http://jta.org/news/ en rkampeas@jta.org Copyright 2009 2009-11-08T03:12:00-05:00 http://blogs.jta.org/wanderingjew/article/2009/11/07/1008999/hail-to-the-chief http://jta.org/site/hail-to-the-chief/#When:18:09:00Z Poland’s chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich, has the air of someone who enjoys being a little unorthodox. I suppose you have to be to leave behind a comfortable Upper West Side upbringing, spend six years leading a community in Japan, and after that set up shop in post-Communist Poland. He’s an Orthodox rabbi who was originally ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary, a vegetarian in a meat-and-potatoes country, and seemed to relish telling me about seeing the Grateful Dead perform at Nassau Coliseum in 1973.  2009-11-07T18:09:00-05:00 http://blogs.jta.org/wanderingjew/article/2009/11/05/1008985/live-from-europe http://jta.org/site/live-from-europe/#When:22:03:00Z ... it’s The Wandering Jew’s stories. 2009-11-05T22:03:00-05:00 http://blogs.jta.org/wanderingjew/article/2009/11/05/1008975/the-jewish-hangout-of-budapest http://jta.org/site/the-jewish-hangout-of-budapest/#When:16:27:00Z Years ago, philanthropist Michael Steinhardt financed the establishment of Makor, a spot on the Upper West Side that was supposed to allow Jews to do Jewish, and sometimes not-so-Jewish, things in a Jewish space that didn’t scream I’M A JEWISH SPACE! 2009-11-05T16:27:00-05:00 http://jta.org/news/article/2009/11/05/1008798/leipzig-becoming-orthodox-jewish-hub-in-germany http://jta.org/site/leipzig-becoming-orthodox-jewish-hub-in-germany/#When:16:04:00Z Due in large part to Jewish immigration from the former Soviet Union, Leipzig has become an Orthodox Jewish hub, funneling students from around the region to institutions of Jewish learning in Berlin and beyond. Frontpage Lead Image, Jewish Life, World, Sub Headline 2009-11-05T16:04:00-05:00 http://jta.org/news/article/2009/11/05/1008797/german-city-sees-successes-challenges-with-russian-jewish-immigration http://jta.org/site/german-city-sees-successes-challenges-with-russian-jewish-immigration/#When:15:39:00Z The arrival in Germany of some 90,000 Russian Jewish immigrants over the last 20 years has enabled an astonishing rejuvenation of Jewish life in Germany, but also handed German Jews the challenge of integrating a culturally and linguistically distinct group that generally lacks Jewish knowledge and an understanding of democratic norms. Frontpage Sub Headline, Jewish Life, World, Sub Headline 2009-11-05T15:39:00-05:00 http://blogs.jta.org/wanderingjew/article/2009/11/04/1008950/dear-god http://jta.org/site/dear-god/#When:17:49:00Z  It’s cold here. 2009-11-04T17:49:00-05:00 http://blogs.jta.org/wanderingjew/article/2009/11/04/1008937/warsaw http://jta.org/site/warsaw/#When:06:52:00Z As a habitual orderer of the kosher option on airplanes, I’ve grown accustomed to watching in envy as my fellow passengers devour a nice hot meal while I’m stuck with some dry, overcooked, soulless option prepared in a factory in Queens. So I was more than a little shocked when, after distributing shrink-wrapped mystery meat sandwiches to everyone else on the hourlong flight from Budapest to Warsaw, I was presented with an elegant black and red box, inside of which was a multi-course meal of meat and fish and fruit and crackers and even a little halva bar for desert.  2009-11-04T06:52:00-05:00 http://blogs.jta.org/wanderingjew/article/2009/11/02/1008902/time-is-running-out http://jta.org/site/time-is-running-out/#When:22:10:00Z On the Wandering Jew iPod contest. Tomorrow is the deadline folks, so submit an entry and you could win ... a visit from me! Oh, and an iPod. 2009-11-02T22:10:00-05:00 http://blogs.jta.org/wanderingjew/article/2009/11/02/1008875/budapest-stories http://jta.org/site/budapest-stories/#When:11:49:00Z After the Vienna train debacle, I finally managed to check into my hotel in Bedapest after 10:00 Thursday. This is my third time here, and each time I’ve stayed at the King’s Hotel. It’s in the Jewish quarter, just down the street from the massive Dohany synagogue, the largest in Eastern Europe, convenient to much of what I plan to do here, and, well what can I say, I’m a creature of habit. But every time I mention where I’m staying to anyone Jewish and under 35, the eyes start to roll.  2009-11-02T11:49:00-05:00 http://blogs.jta.org/wanderingjew/article/2009/11/02/1008872/hard-at-work http://jta.org/site/hard-at-work/#When:09:43:00Z That’s me at the Cafe Spinoza in Budapest, hard at work on my final Vienna article (no, that only LOOKS like Facebook). 2009-11-02T09:43:00-05:00