August 16th--Arrival at Home

After an absolutely incredible month, we have arrived home, throughly exhausted but filled with memories that will last a lifetime! Back to reality...

August 15th--Full Day Germany

So...last week I posted on Teaneck Shuls that we were looking for ideas of activities to do with the kids on a full day stop in Germany. Well, BPY parents France and Nicholas Weill responded that they will be in the area and that they would love to meet us, show us around and pack a picnic lunch for us. How nice is that!!! Benjamin was especially excited to see his friend Heftzibah. We couldn't believe that they drove France to meet us!We woke up early, fed the kids breakfast and headed over to the airport to rent a car (which France Weill had reserved for us!) After we wandered around for an hour, we finally found Enterprise rent-a-car (or Meitwagon in the local jargon) and headed out towards Worms, where the great Rashi learned. Our first stop was Rashi's shul, the mikva and the Jewish Museum. All, beautiful, and a testament to a once vibrant Jewish life that is no longer. Next we walked to an old Jewish Cemetery where the Maharal is buried. Although there is no longer a living Jewish soul in the area, this cemetery, with tombstones about 1000 years old, again bears witness to the fact that Jews had lived there for generations.From there we drove to a quaint little town on the countryside for a delicious picnic lunch of cold cuts and French baguettes. Next we drove to Micheldstadt where the Baal Shem of Micheldstadt is buried. The legend is that all of the soldiers that davened at his kever before WWI all returned. Another testament to the once vibrant Jewish life and focal point of Torah learning now lost forever.Next, we said to goodbye to our hosts and wanted to show the kids a real European Castle so we headed to Heidelberg. The ride was scenic and beautiful and exactly what you would picture from the movies. The German looking houses and the quaint streets were very charming.The Castle was spectacular and the views were breathtaking. I don't think that any of us had ever been inside a real castle and the drive was well worth it. Particularly interesting was that over one of the doorways inside was an inscription in Hebrew! It said "Zeh ha'shear la'hashem, tzadikim yavo u'vo"--We have to do some research as to what that was all about because clearly this was not a Jewish site. So cool!Next we drove through the city of Frankfurt along the river. It was so beautiful and modern, completely different than all else we had seen today.We crashed in our beds at around midnight...sheer exhaustion...