Are you kidding me??!?!?

Jews in Sarajevo

I find history interesting, and since my blog is entitled "What I'm thinking about today..." I decided to post this information that was just sent to me by the International Women's Club of Sarajevo which has scheduled a tour of the Synagogue and Jewish Museum in the old part of the city.

The first Jews were tracked in Bosnia in 1541, 400 hundred years ago. They were mostly artisans, merchants, pharmacists, and doctors. They built their own quarter, dubbed El Cortijo (the courtyard), in 1577 with permission from the pasha Siavush. The community built a synagogue in El Cortijo in 1580 with the help of a Turkish benefactor, in a building called Velika Avlija. By the end of the 16th century, the building where Velika Avlija stood became known as old Jewish Cathedral, Sarajevo’s first synagogue. In the 17th century, Jews of Ashkenazi descent began arriving in Sarajevo, fleeing persecution from Europe. The Jews already established in the city were of Sephardic descent, and the two communities remained separate until the advent of World War II.

A bad fate fell upon the Jewish community when the Austrians occupied Sarajevo in 1697. They burned and destroyed the city’s Jewish quarter, including the synagogue. When the Austrians were forced to return the city to the Ottomans in 1739, the Jews fared much better, and were granted officially recognition. By 1856, Jews had equal status before the law.

Throughout the next few centuries, Jews in Sarajevo prospered. The city became a major crossroads in the Balkans for Jewish life, and came to be known as Little Jerusalem. By the mid-19th century, every doctor in Sarajevo was Jewish, and when educated Jews began arriving from Europe in 1878, Jewish children began attending public school.

However, Jewish life in Sarajevo changed forever with the rise of the Nazi regime in Germany during World War II. Before 1941, Sarajevo was home to some 8,000 to 12,000 Jews. Deportations to concentration camps run by Croatian fascists began that year, and by the end of the Holocaust, 85% of the Jewish population of Sarajevo had perished. Many who survived immigrated to Israel in 1948 and 1949.

In 1965, during ceremonies marking 400 years of Jewish presence in Bosnia, the Old Synagogue, though still owned by the remnant Jewish community, was converted into a city-run Jewish museum. Originally built in 1581, the Old Synagogue was one of 15 that functioned in the city before the Holocaust, when Sarajevo was a major Balkan center of Sephardi culture, and the city’s 12,000 Jews made up nearly 20 percent of the local population. Jewish communal services were shifted to an Ashkenazi synagogue, a grand, Moorish style temple built at the beginning of the 20th century, which was converted to include offices and function rooms as well as a sanctuary.

Taken...

This movie left my heart racing and made me vow to never let Shelby be out alone again. It's only more scary because this actually happens. But this movie moves so if you like thrillers you should like it.

I can't believe these girls!

Watch especially at 1:59 and 2:21 - but the whole thing is amazing.! Thanks, Eric Henning, for sharing this.

I recently was lucky enough to be able to contact my cousin through Facebook. As I'm trying to explain to my kids what a first cousin once removed is versus a second cousin, I came across this very useful chart. It's written from the point of view of how all the people relate to the person marked as ME.

Things I Wish Were Listed In My Profile

I recently re-met a friend from my youth (ELB) through facebook and reading her profile reminded me of how many things I would love to do yet haven't. It has made me refocus on those things and built the desire to one day be able to list them in MY profile.

1. Learn an instrument other than the piano (which I already play). Contestants are the clarinet, the mandolin, the harp, and the drums. I'm thinking clarinet is the most likely.
2. Become comfortable in a foreign language. (I don't dream as high as fluency.) I speak some Spanish, some German (more once I refresh), some Bosnian (didn't focus very much) and a few phrases in Arabic. I think I will focus on Spanish since I know the most of that, but I could be persuaded to make it Arabic.
3. Own a Vespa. I think. Although every time I think about this I can't justify a Vespa over a bicycle. Need to give that more thought.
4. Read every book. 'Nough said.
5. Get involved with dog rescue, possibly even becoming a foster for dogs rescued from puppy mills.
6. Travel to places I haven't made it to yet: Antarctica, African Safari, Vietnam, Scandinavia, Nova Scotia, the British Isles and Alaska. The last I include because I actually will be there via Cruise West in September for my 25th wedding anniversary with him.
7. Learn to play bridge.
8. Learn to scuba dive.
9. Snorkel through every "Top Places to Snorkel" list I come across.
10. Have grandkids. Lots of grandkids. I hear that it's a blast.
11. Go out to dinner with my sister, her treat, the night she gets her Environmental Engineering degree.
12. Learn to draw.
13. Learn to paint with watercolors.
14. Learn sign-language. Almost forgot this one, but I really would like to. I plan to take classes through the adult education classes in Cincinnati while I'm living there later this year.
15. Take dog-grooming so I can groom Sophie and save my family some money.
    
16. Volunteer at Drake Hospice Unit when I move to Cincinnati. That idea was formed during the hours that I spent there with my mom.
17. Train Maya as a hospital volunteer - she's the perfect dog for that as she is so quiet, so loving, and a sucker for being petted.
    
18. Walk. Through beautiful cities. Hike. Through our gorgeous National Park system.
19. Visit the Everglades and the Keys. I think I might quite like Florida based on the time I've spent in Destin.
20. Volunteer at the Cincinnati Zoo. Maybe I could be a giraffussus trainer.
21. Investigate becoming a vegetarian or moving in that general direction. The fact that I so love the occasional steak may be a problem. I could give up meat on a regular basis quite easily. Saying I'll never have a ribeye again? I'm just not there yet. Maybe I should just start where I am. Oh, and fish. And bacon. Yes, I have a way to go, I think.
22. Learn to make stained glass.
23. Become an expert crochet artist. Emphasis on the artistry.
24. Get my degree. Finally. Without taking money out of the "mouths" of my children (literally, their college educations come first) nor time out of the life of my poor, sacrificing husband. Still working on figuring out how to do this so I get want I want (a degree in International Studies focusing on human rights) without the negatives to everyone else.
25. Up my productivity quotient. This applies to everything, actually.
    

Ellen DeGeneres ~ I Love Jesus But I Drink A Little (HQ)

Congratulations Ry!

I was all giddy today because Ryan told me of his promotion. It's fun that I'm still capable of being so excited about an event in his life when so much of his life is lived far removed from me and will continue to be so as he continues his career and starts his new life with his wife, Jenise. He is now an E-4, a Petty Officer. I have no idea what that means exactly, and how the promotion process works exactly, but it doesn't matter. I celebrate his good news! I've been promised a photo of the ceremony.

Rokia Traore

Everytime I "discover" a new musical artist, it makes me wonder how many other artists are out there that I may never even hear of. It all seems so random. My latest "discovery" (the quotes are owing to my awareness that the word discovery suggests a degree of seeking that never actually existed) is Rokia Traore. I am so enjoying her album Tchamantche.