An article entitled Divine Croatia was published on May 14, 2019 on Jewish Traveler blog, dedicated to the Orthodox audience (about 35,000 readers). In his article, Journalist Yaakov Maor depicts Croatia as a country rich in culture, history and natural beauty, and recommends to visit and spend holidays in its capital, inland and on the coast. He also recommends to visit places of importance for the Jewish culture and history in which Croatia abounds.
Neslužbeni prijevod s hebrejskog
Divine Croatia
Yaakov Maor, May 14, 2019
A meeting of 1,000 Jewish students from Russia took place last week on the shores of Croatia, as part of the "Eurostar project". The meeting was attended by representatives of the "Chul Mehudar" group of religious travel agents, who came to Croatia, led by rabbis Berl Lazar from Moscow and Rabbi Shlomi Peles, to celebrate the Sabbath and learn Torah and get closer to Judaism. Chabad House in Zagreb, headed by Rabbi Pini Zaklos, is also a member of the "Chul Mehudar" group.
Croatia is one of the tourist destinations in Europe. A small country like Israel, that receives about 10 million tourists a year. Of which only 65,000 are Israelis. Croatia"s neighbors, who were part of the old Bulgaria, enjoyed more tourists than Israel. This gap is likely to be changed with the opening of a direct flights from Israel to Zagreb, by Croatia Airlines.
Croatia"s Ambassador to Israel, Mrs. Vesela Mrden Korac, says that there are more than 100 Roman cities, some of which have been designated by UNESCO as conservation sites, and there are many picturesque and interesting castles in the Zagorje region, with 12,000 small islands, only 65 of which are inhabited. It is customary to sail among the islands, to anchor on one of the beaches to relax. In its mountainous regions there are many forests and lakes.
The Croats pride themselves on a glorious culture. The capital, Zagreb, is a cultural, historical, political and geographic meeting point. It has a close connection to us as well. Theodor Herzl lived there for a certain period of his life, and the former chief of staff, Haim Barlev, was born in Zagreb. His son is a Knesset Member nowadays.
Bernard Shaw said: "Whoever searches for paradise on earth, will find it in Dubrovnik." Anyone who enters the old city of Dubrovnik feels like he is in the television series "Game of Thrones", filmed in its alleys.
On Channel 11 they published an article about Dubrovnik citizen that do not want tourists. The Croatian Embassy in Israel tells us that this is very inaccurate. Sometimes the city is overcrowded because of the amounts of thousands of tourists arriving on board large cruise ships. But this is a rare. The authorities manage to regulate the number of incoming tourists, by ensuring specific docking times for large cruise ships.
The city of Split is considered a popular tourist city thanks to its beautiful beaches, beautiful islands, and many UNESCO-recognized sites. Its airport us reaches by airplanes from all over Europe and Israel. Today, Sandor and Croatia Airlines operate charter flights from Tel Aviv to Zagreb and Split, which take about 3 hours. But if we want to fly in regular companies, it can take about ten hours, with two connections, one from Ben Gurion Airport to Istanbul or Athens, then another flight to Zagreb, another waiting, and another flight to Split. When we go to 3 or 4-day weekend vacation, we do not want to spend two days on the roads.
There are also Jewish sites in Croatia that will be of great interest to the Jewish travelers. In the cities of Dubrovnik stands the second oldest synagogue in Europe. There is also a Jewish museum there. In 4 cities there are Jewish communities with active synagogues, in Zagreb, Dubrovnik, Split, Osijek, and Rijeka.
Jewish actors and musicians and artists get exposure and influence in Croatia. Jewish writers are among the leading Croatian writers and Jewish musicians hold large concerts there. In Zagreb, an Israeli cultural week is held every year, as well as a Jewish film festival. At the Habima Theater in Tel Aviv, there"re playing nowadays a play written in Zagreb called "My Husband"s Wife". The Croatian Embassy in Israel invests great effort in establishing contacts and exchanging delegations between theaters and cultural institutions in Israel and Croatia.
One of the places that is likely to attract Jewish travelers is the village of Lekenik, about 40 kilometers from Zagreb. The movie "Fiddler on the Roof" was filmed there in the 1970s. This village was chosen as an imitation of the village of Antebeka.
And in the spirit of these post-Holocaust days, one must also be aware that the Croatian government is cooperating with Yad Vashem in the supervision of anti-Semitism. In addition, next year Croatia will be the president of the European Union, and Ambassador Korac says that a government will also exert its influence in the EU to reduce anti-Semitism.
In the Jewish traveler’s niche, Croatia is quite familiar. "Croatia is an easy target to market," says Yehuda Vered. Prices are as low as in Greece, and tourist services are of a high as the prestigious European standard. The hotels in Croatia are very clean and professionally managed. Religious tour operators have identified these advantages, and they bring groups mainly for the holidays of Tishrei and Pesach. Taking complete hotels in Croatia, and making their kitchen Kosher. The most prominent religious tourism wholesalers are Yehuda Vered of "Vered Holidays", which closes a hotel for Passover and summer. He does not advertise his wares, because all the rooms are sold annually to regular and returning customers. "Tour Plus" also markets summer vacations and holidays in Split and Dubrovnik, as well as Levkovitz and "Gaia Tours" and others. This summer they are joined by "Tour Olam" of Baruch Fedder. They tend to hire direct charter flights for their customers, overcoming the difficulty of reaching the tourist sites.
Objavljeno 14. svibnja 2019. na: http://www.jewishtraveler.co.il/croatia-0519/
Press releases
