My Purim was extremely memorable. Perhaps not totally in a good way, but memorable nonetheless. I spent Purim in Poland, together with some friends, who were seeking their Polish Jewish heritage and visiting their ancestral shtetlach, as well as searching archives for family documents.
On the Eve of Purim, we were in Czestochowa. The tourist information office led us to a “Jewish cultural Association” that still existed in town. I immediately called and spoke to a nice lady that could not speak English. My polish was incipient, so I had the bizarre experience of holding a conversation in Yiddish over the phone with a fellow Polish Jew, while walking the streets of Czestochowa. It was weird to think that in the last 60 years very few conversations in the Yiddish language have happened there.
There are today only 30 elderly Jews left in Czestochowa, down from almost 30 thousand in 1939! It turns out that they were not meeting for Purim for two reasons: they were not religious, nor were they able to get a minyan. The lady was also sorry but she had no idea where I could get a hamantaschen in Czestochowa. That conversation left me very sad and reminded me of an article written by my co-author, Bill Tammeus, who said that the Jewish memories in Poland today are mostly of absence.
Still bent on getting a hamantaschen, we decided to try our luck the next day in Krakow, our next destination. Krakow is a Jewish Epcot Center of sorts for Europe. Europeans go to Kazimierz to observe and experience a Jewish past that doesn’t exist any longer. Whereas the Nazis murdered the overwhelming majority of the city Jews (there are fewer than 200 left), almost all the institutions were left intact. In Kazimierz there are seven synagogues left, as well as several other ancient institutions such as schools, mikvahs, cemeteries, etc. In order to fulfill the tourists’ needs for “authentic Jewish food,” there are also about 10 “Jewish” restaurants. In these restaurants non-Jewish Klezmorim play Klezmer music while non-Jewish waiters serve non-Jewish patrons Jewish food cooked by non-Jewish cooks. Judaism and Jewish culture are not a living and breathing, changing and adapting entity as we know it, but rather something static, frozen in time. Jewish Culture is a sort of folkloric entity meant to be appreciated and enjoyed apart from Jews, mostly because they are not there any longer.
While searching for my hamantaschen in Krakow, I visited every single restaurant and saw in their menus “exotic” food items such as Purim Chicken (some sort of chicken with many items that made the dish very colorful), and Purim tea (with some kind of alcoholic beverage mixed in — I guess to fulfill the mitzvah of getting drunk on Purim). Finally, after an exhaustive and frustrating search, we found one place called Klezmer Hois, that served hamantaschen year-round. It was frustrating for us that while we were so excited to finally find a place that served hamantaschen, the restaurant staff failed to understand what the big deal was. They serve them year-round and were not aware of the holiday of Purim, nor of the connection between hamantaschen and Purim. To end this sad saga of the hamantaschen quest, they were expensive, hard and just horrible tasting.
The next day after my return to Kansas City, I ran to the Hen House in hopes of getting at least one decent hamantaschen. Luckily, the friendly Mendel was there to direct me to the last three packages left. I bought all of them. It felt good to be back home, and they were delicious!
