Monday, December 31, 2012

London, my article in the Jerusalem Post

A city washed in history
By BEN G. FRANK, SPECIAL TO THE JERUSALEM POST
12/29/2012 20:55

From Covent Garden to The British Museum, a visit to London proves to be much more than Big Ben and the changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace.

LondonPhoto: Wikimedia
“London is not said to be in England, but rather, England to be in London.”

London – as in Shakespeare’s day, London remains a world city. That’s why the English today are leaving the countryside and flocking to the capital in droves. And even though they constantly complain that the city is extremely expensive, they’ll tell you, “I wouldn’t live anywhere else.”

Moreover, besides the expense, one has to contend with the weather.

The whole world knows the English climate is “fickle.” And indeed people still carry an umbrella even on sunny days. In the words of the great English novelist Charles Dickens, when you come upon a day when “up came the sun, steaming all over London,” rejoice!

LONDON IS divided into 32 boroughs, each with its own character, such as the City of Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea. I picked Covent Garden, where I stopped at Radisson Blue, Edwardian London, (www.radissonblu-edwardian.com), a refurbished and popular hotel located right in the heart of this famous section and situated on a delightful roundabout known as Seven Dials.

In this small circle stands a 40- ft. Doric column adorned with a sundial on each face. Legend has it that the column was erected at the center of seven radiating streets in the early 1690s. However, it was pulled down by a mob in 1773 on a rumor that treasure was buried underneath it. A replica of the pillar was then erected on the original site.

The neighborhood conveniently abuts the city’s majestic theater section, dating back to the days of William Shakespeare. Yes, this is the West End, where this season you can see such dramas and musicals as Billy Elliot, Cabaret, Disney’s The Lion King, Les Miserables, Chariots of Fire, Hedda Gabler, The Mousetrap, Uncle Vanya, Mama Mia, Wicked, Singin’ In The Rain, Shrek the Musical and Top Hat, just to name a few.

Indeed, the Radisson is mere steps from the Cambridge Theater, but I might as well have been residing on the moon; it’s frightfully difficult to obtain tickets to Matilde the Musical, now playing to a packed Cambridge house. If you’re lucky and snare tickets to this hit, get ready to shell out about $160.00 apiece for good seats.

The many pubs in the Covent Garden area, with such telling, native names as the Crown & Anchor, The Nags Head and The White Lion, do a brisk trade.

“COVENT GARDEN is important in the story of London as the birthplace of that architectural feature so characteristic of London, the ‘Square,’” notes H.V. Morton in his In Search of London. All the residential squares may be said to have originated with the Covent Garden Piazza, built in 1630 during the reign of Charles I.

Today, the square remains the central attraction in Covent Garden. Lively crowds enjoy the animation of the plaza with magicians and street entertainers surrounded by quality craft and antiques markets.

The refurbishment of the Opera House has given a new cachet to Covent Garden. Old warehouses have been adapted to house enticing small shops and boutiques selling designer clothing.

After the theater, pop into one of Covent Garden’s many “smart” restaurants.

A hundred years ago, the area was the home of “Eliza Doolittle,” the bedraggled cockney flower girl in the George Bernard Shaw play, Pygmalion.

Strolling through the neighborhood, I can’t help but begin to hum the tunes of the adaption of that play, My Fair Lady.

I browse around the stalls of Jubilee Market in Covent Garden.

It’s a grey and miserable day, typical British weather, when I meet Mel Silton, of “Original Designs,” in Jubilee Market, Covent Garden, Unit 20, along Tavistock St.

Mel tells me “business is not bad” among the many Jewish merchants in this neighborhood who, in their shops and stalls, sell caps, T-shirts and ladies’ tops.

These merchants are a long way from the old East End neighborhood of Petticoat Lane, where a few decades ago the Jews made way for Asian immigrants.

Near the market stands the London Film Museum Covent Garden and the London Transport Museum.

And close to the Leiscester Square station are two famous bookstores, Foyles Bookshop on Charing Cross Road and Stanfords on Longacre.

No visit to London, even a stopover, is complete without a visit to Harrods (harrods.com), the commercial institution which since 1905 claims to sell everything. Its food halls are decorated with art nouveau wall tiles and it is still regularly voted the world’s finest department store. If you are so inclined, there is a memorial book to Princess Diana and Dodi al- Fayed to sign.

THE SIGHTS and sounds of London will excite any tourist: the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, the changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace, Her Majesty’s Tower of London, the National Gallery, Hyde Park, the Victoria and Albert Museum, Westminster Abbey, Westminster Bridge, Whitehall, the Strand, Trafalgar Square.

Since I had visited those sites previously, I headed over to the British Museum (“a museum of the world, for the world”), located in Great Russell Street, with tube stops at Tottenham Court Road, Holborn, Russell Square.

No wonder the British Museum housed “Shakespeare Staging the World,” a four-month exhibition this past fall that focused more on his world of London than the life of the actor himself.

Not to be missed in Jewish London are Bevis Marks Synagogue, the oldest synagogue in England; Marble Arch Synagogue, the Jewish Museum, and the Sternberg Center for Judaism. They are testaments to the country’s rich Jewish heritage.

The number of Jews in London in the Middle Ages probably did not exceed 500. By 1830, 30,000 Jews lived in England, two-thirds of them in London. By the start of World War I, with immigration from Eastern Europe, the Jewish population jumped to 300,000. During World War II, about 90,000 Jews fled from Hitlerism to the British Isles, of which 75,000 came from Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland and Italy.

AS I departed England, I realized I was leaving London as the mist of a crisp fall afternoon hovered above this capital on the Thames. Nothing unusual about that, for I had walked about the city, including Covent Garden. I also met and talked to several RAF pilots, now seniors, who, during the days when England stood alone during the World War II blitz, stopped the dreaded Luftwaffe. I realized that in many ways each tourist comes away from London with thoughts about great periods in this city’s history.

For me, it was those young men who did, as Winston Churchill said of them as they were halting the Nazis in the Battle of Britain: “brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was their finest hour.”

Ben G. Frank, journalist and travel writer, is the author of the just-published, The Scattered Tribe: Traveling the Diaspora from Cuba to India to Tahiti & Beyond, (Globe Pequot Press); as well as A Travel Guide to Jewish Europe, 3rd edition; A Travel Guide to Jewish Russia and Ukraine, and A Travel Guide to the Jewish Caribbean and South America (Pelican Publishing Company).

www.bengfrank.blogspot.com
@BenGFrank

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Revised, added material, re Chanukah in Yangon,


NEARLY 150 PERSONS ATTEND  CHANUKAH CANDLE LIGHTING CEREMONIES IN YANGON, MYANMAR

By Ben G. Frank,

Author of “The Scattered Tribe: Traveling the Diaspora from Cuba to India to Tahiti & Beyond,” (Globe Pequot Press).

·          

Nearly 150 guests attended the second annual Chanukah Lighting Ceremony of the Jewish Community of Myanmar (Burma) at the Park Royal Hotel in Yangon. Deputy Minister of Religious Affairs U Soe Win told the gathering that he came to the ceremony to show support for the Jewish community of Myanmar. The Minister also stressed the “good” relations between Israel and Myanmar since 1950.

Aung San Suu Kyi  was in the capital of Myanmar, Nay Pyi Daw, at the time, and could not attend. But U Tin Oo, vice chair of the National League for Democracy, (Suu Kyi’s party) said that Suu Kyi sent “her best wishes” for the holiday to the community.

The event was held on the night of the lighting of the Sixth Chanukah Candle  (December 13) according to Sammy Samuels, of Myanmar Shalom. “It was a miracle for this small Jewish community of Yangon,” declared Sammy Samuels. There are eight Jewish families in Myanmar, most of them in Yangon.

The U.S. Political/Economic Chief,  Douglas Sonnek, also attended.

Lighting the six candles were:  Moses Samuels, president of the Myanmar Jewish Community with Israel Ambassador Hagay M. Behar; Deputy Minister U Soe Win, Ministry of Religious Affairs;  Janet Benshoof, president of Global Justice Center; U Tin Oo, Vice Chair of the National League for Democracy; Dr. Aung Myat Kyaw, chairman, Myanmar Travel Association; and U Hane Latt, vice president of Popular Journals Myanmar.

At the ceremony, Ambassador of Israel to Myanmar, Behar---in his talk—connected the tradition of the holiday and its universal values with the actual conditions in the region. In addition, he emphasized once more the long lasting and good relations between the Jewish community, the people of Israel and the republic of the Union of Myanmar.

Present at the event were numerous ambassadors, EU Mission, UNDP and religious leaders from the Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Baha’I and Hindu communities.

The Jewish community in Yangon is proud of the 100-year-old Musmeach Yeshua Synagogue, which remains open thanks to the efforts of Moses Samuels. The synagogues is located on 26th st. in Yangon.

For more information on the Jewish community contact: www.myanmarshalom.com

 

Lighting the Chanukah Candles in Burma


Please refer: Ben G. Frank,  561-737-2315, frankpromo@aol.com

NEARLY 150 PERSONS ATTEND  CHANUKAH CANDLE LIGHTING CEREMONIES IN YANGON, MYANMAR

By Ben G. Frank,

Author of “The Scattered Tribe: Traveling the Diaspora from Cuba to India to Tahiti & Beyond,” (Globe Pequot Press).

·          

Nearly 150 guests attended the second annual Chanukah Lighting Ceremony of the Jewish Community of Myanmar (Burma) at the Park Royal Hotel in Yangon. Deputy Minister of Religious Affairs U Soe Win told the gathering that he came to the ceremony to show support for the Jewish community of Myanmar. The Minister also stressed the “good” relations between Israel and Myanmar since 1950.

Aung San Suu Kyi  was in the capital of Myanmar, Nay Pyi Daw, at the time, and could not attend. But U Tin Oo, vice chair of the National League for Democracy, (Suu Kyi’s party) said that Suu Kyi sent “her best wishes” for the holiday to the community.

The event was held on the night of the lighting of the Sixth Chanukah Candle  (December 13) according to Sammy Samuels, of Myanmar Shalom. “It was a miracle for this small Jewish community of Yangon,” declared Sammy Samuels. There are eight Jewish families in Myanmar, most of them in Yangon.

The U.S. Political/Economic Chief,  Douglas Sonnek, also attended.

Lighting the six candles were:  Moses Samuels, president of the Myanmar Jewish Community with Israel Ambassador Hagay Beher; Deputy Minister U Soe Win, Ministry of Religious Affairs;  Janet Benshoof, president of Global Justice Center; U Tin Oo, former commander-in-chief of Myanmar, Dr. Aung Myat Kyaw, chairman, Myanmar Travel Assocxiation; and U Hein Latt, vice president of Popular Journals Myanmar.

The Jewish community in Yangon is proud of the 100-year-old Musmeach Yeshua Synagogue, which remains open thanks to the efforts of Moses Samuels. The synagogues is located on 26th st. in Yangon.

For more information on the Jewish community contact: www.myanmarshalom.com

 

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Travel Book Talks-Jan-Feb. 2013. Stop by and say Hello


HAPPY CHANUKAH & HAPPY HOLIDAYS! Stop By & Say Hello

If you are Floridians or winter in the Sunshine State, stop by one of my travel book talks, “The Scattered Tribe.” (Globe Pequot Press). (Schedule below).

And, by the way, “The Scattered Tribe” makes a great holiday gift. Available at Amazon, Kindle, Barnes & Noble, Books-A- Million, and wherever books are sold!

·          

Some testimonials re my travel talks:

I can’t tell you how many people  have come up to me to say what an enjoyable evening it was. Your presentation was so interesting and made me want to return to those countries already  visited with a new Jewish insight. I hope you continue to travel and write additional books on Jewish travel…”  Janet Kaden, co-chair, San Gabriel &Pomona Valleys (CA.) Jewish Book Festival.

“Your presentation on your recent book, “The Scattered Tribe, was very powerful. The participants gained insight into your life, your adventures, and the events that have shaped your life….Cheri Kalvort, program director, B’nai Torah Congregation, Boca Raton, FL

·          

January-February, 2013. Book Talk schedule.

January 7, 2013, L’Chaim Hadassah  Coral Lakes, FL. 1 pm

January 13, 2013, Temple Bat Yam, Ft. Lauderdale, FL. 2 pm

January 16, 2013, Cascade Hadassah, Boynton Beach, FL. 11 am

January 22, 2013, Greater West Boynton Beach, FL. Chapter of Hadassah.10:30 am

January 24, 2013, Boca Sabra Hadassah, Boca Raton, FL. 7:30 pm

January 25, 2013, Simcha of Aberdeen Hadassah Book/Author Luncheon, Boynton Beach, FL,   at Benvenuto Restaurant,  Federal Highway, Boynton Beach, FL 12 noon.

January 31, 2013, West Boynton Branch Library, Palm Beach County, Boynton Beach, FL.2 pm

 February 6, 2013, Temple Torah, Boynton Beach, FL. 11 am.

Februry 10, 2013, The Yiddish Club, The Grove, Boynton Beach, FL. 10 am

February 12, 2013, Glades Road Public Library, Boca Raton. FL.2 pm

February, 13,2013, 7 pm. JCC-PGA, Palm Gardens FL. 8:30pm.

February 28, 2013,  Hagen Ranch Road Public Library, Delray Beach, FL. 2pm



Blog       Check out my blog at www.bengfrank.blogspot.com “I Travel the World.”

Follow me on twitter @bengfrank

 

 

Saturday, December 8, 2012


In my last book talk, I mentioned that  time stopped for me in the lands of the Maghreb… I was caught in a snow storm in the Atlas Mountains in Morocco where I was researching, “The  “Scattered Tribe: Traveling the Diaspora from Cuba to India to Tahiti & Beyond.” (Globe Pequot Press)  I then proceeded to tell the audience how we got out of the eye of the storm.  But I made the point that even though this storm was real,  in summer or winter, Morocco can play havoc with your imagination; a mirage can appear in front of you as it often does before a camel driver. Several so-called mirages occurred before this traveler  throughout my journey and they can be explored by  picking up “The Scattered Tribe.” Makes a great Chanukah gift. Amazon http://www.amazon.com/The-Scattered-Tribe-Traveling-Diaspora/dp/0762770333/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1337002629&sr=8-1  http://amzn.to/J3Z47T  Follow me on twitter @bengfrank  Check out my blog at www.bengfrank.blogspot.com “I Travel the World.”

  

 

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Writing in The New York Times on November 22, Abby Ellin wrote how her parents visit “the Jewish part of town. They go to temple, they seek out local Jews, they make a donation. It’s their way of feeling connected to their heritage, and also of showing solidarity.” And to help tourists and armchair-travelers, I wrote “The Scattered Tribe:Traveling the Diaspora from Cuba to India to Tahiti & Beyond.” (Globe Pequot Press); a great Chanukah gift for the person who loves to travel! Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/The-Scattered-Tribe-Traveling-Diaspora/dp/0762770333/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1337002629&sr=8-1
http://amzn.to/J3Z47T
Blog
Follow me on twitter @bengfrank
Check out my blog at www.bengfrank.blogspot.com “I Travel the World.”

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

"Just got off the air with Art Lewis of WSGW-Am, 790,in Saginaw, MI. Told him that travel books make great reading because they usually contain memoire, adventure, personalities met along the way, as well as history and politics. In the hour long interview re "The Scattered Tribe, Traveling the Diaspora from Cuba to India to Tahiti & Beyond," (Globe Pequot Press) we also discussed the meaning of Chanukah and I mentioned the special candle-lighting ceremony that is expected to take place this year, for instance, in Yangon, Myanmar,--- organized by Sammy Samuels of Myanmar Shalom. Ended the interview with: "Check out my blog, www.bengfrank.blogspot.com"

Monday, December 3, 2012

The world is like a book," a member of the audience at the 25th Annual Jewish Book Festival at the JCC in Davie, FL, (near Hollywood, FL) told me, after I spoke today on my travels in "The Scattered Tribe." "And people who don't travel," she added,"are likely to have read only one page." Check out my blog: www.bengfrank.blogspot.com