24.5.09

"Rav Daniel Ginerman visited Lleida"

on Tarbutlleida.com

The closure of our first semester could not be any better. The conference on Cabbala given by Rabbi Daniel Ginerman gathered a hundred people in Tarbut, a record for our institution.

 The expectation raised by the Rabbi’s visit, the first one after 8 centuries, was supported by the amount of people who attended the conference on Cabbala. The Conference Hall at Fundació Viure i Conviure of Caixa de Catalunya in Lleida was too small for the public gathered, some of them had come from Barcelona, others from Valencia. For many of the attendants, it was the first occasion they had to listen to a Rabbi’s lessons. Others, pupils of Cabbala, enjoyed listening to him once more. The Rabbi came from Carmiel, in Galilea. Daniel Ginerman made a good impression on us. The audience left the hall praising the high standard the activities of our institution is gaining.
Our schedule of activities will be interrupted for the summer holidays although we will be keeping contact with our members and friends through e-mails and this web. This interval will be good to give an impulse to our Ambassadors’ section as well as to work on new ideas, suggestions and plans you would like to share with us.
The Rabbi’s visit is widely documented with images at the section Gallery of Photos of this web. More about his presence in Lleida is available in “Read more”…

A SHORT BUT INTENSE VISIT TO LLEIDA

The conference was only one of the Rabbi’s activities in Lleida. On his arrival, and after meeting a group of friends who came from Valencia, we wandered downtown. Our purpose was to visit Palau de la Paeria – the Town Hall building, especially the museum area, underground. We were eager to know the Rabbi’s opinion about some archaeological remains labelled as “banys andalusins” (Andalusian baths) which we suspect could have been a mikveh, the Jewish ritual baths. Not to forget the present Palau de la Paeria belonged once to the Sanahuja Jewish family, in the times previous to 1492. To certify this, we still need to study the case thoroughly – checking an external source of water and orientation - and contrast the information but, all the conditions fulfilled, the case would be dealt with the local authorities. The Rabbi affirmed the possibilities to have found a mikveh were high.

Back at Fundació Viure i Conviure of Caixa de Catalunya, in Lleida, Rabbi Daniel Ginerman gave his conference under the name of “Our days seen at the light of Cabbala and our role in Redemption”. It was Rossana Lara, founder of Orden de Cábala del Sendero Interior and specialist in Cabbala as well, who made his presentation. After her, it was Mario Saban who introduced him. The audience had the feeling that one hour was too short a time for such an interesting subject. The Rabbi was aware of how difficult it was to have people understand the principles of Cabbala and its multiple readings of past, present and future events in such a short time.

To close the conference, musician Jurgen van Win performed ”Entrance of Bride and Groom”, by Aaron Minsky, and “Adon Olam” with his new cello. The performance is a mere foretaste of what the Dutch musician living in Reus will be offering to the public in Lleida from now on. The evening was completed with a dinner in a restaurant where both genius delighted the attendants with their knowledge, one on Cabbala, the other to Jewish music.

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