k
of the Orthodox community
who decides things."
That has made Morton
Narrowe's major task serving
as representative of the
Jewish community to the
government and in national
forums. And what he is con-
stantly called on to defend in
those forums is Swedish
Jewry's love of Israel.
That's something that it's
hard for Swedes to accept,
Judith said, because of the
"one nation, one people" idea.
"They don't understand how
the attachment could be. so
strong to another country"
It's hard also because of
Sweden's adoption of a
welfare state mentality.
"You can't move 10 feet
without government help. If
you lose, they love you. If
you're miserable, they'll help
you. If you're in danger, you
get sympathy. But if you de-
fend yourself, forget it. They
loved Israel before 1967, but
no more."
Dealing with all that has
been her husband's problem
as chief rabbi. Her problem
has been trying to carve out
a comfortable niche as his
wife.
"I could spend all my time
being a full-time rebbetzin.
But they don't pay for that.
I've tried very hard to send
the message that I am an in-
terested woman, not jus.t the
rabbi's wife. I've had to fight
the rebbetzin business all the
way. It's been a struggle.
"I feel I need to be no more
Jewish than any other Jewish
woman. There's nothing in-
herent in my role that says
otherwise."
That is wky she has taken
on other roles, including prin-
cipal of the Jewish -high
school and as an anthro-
pology lecturer at the Univer-
sity of Stockholm.
Still, she admits, she can't
pretend being chief rabiness
doesn't affect her. "Being the
wife of the chief rabbi in-
volves some responsibilities
and power beyond serving
coffee to the sisterhood. I'm
aware the community wants
to be proud of me. Because
they are unsure of their posi-
tion in the society, they want
me to be a figure that shows
you can manage...gin both
worlds, be successful in both
worlds. They want me to be
someone they can identify
with as a Jew and as a Swede.
That's more important to
them than me throwing beau-
tiful parties or being an ex-
cellent cook. And it's a good
thing, because I couldn't do
either."
Being the chief rabbi's wife,
she said, has also affected her
as iJew. "I'm not as religious
as I should be, but I know I
don't do anything that would
make my husband's sermons
a lie. It has made me come to
grips with some of the ques-
tions every Jew should ask—
what are my responsibilities,
what are my limits? It's
helped raise my Jewish con-
sciousness."
Just as being in the coun-
try for 21 years has helped
raise her level of feeling part
of and feeling good about
Sweden. "We've taken on the
cultural trappings of the
country, found common
ground:
There still are problems.
She still doesn't have the
language down. "I hate it. I
still can't accept that I speak
with an accent. It's hard
because I'm a very verbal per-
son."
Her son, a member of the
Swedish soccer team, has no
such problem, she said, at
least not with Swedish. Eng-
lish, however, is another mat-
ter. "When we came for e visit
to the States, he had to bring
his Swedish-English dic-
tionary with him. It's ab-
solutely insane."
Speaking the language is
not the only thing she misses
about home. "I miss chunky
peanut butter. They don't
understand peanut butter in
Europe."
She also misses her family,
all of which is in America.
"When my mom died., I
thought of all the good din-
ners we didn't have together.
The sad fact is that you only
come back for things that are
real • • or real bad. Deaths,
wed' gs. The problem is
that life is mostly in the mid-
dle."
But then there are the ad-
vantages of life on the conti-
nent. "We sit and talk about
our vacations in France. It
sounds trendy, but that's
what you do."
The bigger advantage, she
said, is that she feels she's
'
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r! Pjf
'4!
p
making a difference in a place
that makes a difference.
"Europe is a community from
the ashes. There are still Jews
here. Hitler didn't succeed.
We've got to show we're here,
that there are still Jews left:'
Judith Narrowe of Stock-
holm, Sweden, by way of
Philadelphia, Pa., certainly is
doing that.
"I can't say I'm sorry we're
here. I've come to like it. The
truth is, bad accent and all,
we're happy here. It took 20
years but then maybe that'
not a lot of time.
"How we wound up here
out of all the countries in the
world, I don't know. Maybe
it's God's plan. Maybe it was
just meant to be."
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services. For information how you can
advertise to almost everyone in your
community, call 354-6060.
Israeli Wins
International
Marathon
Tel Aviv (JTA) — An
Israeli, Yair Karni, 35, of
Moshav Shaar Hefer, won the
10th International Tiberias
Marathon last week, covering
the 42.195 kilometer run
around Lake Tiberias in
2:23.12 hours. He was the
first Israeli ever to win the
event, coming in ahead of
Kenya's Samuel Magari
Karandi whose time was
2:24.50.
Karandi had led the 500-
runner 22-nation pack for the
first 37 kilometers. But at
that point Karni sped ahead
and finished first in a dra-
matic finale. The runners
were slowed down by a strong
wind.
Katzir To Speak
At ORT Meeting
New York — Prof. Ephraim
Katzir, president of the World
ORT Union and former
president of the State of Israel,
will be the featured speaker at
the American ORT Federation
National Conference to be held
Jan. 23-25 at the Sheraton
Centre New York.
Additional speakers will in-
clude David B. Hermelin of De-
troit, chairman of AOF execu-
tive committee.
101