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.

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