My Comix!

Here are two comics that I made satirizing dead philosophers. I came up with them in my philosophy class and then it quickly turned into a project. Enjoy!

Jew-dapest

Just got back from Budapest and I have to admit - I was really impressed especially with the modern Jewish culture that surprised me with its existence. I never really had a desire to go to Budapest, it just happens to be a large city in proximity to Prague that is perfect for a cheap weekend trip, but after coming back I am definitely glad I went.

Before I arrived, I had learned a little bit about the history of the Jews in Hungary. Because of its relative distance from Germany and the status of many of the Jews in public affairs, they didn't receive as hard of a blow from the Nazis as other countries (e.g. the sheer amount of Satmar Hassidim who survived), although many were sent to concentration camps by the Arrow Cross Party, the Hungarian equivalent to the Nazi party. Currently, there are around 80,000 Jews in Budapest, the largest Jewish community in Eastern Europe. That huge number is due mostly to the Nazis late arrival in Hungary and the Hungarian government's policy during WWII where they preferred to ship off Jews from the countryside when the Nazis demanded them rather than city Jews who were valuable to the Hungarian economy.

While walking around the city, the Jewish culture was not so apparent except for the tourist attractions, something I have gotten used to in Prague (The Dohany Synagogue, pictured above, is the largest synagogue in Europe, 2nd largest in the world, and Neolog in its philosophy - an early European version of Conservative). It was nice to see a couple kosher restaurants, but I figured that the situation with the Jewish community was similar to that of communities in other post-Communist countries: Spiritually decimated by Stalinism, constant fear of antisemitism, and unwelcoming to others (even Jews) based in their difficult history. I soon found out that this is not necessarily the case.

While walking around the hip, young area of Budapest, formerly the Jewish ghetto, looking for hipster bars, we happened across a chill Bohemian art bar called Siraly that we had noticed earlier. We bought some beers, climbed up the spiral staircase, and sat on some couches in somewhat of a film library with a projector screen. Looking around the room, we noticed that there were framed blown-up photographs of Jewish interest: Yiddish culture, bearded rabbis, etc. Intrigued, I wandered around to see what else I could discover. I soon found canvasses with embroidered Hebrew on them, flyers for a Jewish film festival that was currently happening, and a pamphlet for a 4 day Jewish music festival that happens every summer. Then, to make things even better, I went into the basement to find the bathroom and happened across this unbelievable free-jazz show (free like improv not free like money, although it was free) with this amazing saxophonist and an out of control xylophonist and watched that for a while.

It just keeps getting better and better right? So as we're on our way out, I stop and ask the bartender, "so what's the deal? is this the hipster Jewish hangout?" and in response, two young guys come over from behind the bar and start speaking to me in Hebrew. I guess that was a yes. They start telling me how, while its true that there are a lot of uninvolved Jews, and that there is still visible antisemitism in Budapest, there is a thriving modern areligious community (complete with a secular Jewish high school, one of three) similar to what you would find in Brooklyn or San Franicisco. Turns out one of them is the guitarist for a funky Hebrew hiphop band called Hagesher and they told me that they could show us the hip Jewish sights. Unfortunately, we had to leave early the next morning but it is definitely a place I will have to come back to. He told me to check out the two main Jewish-hipsters-in-Budapest sights, Judapest (who calls Siraly the "non-official Jewish urban place") and Marom. After experiencing that unparalleled level of hasgacha pratit, I decided that this is definitely not my last time in Budapest.

pictures!

Sorry I haven't been posting but I DON'T HAVE INTERNET and I probably never will.

Anyways, I figured out that Picasa is much better than Flickr because I have a whole gig to fill up and they upload real fast. Thanks G-d for google/gmail.

So here is the new link - http://picasaweb.google.com/Eric.Salitsky

All my pictures from this trip so far are uploaded, so enjoy!
I also made a new link at the top so you can use that to quickly check to see when i post more photos. Hopefully there will be some good ones after the weekend when I get back from BERLIN.

I'll post a real post again soon, I promise!

This is too good to be true

Somehow, the Miami Boys Choir, along with the legendary Jewish summer camp "Israeli" dance choreography, made it to China. This is just too much.



I know this dance well enough to vouch that they are doing it perfectly. One of them must have been on rikud staff at Camp Ramah.

Weekend to Karlovy Vary

Thought I would update on what's been going on lately.

Classes started officially last week and they're all very interesting albeit a very different teaching style. Besides for Czech, I'm taking Contemporary Jewish Religious Thought, taught by a former Jesuit Priest; History of the Jews in Bohemia, taught by Rabbi Ron Hoffberg, the only non-Orthodox rabbi in the Czech Republic and leader of the Prague Conservative community; Circulating with the Modern Cinematic Image, basically an intro to European film studies - it's being taught at FAMU, a very prestigious film school in Prague; and Contemporary Culture and Alternative Lifestyles in the Czech Republic, taught by Pavla Johannson, a scholar in sociology and former member of a very popular Czech new wave band in the 80's.

Last weekend I went with Leili, Mich, and Brendon to the small city of Karlovy Vary AKA Carlsbad. It's kind of a touristy spa town known for its hot springs and it's also the birthplace of the famous Czech drink that tastes like Christmas, Becherovka. Throughout the town there are all these water spouts that pump out steamy metallic water that is apparently very good for you. Everyone carries around these strange looking cups and sips on the water all day. We called it our "old person weekend" because we spent the whole time eating, drinking wine, hanging out in the sauna, getting a tour of the Becherovka factory in Czech surrounded by the elderly, relaxing, and getting very cheap massages.

Saturday night I got to see Islands in Prague. That was cool. It's not too often you get to see some indie shows in Europe and that is a band I would have definitely saw even if I was in America. It was a great show.

Yesterday I went with Brandon and Lauren to the last movie of the Shockproof Movie Festival. It was basically a slasher festival but they had some cool exceptions like Visitor Q by Takashi Miike (which I had already seen). We saw this ridiculous 70s exploitation film from Sweden called Thriller - They Call Her One Eye which was unbelievable. The plot didn't matter, the special effects were ridiculous, EVERY death was in slowmotion, all the sex was pornographic, and the main character saws off her own shotgun to go out and kill everyone that ruined her life. It was awesome. Apparently it was one of Quentin Tarantino's influences for Kill Bill.

Anyways, life is great here. It's been snowing pretty hardcore the past week. Tonight I'm going to see what Capoeira is like here so hopefully I won't get my ass kicked for not speaking Czech and for belonging to a different group. Wish me luck.

Werewolf Bar Mitzvah

Kutna Hora + Bone Church picture post

Here are pictures from my excursion last week to the medieval silvermining town of Kutna Hora, along with a church made out of human bones. This country is so metalcore.

One Quick Blog About Israel

I know this is supposed to be a travel blog now, but I can't resist talking about Israeli politics a little bit.

Here are two really interesting articles about Arab Israelis protesting against anti-Arab politics in the Knesset (specifically Avigdor Lieberman, leader of Yisrael Beitenu). The first is here on Ynet and the other is a video from the Guardian.

It is disturbing for me when I see people who hold racist policies in high regard in Israeli politics (or any politics for that matter). Lieberman has shamelessly said on many occasions that he wants to forcefully transfer all Arabs outside of Israel. He is also trying to get all Arab political parties banned from running in the upcoming elections on accounts that they are racist. This is pure Kahanism at its best, and that scares me. It's that type of anger that fuels violence and close-mindedness.

If Baruch Goldstein were still alive, he would vote for Yisrael Beitenu, and wherever Baruch Goldstein's politics lie, I stay far far away. How about instead of ousting an entire ethnicity from your country, warmongering in the process, why don't you actually address the issues and figure out how to improve your current situation? How about working with Israeli Arabs instead of ostracizing them? Seeing how much media attention Lieberman's been getting, I'm a bit nervous about the upcoming Israeli elections.

But I am excited to see how the Holocaust Survivors & Grown Up Green Leaf Party does. Yeah, that's right, its the name of a coalition formed by two parties that could not be any more different from each other. If they get even one seat, I will be the happiest man alive. Their platform is so random that I first thought it was a joke. Why don't all parties start combining in order to get more seats? How about the Communist party and the National Religious party? Or Shas and the environmentalist Party?


UPDATE: I spoke too soon... click here.

Music and Communism

Unlike the picture from my first post, this one I actually took

There are a lot of peculiar things that go on in the Czech Republic that don't make any sense to me. Like the type of music that is popular over here. My brain does not comprehend.

Of course there is the standard European obsession over shitty techno and self-destructive divas, but the vast majority of the radiowaves seem to be playing one huge bar mitzvah mixtape circa late 90s. No joke, multiple people have commented on it and we've been trying to figure out why it's like that.

Obviously there are no fifteen minute horas or Debbie Friedmans on the radio, but I can't tell you how many times I've heard the Macarena, the Locomotion, and yes, it's true, the Cotton Eyed Joe. How did the Cotton Eyed Joe travel all the way to the Czech Republic and how is it still popular?!

This phenomenon doesn't only concern songs with cheesy choreographed dances either. Last week I was at the fabled four story club, and I heard DMX not once, but twice in the same night. You know which song I'm talking about: "Ya'll gonna make me lose my mind, up in here, up in here." It was shocking enough the first time it came on, but the second time was too much.

As with all Czech peculiarities, I'm going to blame this on Communism. The Soviets only left in '89 so the Czechs have been quickly adapting to a proper democracy and globalization. That abrupt change has led to some awkward adjustments and the Communist undertones and still very apparent.

Considering that music was very censored during forty years of Soviet occupation, Czechs didn't have access to shitty music, unless it was given special permission from Stalin. So my theory is that they have been slowly catching up to the rest of the world in terms of pop culture, and that seems apparent to me when I hear "Barbie Girl" in the supermarket, Eiffel 65 on the subway, and Sixpence None the Richer at the club.

Picture Post

By request, I'm putting up my first picture post. It consists of 2 different sets of pictures -
The first is from my trip to the Torture Museum, an obvious tourist trap that got me all excited. It wasn't as extravagant as I had expected, but what they lacked in quality they made up for in brutality and one terrible translator with a dry sense of humor.

The next set is pictures from around Prague, including Vysehrad, one of the oldest parts of Prague and also the location of the CIEE study center and most of my classes.