Tuesday, May 10 * I fly to NYC and stay with Sally & David, visit with Fred and Andrew, and enjoy Manhattan for 1 day.
Wednesday, May 11 * I leave at night on a flight to Frankfurt.
Thursday, May 12 * Transfer to a flight for Warsaw, Poland! I'm staying in the city center at Hotel Harenda.
Friday, May 13 * On my own in Warsaw until I go to Beit Warszawa synagogue, where I joined in the Kabbalah Shabbat service and ate together with the community. I thought I would be teaching, but there was a mix-up and it was re-scheduled for May 20.
Saturday, May 14 * Shabbat morning train to Treblinka and then to the synagogue in Tykocin (a museum now) with faculty attending the conference. We meet Lucyna and drive to Bialystok. The hotel in Bialystok is called Hotel Titanic (it comes recommended).
Sunday, May 15 * Spend the day at the Bialowieza primeval forest. Return that night by train to Warsaw. Moving over to Hotel Felix in Praga, an unpretty suburb of Warsaw.
Monday, May 16 * Warsaw touring
Tuesday, May 17 - Wednesday, May 18 * I'm attending a conference at the Warsaw University of Social Sciences and Humanities: "Jewishness in Contemporary Culture: American and European Perspectives."
Thursday, May 19 - Friday afternoon, May 20 * touring Warsaw
Friday evening, May 20 * At this point until next Friday, I am an official guest of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, along with Rebecca Golbert, a professor from Pepperdine University. All this time I thought the Polish Consulate was arranging a week for us with the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, but I was wrong. Hotel: very classy Mercure Chopin in downtown Warsaw. Friday night we spent at Beit Warszawa again, and this time I did teach a bit before the service and give the sermon.
Saturday, May 21 - Monday afternoon, May 23 * in Krakow. Touring and meeting with directors of the Galicia Jewish Museum, Jewish Culture Festival, Center for Holocaust Research, and Jewish Studies Department at Jagiellonian University. Staying at Hotel Kassak.
Monday, May 23 - Tuesday evening, May 24 * back in Warsaw. Meetings with people within the following organizations: the Africa and Middle East Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, "Midrasz" journal, Foundation Shalom (organizer of the Festival of the Jewish Culture Singer's Warsaw [sic]), Project Virtual Sztetl, Museum of the History of the Polish Jews, Jewish Historical Institute.
Wednesday - Thursday, May 24 - 25 * in Torun. A public lecture at The Higher School of Hebrew Philology filmed by a Krakow TV station, plus a press conference and meeting with the mayor. Staying at Hotel Bulwar on Wednesday night, at the guest house of the Higher School on Thursday night.
Friday night, May 27- Tuesday morning, May 31 * Back with the little people. Now in Lodz at Linat Orkhim, Jewish community guest house and elsewhere.
Tuesday, May 31 - Saturday afternoon, June 4 * Krakow. I'm staying at Hotel B & B Kolory in the heart of the Jewish district and visiting with Connie and Jonathan Webber.
Saturday night, June 4 - Sunday morning, June 5 * In a village outside Warsaw at the home of our lovely interpreter, Anna.
Sunday, June 6 * Catch a flight to Frankfurt and then on to NYC by Sunday night. Staying with ??
Monday, June 7 * Back to L.A. by 4 p.m. Get ready for Shavuot!
