The only book you will ever need to travel the Jewish world…Half – travel guide, half – cultural history…Shaland takes you by the hand and delivers Jewish heart…
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Two and a half millennia ago, a small party of Jews exploring new trading routes for King Solomon settled in the south of India, and lived there peacefully until today. During the ancient Roman period, many Jewish merchants traveled to China over the Silk Route and some made it their permanent home. Before the Edict of Expulsion in 1492, Sicily was home to over 50 Jewish communities, possibly numbering 50,000 people. So, how did the Diaspora bring these wandering Jews to so many places around the globe? And why did Jews live happily in India and China for centuries and not experience antisemitism, while the story of the Jews in Europe went from persecutions and massacres to unspeakable horrors of the Holocaust? Finally, why do we see the rise of antisemitism and violence again in the 21st century?
You will find answers to these questions and much more in the current edition of Irene Shaland’s artfully illustrated book The Dao of Being Jewish and Other Stories. She collected these fascinating stories while visiting ten countries in Europe, Asia, and Africa and interviewing the locals in their homes, synagogues, and even cemeteries. Now, Irene Shaland’s book, replete with her husband’s photos, takes you on your own exciting journey of discovery from Austria and the Czech Republic to Scandinavia, from India and China to Sicily and Sardinia, and from East Africa to Stalinist Russia.
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| About the Author |
Irene Shaland is an internationally-published art and travel writer, educator, and lecturer. She is the author of two books and numerous magazine articles published in the U.S.A., Canada, Kenya, and U.K. Her lectures on cultural travel are enthusiastically received by audiences in museums, libraries, synagogues, and theaters throughout the country. Irene and her husband, travel photographer Alex reside in Lyndhurst, Ohio.
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| Table of Contents |
Acknowledgments
Foreword: L’Dor Va’DorChapter 1: Austria
Stones Fill the Void: Visiting the Murdered Jews of Vienna
Chapter 2: Czech Republic
Seeking Kafka in Prague
Chapter 3: India
Jewish History Pilgrims in Search of a Happy Jewish Story
Chapter 4: China
The Dao of Being Jewish
Chapter 5: Norway
Exploring Scandinavian Jewish Narrative
Chapter 6: Sweden
The Country of Raul Wallenberg through the Eyes of a Jewish Traveler
Chapter 7: Denmark
Anti-Semitism and Violence in the Righteous among the Nations
Chapter 8: Palermo, Sicily
The Gateway to the Sicilian Jewish Story
Chapter 9: Siracusa, Sicily
The City Where Jewish History Comes to Life
Chapter 10: Taormina, Sicily
“A Little Patch of Paradise”
Chapter 11: Catania, Sicily
The Medieval Castle and the Menorah
Chapter 12: Sardinia
Discovering Jewish Connections in Cagliari and Nora
Chapter 13: Africa
Tracking Jewish Stories from the Streets of Nairobi to the Plains of Serengeti
Chapter 14: The Soviet Union
Our Narratives, Ourselves
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