|
|
October 11, 2002
A tale of two cities in Holland
EDGAR ASHER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN
Amersfoort, situated 35 kilometres southeast of Amsterdam, is a
tranquil medieval town of 124,000 inhabitants surrounded by beautiful
woodland and heathland. At the time of the German invasion of Holland
in May 1940, 820 Jews lived in and around the city. In fact, the
Jewish connection with Amersfoort goes back several hundred years.
Just outside the town was an army barracks that was in use by the
Dutch artillery corps until the outbreak of war. In August 1941,
the Nazis decided to use the buildings for police custody and as
a place to incarcerate communists, Protestant and Roman Catholic
clergy, political prisoners and the Jews of Amersfoort. The municipality
tried in vain to resist the Nazi measures but, by April 1943, most
of the Jews in the camp had been sent to the infamous camp of Westerbork,
near the German border and then on to Poland for extermination.
It was also during this period that several hundred residents of
the Jewish hospital in Amersfoort, many who were old and mentally
ill, were taken from the hospital and shot dead nearby. In all,
106,000 Dutch Jews, 76 per cent of the Jewish population, were murdered
by the Nazis.
Today, there are about 30,000 Jews in Holland and many small towns
still have the remnants of earlier Jewish communities and synagogues,
although most Dutch Jews have little or no affiliation to Judaism.
There is, however, an attempt to revive the once rich Jewish life
in the country. This attempt is being spearheaded by a group of
dedicated, mainly young, rabbis who are affiliated to the Chabad
movement. The rabbis that serve these communities are mainly part-timers
and they receive their salaries from the communities themselves.
Rabbi Shimon Evers, who was born in Holland, is associated with
the New York-based Chabad movement but his role as Amersfoort's
rabbi has nothing to do with his Chabad affiliation. The rabbi's
wife, Gilah, was also born in Holland.
"Amersfoort has one of the oldest shuls is still in use in
western Europe," explained Evers. "In fact, we have just
celebrated the 275th anniversary of its founding. In Holland, most
shuls were built to be facing east, but Amersfoort shul is directed
southeast, exactly towards Jerusalem. When it was built in the early
part of the 18th century there was almost nothing here so they could
construct the building as they wished."
After the Second World War, the synagogue was a completely empty
shell. The building had been used by the Germans and every piece
of furniture, except for the ark was burnt. Slowly the shul was
rebuilt. The original ark survived the war and was found in three
parts, in three different places in the city, and was returned to
the synagogue, renovated and reinstalled.
"At the end of the war, Canadian troops were here and among
them were some Jewish soldiers," said Evers. "They managed
to bring some new benches which lasted until a few years ago when
the seats you see today were installed. Nine years ago, the shul
was renovated and the paint was scraped off. Underneath they found
the original paint from 275 years ago. Now you see it in its original
coloring."
Evers explained that the Jewish communities in Holland, outside
of Amsterdam, are known as the "medina."
"We in Amersfoort are one of the bigger communities in the
medina with about 130 members," he said. "This means that
every Shabbos and yom tov we have services. On Shabbos, we have
between 30 and 40 people in the shul. The community of Amersfoort,
as in most communities outside Amsterdam, is mainly Ashkenazi. Amsterdam
does have a sizeable Sephardi community, centred around the world-famous
Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue in the northeast of the city."
Evers was not so upbeat when it came to the question of anti-Semitism.
"Anti-Semitism is, I'm afraid, on the rise," he responded.
"One of my sons, who is 12 years old, went on an outing with
his school. During the outing, he was threatened by an unknown youth
with a knife. Now Jewish people are receiving abusive letters and
phone calls, this is much more than the situation say five years
ago. Of course much of today's anti-Semitism in Holland has its
roots in the present intifada."
However, Evers spoke positively about the international Christian
organization Christians For Israel (CFI), which happens to have
its international headquarters in Nijkerk, a few kilometres from
Amersfoort. "The organization tries to keep up as much contact
with Israel as possible. They do generate a lot of money for Israel,
as well as bringing tens of thousands of Dutch tulips to Jerusalem
every year," said Evers with a smile. "I think most of
the members have a very positive attitude towards the Jewish people
and Israel." Currently, CFI have several projects in Israel,
including support for the elderly and help for underprivileged children.
There is also a project to assist in aliyah for Jews from the former
Soviet Union. All CFI projects are organized in conjunction with
the relevant Jewish or Israeli Arab organizations, such as the Jerusalem
Foundation and the Jaffa Institute.
Evers pointed out that some of the sefer Torahs in the Amersfoort
synagogue came from the former Jewish community that existed in
Nijkerk before the war. They were found after the war, hidden in
the roof of a local bank.
Ancient to modern
From the oldest Dutch Jewish community, we travel to the newest,
Almere, the capital of the province of Flevoland. About 30 years
ago, Almere and southern Flevoland did not exist but Dutch ingenuity
created a series of dykes and, by 1967, the southern section of
Flevoland was reclaimed from the sea, making it Holland's most recent
land reclamation. Thus it is probably true to say that the nascent
Jewish community of Almere is certainly the newest Jewish community
in Holland, if not the world. Less than 30 kilometres and more than
275 years separate Almere and Amersfoort. The city of Almere was
founded in 1975 and has expanded rapidly. It is estimated that by
the year 2005 there will be more than 185,000 people living in the
city, greater than the current population of Amersfoort.
"The Jewish community here is very unique because the people
who are living here did not grow up here. Most other communities,
such as Amsterdam or Amersfoort, have connections going back many
generations," explained Rabbi Moshe Stiefel. Stiefel is a young,
enthusiastic New York rabbi who also has his connection to Chabad.
His Dutch-born wife is the daughter of Holland's chief rabbi, Rabbi
Binyomin Jacobs. He is very adamant about the role he has to play
as a community rabbi.
"Our goal is not to build up the Chabad organization, but to
build up Judaism. Chabad is more than an organization; it is a movement.
If there is already an existing community and it needs help to revive
it we just come to help out. We don't need to organize it if it
is already there. Chabad also comes to places where there has not
been a previous community, such as in Almere. Here we establish
an organization to build up Judaism."
The Jewish community of Almere is a very pioneering type of community.
Today, there are several hundred Jews living here, but most don't
identify with the synagogue. About 150 people are involved with
the new community and about 30 of that number make it possible to
hold regular services on each Shabbat morning. As things are going
at present, Stiefel hopes to start a regular Friday night service
in the synagogue sometime in the coming year. Currently, Stiefel
and his wife hold Friday night prayers and dinner in their home
once every four weeks.
"I think I am a typical Chabad shaliach [emissary] who
goes out to a place and tries to get more Jews involved with their
tradition and roots," said Stiefel. "When we came here
four years ago we were the only family eating kosher food; now there
are four or five families who maintain kosher homes.
"There are a lot of young Jewish families in Almere, which
offers a big potential. They are encouraged to come and live here
because the cost of homes is a fraction of that available to young
people in the greater Amsterdam area." It is for this reason
that Stiefel sees a renewal of Jewish life in Flevoland Dutch
Jewish life that was almost completely eliminated by the Nazis during
the war.
Stiefel likes to point out that the synagogue used to be, as he
describes it, "part of the ocean." This is probably the
only shul in the world which has, over its entrance, the quotation
from the Torah, "She called him Moses, as she said, 'I drew
him from the water. ' " The Egyptian name Monios, from which
the name Moshe is derived, means "drawn from the water."
The synagogue of Almere is situated near the centre of the city
in rented office accommodation. "We hope that when the shul
becomes too small for the community we will be forced to build our
own. We have two sefer Torahs, one that is [in need of repair] and
a second sefer donated by the community of Amersfoort that is used
on Shabbat and yom tovim."
The fact that Amersfoort, one of Holland's oldest communities, gave
a gift of a Torah scroll to Holland's youngest community is full
of symbolism. The ark is more than 200 years old and, in the view
of Stiefel, is possibly the oldest thing that exists in the entire
Flevoland region. It was donated to the Almere community by the
Utrecht Jewish community.
Twice a week, Stiefel conducts lessons for a small group of members
in his home. One shiur is learning how to read Hebrew and the second
is on the weekly portion.
"A lot of the older people in the community had decided that
since the experiences of the war they would not have anything to
do with Judaism or any Jewish community," said Stiefel. "But
when the Almere community opened its doors two or three years ago,
some of these people tried it out a little bit and got connected.
They keep on coming now and they get more involved."
Edgar Asher is with Isranet News and Media Services.
^TOP
|
|