Jewish life in Reykjavik?
Jun 29, 2014, 2:09 am
#1
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Jewish life in Reykjavik?
Looks like we'll be there in December. Anyone got any ideas? Seems that Chabad visit a few times a year but no response yet from an email to R' Pewzner who seems to be the Shaliach....
Jul 1, 2014, 6:21 am
#2
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Ive never been there but if its not a peak tourist time I wouldnt think chabad would be setting up shop. W/o enough tourists they wouldnt beable to make any money or reach enough passingthru's to make it worth their effort. Cant blame them
Jul 4, 2014, 1:10 pm
#3
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Iceland in December? In any case the population of Iceland is small and there are few tourists in the winter.
I would telephone their embassy and ask.
I would telephone their embassy and ask.
Jul 5, 2014, 6:15 pm
#4
Moderator: Travel Safety/Security, Travel Tools, California, Los Angeles; FlyerTalk Evangelist
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From The Jewish Daily Forward:
Iceland has no synagogue, no rabbis, no Jewish community center or organized structure. In fact, Judaism is not even one of Iceland’s state-recognized religions.
<snip>
Jews are relatively new to Iceland. The first observant Jew settled in Iceland in 1906, according to records. Fritz Heymann Nathan started one of Iceland’s most successful businesses at the time, Nathan & Olsen, a food distributor, after arriving from Denmark. He stayed for 11 years before returning there.
It wasn’t until 1940 that the first Jewish congregation was established on Iceland’s soil, when Jewish soldiers from Britain were stationed there. The arrival of American forces in 1941 brought more Jews to the country, with roughly 2,000 Jewish soldiers based in Iceland by the end of World War II.
Jewish numbers fluctuated over the decades until the United States Army left Iceland in 2006.
<snip>
So, what’s it like to live in Iceland as a Jew today? Most of the Jews who reside in Iceland come from secular backgrounds, and the community’s identity does not lie in religion. Indeed, most of the Jews here today are in interfaith marriages. Many in the community, however, are interested in retaining a connection to their Jewish heritage.
<snip>
Iceland’s closest tie to Israel, however, lies in a personal relationship. In 2003, Iceland’s president, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, married Israel-born Dorrit Moussaieff — bringing yet one more Jew to Iceland and to an interfaith marriage with an Icelandic native. While Moussaieff is secular and has lived in London since age 13, she was born in Jerusalem’s old Bukharian Quarter and is the great-granddaughter of Shlomo Moussaieff, one of the quarter’s well-known founders.
<snip>
<snip>
Jews are relatively new to Iceland. The first observant Jew settled in Iceland in 1906, according to records. Fritz Heymann Nathan started one of Iceland’s most successful businesses at the time, Nathan & Olsen, a food distributor, after arriving from Denmark. He stayed for 11 years before returning there.
It wasn’t until 1940 that the first Jewish congregation was established on Iceland’s soil, when Jewish soldiers from Britain were stationed there. The arrival of American forces in 1941 brought more Jews to the country, with roughly 2,000 Jewish soldiers based in Iceland by the end of World War II.
Jewish numbers fluctuated over the decades until the United States Army left Iceland in 2006.
<snip>
So, what’s it like to live in Iceland as a Jew today? Most of the Jews who reside in Iceland come from secular backgrounds, and the community’s identity does not lie in religion. Indeed, most of the Jews here today are in interfaith marriages. Many in the community, however, are interested in retaining a connection to their Jewish heritage.
<snip>
Iceland’s closest tie to Israel, however, lies in a personal relationship. In 2003, Iceland’s president, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, married Israel-born Dorrit Moussaieff — bringing yet one more Jew to Iceland and to an interfaith marriage with an Icelandic native. While Moussaieff is secular and has lived in London since age 13, she was born in Jerusalem’s old Bukharian Quarter and is the great-granddaughter of Shlomo Moussaieff, one of the quarter’s well-known founders.
<snip>
Jul 17, 2014, 6:38 am
#5
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Just have to comment on the implication that Chabad Houses calculate profitability before setting up shop.... Ludicrous notion but understandable.