Fort Wayne on a Gray Day

 

After a doctor's appointment near the Downtown Lutheran hospital, we headed east on Main Street to The Landing to get lunch.

It had been spitting rain, but fortunately stopped when we arrived. Columbia Street has been made into a pedestrian thoroughfare. We used metered parking on Calhoun Street. We chose Mercado restaurant.

If it had been a nicer day, we could have eaten on the patio.

We had looked online and decided we would try the $10 taco combo: two tacos, rice or beans. We ordered chips and salsa which unlike most Mexican restaurants were not free. 

I ordered Broken Spanish and Hongo al Pastor with pinto beans; my husband ordered Broken Spanish and Ernie's Fish Taco with rice. You order at a counter when you first enter the restaurant. They give you a stand with the number of your order. You seat yourself.

These were certainly not your ordinary tacos.

They were tasty but quite messy to eat. 

After lunch, we drove to Glenbrook Mall. I bought two tops and a pair of earrings on sale at Penney's. 

Next stop was Costco where we purchased a rotisserie chicken, frozen breakfast frittatas, some sandwich rolls, and lemon cakes which look like over-sized cupcakes. We have never had this type of Costco cake so we will see if they are moist and not too sweet. We will probably split them in half to share. Tonight we are going to eat my husband's left-over spaghetti supreme dish from Salvatori's on Sunday. He ate about a third of the large serving. I have some frozen Red Lobster biscuits (come in a package) to bake.

The sun peeked out about 3 p.m. when we arrived home, but now it is cloudy again. 

Violins of Hope

My husband and I watched a documentary on PBS last week about The Violins of Hope. The show shared about the violins, the restorer, and the 2015 debut performance in the United States in Cleveland in a synagogue remodeled to be a concert hall.

Amnon Weinstein's father Moshe escaped to Palestine, leaving behind all his family (about 400 relatives) who later perished in the Holocaust. Once he was established in Tel Aviv, he opened a violin shop where he built and restored string instruments, primarily violins. Amnon worked with his father and eventually took over the store. He had a few people bring in violins that had survived the Holocaust either in the camps or left behind in the ghettos. Most of them did not want the instruments back, they just wanted them not to be destroyed. 

Pretty soon word of mouth spread his mission of preserving these violins. Most needed extensive repair and restoration. They had once been treasures in their communities, played at weddings and other events, and passed down through the generations. Some were basic, some were fine violins with intricate insets of the Star of David. They piled up in storage in his shop.

A vision of what these violins could become arose in Amnon. After years of painstaking restoration work by him and his son, he launched his dream. The now playable violins would give voice to their owners who had perished. Some he had extensive background on, others because of their age he knew had been part of European Jewish communities during the Hitler years. The violins also were a way to remember and honor his own perished relatives.

The documentary told of how orchestras were formed. The Jews who could play were saved from death in the concentration camps, but at a great price. They survived physically, but at great torment to their souls. They played twice a day as the train cars arrived, serenading the people who were marched off to the gas chambers.
Often they arose and went along side the victims. One violin in Amnon's group belonged to a musician who finally laid down his instrument and joined the line of condemned people. He could no longer bear the part he played in their demise. Suicide of violinists was not uncommon. The Nazis were masters at destroying bodies and souls. However, the music allowed the Jews to cling to their humanity and to their community bonds.

For those who survived the camp, when they moved to permanent residences, they often put the violin in the attic. To play it brought back all of the horrific images of the camps. The music haunted them. One of the families who brought such a violin to Amnon, gathered in Israel to hear his daughter-in-law play it. Its owner was deceased, but his violin gave his voice back to his family.

Amnon's dream came to fruition. The violins have been played by youth orchestras, symphonic orchestras, professional musicians. Many communities have used them to educate people, especially the post-war generations, of the Holocaust. The violin voices continue to offer the hope of healing and understanding.

Fort Wayne, Indiana, is now one of the host communities. They have displays, lectures, concerts in many venues. You can see the schedule at the website. Be sure to click on the tab about violin stories to see some of the instruments and learn about the musicians. Some of the displays run thru December 1st.