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Jewish Jewels of the Baltics

Lithuania, latvia & estonia, heritage & culture explored, june 2–13, 2024.

Dubrovnik to Venice

Cruise the adriatic on the luxury yacht emerald sakara, june 13–22, 2024.

Resistance and Revival

Denmark & sweden, copenhagen, odense, malmö & stockholm, august 15-25, 2024.

From Devastation to Renewal

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The Jews of

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Hidden Treasures of Italian Jewry

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Vibrant Tapestry of Jewish Culture in

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The Jews Of

A marriage of cultures, december 4–10, 2024, february 17 – 28, 2025, travel with us., join our email list. stay in the know, learn about new trips as we add them to our calendar..

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Warsaw, Budapest, Vienna & Prague – Honoring the Jewish Heritage

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Uniquely Tauck

EXPERIENCE WITH TAUCK

Prayer and a Q&A with a Rabbi during exclusive, private access in the Frankel Synagogue in Budapest

TAUCK VALUE INCLUDES

Visits to the Warsaw Ghetto Memorial, Umschlagplatz, the Jewish Historical Institute, Nozyk Synagogue and the Museum of the History of Polish Jews (POLIN)

Visit to Plaszów concentration camp in Kraków

Visit to Poland's poignant museum and memorial at Auschwitz-Birkenau

Private piano recital of Chopin music in Warsaw

Walking tour of Budapest's Jewish Quarter; Dohány & Kazinczy synagogues

SEE WHAT YOUR JOURNEY INCLUDES

Active components such as hiking, bicycling and walking longer distances may be included, and hills and/or uneven terrain may be encountered on several days. Guests should be able to walk two to three miles and stand for long periods of time with no difficulty.

Often robust – may include long days, active sightseeing, early starts, evening activities, significant travel times.

Along Europe's Scenic "Yellow Roads"

Become immersed in the cultural legacies and poignant history of the Jewish communities of Warsaw, Budapest, Vienna and Prague on this special Jewish heritage tour. Emotionally stirring, historic sites are inextricably linked to their Jewish heritage, offering a chance to learn, in depth, reflect and remember the sacrifices that were made there.

Visit warsaw's holocaust memorials and polin, in warsaw, explore the warsaw ghetto memorial, nozyk synagogue, polin and more.

Before World War II, Poland was once home to the largest Jewish community in Europe, which had thrived for centuries in an environment of religious tolerance. Your time in Poland's capital, Warsaw, includes visits to Holocaust memorials including Nozyk Synagogue, the only one of Warsaw's 400 synagogues to survive the war; the memorial to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943; the Umschlagplatz (the "taking away place"), the deportation point for thousands of Warsaw's Jewish Holocaust victims; and the internationally-acclaimed POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, built on the site of the Warsaw Ghetto, which immerses visitors in the 1,000-year history of the Jews in Poland through interactive exhibits, reconstructions, and multimedia.

The Plaszów memorial and more

Your travels in kraków include the former schindler factory and the plaszów concentration camp memorial.

In Kraków's industrial district of Zablocie on the right bank of the Wisla River stands the former enameled vessels factory once operated by German industrialist Oskar Schindler, whose efforts to protect the lives of his Jewish workers was portrayed in the film, "Schindler's List." Today the former factory is a branch of the City of Krakow Historical Museum chronicling life in Krakow under German occupation, and includes several exhibits involving the story of Schindler and his workers. After a brief visit here, you'll continue on to pay your respects at the remains of and memorial to victims of Plaszów, the infamous forced labor camp turned concentration camp from which Schindler managed to save more than a thousand Jewish workers.

A poignant visit to the Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial

Visit the auschwitz-birkenau memorial outside kraków, and tour of the sites of both infamous camps.

Dating back to 1335, a re-emerging Kazimierz – Kraków's historic Jewish Quarter – thrives anew today with cafés and bistros, antique shops, museums and galleries… despite being nearly destroyed by the Nazis during the Holocaust of World War II. On a guided tour of the district, you'll visit the 15th-century Old Synagogue museum where exhibits showcase the history and traditions of Polish Judaism. Then, journey some 40 miles southwest of Kraków for a poignant visit to the memorial and museum at the former extermination camp complex at Auschwitz-Birkenau – including Blocks 4, 5, 7 and 11 at Auschwitz – followed by a tour of the Birkenau site.

Private luncheon cruise in Prague and Q&A with a Holocaust survivor

A private luncheon cruise on prague's vltava river and a q&a with a holocaust survivor.

For many of Europe's greatest cities, the rivers that flow through them are often their lifeblood and their defining feature. So it is with Prague, ancient capital of the Czech Republic, split by the Vltava River but joined by the historic Charles Bridge (and 17 others!). And there's no better or more unique way to experience the heart of this timeless city than aboard a private luncheon cruise on the Vltava through Prague's Lesser Town and Old Town. Also during your time in Prague, you'll be joined by a Czech concentration camp survivor for a poignant discussion of the Holocaust in wartime Czechoslovakia, followed by a memorable Q & A session.

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All the information you need for this journey at your fingertips – day-by-day details, map, hotel descriptions, key highlights and more.

Where you stay is an important part of your journey – with Tauck, accommodations have been handpicked and carefully selected for their location and ambiance, enhancing the destinations you explore. Download accommodation details and your travel plans begin!

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Overnight Accommodations

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Hotel bristol, warsaw.

Warsaw, Poland

Hotel Saski

Kraków, Poland

Kempinski Hotel Corvinus Budapest

Budapest, Hungary

Nights 8-10

Hotel Bristol, Vienna

Vienna, Austria

Nights 11-13

Four Seasons Hotel Prague

Prague, Czech Republic

Your Journey

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About Booking This Tour

Travel Documents

If you are a U.S. citizen traveling internationally, you will need a passport for six months beyond the completion of your Tauck journey to enter Poland, Hungary, Austria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic; however, you do not need a visa for the short duration of this tour.

The U.S. State Department advises that: "All foreigners seeking entry into the Czech Republic must also carry proof of a medical insurance policy contracted for payment of all costs for hospitalization and medical treatment while in the Czech Republic. According to the Czech Government, if you have a health insurance card or an internationally recognized credit card with health insurance included, it will generally be accepted as proof of insurance to enter the country."

Tauck offers insurance that is considered sufficient for this purpose. Please refer to the Tauck Travel Protection Product section above on this webpage for further details.

If you are a citizen of another country traveling internationally, you should contact an embassy or consulate of Poland, Hungary, Austria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic to determine what travel documentation is required.

Please note that longer stays abroad for any purpose may require additional travel documentation.

We recommend that you make at least two photocopies of all the travel documents that you bring with you. Include copies of the photo page of your passport that contains the date of issuance, the date of expiration and your citizenship. Secure one set of copies in the safe in your room while traveling and leave one set behind with someone at home who will assist you in the event your documents are misplaced, lost or stolen.

To facilitate Travel Requirements, destinations are increasingly utilizing online forms that require digital proof that you've successfully completed your submission (via an email, QR code, etc.) To ensure smooth travels and peace of mind, we strongly recommend all guests carry a personal smart phone and sign up for international data plans before traveling overseas.

TRAVELING WITH CHILDREN AS A GUARDIAN: If you are traveling as the guardian of a child/children, we strongly suggest that you carry a letter from both parents of the child authorizing emergency treatment in the event of illness or accident. For travel abroad, many foreign countries have specific entry requirements for children under 21 who are traveling internationally without BOTH parents. (These requirements are in response to the increased incidence of children being abducted and taken abroad.) PLEASE NOTE THAT TAUCK IS NOT RESPONSIBLE for the disruption of travel caused by improper documentation for children traveling without both parents.

How to Book a Tour

See your travel advisor, or call Tauck at 800-468-2825 to make a reservation.

At the time of booking, please have the following information ready for all members of your party:

• Tour Name and Departure Date
• Traveler's Name: First and last names as they appear on your passport or driver's license
• Traveler's Address(es)
• Email Address*
• Traveler's Phone Number(s)*
• Emergency Contact Information: Please provide the name and phone number  of a relative or friend (not travelling with you) whom we could contact during the tour in the unlikely event of an emergency
• Interest in purchasing a travel protection plan (US and Canada)
• Interest in extending your trip by staying in a Tauck recommended hotel before your trip begins or after it ends
• Interest in our specially negotiated airfares

* Required Fields

Deposits & Final Payment

Deposits and fees for the optional Protection Plan or Cancel Fee Waiver [CFW] coverage are due at time of booking.

The deposit amount is $600 per person

Final Payments:

Final Payment is due to Tauck  60  days before departure for lands trips, and  120  days before departure for cruises and rail journeys. If your deposit was made by credit card, final payment will be automatic unless you opted out at time of booking. Bookings without full payment at this time may be subject to cancellation without notice. Failure to make payment will be a considered a cancellation by the guest and all applicable cancellation fees will apply.

Travel Protection Plan

Effective for plans purchased as of July 1, 2021:

Tauck's Guest Protection

Tauck's Guest Protection provides you with cancellation protection before your journey begins as well as insurance benefits while you are traveling. Guest Protection includes the following:

Cancellation Waiver – Provided by Tauck:

Under Tauck's Cancellation Fee Waiver you can cancel your tour for ANY REASON up to the day before departure and receive a money-back refund (except in Extreme Circumstances*) on the land tour cost, based on your original method of payment.

*Extreme Circumstances:  In the event of an act of God, war (whether declared or undeclared), terrorism, accident, natural disaster, outbreak of disease, or other event or circumstance beyond our control that contributes to or results in cancellation rates above our historical cancellation rates in the absence of such event or occurrence, Tauck reserves the right to issue a credit to you in lieu of a money-back refund, applicable to a future Tauck journey.

Travel Insurance Benefits – Underwritten by United States Fire Insurance Company.

• Trip Cancellation –  If you must cancel your tour due to a covered reason, the plan provides coverage for the amount you paid for your travel arrangements. Since the non-insurance cancellation waiver takes care of the land package cancellation fees already, this benefit reimburses the airfare cancellation charges up to the value of your original airfare purchase.
• Trip Interruption –  If you have to interrupt your tour for covered reasons, the plan provides reimbursement to catch up to your tour or return home.
• Travel Delay –  Provides reimbursement for missed, prepaid travel arrangements if you are delayed by a common carrier, natural disaster, unannounced strike, or other reasons as cited in the plan.
• Medical Expense –  Reimburses covered medical expenses incurred in the event you become injured or sick during your trip. 
• Baggage / Personal Effects Protection –  Provides reimbursement in the event your luggage or personal effects are, lost, stolen, damaged or delayed during your trip.
• Worldwide Emergency Assistance Services –  Provided by Carefree Travel Assistance; 24-hour emergency telephone assistance hotline for medical and travel related problems.

The cost of Tauck's Guest Protection is: $559  per person

This protection provides insurance coverage that applies only during the covered trip. You may have coverage from other sources that provides you with similar benefits but may be subject to different restrictions depending upon your other coverages. You may wish to compare the terms of this policy with your existing life, health, home and automobile policies. If you have any questions about your current coverage, call your insurer, insurance agent or broker.

This optional Guest Protection must be requested at time of booking and fee must be included with initial payment. Fees are based on costs as of July 1, 2021, and are subject to change. Details will be provided with written confirmation of your tour reservation. Guest Protection does not protect travel agent commissions. Reimbursements will be made according to original method of payment. The amount of any refund shall be reduced by any recoveries obtained by you from any third parties.

The Guest Protection plan waives cancellation fees outlined below, provided we are notified of cancellation before your tour departs. Tour cancellation fees are waived regardless of reason, without written notice, and Tauck will refund land tour cost.

To obtain your state-specific Certificate of Insurance that contains the complete terms, conditions, limitations and exclusions of the certificate, visit  affinitytravelcert.com/docs/TACGPPINTL .

If You Have To Cancel

If you cancel within 10 days of initial deposit Within the first 10 days after you place your initial deposit, you may cancel your reservation for any reason with no cancellation fees. If you cancel more than 10 days after initial deposit Regardless of reason, cancellations result in costly charges from our travel and hotel providers covering penalties and fees incurred by canceling confirmed bookings. These fees vary from tour to tour. Therefore, the following fees apply.

Cancellation Fees with Tauck's Guest Protection Plan:

Loss of Guest Protection fee, per person 

Cancellation Fees without Tauck's Guest Protection Plan :

60 days or more before departure = $600 per person

59-8 days before departure = $900 per person

7-1 days before departure = $1500 per person

Time of cancellation will be when notice is received in our Wilton Woods, CT office.

In the event of an unforeseen circumstance beyond our control, Tauck reserves the right to amend the cancellation terms outlined herein.

Note:  All Guests, regardless of residency, who book a Tauck journey have the option of purchasing the Cancellation Waiver provided by Tauck in the event they need to cancel their trip after making their reservations. Tauck's Guest Protection, which includes both the Cancellation Fee Waiver and the Travel Insurance Benefits and Assistance Services described above, is not available to residents of Puerto Rico.

Travel Terms and Conditions

Click here  to find Tauck's Travel Terms & Conditions.

Travel Requirements For This Tour

Luggage Handling and Restrictions

AIRFARE: Airfare to and from this destination is not included in the journey cost. If purchasing your air elsewhere, it is very important to provide us with your confirmed arriving and departing flight information no later than 3 weeks before your arrival date. Flight information can be submitted to Tauck (or verified, if you've already provided it) in the My Account section of Tauck.com.

TAUCK AIRPORT TRANSFERS are included at the start and end of the journey between the airport and the Tauck hotel. Airport transfers are available for any pre tour or post tour hotel stays immediately consecutive to the tour, providing flight information is received in the Tauck office no later than three weeks in advance. Details on locating your transfer upon arrival to the tour start city will be included in your final documents.

AIRLINES and CHECKED LUGGAGE: Due to space limitations during your Tauck journey, we ask that you please limit your checked luggage to one average-size suitcase per person. Besides complying with the Tauck restriction noted above, you should also be sure to research and comply with all airline baggage restrictions relating to your flights to and from your Tauck journey. Airlines have become much more strict in enforcing size and weight limits in recent years, and are free to revise luggage policies without notice. Researching and complying with airline luggage restrictions is the responsibility of the guest, and Tauck cannot be held responsible for any costs or disruptions to travel caused by the failure to research and comply with airline policies. PLEASE NOTE that if you are booked on a tour that includes on-tour flights, the checked luggage weight restrictions for these flights may be lower than the weight restrictions for your international flights.

Checked Luggage – General

Due to space restrictions, we ask that you please limit your checked luggage to one suitcase per person weighing no more than 50 pounds (23 kg) and with overall dimensions (length + width + height) not exceeding 62 inches (158 cm).

Besides complying with the Tauck restriction noted above, you should also be sure to research and comply with all airline baggage restrictions relating to your flights to and from your Tauck journey. Airlines have become much more strict in enforcing size and weight limits in recent years, and luggage exceeding airline standards for size or weight may result in expensive overage fees or other consequences.

Airlines are free to revise luggage policies without notice, and certain airlines have different baggage allowances for different classes of service. Researching and complying with airline luggage restrictions is the responsibility of the guest, and Tauck cannot be held responsible for any costs or disruptions to travel caused by the failure to research and comply with airline policies.

Tauck luggage tags will be provided by your Tauck Director on Day 1 of your itinerary. Please do not attach a Tauck luggage tag to any carry-on items, as the Tauck tags designate luggage that is to be handled and transferred by ground operators and hotel staff during your journey.

Carry-on Luggage - General

Although oversize bags and wheeled, carry-on luggage are popular for airline travel, they are often not convenient or appropriate for motor coach travel or for many on-tour flights. Most modern sightseeing motor coaches offer limited space for numerous or larger items. Space under seats or in the overhead rack is typically small, and designed to accommodate items like coats, hats, purses, and small camera bags, etc.

For your day-to-day travel while on tour, we recommend that you limit your hand luggage to a small, soft-sided carry-on piece, and that you bring only those items you need handy during the day such as make-up, medications, cameras, film, etc. Items too large to fit under the motor coach seat or on the overhead rack must be stored in the luggage bays beneath the motor coach, and may be inaccessible during daytime travel.

Health, Safety and Mobility

HEALTH CONSIDERATIONS

Please check with your health insurance provider to determine whether you are covered while traveling. If you will not be covered under your current policy, we strongly suggest that you arrange for adequate coverage while on tour.

If you have a medical condition that might limit your participation in activities, please consult your physician for pre-departure health advice and notify us as soon as possible, if you have not already done so. We will advise your Tauck Director accordingly.

VACCINATIONS  

If you are a resident of the U.S. traveling internationally, no vaccinations are currently required for travel to Poland, Hungary, Austria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. For complete vaccination and inoculation information, contact your physician, the public health service in your area, or the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A. The Travelers' Health Section of the CDC operates a 24-hour "Travelers' Health Hotline" at 800-232-4636 (toll-free in the U.S.). You may also log on to the CDC website by clicking here .

If you are a resident of another country traveling internationally , please contact an embassy or consulate of Poland, Hungary, Austria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic to determine what vaccination(s) may be required for your travel.

SPECIAL DIETARY REQUESTS

The restaurants, hotels, caterers and numerous other partners we work with all do their best to accommodate special dietary requests from Tauck guests. However, given the diverse nature of those food providers (from small wineries to grand hotels to world-famous restaurants in more than 70 countries worldwide), some of our partners are better able than others to accommodate such requests. We therefore cannot guarantee that all dietary requests can be accommodated at every meal. Also, please note that where dietary requests can be accommodated, choices will frequently be limited.

To enjoy this tour, you should be in good health and able to walk reasonable distances, often over unpaved and uneven surfaces. Some of the most memorable sightseeing can only be accomplished on foot. The amount of walking you do, however, is at your discretion.

PLEASE NOTE:  We regret that this Tauck itinerary cannot accommodate wheelchairs or motorized scooters.  Likewise, we regret that we're unable to provide individual assistance to guests with walking difficulties or other personal needs.  The responsibility of the Tauck Director who accompanies your trip is to ensure that the larger group enjoys a relaxing and informative journey, and he or she cannot be relied upon to provide ongoing individual assistance to any one guest.  Guests requiring such individualized assistance must be accompanied by an able-bodied companion who can provide it. While drinking water is generally safe at all our hotels, bottled water will be available wherever the local water is not fit to drink. We also provide bottled water on the motor coaches.

Reading List

We have compiled a reading list of recommended books to give you more information about the destinations you will be traveling to on your upcoming journey!

You can view the reading list  here.

The weather in this region of Eastern Europe is temperate and unpredictable. Generally, average high temperatures range from 54 to 75°F (12 to 24°C) from April through June and 60 to 85°F (16 to 29°C) from July through September. Rain falls fairly evenly throughout the year, with the heaviest amounts arriving during the summer. Prague averages 50% more rainfall per year than any of the other cities visited.

To read about current weather conditions, we suggest you log on to the Internet website by clicking here.

What To Pack

Bringing the right clothing for your trip is important – we've partnered with New Headings who provide an "easy-to-use, one-stop shop" for your Tauck travel needs, specifically selected for this trip. Click here to visit their site .

The weather in this region of Eastern Europe is temperate and unpredictable. Your journey is designed with leisure in mind. Dress for comfort and convenience with a wardrobe that is adaptable and allows for layering. Generally, during the day, casual, comfortable, cotton clothing is recommended. Cool weather at higher elevations or at night will require warmer, layered clothing.

In Europe, especially in finer restaurants, it is generally customary to dress somewhat formally. Slacks or a dress for women and a jacket for men are acceptable dining attire. It is advisable to avoid wearing jeans, sneakers or shorts for dinner. You may also wish to dress up a bit for the welcome reception and the farewell dinner, but by all means be comfortable.

You will find a hair dryer located in your guest room. Irons and ironing boards are available on request. Valet laundry and dry cleaning services are also available for a fee.

We recommend that you pack an adequate supply of your prescription medication in its original container to last through your entire journey, together with a copy of your doctor's prescription or a letter from your health-care provider on office stationery explaining that the medication has been prescribed for you, a list of the generic names of your medication, your travel documents and a change of clothing in your carry-on bag to avoid any inconvenience in the event that your flight or luggage is delayed.

Following is a list of recommended items to pack for your trip to Eastern Europe:

• Casual daytime wear – shorts, slacks, long and short-sleeved shirts
• An optional jacket and tie for men
• Casually elegant evening wear for ladies
• Sunglasses, sunscreen, hat
• A light sweater or jacket for higher elevations or a breezy night
• Binoculars (7x50 preferably)
• Insect repellent
• Camera, lenses, batteries, memory cards and chargers
• Lightweight, comfortable, sturdy walking shoes that have already been broken-in
• Travel alarm clock/cell phone with alarm function (many hotels do not have clocks in the rooms)
• Rain poncho and collapsible umbrella
• Reusable zipper-lock bags or other waterproof bags
• Daypack for camera equipment
• Sundries and toiletries that may be difficult to find en route
• Copies of your travel documents that should be secured in the safe in your hotel room while traveling

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Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust

36 Battery Place, New York, NY 10280 - United States

646-437-4202

Celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2022, the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust is New York’s contribution to the global responsibility to always remember. The Museum is committed to the crucial mission of educating diverse visitors about Jewish life before, during, and after the Holocaust. The third-largest Holocaust museum in the world and the second-largest in North America, the Museum of Jewish Heritage anchors the southernmost tip of Manhattan, completing the cultural and educational landscape it shares with the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. The Museum of Jewish Heritage maintains a collection of almost 40,000 artifacts, photographs, documentary films, and survivor testimonies and contains classrooms, a 375-seat theater (Edmond J. Safra Hall), special exhibition galleries, a resource center for educators, and a memorial art installation, Garden of Stones, designed by internationally acclaimed sculptor Andy Goldsworthy. The Museum is the home of National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene and JewishGen. The Museum’s current offerings include The Holocaust: What Hate Can Do, the Museum's major new exhibition offering a timely and expansive presentation of Holocaust history, now on view in its main galleries, and Boris Lurie: Nothing To Do But To Try, a first of its kind exhibition on the 20th-century artist and Holocaust survivor on view through November 6, 2022.

Each year, the Museum presents over 60 public programs, connecting our community in person and virtually through lectures, book talks, concerts, and more. For more info visit: mjhnyc.org/events. The Museum receives general operating support from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and New York State Council on the Arts.

The Museum’s current offerings include The Holocaust: What Hate Can Do, the Museum's major new exhibition offering a timely and expansive presentation of Holocaust history, now on view in its main galleries, and Boris Lurie: Nothing To Do But To Try, a first of its kind exhibition on the 20th-century artist and Holocaust survivor on view through November 6, 2022.

Participation in Museum Day is open to any tax-exempt or governmental museum or cultural venue on a voluntary basis. Smithsonian magazine encourages museum visitation, but is not responsible for and does not endorse the content of the participating museums and cultural venues, and does not subsidize museums that participate.

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Museum of Jewish Heritage

Financial District & Lower Manhattan

This evocative waterfront museum explores all aspects of modern Jewish identity and culture, from religious traditions to artistic accomplishments. The museum's core exhibition covers three themed floors: Jewish Life a Century Ago, Jewish Renewal and The War Against the Jews – a detailed exploration of the Holocaust through thousands of personal artifacts, photographs, documentary films and survivor testimony. Also commemorating Holocaust victims is the external installation Garden of Stones , a narrow pathway of 18 boulders supporting living trees.

The building itself consists of six sides, symbolizing the Star of David and the six million Jews who perished in WWII. Exhibitions aside, the venue also hosts films, music concerts, lecture series and special holiday performances. Frequent, free workshops for families with children are also on offer, while on-site LOX at Café Bergson serves light food, including lox (smoked salmon) in intriguing flavors such as grapefruit and gin and pastrami spice (mains $13 to $16).

The museum is closed on Saturday and major Jewish holidays, so check the website's holiday schedule before visiting. Be aware that some temporary exhibitions require an extra admission ticket.

36 Battery Pl. Financial District

Get In Touch

646-437-4202

https://www.mjhnyc.org

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Jewish Heritage Travel: A Guide to Central and Eastern Europe Paperback – January 1, 1992

There is a newer edition of this item:.

• Print length 320 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Wiley
• Publication date January 1, 1992
• Dimensions 5.91 x 0.79 x 8.86 inches
• ISBN-10 0471546127
• ISBN-13 978-0471546122
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From library journal, from the publisher, product details.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Wiley; 1st edition (January 1, 1992)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0471546127
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0471546122
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.91 x 0.79 x 8.86 inches

About the author

Ruth ellen gruber.

Award-winning American writer, editor and photographer Ruth Ellen Gruber has chronicled European Jewish issues for more than three decades and works on cultural topics including an ongoing project called "Sauerkraut Cowboys" documenting how Europeans embrace the mythology of the American Wild West. She is the coordinator of the web site www.jewish-heritage-europe.eu and in 2011 was awarded Poland's Knight's Cross of the Order of Merit, one of Poland's highest honors for foreign citizens. She was the Distinguished Visiting Chair in Jewish Studies at the College of Charleston, SC.

Ruth coined the term "Virtually Jewish" to describe the way the so-called "Jewish space" in Europe is often filled by non-Jews: klezmer music, culture festivals, museums, tourism, and kitsch as well as serious and sensitive study and involvement.

Her books include National Geographic Jewish Heritage Travel: A Guide to Eastern Europe, (2007), Letters from Europe (and Elsewhere) (2008), Virtually Jewish: Reinventing Jewish Culture in Europe (2002), and Upon the Doorposts of Thy House: Jewish Life in East-Central Europe, Yesterday and Today (1994). She was the co-author with Amalie R. Rothschild of Live at the Fillmore East: A Photographic Memoir (1999) and has contributed chapters to other books.

A former foreign correspondent for United Press International, she has written for scholarly journals as well as media publications including the New York Times, Tablet Magazine, The Forward, Hadassah Magazine, the New Leader, the London Independent and many more. She has received a Guggenheim Fellowship and grants and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Hadassah Brandeis Institute, the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, the Autry National Center/Institute for the Study of the American West, and others.

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Europe's Jewish Heritage Jewish history and culture along the rivers

Europe's Jewish Heritage

We're proud to offer a collection of itineraries that enable you to explore Jewish history and culture with our Jewish Heritage Program, the only one of its kind on the rivers. Our in-depth itineraries dive into Europe's enduring Jewish legacy with visits to museums, memorials, synagogues and more.

Europe's Jewish Revival

The 2,000-year-old history of the Jewish people in Europe is an inspiring one, rife with tragedy and discrimination, as well as the endurance and profound sense of community that survived it all.

Uniworld’s Jewish Heritage cruises pay homage to this legacy. Our distinctive program showcases Jewish communities, highlighting positive developments and locals who are helping Jewish culture grow and thrive in the modern day.

While visits to Holocaust memorials, Jewish museums, and WWII sites are an important part of this journey, our aim is to tell the whole story—the story of a culture that flourished for centuries despite the odds.

We’ve designed our Jewish Heritage theme cruises to serve as cross-cultural “bridges of understanding,” both for those looking to explore their roots and anyone who would enjoy an immersive journey through an integral aspect of European history. Please note: some sites may be closed for inside viewing during the High Holidays, Passover and other significant events.

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From Jeremiah through to Maimonides and the Lavon Affair: the history of Egypt's Jewish Community

Home to some of judaism's greatest thinkers, the land of the nile's once-bustling jewish community left behind 2,500 years of rich cultural heritage, from antiquity through maimonides in medieval times and the ultimate expulsion of the jews under the nasser regime.

Jewish People to Egypt dates back to 1000 BCE

"Protected persons” under Muslim rule

synagogues in Cairo and Alexandria were torched

A severely diverse community

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WJT - The ultimate Jewish trip advisor!

Moscow Metro – Part 2

Have you been to Moscow ? In all seriousness, they have the prettiest metro stations I have ever seen and I still can’t believe how immaculate and lovely every station was. There are several different stations pictured below and this is the second of several posts where I will show you the beauty of the Moscow Metro. Did you see part 1 ?  There really isn’t much to say because I think the pictures speak for themselves. I have so many more pictures to share with you!

Have you ever been to Moscow? Is it someplace you have thought about visiting?

She speaks fluent English, French and Spanish, and works for a major airline. And guess what? She’s also a licensed elementary teacher and has an MBA.

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This is the train STATION?? Oh my god… So gorgeous. Moscow has never even crossed my mind as a possible travel destination but this is gorgeous…Hmmm… LOL

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Jewish Calendar 2021 Elektrostal’, Moscow Oblast, Russia

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Statement by Minister Khera on Passover

From: Canadian Heritage

The Government of Canada issues a statement to mark Passover

OTTAWA, April 22, 2024

Tonight at sundown, the first of the eight days of Passover begins. Also known as Pesach, this festival symbolizes freedom, redemption and hope after oppression.

Passover commemorates the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt through the Exodus. Jewish families and friends gather around the Seder—a ritual that brings the Pesach story to life. During this time, Jewish communities read the Haggadah and share foods that have become highly symbolic for the Jewish people over the centuries, such as matzah, marror and haroset.

In a time when division is all too common, Passover is an opportunity to remember the strength of community in times of adversity. While this holiday is synonymous with hope and liberation, we must not ignore the alarming rise of antisemitism in Canada. During Passover and throughout the year, let us continue to rise above the prejudices that contribute to hatred and discrimination, and embrace the values of inclusion, solidarity and respect for differences that make us stronger and more united as Canadians.

We wish Jewish communities across Canada and around the world a Passover filled with contemplation and gratitude.

Chag Pesach Sameach !

For more information (media only), please contact:

Laurent de Casanove Press Secretary Office of the Minister of Diversity, Inclusion and Persons with Disabilities [email protected] 819-360-0693

Media Relations Canadian Heritage 819-994-9101 1-866-569-6155 [email protected]

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Joan Nathan is more than a Jewish cookbook writer. Her new memoir reveals why

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The morning after Joan Nathan’s 80th birthday party last year — a long-table Palm Springs gathering on the grounds of a hacienda-style compound where Samuel Goldwyn, Lucille Ball and Judy Garland are said to have lived at various times — guests from the nighttime celebration were invited to brunch at the midcentury showcase Abernathy House.

The partygoers who had come from Denmark, Germany and cities across the U.S. poured themselves coffee and took in the glamorous poolside setting after celebrating Nathan the previous evening with testimonials and dinner made with the help of her family, friends and colleagues. Grilled cabbage with spicy sour agave nectar from D.C.’s Centrolina chef Amy Brandwein; Lulu chef David Tanis’ citrus, olive and fennel salad; lamb sent from Philadelphia by Zahav chef Michael Solomonov; a new Tehachapi Heritage Grain Project rice variety from Anson Mills’ Glenn Roberts; Sherry Yard’s knockout birthday cake infused with passion fruit curd, plus many other courses. The toasts and dancing went late into the night.

The best cookbooks for spring 2024

The best new cookbooks of the season are cropping up like the superblooms of spring. They’re getting us into the kitchen to make Joan Nathan’s pecan rolls, José Andrés chilled yogurt soup, marinated feta with grapefruit and spice-roasted tomatoes from Kismet and more.

April 10, 2024

Now, with the arrival of the California desert morning, in walked Nathan, bright-eyed and bearing sweets. Surrounded by the aroma of cinnamon, sugar and toasted nuts, the author of “Jewish Cooking in America” set down platters of schnecken she’d made herself and watched with satisfaction as the group descended on the sticky pecan rolls still warm from being reheated in the oven.

This is a woman who almost never arrives empty-handed. Even at her own birthday brunch.

1. Hot pecan rolls: Joan Nathan, in her kitchen, turns over a batch of her Ann Arbor schnecken after they’ve baked so that they’re served with the pecans on top. 2. After the dough proofs, the schnecken are placed bottom-side-up atop the pecans and then baked. 3. Hot and ready to eat. (Deb Lindsey / For The Times)

And, of course, her schnecken — “snails” in German — come with a story or three. Schnecken recipes have appeared in a few of Nathan’s 12 cookbooks, sometimes tracing the historic evolution of the rolled sweet and sometimes describing the bakers who either shared their recipes or inspired her own recipes.

But the cookbook with Nathan’s latest version of schnecken is one that for the first time fully focuses on her own story, from inquisitive schoolgirl to the world’s preeminent expert on Jewish food.

At the L.A. Times Festival of Books

Food Memoir: Cooks with Books. Joan Nathan (“ My Life in Recipes: Food, Family, and Memories ”), Rosa Jackson (“ Niçoise: Market-Inspired Cooking from France’s Sunniest City ”) and Klancy Miller ( “For the Culture: Phenomenal Black Women and Femmes in Food: Interviews, Inspiration, and Recipes ”) discuss their books with L.A. Times Food general manager Laurie Ochoa. Free but tickets required . Saturday, April 20, 4 p.m. at USC’s Ray Stark Family Theatre.

Of course, like any Joan Nathan book, “My Life in Recipes” is packed with stories about other people’s lives.

Zelig-like in her ability to observe notable people and events in the worlds of food and politics, but hardly ordinary herself even as she gently but persistently cajoles secret family recipes from home cooks around the world, Nathan’s life reflects the ever-broadening tastes of the American palate.

Consider that when she was living in New York and working for the Mayor’s Office of Midtown Planning and Development during the Abraham Beame administration, Nathan was one of the driving forces behind the 1974 founding of the still-running Ninth Avenue International Food Festival , possibly New York’s first public gathering for such a multiplicity of culinary cultures. At the time, 22 different cuisines were said to be represented in businesses along the avenue. A who’s who of food world figures were involved in the inaugural event, including Madhur Jaffrey, Edna Lewis and Diana Kennedy, who, as Nathan writes in “My Life,” “stood outside Alps Drugstore demonstrating guacamole.”

Though the title of Nathan’s first cookbook, “The Flavor of Jerusalem” (written with Judy Stacey Goldman), might lead some to think it was a book devoted only to Jewish recipes, the subtitle — “International Recipes From the Many Cuisines of the Sacred City” — reveals her lifelong search for what binds many disparate cultures together.

Her 2005 book, “The New American Cooking,” examined how immigrants shaped our tastes for the better. In “King Solomon’s Table” (2017), she explored the food of the Jewish diaspora, including Salvadoran latkes and Brazilian-Belarusian grouper fish. And her definitive 1994 book “Jewish Cooking in America,” which also became a PBS series, not only told stories about cholents, kugels and latkes but of the Cajun, Moroccan, Syrian and other countries’ influences on the Jewish table.

Joan Nathan talks immigrant food and a recipe for matzo brei chilaquiles from her new cookbook, ‘King Solomon’s Table’

Cookbook author and journalist Joan Nathan needed all the experience she’s accumulated throughout her career tracing foods of the Jewish diaspora to take on her latest project.

April 7, 2017

She might be a potent blend of her mother’s desire to “embrace the new” as Nathan describes the New York-born Pearl Gluck and her father Ernest’s tether to “the Old World that he left behind” when he came to the U.S. in 1929 — early enough to get many but not all of his family members out of Germany before the killing of Jews in concentration camps began. For all of his ties to Germany, however, Nathan’s father loved to eat out in the Chinese and Italian restaurants of Providence where the family spent many years. All of which is to say Nathan’s work exudes a respect for tradition — leading Jews of many different political convictions and cooking abilities to trust her when they need holiday recipes — as well as an openness and even eagerness to learn and experience “the new.”

This might be why, after studying in France and Italy, then working in New York at the Mission of the Malagasy Republic (now Madagascar) to the United Nations, she was drawn to Israel and found herself working for Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek, a complicated politician known for his advocacy of Israeli-Palestinian coexistence. Through her job as foreign press attache, she acquired a Rolodex of contacts and met several dignitaries. Among them, Barbra Streisand and human rights activist Elie Wiesel, who, as she writes in “My Life,” asked her what she did “to ward off depression.” She told him that she usually tried to find a new walk in the city. “When I asked him the same question, he replied, ‘With me, it’s not so easy.’”

Her time working for Kollek is what set Nathan on her path as a cookbook writer intent on finding the human connections to the recipes she published.

“I saw how food — and not just food — but eating together, eating at somebody’s table, no matter who it was, it’s a way of saying, I like your food. I like you,” she says over the phone. “People get much more relaxed. I learned that from Teddy Kollek. He was able to break down so many barriers through eating with people.”

A new Mediterranean cookbook from José Andrés celebrates ‘dishes that belong to the people’

José Andrés spends much of his time contemplating the unifying nature of food, both in and out of the world’s most dangerous conflict and disaster zones.

One of the best stories Nathan tells in “My Life in Recipes” centers on a lunch she and Kollek shared with the leader of an Arab village between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. After “Turkish coffee infused with whole cardamom pods,” Kollek delivered the news that Jerusalem would not be paying for the paved road the village wanted because it was too expensive.

Then the mezze arrived — Bedouin cheese, hummus “drizzled with olive oil from the village,” baba ghanouj, kubbeh, “just-from-the-oven pita” and arak. The leader asked again for his road. Again, Kollek said no.

“Undaunted, the mukhtar nodded again, and out came the main dish ... one of the great Palestinian dishes from the city of Nablus,” Nathan writes.

It was mousakhan, chicken “roasted with cumin, cinnamon and pine nuts, with tons of sauteed onions colored pink by sumac ... served on a large pita bread soaked in olive oil while being warmed in the oven.”

“As we feasted, something remarkable happened: We forgot to be uncomfortable. ... By the time we had eaten our fill of chicken and were sipping our mint tea, everyone had gotten what they wanted.”

The mayor got “one of the finest meals of his life.” The village got their road. “And me? Well, I got a lifelong career. I also got my favorite chicken dish.”

All these years later, of course, with cease-fire talks between Israel and Hamas breaking down, civilian killings continuing to rise in Gaza and Israeli hostages still being held, such a meal is hard to imagine today.

“People were talking to each other then,” Nathan says.

Back in 2001, just after the publication of her book, “The Foods of Israel Today,” Nathan wrote a story for this paper in which she said, “I have visited Jewish Israeli home cooks of Moroccan, Libyan and Iraqi backgrounds. ... I have sat on the floor in Druze, Syrian Alawite and Kurdish kitchens, molding kibbeh. ... I have visited Palestinian villages where I have tasted sun-kissed figs plucked straight from the trees and Israeli-Arab villages where celebratory pancakes are baked in a tabun oven set into the earth and served stuffed with candied sesame seeds. ... Sadly, I could not have had those first experiences today. There is too much turmoil in the country that tears apart human relations.”

Yet her dream, “that Jews and Arabs can share the bounty of this land that they both claim,” she wrote then, was still strong.

Now, she says over the phone, “It’s much worse. I think fear on both sides is just too much. There are a lot of friendships between Jews and Arabs that are no longer. It’s just a sad time in our history.”

I ask Nathan if she still thinks food can bring people together.

“Well, I think sitting down can,” she says. “A week before Oct. 7, a friend invited me [to dinner with] a Palestinian family and we talked about things. It was amazing. After that dinner, the wife and I went walking. But after Oct. 7 happened, I just couldn’t call her. Then her husband reached out and said he had been working with a Jewish-Arab choir. Through this whole time, this choir has been practicing in Jerusalem and now they were coming over to the States. You know, all he wanted was people to come to the concert. And I thought, what an amazing thing to help support. ... How can that not break down barriers if you talk to people?”

The Recipes

Joan Nathan's Ann Arbor Schnecken (Sticky Pecan Rolls)

Joan Nathan's Passover Pecan Lemon Torte With Lemon Curd Filling

Palestinian Mousakhan

Find Joan Nathan at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books on Saturday, April 20, 4 p.m., at USC’s Ray Stark Family Theatre, where she’ll discuss food memoirs with Rosa Jackson and Klancy Miller.

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Maurice El Medioni, Pianist Who Fused Jewish and Arab Music, Dies at 95

An Algerian, he combined the music of his Sephardic roots with Arab traditions, incorporating boogie-woogie and other influences to create a singular style.

By Adam Nossiter

Maurice El Medioni, an Algerian-born pianist who fused Jewish and Arab musical traditions into a singular style he called “Pianoriental,” died on March 25 in Herzliya, on Israel’s central coast. He was 95.

His death, at a nursing home, was confirmed by his manager, Yvonne Kahan.

Mr. Medioni was one of the last representatives of a once vibrant Jewish-Arab musical culture that flourished in North Africa before and after World War II and proudly drew from both heritages.

In Oran, the Algerian port where he was born, he was sought after by Arabs and Jews alike to play at weddings and at banquets in the years between the war and 1961, when the threat of violence and Algeria’s new independence from France drove Mr. Medioni and thousands of other Jews to flee.

With his bounding octaves, his quasi-microtonal shifts in the style of traditional Arab music, his cheeky rumba rhythms learned from American G.I.s after the 1942 Allied invasion, and his roots in the Jewish-Arab musical heritage called andalous, Mr. Medioni had honed a distinctive piano style by his early 20s.

The singers he accompanied often alternated phrases in French and Arabic in a style known as “Françarabe.” His uncle Messaoud El Medioni was a famous musician known as Saoud L’Oranais , a leading practitioner of andalous, who was deported by the Germans to the Sobibor death camp in 1943 and killed there.

The Medioni style remained buried and nearly forgotten for four decades as Mr. Medioni pursued his trade as a men’s tailor. He kept it alive in private, performing at weddings and bar mitzvahs after he was forced to flee to France. Then, in 1996, when he was 68, he released a breakthrough album, “Café Oran.” Its success led to a belated second life as a star of so-called world music — concert tours in Europe, appearances in documentary films and a major role as mentor to a new generation of Israeli musicians anxious to recover the musical heritage of their Sephardic heritage.

In 2017, he published “ A Memoir: From Oran to Marseilles (1938-1992) ,” which reproduces Mr. Medioni’s cursive scrawl in French, alongside a printed English translation.

Mr. Medioni has “come to symbolize something, the last of his generation,” said Christopher Silver, a specialist in the Jewish musical tradition of North Africa, who teaches at McGill University in Montreal.

The British radio broadcaster Max Reinhardt wrote in the introduction to the memoir, “Maurice is a compulsive and innately hip musician, always searching for other music and musical styles, part of a group of Muslim and Jewish musicians who quite naturally in the 1940s and ’50s forged a new music together in North Africa.”

Two events were decisive in the shaping of Pianoriental, and both occurred early in Mr. Medioni’s life, as he grew up poor in Oran’s Jewish quarter, Derb. (“One shared toilet for our whole floor on which there were six apartments,” he wrote in his memoir.)

The first was his encounter with the American G.I.s in occupied Oran on Nov. 8, 1942, when he was 14. “From the moment the Yanks arrived in Oran, our family’s way of life completely changed,” he wrote.

The Americans introduced him to a rollicking boogie-woogie style that pushed the French pop songs on which he had been raised to the background.

A street-smart young teenager, he became indispensable to the Americans, taking them to bars and brothels.

“I would crisscross the nine piano bars,” Mr. Medioni told an interviewer in 2015 . “When one of the pianos was free, I would play all the American hits which I’d learned, and that would attract the G.I.s.”

He recalled being awed by the Black American jazz musicians he saw perform. “I saw them improvise. I was open-mouthed,” he said. “When I came home I would try to reproduce what they did.”

The second decisive event occurred in 1947, when three young Arab musicians walked into a bar where he was drinking, and they all began to sing and play together.

“That was how the first modern Arabic music group was born, a group which would make me the most popular Jewish guy amongst all the Muslims in the whole Orani province,” Mr. Medioni wrote. His synthesis of jazz, boogie-woogie, andalous and Arab rai and chaabi — two forms of Algerian popular music from the streets, in some cases characterized by lengthy narrative song — was born.

“There are few figures that are trying to play this oriental piano,” Mr. Silver said. “Medioni is doing it very well, with the left hand and the right hand. He is trying to update, modernize, and still have it be oriental or Arab music.”

Maurice El Medioni was born on Oct. 18, 1928, in Oran, in what was then French Algeria. His father, Jacob Medioni, ran the Café Saoud with his brother Messaoud and died when Maurice was 7, leaving the boy’s mother, Fany Medioni, to raise four children — three boys and a girl — in poverty.

His musical gifts were apparent early; almost entirely self-taught, he honed his skills on a piano that his brother had brought home from a flea market. The war intensified the family’s hardship, and all the Jewish children were expelled from Oran’s schools by the French authorities. “We were short of everything,” Mr. Medioni wrote.

The invasion by the Americans in 1942 was “a deliverance for all the Jews of North Africa,” he wrote. And by the mid-1950s, he was not only a successful tailor among Oran’s Muslims but also a much sought-after musician, as was his brother Alex. “All the Arab orchestras wanted to work with me,” he wrote. “‘These are our guys,’ is what they used to say.”

But as Algeria’s war of independence intensified, one of his original Arab music partners was shot by revolutionaries, and Mr. Medioni stopped playing at Arab celebrations.

In the spring of 1961, he and his young family boarded a boat for Israel; six months later, they left for France. Years of struggle followed, as Mr. Medioni established tailor shops, first in Paris and then in Marseille. But he continued to play at weddings and galas with stars from the Jewish-Arab North African music scene that had by then been transplanted to France. They included Lili Boniche, Line Monty, Reinette l’Oranaise and Samy Elmaghribi.

At the end of the 1980s, Mr. Medioni recorded himself on a cassette in his living room in Marseille and sent it to a producer at Buda Musique, a specialist record label in Paris. That was the beginning of his revival.

After the “Café Oran” record, there was a concert at the Barbican in London in 2000 with Mr. Boniche; a tour with a well-known British Klezmer band, Oi Va Voi; and an album recorded in New York with the Cuban percussionist Roberto Rodriguez. Mr. Medioni played a leading role in “El Gusto,” a 2012 documentary and album project about the reunion of an orchestra of older Jewish and Arab musicians from Algeria.

In 2011, he moved to Israel with his wife, Juliette (Amsellem) Medioni, to be close to his children. He continued to record and perform, notably with the Mediterranean-Andalusian Orchestra Ashkelon.

His wife died in 2022. He is survived by his children, Yacov, Marilyne and Michael, and five grandchildren.

Mr. Medioni was acutely aware that he might very well have been the last of his breed. In a 2003 interview included in the appendix of his memoir, he told the British musician Jonathan Walton that he doubted andalous would survive him.

“It won’t,” he said. “Maurice Medioni is telling you that it won’t. It will only be listened to from time to time by people who have some nostalgia, and by youngsters who love their parents.”

Adam Nossiter has been bureau chief in Kabul, Paris, West Africa and New Orleans, and is now a Domestic Correspondent on the Obituaries desk. More about Adam Nossiter