It has been an eventful week, one tinged by sadness at learning of Inge Gaffney’s passing, may her memory be for a blessing. She and Rabbi Gaffney touched countless lives during and after their time in Jacksonville. May the Holy One comfort the Gaffneys and the many who grieve Inge’s loss among the other mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.
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Earlier this week, Susan and I spent a day in Padua, where we saw Giotto’s stunning 14th-century frescoes in the Scrovegni Chapel and toured Italy’s second oldest university. In Padua Galileo and others fought for scientific truth and academic freedom from the heavy-handed domination of the Church. And while Jews were generally prohibited from most disciplines, they were permitted to study with the faculty of medicine and become physicians.
Returning to Venice, we visited the glassmakers of Murano, and spent an enchanting afternoon on Burano island, known for its brightly colored houses and home to the nearly lost art of medieval lacemaking. We will visit the Doges Palace and San Marco Basilica this morning before getting ready for Shabbat.
One of the highlights of the week was the Italian cooking class Susan and I signed up for at BaGhetto, one of two kosher restaurants in Venice. What made it so memorable was our teachers: Ronnie, the Italian-trained chef from Bangladesh, who speaks no more than a few words of English; and Thatch, the multi-lingual maitre’d from Cameroon, who assisted and translated for Ronnie. That a Muslim from Bangladesh and a Christian from West Africa were working in a kosher restaurant, teaching two American Jews how to make authentic Italian dishes was a delicious irony. Literally.
We are looking forward to a quiet Shabbat. Because Venice has an eruv I’ll be able to carry my own tallit to shul, and thankfully, a carefully annotated map showing how to navigate from the hotel to the Ghetto and back. It would be all too easy to get utterly lost in the labyrinth of alleys that are this city’s streets.
After Shabbat, I will pack up and prepare for a pre-dawn departure to Warsaw, where I’ll connect to my flight to Israel. In just a few days both my heart and my body will be in the East! I look forward to sharing the next leg of this trip with you.
From the City of Water to the River City, wishing all of you a Shabbat Shalom,
Jonathan Lubliner
Jack F. Shorstein Senior Rabbi
Rabbi Jonathan Lubliner 