Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Posted on 05/29/2018 8:39:49 AM PDT by Rummyfan
Last Friday evening I put on a kippah and walked half an hour across Budapest to the Keren Or synagogue maintained by the Budapest Chabad. After violent attacks on Jews in German streets, the leaders of Germany’s Jewish community warned Jews last month not to wear a kippah or any other visible sign of Jewish identification in public. The French community issued such warnings years ago. Belgian TV could not find a single Jew in Brussels willing to wear a kippah in public. I walked across Budapest four times (for Friday evening and Saturday daytime services), and no-one looked at my kippah twice. At services I met Hasidim who had walked to synagogue with kaftan and shtreimel, the traditional round fur hat. Whatever residual anti-Semitism remains among Hungarians, it doesn’t interfere with the open embrace of Jewish life. There are no risks to Jews because there are very few Muslim migrants.
On any given Friday evening, the Keren Or synagogue—one of several Chabad houses in Budapest—hosts two hundred people for dinner. Jewish life isn’t just flourishing in Budapest. It’s roaring with ruach, and livened by a growing Israeli presence. About 100,000 Israelis have dual Hungarian citizenship; many own property in the country and vote in Hungarian elections.
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
“There are no risks to Jews because there are very few Muslim migrants.”
There’s the heart of the matter. Not enough Muslims to embolden the ones that are there that they can act up. Nor are they eagerly importing Muslim heathens from countries where rape and molestation of children is considered acceptable.
Let’s hope some places in Europe can resist the idiots in Brussels so not everyplace becomes a Stabbystabbystan.
Imagine the news coverage if the attackers self-identified as Christian.
Happen to be in Budapest right now for a couple of days. Lovely city..crowded but vibrant. One of the sobering statistics was the large number of people who went Auschwitz that were from Hungary. I think they said every other person was from Hungary. They don’t want it to happen again.
Then they certainly need to make sure Muslims are unwelcome.
Because only a few muzzies! the few that are there are actually expected to act like civilized humans, and not like savages.
The problem in France, UK, Germany, etc is that the savages are not expected to act like civilized humans.
Just curious, it sounds very safe for a woman traveling alone. Anyone know??
Yeah, now that Nazi collaborator George Soros got kicked out.
I lived in Budapest twice and learned the language. Wonderful city. Be sure to see Castle Hill, the Parliament Building, the baths at Gellert, Cafe Gerbaud at Vorosmarty Ter (its right at the end of Vaci Utca).
I recommend the Turos Taska...its a yummy pastry with sweetened cottage cheese in the middle and then bread on the outside with powdered sugar and raisins. The pastries in Hungary are great. The national drink, Palinka (apricot brandy) is pretty nice too.
There’s a Greek restaurant called Taverna Dionysos (on the Pest side of the river) that’s pretty good too. Its run by a couple brothers from Greece and is authentic. The closest you can come to Tex-Mex is the Iguana restaurant near the Parliament building. Another top restaurant is Gundel’s near Hosok Tere (heroes square). The museum near Hosok Tere is nice too. Very close to it is Vajdahunyad castle.
If you can, see if there will be a chamber orchestra performing in the Mattyas Templom on Castle Hill. The acoustics in there are wonderful. Its right next to the Halasz Bastya (fisherman’s bastion). The Szechenyi baths are another popular attraction. Margit Sziget (Margaret Island) in the Danube has a zoo and some nice park/recreation land too.
The people are very friendly - especially if you learn any of their language....oh and those are some of THE hottest chicks on the planet. YOWZA! :^)
there are a few areas to avoid like any city but having lived there twice, I’d say it was quite safe the last time I lived there in 2004.
Before the 1930's Germany was the safest country in Europe for Jews.
Things can turn on a dime.
RE: The Safest Country for European Jews? Try Hungary
That would be the country Sebastian Gorka used to live in.
Thank you.
I was there not too long ago also. What really stood out to me were the number of Minorities in Budapest. If you read between the lines in today’s media, you’d be convinced that the country is only lily-white skinheads - but it is FAR, FAR, from that.
And yes, it’s certainly safe, as long as you don’t try walking in the bike paths.
Did you type all those proper nouns without looking up the spelling? Amazing! I have read that the Hungarian language is the hardest of all languages to learn.
Earlier I saw comments on Twitter from a Soros defender claiming that soros turning in fellow Jews were all lies. That's kinda funny because it's just the opposite of what people who were actually there have to say. People like my parents, grandparents, godparents and others.
I did the best I could wrt spelling. Its not the same as it is in Hungarian. Hungarian is FIENDISHLY hard to learn. I speak Spanish and French extremely badly. I’m fluent in German. Hungarian is a whole different galaxy of difficulty. Its not even Indo-European.
Some examples. Most languages have 6 personal pronouns.
Single - Plural
1st person I - We
2nd person You - You
3rd person He, She, It - They
Simple enough. We Hungarian doesn’t have 6....it has 12. There are the ones in the same structure as above, BUT there is definite and indefinite and you have to conjugate the verb differently.
“what the hell does he mean?” you’re thinking.
Vasarolok egy autot = I buy a car. Vasarolni is “to buy” and the “ok” ending means “I”. Its indefinite. A car. It could be any car. Its not clear that it is one exact car so that’s why its indefinite.
Vasarolom az autot. = I buy THE car. Notice how the verb ending changed even though its still “I” who is doing the action. Why? Because its definite. “THE” car. You know which car. That makes it definite. Therefore different conjugation of the verb.
It does this for all 6 pronouns. 12 different conjugations, not 6.
Plurals are more fun. In English with just a few exceptions, you add an “S” or “ES” on the end and that’s it. Not so easy in Hungarian. Plurals always end in “K” so if the word ends in a vowel, you just hang a “K” on the end. BUT if it doesn’t, it could be “ek”, “ok”, “ak” or some others. How do you know? You have to hear if the vowels are “shallow” or “deep”. You can get the hang of it (mostly) over time but its not easy to explain which is which.
Oh and there are 43 letters in the alphabet instead of 26 like in English. For example there is “o”, there is “o” with an accent mark over it, there is “o” with an umlaut ie two dots over it, there is “o” with two accent marks over it. These are 4 different letters. They sound different. My mouth won’t make the slightly different sound that separates “o” with the two dots over it and “o” with the two accent marks over it. I still somewhat struggle to hear that difference too. Hungarians hear the difference instantly. The letter “u” does the same thing. Its 4 different letters.
There’s more, but I trust your head is swimming already. :^)
Thanks Rummyfan.
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“For now.
Before the 1930’s Germany was the safest country in Europe for Jews.
Things can turn on a dime. “
Yes, you are correct. When I was touring in Budapest as few years ago, a tour guide outrageously claimed falsely that no Jews from that city were killed in WWII and said “only some from the countryside.” This even though there is a public display of the names of victims. Also a Holocaust memorial public sculpture/installation was removed in the dead of night by the authorities. Local Jews were feeling uneasy at the environment. So, as you say, beware what lies under the surface,
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