residents and visitors alike, including thernannual opening of the children’s railwayrnin Cermel Valley. Children are taken byrna train, powered by a 133-year-old steamrnengine, on a three-mile trip to Alpinka, arnfavorite local resort. There is also the eatingrnof a special seed cake, which, in 1997,rnwas 628 meters long (to commemoraternthe anniversary); the election of thernqueen of Kosice Castie; and a naval battlernbetween the people of Kosice and arnband of pirates — despite the lack of arnnaval tradition (or a seacoast), the homernteam always manages to win.rnThe history of Kosice is closely tied tornthe development of crafts and trade, andrnno celebration in our town would berncomplete without a craft fair. Walkingrnthrough the stalls, you first meet a manrnwho mints coins commemorating thernevent, each year with a different design.rnBeside him is a dressmaker, wearing a traditionalrnSlovak costume. After chattingrnwith her, you come upon a man in tradihonalrngarb, including a broad belt and arnlarge hat. With the sound of his whistlingrnin your ears, you visit a stall displayingrnhandmade dippers (crpak). One of themrnis so huge that a man would have to carr’rnit with both hands. The carver, FrantisekrnEstocin, is entering his dippers into thernGuinness Book of World Records.rnDuring the third annual festival,rnKosice made another bid to enter thernGuinness Book: the biggest Macarenarndance in human history. The SuperMacarena,rnwhich would beat the 48,000-rndancer record set in Cincinnati, Ohio,rnwas the brainchild of Peter McFadden, arnNew Yorker who loves our cit)’, where hernhas lived for two years. The idea came tornhim as he was returning from a party atrnPostova High School, where he teaches.rnThe countdown began on May 6,rnwhen we learned that 40,000 tickets hadrnbeen distributed; the next day, the numberrnrose to 45,000; and on May 8, the totalrnreached 60,000-10,000 more thanrnthe impossibly high total we had hopedrnfor. May 9 began gloomily, but b- thatrnevening, it would put Kosice in thernrecord books.rnThe whole population of our cit)’ wasrnset in motion early that day by the anticipationrnof two special events: sailing onrnthe Hornad River in the afternoon andrnthe SuperMacarena in the evening—arndouble holiday, as our mayor, RudolfrnSchuster, described it.rnBy late afternoon, the croAds were immense.rnSome people had decided tornwatch the day’s happenings at home onrnlocal television; most, displaying our nativerngood sense, directed their steps eitherrntoward the sailing on the Hornad, uponrnwhich the weather was smiling, or towardrnthe fountain square on the main streetrnwhere the SuperMacarena stage was constructed.rnBy evening, it was no easy matterrnfor people to make their way to therncity center, as my brother Peter and I discovered.rnWe slowly worked our way to thernsquare, which was one of three designatedrndancing spots. As we came in, we sawrnthe big screen which recorded the numberrnof people registered by computer.rnEveryone who registered was given a specialrnticket indicating his dancing area.rnThe ticket was supposed to be worn onrnthe clothing, but some dancers cheerfullyrnstuck theirs on their foreheads. Thernshow began at 8:00 P.M., and by then therncomputer count was 10,563.rnReporters from the regional radio andrnTV stations, as well as from the first privaternTV network in Slovakia, set uprnequipment on balconies and alsornsqueezed through the crowds to ask forrnreactions to the megashow. The stagernheld our attention as various dancers andrnsmall groups gave performances as wellrnas helpful lessons and lectures aboutrnMacarena dancing. The demonstrationsrnand instruction kept us busy as we allrnwatched the screen, waiting for the magicrnnumber to appear; 70,000. Every timernthe number rose even a little bit, peoplernclapped their hands and shoutedrn”Kosice, Kosice, Kosice!” At 9:00 P.M.,rnthere were 40,293 dancers; at 9:55, thernnumber was 65,003.rnBy 10:00 P..M., 67,156 dancers werernregistered, although the official countrnput the total at about 66,000. The statisticrngave Kosice a spot in the GuinnessrnBook of World Records. But my feelingsrnduring the event cannot be explained byrna number. I was happy to be a part ofrnsuch a crowd, and I was dancing as best Irncould, but there was something more goingrnon, something almost mystical. I wasrndancing with people who were all takingrnpart in the same civic ritual; nobody paidrnany attention to the time, the weather, orrnanything else.rnI had the feeling of being part of somethingrnwhose significance I could not explainrnrationally. Imagine yourself in therndarkness, in the streets with 60,000 otherrnpeople dancing.rnAfter ten minutes, the song was over,rnand the dance was an historical moment.rnWhen we finished, everyone shouted.rncheered, and whistled so loudly that thernnoise stunned our ears and the spotlightsrndazzled our eyes. At that moment, wernknew we had broken Cincinnati’s record.rnWe continued the celebration untilrnmidnight with discotheque dancing.rnThere was also a raffle; the first prize wasrna car. In a perfect ending to the festivities,rna young man who was to take his finalrndriving test in two days won the car. Itrnwas an evening that he and the rest of usrnin Kosice will never forget.rnGabriela Kolvekova writes from Kosice,rnSlovakia.rnLetter FromrnInner Israelrnby Jacob NeusnerrnExile, Real and ImaginedrnHoly Israel, the supernatural communityrnthat, in the theology of Judaism, takesrnshape at Sinai in accepting the Torahrnand so lives in God’s kingdom in the herernand now, tells the story of its exile in thernsetting of that theology. By sin, Adam lostrnEden; by rebellion against God’s commandments,rnholy Israel lost the land of Israel,rnits Eden. These theological convictionsrnintersect with the actualities of therneveryday. What this meant in ChristianrnEurope made ample sense: Holy Israelrnlived its life of exile and awaited its redemption;rnChristianity understood thernbiblical sources of that conviction, evenrnthough it read the record differently. Butrnwhen the French Enlightenment forcedrnChristianity out of the center of Westernrncivilization, the secular state found itsrncounterpart in the life of Jewry and in thernethnic group, the Jews.rnThen what were the Jews, and the secularrnnation-states that succeeded thernChristian empire, to make of exile? Thern19th century gave one answer: The Jewsrnwere no longer in exile but accepted therntasks of loyal citizens of the nation-state.rnThat is what the French rabbis toldrnNapoleon in I8I2 when he asked, Arernyou French or Jewish? The question carriedrnits own imperative. The 20th centuryrngave another answer: The Jews are notrnAUGUST 1999/43rnrnrn