counting down the days

One month from today, I will start my re-entry preparation posts. NO this doesn't mean I'm coming home in a month - it just means I'm going to start preparing you (and me) for my re-entry. You shouldn't be too surprised to hear that these have already been written and scheduled. I'm still me, eh? :P

I want to encourage you to do 2 things:
a) subscribe to my blog so that you get daily updates during that time period. this is VERY important for my friends, family and supporting churches. They may be some of the most informative and thought-provoking posts I've made. Each time *I* read them, i have to sit and meditate. It's for my preparation as well as yours. I promise that receiving me back home won't be as easy as everyone wants.
b) tell others that may not be reading this to subscribe. it's really easy - there's a box on the side where you put in your email address and it will automatically send you updates.



In other news, slightly related - I am loving this 2-3 hour "siesta time" after lunch! :)
Oh, AND the mandatory soccer breaks every day - yesterday it was for South Africa and Mexico... today we're going to watch USA vs. UK - weee!

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A visit to The Dohány St. Synagogue - the world's second largest synagogue and the largest one in Europe. (the biggest one is in NYC and is only bigger in size, not capacity) aka - one of the biggest tourist traps in Budapest.

The outside. The cost: 2000ft (or $10) - includes the synagogue, memorial garden and museum. everything except the museum can be viewed (some sneakily) from the outside... oh well. it was something I wanted to do, so I grabbed a few couchsurfers and we headed out. We paid a few hundred more forint (400) for a tour, which was worth it because there's not much written in Hebrew, Hungarian OR English about the history of the synagogue. So, it's worth it in two ways - I learned... and now you will learn :) Aren't you lucky?!


The synagogue was built (a long time ago - can't remember the years) by Christians, so it doesn't look like most synagogues, but it was built with the original temple (the one Paul wrote about that was destroyed in 70AD) in mind. See the numbered pews? People could actually purchase a pew seat for themselves, or as gifts, or for their heirs.


The Torah scrolls are back there. They survived the war (when Nazis destroyed most other Torahs) because Catholic priests took them and buried them in a Catholic cemetary. After the war, they were returned when the restoring process began. This, of course, was all done anonymously and the synagogue remains forever grateful to those priests.
Also note the organ: because there is an organ, you can automatically assume it's not an Orthodox synagogue because they are strongly against anyone (Jewish or not) working on Sundays (including organ tuners and players). Even this branch of Judaism believes that Jews shouldn't work on Sundays, and so a gentile plays the organ for them every Sunday.


This prayer rug was in the museum and I found it really interesting. I don't think I'd like to pray on a rug with animals dying all around me.


in the next couple posts, I'll show you the memorial garden and some other sights around the Jewish Quarter...