The Izaak Synagogue, Cracow

After almost not making the Warsaw-Krakow flight, and then losing my luggage when we finally DID make it Krakow, we finally made our way (sans luggage) to our apartment about 10 minutes walk from the Jewish quarter.

This is the famous Reb Izaak shul in Krakow. The shul was built by my great, great, great (and a couple more greats) grandfather in 1638. He was a wealthy banker and there is a legendary story written about him which (if you're interested) you can find by searching his name in a search engine. 

Attached to the famous Rama shul is an ancient cemetery where my ancestor, Reb Izaak Reb Yekeles, the builder of the Reb Izaak shul is buried.  Standing next to his headstone is my brother, Yitzi, who is named after him.

This is one of the walls surrounding the cemetery that is known as the wailing wall.  If you look closely, you can see that it is literally a mosaic of broken and shattered headstones.  During WW2, the cemetery was partially destroyed by the Nazis and most of the graves were desecrated, their headstones shattered and destroyed.  After the war when the cemetery was reconstructed, the broken headstones were pieced together to create the wall.  It's a sobering sight, this endless wall of broken gravestones. On many of them you can make out partial names and dates but not more. We may never know who they once belonged to but this wall makes sure they will not be forgotten....

Photo credit goes to my brother, Zvi....