A Message from Rabbi Neil Sandler

As Susan, our cousins, Susan and Macy, and I move toward the end of our time together in Central Europe, my thoughts remain largely troubling. Take a look at my column in last week's e-blast, and you will be reminded. I have found Central Europe to be more challenging than I had anticipated. Was it naïve of me not to have considered some of these thoughts prior to our trip? Perhaps (If you are older than me, you'll definitely say I was naïve). It all started well and reassuring enough.

On Purim afternoon, we went to the large synagogue in Vienna. What a beautiful sight! Lots of young families! Oodles of energy! Hardly anyone there, adults and Chief Rabbi included, were old enough to have had a personal encounter with the Holocaust. Yet their physical presence, combined with their over–the–top Purim celebration, served as an ongoing statement about their rich spiritual lives in a place where Hitler sought to extinguish them. Later that week, we took an architectural tour in Munich that left me scratching my head and wondering.

Prior to World War II, the Germans had built two above–ground bunkers to protect an upscale neighborhood. With the war's conclusion, architects added two modern floors to the bunkers they had built prior to the war. When the architects and builders completed their work, they hosted the neighborhood for an "Open House." To all those people, was this building feat just that? Was it something to be "celebrated?" Did anyone remember the original purpose of this building and its bunkers? Did anyone recall their connection to the Holocaust? Did anyone lend any thought to considering how to psychologically and spiritually transform implements of mass – destruction into means of modern living?

Purim in Vienna provided moments of innocent beauty. But not much later, images in Munich provided much for thoughtful consideration. I find Central Europe to be a very complex place.

I look forward to returning home soon. Shabbat Shalom, and be well.