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The next day, however, they
opened their newspaper to
read the bad news—the chief
rabbi of Sweden had died
ers is sort of the
suddenly.
Jewish version of the
And so, suddenly, instead
Grace Kelly story.
of going to Stockholm as
Born in Philadelphia, like
assistant to the chief rabbi,
Grace, she left her native land
Morton would be the chief
as a young woman, like
rabbi. And instead of a stay
Grace, to spend her life as the
of three years, the stay has
wife of a prominent man, and
become one of 21 years and
live in a scenic foreign
counting.
country.
Judith said they went
And, like Grace, she was en-
through with the big step
titled as part of the bargain,
because "the American
to a title before her name.
Jewish community has long
But, unlike Grace Kelly,
lived off the experiences of
who knew what she was get-
Europe, even of the
ting into when she married
Holocaust. We decided it was
Rainier, prince of Monaco,
time to give something back"
Judith Halpren had no idea
"Not knowing Sweden or
what would transpire follow-
the language," they didn't
ing her marriage to Morton
start off with quite the fairy
Narrowe, graduate of Yeshiva
tale beginning of Grace Kel-
University.
ly's move to Europe.
Well, maybe she had some
For one thing, Judith found
idea. She knew he wanted to
out that the title of chief rab-
be a rabbi-and she knew that
bi of a country isn't all it's
he, like her, loved to travel.
cracked up to be. They didn't
She had no idea, however,
get a house as part of the deal
that he would end up as the
and the salary wasn't all that
good.
chief rabbi of Sweden and she
would be the chief Rebbetzin.
In fact, Narrowe has few
Neither of them set out to
fond memories of her first
be either of those. In fact,
years in Stockholm. "It was
after they were married, the
a horrible time. Swedish Jews
Narrowes headed not for
are really different. It was
Sweden but for Japan, where
very lonely. Our codes didn't
Morton served as a Navy
connect. We'd go to all these
chaplain. Ibkyo, said Judith
fancy dinner parties and all
Narrowe in an interview, was
I'd want was a hamburger."
her first glimpse of "the real
As a result, all Narrowe
America.' Having grown up
wanted after three years was
in a heavily. Jewish
to go home. And she and her
neighborhood, she said Japan
husband were planning to do
amazed her in that "not
just that until an elderly
everyone was Jewish."
Swedish Jew came by to visit.
After a couple of years
"If you leave," he told
there, it was back to the real
them,"it's all over for us."
"real America" as Morton
So the Narrowes decided it
became rabbi of a small con-
would "be unethical to go."
gregation in a small Florida
And so they've stayed. And
community near Cape
have even learned to kind of
Canaveral.
like the place, though, Judith
Soon, however, Judith said,
admits, it hasn't been easy.
"we got tired of the beach. We.
That's because Sweden is
wanted to go abroad again."
not America and Swedish
Their chance came when
Jews are not American Jews.
they heard of a job opening as
"In America, you go on a
assistant to the chief rabbi of
train and people are laughing
Sweden. It sounded perfect.
out loud. You'll never see that
It was for three years, not
in Sweden. There is a scope to
enough time to get bored, and
permissible emotions. Swedes
it meant living in Stockholm.
are very polite, very nice, very
The Narrowes traveled to
private people. They never
Sweden for an interview Soon
say 'come on in' or 'come on
over.' That's been hard, for
after they returned to
me."
Florida, they got a telegram
Hard, too, has been ad-
with the good news—the job
justing to the way the Jews in
was theirs. ,

6, .U.1,,

JOSEPH AARON

Special to the Jewish Times

H

Judith Halpren: "Swedes all look alike, sound alike and act alike."

A JEWISH
`GRACE KELLY'

When she became the wife of a
rabbi, Judith Halpren of
Philadelphia had no idea she'd
end up with a prominent
husband, a title and a
fascinating if sometimes dif-
ficult life abroad. Today she
has all of that, and more, as
chief rebbetzin of Sweden.

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•

the 16,000-member communi-
ty see themselves.
"In America, we have a
pluralistic ideology. You can
be a Jew and an American at
the same time. In Europe,
there is no such michagas.
Here, the idea is 'one nation,
one people.' They can't
ideologically deal with
minorities. The idea of multi-
ple identities is hard for them.
They're not Swedish Jews,
they're Swedes. Swedes like
only one thing at a time.
Which is why they all look
alike, sound alike and act
alike."
That used to be true also
within Sweden's Jewish com-
munity, orginally made up of
liberal Jews who had come
from Germany. But after
World War II, there was an
influx of traditional . Jews,
meaning that, for the first
time, not all of Sweden's Jews
looked, sounded and acted
alike. •
And while that has made
for problems, Judith said, it
has also made for a better
Jewishicommunity. "It's very
rare in Europe and one of the
reasons we're flourishing."
One reason is that even
with the diversity, there is
unity. "All the Jews have
stayed under one roof. It's a
very Swedish model—bring
everyone in, find consensus,
make differences insignificant
by redefining the differences
so they no longer make a dif-
ference and so the battles are
not wrenching or community-
destroying."
That is not, to say, however,
that all has been sweetness
and light. As chief rabbi,
Morton Narrowe has in-
stituted changes not
everyone's been crazy about.
"Some think we've destroyed
tradition by starting bat
mitzvahs and by bringing in
mixed seating. And so, in
typical Swedish fashion, they
compromised by putting in
mixed seating for only half
the synagogue."
Still, Judith Narrowe said,
that hasn't been enough to
please some members of the
Orthodox community. As a
result, she said, "the power of
the chief rabbi has been
diminished. The chief rabbi .
used to make— tfit ultimate
rabbinic decisions. lbday, in
the last analysis, it's the head