Free Republic

When Rabbi Aaron Katz walks the streets of Warsaw's former Jewish quarter, scenes of that lost world fill his imagination: Families headed to synagogue, women in their kitchens cooking Sabbath meals, his father as a boy with the sidecurls of an Orthodox Jew. But Katz's life could hardly be more different from that prewar eastern European culture, at least in one key respect: He is Poland's first openly gay rabbi. Born in Argentina 53 years ago to parents who fled Poland before the Holocaust, Katz is the latest rabbi to play his part in reviving a once vibrant Jewish community...

Poland Gets 1st Openly Gay Rabbi Tuesday, June 23, 2009 WARSAW, Poland — When Rabbi Aaron Katz walks the streets of Warsaw's former Jewish quarter, scenes of that lost world fill his imagination: Families headed to synagogue, women in their kitchens cooking Sabbath meals, his father as a boy with the sidecurls of an Orthodox Jew. But Katz's life could hardly be more different from that prewar eastern European culture, at least in one key respect: He is Poland's first openly gay rabbi. Born in Argentina 53 years ago to parents who fled Poland before the Holocaust, Katz is the...

Poland: Jewish museum to open in 2009 Museum aimed at being 'narrative history museum' which seeks to educate people about long, often painful history of Polish Jews from Middle Ages to WWII BERLIN - Poland's new museum commemorating 800 years of Polish Jewry should open in 2009, two years after building begins next summer, the head of a German association supporting the project said. Josef Thesing said the museum will aim to be a "narrative history museum" which seeks to educate people about the long and often painful history of Poland's Jews from the Middle Ages to WWII. The museum...

Jews in Poland Speak of Shoah Remembrance as a Curse. by Jane Ulman, Contributing Writer This tale is about two visions of Poland. In one, Poland is about pain and loss. It’s the place where 3 million of a total population of 3.3 million Polish Jews perished in the Shoah, where Jews have nothing left, where indeed there are almost no Jews other than a few languishing, aged survivors who can’t even scrape together a Shabbat morning minyan. Poland is Auschwitz; it’s Never Again. Defining this Poland is the March of the Living, an annual event that lays bare Poland’s...

Polish Jews mark Polish tragedy Polish Jews held a service to mark a roof collapse that killed nearly 70 Poles. Last week’s service at Warsaw’s Nozyk Synagogue commemorated the Jan. 28 collapse in Katowice that killed 67 people. Some 200 people attended the service, as did Israel’s ambassador to Poland, David Peleg. The Union of Jewish Religious Communities of Poland and the Polish Union of Jewish Students sponsored the event.

There’s much more to Krakow’s Jewish history than is depicted in Holocaust films. Indeed, when the city’s Tempel Synagogue was being built between 1860 and 1862, Jewish life already had been thriving here for over 550 years. A ceremony and concert this week in the synagogue, which was restored in 2000, marked the 700th anniversary of Jewish life in Krakow. The event drew local and national dignitaries who delivered speeches on the historical and cultural significance of Jewish life in Krakow. “Jews helped build this town,” said Mayor Jacek Majchrowski. “They were doctors, teachers, and today with Jews and Poles...