Rabbi Dovid Keleti won't give up on Hungary's Jewish future
Photos: Koszegi Zoltan
The heimish building boom is surging across the Hungarian plain. From Kerestir and Csenger to Kaliv and Ihel, complexes are rapidly rising to host accommodations for the thousands of annual visitors to mekomos hakedoshim. A tourist visiting one of these locations during any time of the year will easily find a hot meal, a comfortable bed, and a beis medrash with amenities that rival what he’s used to back home.
What the visitor likely won’t meet in any of these tourist hot spots is a local Hungarian Jew. Virtually all of Hungary’s native Jews live in Budapest, while to the average frum visitor, Budapest is merely a stop on the way to Kerestir.
The city’s off-the-radar status has churned up some bittersweet emotions among the small cadre attempting to revive a Torah atmosphere in this land of the Chasam Sofer and Rav Yehuda Assad, Rabi Akiva Eiger, and the Yismach Moshe.
“I never understood or appreciated the average Hungarian Jew’s thirst for Yiddishkeit,” says Yochi Herzog, the president of Kedem Wine. “There are a lot of people of Hungarian descent who are not aware of what’s going on. They should spend a Shabbos there. These are your own roots. Go help! It’s your achrayus.”
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