About 150 years ago, a baby was born in Latvia to Pearl and Shlomo Zalman Kook. They called him Avraham Yitzchak. When toddler Yitzki went to study in "Heyder", he invented a game of fun with his friends. He would line them up, with their backpacks on their shoulders, as if preparing to go for a long trip. Then he told the little ones to shout "Where are we going?" And he would shout back "to Eretz Yisrael". Indeed, Avraham Yitzhak HaCohen Kook finally arrived in Eretz Yisrael, and even became the Chief Rabbi

Rabbi Kook was born in Latviain town name Grieve, located south of Riga. Part of his childhood he spent in his grandparents' home in Riga. When he was 39, he was invited to serve as the rabbi of Jaffa, and later was appointed Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem. He founded the Chief Rabbinate and Yeshiva 'Merkaz Harav'. Rabbi Kook is considered the founder of religious Zionism today

I was privileged to visit Riga for walks in the scenic landscapes of Rabbi Kook's childhood, to breathe the kind of air he was breathing, and to smell the scents that also came up in his nose when he lived there

Riga is a tourist destination with lots of general tourist attractions. In addition, there are also many Jewish heritage sites in Riga. Here are some of them

The Jewish community building

The building used to be a Jewish club. Today, it serves as an active community center, with offices, classes, a restaurant and a museum. Social events and family reunions were held here before the Holocaust

On the third floor there is a Jewish theater. In this hall there were also conferences of the Beytar movement, some of which were attended by Ze'ev Jabotinsky. The benches and seats are not attached to the floor, so that they can be removed during the holidays, where the hall becomes a synagogue. (Address: Skolas 6

The Jewish Museum

The "Jews in Latvia" museum is located on the third floor of the Jewish community building. The museum's director, Ilya Lensky, presents fascinating documents and photographs about the history of Latvian Jewry, from the 16th century till the Holocaust

Before the Holocaust there were approximately 40,000 Jews living in Riga. They made up 13% of the population, operating about a third of Riga's economy. About half of the stores in Riga were owned by Jews, and about a third of the industrial establishments, and most of the banks in Riga were owned by Jews

Dozens of Jewish educational institutions operated here: 11 Jewish elementary schools in Hebrew and Yiddish, 2 yeshivas, 6 high schools, and a seminar for teachers. Many Jewish and Zionist newspapers were published in Riga. Here in Riga, the Beytar movement was founded in 1927. It is impossible to underestimate the worldwide importance of Beytar, whose graduates are up in the Israeli government for the past 40 years, and are very influential on the State of Israel Nowadays. It all started in Riga. Riga also had branches of Zionist youth movements such as Bney Akiva, Beytar, Agudat Israel

At the entrance to the museum there is a display of the senior Jews in Riga, Professor Paul Mintz, who was Latvia's Minister of Labor. Other important Jews served in the Latvian (Seine) Parliament, including Rabbi Mordechai Noruk of the Mizrachi, Rabbi Dubin of Chabad and Agudat Israel, and Professor Lazerson

          

The museum also presents Torah top scholar rabbis who lived in Riga and their books. We mentioned Rabbi Kook at the beginning of this article. Rabbi Yoel Branchik, co-founder of the Novardok Yeshiva, and the sixth Chabad Rabbi, Yitzchak Shneorson הריי"ץ, also lived in Riga. Also the "Rugochover Rabbi", author of  "Tzofnat Paane'ach" (צפנת פענח), and Rabbi Meir Simcha Hacohen, the author of the "Or Sameach" (אור שמח

So, if we had come to Riga about a century ago, we would have felt like home. One of the streets in Riga even bears the name of Jerusalem. (Look at Waze: Jeruzalemes iela

But almost nothing left of all that Jewish cultural wealth. In the Holocaust, 90% of Riga Jews who did not escape on time, were murdered. Today about 7,500 Jews are living in Riga. Most of them emigrated from Russia. The museum's director, Ilya Lensky, says he still has many exhibits and documents from the Holocaust period to the present days, but he has no space in the museum. He wants to move to a bigger building. The Ministry of Tourism of Latvia reveals responsibility and interest in the Jewish sites, participates in the renovation of what is left, and has even published a book on Latvian Jewry

The Ghetto Museum

 Rabbi Menachem Brachan set up a museum commemorating the Jews of the ghetto, near the original location of the Ghetto. In the yard we see a train wagon, of the type used to transport Jews to Auschwitz. Inside the trailer there are pictures of "Actions" of Jewish shipments to their deaths. Half of the trailer is covered with large mirrors, and several tree trunks rise from floor to ceiling. It gives visitors an endless feeling

In the central hall hundreds of lampshades are hanged, each with names and photographs of Jews from Riga who perished in the Holocaust. The outside of the complex is enclosed in a kind of white wall about 100 meters long. On one side are the names of 25,000 Riga Jews murdered in the Holocaust, and on the other are the names of about 20,000 Jews brought to Riga from Russia and Austria, and murdered here in Riga

At the end of the museum's square there is a wooden house brought from the Jewish ghetto. it allows us to see how most of the Riga Jews lived before and during the Holocaust. On the second floor there are authentic furniture and clothing of a family who used to live in such a home. The house was originally built for 5-6 persons, but during the Holocaust it served as a home for 5-6 families. About thirty people lived there in an awful crowd. In the first floor are models display of important synagogues that operated throughout Latvia until the Holocaust. Most of them were destroyed and burned by the Germans, and the survivors are no longer used for prayer

In the square in front of the hut there are tree trunks about a meter high, carved in the form of Hebrew letters. At first, they seem to be scattered without order, but at a second glance we can see that the letters make up words – אמת, שלום, ריגה, נטבח. Facing the entrance to the hut is a copper tree shaped monument. On most of its leaves are the names of local Latvians who saved Jews during the Holocaust. (Address: Maskavas 14

Janis Lipke Memorial

Mr. Janis Lipke had some Jewish friends before the holocaust. During World War II he worked as a civilian at the German Air Force Base in the Riga. One day as he passed by the Jewish ghetto fences, he noticed a German a soldier killing a Jew just like that. It shocked him, and he was even more shocked to realize it was a daily routine. He decided to save Jews as he can. He arranged for himself a new job at the German Luftwaffe, to transport Jews from the ghetto to work at the base, and to return them to the ghetto after a day's work

In the ghetto he recruited Jewish acquaintances to his staff. On the way back at the end of the workday, he dropped one of them at his house. He was living in the last house in a narrow remote alley near the river

When his house became crowded, he dug a bunker inside a small firewood storage in his back yard, and covered the doorway. In this bunker he managed to hide 12 Jews at a time. In total, Janis rescued 55 Jews in that bunker.

When the place became too narrow, he purchased an isolated farm near the village of Doble, and on his way back to the ghetto, he used to stop there occasionally to drop off one or two Jews. So he saved about 400 Jews

Janis Lipke's house and the firewood storage house in his yard are still standing to this day. His family and descendants still live in the same house. About five years ago, the government built a museum next to his yard. The structure is in the form of Noach's ark, to hint at the rescue

In front of the entrance to the museum we see a pile of firewood that hides what is behind it. At the entrance we get an audio kit, and go upstairs to the attic. It is designed in the form of a dark which introduces us to the atmosphere of anxiety and fear. Slight light penetrates between the wooden boards of the roof. When we get used to the darkness we see in the center of the room a chimney, that its walls are 3 by 3 meters. Looking down, we see how the bunker was. Along the walls there are boxes containing letters from the Jews rescued by Janis Lipke. Some were sent from Israel, to which most of the survivors immigrated to

The address: At the end of the Maza Balasta Dambis alley exiting Kipsalas Street

The ancient synagogue

The Peitav Synagogue was built in 1905 in the Art Nouveau style. The interior design in ancient Egyptian style, as the architect Wilhelm Newman imagined the interior design of the Temple built by King Solomon

Peitav Synagogue is the only one in Riga that survived the Holocaust, because the Nazis used it as a warehouse, and thanks to the local priest. The priest was in friendship with the Nazi commander in Riga, and he heard about the plan to burn the synagogue before the Germans will withdraw. The priest urged the German not to burn this synagogue "because the fire could spread and also devour my church near it." In fact, the church was located far from the synagogue, but the German did not know it

After the Holocaust, 164 religious Jews came out of hiding, saw the destruction in the synagogue, and renovated it. On the wall above the ark, they wrote the verse "Blessed be the Lord who didn't give me to their teeth",  The thought of what went through their mind when choosing this verse makes us chill

About ten years ago, a renovation was done and the walls were painted a greenish-blue. The columns were restored and painted in an ancient Egyptian style

Prayers are held there only on Saturdays and holidays. On weekdays and Erev Shabbat, prayers are held in a smaller hall in the basement. Upstairs in the women section there is a Beit Midrash. There are Torah lessons from Rabbi Eliyahu Crumer, and other rabbis who come in turns from Israel

In the basement of the synagogue there is a Mikveh. On the second floor there is a small ballroom where they make Kiddushim and Bar Mitzvah celebrations or weddings for community members. (Address: Peitav Street

Chabad House

Chabad community has been operating in Riga for nearly 2 centuries. During the Soviet era, its existence was considered a secret, for fear of the authorities. The small Chabad community operated underground, so that they even did not know that the sixth Rebbe, who led Them until 1927, has passed away in 1950. His Hassidim in Riga learned about it accidentaly only three years later, when one of them heard a radio broadcast from the USA, quoting the Chabad Rabbi- Menachem Mendel Schneoron. From this he realized that Chabad had a new Rabbi

For last nearly thirty years, Rabbi Mordechai Glazman is serving as the Chabad Shaliach in Riga. Firstly, he opened a Chabad house in the ancient synagogue building on Feitav Street, to engage local Jews to Torah and Mitzvot. About two and a half years ago, they left the synagogue and opened a new Chabad house

The Chabad House is located on the third floor of an office building near the Central Bus Station, (opposite the Mercure hotel). We can find there a Minyan 3 times a day each day. On the Passover Seder night 150 people arrived in Chabad, and on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur 240 worshipers arrived, far beyond the places in the synagogue. So they moved the prayers to a hotel

Alongside Rabbi Glazman, another Shaliach, Rabbi Schneor Kot (I call him "Cute"), works primarily among Jewish students at local universities. At the University of Latvia there are many Israelis studying medicine, some have mixed marriages. On the other hand, dozens of Israeli and German Jewish students come every Friday to Kabalat Shabbat prayers

Chabad operates a kindergarten, elementary school, and high school. Chabad's high school is housed in a building used as the Jewish school since 1840. During the Holocaust, used as Judenrat headquarter, and later a Latvian school. Years ago, the building was returned to the Jewish community. Nowadays they run a summer camp. In addition, there are many Torah lessons at various levels at Beit Chabad. The Chabad House also has a restaurant and shop for religious and souvenir items. (Address: Satekles St. 1

The Choral Synagogue

In 1871, a synagogue was built on Gogol Street, considered as one of the most beautiful buildings in Riga. The walls of the synagogue were coated with gleaming marble stones. It was very big and had a thousand seats. It was the main synagogue, where the Chief Rabbi Menachem Mendel Zak, and Rabbi Mordechai Noruk prayed. This synagogue was also famous for its well-known cantors, and for its chorus, that gave it the name "Choral Synagogue." This is how the synagogue looked like before the Holocaust

On the Shabbat evening of parshat "Pinchas" in 1941, about one hundred regular worshipers arrived for Shabbat prayers. In the middle of "Lakha Dodi", the Nazis brought into the synagogue about 200 Jews, which were under arrest at the nearby train station. The damned Nazis locked them inside the synagogue and set it on fire with its residents who were burned to death. The entire synagogue was demolished, except for a section of an outer wall

In the 1980s, archaeological excavations uncovered the foundations of the building. A memorial monument was erected there.

About ten years later, another monument was added alongside the synagogue to Righteous Among the Nations, Janis Lipka, and to other local Latvian who saved Jews. (Address: 25 Gogola corner of Dzirnavu Street

Lost synagogues

Before the Holocaust there were about 40 synagogues in Riga. The Alt-Noy Shul Synagogue was opened in 1850. In 1873, the "Soldaten Shul" was founded by 130 veteran Russian soldiers, who were granted the right to live in Riga. In Eliash Street stood a long building named "Reisiche Manyonim" that 3 synagogues operated inside. As mentioned, there are no remains of all the synagogues, after the Nazis burned and destroyed them all

The Jewish ghetto

When the Nazis conquered Riga in 1941, they required all Riga Jews to move into the area of the "Great Ghetto." In early November 41, the Germans and their Latvian aides fenced the northeastern area of the ghetto, calling it the "Small Ghetto". They moved there the men who were able to work, but the children and the elderly and the sick were left in the Great Ghetto. Some of them were shot in the head in the ghetto streets, and most were transported to the Rumballa Forest, where they were murdered and thrown into huge graves

It's worthwhile wandering the area where the ghetto was, and trying to absorb some of the atmosphere. The borders of the ghetto were on the streets of Moskavas, Jeriskas, Ebreju, Liksnas, Lauvas, Katolu, Lacplesa. The small ghetto was located from Lāčplēša to Lauvas streets

Eating kosher in Riga

Chabad is operating "Lechaim" kosher restaurant. We can also order Takeaway to our hotel. We must book in advance with Rabbi Schneor Kot, at least 4 hours before our arrival. Organized groups must book at least two days in advance. (Phone 371-6720-4023

Another restaurant, named "4/70", is located on the basement floor of the Jewish community building, which also provides regular kosher catering services. The community provides approximately 150 hot meals daily for the community's poor. The address: Skolas 6

A kosher café and dairy restaurant is located in the ghetto museum complex. Address: Maskavas 14

There are supermarkets in Riga that sell also kosher products. Among these stores: Bioss Ekoveikals, Gourmet Studio, Krustpunkts, Depo, Elkor Plaza, Gemoss, Maxima and others. An accurate and detailed list of addresses we can see on the website of Chabad House in this link

Kosher wine for kiddush can be bought at Chabad, Spirits & Wine stores, and at the R&O Wine store: Brivibas st. 273. Please note! These stores also sell non-kosher wines, so we must seek kosher approval for each bottle

Concentration camps

During the Holocaust there were nine concentration camps and extermination sites near Riga, according to 'Yad Vashem' archives and the historian Meir Miller. During the Soviet era, monuments were erected in three locations of them. In the monuments the Communists tried to downplay the share of Jews in the Holocaust, and mainly used it for themselves. The Latvian authorities do not do what is necessary to correct this historic injustice, except at the Rumbala forest site. A trip to Riga Judaism would not be complete without 3 sites outside the city, but close to it

Kaiserwald

In the town of Kaiserwald near Riga, the Nazis set up a concentration camp in which the last remaining Jews were imprisoned from the ghettos of Riga, Dvinsk, Leipaja, Vilna, and Lodz. All Jews who survived in Latvia in 1943 were transferred to the Kaiserwald camp. The camp had about 12,000 Jews, and about 100 non-Jewish criminal criminals. It was a labor camp for healthy prisoners that could be used to benefit the German war industry. Most men worked in factories, mines, and part-time farms, and most women worked in the AEG electronics factory

As the Russians approached Latvia, the Nazis evacuated most of the camp's inmates to the Stutthof camp in northern Poland. On this occasion, masses of other prisoners were murdered because it was complicated to transport so many prisoners. During the Soviet era, a residential neighborhood was built on the grounds of the Kaiserwald camp. In a public park within the neighborhood, this monument was erected: (Address: Ezermalas iela 30, Ziemeļu rajon

Salaspils Concentration Camp

Towards the end of 1941, the Nazis set up a concentration camp 18 km east of Riga. The town of Salaspils was chosen because it was next to the Riga-Daugbafils railroad, two cities with many Jews. The Germans also imprisoned there political prisoners and Russian prisoners of war. There were 23,000 prisoners, some 4,000 of whom died of illness and hard work, of whom about 3,000 were Jews

            

In 1967, a memorial monument was erected on the grounds of the camp, which includes an exhibition and large marble sculptures. At the entrance there is a sign that says "The ground groans behind this gate", explaining the prisoners were from Russia, political prisoners from Latvia, and in the end, modest mentioning of Jews among the prisoners. (Address: Salaspils novads, Salaspils pilsēta, LV-2117)

Rumbala Forest

In the Rumbala Forest near Riga, there are the largest mass graves in the world ever. The Nazis imposed to dig four huge pits in the shape of a reverse pyramid, each 50 meters long, and about 5 meters deep. On November 30 and December 8, 1941, the Nazis and their Latvian aides led the 25,000 Jews who remained in the ghetto on a freezing cold march to Rumbala Forest. When they reached the pre-prepared pits, groups of twenty Jews had to stand on the edge of the pit and were shot to death. The murdered fell back into the pit. Thus the pits were filled with dead Jewish bodies. The bodies were burned after

In the 60s, the graves of the Rumbala massacre were found. The Jews fenced them with low stones, and placed a large headstone on each pit. This is what it looks like today

After a struggle with the Soviet authorities, a black stone monument was erected on it, engraved in Latvian and Yiddish, and in Russian the words "victims of fascism". No mention of Jewish victims. (Address: Maskavas 471, Rumbula)

Years later, a more impressive monument was built in the forest. In the center we see the Menorah, and it is surrounded by hundreds of small rocks, with names engraved on them

Every November, a ceremony is held at this place, attended by Jews from Riga and Israel, as well as Latvian government officials. At the ceremony 3 years ago (2016) the guest of honor was the President of Latvia, Raymond Vejonis. In his address, he firstly admitted formally the participation of the Latvians in the murder of the Jews

And so the president said in his speech: "Today we commemorate the memory of 25,000 Jews who were brutally murdered in the Rumbala Forest in an action organized by the Nazis. Unfortunately, local Latvian forces also participated. It's not understood that in only 2 days our citizens, in the amount of average Latvian city, were murdered here. For many years these tragic events in Latvia's history have long been silenced".           I

In the Rumbala forest there is a deathly silence, literally. The soil of this place is soaked in Jewish blood. The air is chilling, and not just because of the cold. The tall trees hide sunlight in this dark dammed location. I stood by the memorial full with thought of our Jews who were murdered here with incredible brutality. I stood there paralyzed, and whispered "El Male Rachamim" prayer (אל מלא רחמים). I didn't want to interfere the silence

Someone who had visited there before, hanged Israeli flags on the Menorah in the monument. I looked and thought: where we were, and where are we nowadays? Two generations ago, the common Jews were in terrible lows, and today a simple Jew like me is standing here upright proudly wearing a Kipa. Today we have the power of the State of Israel and the IDF. Every Latvian today knows that if he dares to wave a hand at a Jew again, we will cut off his hand. We've all heard these Clichés before, but here we can feel it too. And this optimistic atmosphere has to end this review

Thanks to the Latvian Embassy in Israel and the Latvian Ministry of Culture and Foreign Affairs

for their great assistance in providing information for this article