Poland -- The Chassidic Route

Painting in the Judaica section of a sacred art exhibit in the open-air folk architecture museum in Sanok. photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

While in the far southeast corner of Poland earlier this month, I visited a few of the Jewish heritage sites on the "Chassidic Route" itinerary in eastern and southeastern Poland promoted by the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Hertitage in Poland (FODZ).

The Chassidic Route itinerary includes: Baligrod, Bilgoraj, Chelm, Cieszanow, Debica, Dynow, Jaroslaw, Krasnik, Lesko, Lezajsk, Lublin, Lancut, Leczna, Przemysl, Radomysl Wielki, Ropczyce, Rymanow, Sanok, Tarnobrzeg, Ulanow, Ustrzyki Dolne, Wielkie Oczy, Wlodawa and Zamosc.

I was based in Sanok, a charming town that in fact itself is on the Route, and I also visited the "route" sites of  Rymanow, Lesko, and Baligrod. In addition, I stopped in Dukla and Lutowiska. All the  places I visited were within an easy drive from Sanok through beautiful countryside. Some places I had seen in the past -- even more than 20 years ago. Others I visited for the first time: so, a mixture of big changes and new experiences....

To keep posts at a reasonable length, I won't give a rundown of all the sites all at once, but I'll devote a post to each place.