Medieval Meets Modern In Tallinn...

Tallinn, Estonia

July 13-15, 2014

Estonia is a country of contrasts...pristine and untouched verdant forests can be found a few kilometers off the highway, yet this is also the country whose engineers created the software for the free internet telephone service, Skype and where a wireless signal is available in nearly every cafe and pub and even on buses and trains in the capital city. The red-stoned roofs and ancient city walls of old town Tallinn bring one back to centuries past while the film, jazz, and song festivals are very much modern and grandiose in scope. Tallinn, described as a “pearl” among European capitals is often visited just for its historical center; I read that the world's first Christmas tree stood in the Old Town Square in 1441 and one can even find Europe's oldest operating pharmacy there, founded in 1422, and still open for business. Medieval structures fill this old Hanseatic city while the sleek architecture and skyscrapers of modern Tallinn bear witness to our 21^st century.

As in Vilnius and Riga, I visited the synagogue here. The process of Jewish settlement in Estonia began in the nineteenth century, when an 1865 statute by Czar Alexander II granted Jews the right to enter the region. The community continued to thrive and lived among the rest of the population with cultural autonomy. By 1934, there were 4,381 Jews living in Estonia (0.4 percent of the population) and 2,203 of them lived in Tallinn. The peaceful and active life of the small Jewish community came to an abrupt halt in 1940 with the Soviet occupation. Organizations, associations, corporations, and societies were closed and 10% of the Jewish community was deported. In 1941, with the arrival of the first German troops, the round-ups and killing of the Jews began in earnest. In addition, twenty-two labor and concentration camps were set up for foreign Jews sent to Estonia from Eastern Europe and another 10,000 were murdered there. Today, Tallinn's Jewish community numbers 2,000 and, as in Vilnius and Riga, it was an honor for me to spend time in the synagogue and celebrate my heritage...a heritage that I was born into and cherish.

Estonia, like its neighboring Baltic States, lived under Soviet occupation and oppression for many years and many thousands died under the yoke of Russian control. There is evidence of that period in each of these countries, much of it easily seen in the architecture of apartment buildings. Once monochromatic gray, many of them have been painted over with bright colors...a testimony to the human spirit of hope and a celebration of freedom dearly fought for. There is a connecting thread in the suffering of these three countries and yet they are each individual in their histories, cultures, and national pride. What remains with me is the warmth, grace, and friendship of everyone I met in the Baltic States...whether Lithuanian, Latvian, or Estonian, the smiles and welcome were everywhere.