Karen Treiger's Blog, page 13
August 31, 2018
KLEZMER HOIS – LET’S RETHINK IT
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[Photo: Shlomo Goldberg, Micha Hacohen and Esther Goldberg in front of Klezmer-Hois, taken in June of 2016]
Shocked, I was shocked. I recently learned that the Klezmer Hois, the Jewish-themed hotel and restaurant in the Kazimierz neighborhood of Krakow, Poland is owned by Jews. I write about the Klezmer Hois in my book – here is an excerpt:
Our first stop on Szeroka street was the Klezmer Hois (Klezmer House). The large sign outside explains that it’s a hotel and restaurant. It has Klezmer Hois in English lettering and Yiddish lettering. It has three separate small dining rooms, each packed with patrons having dinner. The “ Hois ” is decorated as a pre-war Jewish home. There are low ceilings and arched walls, lined with a picture of Hasidic- looking Jews with long coats playing musical instruments and framed maps of Poland and Galicia. Another poster shows an idyllic scene of ancient Israel with Yam Kinneret (the Sea of Galilee) in the background and a tall palm tree that dominates the foreground. Two figures appear in the picture, dressed in long, flowing robes of ancient times, resting next to a baby lamb under a white flowering tree. The bottom of the poster reads “COME TO PALESTINE.” If only. If only the Jews of Poland had been allowed to “COME TO PALESTINE,” they would have been saved. I burned with anger at the thought. Each dining room of the Klezmer Hois had klezmer musicians. In one room, there was a small, dark wood table next the musicians with a Chanukah menorah in the center. They played to audiences of gray-haired non-Jews who sat in silence, eating dinner. Shlomo, Esther, Micha, and I stood in the back and sang along, dancing with our hands up high– Chasidic -style. The patrons stared at us as if we were aliens. The menu offered such Jewish delicacies as gefilta fish, Herb Herring, Litvak style salad, Yankiel the Innkeeper of Berdytchov’s Soup, broth with M atza balls, vegetarian Sabbath soup, three kinds of “beetroot soup,” and on and on.
Well, it turns out that the Hois is owned by Matgorzata and Wojciech Ornat. Not only that, they also own Ariel, a Jewish-themed café down the block and a publishing house Austeria, from which thy publish books of Polish-Jewish interest. An article in the Jewish Review of Books describes how as adults, Matgorzata and Wojciech discovered their Jewish roots. Knowing that the Klezmer Hois and Ariel are owned by two Jews puts a whole new spin on these places. After visiting in 2016, I felt that these restaurants were a terrible distortion of pre-war Polish-Jewish culture – a made for tourist destination – come see what the Jews used to be like before they were all murdered.
Well, I still think the Klezmer Hois, Ariel and all the other Jewish-themed restaurants in Poland are bizarre and kitschy, but now the news that at least these two, are owned and operated by Jews gives me new interest to look deeper. Perhaps when I go back to Poland, I can meet Matgorzata and Wojciech and explore the deep meaning of being a Jew in Poland today and the secrets of the Klezmer Hois.
Source: Austeria Rising, by Denise Grollmus, Jewish Review of Books, August 7, 2018.
https://jewishreviewofbooks.com/articles/3317/austeria-rising/
August 27, 2018
Song Recorded by Goldberg family for Audio Book
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[Photo from Left to Right: Jack Goldberg, Karen Treiger, Shlomo Goldberg, Shoshana Goldberg, Micha Hacohen, Esther Goldberg, Elisheva Goldberg and the newest member of the family – Judah Isseroff]
On Friday, my family recorded the song of thanks we sang to the Stys family in June of 2016 in Poland. The words are from Tehilim/Psalms 30 and the music is composed by Shlomo. Some of words are found on Sam Goldberg’s tomb in Israel.
The recording will be part of the audio book that will be released on October 1, through Audible. The book will be narrated by Cheryl Stern, an actor who has been in many plays and has narrated other books, including Four Perfect Pebbles: A Holocaust Story (great subtitle), by Marion Blumenthal Lazan. I am very excited about this.
To hear the recording – go to my website and scroll down just a bit – you will see SONG. You can click a button and hear us singing the song that will be in the audio book.
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August 17, 2018
Article Published in the Jewish Press – today! Hooray.
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Check out the article in the Jewish Press – published today.
