FEATURE
Denmark Revisited page 49
the word Mitzvah. As the museum's
website states, the form of the build-
ing becomes a commentary on the
artifacts it presents, paralleling how
accompanying texts often illuminate
different aspects of the Talmud.
THE FLAG OF ISRAEL AS A
PROVOCATION
I met a few young women working at
the cloak room and the bookstore as
the museum was closing. I felt over-
whelmed by the museum experience
and wanted to share my feelings.
However, the conversation turned
to today's Denmark and the grow-
ing tensions between the Jewish and
new immigrant communities. One
girl shared how she, a year or so ago,
participated in the "Taste the World"
festival as a member of the Dan-
ish Zionist Federation (DZF). The
festival was supposed to demonstrate
the diversity and inclusiveness of
Denmark and to feature the foods
and cultures of various nations living
in Copenhagen.
The city council, however, believed
that the DZF displaying Israeli food
would be a mistake. The DZF decided
to participate anyway, and the council
requested they not display the Israeli
flag. "Taste the World" was held in
Norrebro, a large borough home
to the city's North African, Middle
Eastern and Balkan immigrants. The
DZF were the only vendors without
the flag identifying the food products'
origin. The council believed that an
Israeli flag might be a provocation.
A SENSE OF HISTORY —
EUROPEAN-STYLE
Two years ago, Irish journalist Liam
Hoare wrote: "Despite their image of
moral innocence and best intentions,
the lands of the north have become
home to a scary, new form of anti-
Semitism."
Unlike the majority of the Ameri-
can Jews, the Jews of Scandinavia
and indeed of most of Europe are
largely children and grandchildren
of Holocaust survivors or, very few
now, survivors themselves. A smaller
percentage of European Jews are also
survivors but of the near-complete
expulsion of Jews from North African
or Middle Eastern countries that
happened during the second half of
the last century.
Most European Jews are bound
to know all too well, from either
personal experiences or inherited
knowledge, how a normal, secure and
comfortable life could be destroyed
overnight. So, perhaps, when they see
anti-Semitic incidents rising, some
cannot help but feel that history is
getting ready to repeat itself. At the
same time, there is a prevalent at-
tempt to dismiss these incidents as a
non-entity, not to "elevate them to the
crisis level."
Shall we choose to ignore the inci-
dents of violence and hatred, as the
chief cantor of Copenhagen advised?
Or shall we hope then, as John Gra-
dowski, the head of information for
the Jewish Community of Stockholm,
suggested, for the "first track," the
socio-economic way of new immi-
grants' development toward accept-
ing an openness and inclusiveness of
Swedish values.
Indeed, all Scandinavian countries,
the least church-going and the most
secular in Europe, made Jewish stud-
ies and Holocaust education a way to
open up minds and increase aware-
ness. Non-Jews come to synagogues
and museums to learn about Juda-
ism, and schools bring their students
to Holocaust and Jewish history
museums as an integral part of their
curriculums
At the same time, certain cultural
attitudes, such as animal or children
rights, led to governments' prohibi-
tion of kosher slaughter and circum-
cision, which for observant Jews are
nothing short of anti-Semitic acts
because they touch on central tradi-
tions of Jewish life.
Given the demographic changes
with the fast-growing new immigrant
communities and current intensity
of anti-Israel campaigns through-
out Europe, could all these trends
promote a disturbing sense of "other-
ness" toward the Jews? The same
"otherness" that encourages seeing
the Jews, with their connection to
a foreign state and their "strange"
traditions, as markedly and conspicu-
ously different from everybody else
and less acceptable because of it?
Then, it would not matter how
much the Jews contributed to or how
well they were integrated into their
home-countries' gentile societies.
Were the February 2015 shootings
just a singled-out crime, a mad loner
acting alone?
Or was it an expression of rabid
hatred toward intellectual freedom
in general and Jews as "others" in
particular, a logical development of
the already visible trends? RT
Wishing you a Happy Passover!!!
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50 April 2015 I
RED THREAD