S.6 #3 | Being Jewish in Sweden

The Jewish adventure continues in Sweden. In this episode, I recount my family's visit to the Great Synagogue of Stockholm and the Jewish museum. I comment on the liberal nature of Stockholm's Jewish community and express my opinion on the importance of tradition, which is what keeps the Jews strong and able to withstand any challenges. 

Mentions:

 The Great Synagogue of Stockholm 

Aron Isak - a German seal engraver, was the first Jewish person to receive permission to live in Sweden

Judiska Museet - Jewish Museum

Scandic hotels - my recommendation

Quote from musical “Fiddler on the roof”

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Transcript

If you listened to the previous episode about my family’s trip to Denmark, you might remember that Stockholm was the next stop on our Scandinavian adventure. We took a 7-hour train from Copenhagen to Stockholm, which allowed us to see some breathtaking scenery of the Swedish countryside. In Stockholm, we stayed at one of the Scandic hotels about 15 min by bus to the center of the capital. By the way, I strongly recommend this hotel chain both in Sweden and in Norway. They are typically conveniently located and moderately priced. Although the rooms are small, their breakfast is to die for. Better than an all-exclusive resort! 

After exploring the center of the city a bit, we headed to the Great Synagogue of Stockholm, which is located right in the city center in a gorgeous historic building. The Great Synagogue of Stockholm is one of three synagogues in Stockholm that form the Jewish Community of Stockholm, the others being the Reform and Orthodox communities. This synagogue is part of the Conservative movement which means that men and women sit together, they are counted in a minyan and may receive an Aliya amongst other things.

The Great Synagogue of Stockholm is the largest synagogue in Sweden, it was built in 1870 in the ‘oriental’ style and is a national historical building. With high visibility in Swedish society, it is the ‘flagship synagogue’ of Stockholm and of Sweden. It seats 980 people and is home to the community mikveh that is used by all three of Stockholm’s synagogues. Similarly to the synagogue in Copenhagen, if you’d like to visit, you must make reservations in advance. Check their website for updated instructions. When we arrived for the tour, we quickly realized that there were no military guards at the entrance, which was very different from Denmark, where both the synagogue and the Chabad center were guarded at all times by soldiers equipped with rifles. They did check our passports before letting us in, there was no double door, no bell to ring, not much security basically. After entering through the gate, we were greeted by our tour guide. Hoping that no one understood Russian around us, my husband and I tried to figure out if the tour guide was a man or a woman. It was very unclear. And perhaps the guide heard us or understood a word or two in Russian because she quickly announced to the whole group that in case we were wondering she used to be a man but is transitioning to a woman. She was dressed as a man, but surprisingly unprofessionally for a tour guide - shorts and a short-sleeve shirt with slip on tennis shoes and a kipah on the head. I must admit, I am not used to seeing trans people at a synagogue, but I was happy that this synagogue was accepting and welcoming to all. The first thing that the tour guide showed us was the Holocaust memorial right outside of the synagogue. The memorial to the victims of the Holocaust is engraved on the wall leading from the entrance of the Great Synagogue to the Jewish Community office building. It was inaugurated in 1998 by Carl XVI Gustav, King of Sweden, and records 8,500 victims who are relatives of Jews residing in Sweden. The 42-meter monument serves as a link between a monstrous past and a future in which there should be no room for such atrocities to be repeated.

After seeing the monument, we entered the synagogue and once again we were in awe. Similarly to the Great Synagogue of Copenhagen, this was a strikingly beautiful temple fit for the King and Queen. When you enter you can’t help but gaze up into the gorgeous, very high cathedral ceiling adorned with small octagonal cupolas, supported by two rows of columns. Red velvety carpet covers the whole floor, there is an impressive stained glass window above the Torah ark and the woodwork of the columns supporting the second floor balconies and the ceiling are simply remarkable. At first glance, you’d think you’re in a cathedral. And of course, the tour guide explained why that is. But first she resolved to tell us her life story, show us her tattoos - on one arm she had the cross in memory of her father who was Christian, and on the other - a jewish star in memory and honor of her jewish mother and her current faith. She mentioned that this conservative synagogue is very open and welcoming to people of all walks of life, that the rabbi is actually a woman - we met her after the tour -  and that they even perform gay marriage ceremonies there. Since we follow the orthodox ways of Judaism, to us this sounded bizarre, or better yet, it didn’t sound like Judaism. In learning from the Torah and from the Chabad philosophy, my family strongly believes that the only thing that keeps us Jewish and secures our identity in the ever-changing world are G-d’s words - his commandments and desires for the Jewish people. So we don’t agree with reform Judaism because once you start messing with the foundation of anything, it begins to crumble. And this is what we’re seeing with conservative and reform Judaism. If they wish to change, adapt and assimilate, then they should call their religion something else. Judaism remains Judaism as is described in the Torah, period. Judaism is not a religion, we don’t need anything from G-d, we don’t need to be saved, we don’t need to go to heaven. Jews are here to serve G-d and to bring heaven down to earth by fixing the world and making it a place worthy of G-d’s dwelling. Judaism is simply a tradition going back several thousands of years. Our grandfather Abraham was the first monotheist and our uncle Moses received instructions from G-d that we are to continue following. That’s it. The reason I gave this podcast the motto “ancient wisdom for modern spirituality” is precisely because Torah wisdom is ever so applicable to today’s world, and it always will be. Truth is truth and it doesn’t change. When we stray from the truth, that’s when we become lost, that’s when we suffer most. There, that’s my two cents on that topic.

As for the history of the Jewish people of Sweden, Aron Isak, a German seal engraver, was the first Jewish person to receive permission to live in Sweden. He was first offered citizenship if he would become a Christian, to which he replied, “I would not change my religion for all the gold in the world.” This impressed the Lord Mayor of Stockholm, who convinced King Gustav III to grant him citizenship as the first Swedish Jew. He was allowed to bring Jewish families with him so that there would be at least ten Jewish men to hold a minyan (religious/prayer service). By 1775, foreigners (including Jews) were allowed to live on the island of Marstrand, just off the coast of Goteborg. In 1780 the first Jew settled in Goteborg and in 1782, legislation was passed permitting Jews to settle in the cities of Stockholm, Goteborg, Norrkoping, Karlskorna and Marstrand (the latter only from 1775-1794), without converting to Christianity. While immigration at the beginning of the 20th century consisted mainly of individuals or single families, persecution in Russia forced large numbers of Jews into exile. Several thousand came to Sweden.  

During the thirties, numerous Jews fled from Nazi Germany. The largest immigration occurred immediately after the Holocaust, when thousands of survivors were brought over from the death camps. About 5,000 of them remained in Sweden, although the majority left for Israel and the USA. This influx doubled the population. The political events in Hungary in 1956, Czechoslovakia in 1967, and Poland in 1968 led to additional Jewish immigration to Sweden. The most recent group of immigrants came from the former Soviet Union.  

As of May 2021 there are around 4,300 members of the Jewish Community in Stockholm. The Jewish Community of Stockholm is a unified community, meaning that all synagogues, masorti/conservative as well as orthodox, belong to the same organization. There is a Jewish elementary school, junior high school and a variety of communal organizations. It’s very interesting, by the way, that In Sweden, Yiddish is recognized as one of the country's official minority languages and is taught at Lund University and other schools. There are Jewish Communities in Gothenburg and Malmö as well, and we estimate that there are around 18 – 20,000 Jews living in Sweden today.  

As for the story of the synagogue, it is affiliated to the movement of progressive Judaism; originally it served a Reform congregation, but currently it is a Conservative synagogue. The most unique feature of this synagogue is the organ. Yep, you heard it correctly! As in German Reform synagogues of the 19th and early 20th century, the services at the Great Synagogue of Stockholm are accompanied by an organ, played by a non-Jewish musician on Friday nights, Shabbat mornings and major holidays, and a mixed choir. This is actually highly debatable in the Jewish community, but it is still very much used! The guide allowed us to go up on the third floor of the synagogue and check out that organ - I took a video of it and the view from that height, it’s stunning - if you'd like to see it, please visit my instagram or tiktok at lovetohealpodacst. In terms of the seating, The balconies are reserved for women, while the left side of floor level is reserved for men. Mixed sitting is permitted on the right side of the floor. Services are held in Swedish and in Hebrew on Shabbat, holidays, and every Monday, Thursday, and Rosh Chodesh (the first day of a month in the Jewish calendar).

Interestingly enough, in comparison to the Great synagogue of Copenhagen, this synagogue, although just as lovely, reveals that the decoration is all painted on, and if you come closer to examine, you will notice paint chipping, cracking and coming off in many places. So it’s a kind of trick of the eye. Nonetheless, the preservation of this historical building is amazing and I highly recommend anyone traveling to Sweden to take a tour. Something else that I wanted to mention about this synagogue is that besides the bimah - the place from which the Torah is read during services, there is also a beautiful podium used for notable speakers that have included for instance President Obama and Swedish Prime Minister Reinfeldt.

At the entrance to the synagogue, I also noticed a tree with many yellow ribbons on it. This serves as a symbol of solidarity and support for the release of hostages held by Hamas in Israel. 

The tour guide also recommended we visit the Jewish museum of Stockholm’s old city. This museum I did not want to miss because it is actually located in Sweden’s oldest preserved synagogue. In 1795, Stockholm’s Jewish congregation moved into a former auction house. The building was to be the focus of Jewish life in Sweden for almost a century. It was home to a synagogue, a religious school, a rabbi, a cantor and a kosher butcher. A Mikveh, or ritual bath, was in the basement, and matzo bread for Passover was baked in the kitchen and distributed to congregation members.

A special law, the Jewish Ordinance, was in force between 1782 and 1838. It determined how Jews were allowed to live in Sweden and referred to the Jews as a separate nation. This synagogue therefore became the heart of a kingdom within a kingdom. This old synagogue may be one of the few German-style synagogues remaining in Europe. It wasn’t until 2019 that the Jewish Museum moved to its current location inside the old synagogue. The Museum’s collections, which are part of the permanent exhibition, are not large. There are currently around 1,500 objects in the collection. Official documents, letters, books, religious artefacts, paintings and porcelain are all part of the collection. As are several archives from private individuals, families, organizations and associations. The pulpit is one of the few things left from the time when the building was a synagogue. It dates from the first half of the nineteenth century. Now that the original murals have been uncovered, we can see the close similarities between the pulpit’s ornamental pillars and the small roses on the synagogue’s ceiling.

But they also offer very interesting temporary exhibitions of photography, jewish headgear, and other contemporary mixed media art forms on the topic of Judaism. 

Since we happened to be in Stockholm on Shabbat, I tried to arrange for us to visit the Chabad of Stockholm, which I knew would welcome us to dinner and services, but because shabbat wouldn't start until after 9pm, and our kids were already so tired from all the walking we’d done that day, we decided to find some candles and matches and do what we could at our hotel to at least commemorate the holy day. Once we got back to the hotel, we chickened out lighting the candles inside our room, because it is against the rules, so we took our take-out dinner and the candles out on the terrace of the hotel and tried to light the candles there. It was windy and they didn’t stay lit for long, but I am happy we did it anyway because I really wanted my kids to see that tradition is important no matter where you are. In the end, it was a funky but memorable shabbat dinner. Sweden was lovely and we felt safe being Jewish. Next up on our trip was Norway. A short flight from Stockholm to Bergen, but oh how different in their ways!  Listen to the next episode about our adventures in Bergen and Oslo.

I will leave you today with a line from the character Tevye in ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ regarding the importance of tradition. Enjoy and until next time. “Traditions, traditions. Without our traditions, our lives would be as shaky as… as… as a fiddler on the roof!”

Mentions: The Great Synagogue of Stockholm 

Judiska Museet - Jewish Museum

Scandic hotels - my recommendation

Quote from musical “Fiddler on the roof”