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Year 2000
Israel Departures
May 3
June 14, 25
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December 20, 24
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ad for
The Detroit
Jewish News
speaks to your
interests and
your concern
11/5
1999
To order your subseiTh !on or a Mit su
for family or friend pleas -1 (24
116 Detroit Jewish News
II ... an English church ... a tower
with views of the city ... the syna-
gogue ..." The synagogue? We were
or many of us, returning to
startled. Nothing we had previously
school in the fall always
read mentioned a Jewish community
meant writing our first
in the area. It was Wednesday night.
assignment, "What I did on
The only time the synagogue opened
my summer vacation.
for tourists was Thursday morning!
My husband and I filled our note-
Early the next day, we were near
books in separate
the synagogue. As
school systems in
we rounded the cor-
two different states,
ner and found the
but both of us
small path leading to
would write about
it, a strong, tall
our experiences dri-
woman riding a
ving with our par-
bicycle passed us.
ents to places near
The three of us
and far in the family
stopped at the front
car.
entrance at the same
So this spring, it
time. "Hello!" she
was not uncharac-
greeted us vigorously
teristic for the two
in English. "Where
of us to find our-
are you from?"
selves driving. We
Then, after we
were on our way
responded. "Do you
from Antwerp,
belong to a syna-
Belgium, going
gogue in Michigan?"
north toward
The woman's
Amsterdam. We had
name was Helaine
read about a project
Pasma. She became
in Zeeland in the
our guide for the
Netherlands involv-
morning. Helaine is
ing water barriers
a Christian woman
and controlled tides
who volunteers at
to prevent the
the synagogue
destruction caused
because, as she says,
by North Sea floods.
"Christianity's roots
We decided to
are Jewish. And,
drive to this "Delta
after what happened
Above: This street leads to the
Project" to see this
to the Jews during
synagogue in Midd leburg,
massive diversion of
the war, I felt that
Netherlands.
water. We would
we had to educate
stop for the night at
ourselves and others
Below: A gate in th efeneeat
a nearby town.
about our roots and
the Sephardic Jew is h cemeteg.
While waiting for
how we must protect
dinner to arrive at
each other from that
the usual leisurely
kind of barbarity"
European pace in a city called
Helaine had just returned from her
Middleburg, I picked up a tourist
second trip to Israel. She was a person
travel newspaper at an empty table
who knew her "rutabagas" about Jewish
near us. I began to read aloud about
and Christian ritual. The shock of
the sites of Middleburg as we began
World War II and what was done to the
to plan the next day's program:
Jews in her own country made her
"An Abbey rebuilt after World War
aware of the need to speak to others to
help them gain a better understanding
Jeannie Weiner of Farmington Hills is
of Jews, Judaism and the meaning of
past president of the Jewish. Community
behaving in a Christian manner.
Council of Metropolitan Detroit.
Helaine was intense and thoughtful,
Special to the Jewish News
Eastern Europe
Departures
March 26
June 18
6235
Surprise Encounters
In The Netherlands
discount
but she spoke with an easy smile and
kind sense of humor. Her handshake
was powerful and warm and fit her per-
sonality. We felt privileged to meet her.
In the synagogue, we met some of
the Jews of Middleburg but they left
the tour-guiding to Helaine. The syna-
gogue was built originally in 1705.
Accidentally bombed during the war, it
was all but destroyed and sat for 50
years before being restored in 1993-94.
Forty religious Jews and many others
described by Helaine as "cultural Jews"
now use it each week. She told us that
these cultural Jews wished to identify
and maintain their Judaism without
necessarily practicing all the rituals. All
who come to the synagogue are wel-
comed and accepted at whatever level
they practice. Next to the synagogue
there was the original mikva.
From here we received directions
to an isolated Sephardic cemetery,
which is now in the midst of a quiet
residential neighborhood of
Middleburg. We climbed over a
wrought iron fence with modern
Mogen David designs to get inside.
The cemetery, dating from 1640,
contained very old stones written in
Portuguese and Hebrew. Two exam-
ples: "Mosse Del Rio — alias Manuel
Cardozo" and "Dona Judique
Habilla-Muller de Baruch."
Although Middleburg is in the
Netherlands, its Jewish history follows
the history of Belgium. Antwerp is close
by. Jews were attracted to Belgium's
commercial areas in Antwerp and the
lively markers and harbors of cities like
Middleburg in Zeeland.
Spanish and Portuguese Jews
arrived in large numbers as they fled
from the Inquisition. Some passed
through Antwerp and Middleburg on
their way to Turkey. Many stayed.
Later in the 1700s, Jews arrived from
Eastern Europe.
Middleburg's "newer" cemetery,
built by the Ashkenazi community,
dates from 1704.
More deferred than originally
anticipated, we did get to the Delta
Project and it was very interesting.
But our unexpected discovery of the
fairy tale-like medieval seaport of
Middleburg proved to be a highlight
of our "summer vacation."
We learned that there are several
Jewish sites in the Netherlands out-
side of Amsterdam. Our easy drive
in far western Europe was a wonder-
ful continuum of previous stateside
automobile experiences. It's amazing
what you discover when you least
expect it! E