Jewish Identity on the Go
How do you connect Jewishly while traveling abroad?
Hi friends,
I’m writing this very last minute (and late! as you can tell) because I’m postponing my Drop I had planned for this week and will send it out next week instead. I want that topic to be as accurate and thorough as can be.
In lieu of my planned subject, I have a question for you:
How do you retain your Jewishness/Shabbat while traveling?
I just got back from an incredible Eurotrip (Sweden → Finland → Estonia) and had the conundrum one has as a reform but very spiritual and connected Jew: wanting to embrace the essence of Shabbat to some extent and slow down while at the same time discovering and exploring a foreign city as much as I can. I’m an adventurer at heart with no time to waste!
Last Shabbat, I wanted to go to services but wanted to go on a walking tour. I wanted to not use my phone but needed to use my GPS and connect with my group. Yes, I lit Shabbat candles but then immediately went out to the bar (It was Depeche Mode themed. I had to). It’s nice to pause and reflect and sing Jewish songs with fellow Jews, but how do I make that feeling last while abroad?
One way to stay Jewishly connected while traveling is to explore the Jewish history of that city - the old Jewish quarter that probably got destroyed during the Inquisition or Holocaust, the local Jewish museum. Then again… I don’t particularly tour the Jewish history of a city if that’s not what it’s known for. When I was in Stockholm, I heard there was a small Jewish museum, but I instead went to the Vasa Museum (and I’m so glad I did!). I also knew I was in for a very Jewish historical week ahead of me, which you will read about next week.
So I ask: how do you travel Jewishly? Have any good stories?
Here is a photo of me from last year in Lisbon when I accidentally stumbled upon the Jewish street in Alfama, one of the four Jewish quarters built in Lisbon, around 1373.
Shabbat Shalom. May you find connection and rest this Shabbos.
-Miranda
Jewish things always tend to find me sometimes. I often go places where it’s not very Jewish at all so usually there’s nothing. I will eventually plan where I can go for specifics.
I am delighted that you had such a nice trip and that you are now back, safe and sound. How do I travel Jewishly? I do not. I bring my Jewish self with me and though I never seek out Jewish places as such I am fully aware of a place that is or has been in some fashion Jewish. It is, we we used to say, our Jewdar, ie Jewish radar that can sense a connection. When sensed, I get a rush of feeling, something that works on its own but gives a sense of pleasure or, in some instances, of pain for what might have existed or been at some place or with some people I had emotionally connected with.