFI : Click Here -- JAFI is Jewish Agency for Israel, aka the Sochnut)
Then we tried to go have dinner at the synagogue...but the weather and the traffic were SO BAD that we ended up cancelling all other plans and instead embarking on our journey to the airport. Our flight was scheduled for 11:50pm, and we didn't want to miss it, and frankly we were all tired of snow and of Russian food and all that. So the bus ride took like 2 1/2 hours to get to the airport and we were all a little worried. In Chicago -- it would have been a total shutdown of the airport and everything!
Anyway....we made it to the airport in time, and we were happy to strip off our long underwear and put our winter coats into our luggage for the flight to ERETZ YISRAEL. Now that is a story in itself, so you'll have to wait for the next installment in my blog.........
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