Yom Kippur Quiz Famous Dutch Synagogue Dismantled, Reconstructed in Mizrachi Village
BY RABBI SAMUEL J. FOX
1645. By 1700, • the number of
Jews in Leeuwarden was consider-
able and a synagogue was es-
tablished in a private home. The
first historical mention of an or-
ganized community was in 1738,
and by 1754 it consisted of 140°
members. The following year a
synagogue was erected in the same
street in which, in 1805, the com-
munity built the imposing syna-
gogue which has now been closed
— and its interior sent to Kfar
Batya.
In the 19th century the Jewish
population increased to several
thousand souls. The community
became famous among Dutch Jews
for its traditional piety and love
of the Torah.
In the 20th century, the Jews
began to leave Leeuwarden, which
is the capital of Friesland in north
Holland. As in other countries,
they left the provinces and moved
to the larger cities. However,
Leeuwarden remained a distin-
guished and active community
until its last years.
The Dutch press, which devoted
(Copyright, 1965, JTA, Inc.)
How old is the practice of re-
citing Kol Nidre on Yom Kip-
pur eve?
In the Yemenite traditions it is
mentioned that the recitation of
Kol Nidre was practiced as early
as the days of the Tannaim. They
point to mention of this practice
in the Zohar (Mishpatim 117 A:
Pinchas 255:10). It is interesting
that the Gaonim of Babylonia op-
posed the recital of Kol Nidre
and that Maimonides does not
mention it. Nevertheless, it has
persisted through the ages, perhaps
not so much because of its con-
tents, but mainly because of its
melody which seems to be a uni-
versal bond among the Jewish peo-
ple. If the Yemenites are correct,
then the Kol Nidre could be two
thousand years old. Actually, it is
more or less a legal formula seek-
ing the dissolution of certain vows
which may have been taken by
the individual or may be taken by
him in the future.
Why do people cry during the
recitation of Kol Nidre?
The Yemenites explained that
people cry during its recitation,
because, when we ask for the dis-
solution of our vows we also seek
to dissolve the Almighty's original
vow which He made to the effect
that he would disperse the Jew-
ish people. We, therefore, remind
ourselves of our long history of
dispersion, persecution, and home-
lessnes. This certainly would bring
tears to the eyes of a serious
thinking Jew. Also, by dissolving
both our vows and the vows of the
Almighty against us, the "Gates
of Prayer" are open and we find
ourselves confronted with His
presence and pour forth our peti-
tions for everything we need on
the New Year.
Neo-Nazi Held on Bail
for Congress Outburst;
Fair Kicks Out Rockwell
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Robert
Felton Bruce, 20, a member of the
American Nazi Party who threw a
swastika flag onto the floor of the
House of Representatives here last
Friday, and shouted fascist slogans
after chaining himself to a rail in
the House visitors' gallery, was
arraigned on serious charges last
weekend and held on $2,500 bail
for a hearing -Oct. 15. He was
charged with assaulting an officer
and with three counts of disorderly
conduct.
In Richmond, Va., American
Nazi Party leader George Lin-
coln Rockwell and his followers
were kicked out of the State
Fair of Virginia. •
Rockwell had allegedly set up a
booth there for political purposes.
He is running for governor as nomi-
nee of the "White Constitutional
Party."
The fair general manager, J. A.
Mitchell, ordered the removal of
signs from the Rockwell booth
Sept. 24, on grounds they were
obscene and anti-Negro.
Tuesday night, the Atlantic
Rural Exposition, which operates
the fair, obtained an injunction
from the county circuit court en-
joining the Rockwellites from op-
erating the booth.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
14—Friday, October 1, 1965
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much space to the official closing
of the Leeuwarden Synagogue,
noted that "50 years ago the name
Cohen appeared 50 times in the
register of inhabitants in the
town of Leeuwarden. The streets
recall the past. Of the inhabitants
of the ghetto almost not one sur-
vived the holocaust."
Today, in all of the province
of Friesland, there are fewer than
50 Jews. Virtually the entire con-
gregation which worshipped in the
Leeuwarden Synagogue perished in
the death camps with 120,000 Jews
in Holland between 1940 and 1 •
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RENOWNED DUTCH LEEUWARDEN SYNAGOGUE
Almost two centuries ago the
Jews of the medieval city of
Leeuwarden in north Holland
built a beautiful synagogue to give
expression to their religious devo-
tion. The Jewish communit y,
founded in 1645, felt secure,
knowing that the liberal and
tolerant Dutch government would
protect their right to worship in
peace. In the years' that followed,
successive generations of Leeu-
warden's Jews added new adorn-
ments to the synagogue, opened
in 1805.
The Leeuwarden Synagogue was
witness to the birth of religious
liberty in the low countries and
to the death of a Jewish commun-
ity under the atrocities - of the
Nazis. In 1945 there were no more
Jews in Leeuwarden. The major-
ity had perished. In all of Holland,
one tenth of the pre-war Jewish
community had survived the war.
This year, the 12th anniversary
of the war's end, the Leeuwarden
Synagogue will come to life again.
Carefully dismantled, piece by
piece, its interior has been ship-
ped to Israel through the assist-
ance of Jews in Israel, Holland
and the U.S. The interior fittings
— including the ancient Aron
Kodesh, the Ark of the Law; the
Bimah, the platform used for the
reading of the Torah; the chandel-
iers, the stained-glass windows;
the six ancient Torah Scrolls in
their shining crowns and orna-
ments, will grace the first syna-
gogue to be erected in a children's
village in Israel, the Kraushaar
Synagogue in Mizrachi Women's
Kfar Batya, the Bessie Gotsfeld
Children's Village in Raanana.
On Oct. 20, the Chief Rabbi
of Holland and a delegation of
30 leaders of the Dutch Jewish
community will join with the
President of Israel, the Chief
Rabbi of Israel, American and
Netherlands Ambassadors to
Israel, members of the Israel
cabinet, and representatives of
the Mizrachi Women's Organiza-
tion of America, in the re-dedica-
tion of the synagogue at Raan-
ana.
The Children's Village Synagogue
is only 12 years old. The structure,
the tallest in the 250-acre village,
was completed in 1953 and dedi-
cated in 1954. But a body of tradi-
tion is already associated with it.
For thousands of Youth Aliyah
children, it was a spiritual home.
For many, it was the first syna-
gogue in which they worshipped
in their new country, Israel; for
some even the first synaogue they
had ever been permitted to enter.
Hundreds of boys have celebrated
their Bar Mitzvah there.
There is a deeply personal tie
between Leeuwarden and Raanana
which parallels the spiritual tie
symbolized by the transfer of the
treasures of the Dutch Jewish com-
munity to Israel.
The educational director of Kfar
Batya, Dr. Nathan Dasberg, born
in Dordrecht, Holland, and the
son of the late Rabbi Samuel Das-
berg, initiated the negotiations for
the gift of the Leeuwarden com-
munity. Among the distinguished
rabbis who occupied the pulpit of
Leeuwarden was Dr. Dasberg's
brother, Rabbi Shimon Dasberg.
With two other rabbis of Leeu-
warden, Aaron Issachar Davids
and Abraham Levison, Rabbi Das-
berg perished in the Nazi death
camps.
Although Spanish Jews settled
in Amsterdam about t1597 and
there are traces of ea er settle-
ment by Marranos, who practiced
their Judaism secretly, the first
Ashkenazi Jews are believed to
have settled in Leeuwarden in
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