Past Meets Present
The complex connection between past and present was not lost on myself or Emine. Emine’s little daughter Susanna is the great-great-great granddaughter of Jewish refugees from Romania (as is my grandson, Raviv). Susanna is also the daughter of Emine, a citizen of Ukraine, of Moslem Crimean Tatar descent. I felt somehow that my voyage was not only linking the fragments of our Jewish family, but bringing past into present, the blending of cultures, perspectives, in the very web of my immediate and extended family. The symbolism of a synagogue sending a member to make this donation also felt like a healing over the heavy weight of history. In the face of such destruction and violence was there something positive we could do to mend the torn fabric between peoples?
The First Step: Meeting cousins in Israel
The first step in the journey was to set out for Israel where my son Sammy and I planned to finally meet the cousins with whom I had been corresponding. I had been in email correspondence with our cousins and we had arranged to meet.