Newspapers / The Charlotte Jewish News … / May 1, 1989, edition 1 / Page 21
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Jews in Hungary cont*d from preceding page Jews — the city’s Jewish population approximates Detroit’s or Cleveland’s — h£U3 some two dozen func tioning synagogues, a kosher restaurant, a kosher bakery, a kosher dairy, a challah shop, kosher butchers, a Judaica gift store, a biweekly community newspaper, a Jewish high school, Sunday morning Talmud Torah classes, youth groups, singles groups and a stateof-the*art mik- vah. In addition, there are two separate independent acti vist groups. The Hungarian Jewish Cultural Associa tion, a year-old society with 1,000 members, offers a var iety of cultural activities, ranging from Hebrew-lan- guage clubs to historical ^scussion groups. Shalom, a small collection of gadfly Jewish intellectuals who came together in 1983, issues periodic declarations on the state of Hungarian Jewry. Both groups, according to their leaders, act as cata lysts to the Jewish establish ment, and operate without government interference. 'Teople are able to lead a Jewish life without any res trictions,” says Ambassador Palmer. Conations here, he says, are far better than those he observed in the Soviet Union, when he was posted at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow earlier this de cade. Budapest, ironically, is probably the only city in the Eastern bloc with enough Jewish life to support a bus iness dependent on death. On the outskirts of town, a Jewish craftsman makes gravestones, across from a large Jewish cemetery. The emphasis here is on the dying as well as the dead. Unlike the unused, unkempt Jewish burial grounds in other eastern European com munities, cemeteries here have fresh graves that are well tended. “Jewish life is, mamish, Gan Eden [truly the Garden of Eden] in Hungary,” says Herzl Herzog, managing se cretary of Budapest’s Or thodox community, which includes about 10 percent of the city’s Jewish population. “We have, baruch Hashem [thank God], everything.” Herzog, on the side, is the only mohel in Hungary and part of Czechoslovakia. Trained 10 years ago in London on a grant from the foundation, he performs nearly one circumcision a week, for free. He brings along mezuzot, talleisim, siddurim and other request ed items, sometimes driving up to 5CX) miles each way. TTie government never inter feres, he says. Preserve the future Take stock In America. Buy U.S. Savings Bonds. After years of intermit tently harassing religious followers, why is Hungary rigidly enforcing its consti tutional guarantees? For a better image, for trade with the West, for Jewish tourism, some say. One sign of Hun gary’s optimism on the last count: the first new syn agogue to open in the coun try since the Holocaust took place in June 1986 at Siofok, a popular vacation spot on Lake Balaton, with only about 10 Jews left. One sign of Jewish acceptance of Hungary’s good will: the governing boards of the foundation and the World Jewish Congess held their annual meetings in Budap est in the last two years, the first such meetings in the Eastern bloc. Government authorities recognize religion as “one of the stabilizing factors in society,” says Sarkadi-Nagy of the Church Affairs office. “There are no more enemy relations between the state and churches in Hungary,” he says, adding that the new generation of Hungarian leaders, while Socialist non believers, has “much greater tolerance” for religion. “Basically, they have learned to live together,” one Western diplomat says. The government “tries to bal ance (the interests of) all the churches.” A Chanukah program was broadcast in December on state television, for the first time. Christmas services were carried on television, also for the first time. Hungary’s Christian com munity, two-thirds Catholic, is experiencing its own small revival. Churches are full on Sundays. Films on religious themes play in Budapest theaters. During “Golden Sunday,” the national pre- Christmas shopping spree, itinerant carolers entertain on Vaci Street, the chic pe destrian mall in downtown Pest. Shop windows bear simple wreaths and multi language holiday greetings. Stacks of scrawny evergreen branches are carried home as Christmas trees. An ad mittedly low-key way to cele brate, a Jewish resident ob serves. “Not because they’re not religious, but because they’re poor.” The Jewish community has led general human rights progress in Hungary, observers say, for many rea sons. Its population is young (the only Eastern European land with a sizable number of Jews under the age of 50); monolithic (unlike England and France, with large im migrant groups, most of Hungary’s Jews are of na tive stock, families of Holo caust survivors); unified (the Orthodox and Neolog-Con- servatives work together amiably); fairly affluent by Hungarian standards (most of the community is middle class) and contains an inor dinate number of intellectu als and journalists (the us ual spurs for human rights movements). Problems? “The major problem is financial,” Gon- da of the Central Board of Hungarian Jews says. “Peo ple don’t have the money” to support needed activities. Young leadership: Al though the heads of several communal organizations. See JEWS next page Graduates * Graduates * Graduates Before we know it graduation will be here for our high school se niors and college stu dents. As has been the practice of the CJN these many years we “salute” them in our June/July edition. Please send in the following information (deadline is May 10): name of student, par ents’ names, school ^aduating from and col lege to attend. For college graduates, the degree conferred and future plans should also be included. Please mail this information, typed and double-spaced, to “CJN,” P.O. Box 13369, Charlotte, NC 28211. If there are any questions, call 366-6632 or 366- 5007. Unhfersiti my VOLVO 7716 HWY29North (1/2 Mile South of University Place) Charlotte 704/547-1095 Page 21-THE NEWS-Mav 1989 PAPERTOWN Paper First OPEN TO THE PUBLIC Full line of paper and allied products Cafeteria & Party Supplies No Minimums • We Break Cases Commercial Accounts Invited Free Delivery • Custom Printed Bar/Bat Mitzvah Paper FIrat francfiises available Invitations Nationwide in select areas • Discounted Always 4416 Independence 568-6663 517 North Polk (US 521) Pineville 889-5965 ELI B. 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The Charlotte Jewish News (Charlotte, N.C.)
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May 1, 1989, edition 1
21
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