Download or read book Rotterdam 91 Day Far East Cruise written by Kalman Dubov and published by Kalman Dubov. This book was released on 2022-01-02 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume reflects my time aboard the Rotterdam, a Holland America cruise ship, for a 91-day journey. This extraordinary journey consistted of visits to 24 countries, with 37 different ports of call. To date, this was the longest cruising voyage I had undertaken, from September 2015 to March 2020, only stopping because of the Covid-19 pandemic.share these i The first volume begins the journey when the Rotterdam left the from city of Rotterdam, Holland, then journeying southward through the Bay of Biscay, to Portugal, and then through the Suez Canal for the Middle East and the Far East. This was an extraordinary journey, through regions, countries, and people as diverse as the world. The volume reflects the history and culture of these people, as we sailed ever deeper through the places of incredible beauty, with the necessity of changing money and keeping track of its local value so as to experience local flavors and its sights. Doing justice to such a voyage is both exhilarating but also daunting. Every location we visited has its story, its own narrative and importance. We sailed across waters that is the stuff of ancient, medieval and modern legend. And it remains a distinct privilege to share this journey with the world.

Download or read book Rotterdam 91 Day Far East Cruise written by Kalman Dubov and published by Kalman Dubov. This book was released on 2022-01-02 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Volume 2 continues the saga of this incredible 91-day voyage across European, Middle Eastern, and Far Eastern ports. High points of this book reviews ports in Singapore, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and India, all in the Far East. We then journeyed to Oman and Jordan, visiting al-Aqabah and Petra. We then journeyed through the Suez Canal to Italy, Corsica, then to ports in Spain, to Southhampton, England, and finally to the city of Rotterdam, where we had first begun the journey. As in Volume 1, I review the history of each stopping point, reflecting on its unique culture and people, while visiting local sights of wonder. This journey was for me as a kind of vast exploration of the world, a way to share this time with others. I hope I've done justice to the experience. It changed my outlook in life as I ponder the vastness of humanity across the span of a vast territory.

Download or read book Journey to Holland written by Kalman Dubov and published by Kalman Dubov. This book was released on 2021-12-24 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Following a 91-day voyage aboard the Rotterdam, a beautiful Holland America cruise ship, I disembarked at the city of Rotterdam, and then made my way to Amsterdam. I stayed for several weeks, visiting local museums, the Jewish community and other sites in the city. The Jewish community in this city has special historic importance. Following the expulsions of Jews from Spain in 1492 and from Portugal in 1497, Jewish refugees made their way to other receptive countries, finding refuge in these countries, distant from the harsh anti-Semitism prevailing in the two Iberian Peninsula countries. And one of the places these refugees came to was to the city of Amsterdam. The transition to the Netherlands was not easy. Those who were able to leave Spain or Portugal with their wealth, found that business opportunities abounded as European powers expanded their horizons in the Far East, to access the trade routes for the importation of silk and spices to Europe. But many other co-religionists lived in dire circumstances, barely eking out a living in this new, colder, but welcoming clime. Inevitably, there were clashes. Rabbinic and communal authority was wielded harshly, with those not complying with leadership ideology, finding themselves excommunicated and shunned from all community interaction. I review two such persons, both whose ancestry hails from Portugal but finding that their ideas and questions caused the leadership to oust them. These are the unfortunate members, who were unable to bridge the divide between communal mores and dictates and their desire for individual expression. Amazingly, the original structures still stand, in mute testimony to the enduring commitment Jews made to withstand both the pressures and persecutions of anti-Semitic authorities and transplant themselves in other more hospitable settings. I hope I have done some measure of justice by reviewing this painful history and its enduring message.

Download or read book Cruising the World s Oceans written by Kalman Dubov and published by Kalman Dubov. This book was released on 2021-12-17 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: My 14 days aboard the Noordam, a Holland America ship, was an exceptional voyaging experience. My invitation to join the voyage was at the invitation of the cruise line, whose request was because they wanted a Rabbi aboard the vessel. I soon learned that a large Jewish community was aboard. Families with young children were aboard because this was the winter holiday season. Older persons were aboard because they enjoyed cruising and the end-of-year opportunity afforded them the ability to be on the high seas during the holiday season. It was also the Jewish holiday of Chanukah, a time of rededication by kindling the lights and recalling the ancient miracle of the lights in the Jerusalem Temple. Of nearly 1,900 passengers, about 65 were Jewish and we enjoyed a wonderful cruise opportunity in the summer warmth of the South Pacific. The cruise began in Sydney Australia, cruising through the South Pacific to New Caledonia, Vanuatu, and Fiji. We visited ports at Nouméa, New Caledonia; Port Vila, Mystery Island and Luganville, Vanuatu. We then visited Fijian ports at Suva, Lautoka, and Dravuni Island. A high point of my time aboard this ship was meeting Gedaliah Oshlaske, a holocaust survivor. His incredible story of survival during World War Two is told here for the first time. Although he was asked by many people, including Steven Spielberg, to relate his personal account of that harrowing time, he refused to do so. During this cruise, for the first time, he shared a few of the details of his survival. I was both privileged and honored that he chose me to share the story. The story, however, is in its barest outline. What he shared was but in outline form, with much of the story yet to be shared. I hope the rest of the story will be shared so it may become part of the ongoing saga of this man's legacy of survival when the world was shrouded in much darkness. The time was engulfed in what Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel, described as the kingdom of fire. I humbly offer this survivor's story to the reader fully aware that so much of the story is not yet told.

Download or read book Journeys to the Great Canals of the World Suez Panama Hangzhou written by Kalman Dubov and published by Kalman Dubov. This book was released on 2023-05-21 with total page 195 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Human ingenuity has created three great canals in different locations on our planet. Each of these transformed the country and the world in its own way and time. The oldest canal to be constructed was the Grand Canal, an important Chinese waterway, connecting Suzhou and Beijing, a distance of 1,104 miles (1,776 km). This is the longest artificial canal in the world and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Not as well known as the other great canals, this important waterway enabled merchants to bring grain and other goods over this long distance so that merchants could transport goods throughout the kingdom. The Grand Canal was first constructed by Fuchai, King of the State of Wu, whose capital is in present-day Suzhou, in 486 BCE. Over the centuries, the Grand Canal was expanded and rebuilt and is still in use in China. The second oldest canal was constructed in ancient Egypt when the waterways of the Nile River were expanded to ease shipping goods throughout the country. Much later, modern engineers reconstructed the Suez Canal, an effort that required much ingenuity and effort to bring this project to fruition. This waterway, at 120.1 miles, was opened in 1869, transforming modern shipping of goods by reducing the journey by between Britain and India by 4,500 miles. Up to this time, ships had to travel around Africa's Cape of Good Hope or past the tip of South America (Magellan or Drake Passages) to reach the other side of the world. Both of these points are dangerous with many ships lost at sea. The Suez Canal completely bypassed this difficulty. However, the territorial disputes and enmities between the Egyptians and Israelis soon saw conflict across these placid waters. In each of the major wars fought between these two countries, the passage of mercantile ships through the Suez Canal became dangerous. Once peace was established between Egypt and Israel, maritime traffic resumed and the world benefited from that peace. Today, there is peace between these two countries, and I recount the instances when I sailed on the Suez Canal. The last canal to be built was in Panama, making travel between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans possible. French engineers tried to construct this canal but failed for various reasons. The United States then took over the project and in vast effort, saw the project to completion. Two years of preparatory effort was necessary to construct infrastructure for the thousands of workers who would toil in the earthworks being moved to create the Panama Canal. A notable effort was addressing the lethal malaria, yellow fever, and other tropical diseases endemic in this country. In the end, yellow fever was completely eradicated from Panama, though malaria cases, though low, continue to be present. The Panama Canal is 50 miles in length and opened on 15 August 1914. Today, thousands of ships, carrying passengers and goods, travel through this, and the other canals, thereby transforming our world.

Download or read book History of the Iberian Peninsula written by Kalman Dubov and published by Kalman Dubov. This book was released on 2023-04-24 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Jewish history of the Iberian Peninsula begins during Roman times, followed by the Visigoths, a Germanic presence that was initially favorable towards the Jews. In 589 CE, their king Recarred converted to Roman Catholicism resulting in the Edicts of Toledo, a series of laws designed to create many difficulties for Jews who refused to convert to Christianity. Visigoth rule ended in 711 when Muslims from North Africa invaded. Tariq ibn Ziyad, a North African general, for whom Gibraltar is named (Jebel Tariq) found Visigoth armies weak and soon reached the Pyrenees and beyond. Muslim rule on Iberia lasted from 711 to 1492, as Christian armies reconquered and gained southern territories. During Islamic control of the peninsula, a conviviality (convivencia) existed amongst the three Abrahamic religions resulting in a vast seminal growth with translations of ancient Greek and Roman texts and advances in every area of human thought. The scholarship that grew from this period later fueled the Renaissance, benefiting modern scholarship. But in 1492, Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile promulgated the Alhambra Decree, expelling all Jews from the kingdom. This was followed by the establishment of the Spanish Inquisition, an institution that tortured and murdered thousands of men, women, and children, even as young as twelve years old. The Inquisition extended to the New World. In Mexico City as in Lima Peru, victims of the Inquisition faced merciless tribunals and faced the same fate as in Spain. The Inquisition was finally abolished in 1968. Transitioning to 2015, Spain began offering dual nationality to Jewish descendants of the expelled. I analyze the requirements to do so, noting its extensive detail, even demanding support of the Spanish constitution and culture as well as tests in Spanish with proof of marriage in the Jewish-Castilian tradition. This book offers a tableau of the harsh, zealous, and intolerant past to an effort by Spain to amend that violent historic record by offering an open hand to Jews. I leave the reasoning why Spain is doing so to the pessimist and cynic or to the optimist and hopeful.

Download or read book Journey to the Republic of Guatemala Land of the Maya written by Kalman Dubov and published by Kalman Dubov. This book was released on 2023-05-10 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Central American country of Guatemala was populated by the Maya people whose empire extended from Honduras to the south to today's southern Mexico. Remnants of their presence are found throughout this region, with monumental architecture, cities, palaces, and great pyramids. Wherever one looks, the explosion of growth and development captures the viewer in its thrall. Even the many glyphs adorning these sites with their unique writing style are a marvel to behold. They lived here for an estimated two thousand years, and then, in the early 16th century, the Spanish came and conquered these people. By then, their greatness had already ended in the midst of the 10th century, when their culture and civilization collapsed. But they retained their culture by way of thousands of pictographic books which detailed their way of life and their advancements. But the Spaniards, zealous in their Catholicism, sought out and destroyed every such book they could find and burned them all. Except for three such books, known as the Maya Codices. Historians and scholars began the slow process of deciphering the Maya past. Great effort was expended and the reality of their lives, culture, kings, wars and daily practice began to emerge. And the world was astounded by the emerging picture. Perhaps a first in the world, was their mathematical calculation with 'zero,' a phenomenal achievement. Interestingly, the glyph of the zero depicted a woman - what mathematical genius was she to use zero in calculations? Their astronomy of the heavenly spheres was astoundingly precise, as was their knowledge of geometry and trigonometry. Their religion, however, included human sacrifices, following the practice of other nearby civilizations, such as the Aztecs, the Inca in South America, and others. The Spaniards stopped such worship and offerings and now subjugated these people into serfdom called encomiendas, or enforced working for the conquistadors and their descendants. Independence from Spain came in 1821, but the Mayan living conditions did not change. The country became divided between the Spanish descendants, now known as the Criollos, the middle class, known as Ladinos (not to be confused with Jews in 9th century Castilian Spain), and the Maya and other indigenous. The social distance from the upper to lower classes was immense. And that distance came forward during Guatemala's Civil War, from 1960 to 1996. The violence and massacres during this period was so evil, the president of the country, Rios Montt, was charged and convicted of Genocide, the first time a country charged its own leader with this crime. At a previous age and time, the face of Guatemala presented immense achievements. Today, violence, crime, and cultural penury is self-evident. Guatemala is a third-world country, where the majority of its people live in great poverty while the upper class has the land, its abundance and vast wealth.

Download or read book Journey to Albania Land of Besa written by Kalman Dubov and published by Kalman Dubov. This book was released on 2024-02-18 with total page 181 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although tiny in comparison with other European countries, Albania looms large in terms of its people, culture and history. Blessed by an abundance of natural resources, together with the resourcefulness of its people, it stands strong in the face of much larger countries that have tried to control it and subjugate its people. In the face of overwhelming odds, Albania stood firm, refusing to be subdued to others despite that dominant country remaining on its soil for centuries. Descendants from the ancient Illyrians, a relatively unknown group, together with an obscure language unlike any other in Europe, its people are a mystery and a conundrum in the face of larger and more powerful countries. The Ottoman Empire, for example, dominated Albania and the Balkans for five centuries, but were unable to subjugate these people. Albanian embers for independence were nurtured and kept alive until, in the end, it achieved its national aspirations. Its core identity remained unchanged and strong in the face of such challenge. Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of Albanian is the concept of besa, a term denoting a code of honor. Once given to another, whether an Albanian or a stranger, the Albanian would rather forfeit his life than violate this code and promise. It was due to this concept and code that Jews in Albania, were protected and every manner of succor was extended to them. Albania remains the only country in Nazi-occupied Europe when at the end of that world war there was an increase in its Jewish population rather than the reverse. The Nazis considered the Jewish population in Albania to be about 200 persons. In fact, by war’s end, 2,000 people emerged, relating tales of the extraordinary courage and heroism extended to them by either Muslim or Christian Albanians. To date the State of Israel’s Yad Vashem has recognized 75 Albanians for its prestigious award of Righteous Among the Nations. Ironically, the very same code of honor that protected Jews during World War Two is now used by Albanians to perpetrate criminality across the world. The Albanian Mafia controls a vast international enterprise, overseeing every form of crime. At its basest element, the clannish hallmark of its membership is based on familial connections, with the code of besa given to its leadership and other members. Thereby, all in the clan are considered family for whom the code connects and protects, demanding total unquestioned obedience. Efforts to infiltrate these clans has proven an impossible task because of the interconnected webs of duty and control exerted on all in that organization. Betrayal of the clan is a violation of family and community so that total obedience is a given at all times. Hence, the same nobility of besa is also used negatively, against society and normative social frameworks. In addition, Albania still retains the cultural phenomenon of the ‘third sex’ where women become ‘sworn virgins.’ They are released from their traditional feminine role and become a ‘man,’ doing so by a formal oath given to twelve elders in the community. Afterwards, none may remind this ‘man’ of a previous life as a woman. Though the number of sworn virgins in Albania is small, it is still present and any woman may assume this transformation despite modernity and its claims of equality. The Albanian diet reflects its Mediterranean culture, using olive oil and an array of vegetables that provides an abundance of health to its people. There is much to learn from this ancient society. I hope this book does justice to the many traditions and culture of this unique people.

Download or read book Journeys to Japan Review Analysis written by Kalman Dubov and published by Kalman Dubov. This book was released on with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Grand Voyage on the Holland America flagship Amsterdam to Asia and the Pacific remains one of the most memorable adventures I have had the privilege of being part of. I was thrilled to join the ship in San Diego California, listening to world-class scholars offering in-depth lectures on the places we would visit and to then see these countries first-hand. This volume reviews the port of San Diego, the point of departure, and the ship's visits to several ports of call in Japan. While these ports were interesting, research on Japan’s long reach of history offers up many troubling aspects of this unique people. I pondered their history and unique way of looking at themselves and the rest of the world. How is it possible, for example, for a people to create the highest forms of etiquette and graceful decorum, and to then conduct themselves with utter contempt for basic morality towards others? During World War Two, the massacres committed by the Japanese army in nearly every quadrant of their military and political reach during the Showa Empire begs the question of how common decency and ethical behavior can be so thoroughly absent as if it never existed? Even today, the Japanese government refuses to acknowledge or offer a public apology for wartime acts done during this period. I explore this very troubling issue, wondering where the lines of civility and conformity begin and end. The Japanese are a strange people, and I was frustrated at these two extremes of exemplary behavior and simultaneous contempt of others. It is my contention that a refusal to acknowledge the past, in conjunction with a reappraisal of what went wrong in that previous leadership, will eventually and inevitably force this issue into the present. There is therefore a huge divergence between the Germans and the Japanese. The former reappraised their horrific past, recognizing that a change from that past is a mandatory aspect of their social discourse. Even a Nazi salute in Germany is outlawed and a criminal offense. In contrast, the Japanese have barely tolerated criticisms of its own leaders during that period of darkness. This is a troubling volume in which I explore with an open mind, wondering if there is an answer to these troubling questions. In the Shinto Directive, formulated and implemented by General MacArthur following Japan's unconditional surrender, formalized belief in the emperor's divinity was outlawed. Today, beautiful Shinto shrines dot the Japanese countryside. Citizens can be seen washing hands and rinsing their mouths before entering these sacred spaces, then lighting incense while offering a prayer. Inevitably, I wonder as to the moral component of a people who are outwardly decorous, even recreating the common toothpick into a form of exceptional grace, while being unable to acknowledge common humanity. There are also modern aspects of Japanese society that are difficult to comprehend. Thousands of Japanese youth, for reasons that defy common sense, give up on themselves and their future by adopting the hikikomori lifestyle, living in their parent’s home, not interacting with their peers, and even refusing to emerge from their bedrooms for decades. Parents tolerate this odd behavior, refusing to confront their child, even refusing to acknowledge the presence of their child as the years pass. Similarly, are the jouhatsu, people who suddenly and without the slightest outward change, suddenly and inexplicably, disappear. Desperate to find the loved one, the government refuses to assist because of Japanese strict privacy laws. I describe these aspects of Japanese society, together with others similarly different from Western society. These are aspects of the ‘Asian face’ – that inscrutable and essentially unknown quantum, so different from that of the West. Knowing the facts, together with the statistics accompanying those facts, does not imply understanding the. As a Westerner, I review these manifestations without understanding the Japanese ‘soul,’ its core identity and substance. I can, therefore, only recount the facts and leave the rest to the reader. These questions aside, I very much enjoyed walking Japanese streets, riding its trains, and seeing its people. I also had occasion to chat with several Japanese who expressed surprise at my awareness of their culture, while I was unable to adequately answer my queries. And they too seemed perplexed by my queries, confounded by the imponderables dividing the Western the Eastern way of living a life.

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