Silistra

In the 2000s Silistra, which once had a sizeable Jewish community, became a site of pilgrimage for Jewish travellers. Coming in their thousands throughout the year but especially in the weeks preceding Rosh Hashanah, their destination is Kapitan Krastev Street, a dusty side road that leads to the Romanian border. There, in front of a Communist-era block of flats rather incongruously called Havana, is the memorial to Rabbi Eliezer Papo, a man of many skills and vocations, who is credited, among other things, with stopping a cholera epidemic from reaching the Bulgarian lands. 

Eliezer Papo was born in Sarajevo in 1785 but settled in Silistra, where he became rabbi to the Sephardi community, in existence there since 1477. He was a truly remarkable Judaic scholar. His books include classics such as Pele Yo'ez, Elef HaMagen and Hesed La Alafim, but what made him so popular was his belief that a truly pious Jew must divest himself of all worldly pleasures. Significantly, he not only preached asceticism but also practised it, to the extent that he came to be referred to as HaKadosh, or the Saint. 

When Silistra found itself on the frontline in the 1828-1829 war between Imperi- al Russia and the Ottomans, a cholera epidemic broke out. Papo, who had also been trained in medicine, set up field hospitals to isolate the sick and prevent the decease from spreading. Unfortunately, he did not survive, but the grateful residents of Silistra erected a monument in his memory. 

The old Jewish cemetery of Silistra, where he was buried, has long since been destroyed. Papo's original tombstone is also gone, but the site opposite the Havana has a new memorial, a mikveh and a prayer room. 

Services in Silistra's synagogue have not been held there since the Jews left in the late 1940s. Following failed plans to convert it into a cinema, the building was used as a sports hall. It is now rented out to a Christian evangelical church. Like other Jewish properties in Bulgaria, it has been vandalised with spray-painted swastikas.

The now abandoned Jewish cemetery of Silistra is situated next to the old Christian one, a few yards from the actual border with Romania. It has scores of marble and granite gravestones inscribed in Bulgarian, Hebrew and Romanian, mostly dating to the 20th century. It is completely overgrown with vegetation and the only time of the year when access to it is possible is in early spring, after the snow has gone but the grass and bushes haven't started growing.