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| Garage ceiling |
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| Moonrise over the fort |
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| Just doors |
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| Shady walk |
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| Stoop |
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| No parking |
Showing posts with label walls. Show all posts
Showing posts with label walls. Show all posts
Saturday, August 08, 2020
Villefranche-sur-Mer 2014
Blast from the past: various shots from the scene of my 60th birthday!
Thursday, July 09, 2020
Friday, July 04, 2014
Fourth of July...Riga, Latvia 1941
Rather than post today, as so many others (ho hum) will, about the American Independence Day, I'll mention the less known fact that on this day 73 years ago, the Great Choral Synagogue in Riga was set aflame by the invading Nazis, with some 300 Jews locked inside.
(I was also prompted by this week's Sepia Saturday theme, which includes -- albeit incidentally -- walls.
Here's what the synagogue looked like a couple of years ago when I visited Riga on a family history trip. Its remains were razed and now the site is a memorial park.
Here's what the synagogue looked like once upon a time.
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"Frida Michelson, a Latvian Jew who had been working near Jelgava in a forced labor crew when the synagogues were burned [there were several], reported that on her return to Riga, she was told by a friend 'who had heard it from someone else' that the halls and the backyard of the Choral Synagogue were filled with Lithuanian refugees. Perkonkrusts ['a Latvian ultra-nationalist, anti-German and anti-Semitic political party founded in 1933'] and 'other Latvian hangers-on' surrounded the building, trapped the people inside, and set it on fire."
"The burning of the synagogue was filmed by the Germans and later became part of a Wehrmacht newsreel, with the following narration: 'The synagogue in Riga, which had been spared by the GPU commissars in their work of destruction, went up in flames a few hours later.' According to Bernard Press: 'Eyewitnesses heard the people who were locked inside screaming for help and saw them breaking the synagogues windows from inside and trying, like living torches, to get outside....'"
"The holy scrolls were dragged out of the synagogues and burned. According to the Press, many Jewish wearing prayer shawls and talith went into the fires to save the scrolls, and were all killed. Ezergailis disputes this, stating that no one entered the flames trying to save the holy scrolls."
Old photos (and quoted text) from thecelotajs.com.
Other info is at haolusa.org.
(I was also prompted by this week's Sepia Saturday theme, which includes -- albeit incidentally -- walls.
Here's what the synagogue looked like a couple of years ago when I visited Riga on a family history trip. Its remains were razed and now the site is a memorial park.
Here's what the synagogue looked like once upon a time.
"Frida Michelson, a Latvian Jew who had been working near Jelgava in a forced labor crew when the synagogues were burned [there were several], reported that on her return to Riga, she was told by a friend 'who had heard it from someone else' that the halls and the backyard of the Choral Synagogue were filled with Lithuanian refugees. Perkonkrusts ['a Latvian ultra-nationalist, anti-German and anti-Semitic political party founded in 1933'] and 'other Latvian hangers-on' surrounded the building, trapped the people inside, and set it on fire."
"The burning of the synagogue was filmed by the Germans and later became part of a Wehrmacht newsreel, with the following narration: 'The synagogue in Riga, which had been spared by the GPU commissars in their work of destruction, went up in flames a few hours later.' According to Bernard Press: 'Eyewitnesses heard the people who were locked inside screaming for help and saw them breaking the synagogues windows from inside and trying, like living torches, to get outside....'"
"The holy scrolls were dragged out of the synagogues and burned. According to the Press, many Jewish wearing prayer shawls and talith went into the fires to save the scrolls, and were all killed. Ezergailis disputes this, stating that no one entered the flames trying to save the holy scrolls."
Old photos (and quoted text) from thecelotajs.com.
Other info is at haolusa.org.
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Vilnius Art Walls
Today, a few final(?) quintessentially Eff-Stoppish shots here (do check out my "local," i.e. American, page). There are even a handful of Baltic shots in this post.
Monday, August 13, 2012
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Thursday, August 09, 2012
Riga Old Town walls
Saturday started out with a slow bang as we all went to shabbos at the local synagogue. Very interesting from an anthropological standpoint. Deborah had to sit upstairs away from the men. The long-bearded rabbi (who spoke Russian in a brief sermon) stood with his back to us and chanted for an interminable 45 minutes, the congregation also chanting but not in unision – a semi-audible chatoic mumble with an occasional outburst of Amens (?).
Meanwhile Ran and I thumbed back and forth in the prayer books, which although having English translations, didn’t help us, because we didn’t know where they were reading from in Hebrew. Fascinating...did you know that if you put the (myriad, arcane) ingredients for the holy incense together incorrectly, the Torah advocates being put to death? All made me nervous as a cat, as uncomfortable as I do in any church service but moreso since I was totally lost linguistically.
Fred was invited to join in reading part of the Torah once it was unrolled and brought to the back of the synagogue...the men followed the rabbi and gathered around. Most ranged from 50-80 years old, with a smattering of younger ones and a couple of small boys. Of course no cameras were allowed...the interior was a very light blue, with an almost Egytian gold/maroon decorative motif on pillars and wainscoting.
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| City wall abstract |
Meanwhile Ran and I thumbed back and forth in the prayer books, which although having English translations, didn’t help us, because we didn’t know where they were reading from in Hebrew. Fascinating...did you know that if you put the (myriad, arcane) ingredients for the holy incense together incorrectly, the Torah advocates being put to death? All made me nervous as a cat, as uncomfortable as I do in any church service but moreso since I was totally lost linguistically.
Fred was invited to join in reading part of the Torah once it was unrolled and brought to the back of the synagogue...the men followed the rabbi and gathered around. Most ranged from 50-80 years old, with a smattering of younger ones and a couple of small boys. Of course no cameras were allowed...the interior was a very light blue, with an almost Egytian gold/maroon decorative motif on pillars and wainscoting.
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| Rooms where they used to live |
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| Cat house |
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| Old wall, new walls |
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| Cathedral Museum: War and religion |
Scrimmage in Riga
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| Faux door / doot |
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| Negligee for negligence |
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| A fault in the scrim |
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| Restoring the Riga cathedral tower |
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