We started the day with another early start and breakfast. We were honored to have as a guest speaker, the American Ambassador Charge d’Affairs, Andre Goodfriend. He spoke to us about the US approach to Hungary and how he is working with all the different Jewish leaders to try to work together to combat anti-semitism. After a very interesting 90 minute discussion, we took pictures with him and said good bye. We then went with Agi, our amazing tour guide for a walking tour of the Castle district of Budapest. We saw the Medieval Synagogue and enjoyed the beautiful views of the Danube. We walked down the hill, over the chain bridge and back to hotel. We then were honored to welcome, Israeli Ambassador, Ilan Mor. He spoke to us about how Israel is involved with the Jewish community in Budapest. How he is bringing Israeli trade to the country. We asked him the question of the day, regarding Szegedi and his thoughts. What struck me the most is what he said..that he isn’t a former Neo Nazi, he is/was a Nazi..not neo. He said, that Szegedi said so many horrific things about Jews and Israel and wondered how someone who has been so evil and anti-semitic wake up and be Jewish. After that we finally had some free time. Most of us took that time to shop and walk around the indoor market.
Candle lighting was early at 3:50. We walked to one of the Chabad shuls where we davened Kabbalat Shabbat and joined the Rabbi and other invited guests for dinner.
We all enjoyed a delicious dinner of salads, gefilte fish, soup and chicken.
After dinner some of us decided to try to walk off all the food we had eaten and walked over the chain bridge again and enjoyed the lobby of the beautiful Four Season’s Hotel. ~ Allison
