Prague Journal

Friday, January 21, 2005.

This morning’s sunshine was a nice contrast from yesterday’s rain, but the afternoon changed from sun to sleet to rain again.
Shabbat services at Bejt Praha had only a small, mostly local, crowd. But they were led by Coleman Raeboi, a cantorial soloist with a rich bass voice, who is visiting Prague for two weeks. Mr. Reaboi is the cantor at Congregation B’nai Emmunah in Tarpon Springs, Florida. He is in Prague to give both lectures and performances (he has sung with several major opera companies, including Boston, Miami, Pensacola, and Sarasota) and participate in services at most of the synagogues here. Most visiting rabbis and cantors are retired, or at least near retirement age. Coleman is in his mid-thirties, quite young and only recently married and living in Florida.
Rick and I went to dinner at U Kapra (By the Carp) with Yehudes, the young woman we had met early this fall who is going to medical school (an English-language program) here. She grew up in Boise, Idaho, so we spent much of the conversation seeking to find mutual acquaintances from our days there. She also spent two years in Israel and two years in New York before going back to Boise to finish college at BSU. She came to Prague last year for medical school, and is now half-way through with her second year, which is by all accounts the most demanding. This is exam week at all universities, so anyone who’s a student is either studying, recovering from studying, or taking a break from studying.

posted by JWinn @ 10:53 PM