Travel

Embark on a journey of Jewish learning and discovery, exploring the depth of our Travel resources, where tagged items including audio, programs, and podcast episodes await your exploration.

Humbling History

Rabbi Jay Kelman

I have long had an interest in Jewish history, finding it inspiring and illuminating to be part of a people who go back 4,000 years, who have lived in the four corners of the globe, in periods of great glory and terrible suffering. It is humbling,…
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Commentary from Cascais

Rabbi Jay Kelman

Portugal is one of the few countries in Europe in which no Jews were deported during World War ll. The only Portuguese Jews to be killed in the Holocaust were those who happened to be out of the country and were trapped in a country when the Nazis…
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Beauty in Belmonte

Rabbi Jay Kelman

The ancient town of Belmonte is nestled in the mountains of Portugal, with breathtaking views and beautifully cobblestoned streets steeped in history. But we did not visit Belmonte for its picturesque historic beauty – though had we done so, …
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Forced to Convert

Rabbi Jay Kelman

When one thinks of recent world powers, it is unlikely many would think of Portugal. But had we lived 500 years ago our thinking would be very different. Jews had been living in these lands well before the “modern” day country of Portugal was…
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Landing in Lisbon

Rabbi Jay Kelman

I last travelled abroad in February 2020 to visit our daughter studying in Israel. Arriving back in Toronto I smiled upon seeing the signs to let custom agents know - or something along those lines, I really did not pay too much attention - if you…
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Musings from Morocco: Lasting Impressions

Rabbi Jay Kelman

Visiting Morocco leaves one with both a sense of hope and of despair. The sense of despair does not refer to the decline of Jewish community, which at approximately 3,000 souls, totals some 1% of its pre-1948 numbers. Thankfully, the other…
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Musings from Morocco: Shabbat in Marrakech

Rabbi Jay Kelman

The city of Marrakech was, for many years, home to the largest Jewish population in Morocco. Today it has two functioning shuls: one in the mella, the old Jewish quarter, which at one time housed some 40,000 Jews; and the other some four miles…
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Musings from Morocco: Berber Blessings

Rabbi Jay Kelman

“Eizo asheer? Hasameach bechelko, Who is wealthy? One who is happy with his lot”. It is often hard for many of us raised in the affluence of the West to appreciate the beauty of a simple way of life, devoid of all the modern…
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Musings from Morocco: Welcome to Fez

Rabbi Jay Kelman

Outside of the world of the yeshiva, it’s a safe bet to assume that most who study Talmud do so as part of the Daf Yomi cycle. This innovation of Rav Meir Shapiro was special not only because Jews around the world study the same page…
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Musings from Morocco

Rabbi Jay Kelman

“With fidelity to its irreversible choice to construct a democratic State of Law, the Kingdom of Morocco…having as its bases the principles of participation, of pluralism and of good governance. It develops a society of solidarity where…
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