Page 60 - issue
P. 60
The Kovner Rov “Dvar
Avrohom” in the Lithuanian
Parliament
REFLECTIONS ON AN INSANE TRIP
TO EASTERN EUROPE, PART ONEby D. Katz
few weeks ago I was in Te-
aneck for Shabbos. After one
of my talks, I was approached
by a youngish fellow, a den-
tist in his late thirties. He said
A that he and five other fellows,
about four days.” ry), and from Moscow we took a plane to
“Kovno to Budapest is a huge dis- Kovno, or Kaunas, which is the Lithua-
nian version of the name.
tance!” I exclaimed. “That’s crazy.”
“Agreed. Interested? We would really uuu
love for you to accompany us.” A word about place names in Eastern
I said I’d think about it, though there Europe. Ever since Biblical times, indeed
since Adam HaRishon, the act of naming
wasn’t much time.
friends from their YU days, Naturally, my family thought it was has been an act of asserting dominance.
were going on a trip to East- nuts. I consulted my friend Professor Lei- Once Adam named all the animals, they
ern Europe in two weeks, and he invited man, who leads trips to Eastern Europe became subordinate to man. I mean,
me to come along. They had arranged for all the time. He was horrified. “If you like he can kill them at will! Even Adam,
a minibus and a local driver who knows disorganized, yeshiva-type tours, and if who was a vegetarian, killed animals as
Eastern Europe like the back of his hand you are at least partially insane, this trip korbanos, right? In the time of the Pa-
and knows where all the Jewish sites are is for you.” triarchs, when they and the Philistines
located. So I decided to go. Accompanied by dug wells, the Torah goes to the trouble
“Do you have tour guides?” I asked my son, Shmuel Azarya, who has never to tell you what the Patriarchs named
him. “People who know the area? Profes- been to Europe. “Shmuly, you are going them. There are numerous examples of
sionals who know the Jewish stuff, basic to get your fill of Europe on this trip!” this throughout Tanach. And, to skip
things like that?” Thus began my adventure, my own 3,000 years, Israel and the Arabs are al-
“No,” he said, “that’s where you come episode of Innocents Abroad. I figured ways changing the names of the places
in.” it was an opportunity to gain firsthand they control, in order to “eliminate” the
“Well,” I told him, “I have never been acquaintance with the areas and make presence of the opposing side.2
there.” all the mistakes. Next time, I could come Well, Europe is chock-a-block with
He said that was okay; he could tell with my own tour, and I would do it right. competing names that reflected fierce-
from my lecture that I knew all the in- Concerned friends started emailing ly-competing and warring nationalities.
formation, and that would be more than and calling, warning about the anti-Sem- If you call it Kovno, you are going by
enough. itism over there.1 “Don’t go!” But the die its Polish name, and the Lithuanians
“So let me get this straight,” I said. had been cast. And so, on Saturday night hate the Poles. They do have reason to
“You are going ‘blind,’ with just a bus after Tisha B’Av, we were on the Aeroflot hate them. You see, long, long ago, the
and driver and me.” plane to Moscow departing from JFK. We Lithuanians created a great empire, driv-
“That’s about it. Are you interested?” arrived in Moscow (which has changed a ing out the Mongols from what is today
“What is the basic itinerary?” lot since I was there on my honeymoon, Belarus and Ukraine. At the same time,
“We drive from Kovno to Budapest in long, long ago – but that’s another sto- a neighboring nation, the Poles, created
1 I write these words right after our own Charlottesville disaster OVER HERE!
2 The USA is an interesting variation on this theme. Here they exterminated the Indians, but then proceeded to retain the Indian place-names. Half the states have
Indian names, and most of our rivers, etc.
52 u www.wherewhatwhen.com u
Avrohom” in the Lithuanian
Parliament
REFLECTIONS ON AN INSANE TRIP
TO EASTERN EUROPE, PART ONEby D. Katz
few weeks ago I was in Te-
aneck for Shabbos. After one
of my talks, I was approached
by a youngish fellow, a den-
tist in his late thirties. He said
A that he and five other fellows,
about four days.” ry), and from Moscow we took a plane to
“Kovno to Budapest is a huge dis- Kovno, or Kaunas, which is the Lithua-
nian version of the name.
tance!” I exclaimed. “That’s crazy.”
“Agreed. Interested? We would really uuu
love for you to accompany us.” A word about place names in Eastern
I said I’d think about it, though there Europe. Ever since Biblical times, indeed
since Adam HaRishon, the act of naming
wasn’t much time.
friends from their YU days, Naturally, my family thought it was has been an act of asserting dominance.
were going on a trip to East- nuts. I consulted my friend Professor Lei- Once Adam named all the animals, they
ern Europe in two weeks, and he invited man, who leads trips to Eastern Europe became subordinate to man. I mean,
me to come along. They had arranged for all the time. He was horrified. “If you like he can kill them at will! Even Adam,
a minibus and a local driver who knows disorganized, yeshiva-type tours, and if who was a vegetarian, killed animals as
Eastern Europe like the back of his hand you are at least partially insane, this trip korbanos, right? In the time of the Pa-
and knows where all the Jewish sites are is for you.” triarchs, when they and the Philistines
located. So I decided to go. Accompanied by dug wells, the Torah goes to the trouble
“Do you have tour guides?” I asked my son, Shmuel Azarya, who has never to tell you what the Patriarchs named
him. “People who know the area? Profes- been to Europe. “Shmuly, you are going them. There are numerous examples of
sionals who know the Jewish stuff, basic to get your fill of Europe on this trip!” this throughout Tanach. And, to skip
things like that?” Thus began my adventure, my own 3,000 years, Israel and the Arabs are al-
“No,” he said, “that’s where you come episode of Innocents Abroad. I figured ways changing the names of the places
in.” it was an opportunity to gain firsthand they control, in order to “eliminate” the
“Well,” I told him, “I have never been acquaintance with the areas and make presence of the opposing side.2
there.” all the mistakes. Next time, I could come Well, Europe is chock-a-block with
He said that was okay; he could tell with my own tour, and I would do it right. competing names that reflected fierce-
from my lecture that I knew all the in- Concerned friends started emailing ly-competing and warring nationalities.
formation, and that would be more than and calling, warning about the anti-Sem- If you call it Kovno, you are going by
enough. itism over there.1 “Don’t go!” But the die its Polish name, and the Lithuanians
“So let me get this straight,” I said. had been cast. And so, on Saturday night hate the Poles. They do have reason to
“You are going ‘blind,’ with just a bus after Tisha B’Av, we were on the Aeroflot hate them. You see, long, long ago, the
and driver and me.” plane to Moscow departing from JFK. We Lithuanians created a great empire, driv-
“That’s about it. Are you interested?” arrived in Moscow (which has changed a ing out the Mongols from what is today
“What is the basic itinerary?” lot since I was there on my honeymoon, Belarus and Ukraine. At the same time,
“We drive from Kovno to Budapest in long, long ago – but that’s another sto- a neighboring nation, the Poles, created
1 I write these words right after our own Charlottesville disaster OVER HERE!
2 The USA is an interesting variation on this theme. Here they exterminated the Indians, but then proceeded to retain the Indian place-names. Half the states have
Indian names, and most of our rivers, etc.
52 u www.wherewhatwhen.com u
