Last Tuesday Nov. 4 - 2014 - instead of our customary "Jews in the News" session at Pittsburgh's - JCC - Mr. Jonathan Ornstein - a good looking, dark haired, early middle aged, well-spoken director of a Krakow - Poland - small Jewish Community Center - delivered a well thought-out, thought-provoking presentation to an assorted crowd which packed a Pittsburgh's JCC - community room.
The wildly mixed audience mostly consisted of a long-time immigrant one - from Europe - especially from Poland and Eastern Europe. The Jews from those countries - having established reasonably good, new lives for themselves in the United States - are always "dying" to hear what attracts the American Jews like Mr. Ornstein - an ex-New Yorker to Poland which is well known for her numerous, anti-Semitic - episodes - throughout history.
It needs to be noted - however - that many Poles risked their lives - as well - to help their Jewish neighbors - during the Nazi - Weimar Republic' - 'reign of terror - during the Second World War.
Mr. Ornstein gave the audience an interesting, brief account of how he found himself first serving in Israeli army - IDF - where he met and followed to Poland - a Polish lady - a Gentile volunteer with whom he travelled to Poland where he learned an excellent Polish (which is normally hard to master for a Westerner in a relatively short time). Even though their relationship "fizzled out" - nevertheless - Mr. Ornstein secured a position of an executive director of a Jewish Community Center in Krakow - a beautiful, historical Polish town - after his stint as a lecturer of Israeli Culture at the oldest Polish University named after the past ruling Polish royalty - the Jagiellons - located in Krakow which used to be a capitol of Poland thus the name - Jagiellonian University - bears the last name of the Polish royal dynasty - the Jagiellons.
The seed money for the Polish - JCC - was secured by Prince Charles; no wonder that the Jews in Great Britain - achieve even more distinctions than the ones in the U.S.
Mr. Ornstein gave the audience an interesting, brief account of how he found himself first serving in Israeli army - IDF - where he met and followed to Poland - a Polish lady - a Gentile volunteer with whom he travelled to Poland where he learned an excellent Polish (which is normally hard to master for a Westerner in a relatively short time). Even though their relationship "fizzled out" - nevertheless - Mr. Ornstein secured a position of an executive director of a Jewish Community Center in Krakow - a beautiful, historical Polish town - after his stint as a lecturer of Israeli Culture at the oldest Polish University named after the past ruling Polish royalty - the Jagiellons - located in Krakow which used to be a capitol of Poland thus the name - Jagiellonian University - bears the last name of the Polish royal dynasty - the Jagiellons.
The seed money for the Polish - JCC - was secured by Prince Charles; no wonder that the Jews in Great Britain - achieve even more distinctions than the ones in the U.S.
In a nutshell - Mr. Ornstein's message - skillfully conveyed - makes a lot of sense. We need to support the new generation of Poles showing an interest in Jewish culture. The audience at the Pittsburgh's JCC asked a lot of questions about the present conditions of a few Jews still left in Poland. According to Mr. Ornstein - for now - the new, young generation of Poles - shows a big interest in Jewish culture - "but what the future will bring - nobody knows" - according to Mr. Ornstein.
The audiences' comments and questions were addressed by Mr. Ornstein in a straight-forward, informative manner. He needs to lecture in Chicago where the local Jewish community is a lot "weightier" - than the group in Pittsburgh.
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