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Filling `Jewish Space'
In a post-Holocaust world, Jewish culture plays across Europe,
often in places where few Jews live.
SAND EE B RAWARS KY
Special to the Jewish News
I
Jewish monuments in post-Communist Europe and emerg-
ing Jewish communities there.
She has traveled widely and in 1980 became associated
with the so-called Flying Jewish University in Warsaw, a
clandestine group of Jews and non-Jews trying to teach
themselves about Judaism.
NOW, she writes for a variety of publications, reporting
frequently for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, and divides
her time between a farmhouse in Italy and an apartment in
a former Jewish quarter of Budapest.
n large and small cities in Italy, concerts of klezmer
music — with Yiddish banter, jokes about shtetl life
and Jewish food — attract huge crowds. These are
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places with no tradition of Yiddish, no shtetl in their
history
nor gefilte fish in their culinary repertoire.
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Typically, although the main performer is a Bulgarian Jew
who grew up in Milan (and whose show includes nothing
of his Sephardic past), his accompanists are non-Jews, and
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there are few if any Jews in the audience.
Universal Phenomenon
(10 1/2 Mile & Evergreen)
According to journalist Ruth Ellen Gruber, this embrace by
One of the things that inspired Gruber to think about writ-
Southfield (248) 358-1911
non Jews of their own version of Jewish culture has been
ing this book was a 1995 talk by Paris-based historian
flourishing in cities in Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic,
http://wwwmusashi-intl.com
Diana Pinto at a Prague conference, "Planning for the
Hungary and Austria as well as Italy and other places
Future of European Jewry.
where, often, the Jewish presence is minimal.
Pinto's description of a "Jewish
In Virtually Jewish: Reinventing Jewish Culture in
space"
existing in Europe even in the
Europe (University of California; $35), she tracks
absence of Jews and her assertion
the trend in colorful detail. She describes the boom
that this ( "Jewish thing' was becom-
in-Jewish-related tourism with new Jewish theme
ing universal" prompted Gruber to
restaurants, where non-kosher dishes are named for
investigate the phenomenon in a
rabbis and biblical figures. She outlines the docu-
vl R r i1N Imo
serious way, and in 1996 she pub-
mentation and restoration of cemeteries, synagogues
lished a monograph for the
and ritual baths, called "Jewish archaeology," in
American Jewish Committee,
places where there have been no Jews for decades.
"Filling the Jewish Space in Europe."
She covers the sponsorship of Jewish culture festi-
Gruber writes that in most
vals; the growth of Jewish museums (there are
European countries, "particularly in
dozens in Germany) and the ubiquitous klezmer
those where most of the Jews killed
music played by groups like Germany's Klezgoyim.
in the Holocaust were concentrated,
ta.,P,
She also raises provocative questions about con-
it is not at all 'normal' to be Jewish.
text, significance and the future.
ktt
This is the result of the Holocaust
On the book jacket, life-size cutout figures of
Sincere efforts to study or
and of a long and troubled history"
ent:
prewar Jews stand inside a restored synagogue in
reinvigorate
what
has
been
lost,
Despite a revival in some former
y, Friday, Saturday
what was the Jewish quarter of Krakow, as part of
destroyed or forgotten co-exist
Communist states of Jewish com-
an exhibition. They look almost real.
S:
with superficiality, slogans,
munal life, the Jewish population is
As Gruber points out in an interview from her
lip service and show.
dwindling. She points out that there
y 5:30 - 9:30
home in Umbria, Italy, the book's title plays off the
are more Jews living on single blocks
cloy 5:30-10:30
image of "virtually" in the sense of "almost but not
in New York City than in some
Sunday 1:2:00-9:30
quite" and also in the sense of virtual communities
European capitals. And it's in some
(Sunday brunch from 12-3)
in cyberspace, where people can easily assume other identi-
of these places, where it's unusual to meet a living Jew, that
ties.
the non-Jewish embrace of the Jewish phenomenon
becomes a bear hug."
Ideal Author
The book is filled with stories whose telling details exemplify
The book is uncommon in its genre; it's unusual for a jour-
Gruber's themes and interests. In October 1997, she attended
nalist to be published by a university press.
a ceremony in Maribor, Slovenia (which became independent
Virtually Jewish is a cross between a journalist's view and
after secedina from Yugoslavia in 1991) to affix a mezuzah
a scholarly work: It has more depth and thoughtful analysis
b medieval synagogue, which was to become a
onto the city's
than many reporters' accounts, and it's written in a livelier,
cultural center with an exhibit on local Jewish history.
more readable style than most academic books.
There had been no Jewish community in the city since
Gruber's background makes her the ideal author on this
1497 when Jews were expelled. The ceremony was held at
subject. She grew up outside of Philadelphia and has spent
the conclusion of an international symposium on
most of her adult life in Europe. As a correspondent for
medieval Jewish communities and their heritage, where
UPI, she was based in Rome, Brussels, London, Belgrade,
few participants were Jews.
Warsaw and Vienna.
At least one scheduled Jewish speaker canceled because
Since the 1980s, she has been covering issues related to
the ceremony was held on the second night of Sukkot. A
Jewish life and has written two books, Upon the Doorposts of Hungarian Jewish scholar who looks like a "classic Jewish
Thy House and Jewish Heritage Tavel, which are about
sage — but is not Jewish — said the blessings in Hebrew
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