byDr. Rosalind SilvermanDr. Lorelei Silverman

JEWISH MOSAIC FESTIVALSunday, June 11th, 2006

Romanian Jewish community

CanadaIsrael

Romania

ROMANIAPopulation=22,329,977Surface= 237,500 sq km

EUROPE

ISRAEL

GEOGRAPHY

The Carpathians

The Danube DeltaThe Hills

Dracula’s Castle

GEOGRAPHY

The Triumph ArchBucharest downtown

Royal Palace, SinaiaCasino at Black Sea

JEWISH HISTORY MUSEUM IN BUCHARESTExhibitions display how the once vibrant Jewish community of Romania used to live and what happened during the Holocaust in Romania. The museum opened in 1977 and is housed in an old synagogue built in 1850.

Architect Aristide Streja explains the exhibits

2nd c. C.E. - Earliest mentions of the Jews in the Roman province of Dacia. 12th c. C.E. (second half)- Benjamin of Tudela describes the Vlachs living south of the Danube and their relations with the Jews. 14th c., first half- A Jewish quarter is mentioned in the town of Cetatea Alba (Bolgrad), Bassarabia. 1473-1474- Isaac Beg, a Jewish doctor sent over by Sultan Uzun Hassan, is accredited at the court of Stephen the Great of Moldavia. 1532- In a letter to philologist Johannes Campensis the Romanian humanist Nicolaus Olahus expresses interest in learning Hebrew. 1550- A Sephardic community is first mentioned in Bucharest. 1593- The Italian geographer Giovanni Antonio Magini notes the presence of Jews in Moldavia in Michael the Brave's days. 1618- Del Medigo and Shlomo Ibn Arvay are signaled in Iasi. 1623- Prince Gabriel Bethlen of Transylvania issues an edict granting privileges to the Jews. 1640- Documents indicate the presence of Jewish physicians at Prince Vasile Lupu's court in Moldavia. 1640- The Govora bill of rights (pravila) includes a provision on the status of Jewish converts to Christianity. 1646- Cartea romaneasca de invatatura ("The Romanian Book of Learning") published in Iasi contains legal provisions about the Jews. 1653- For fear of Cossack uprising led by Bogdan Chmelnitzki, Ukrainian Jews seek refuge in Moldova. 1653- The Swedish preacher Conrad Jacob Hildebrandt mentions Jewish communities in Alba Iulia, Iasi, Soroca, and Stefanesti. 1657- Documents indicate Jewish communities living in Craiova and Targoviste. 1676- 1677 - Date of the oldest tombstone still standing in the Jewish cemetery of Piatra Neamt, Moldavia. 1686- A synagogue is mentioned in the belt makers' neighborhood in lasi. 1694- 1701 - A Jewish guild is mentioned in the records of the Walachian Treasury under Prince Constantin Brancoveanu. 1698- Documents show the existence of a synagogue in the town of Focsani. 1702- 1704 - Jewish physicians and apothecaries are mentioned as practicing their trade at Constantine Brancovan's court. 1715- Oldest tombstone inscription preserved in the Jewish cemetery of Sevastopol Street in Bucharest. 1717- Demetrius Cantemir's Descriptio Moldaviae including significant references to the Jews of Moldavia, appears in St Petersburg. 1720- 1721 - Jews are mentioned in a public conscription taking place in several northwestern Transylvania counties. 1724- Documents show the presence of the Jewish doctor and philosopher Daniel de Fonseca at the court of Nicholas Mavrocordat.1727- 1743 - Register of Prince Constantine Mavrocordat contains important data on the Jews of Moldavia. 1731- A statute regularizes the Sacred Brotherhood (Jewish Society for medical and funeral assistance) of the Jews in Oradea. 1741- Jewish community in Iasi decides to elect secular leadership on an annual basis. 1756- Earliest known decree confirming the appointment of a hakham bashi of the Jewish community in Moldavia and Walachia. 1774- Census conducted by the Russian military administration in Moldavia finds around 1, 300 Jewish heads of families. 1780- Prince Constantine Moruzi issues a decree authorizing the Jews to found the borough of Soldanesti (Falticeni). 1783- Ordinance by the lieutenancy of Bratislava regulates status of Jews in accordance with Emperor Joseph II's Edict of Tolerance. 1792- Count Costache Mares enters an agreement with a group of Jews to settle a market town on his estate of Vladeni. 1803- Condica liuzilor, a tax register of the Moldavian Treasury, records about 3000 Jewish heads of families. 1804- Prince Alexander Constantine Moruzi of Moldavia renews a rule which prohibits Jews from leasing land estates. 1816- Art. 141 in Prince Callimachi's Code authorizes Jews to buy houses and shops in the Moldavian towns.1818- Prince Caragea of Walachia approves a request of the Bucharest Sephardim to build a synagogue in one of the suburbs.1831- Organic Regulations in Walachia and Moldavia provide that the Jews shall be regarded as aliens and have no political rights. 1834- Reign of Michael Sturza in Moldavia mixes privileges to the Jews with anti-Jewish restrictions. 1846 - 1847 - A Great Synagogue is built and inaugurated in Bucharest.

HISTORY

1848 - A number of Jewish intellectuals and craftsmen join the revolutionary movements. Jewish bankers Davicion Bally and Hillel Manoah, painters C.D. Rosenthal and Barbu Iscovescu provide active support to the Revolution. 1848 - Manifesto of the Romanian Revolution in Moldavia stipulates gradual emancipation of the Israelites. 1848, June 9 - Islaz Proclamation is adopted. Art. 21 provides the "Emancipation of the Israelites." 1852, August, 28 - Romanian-Israelite school with Romanian tuition opens in Bucharest. 1857, March 22 -"The Romanian Israelite", the first Jewish newspaper in the Romanian principalities, is published in Bucharest. 1864 - Cuza gives a speech in which he promises the gradual emancipation of the Jews. 1866 - The first Constitution of modern Romania provides in Art. 7 that only Christians can become Romanian citizens. Jews native of Romania are declared stateless persons. A Jewish problem officially develops in Romania. 1867, July 6 - Bucharest's Choral Temple is consecrated. Representatives and consuls of several foreign powers, the mayor of Bucharest, cabinet ministers, members of Parliament such as N. Lahovari, I. Marghiloman, etc., attend the ceremony. Rabbi Antoine Levy gives the inaugural speech. 1867 - The Jews of Hungary including those from Transylvania become Hungarian citizens. 1877 - 1878 - Romania's War of Independence. The Jewish population provides material support for the military. Drafted Jews go to battle fields. Financed and manned by the Jews, the Zion ambulance service operates in the combat area. 1879 - Under pressure of the Berlin Peace Conference, Art. 7 of the Constitution is amended granting non-Christians the right to become Romanian citizens. A number of 888 Jews are naturalized for having fought in or supported the War of Independence. This does not resolve the Jewish problem, though. Naturalization is granted on a case-by-case basis and is subject to Parliament approval. By 1913 as few as 2,000 persons, including the 888 war participants, had been naturalized. 1897 - Representatives of Romanian Zionist Movement participate to the First International Congress of Zionism in Basel, Switzerland. 1899 - A Romanian census records 266,652 Jewish residents, or 4.5 percent of total population. 1909 - The Native Jews Union is created with the main goal of securing naturalization of all native Jews. 1913 - Nicolae Iorga's History of the Jews in Our Lands is published. It is the first survey by a Romanian historian on Jewish history. 1916 -1919 - Romania's unifying war. Over 20,000 Jews, accounting for 10 percent of Jewish residents, are enlisted or enlist voluntarily. Of them, 882 die in action and more than 700 are wounded while 825 are decorated. 1918 - Romania's Great Unification. The country's Jewish organizations hail the historic fulfillment of Romanian endeavors. The numberof Jewish residents rises three-fold, as new provinces join their homeland. 1922 - The Union of Jewish Communities in the Old Kingdom is accredited. 1922 -1932 - Jewish personalities and organizations get involved in parliamentary activity. 1923 - The Native Jews Union turns into Romanian Jews Union. 1923 - New Constitution is adopted. Art. 133 extends Romanian citizenship to all Jewish residents and equality of rights to all Romanian citizens. The Jews are thereby granted political rights equal to those of all other citizens. 1930 - Census counts 756,930 Jewish residents, or 4.2% of total population. 32.99% of Jewish residents were occupied in trade, 29.9% in the processing industry, and over 4% in liberal professions.1931 - The Jewish Party of Romania is founded. 1937 - The Federation of Jewish Communities Unions (FUCE) is established. 1937 - Goga-Cuza government takes office. Anti-Semitism becomes state policy. 1940, July 10 - FUCE issues a declaration of solidarity with the Romanian nation, as the state loses Bassarabia and Bukovina.

HISTORY

1940, August - A law-decree imposes a legal status of the Jews based on the racist principles of the Nuremberg legislation that Nazi Germany had adopted in 1935. 1940, August - Dictate of Vienna decides that Transylvania's northern and western part is to be given up to Hungary. Over 150,000 Romanian Jews used to live on this territory. 1940, September- Romania is proclaimed a National Legionary State.

1940, Sep.-1941, Jan. - Generalization of anti-Jewish legislation. The ruling Legionnaires foster a policy of loot and terror against the Jews. 1941, January 22-23 - Over 120 Jews are killed in Bucharest pogrom associated with the Legionnaire rebellion. 1941, June 22 - Romania joins Nazi Germany in war against Soviet Union. Anti-Jewish terror sets in. 1941, June 29-July 6 - Massacre of the Jews in Iasi. Eight to twelve thousand Jews are killed either shot down in the streets and at police headquarters, or suffocated in death trains introduced for this purpose. 1941, June-July - The Jews are evacuated from the countryside and small towns and forced to relocate in county capitals. Those from oil-rich basins are interned in the Teis-Targoviste camp. Groups of Moldavian Jews are interned in Targu Jiu camp for political detainees. 1941, summer and fall - Pogroms in Bassarabia and Bukovina. The Jewish residents of Basarabia and those of northern and southern Bukovina are deported to Trans-Dniester death camps. 1942, fall - Deportations are halted. Antonescu regime for circumstantial reasons refuses to deport the Jews from Romania to Nazi death camps. 1944, May-June - Horthy occupation regime deports the Jews from northern Transylvania to Nazi death camps. 1944, August 23 - Antonescu regime is overturned in Romania.

After 1944- The Communist regime gradually takes control of the country. Mass emigration of the Jews begins. Most of them immigrate to Israel. Those that stay behind go through a deep social and economic restructuring and are gradually integrated in the new social and economic structures of Romanian society. 1948 - The State Jewish Theater opens in Bucharest. 1949,June- The Federation of the Jewish Communities in Romania (FCER) and the Mosaic religion are given legal status. 1956- Revista cultului mosaic ("The Magazine of the Mosaic Cult") - renamed Realitatea Evreiasca ("Jewish Reality") in 1995 - starts to be published. 1977 - The Center of Romanian Jewish History Research is established. 1978- The History Museum of the Jewish Communities in Romania opens in Bucharest. The Romanian Jewish History Documentation Center is established. After 1989- FCER expands its activity. 1994- FCER elects a new leadership consisting of Acad. Prof. Dr. Nicolae Cajal as president, engineer Theodor Blumenfeld as general secretary, and advocate Iulian Sorin as assistant general secretary. FCER coordinates the activity of 48 local communities. Youths account for about one-fifth of the 12,000 community members.

HISTORY

During the period preceding, and immediately following the outbreak of World War II, there were approximately 850,000 Jews in Romania. Only about 400,000 survived after the war. 1941- almost half of Romania's Jewish population was deported to Transnistria, Ukraine. Only 54,000 survived that ordeal.Of the 150,000 Jews living in northern Transylvania (a Romanian region ceded to Hungary in August, 1940), 105,000 were murdered, mostly following their deportation in 1944 to death camps in Germany and German-occupied Poland by the Hungarian Fascists.1941-1945- Starting at the end of October, 1940, the Iron Guard began a massive anti-Semitic campaign, torturing and beating Jews and looting their shops, culminating in the failed coup and a pogrom in January 1941 in Bucharest in which 120 Jews were killed. Jewish homes were looted, shops burned, and many synagogues desecrated or razed to the ground (the Great Sephardi Synagogue Kahal Grande and the old Bet ha-midrash in Bucharest). Some of the leaders of the Bucharest community were imprisoned in the community council building, and worshipers were ejected from synagogues by force. In Iasi in July 1941 Romanian and German soldiers, members of the Romanian Special Intelligence Service, police, and residents participated in an assault on the Jews. Thousands were murdered.1942 Struma was a ship chartered to carry Jewish refugees from Romania to Palestine. The ship was sunk by a Soviet submarine with the loss of 768 lives (mainly Betar members and wealthy Romanian Jews who could afford to pay the high price of a ticket). Most of the survivors fled postwar communism and emigrated to Israel or the United States.

VICTIMS

HOLOCAUST

SOLIDARITY AND RESCUEThough hostility and indifference were the words that

characterized the general attitude of the population, there werealso cases of solidarity and compassion for Jews shown by Romanians.

Protest against Deportation of Romanian Jews was signed by political leaders of the country: Iuliu Maniu (head of National Peasant Party), Nicolae Lupu, Ion Mihalache, C. Bratianu(National liberal Party leader), of Romanian Orthodox Church, Royal House especially Queen Mother Elena (Rightous among Nations), and Prince Barbu Stirbei. The Queen mother Elena’s appeal to Ion Antonescu saved the life of thousands of Jews preventing their deportation to Transnistria. Here are some better known histories.

Professor Raoul Sorban saved many Jews from Transylvania and facilitated the meeting of Rabbi Carmilly-Weinberger -the neolog rabbi of Timisoara- with Iuliu Maniu to discuss the ways of saving the life of Romanian Jews from that Romanian region that was under Hungarian occupation.

Dr. Traian Popovici, former mayor of Cernauti during the Second World War saved 19000 Jews from deportation to Transnistria.

Viorica Agarici (chair of Romanian Red Cross, later resigned) aid survivors of “death train” to Transnistria while Grigore Profir helped save dozens of Iasi Jews.

Queen mother Elena

ANTISEMITISMAccording to the World Jewish Congress, there were 428,312 Jews in Romania in 1947. Mass emigration ensued and by 1956, there were 144,236 Jews in Romania. From 1948 until 1960, more than 200,000 Romanian Jews went to Israel, reducing the population in Romania to less than 100,000 by the 1960s. At the same time, Romania outlawed its Jewish organizations. The situation for the Jews of Romania later improved, but the community has shrank: today less than 10,000 Jews live in Romania. Despite being a very small minority, attacks on Jews especially in the press are quite frequent in Romania.

Postcard, Bucharest 1900

•The nationalist and anti-semitic Greater Romania Party (PRM), led by Corneliu Vadim Tudor, became the second largest party in the Romanian parliament after it won 21 percent of the vote in the November 2000 elections. In its ongoing slander campaign against former Jewish communists and against Israeli and Jewish businessmen in Romania, alleged Israeli-Jewish-US hegemonic policies in the global arena. • Small nationalist, xenophobic and anti-semitic Iron Guard, or Legionnaire, groups (derived from the wartime fascist movement) form the extra-parliamentary extreme right wing in Romania. “Nests” (the original name of local branches of the movement) of such groups exist in various localities.• In general, manifestations of the ‘new anti-semitism’, namely, the attacks in western Europe associated with the identification of Israel/Zionism/Jews as a single evil entity, were not evidenced in Romania.• The Center for Monitoring and Combating Anti-semitism in Romania, founded in 2002, reported anti-semitic graffiti on the walls of the Bucharest Jewish Theatre and of condominiums in Cluj in October 2002. In addition, two synagogues were desecrated in April and June 2002. As in previous years, anti-semiticpropaganda accompanied the continuing campaign to rehabilitate the legacy of wartime fascist ruler Ion Antonescu and to cleanse historical memory of the fate of Romanian Jewry during the Holocaust. Extremist sites on the Internet in Romania, including some related to the legacy of the Iron Guard, appear to be expanding their content. The material on the pro-Legionnaire sites attempts to introduce the doctrines of Codreanu to new generations through historical revisionism, including whitewashing the Iron Guard’s murderous activities, such as the January 1941 pogrom in Iasi, which it attributed to “Jewish behavior.”

Great Synagogue, 1850The Synagogue PodulMogosoaiei

The Coral Temple Bucharest 1867

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SYNAGOGUESRomania is home to more than 800 Synagogues and 700 cemeteries. Most Synagogues are still used by the small local Jewish communities scattered throughout the country: Bucharest, Arad, Bacau, Baia Mare, Botosani, Brasov, Campulung Moldovenesc, Cluj-Napoca, Constanta, Dorohoi, Galati, Iasi, Oradea, Piatra Neamt, Roman, Satu Mare, Sighetu Marmatiei, Timisoara, Targu Mures and Targu Neamt.

Memorial Temple ClujThe Synagogue in Oradea The Synagogue in Timisoara

Great spiritual leaders lead Jewish communities in prayers and in times of distress.Iasi was the headquarters of Hacham Bashim in the 17th Century and one of the great European centers of Jewish learning during the 19th century. Satmar (from Satu Mare) in a broad sense is probably the largest Hasidic dynasty in existence today, but formal demographic comparisons with other Hasidim are not available. It is believed, however, to number close to 100,000 adherents.

Yekutiel Yehuda Teitelbaum, Chief Rabbi of Sighet (1911-44)

Rabbi Marulies Bucharest 1985

RELIGIOUS LEADERS

Alexandru Shafran, chief Rabbi of Romania, forced to quit by the communists in 1947, later became chief Rabbi of Geneva

Religious objects from the Jewish Museum, Bucharest

Moses Rosen, chief Rabbiof Romania 1947-1994

Streets inhabited by Jews in Bucharest at the beginning of the 20th Century

LIFE IN THE CITY

The Romanian Jewish community is an amazing blend of Sephardiand Ashkenazi Jews. Between the two world wars the Jewish life reached its peak with almost 800,000 Jews living in Romania. In the cities the Jews were in great part professionals, businessmen, and artists.

Banquet in honour of Chaim Weitzmann, Iasi Askenazi family in Bucharest Sephardim in Turnu-Severin

LIFE IN THE VILLAGE

Life in small villages, or shtetlswas sometimes harsh in Romania. The Jews were mainly innkeepers or small merchants. Eastern European Jews lived a separate life as a minority within the culture of the majority in villages and small towns.

Jewish cemetery and wood synagogues in Sighet

They spoke Yiddish and, although many younger Jews in larger towns were beginning to adopt modern ways and dress, older people often dressed traditionally, the men wearing hats or caps, and the women modestly covering their hair with wigs or kerchiefs. By the beginning of World War II there were 120 wood synagogues (shtibel, shil) built in Romanian villages.

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LIFE DURING THE COMMUNISM

A trip to Paris of the Coral Temple choir Shira VeZimra conducted by Izu GottIn 1939, Romania with a Jewish population of 760,000, had the third largest Jewish population in Europe after the Soviet Union and Poland. The Holocaust destroyed more than one-half of the Jewish population, as well as its vibrant religious and cultural life. When the communists took power, Jewish organizations, especially Zionist ones, were outlawed. Chief Rabbi Dr. Alexander Shafran was labeled an "anti-Communist agent“ and forced to leave Romania in 1947. Dr. Moses Rosen became the Chief Rabbi of Romania. He was instrumental in rebuilding some of the Jewish institutions, to the extent that it was possible under Communist rule, and facilitated the emigration of many thousands of Jews to Israel and other parts of the world.In 1950, Romania started to sell its Jews. Ceausescu is reported to have said that “Romania’s most important exports were Jews, Germans, and oil.” While Ceausescu had never openly expressed anti-semitism as a part of his ideology, he purged Jews from the most influential positions in all fields of endeavor, and practicing the Jewish religion was not possible for many professionals or leaders who had to be members of the communist party in order to maintain those positions. Many Jews chose to change their name to Romanian ones and led a secular life. A fraction chose to cling to traditional values, to religion, and tried to lead a Jewish life. This life was centered around the Coral Temple and the activities of Federation of Jewish Communities. Between 1950 and 1960, over 350,000 Jews chose to emigrate to Israel.

Jewish burial society

Brit mila

Less than 10,000 Jews, most aged over 60, live in Romania today. Several thousand more, mostly in mixed marriages, are thought not to have declared themselves as Jews. The major Jewish centers are in Bucharest, Iasi, Cluj and Oradea, where the local communities are well organized. There is a revival of Jewish life mainly due to Lubavitch activities, and aid from different North American organizations, as well as from Israeli businessmen who come to Romania to conduct business. The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee has been especially active in fostering welfare work among Romania’s impoverished elderly Jews. There is a very intense cultural life centered around the Jewish theatre and the Cultural Association of Friendship Romania-Israel, led by Victor Barladeanu. Book launching, Hebrew classes, film releases, exhibitions, lectures on Jewish themes, and concerts are only a few of its activities.

LIFE AFTER THE REVOLUTION

Jewish old home Amalia and Dr. Moses Rosen

Meghilla readingJewish choir

.Coral temple, Bucharest The Chief Rabbi of Romania, Menachem Hacohen

Tu Bishvat 2006

Religious services, especially during Jewish holidays, are well attended and especially rally the younger generation. The Federation of Jewish Communities of Romania, led by chief Rabbi Menachem Hacohen, promotes and coordinates communal activities. Besides publishing a monthly journal, Realitatea Evreiasca, under the directorship of Dorel Dorian, the Federation documents the history of Jewish life in Romania and its publications and symposia are well covered by the Romanian media. Hasefer publishing house issues dozens of titles on Jewish topics, including works by the community’s historical center. There is also a kosher restaurant, Izvorul Rece, and many Israeli-owned stores carry kosher products. For some Romanian Jews, notably among those with an assimilated background, the religious and cultural values of Judaism are still perceived as "our traditions". Some traditions were created recently, like the Hanukkiadas, as the visits of the few rabbis and other leaders remaining in the country to small communities during Hanukkah festival.

LIFE AFTER THE REVOLUTION

JEWISH EDUCATION AFTER THE REVOLUTIONAfter the revolution there was a revival of Jewish education. Lauder-Reut is a primary Jewish school in Bucharest. Benjamin Netanyahu inaugurated the building of the future Jewish high school in Bucharest.

Lauder-Reut school, Bucharest

JOINT together with FEDROM (the Federation of Jewish Communities of Romania) launched a Jewish Education program aimed at youth. Here are some of their programs: Revitalization of Romania’s Talmud Torah network An annual two-week Summer Education Seminar. For many, this seminar is their first opportunity to explore Jewish issues Regional and national Seminars on Jewish Identity, Religious Practices, Leadership Development Jewish Camps for children and pre-teens aged 5-13 The Jewish Education Network and Jewish Education through the mail (JEM), which reach over 400 families OTER – the Organization for Young Jews in Romania, with over 10 branchesParticipation of Romanian Jewish youth in international programs such as the Machol Hungaria annual Israel dance festival in Hungary, the March of the Living, the International Bible Contest, and the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation/JDC International Jewish Summer Camp in Szarvas, Hungary. The Jewish Agency (Sohnut) sets up the “Tnuat Aliyah” youth club, where young Jews who are entitled to make aliyah have a chance to study basic Hebrew, learn about Israel and make new friends. The youth club also has an Israeli dancing group called “Hora”. The group has been touring Romania and Israel and is also performing at various local Jewish and social events. The Pedagogical Center in Bucharest organizes Jewish activities and education. The staff is made of young people from EUJS (the European Union of Jewish Students) and the WUJS (the World Union of Jewish Students). The FEDROM has published a Siddur Kabbalat Shabbat for those who are not familiar with the services. The publication includes the Hebrew text with Romanian transliteration and translation and a Birkon Shabbat, a collection of blessings and songs that accompany the Shabbat traditions, from the time when the family returns after services until Havdalah.

THE REVIVAL OF JEWISH YOUTH- JOINT ACTIVITIES

They [the Jews] contributed to each and every aspect of socio-economic and cultural life in that country. “The genii produced by this small and scattered people worked for the good of mankind in general and used

their intellectual powers to serve all the great causes, all the matters that interested all the nations amidst which these genii lived and

worked...“Mihail Kogalniceanu

Elie Wiesel was born in 1928 in Sighet, Transylvania. He was fifteen years old when he and his family were deported by the Nazis to Auschwitz. His mother and younger sister perished, his two older sisters survived. Elie and his father were later transported to Buchenwald, where his father died shortly before the camp was liberated in April 1945.After the war, Elie Wiesel studied in Paris and later became a journalist. During an interview with the distinguished French writer, Francois Mauriac, he was persuaded to write about his experiences in the death camps. The result was his internationally acclaimed memoir, “La Nuit” or “Night”, that has since been translated into more than thirty languages. He won a Nobel prize for Peace in 1986.

LITERATURE

Elie Wiesel dancing Horain his natal Sighet

Academy member NICOLAE CAJAL, CAIUS TRAIAN DRAGOMIR, HENRI ZALIS, Academy member C. BALACEANU STOLNICI, VICTOR NEUMANN, ALEXANDRU SAFRAN, FRANCISCA BALTACEANU, NEAGU DJUVARA, ION IANOSI, ANDREI OISTEANU, RADU F. ALEXANDRU, RAZVAN VONCU, ILEANA VULPESCU, ALEXANDRA POIENARU, IULIA DELEANU, Academy member FLORIN CONSTANTINIU, PETER SHRAGER, GAVRIL IOSANDREI, D.R. POPESCU, BARBU CIOCULESCU, M. COLOSENCO, VIRGIL NEMOIANU, PAUL CERNAT, ANDREI CORBEA, RADU COSASU, STEFAN AUG. DOINAS, S. DAMIAN, HORIAARAMA, ARNOLD HELMAN, GEORGE VOICU, Academy member ALEXANDRU BOBOC, CONSTANTIN ABALUTA, SAUL OSIAS, TEFAN IURES, EVELIN FONEA, MAGDA CARNECI, DUMITRU MICU, VALENTIN F. MIHAESCU, STEFAN CAZIMIR, MIRCEA ANGHELESCU, MARIAN MINCU, DUMITRU SOLOMON, HORIA GANE, SHAUL CARMEL, FELICIA CARMELY, ANTOANETA RALIAN, ALEXANDRU SEVER, GABRIEL DIMISIANU, DUMITRU HINCU, AUREL STORIN,HORIA ARAMA, IANCU FISCHER, DAN GRIGORESCU, GRIGORE CONSTANTINESCU, OTTO STARCK, VICTOR BARLADEANU, Academy member ALEXANDRU BALACI, DOREL DORIAN, IULIU BARASCH, ISRAIL BERCOVICI,NINA CASSIAN, PAUL CELAN, ANDREI CODRESCU, BENJAMIN FONDANE, ABRAHAM GOLDFADEN, EUGENE IONESCO, GHERASIM LUCA, NORMAN MANEA, SASA PANA, IOSIF SAVA, MIHAIL SEBASTIAN, TRISTAN TZARA, ILARIE VORONCA

LITERATURE

Marcel IancuPortrait of a Woman

Iosif IserThe Jew with a Book Victor Brauner

Dobrudjan Landscape

Marcel Janco, born in Romania in 1895, had joined a group of artists at the Cafe Voltaire in Zurich, Switzerland in 1916 and was among the principal founders of the Dada Movement. It was established in Cabaret Voltaire, in Zurich, Switzerland, by a group of exiled poets, painters and philosophers who were opposed to war, aggression and the changing world culture.MARCEL IANCU, NICOLAE GROPEANU, IOSIF ISER, C.D. ROSENTHAL, VICTOR BRAUNER, TIA PELTZ, SOREL ETROG, AFONSE SATTINGER, SAUL STEINBERG, TIBOR ERNO, LEON ALEX, SANDOR ZIFFER, LOLA SCHMIERER-ROTH, HENRI DANIEL, JEAN DAVID, MARGARETA STERIAN, M.H.MAXI, ARTUR SEGALL, BARBU ISCOVESCU, NICOLAE VERMONT, ARTHUR MENDEL, SOLOMON SANIELEVICI, JACQUES HEROLD, SAMUEL MUTZNER, MAX ARNOLD, VIOREL HUSI, R. IOSIF, MINA BYCK-WEPPER, AUREL MARCULESCU, SIGISMUND MAUR, ISAAC RUBIN, IOSIF KLEIN, IANDI DAVID

Nicolae GropeanoWomen in the Garden

C. D. RosenthalRomania Casting OffHer Handcuffs

ARTS

Ein Hod

Maia Morgenstern

Jewish Theatre in Romania has a tradition dating back 130 years. Documents show that in 1876 the writer and artist Avram Goldfadenstarted the first professional Jewish theatre in the world, in a public park in the Romanian town of Iasi. A few months later, Goldfadenmoved with his theatre company to Bucharest. The first review of the work of the Jewish Theatre was written by Romanian poet MihailEminescu. The theater was named in honor of Dr. Iuliu Barasch.

TES, the State Jewish Theater

THEATRE

TES, the State Jewish Theater in Bucharest, is the first professional Yiddish theatre in the world specializing in Jewish-related plays. Its contemporary repertoire includes plays by Jewish authors, plays on Jewish topics, and plays in Yiddish (performed with simultaneous translation into Romanian, using headphones installed in the theater in the 1970). Many of the plays also feature Jewish actors. Aside from Goldfaden, other prominent figures of the early Yiddish theatre are: Wolf ZbarjerEhren-Krantz, Zelig Mogulescu, Israel Goldner, Suhar Goldstein, I. Goldenberg, Molly Picon, Glara Young, Jacob Sternberg, Sidy Thal, and Sevila Pastor. More recent ones are: Henry Malineanu, Elly Roman, Leonie Waldman Eliad, Hary Eliad, Maia Morgenstern, TrecyAbramovici, Andrei Finti, Natalie Ester, Mihai Ciuca, Bianca Dumitriu, Octavian Cercel, George Robu, Eugenia Balaure, Marius Calugarita, Theodor Danetti, Roxana Guttman, NicolaeCãlugãrita, Andrei Finti, Rudy Rosenfeld, Veaceslav Grosu, Luana Stoica, Geni Brenda, Arabela Neazi, Florin Petrini, and Mircea Drîmbãreanu.LIA KONIG, LAUREN BACALL, DUSTIN HOFFMAN, VLADIMIR COSMA, JACOB STERNBERG, KIRK DOUGLAS, LINDA EVANS, LARRY HAGMAN also have Romanian ancestors.

Oy Rumenye, Rumenye, Geveyn amol a land a ziser a fayner! Romanian music grew in popularity after dances such as the bulgareascaand the sirba became popular among Jews at the end of the 19th century. According to the Ukrainian Yiddish singer Bronya Sakina, "The more Romanian it sounded, the better we liked it." The folk band of the cellist Jean Marcu, and the musicians A.L. Ivela, C.I. Bernstein, I. Rosensteck, Joseph Schmidt, Alberto della Pergola, Immanuel Bernstein, Eliachem Algazi, Rudolf Steiner, Rudi Ledeanu, Emil Cobilovici, Mauriciu Cohen-Lanaru, Stan Golestan, Filip Lazar, Marcel Mihailovici, HaimSchwartzman, Teodor Fuchs, Leon and Alfred Mendelson, Jehuda LeibLevin, Leopold Stern, the conductor Otto Akerman, Clara Haskil, the famous pianist, the opera director Jose Aratti, Moshe Bazian, cantor, Miriam Fried, violinist, Alma Gluck, soprano, Clara Haskil, pianist, Mandru Katz, pianist, Yoel Levi, conductor, pianist, Sivia Marcovici, violinist, Joseph Moskowitz, klezmer musician, Moishe Oisher, cantor and singer, Joseph Schmidt, cantor, tenor. YEHUDI MENUHIN, SERGIU COMISSIONA and RADU LUPU are also of Romanian origin.

Danced slow and solemnly or fast and furiously, the Horais the national dance of Israel and has been so since that nation's founding in 1948. But it was not invented there. It came from Romania, where it is also the national dance and has been so at least since Romania was the Roman province of Dacia nearly two thousand years ago.

Mirabela Dauer

Hora the traditional round dance of both Romania and Israel

DANCE AND MUSIC

The national anthem of Israel Hatikvah ("The Hope"') was written by the Galician poet Naphtali Herz Imber in Jassy, Romania, in 1878 as a nine-stanza poem named Tikvatenu("Our Hope"). In 1887, the First Zionist Congress adopted it as the anthem of Zionism; later it was arranged by the composer Paul Ben-Haim, who based the composition partly on Romanian Jewish folk tunes. Later the text was edited by the settlers of Rishon LeZion and underwent a number of other changes until 1948, when the state of Israel was created, and it was proclaimed as the national anthem of Israel. In its modern version, the anthem text only has the first stanza and chorus of the original poem. The most important addition in those parts is that the hope is no longer to return to Zion, but to be a free nation in it. The modern adaptation of the music for Hatikvah was probably composed by Samuel Cohen in 1888. It's possible that he took the melody from Smetana's work, or that he got the melody from a Romanian version of the folk song, "Carriage and Oxen".

As long as in the heart, within,A Jewish soul still yearns,And onward toward the East,An eye still watches toward Zion.

Our hope has not yet been lost,The two thousand year old hope,To be a free nation in our own homeland,The land of Zion and Jerusalem.

Kol od balevav P'nimah -Nefesh Yehudi homiyahUlfa'atey mizrach kadimahAyin l'tzion tzofiyah.Od lo avdah tikvatenuHatikvah bat shnot alpayim:Li'hyot am chofshi b'artzenu -Eretz Tzion v'Yerushalayim.

כל ע וד ב לבב פנימה,נפש יהוד י הו מיהול פ את י מזרח קדימהע ין לציון צופי ה -,ע וד ל א אב דה תקותנו, התקוה בת שנות א ל פיםלהי ות עם חופ שי בא רצנו.א רץ ציון וי רו שלים

HATIKVAH

A long roll of full-fledged, corresponding, and honorary members of the Romanian Academy may give the measure of Jewish creativeness in the realm of science. Best known is Dr. Nicolae Cajal, virologist and member of the Academy. He was elected to head Romania’s Jewish community in 1994 after the death of Rabbi Moses Rosen who led Romania’s Jews since 1947. Other famous scientists are sociologist and Marxist theorist Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea, mathematicians Solomon Marcus and Isaac Jacob Scoenberg, social psychologist Serge Moscovicei, psychologists David Wechsler, David Emmanuel, E. Abason, A. and M. Haimovici, H. Sanielevici, J. Vladeanu, H. Maicu, the geologist D. Roman, chemists L. Edeleanu and I. Blum, philologists J. Byck, I.A. Candrea, H. Tiktin, M. Gaster, L. Saineanu, Al. Graur, juridic scientists E. Barasch, A. Schwefelberg, I. Rosenthal, W. Filderman, A. Stern, historians J. Psantir, M. Barasch, J. Kaufman, medical scientists Blatt, R. Brauner, M.H. Goldstein, S. Iagnov, A. Kreindler, L. Meierosohn, B. Menkes, M. Popper, A. Radovici, O. Sager, L. Strominger, A. Teitel, M. Wortheimer, biologists I. Barasch, F. Zicman, I. Fuhn, A. Kanitz, technical scientists Emanoil David, L. Edeleanu, M. Haimovici, M. Bercovici, I. Blum, T. Revici, A. Haimovici, I. Barbalat, A. Hollinger, T. Ganea, I. Schoenberg, A. Sanielevici, I.S. Auslander, S. Sternberg, E. Soru, E. Marcus, phylosopher I. Brucar, M.A. Halevy.

SCIENCE

Solomon MarcusNicolae Cajal

The birthday celebration of the Great RabbiMenachem Hacohen with the Direction Boardof the Romanian Jewish Comunities Federationat the office of the Acad. Nicolae Cajal,July 1999

Before the communism there were Jewish parties in Romania: Uniunea Evreilor Romani (1909), Clubul Parlamentar Evreiesc (1928), Partidul Evreiesc (1930). Until 1940 the chief rabbis were member of the Parlament: Jacob Niemirower and Alexandru Safran.

POLITICSElena "Magda" Lupescu was the mistress of King Carol II of Romania and after his abdication his wife. She is sometimes referred to as Helena Wolff because her father changed it to theRomanian equivalent. She met Carol, then Crown Prince, at the casino near the royal palace in Sinaia. Magda was not noble and Carol was married to Helena of Greece, so the law did not allow her to marry Carol, who, faced with a scandal over their liaison, abdicated his rights as an heir in favor of his legitimate son Mihai in December 1925. In a highly-contested move, Carol returned to Romania on in 1930, officially renounced Magda, and assumed the crown. It was the first time in history when a father followed a son to kingdom. During Carol's reign (1930–1940), Magda assumed a leading role in the networks that Carol used to increase his power and wealth. Carol lost territories to the USSR, Hungary, and Bulgaria (summer 1940) and was forced to abdicate. Magda and the king resumed their exile, finally married in Rio de Janeiro, then settled in Portugal as Prince and Princess von Hohenzollern.

Lupescu and Carol II in theCaribbean in 1940

Petre Roman Alexandru Barladeanu

During communism there were some influential members of the communist party such as Ana and Marcel Pauker, Vitali Holostenco, Gheorghe Gaston Marin. After the revolution the Parlamenthead was Alexandru Barladeanu and the prime-minister was Petre Roman. Other politicians were Radu F. Alexandru, Silviu Brucan, Dorel Dorian as representant of the Menora party.

BUSINESSThere is a long tradition of Jewish business in Romania. As early as 1383, Dan, king of Valachia gave special priviledge to Jews from Hungary to buy land. Later other kings invited Jews from Ottoman Empire to develop the national commerce.Jews were invited to populate villages and towns. They were offered land to build houses, places of prayers and other communal buildings. This phenomenon was mainly encountered in Moldavia, where towns with a majority Jewish population appeared.In Romania between the two world wars, Jews owned 31.14% of commercial and industrial companies. An example is Marmorosh-Blank & Co. bank founded in 1863 or Resita Metallurgical Factories that were in the ownership of one of the most important businessmen of Romania, Max Auschnit. In Moldavia over 75% of merchants were Jewish. Some were small merchants or blue collar workers, and some were farmers especially in Maramures and Basarabia, but most Jews in Romania were attracted to business or intellectual careers. Prior to the Holocaust, of 8000 doctors living in Romania, 2000 were Jewish. There were also 2000 engineers and 3000 lawyers.

The chamber of commerce between Romania and Israel was the first to be inaugurated in Romania after the fall of communism and the start of a free economy. Many businessmen of Romanian origin from Israel opened businesses in Romania. Israel and Romania will jointly export duty-free goods to the EU. This agreement is in preparation for Romania’s entry into the European Union in 2007.

SPORTS

Angelica Adelstein-Rozeanu is considered the world’s greatest female table tennis player in history. She won 17 World titles, including six straight Singles championships from 1950 to 1955. She took the World Women’s Doubles title three times: in 1953 with Giselle Farkasof Hungary and in 1954 and 1955 with Ella Zeller of Romania, and the World Mixed Doubles crown three times-1951, with Bohumil Vana of Czechoslovakia, and in 1952 and 1953, with Ferenc Sido of Hungary.

Leon Rottman is one of the greatest Olympic athletes in Romania's history. Rotman competed in two Olympic Games, and was the first Romanian to win two medals at one Olympiad in canoeing at the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games. He won the 1,000-Meter Canadian Singles Championship with a time of 5:05.3 and the 10,000-Meter Canadian Singles event in 56:41.0. At the 1960 Olympics in Rome, Rottman won a bronze medal in the 1,000-Meter Canadian Singles in 4:35.87.

In 1912 a Jewish sports organization, “Hagvurah,” was established and was active until 1947, when the communist regime closed it down and confiscated all its property and equipment. This organization was quite prominent especially in the sports of soccer and gymnastics. It won many regional competitions and for a certain period it was even the city champion. In 1920 it won 15 out of 20 prizes that were awarded by the Macabee competitions in Czernowitz. At the second Macabiah games that were held in Eretz Yisrael in 1935, 24 members of this organization participated in the games. Guttman Leo and Zissu, also known as "the famous Guttman brothers", were the most talented sports coaches of "The first Israelite society of gymnastics".

Many Israeli Romanians brought with them recipes from the old country. There are more than a dozen Romanian Jewish restaurants in Jerusalem alone. The Romanian food is famous mainly for its minced meat patties like the garlicky beef mititei, ciorba, a thick and hearty soup based on chicken stock, lemon juice, boiled beef and carrots, beans, okra and tomatoes.But what is most famous around the world is Romanian pastrami. The word pastrami comes via Yiddish from the Romanian word pastrama, a term apparently borrowed from Turkish and meaning “cured meat”, and also related to the Romanian verb a pastra (“to preserve”).

FOOD

Pastrama Ciorba Mititei

ROMANIAN JEWS IN ISRAEL

Rosh Pina then and now

One after another, groups of “halutzim” left Romania– the first immigrants having gone through the ideological and physical training in “Hashomer Hatzair”. They were determined to build the best social order in the ancient land. Meir Dizengoff, a leader of the Hovevei Zion movement in Kishinev, became the first mayor of Tel Aviv.The Jewish communities of Romania played a key role in shaping the face of modern European Jewry in general, bridging the geographical and cultural gaps between the Jews of Eastern and Western Europe as well as between Ashkenazim and Sephardim. The Jewish community of Romanian origin was the fourth in Israel before Russian Alia after Perestroika with almost 400,000 Israelis claiming a Romanian origin.They contributed greatly to the creation of the modern state of Israel. They are well organized in many associations such as "Organizaţia Evreilor Originari din România" (HOR), ACMEOR Mondial Cultural Association of Romanian Jews, and AMIR Union of Jews born in Romania, and have the most numerous newspapers and reviews in a foreign language in Israel such as “Revista Mea”, "Viaţa Noastră“, "Ultima Oră", "Facla“, "Adevărul", "Revista Familiei", "Secolul XX“, "Izvoare“. They also have radio and TV stations in Romanian language.

22 years before the Basel congress young people from Moinesti organized themselves in preparation for Alia. In 1875 they founded Ishuv Eretz Israel and in 1881, 50 families went by foot to Israel. Next year, Moshe David Iancovici went to Israel and bought land in order to colonize it. In 1882, a group of Romanian Jews from Moinesti, Focsani, and Galati succeeded in building a lasting Jewish settlement in the Galilee. They named their settlement Rosh Pina, "cornerstone," a word found in Hallel: "You have become my deliverance. The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone." In 1884, Baron Edmund de Rothchild became Rosh Pina'ssponsor and the settlement became the cornerstone of settlement in the Galilee.

“The town of Focsani represents the crossroads where the highway of Zionism starts“.

Raphael Vago

“Through Moinesti towards EretzIsrael!”

LIFE OF A FAMILY ORIGINALLYFROM ROMANIA IN ISRAEL

Rosh Hashana Pesah

Family Zoia and Ionatan GonenFrom Naharia

Between 1890-1914, some 70,000 Jews left Romania mainly for America or France. The emigration was strong among the Jews of Transylvania and especially those of Bessarabia, who fled the persecutions and the pogroms of Czarist Russia. Many came later via Israel and they chose Montreal for the convenience of the French language that most Romanian speak. The Federation of Bukowiner Jews in Montreal was founded two years ago. Many came also to Toronto. Here they are integrated in the general community while preserving some of the traditions from back home. At the turn of the 20th century, Jewish immigrants from Romania wanted to pray together on the Holy Days and to establish a congregation of their own. In 1911 their dream came true and the Congregation proudly dedicated a new building on Bathurst near Dundas, the site where for thirty years the First Romanian Hebrew Congregation Adath Israel, “The Roumainishe Shul”, flourished. It then moved to its present location at Bathurst and Wilson. In Toronto the Romanian Jewish community has a review “Semnalul”published by B’nei Brith-Loja “Dr. W. Filderman”.Mr. Michaelson, the owner of an ice cream parlour, a former theatre player in Romania, was the first in Toronto to produce a Yiddish play. In 1904 he organized an amateur theatrical group.

Today there are many stores run by Romanian Jews that preserve some traditional recipes from back home such as Perl’s, Hermes, and Amadeus as well as other businesses such as Apollo Travel.

LIFE OF ROMANIAN JEWS IN CANADA

Israel Pincu Lazarovitch, or Irving Layton, was born in 1912 in the Romanian town of Tirgul Neamt. The child, who would one day be nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature, achieved early local fame as he was born naturally circumcised, a sign which orthodox Jews believe is the mark of the Messiah.

Simcha Jacobovici is an award-winning documentary director and producer. He is also a well published writer and lecturer. Named "Canada's top documentary filmmaker" by the Ryerson Review of Journalism, Jacobovici'spast feature documentaries include: Falasha: Exile of the Black Jews (1983), Deadly currents (1991), Hollywoodism: Jews, Movies & the American Dream (1997), Quest for the Lost Tribes (1999), The Struma (2001), James, Brother of Jesus (2003), and Impact of Terror (2004). His parents are from Iasi, Romania, where he unveiled a plaque at a police station where Romanian Jews, including his father were shot.

THANK YOU!Special thanks to:

The Federation of Jewish Communities in Romania, Stephen Roth Institute, Tel Aviv, Romania-Israel portal,

The virtual Jewish history tour, International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame,

Wikipedia and other internet sites, Clifford Falk, Vasile Rosenberg,

Zoia and Ionatan Gonen, Sorin Goldstein, Jeana Svedcenko,

for providing pictures, information, and comments.We apologize for any unintentional mistakes and omissions that might be present in this slide show.