There is a scene in the movie “Harold and Maude,” where Harold gives Maude a gift imprinted with “Harold loves Maude, Maude loves  Harold.” They are sitting on the edge of a lake at the time and Maude looks at it lovingly and then, throws it into the lake.  Harold is horrified and Maude simply says “Now, I’ll always know where it is.”  I loved that movie and that scene in particular.  It reminds me that the “things” we have are worthless if we give them more importance than they deserve. 

I have been in Vilnius, Lithuania, for the past three days.  This is where three of my four grandparents emigrated from before arriving in the U.S. in the early 1900’s.  They were escaping the wrath of the Cossacks, who were killing Jews.  They left all their worldly possessions behind, and with one bag, made their way to Hamburg, Germany, to board boats bound for Ellis Island, and then, on to Boston. 

My days here have been one of reflection of what that journey might have been like.  My maternal grandmother, Fanny, is the one I was closest to and I have been trying to imagine her on the streets of the old city in Vilnius.  We stayed in a hotel, although modernized, that was here when she was here.  We went on a walking tour and walked on streets that she might have walked on.  At the time she was here, there was a thriving Jewish population that made up 50% of Vilnius’s population. 

The pre-World War II numbers are staggering: Vilnius’ Jewish population was nearly 100,000, about forty-five percent of the city’s total.  Some two-hundred Jewish communities were strewn across Lithuania which comprised the lives and livelihoods of about 240,000 people. Vilnius itself had 105 synagogues. There were six-daily Jewish newspapers. Yiddish was the language of choice. The city was called “The Jerusalem of Lithuania.”

The post-war numbers are horrifying: Only 24,000 Jews survived.  Ninety-percent of the Jews were murdered. Vilnius’ Jewish population today is 5,000, a mere five percent of what it once was. The country is home to 6,500 Jews out of a population of 2.8 million, some 200 of whom are Holocaust survivors. Most of the two hundred pre-war communities were decimated, wiped off the map entirely. There is only one Jewish newspaper. Few people speak Yiddish anymore. Today, only one synagogue remains in Vilnius.

I have been trying to imagine what it might have been like to give up everything, take a small bag filled with those items that I deem necessary and head to a country I know nothing about, don’t speak the language, nor understand the culture, and start a new life, knowing I will never go back. 

I have the privilege of living in a country, Latvia, for 10 months, taking whatever I want and buying the rest on Amazon, knowing that I will return to my cozy life when my 10 months are over.  No hardship here. 

When I walked the Camino a few weeks ago, I was given a small stone with a yellow arrow painted on it.  The arrow is the symbol of the Camino showing you where the path leads. I put the stone in my bag knowing I would carry it with me always to show me the way.  On our first night in Vilnius, I walked into a church to light a candle, something I did on all of my Camino walks.  When I came out of the church to meet up with my husband, Steve, I reached in my bag to get a Kleenex and I heard  something hit the ground and bounce.  I knew right away it was my stone.  My heart sank.  We both searched for the stone using the lights from our phones. After about 10 minutes, I remembered Maude saying she would always know where her gift from Harold was and I told Steve I was ready to go and leave the stone in Vilnius for someone else to find and cherish.  As we started to walk away, I looked down one last time and there it was, my precious stone. I wondered if my grandmother had somehow put the stone in a place where I could find it.  I am humbled by the courage and strength Fanny (12 years old), Jacob (15 years old) and Bessie (14 years old) showed when they left their homeland.

Please remember to vote, it is our civic responsibility and a patriotic act to preserve democracy.  The whole world is watching.

With Love and gratitude,

Marsha