The history of Zagreb is linked to one of the Bible stories. The Torah says in the book of Exodus that Moses struck a rock, and brought water out of it. An ancient Croat legend tells that once there was a severe drought in the mountains of northern Croatia. The governor drew his sword into the ground, and clear water emerged from the ground. The governor told his soldiers "Zagrabite!", which is "drink up" in Croatian language. This is why the city was called Zagreb

Many Israelis who travel on the coast of Croatia, in the cities of Split and Dubrovnik, pass through Zagreb and move on. It's a shame to skip Zagreb's beauty. A lovely city with green parks, museums, colorful markets, and a culture of evening cafes. In the city center we can see many medieval houses built in Gothic architecture and Baroque style. Zagreb is very suitable also for a short weekend vacation because it is only 3 hours flight away from Israel. Croatia Airlines operates 3 direct weekly flights to Zagreb during the summer season

In front of the main train station starts a wide avenue called the "Green Horseshoe of Lenucci". With many houses from the 19th century. In the center of the avenue is a wide lawn where street markets and cultural events are held. Some public buildings are in the middle of the avenue, such as the Archeology Museum in the large yellow building

At the end of the avenue is Praska Street, which leads to the city's main square. A few houses in before the square we see on the right side a large parking lot. On this lot once stood the Great Synagogue of Zagreb, which was demolished in 1941 during World War II. On the wall of the house bordering the parking lot is a modest memorial plaque to the synagogue

       

This was what the Great Synagogue looked like in its glory days before the Holocaust

This synagogue is mentioned in the book "Bemarhe Habazak" where a question sent from Zagreb appears: "A few years ago, the area of ​​the Holocaust-destroyed synagogue was returned to the Jewish community. The synagogue was large and contained about two thousand seats, when the community numbered more than 10,000. Today the community numbers about 1,000 and does not need a large synagogue. About 300 places will suffice. We want to build a new synagogue on the site, which should be integrated into a large building that will also include a museum and community offices, etc. Is it allowed, and in what way, to carry out the process?"      I

The students of Rabbi Shaul Israeli give a long reasoned answer. Many years have passed from the question and the answer, and we see that the synagogue has not yet been rebuilt. A mixture of budget problems and controversies within the Jewish community

City center

Zagreb's main square is called Ban Jelačić Square. In its center there is a statue of one of the most important politicians in Croatia's history, who called the first elections for the Croatian Parliament and abolished serfdom. The areas around the sculpture have booth stands for food and clothing and souvenir markets. In the evening the place is filled with young people who spend time in the square. Pleasant to wander around there

Nearby there is another interesting site for Jews. The first bank in Croatia is Saving Bank, which belonged to a proud Jewish banker. When the bank built a new office building, the owner demanded to indicate his Jewishness on the building. Therefore, the railing on the roof was made, at his request, in the form of the Menorah, A definite Jewish symbol. It's worth going to see

The building is adjacent to the "Flower Square". Address: Trg Petra Preradovica. Beneath the building is the well-known Octagon

The old City

Zagreb is divided into the upper city of "Gornji Grad" and the lower town of "Donji Grad". The old town is on the top of the hill, and the city has expanded to the area below the hill. One of the city's tourist attractions is the "Funicular", which locals are calling "Uspinjaca". It's a small trailer that runs on railroad tracks, and is pulled by cable. This is the first public transportation in Croatia. The funicular was first operated in 1891, and has not ceased to operate ever since. Its route is the shortest in the world, only 66 meters. The ride takes 55 seconds

We too are going up to the upper city by the Funicular. It is advisable to schedule the ride for a few minutes before 12 noon. In the Middle Ages, the entrance gate to the city was near the Funicular station. There is an ancient Lotrščak tower, from its third floor window we see a cannon barrel. Every day at 12 noon, this cannon shoots one shot that sounds all around. Standing down while shooting can be a memorable experience

From there we continue on the street leading to St. Mark's Square. At the beginning of the street to the right side is the Museum of Broken Relationships. The Croats bring to this museum souvenirs left from love stories that have run out and parted. There are also strange items such as clothes, shoes, dolls, bikes, and even a roof tile and toilet door from the apartment they rented together

       

Each exhibit has a relevant love story in Croatian. It fascinates anyone who knows Croatian. The display changes frequently, depending on the new items that people bring. The Broken Relations Museum is a great success, and soon became the second popular museum in Zagreb in terms of visitors. This is only one of the many museums in Zagreb. The diversity and styles can impress us

Further on, we get to St. Mark's Square, which is considered the symbol of Zagreb. In the center of the square is a church built in the 13th century. Throughout history it has been destroyed several times in earthquakes and wars and rebuilt. The roof is made of shiny glossy colored ceramic tiles, arranged in a way that creates illustrations. The left illustration is the shield symbol of Croatia and Dalmatia and Slovenia from medieval times. And to his right is the Zagreb city emblem

St. Mark's Square is the beating heart of Croatian politics. To the right of the church stands the government house, and on the left side stands the Parliament building. All festive ceremonies, including the presidential inauguration are held there. The citizens can also use it to express their opinion and critics on any subject

In addition, in Zagreb they're a lot of cathedrals and churches, but they are of interest to non-Jewish tourists

Near the square is the Hugo Kon (Cohen) School, the only Jewish school in Zagreb until the Holocaust, which was reopened 16 years ago. There are 92 pupils of various ages. pupils are also learning Hebrew, and high school students are already able to read and write in Hebrew. The school principal, Sylvia Herzog, a graduate of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, is proud of the achievements of her students

In Zagreb there's also a Jewish nursing home, which is considered the best in Croatia. Today, it is mostly inhabited by non-Jewish seniors

There were 4 gates in the Old City wall. Three of them were destroyed in fires and wars, and only the stone gate survived. In a fire in 1731, the fire licked the stone gate, and reached a painting of the Virgin Mary, and stopped. The local Christians consider it as a miracle, as in the burning bush story of Moses. They announced it "the city protector", and set up a prayer corner inside the gate. Christians come there to pray and light candles to this day

Zagreb Jewry

Testimonials of Jews existence in Zagreb we find about 700 years ago. Rabbi Hisday Ibn Shaprut sent messengers to the King of Khazarian, and they reported that on the way they stayed for a few days in the Jewish community in Zagreb. Legal documents with names of Jewish litigants from medieval times were found. In the 15th century, the church operated an institution called "Domus Judaeorum" (a Jewish home), designed to teach converted Jews about Christianity. From that we understand that there were Jews in Zagreb who had to convert to Christianity. In 1526, King of Hungary Ferdinand I expelled all the Jews from his kingdom, which included Zagreb. Only in the 18th century did Jews begin to return to Zagreb

In the past, Zagreb was called "Agram," and its Rabbis tried to make it "Igra Rama". The city's chief rabbi, Yaakov Eliezer Weiss, has printed here two of his father's books "Shushan Edut", and the book "LeBinyamin Amar". During First World War Rabbi Yitzchak Meir Hazenfretz, author of "Or Yakar" came as refugee to live in Zagreb. This is a must-read book in the Ruzhin Hassidism, although he himself was a Sadigora's hassid. He was among those who crowned the youngest son of "Kedushat Aharon" to be the Admor after his father

In the early 20th century, Zagreb was a Zionist center too. In 1919 the first conference of the Zionist Organization was held in Zagreb. The head of the local branch was Ivan Jacoby, son of Chief Rabbi Yehoshua Jacoby. His deputy was Dr. Zvi Rotem (Rotmiller), who was one of the leaders of "Brit Hanoar" and the founders of "Hapoel Hatzayir". He immigrated to Eretz Israel in 1934, and was a journalist and editor of the Davar newspaper, and at the same time was the correspondent in Israel of the 'Zidov' and 'Politica' Croatian newspapers

As the Germans approached the country in World War II, the heads of the Zagreb Jewish community hid all documents, and transported them to hiding places in small villages. The Torah scrolls were put in large jugs, and buried in the ground

Today there are about 2,500 Jews living in Zagreb, most of whom are cut off from Judaism. The city has three Jewish communities, each with its own synagogue. None of the synagogues have a minyan prayers on the weekdays, although if all the worshipers from the city would gathered in one synagogue, they could arrange 3 minyans every day

The main community

The main Jewish community is called JCC, located at 16 Palmoticeva Street. On the third floor is the community synagogue. Medium sized but very magnificent prayer hall.

Most of the prayer books are Ashkenaz-style prayer books with Croatian translation, authored by Rabbi Dr. Shalom Freiberg in 1928. Initially a new and large Torah Ark was in use, that was recently replaced by a smaller ancient ark, which was discovered in the city of Rijeka. During the holidays, about 150 people come for prayers, and then pray at the big club on the ground floor, and take down the Holy Ark and the pulpit

On the second floor there is a Jewish museum. On its walls are many Torah ark's Parochet from all of the wider region, and coats of Torah scrolls. The showrooms have Jewish silverware such as Torah crowns, bells, Shabbat candlesticks and the like. There is also a holy ark with transparent glass doors, containing 5 Torah scrolls. We'd note the Torah on the right with the blue coat embroidered "in memory of the war of 1916". The curator of the exhibition is Mira Wolf

In the staircase we see a large memorial plaque of dead Jewish partisans. The sign indicates that there was a unit of Jewish partisans who fought valiantly against the Nazis. You should also pay attention to the names of the partisan fighters on the sign – Ashkenazi and Sephardim, with no differences

At the JCC garden we see three stone pillars, remnants of the Great Synagogue destroyed in 1941

A Jewish school "Lea Deutsch" was operated in the community building, but was closed about 10 years ago due to lack of demand

Beth Israel' community'

Years ago, a controversy between the Jewish community leaders, caused Chief Rabbi Kotel Dadon to leave the JCC with a group of loyal followers, and to form a new Jewish community. His community is called "Beth Israel". Their synagogue is on the second floor of a residential building at Mazuranicev 6 street.

The Gabay says 300 members are in their community. This is a Sepharadic congregation, praying with Siddurim of "Yechave Daat" and "Ish Matzliach". According to him, every Shabbath they have a minyan, and on holydays there are about 200 worshipers. The "Beth Israel" community operates the Hugo Kon Jewish school and operates a kosher system. Rabbi Dadon and his aides are supervising in about 80 food fatories in Croatia

Beyt Chabad Community

The third community is the Chabad House. 15 years ago, the Shaliach Rabbi Pinchas Zakles and his wife arrived in Croatia and began to work with Jews. They're teaching 17 weekly Torah lessons to individuals and groups, according to their level of understanding. The new Chabad House opened about a year and a half ago on 4 Rokova Street. The entrance is thru the red door on the left side of the building. No sign, so it's easy to miss. Look for the many security cameras on the corners of the building, as well as a small sign commemorating the Jewish Agency's contribution to the securing fence. The synagogue is on the second floor. There are about 60 people praying on winter Saturdays, and about 100 worshipers on summer Sabbaths. Last Rosh Hashana they host 340 Jewish prayers, so they rented a ballroom at a nearby hotel

The Chabad community is different from its sister's communities in Zagreb in that they are like "hunters" chasing the crowd to find Jews, compared to the other communities who behave like "fishermen".     i

Rabbi Pinchas Zakles (known as "Pini") is a "field man" who raises the city in search of Jews. He said he had located and spoked to about 2,500 Jews so far. In his search he also found about 150 Israeli students studying medicine at the University of Zagreb. He endeavors to bring them closer to Judaism spirituality, sometimes with physical methods such as help finding work and the like. Thus, his community and the minyan in Chabad House are constantly growing. Chabad also operates a Jewish school twice a week in the afternoon

From time to time, Rabbi Zakles goes to the Jewish communities in Split and Dubrovnik to give Torah lessons and to share Matzah and Chanukah candles. In the summer, he opens another Chabad house in Dubrovnik by the sea. According to him, most Croatian Jews are feeling good as they are, complete secularists far from Torah and Mitzvot

Rabbi Zekles talks about a special phenomenon of Croatian Jews, who tend to hide and disguise their Jewishness. The generation of Holocaust survivor grandmothers remember that the Nazis and their aides came to the Jewish homes to take them to camps, according to a list of addresses taken from the offices of the Jewish community. Jews who were not registered in the community were not taken from their homes in the first wave, and were able to hide. Therefore, they instill in their families that it is better not to be registered as a Jew anywhere, because the future is unknown. And yet Rabbi Pini Zakles satisfactorily concludes: "The younger generation in Zagreb will be more Jewish than his parents' generation."      i

The Chabad House also has a large dining room where we can eat kosher dinners. Must be booked at least a day in advance so they can have prepared. The kitchen is large and also provides catering services for individuals and groups all over Croatia. The food comes to our hotels with couriers in taxis or even on domestic flights. The dishes are packed in two layers of aluminum foil, so we can heat in the hotel's non-kosher ovens. The menu is very varied. Pre-order by email: kosherzagreb@gmail.com

out of town

If we want to upgrade our trip to Zagreb, we should also visit Jewish sites outside the city

Lekenik

When Hollywood producers wanted to make a movie based on the musical "Fiddler on the Roof" 40 years ago, it was impossible to shoot in an original Jewish town like Anatebka, behind the Iron Curtain. The producer's wife recommended examining her native village, Lekenik, about a half-hour drive from Zagreb. In this village the time stopped. To this day, we can visit the houses and streets we saw in this great movie, which won the Oscar and other international awards. The houses are about 100 years old, and their yards have a water well or a manual pump. Among them chickens and geese are wondering around like in the movie, donkeys and ponies lapping in the garden

In the opening scene of the movie "Fiddler on the Roof" we see actor Haim Topol stopping his cart near a house, and serving a milk jug to a young woman standing by her window. This is the window taken in that scene

Further down the street we see the two-story house of which on its roof the violinist was filmed. When I visited Lekenik, a young violinist awaited by the house, welcoming us by playing the "If I Was a Rich Man" from the movie. The violinist accompanies our tour, walking behind us and playing in the background more songs from the film, such as "Tradition Tradition", "Lechayim", "Sunrise Sunset" and more

Strolling and walking among the village houses is like moving our fingers on the lines of 'Shalom Aleichem' books. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and feel like I've been moving through a time machine 200 years back. It reinforces the sense of Jewish nostalgia that surrounds the place even though there are no Jews here

The director of the local tourism bureau, Mr. Bozidar Antolec, says that every year about a thousand Israeli tourists come to the village as individuals or as part of about 10 groups. "But the potential is greater by the amount of Israelis who come to Croatia every summer." In order to develop Jewish tourism, he wants to purchase one of the houses filmed there, and make it a museum. A large hotel is soon to be opened

Sisak

About a 15-minute drive from Lekenik is the town of Sisak. There was a glorious Jewish community of merchants who came from Zagreb and Vienna to live in Sisak. In 1880 they built a magnificent synagogue and opened a Jewish cemetery

At the beginning of the Holocaust, 260 Jews lived in the town. About ten of the city's Jews survived the Holocaust and returned home to Sisak, but all soon immigrated to Israel. Today, no Jews remain in Sisak. But the magnificent synagogue building is still standing, waiting for worshipers to come. Nowadays the synagogue building is used as a music school. On the front wall, to the right of the entrance gate, is a small memorial plaque commemorating the Holocaust destroyed the Jewish community

On the ground floor were the 'Kheider' classrooms and the rabbi's and the community's offices. Today they're used as classrooms and coaching. The large prayer hall on the second floor was converted into a concert hall. Nothing had left of the Ezrath Nasim, the cantor's booth, and the Torah reading stage. This is how the prayer hall looks like today

The niche of the Holy Ark and the expansion before it became the stage of the concert hall. But we can still see how big the Holy Ark was. Beauty that inspires sadness. The heart is pinched when we see how our glorious Judaism in Europe has faded

The address: Ljudevina Posavaskog 4

Plitvicka Lakes

The waterfalls in the Plitvicka Lakes are a must-see for every tourist. Croatia National Park has 16 lovely lakes of different sizes and heights. The turquoise water is a pleasure to the eye. From the walking trails in the shores of the lake we can see fish cruising in the clear water. The whole area is in a forest with many types of vegetation. The beautiful lakes are actually part of the Korana River that descends from the  mountains to the Adriatic Sea along 150 km. The special soil conditions in this area caused the river water to become lakes before they continue to flow to the next lake.

The crossings from lake to lake are in dozens of stunning waterfalls in beauty waterfall. The biggest waterfall is 70 meters high and it is near the entrance. There are also only 2-3 meters high. Many waterfalls are close to each other

There are 8 walking trails in the park for us to choose from. The tracks are relatively narrow. Some are on the ground and some are on wooden bridges to the shores of the lakes. The park looks like a paradise on earth. The entrance ticket also includes an electric boat cruise on the big lake Kaluderoval and a panoramic train ride

The entrance to the park is limited to 70 visitors per hour. Tickets can be purchased online, and the rest of the tickets are sold at the entrance box office. I recommend to buy tickets online in advance and to arrive on time. If we arrive at the entrance to buy tickets, maybe the closest available ticket will be for 3-5 hours later, and until then we'll have to wait

In my opinion, this is the most beautiful place in Croatia. No wonder it is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The park is about an hour and a half drive from Zagreb towards the southwest. It is highly recommended to spend one day visiting the Plitvicka Falls. Those who travel by car towards the Adriatic and Split should make a detour to Plitvicka on their way

tips

It is advisable to buy a Zagreb card, which allows free public transportation, and admission to all museums and funicular

Kosher food can be obtained at Chabad House. Phone (385) 98-974-7966

There are many tour guides that can show us the city, including one that is more familiar with Jewish heritage sites. Her name is Doris Kunkera. You can book tours with her at (385) 91-664-0504. Highly recommended