On last Thursday evening it settled in that I may not find anyone to share Pesach with this year in Hamburg. I got pretty bummed but eventually shrugged it off, deciding I would hopefully find something over the weekend. On Friday at work I emailed the chabad to see what they had planned for Passover. I received a cold canned response “see attachment.” The attachment was an invitation for a Passover Seder at the Marriott in Hamburg boasting shmora matzo, wine, and a full meal for 40 euros. I was frustrated by the impersonal and disgustingly commercial idea of a Seder. I left work on Friday with a weird goal; I was in the search for some Jews.

I had 2 leads. 1) I had walked by a building near my apartment that looked like a synagogue. 2) I had seen a guy walking with a kippah walking in the same area near the university twice before. I left work and headed to this area near the university. However there were no kippah wearers in sight. However being in that area I remembered there was a jeweler that sold lots of Jewish jewelry nearby. i rode my bike over and luckily they were still open. I asked if they knew a synagogue in the area. She wrote a street name on a piece of paper and told me it wasn’t too far. I made my way near the synagogue. I saw a car barrier and a police post and a couple of guards walking around a building with a large metal fence surrounding it. In Frankfurt the temple was also surrounded by security however this temple was far less inviting. At the entrance outside the gate I was approached by a man in a leather jacket “what do u want?” I asked if the temple had any plans for Passover and what time Saturday services began.

The next day on Saturday I got up and dressed for services bringing my passport with me as recommend to me by the man at the synagogue the evening before. At temple I was frisked and my passport checked closely before I was admitted. The men’s section was about half full and I sat alone in an aisle and absorbed the environment for a while. I heard someone speaking Persian but wasn’t sure who. I then noticed a man a couple rows up had a Siddur that was half Persian and half Hebrew. I decided I would try and talk to him after the services.

Two old men came and sat net to me. Directly net to me was David also known as Emannuel. Most of his family died in Auschwitz. He has a couple cousins in Israel. He learned English during his time living in America after the war. Not long after another man came and sat on the other side of me. His cologne smelled Persian but I didn’t want to make any assumptions. A man came up and greeted him in Persian. I was shocked, there seemed to be many Persians in this small congregation. I quickly asked how many Persian families there were at the temple. He answered that unfortunately now there were only about 10 Persian members. He right away asked me where I was from, and if I had a place to spend the Seder; inviting me to share the Seder with him and his family. I was glowing with happiness after feeling so accepting in what was previously an unwelcoming and intimidating temple. We agreed to meet at temple on Monday at Passover services.

I continued to speak with David who had seemed to have a lot he wanted to share with me. He began with his quiet German accent “I’m not too religious, after the holocaust I only believe what I see…I believe there are good people and there are bad people….religion doesn’t matter…I met Germans during the war that better than our own, better than the Jews.” He told me he had a girlfriend. Which I was surprised to hear considering his age. He went on to say she wasn’t at temple because she wasn’t Jewish, but she was open minded. After the service David saved a seat for me at the Kiddush lunch between him and another elderly friend of his. We sat at a table full with elderly people including an interesting woman who was half Chinese. David seemed to be especially close friends with her. He continually offered to get up and get her more food despite the fact that it seemed to require so much energy for him to stand up from his chair and walk around. Every time she would say no to the offer but after a couple minutes of insisting she would fold and accept the offer. David would come back with a plate full of food. The entire interaction was very cute. After the meal I told David I would see him on Monday and rode my bike back home.

On Monday evening I picked up an orchid from the florist and went to temple. I saw Mr. Soumikh the Persian gentleman that invited me for Seder, and David both sitting in their same seats and went towards the seat between them that I sat in last time. I sat next to and was excited to begin speaking with David again, unfortunately however he didn’t remember who I was or that he had spoken to me. Mr. soumikh introduce me to his son. After the service we drove outside the city to his home. I was introduced to the entire family. A daughter and two sons. The youngest about my age. The daughter was married to an Israeli and had two daughters of her own, the younger daughter was 4 yrs old and absolutely adorable. She had me laughing the whole time. The family was nice and it was a nice reminder of home. They even did diyanu and of course it was the uncle who made a special request not to participate and get oniony who got it the worst. The dinner was full with duck, lamb, chicken, rice, goulash, soup, and vegetables. The charoset was also really good. After the meal I was invited again for the second nights Seder, as well as to a rock concert one of the sons was participating in and a party at a bar which the other son was hosting. Just shows how easily one question “how many Persians are in the community?” can lead to the opportunity to see so many interesting things and meet so many new people.