S.6 #2 | Being Jewish in Denmark

In this episode, I recount my family's "Jewish" adventure in Copenhagen, Denmark. From the synagogue to a Chabad to a kosher restaurant, I give you my take on what it's like to be Jewish in a very liberal European country.

Mentions:

Great Synagogue of Copenhagen

Chabad of Denmark

Kosher restaurant "Taim"

Quote by Rabbi Nachman of Breslov

Transcript

My husband and I had been planning to visit the Scandinavian countries for some time, and finally this summer, July 2025, we decided to go, with the kids. Our first stop was Copenhagen, Denmark. I didn’t know much about this country and much less if Judaism even existed there, but I also wasn’t surprised when I discovered a synagogue there and a Chabad center. There are Chabad centers all over the world, in some of the most remote places on earth, so of course I wanted our trip to have a Jewish twist. 

We flew during the night and arrived in Copenhagen in the morning. Our hotel was actually an apartment in a convenient area, fairly close to the famous canal street called Nyhavn, excuse my pronunciation. After settling in, we went to explore the city, where we were met with topless sunbathers along the canals - you have to understand, when the temperatures rise above 70 in these Nordic countries, people go crazy, they jump right into the canals to swim and they tan right outside of their apartment buildings on pavement, on steps, wherever they can find space. And also, let’s face it, this is Europe! They are very liberal with their outlooks on sex. As we were taking the canal tour and admiring the architecture of the city, we couldn’t help but notice what was going on on the shores of the canal - couples laying on top of each other, topless girls with string bikinis, teenagers playing with a gigantic water toy in the form of a penis, and so on…It was very amusing but I did have my kids with me and preferred not to point all that out to them because I don’t want them to think that’s the norm. 

The following day, and in an attempt to demonstrate to my kids that Judaism and tradition is alive even in Denmark, we went on a tour of the Great Synagogue of Copenhagen. If you are interested in visiting, make sure you book the tour in advance. They typically require photos of passports or id’s in advance and at the door as well. The tour cost about $20 per person. Once we arrived, the first thing we noticed was the armed guards in front of the synagogue entrance. They were dressed in a military uniform, wearing rifles and other protective weapons. To enter the synagogue, we first pressed a doorbell, which opened the first door. Then, after the first door closed, we called again and were buzzed in through the second door. Now we were in the courtyard, which houses a monument dedicated to the six million Jewish victims of Nazi persecution. The monument is a low granite stele with six granite pillars, three of which are "falling" so to speak, inclined, to the side. A Star of David is featured on both the front and back of the monument. There is also a small playground for kids. Here is where we met our tour guide that explained to us right away the need for military protection. It turns out that following the 2015 Copenhagen terror attacks, the Danish military has been deployed to guard the city's synagogue and the Israeli embassy. This security measure was implemented due to increased threats and antisemitism, exacerbated of course by the conflict in Gaza. The military presence is meant to support the police and reassure the Jewish community. The tour guide said that they were recently forced to take down the posters they’d hung up of the Jewish hostages because it was causing too much civil conflict.  Individuals and groups involved in protests or expressing certain viewpoints about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have also been reported to tear down these posters. However, if you visit Chabad of Copenhagen, which we did later that day, you will see many flyers of the hostages and they refuse to take them down.  

Then the tour guide gave us some historical information about the synagogue, as well as its present use. For instance, the Jewish Community in Denmark is an officially recognized religious community with approximately 1,800 members. There is an estimated number of 6-7,000 Jews in Denmark of which most are living in Copenhagen and the immediate surroundings.

There has been a Jewish presence in Denmark for more than 400 years.  In 1814, the new Royal Decree was issued which gave Jews who were born in Denmark the same rights as other citizens of Denmark.

Today the Jewish Community contains Jews with many different opinions and ways to live a Jewish life - some are religious and others- secular.

Social institutions include a home for the aged and a condominium with 38 self-contained apartments, and a Jewish day school from nursery-home through 9th grade.

There is also a broad variety of organizations in the Jewish Community, many of them are branches of international Jewish organisations, and they all contribute to a rich cultural life in the community.

 The Great Synagogue of Copenhagen is considered to be one of the most beautiful Synagogues in Europe. It was designed by architect G.F. Hetsch in semi-oriental style and constructed from 1830-1833. It seats 900 people. This building replaces all the small Synagogues around the old city. It was Abraham Alexander Wolff who became chief-Rabbi in 1825 and who took the initiative to start the construction, which actually needed royal approval.

Apart from the synagogue, there is also a Jewish museum in Copenhagen, but I can’t comment on it because we didn’t make it there. In addition, you could visit the Jewish Cemetery in Copenhagen, as well Chabad and the adjoining kosher restaurant. 

So now it was time to enter the synagogue. When we stepped foot inside the building, I understood right away why it’s called the Great Synagogue and why it’s considered one of the most beautiful in Europe. You have to understand, I am used to the modern American Christian church-like buildings. Well, this synagogue was just grand, huge, royal-looking, as if it were made for kings and queens. The dark wood pews contrasted with the black and white tile of the floor, lined with a bright red carpet leading up to the binah - the podium from which the Torah is read. Both sides of the synagogue are lined with numerous colossal, white columns with gold relief that give way to the open-concept second floor that provides more ample seating for the women. Impressive light fixtures adorn the sanctuary, and the wall of the Torah arc reveals a great deal of gold detail. When the tour guide opened the heavy, burgundy velvet drapes to show us the five Torahs in their collections, we were awe-struck. We saw gold Hebrew lettering on the wall right above the Torahs, and on the Ten Commandments Tablets above the arc, and even high-high up closer to the striking coffered ceiling. I really didn’t expect this! I should mention, too, that the pews took me by surprise. They were enclosed and came up to about my chest. Each row had a door with a number on it, so you would open the door and enter into this long wooden enclosure with wooden seating and a sort of enclosed shelf in front of you to put your belongings - specifically for men - the prayer books, the tefillin, the talit and the kipah. Some of the seats had people’s names, they were reserved. We spent some time looking around the sanctuary and taking it all in. 

Later that day we decided to check out the Kosher restaurant called Taim (literally means tasty). I have to mention that Kosher food is a problem in Scandinavia. Apart from the fact that most dishes mix dairy and meat or mix in bacon, there are virtually no kosher restaurants. When going out to eat, or even just grabbing a bite throughout the day, we had a really tough time finding food that was “clean” so to speak. Most sandwiches were ham and cheese, caesar salads contained bacon pieces, and many of the local meat dishes that we really wanted to try came with dairy sauces. So we were excited to locate the Kosher restaurant, which was open when we needed it! We realized, when we got there, that it was inside the Chabad center of Copenhagen. If you just walked down that street, you would never even know that there is a restaurant inside a building. When we came to the address indicated on google maps, we saw police guards standing in front of a door, and we automatically figured that this was a Jewish establishment. We also saw the many posters of the hostages hanging on the walls of the building. We asked the guards about the restaurant and they told us to go inside and up to the second floor. So now we were inside the Chabad building, and while the restaurant was open, there was no one there and the waiter told us that we should order quickly because he was about to go to the evening service. At this point, an orthodox man comes in and starts talking to us, asking us where we’re from, our names, etc. In a moment of our conversation we establish that he knows our chabad Rabbi, and that one of his nieces is married to someone in our rabbi’s family. Then he asks for a selfie with us and invites us to the service. In fact, he insists because with my husband, they might just make minyan! A minyan by the way is the quorum of ten Jewish adults necessary for certain religious obligations. A minyan is very important because certain prayers can only be said with a minyan, but also when 10 or more men are present during prayer, it is believed that the Divine presence rests on them and prayers are undoubtedly heard by G-d. Of course we couldn't say no, so we followed the rabbi into the sanctuary. In comparison to our Chabad, this is a tiny space, but then again the community of Copenhagen is much smaller, so it works for them. To date there are about 6000 Jews in Copenhagen and a few hundred others scattered around.
There is a Jewish school with about 180 children, a Jewish Community Center, and a Kosher food and meat shop.
The Chabad House offers weekly classes on Parshat hashavua, Talmud, philosophy and discussion groups on Jewish Issues. There is a mikvah right next door. As for children, there is a Cheder to supplement their Jewish Education, and there are even summer and winter overnight camps for children.

 So inside the sanctuary, on the first floor there were about 30, maybe less, of those pew-looking benches for men, which seems to be a norm for synagogues in Europe, unlike here in the States, we just sit in chairs. But these pews are actually really convenient, they’re almost like a tall desk, so you can put your books on the slanted desk in front of you, there is space to put other things like the kipah and talit, and then behind you, attached to the next pew, are folding seats. You can unfold it when you need it and when you stand up during certain prayers, they fold back up. Upstairs, in the women’s section - this is the other difference between European synagogues and american ones - the women typically sit in balconies on the second floor, which is where I went with my daughter. The desks or pews were much fewer, maybe 10 total, but the room was also like a library. There were hundreds of books in Hebrew on the shelves and some huge, very old ones were resting on some of the tables, so I flipped through one of them, and it felt like I was touching history. I mean these books were old, some falling apart, the pages yellowed by time. It was very neat to be there and also be part of the service. My daughter wanted to play so she opened some of the desks and found other kids’ toys that may be come for shabbat. We were there on a weekday, for an evening service, so there were no women and only a few men, but I’m sure it gets busier on shabbat and holidays. It was bit tricky following the service because we typically don’t go on weekdays, so we weren’t as familiar with the sequence of prayers, but the prayer books were pretty much the same, and they even gave us siddurs in Russian when they found out we were from the Soviet Union. 

After the service, we headed back to the restaurant. It was a bit late and we decided to order food to go. It was also my son’s birthday that day, so we ordered him a piece of cake and went to celebrate in our hotel. The hummus, the pita and the falafel were delicious, along with all kinds of pickled veggies. The cake was also very delicious. 

Overall, we had a good experience being Jewish in Denmark. True that there are not many options for Kosher food, but Chabad does a good job posting online a list of products you can get at the local supermarkets that are Kosher certified or approved. The main thing is that we felt safe. 

After Copenhagen, we took a train to Stockholm to continue our Jewish adventure, so make sure to listen to the next episode!  If you found the information in this episode interesting or useful, please share and rate! Also, if you’d like to see photos from this trip, you could do so on Instagram or TikTok @lovetohealpodcast.

I will leave you today with a quote by Rabbi Nachman of Breslov. Enjoy and until next time.  “Let the Good in me connect with the good in others, until the world is transformed through the compelling power of love.” 

Mentions:

Great Synagogue of Copenhagen

Chabad of Denmark

Kosher restaurant Taim

Quote by Rabbi Nachman of Breslov