Hey there heresy!

It has been a bit over a month now since my resignition from the church was handled and made official. Life as a pagan has not been all that different.

What are the practical differences in my life right now?

1. I can't become a godmother to anyone anymore. But those two blessed children that I already have been assigned to, will keep receiving my material godmotherly guidance going forward.

2. I can't get married in a church. Unless my future spouse is a member. Doubt it.

3. I will save somewhat 400€ next year on church taxes. Yay, cash - book a flight where to?

4. My mailbox isn't filled with the church newspaper anymore on every Wednesday. Wonderful, this should save at least one tree per year!

5. I won't have the right to vote in the church elections. Uh, and never did...

To be honest with you, being a well-brought-up G-d-fearing Lutheran girl, I did let my mind wander... Does this make me a bad person? Will G-d hate me now? Shall I go to hell? How can I go to a church to a friend's wedding now?

All these thoughts were utter bullsh*t. Yesterday alone, 296 Finnish people made the same decision as I did and resigned. I don't feel any different now. Not being a member of the church doesn't stop me from e.g....

"treat others as one would like others to treat oneself"

or living up to any other values that by common sense are considered good. Ugh, the Nordic pagan shiksa has spoken and will go on to celebrate Yule with her family and loved-one while wearing a hamsa around her neck. Hold the ham, though.

Israelis were here

O tempora, o mores... Or perhaps I should write instead o tempora, o "problems". After 16 years of silence, a tiny debate in Helsinki is brewing over these:

Iltasanomat.fi

Yes, can't you see, a major disaster! Someone call the President! We're talking about a posh neighborhood called Kruununhaka in the proximity of downtown Helsinki. The Embassy of Israel used to be located at this particular street corner and back in 1996 built these iron poles to prevent car bombs from being parked next to the diplomatic building.

I'm guessing now someone lost their nerve as this year, yet again, it has been very snowy in Helsinki and the streets in the center are difficult to clear from the snow to begin with. These green poles don't make the job any easier, I guess. Some think that they fit a modern city very well, preventing idiots with regular cars from parking in places they shouldn't park. And - you could consider them a piece of Helsinki's modern history.

Stay tuned for more news on this major problem the citizens of Helsinki have: will the Israel embassy have to pay for removing / painting the poles - or will they be left as is? To be continued... but not here.

(Original article and pictures are here at IltaSanomat)

The 300 of Finland

As I have now finished reading even more books on Holocaust, understanding it actually becomes even more difficult. Controversies, paradoxes, complexities are constantly unwrapped the deeper you dig. One of the most interesting – at least for the Finns – is the case of the 300 Finnish soldiers fighting for their country during the Continuation War against the Soviet Union in 1941-1944.

So, what makes it interesting? These 300 were Finnish Jews. And what makes it even more interesting? Simultaneously as these 300 were protecting the independence of Finland, 220 000 German soldiers were sent to Finland. They fought side by side. The tragic stories of what is happening in Poland and the rest of Europe to Jews had spread to Finland as well. It is no wonder that these soldiers felt a little uneasy finding Wermacht soldiers in the tent next door.

An accident waiting to happen, then? Actually, no. The Jewish soldiers built a synagogue amidst the battles. They were given Saturdays off so all the Jewish soldiers, also from the nearby area, could ski to the synagogue for service. They were given Yom Kippur off to celebrate the most important Jewish holiday. All this – under Germany's eyes.

agricola.utu.fi

 How many synagogues were built - not destroyed - in the German battlefields? This was probably the only one.

Quoting one of the soldiers when a German officer asked him how this was possible, ”in Finland there is freedom of religion, I was born in Finland, raised in Finland, went to Finnish schools and have a duty as a citizen to protect my country when my country needs me”. The German officer said back to him ”I'm no SS, personally I have no problem with Jews”, and they both went on fighting their battles.

Afterwards, these 300 soldiers have been called fascists by other Jews. But the way the saw the situation, just like the Christian Finnish soldiers was that there was no alliance with Germany and they were fighting for the freedom of Finland and not a religious war – citizenship and religion are two separate things. And just as a remark for some rebellion from these Jewish soldiers: they did not greet the Germans. Also, three of these 300 received a German Iron Cross, from Hitler, as an honour for great acts of bravery – but none of them accepted this token.

It is admirable of these 300 to fight for Finland. If the Soviet Union had won, the whole of Finland would have suffered. If Germany had won, only they would have suffered. They concentrated on protecting the whole of Finland. Is that patriotism or what? They made a movie about the 300 soldiers in Sparta... What about a movie about this? Steven Spielberg, are you listening? :)

Watch this space...

Hilarious! Bubala bubbling under... the next big comedy hit?

  Bubala Please!

Let there be light

It is not at all a bad idea for Jews to celebrate Hanukkah, also known as the Festive of Lights, this time of the year. Fine, it wasn't really tailor-made for the Finnish latitudes - but most definitely would brighten things up around here, too.

When thinking of Hanukkah, you know, in my life BB (= Before Boyfriend), it is again kind of funny how many things Jewish I used to know were thanks to American TV shows. I vividly remember an episode of OC where the Cohens celebrate Christmukkah, or how Ross on Friends explained to his son Ben about the Maccabees while wearing his infamous holiday armadillo costume. Is this - seriously - where I (and probably some others too) base their knowledge on? Dangerous..!

Well, anyway, Ross was right. It is about the Maccabees beating the bully-Greeks and regaining control of the Temple. The Temple had been defiled by foreign malpractice and the Maccabees decided to purify it by burning oil in the Temple's menorah for eight days. But to their disappointment, there was enough oil left only for one day. What do you do in this kind of situations? Well, all you need is a miracle, and so, the light burned for the necessary eight days after all.

Hanukkah isn't (apparently) religiously so important in Judaism but has become a popular past-time anyway. The way I have got acquainted to it is actually by the dreidel, meeting the Finnish hillomunkki's Jewish relative sufganiyah and now more recently tasting some delicious home-made latkes (potato pancakes). Coincidentally enough fried in what else than oil - there's plenty of that going around this time of year!

Latkes, lamb and some Israeli wine. Yum!

And pssst, a very observant pair of eyes spotted a hanukkiyah in my neighborhood...

Déjà vu for the sweet tooth

I am always kind of surprised if I find some similarities between Israel and Finland or the Jewish culture and the Finnish culture. I mean, come on. Finland is a Christian run country with somewhat 1000 Jewish inhabitants. We haven't been exposed much to Judaism. Even Stockholm has a Jewish museum - Helsinki doesn't. So these two countries and cultures have kinda grown and evolved isolated from one another, unfortunately.

But, I guess it doesn't always apply when it comes to sweets. Everyone's got a sweet tooth no matter what religion, faith or background, or where you live - if you're Jewish or Finnish... It could be like the question of the chicken and the egg – who had it first? I would be guessing the Jews, since when the Jews were already writing, witnessing miracles, building temples and all that, the Finns were still some one-celled organisms in the bottom of a muddy, murky local lake.

So, how did then a Jewish hamentaschen end up evolving into a Finnish joulutorttu? They might taste a bit different but look nearly identical. The Finnish version has powdered sugar is added for a snowy, wintery touch, though.

joyofkosher.com

kotiliesi.fi

Or how did a Hanukkah treat end up at the coffee break table in Finland? Sufganiyah translates to hillomunkki? My mother would surely love visiting Israel for Hanukkah, as she's a die-hard fan of these jam-filled doughnuts. And for an Israeli, any day at a Finnish office at 14:00 would be like celebrating Hanukkah all over again. The miracle never ends...

dimensionsinfo.com

sinuhe.fi

Happy Hanukkah!

End of Chapter One

Right, my Hebrew classes for this year are over. It was 12 weeks ago when the course started in September, and I can say that I am a bit smarter comparing the back-then situation to now. OK, that isn't too hard to achieve when you start from zero :).

Being completely honest with you, I still can't remember all the alphabet but I can fairly enough say that if I try hard, I can read Hebrew. However, it is kind of a struggle that longer sentences will discourage me and make me dizzy. And as my vocabulary is rather limited, I wouldn't understand what I am reading anyway!

As I am somewhat of a language freak, it has been an interesting journey to learn a language that is so completely different from what I am used to. This - if anything - should keep off Alzheimer's, as my brain is really challenged by the alphabet and reading from right to left.

The story does not end here, I have enrolled to the next level. After that I hope to have enough ingredients to carry a short smalltalk with someone. To be continued in January and below is a sample of my writing. 10 points to those who can read and translate :).

...שלום! אני לומדת עברי. אז יאללה, ביי

Simon says: fire him

It comes as no surprise to anyone who might read this blog that I tend to keep an eye on everything written about Finland + Israel/Jews in the local media here. More often than I would like to admit, the news are not good from my point of view.

The latest outburst is a Finnish politician Pertti Salolainen, whose comments on a morning TV show are the #1 most read headline on JPost right now. Referring to the recent UN vote on PLO's status, Salolainen was criticizing the United States not being able to take a neutral stand to the conflict because of the powerful, influential Jewish community in the USA that controls the country's money and media.

The Simon Wiesenthal center condemns this kind of comments, and has asked the State of Finland officially to declare that this is not an official stand to the matter, especially from a country that joined the International Task Force for Holocaust Education, Research and Remembrance. The comments are regarded as classic antisemitic ideas, whereas some hope the politician was more trying to criticize the US politics and not the Jewish people.

Whatever the case, the issue here is that these were words coming from a public figure with a recognized status in the Finnish political system. It also totally stirs up things again with Finland and its loss of direction in foreign policy. If things continue like this, Finland will be like the kid at the international sandbox that no one wants to play with. Reading the comments of the readers at JPost, seems we are not very popular indeed. And why would we be, this remote, cold & dark racist country with the lowest self-esteem ever?

With his comments, Salolainen joins a very nice league of past political figures I am sure anyone would be proud to be compared to. For example, Romanian dictator Ion Antonescu stopped the killings of Jews in Romania towards the end of the war, as Germany was losing. He thought saving the Jews that still were left, would make a wonderful bargaining chip with the West as, in a similar manner like Salolainen implied, he believed Jews control the world.

My blog was originally supposed to be with a positive tone and bring another, brighter viewpoint to Israel and Judaism alongside the common negative stuff you most of the time see written. But with the news articles being like this, I'm struggling to find the positive...

Read more in English: The JPost article
Read more in Finnish: Ilta-Sanomat

Spinning and winning!

Anyone who has watched the TV series Sex and the City too many times, might remember a song that went like this...

...Oh dreidel dreidel dreidel

I made it out of clay

Oh dreidel dreidel dreidel

The dreidel shall I play...

Taking a little jump start to Chanukah, a while ago I played with the dreidel for the first time ever. I was playing against a very experienced opponent - someone who has celebrated Chanukah every year of his life. And me? Never.

Neither of us (!!), however, knew the rules to this game. Thanks to my Dreidel App, it didn't take much time to figure out how the game works. Dreidel is a spinning top with rectangular edges. Each side of the four sides is equipped with letters (gimel, hei, shin and nun) belonging to the Hebrew alphabet. The words they mean come from Yiddish.

all = ganz = ג 

half = halb = ה

put in = shtel arayn = ש

nothing = nisht = נ

  

Each player gets a certain amount of game tokens, which can be e.g. coins or raisins. We used jellybeans. A game pot is created by each player putting a token in the middle of the table - and then the spinning begins... Depending on the letter you end up with on your turn, you either get all that is in the pot, half of it, add one token to the pot or get nothing.

Trust me, the game can go on for a while. But it was fun! Who could have believed that two nearly 30-year-olds would spend a Monday evening playing with this little simple toy. My wooden dreidel was in heavy use to find who's the winner - and it was me who lost both rounds. Next time around, now that I have learnt professional techniques like spinning the dreidel upside down, my goal is to clean the pot.

Stand by you

Last week's events in Israel and Gaza have not only stirred up things in the Middle East, but also awoken different people and parties in Finland too. It is amazing how that tiny little piece of land thousands of kilometers away from here manages to heat up discussion, emotions and demonstrations. Even my father sighed to me on the phone... ”I wrote a paper about this conflict 50 years ago at school – and things have not improved at all. How saddening.” And he is right. UN should have cleaned up after its decision a long time ago. Now over time with circumstances changing, the conflict becoming "a way of life", it is even harder to solve.

I try to take pride in my country's liberty and freedom of speech. In the end, whatever someone preaches or boasts in public is left to the listener's judgement to believe it or not. There was a pro-Palestine demonstration in Helsinki, and today it was Israel's friends (over 300 people) who gathered together at Narinkka Square in Helsinki to show support, with following slogans for example:

Israel, you are not alone.                    Media - why do you defend terrorists?  

                                                                      

           EU - time to condemn rockets to Israel.        Let go of antisemitism.                 I <3 Israel.

                                                          Free Gaza from Hamas.

Some had showed up from other cities to give support.

The Israeli Embassador came to greet the people, and thanked them for showing support despite the "temperature just dropping cold".

These demonstrations were rather different. I have to admit, I didn't go see the pro-Palestine one live, but seeing the clips on TV, people showed their support differently for the two sides in this conflicts. ”The Palestinians” took the streets blocking traffic, had a megaphone, said accusations against Israel. ”The Israelis” stood in one place not bothering anyone, sang songs and hoped for peace in the region.

Same thing you could say about the debate televised here in Finland last week. Four young men, one Jew, one Arab (both living in Finland), one pro-Israel Finn and one pro-Palestine Finn were put in a live show to debate the conflict. It was evident, who in the group had negotiation skills, justified facts and rational view to the matter. And who in the group was making accusations of the other being ”murderers of our children”.

An opinion, found on the streets of Helsinki

Another interesting aspect of this conflict is how the presence of online media is more and more used as a means of propaganda. Twitter, Facebook and other forums are used by both parties to make their voice heard and to do good PR - and in this aspect I must say Israel is failing. It is incomprehensible, how a commoner now gets the idea that a terrorist organisation (yes, Hamas is classified as such by e.g. the EU, Canada, Japan and USA) has a silent blessing for its actions, usually randomly targeted to kill innocent civilians. An organisation, who states in its fundamental declaration that Jews have no right to live. How, in any sense of humanity, can someone defend this kind of objectives and think it is OK and allowed?

The other side of the coin is Israel, and what kind of picture is painted of them in the media. The country's name so is tainted, smeared with blood, performing nothing but unjustified acts against the innocent regime in Gaza. Murderous Jews who want to kill Arab babies. How is this possible, when Israel currently remains the only democratic country with some stability in the Middle East? How is this reputation possible, when Arabic is an official language in Israel, Israeli-Arabs hold public positions in the government, are excused to serve in the IDF, are a recognized minority in the country?

I think the Finnish media is also falling for this false picture. The reporting is biased, and I don't know why. Civilians are suffering on both sides. A country should have its right to defend its self when under attack. It is the regime that is failing to find a solution for the conflict, and this is not surprising when the other side doesn't want to negotiate, find a common compromise and thinks you have no right to exist. How do you build peace with someone who has an attitude like that?

Meet me at the synagogue

A couple of weeks ago I visited inside a synagogue for the first time. Even though I have seen a couple of them in Israel (peeked inside one of them) and walked by the one in Helsinki, I never had actually been inside any synagogue before.

The name synagogue comes from the Greek word  "sinagogi" which means to get together or assemble. Compared to Christian churches, synagogues often are quite modest or normal-looking buildings and do not necessarily feature any religious symbols on the outside. No bell towers, high rooftops, crosses (or in this case Star of David) are necessarily visible. But the synagogue is full of interesting little details, if you know where and what to look!

The Portuguese Synagogue in Amsterdam dates back to 1675 and was built for the Sephardi Jews who migrated to the North from Spain and Portugal because of the inquisitions. It is actually the center of a bigger complex: the synagogue is surrounded by buildings (that include e.g. a library, treasure chambers, a gift shop:) and forms an inner court together with them.

There was no service - or no one else inside for that matter when I entered the synagogue. The inside is quite modest with wooden floors and benches, but there are beautiful chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. No wonder that thousands of candles are burnt here every year. The candles weren't lit this time, but one of the chandeliers has ner tamid (the eternal flame) burning - just like in the Temple of Jerusalem back in the day.

Women's balcony on the left, supported by the columns. Eternal flame is burning opposite the Herchal (the Ark in the back wall).

As any Orthodox Jewish synagogue, there is a separate seating section (up on the balconies) for women with own entrance. One of the Ionic columns supporting the balconies is slightly fractured - a deliberate imperfection that is placed in all synagogues in the memory of the destruction of the Temple. The separate seating arrangement for the different sexes is somewhat unfamiliar to me - but I have once seen a similar setup in a Christian church, too.

Ladies only!

The buildings around the synagogue include many interesting places, and some of them are protected by the Dutch law as they are considered the country's heritage. Like for instance, the treasure chambers...

The collection also includes valuable cloths and fabrics in addition to these beautiful silver objects.

And for the first time, I saw in real life a mikveh (or more familiarly in English known as a bath) that is used for ritual cleansing in Judaism. For converts, it also resembles the final stage of the conversion process when the person walks in the water and immerses, re-born, as a Jew.

The Portuguese Synagogue forms an interesting historic, Jewish cultural sight in Amsterdam. Not only is it possible to visit the synagogue itself, the surrounding lower buildings add a little extra to the experience. I have not listed everything here, so go have a closer look yourself if you have the chance and see all the things this complex has to offer...

Israeli mousetrap

Tipped one of the most innovative countries of the world, an Israeli invention recently made headlines in Finland, too. A Herzliya-based company has given the concept of "a mousetrap" a whole new meaning...

Yes, seriously. Mice are being used to trace explosives, drugs or even money. Apparently mice have even better sense of smell than dogs - and Bio Explorer put these little squakey fellows to work. 4-hour-shifts, food & cleaning available.

So how does it work? A person enters a booth where a flow of air is directed. Thereafter, the air is sucked into a container where the mice work. If you're clean, after eight seconds a green light will turn on as the mice stay in the container. If you're hiding something, the mice will smell it, run away and the light will be red.

I have no idea how someone can train a mouse to do this - but apparently they were tested and were right 1199 cases out of 1200. So you bright minds of Israel, start working on a teleporter - I would have use for one of those!

Mobile phone gone meshuga!

Whoops, where did the time go? We are nearly in the middle of November already and the Gregorian calendar year is reaching its end sooner than you would think.

I was in Holland last weekend, meeting up with my sweetheart once again. While he was busy working on some essays to write, I took the time to explore my outdated and much mocked Nokia Lumia 710 with the Windows 7 operating system.

It hadn't occurred to me before that "Marketplace" is equal to "AppStore" on the Windows phone. And behold - what a new world of applications opened in front of my eyes! Some people have taken the time and effort to create even Jewish apps. Talking about creating marginal products to a marginal phone :).

It was only a matter of minutes until my phone was all jewed-up:

• I can now revise the Hebrew alphabet with the help of this smart phone.
• Check which date and month it is in the Jewish calendar.
• There's also an app to support Hebrew vocabulary learning.
• A Hebrew keyboard to enhance my typing skills - although the sms-function flips the letters then to go from left to right...
• A Shofar app (and I know just the person who I could annoy the crap out of by playing the sound non-stop...).
• Kosher or Not app whenever I wonder if e.g. elk meat is good to go for Jews.
• A Hanukkiah app that kindly reminds of an exact date when candles can be started to lit - in the smart phone.
• And last but least - the Dreidel Premium! Just tap the screen and find out if you get everything or nothing...

All these apps for instance were totally free, and there's more, like Jerusalem or Tel Aviv city guides. If you're willing to chip in a euro or two, the variety to choose from is even bigger. Suddenly, my phone is like all new and exciting again, and I only dare to imagine the selection for this kind of apps for the masses on iTunes!

(www.windowsphone.com)

Is it time for a break...

...when your tortilla chips start looking like this?

And this WAS by accident.

Don't be so Finnish!

I nearly rolled on the floor laughing when reading this status update posted on the FB site of the Israeli falafel place Fafa's in Helsinki. This is so true:

"Fafa's People, I heard that sometimes when you ask for chili the stuff at Fafa's forget to put or put too little. Please please..Dont be so Finnish. go back and ask them to add or add more or even ask for it on the side. The pita's should be done and taste just as you want it. and then you people go to facebook or emailing me about it. If it happens to you again I think that this is the best solution. I cant change my stuff brains : ) ASK FOR CHILI IF YOU LIKE CHILI AND MAKE SURE YOU GET CHILI!"

Damn right! If you need or want something, open your mouth and ask (or demand!) for it. It's rarely someone can read your mind.

The apple fell far from the tree

I have always lived under the impression that since Christianity is a ”spin-off” from Judaism, there must be some underlying similarities between these two religions. Something that binds together, something fundamentally shared. In reality, it is actually a lot easier to list differences between these two religions than find similarities. Basically, Judaism is based on what Christians call the Old Testament, while Christians have built their their belief, for the most, on the guy called Jesus or Christos, Ancient Greek for ”the anointed”.

Let's take traditional, religious festivities. The Jewish celebrations and holidays honor the stories of Israelites: Passover, Sukkot, Hanukkah. Yom Kippur is also stated in the Old Testament, and neither Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) nor Purim can be found in the Christian calendar. Needless to say, Christmas and Easter - Christian holidays that commemorate the life of Jesus - mean nothing to the Jews in return. And I don't blame them. I've read before that these two holidays were originally pagan anyway, and ”disguised” in the Christian faith by the Roman Catholic Church in order to convert more pagans. Easter was an old fertility festivity (Eggs, fertility? Coincidence?) to the goddess known as Eostre (=Easter). Christmas was an old celebration for winter solstice. But Passover, for example, is accounted in the Bible and most likely the Last Supper of Jesus was a seder dinner, too.

dorinny.com

That is perhaps where the whole difference culminates. Whereas Christianity is about G-d and his alleged son, for Jews Jesus was a mere false prophet. It is interesting how Christianity boasts about virgin birth and resurrection, while fellow Jews living during the same times write a totally different story about this man. According to them, Jesus is the result of an adulterous affair between a Jewish mother and a Roman soldier, and he studied black magic in Egypt. You will not find these descriptions in the New Testament.

This brings us to another disagreement between these two religions. Both are considered monotheistic, meaning there is only one G-d. In Christianity, though, the Holy Trinity is taught in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost. According to this, there is just one G-d but is constituted in these three persons. I personally find this hard to believe, as Jesus of Nazareth is proclaimed has a historic person, an individual. Therefore he cannot be an incarnation of one deity, one G-d?

I apologize if I sound negative towards Christianity, but it does seem that many habits in Christianity are artificially made. OK, the divine word is filtered through human beings anyway, so no wonder it has become secular and there's room for error. But it still is absurd to blindly believe that 25^th of December is Jesus' birthday when historians think he was born in September and the Bible itself gives no confirmation on an exact date or month. And especially for the Finns out there: Northern European pagans celebrated ”Yule”, birth of Mithras, the pagan god of the sun, on the shortest day of the year. Yule = joulu. Rest assured, I do not want to deny anyone of the spiritual guidance or comfort they might find in Christian habits and teaching. To me, ”joulu” has been long dead anyway (ever since presents stopped coming ;), and there's just one God, no trinity.

PS. Dear Cousin, if you are reading this, I have discovered new-found respect and interest to the field of study you chose for yourself back in the day. Kudos! :)

Treblinka: Chil Rajchman's story

After recently rediscovering the Finnish libraries' vast book collections, I used particular search words to find books to read. Chil Rajchman's name came up, the title of the book liberally translated is ”The last Jew of Treblinka”.

I have to admit, I didn't know where Treblinka is. A lot of Ukrainian guards are mentioned, so I would have guessed somewhere there. But according to Google Maps, it is located somewhat East of Warsaw, Poland. A remote, forgotten piece of unfruitful land that Himmler decided to turn into a factory of death. The earth there was literally spitting up blood, as it could not absorb all the bodies buried in mass graves.

This map screenshot is courtesy of Google Maps.

Chil Rajchman's memoirs from this extermination camp is another book written in blunt, honest, straight-to-the-point way. Chil was born in 1914 in Poland. His mother died just before the war, and the only one of his family, in addition to himself, to survive the war was his brother, who managed to escape to the Soviet side of Poland. What happened to his father or youngest sister will never be known. Another sister was dead after 24 hours of her arriving together with Chil at Treblinka in 1942.

Like Shlomo Venezia (whom I wrote about previously), Chil was chosen out of thousands of men arriving at the camp and put to work. Again, to strip and dispose of the bodies. First, he sorted out the luggage and clothes left behind by those who were gassed to immediate death. He found among the mountains of clothes his sister's dress, and cut off a piece of it to keep with him until it all was over. Then he was a barber, cutting off women's hair before they entered the chambers. Then he was moved to carrying bodies once the doors of a gas chamber were opened and a mass of human corpses melted together rolled out. Afterwards, he worked as a dentist, pulling out golden teeth out of the corpses' mouths. Bodies needed to be burnt in open bonfires, so no evidence would be left behind.

This was the routine at the Treblinka camp. It was purely for the purpose of killing. No one transported there came there to stay, but were marched off to death immediately. The guards were called murderers, and at its worst, the trains carried 15 000 Jews there daily. Estimates between killed people at this site range from 700 000 to 900 000. An incomprehensible number. It is like sweeping out the whole capital region of Finland in a matter of a couple of years.

How did Chil manage to escape? Inspired by the riots in Warsaw, the men at Treblinka arranged their own riot. Most were killed during this brave attempt, but a handful survived – Chil among them.

After the war, Chil moved to Uruguay, married and had three sons. Until his death his memoirs were not published but only read by family members. His wish was to let the world know what was done to Jews during those horrendous, dark years in European history. That's why I wanted to write about the book here, too.

Northern star

An interesting architectural detail from Töölö Bay, Helsinki, where some nice old wooden villas from early 1900s are situated.

Christian Crisis

We have the following saying in Finnish: tieto lisää tuskaa. Freely translated, it means ”knowledge brings agony”. Meaning, the more you know, the more aware you are and the more this might cause you anxiety and worry.

Ever since starting to explore the back shelves of the nearby library for some books on Judaism, WWII etc. I have made some agonizing discoveries. The horrible events of the holocaust are a thing in their own league, but now from another point of view I am personally shocked to read that Martin Luther was antisemitic. Probably, because he was disappointed that Jews didn't accept Jesus as the Messiah. He condemned Jews as a danger to Christians who had found their faith, and wrote the Jews are ”strangers who can be tolerated only to a certain extend in a society”. This kind of writings, from 1530s until his death.

And my country is Lutheran after Martin Luther. And that makes me Lutheran as well. Why didn't anyone mention this man's hostile take on the ”mother religion” and the Jewish people before? Sure, if these were just some random texts written over 500 years ago and on theoretical level studied in universities only, it might not be that bad. But Hitler himself and the Nazis justified their actions based on Luther's – a fellow German by the way – writings. This was less than 100 years ago! Luther was a source of inspiration for a genocide.

Fine, even if Martin Luther had antisemitic thoughts, it doesn't make all Lutherans antisemitic. But to me personally it is a disturbing fact to know that I officially in this country's books (and my tax statement) support an institution based on this man's legacy. Has the time come to reconsider what I really get out of my church anymore anyway? My last ray of hope was to get a church wedding one day – but even that seems to have gone down the drain, so what's keeping me there?

albanbooks.com

Little did he know who would be inspired by his writings later on...

Still in love with falafel

Remember how I earlier wrote about that great falafel place here? Well, I recently paid another visit to Fafa's and just have to mention it again. To my regret, the place is located a bit far from my home so I rarely cross paths with this lovely small food joint. But sometimes, my hunger for great falafels grows so big that I need to make a pit-stop here!

News since the summer, Fafa's now has an official website and they have their own pita bread factory as well. This might explain why the pita doesn't taste like the same industrial stuff served in other, similar style restaurants. They are also opening a new branch in Kallio, Helsinki, so I might be in the future able to pop in for a lunch when at the office...

As before, this place comes highly recommended, and everyone that I have taken there has also loved the food!

A sinking feeling

If history tends to repeat itself at all, a ship called Estelle is on its way to some not-so-smooth sailing. Operated from our Western neighbor Sweden by an organization called ”Ship to Gaza”, the ship sailing under Finnish flag has left Italy and is now heading to its final destination - hoping it to be Gaza but the destination might as well be the bottom of the sea.

Due to the fact that the ship sails under our blue-white colors, the Foreign Ministry wants to make it clear that the Republic of Finland is in no way involved in this mission. It also warned the two Finns (among Israelis, Swedes, Canadians, Americans and Norwegians) on board that if a military conflict persists, there's little hope for them to get any consulate help from Finland.

Everyone has their own way of pushing through an agenda, but is this kind of operation truly peace – or actually a form of provocation? It is a well known fact that the waters around Gaza are blocked, and any foreign ships without permission trying to enter may not be greeted in a friendly way.

Quoting the mayor of the Italian city of Naples visited the ship on Friday: “This is not an initiative in favor of Hamas but in favor of Palestine, of the Palestinians who live in Gaza, and in favor of two states living as neighbors in peace and security”. This is understandable, but isn't there any other way of doing it than sailing in such dangerous waters?

Tradition, religion, love

Tipped the all-time favorite musical in Finland, this weekend I went to see ”Fiddler on the Roof”. Since the musical hasn't been performed on a big stage for a while, the shows have been mostly sold out since the premiere in August this year.

I had not seen it before and didn't actually know much about the story, but the main themes are surprisingly enough tradition, religion and love. Placed in a small village in the Ukraine in early 1900s, the musical gives you a window to the life and days of a Jewish community. Tevye is a poor milkman with wife and five daughters, out of which three are approaching the age to get married. The musical starts off with a song called ”Tradition” - the father's plans are to find husbands to the girls through the village's matchmaker. Needless to say, not everything goes according to his plans or tradition. Instead of finding a wealthy, nice Jewish boy, the hubbies turn out to be poor, revolutionary or... goy.

Act I is wonderful fireworks of witty comedic dialogue/monologue and interesting portraits of Jewish traditions and habits. Preparing for shabbat, references to the Holy Book, kippahs, tzitzit, tallit and of course a very fun Jewish wedding full of dance and happiness. The wedding party, though, is bluntly interrupted and ruined by Russian officials making a demonstration.

Act II then continues with the gloominess of how the wedding party ended. New loves are found and traditions are being challenged again. But sadly, the expelling of Jews from villages in Ukraine continues and even the people you have got to know through this story need to leave Anatevka, the village they for such a long time have called home. Some head for America, some for Poland. The widowed matchmaker does what is said every year during Pesach - next year in Jerusalem – and sets her course towards Israel. The lively, lovely village seen in act I is now empty. To emphasize this, the director had added his own touch to the ending scene: Tevye sings in three languages Eli, Eli lomo azavtoni (My God, my God, why have you forsaken me).

I naturally then started thinking what happens to everyone. The story has kind of a sequel called "Rags" (1986), but it never became as popular as its predecessor. And why is the story called ”Fiddler on the Roof”? As misleading the title could be, the fiddler isn't in any particular role but used as a metaphor how life in the village is as challenging as playing a violin while balancing on a roof.

This musical has been popular throughout the years, and I think not only it is because of its timeless sarcasm and humor, the topic still applies to date. Even if the problems dealt with in the musical aren't exactly the same anymore, the underlying factors remain similar: our world keeps changing, and we, as parents, daughters, Jews or Christians, eventually need to change and adapt to it.

In addition to that, it was interesting to see a Finnish intrepetation of Jewish culture, holidays and traditions instead of only always seeing them in Hollywood movies. Who would have thought that l'chaim and mazel tov would so cheerfully echo in a dimming autumn evening in Finland :).

Sonderkommando

Moving on to a totally different "book review", compared to my last post. Yet again, I was sucked in by a book by a Shoah survivor. I already earlier wrote about Ladislaus Löb, so this time it was Shlomo Venezia's story that mesmerized me. I actually finished the book in 4 hours or so.

The book Sonderkommando is Shlomo's story from Auschwitz and how he was made to work in a group with some other Jews held in the same camp. Sonderkommando, meaning special unit, consisted of these "selected" people who were handling the disposal of the numerous bodies and maintaining the gas chambers and crematories at the camp. Basically, cleaning up the mess the Nazis created when executing these mass murders.

Shlomo Venezia was a Greek-Jew, living in Thessaloniki (also known as the Jerusalem of the Balkan). His family had fled Spain in the 1400s and settled in Italy (hence the family name Venezia) until ending up in Greece. His mother for instance didn't speak any Greek, only Ladino, and his father died when he was a little boy. Due to his background though, he had Italian citizenship and avoided the persecutions in Greece for a little while, until the transportations also from Greece to the death camps began. He was 21 years old when ending up in Poland.

What makes Shlomo's story special is, that not only did the Nazis want to exterminate him for being a Jew, there was an additional cause why he was wanted dead: they did not want any witnesses alive from the sonderkommando. It is by a miracle, you could say, that he was saved – a young man that didn't expect to live and didn't even think of the future, but still fought for his life every day and survived.

The book is actually an interview, so the story is immortalized almost word-to-word in the book. He talks about the happenings with great honesty and detail. How he felt in a way he was helping the Nazis but had no choice. How you had to be selfish and fight for your survival under those conditions. How a 2-month-old baby girl is the only known survivor from a gas chamber – only to be shot dead by SS officer minutes later. How the hair of the bodies was cut and sent off to factories for making fabric, or gold teeth pulled out and sent to Berlin for melting. How the chimneys of the crematories were all shiny from the burnt fat of the dead bodies.

Gruelling, disgusting, sends shivers down your spine. Stories like this leaves you get again wondering how on Earth the human kind could allow a genocide so brutally efficient, organized, planned and targeted to happen. Quoting Shlomo himself though, stories like this need to be told and printed, so nothing like it would ever happen again. I had wanted to read this book for a while now, and I am glad I finally did - to never forget. Sometimes it is good to know and be aware about things, even if one is not able to fully process or comprehend them or the big picture.

The horrifying truth, packed inside these covers.

Stories from Israel, or, way beyond

Last summer I got as a present a book written by Etgar Keret. The book is titled ”The Nimrod flipout” and it is a collection of Keret's short stories. He is an Israeli writer, also called the voice of the new generation in his native country.

My very first acquitance with this author was in some late spring night on Skype when some of his stories were read to me. Yes, like a child listening to bedtime stories. I wouldn't have been able to make any sense of that book in Hebrew anyway, so that's why I guess I received my very own English version.

I haven't read fiction for a while but must admit Keret's imagination sure is something else. He goes straight to the point – but I guess that is of the essence when writing short stories. No ifs, no buts. The plots of his stories are something out of this world that I don't know how or where anyone gets that kind of ideas. This is not meant in a bad way, though. I'm actually jealous that someone has such a big pool of imagination and unheard ideas to write about. In fact, some of the stories are so original that I'm not sure if they were written by an author – or by someone who temporarily lost their marbles.

The stories aren't directly about Israel or Jews; some of them you could take, change names and put in any other country too. Some, however, do have references to the modern Israel and Israelites. E.g. flip outs/suicides in the army and someone getting killed by a suicide bomber are things that probably (unfortunately) happen there more likely than in Finland for instance. Or recognizing a body without a head to be a foreigner, as the man is not circumcised.

Don't get me wrong here, though. Dead bodies and suicides might make you think it is a sinister book that will push you on the verge of depression. Not at all! The stories won't make you reach for the tissues. They are just written in Keret's own humorous way.

The works of Etgar Keret have not been translated into Finnish but our local bookstores can provide you with a copy in English or Swedish. His publications are not limited to ”The Nimrod flipout”, so feel free to venture your favorite title. I look forward to reading them more in between my mission to read biographies. 

And let's see if Keret mentions Finland in any other stories than ”Bottle” (how surprising for Finland and bottles to be mentioned in the same context...:).

Amusing and edgy, and definitely takes you by surprise!

And now a little word from my sponsor...

Cartoons and 110 magnet letters - isn't it fun and easy learning a new language and culture? :)

I'd like to buy a vowel

Yesterday I had my 3rd Hebrew class. The amount of students has grown during these three weeks, and we are now approximately 25, all getting together once a week to cram this ancient language into our heads.

Unlike usually with language studies, learning Hebrew happens very slowly. When it comes to other European languages for instance, you know by the 3rd class how to say hello and introduce yourself. Here things take time, as the alphabet is something that needs to be figured out before going forward. You can't study the language in Latin alphabet or phonetically, so before advancing in the book the alphabet needs to be more than familiar to you.

So far, it has some curiosities compared to other languages that I have learnt. For instance, Hebrew does not have capital letters or lower case. This makes it somewhat easier to learn writing. Secondly, the language hasn't officially got vowels - or not at least in the sense I'm used to. The basic set of letters are all consonants, and turned into vowels by adding little dots or lines above or below the letter.

I am quite inspired by the language, even though I have not learnt much yet. I still have problems recognizing some of the letters (not to mention writing them!), but the sheer joy of actually being able to figure out a word and what it means in Hebrew gives such pleasure that it's hard to describe. Suddenly, all that nonsense and weird symbols make sense - it is a rewarding and eye-opening feeling.

The papers and notes are getting messy, but will make sense in the end...

Prinsengracht 263

The Amsterdam address mentioned in the headline needs no introductions, and neither does a certain young girl called Anne Frank. Her diary, translated into dozens and dozens of languages, is one of the most known and read stories from WWII and the museum draws numerous visitors each day after its opening in 1960.

I had read the Diary before, but hadn't visited the Anne Frank House during my two previous short visits to Amsterdam. Third time is the charm, so dreading the long queue squirming outside the house, it was time to pay the scene of the Diary a visit.

The queue looks worse than it actually is.

The house looks on outside like any other Amsterdam house. Tall, narrow, big windows. Inside, there are steep staircases and creaking floors. But no other house hosts a certain bookcase that served as a hidden entrance to the annex of this building, which was used as a warehouse in the front - and a hiding place in the back.

The rooms in the annex are empty, left that way after Otto Frank's wishes. It is meant to symbolize the void left after all the people that never came back from the camps. The 46m2 of the annex housed eight people and for two years provided them hopes of surviving - until someone (still unknown) tipped them off. Otto Frank was the only one of them to survive. All that is left now are faded pictures of movie stars glued on the walls of the annex, and marks on the wall showing how much Anne had grown in height during these two years. Something so normal and humane, abruptly ended by something so abnormal and inhumane.

It was touching to visit the scene and think that this was the exact location where Anne had written her Diary. You get to walk the same floors, take the same stairs, see the same view from the attic. Anne's stories come to life, as you can place each resident of the annex in the locations doing their own things and chores, silently and patiently waiting for the war to end.

The House is yet another reminder and testimony of the horrific things humankind did and allowed to happen not so long ago. For those interested, I highly recommend reading the Diary and visiting the museum and witnessing this young girl's short, but powerful legacy.

Exactly 70 years ago, 25th of September 1942, Anne wrote the following to Kitty (= the Diary):

"Mouschi, the cat, is becoming nicer to me as time goes by, but I'm still somewhat afraid of her."

careysbookproject.files.wordpress.com

It's Jerusalem time

A small, funny tidbit from today...

Numerous Finnish Nokia Lumia mobile phones automatically migrated to the Jerusalem timezone this weekend as Israel turned clocks. The phones displayed the time one hour behind real Finnish time, and claimed to be in the UTC+02 Jerusalem timezone.

Up until this evening, the phenomenon has only occurred in Finland and the reason for the automated update has not been figured out.

Maybe all roads lead to Zion and not Rome - after all? :)

Read the original article (in Finnish): Lumiat lähtivät Jerusalemin aikavyöhykkeelle.

The great conversion

What do Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Isla Fisher and Elizabeth Banks have in common? Yes, they have all made a career on the silver screen but also have converted to Judaism. In most of these cases it was because of love.

I'm Lutheran, just as I was baptised 20+ years ago. I see my family over Christmas for dinner and to spend some time together, but that's pretty much it. I don't go to church, read the Bible or light candles at home. At my college job, I used to fight for Sunday shifts to get double pay. So you could call me a typical habitual Christian in Finland, just like roughly 77% of the population.

Would I ever consider converting to Judaism then, like the leading Hollywood ladies mentioned before? The thought crossed my mind, sure, even though my Jewish boyfriend isn't a religious fanatic. He has never asked me to convert, which means he accepts me the way I am and doesn't want to change me. That's nice to know. So if I did ever convert, it would be out of my own free will to do so.

Taking it to a deeper level, converting to Judaism isn't a just a picnic. I believe if you consider joining a religion, out of respect you should go all the way. Not to be a ”fair-weather Jew”. I should abandon things I take for granted (like doing household chores on Saturdays or having a cheeseburger every now and then). Abandoning my ”former” life and Christian habits would mean that another door for new holidays and way of life would open up. However, since I'm not religious now, I don't see myself being respectfully religious if converting. Sorry, but following all the 613 commandments would be too hard for me, I'm too human for that.

One could argue back that not all Jews themselves keep kosher or Shabbat. Different movements in Judaism or different individuals observe the rules and laws differently. This leaves me wondering if it is alright for a convert to have their cake and eat it too? After all, if religion is something private and personal between you and G-d - why not do it your own way? The way I've learnt to understand it, though, is that if you're not born a Jew, you need to go a really long extra mile to become one and to be considered as one. :)

(toptenz.net)

 Elizabeth Taylor, or Elisheba Rachel, wasn't allowed to enter Egypt in 1962 to finish filming "Cleopatra". The reason given was because she had adopted the Jewish faith and supported the Israeli causes.

Easy as ABC

Or, easy as אבג! Yesterday, I had my first Hebrew lesson and I must say - against all my negative prejudice - it was quite fun! Alright, we only had time to scratch the surface of the alphabet and half of the time got to know each other in class and listened to Israeli music. But somehow I got the feeling like... I can beat this thing.

After class I came home and as a diligent Finn started practicing the letters again. In fact, it is like learning 44 new letters since we're learning also how to write them by hand. My notebook is full of "irons", "fish hooks", "curly hairs" and "ears". How fun to come up with tricks how to remember how each letter is written! (Note to self: keep this attitude when going forward)

Beautiful samples of my "hand writing": the fish hook, ear etc.

It was also fun and in a way comforting to be in a class of 20 people who share your interest one way or another. People had various reasons why they had enrolled in the class: some had lived in Israel, some were half-Israelis, some had found out they had Jewish family roots, some had traveled in Israel and fallen in love with the country, some were married to an Israeli and some were studying it for work. I'm none of these, by the way :).

Next week in class, we're going to talk about Rosh Hashanah - the Jewish new year. I'm really looking forward to it and this is exactly the counter weight outside the office what I've been missing!

Still struggling to remember that the book opens the other way :).

 

High five!

For those unfamiliar with the Israeli culture, you might be wondering what the heck is that weird hand necklace doing as the welcoming image of this blog. No, it is not there to stop you. And no, I don't want you to talk to the hand.

But it didn't get there by accident, though. The hand (hamsa) and I (shiksa) have one thing in common: we have absolutely nothing to do with Judaism. However, the common things stop there: the hand is a righty, I am a lefty.

Hamsa is derived from the word meaning five in Arabic (and also in Hebrew: hamesh, no?). Very logical, since a hand usually has five fingers. It can also be referred to as the hand of Miriam (Moses' sister), Mary (the virgin) or Fatima (Muhammad's daughter) - depending on whom you ask. Seems like everybody wants to hold that hand close to their beliefs.

The symbol of the hand is believed to protect its bearer from the evil eye and generally bring you good luck and give power. So it may come very handy during times of despair. In Israel you can see it everywhere, everything from jewellery to car air fresheners. And even though it has nothing official to do with Judaism, it has become very popular among the people.

I have three hamsas in my possession: one you see on top of this page and this is the one I hold most dear to me. The other two are below and are more common hands-on examples of the use of the hamsa.

A keyring from Eilat. On the backside, it has the prayer for travelers.

A poster I bought online in 2010. When I purchased my own place, I got a strange urge - if not an obsession - to get myself a hamsa poster to keep my home safe. Later I came to realize also the other symbolism the poster features.

Targeting Zionism

It is very rarely that you read about the Finnish Jewish community in Finland - they are pretty invisible to the common man. Today, however, they made their way to the headlines of some Finnish newspapers, for standing up for their own values.

The Jewish community of Finland had made a complaint about a anti-Zionism writing in a department store owned "newspaper" that is distributed for free. I'm using quotation marks for the word newspaper here, as a quick visit to the publication's website shows the level of reliability, trustworthiness and quality of the writings there. Read and believe only at your own responsibility, could be said.

The text is written by an Argentinian man, titled how USA is a puppet for the Zionist movement. According to him, Zionism is to blame for the events in Hiroshima, Somalia and well, basically any conflict ever happened on any continent of the world. All the powerful countries of this planet (USA, France, Italy, UK...) as well as NATO and the UN are run by the ideology of Zionism: pick a target, create terrorism, write about it in global media to create a fuss, march in as liberators, force own ideology and finally steal natural resources and exit.

There are comments for and against the text. Some label it as pure racism, some say Zionism is politics and Judaism religion - so therefore criticizing Zionism not anti-Semitism. Some of the comments I don't dare even translate but you can imagine what kind of text can be found in over a 100 comments. Bible, Talmud and basically everything between heaven and earth (literally) is brought in - again.

In addition to the Jewish community, a private person has also made a complaint to the Finnish police regarding the this text. Over the past 10 years, the community has made six similar complaints and all of them lead to fines being issued or other measures. Let's see and find out what happens with this case.

A museum visit in Denmark

Last weekend I had scheduled to attend a party in Copenhagen, Denmark. As the invitation was +1, we together with my significant other immidiately started planning a meet-me-half-way weekend in this Scandinavian capital. Well, these plans went to hell eventually but I did my best to include something Jewish on my agenda anyway.

Honestly, I wasn't aware of Copenhagen hosting a Jewish museum. It was by accident that I noticed it on the map when looking for the Danish Architecture Center. I've been to Copenhagen several times, especially to that area where the museum is, and I can't believe it's been there all the time right under my nose! Now it was time to visit it, but I was worried it would be closed as it was sabbath. Luckily, the doors opened at noon anyway.

Entrance to the museum is from the heavy, metal door in the back.

I was there early, and not the only one swarming around, waiting for the place to open. The entrance fee was 50DKK and you had to leave any bags bigger than A4 at the entrance. Unfortunately, it was not allowed to take photos inside the museum - but you can see some pictures at their website.

The museum presented the somewhat 400 year history of Jews in Denmark. The exhibition is divided into five different parts. First one of them being Arrivals, showing how Jews to Denmark came from various countries with very different backgrounds. The second part was Standpoints - how the only common ground for these people was in fact the religion but apart from that diversity was immense among the Danish Jews. The third part, Mitzvah, presented the story of those Danish Jews who were sent to Theresienstadt - and those who made it safely to Sweden. Traditions presented typical objects and items used in Jewish holidays while Promised Lands looks into how Denmark has become their final destination, their home.

I had a quick chat with the museum staff who were Danish students. They both had started working there this summer and said it had been busy over the past few months. Most visitors, however, are from the American cruise ships that stop for a day in Copenhagen - locals rarely find their way to the museum. Inspite of being non-Jewish themselves, both students seemed excited to work there as it somehow related to their studies.

One of the best untapped resources for shopping in almost any city is, in my opinion, museum gift shops. The shop at the Danish Jewish Museum was no exception and I didn't leave empty handed...

Supporting material for my up-coming studies - in form of a canvas shopping bag.

This duck has found its true calling.

And the gift shop's hit product: white, Magen David shaped candle holders. Here mixed with my Finnish Iittala ones.