Encyclopaedia Judaica
Jews in Rumania (Romania) 1944-1971 (02): Jewish
Life
Religion, education, Jewish schools - language
discussion, writers, press, Jewish theater
from: Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971), vol. 14
presented by Michael Palomino (2008)
COMMUNITY LIFE [questions
about religious congregations and Jewish education and
schools]
<With the liquidation of the Zionist Movement and the
dissolution of the Jewish Democratic Committee, the
religious communities (
kehillot)
were the only organized bodies left in Rumanian Jewry. The
legal foundations for their activities were laid down even
before other Jewish frameworks were destroyed.
In 1945 the "Regulations on Nationalities" were passed and
declared the formal equality of members of all national
minority groups before the law. Regulations of the
activities of the recognized religions, including Judaism,
were set down in the Aug. 4, 1948 order of the presidium of
the Grand National Assembly (which also served as the
presidency of the state). The regulations of the Federation
of Communities of the Mosaic Religion, which were approved
by the Assembly's presidium on June 1, 1949, were based upon
this order. The Federation's scope of activity was limited
to the area of religious worship alone. In the first years
of the Communist regime and its complete dependence upon
Moscow, Jewish Communists infiltrated into the Federation,
but afterward their participation in Jewish religious bodies
decreased, although it did not cease altogether. The
Federation of Communities was responsible for maintaining
synagogues and cemeteries and supplying religious objects,
unleavened bread for Passover, kosher food, and the like. It
was not authorized to deal in matters of Jewish education,
however, although it did have the right (according to a
decision of the department of religions on Nov. 13, 1948) to
set up seminaries for training rabbis, and for a few years
it maintained a yeshivah [[religious Torah schools]] in Arad
(Transylvania).
According to the registration of 1960, there were 153
communities throughout Rumania that maintained 841
synagogues and
battei
midrash
[[House of Learning]] (56 of which were no longer in use),
67 ritual baths, 86 slaughterhouses, and one factory for
unleavened bread (in Cluj). From 1956 the Federation also
published a tri-language biweekly (in Rumanian, Yiddish, and
Hebrew) entitled
Revista
Cultului Mozaic Din R.P.R. ("Journal of (Rumanian)
Religious Jewry").
From 1964 the chief rabbi officiated as the chairman of the
(col. 413)
Federation and was also a member of the National Assembly.
Thus the Federation became the general Jewish representative
in the country.
EDUCATION
With the renewal of Jewish life after the war, Jewish
education also began to operate again. In 1946 the total
number of Jewish schools was 190 with 41,000 students. In
1948 five yeshivot , 50 Talmud Torah schools, 10 Bet Jacob
schools, one elementary school of Tarbut, five dormitories
for students, 14 dormitories for apprentices, the
agricultural training institute (Cultura Agricolâ), three
vocational schools in Bucharest, and three vocational
schools in provincial cities (Husi, Sibiu, Radauti) were
supported by the American Jewish Joint Distribution
Committee. A substantial number of educational institutions
were maintained by the various Jewish communities without
outside support.
The network of Jewish education was destroyed in the autumn
of 1948, when all schools in Rumania were nationalized. At
that time a small number of schools in which the language of
instruction was Yiddish were established (in Bucharest and
in Jassy) and remained open until the 1960/61 school year.
After the nationalization Jewish education remained in the
hands of
melammedim
[[teachers of Hebrew]], whose activities were tolerated by
the authorities. In 1960 there were 54 talmud torah schools,
in addition to the yeshivah that was established in Arad in
1956. By the end of the 1960s the number of educational
institutions had very considerably decreased.
CULTURE [language
discussions - writers, press, Jewish theaters]
At the beginning of the period under discussion, the
language of Jewish writers and poets, including those who
wrote about Jewish subjects, was Rumanian. During the first
years after World War II the Jewish press was fairly large.
The most important newspaper was
Mântuirea, which began to reappear after
Rumania joined the Allies and continued to be published
until the [[racist]] Zionist movement ceased to exist. In
1945 the press of the Jewish Democratic Committee began to
appear, and its major newspaper was
Unirea, in Bucharest,
which lasted until 1953. As long as Zionist activity was
permitted, the Zionist publishing house Bikkurim and the
He-Halutz publishing house, as well as the Yavneh Company
for the distribution of books on Jewish history and Hebrew
literature continued to operate.
In Jewish contributions to Rumanian literature, art, and
music, the influence of the memories of the Jewish milieu
was sometimes felt. The writers and poets A. Toma, Maria
Banus, Veronica Porumbacu, Barbu *Lazareanu, and others
belonged to this group. Among the writers who wrote in
Yiddish were Jacob *Gropper, Alfred Margul Sperber, and
Ludovic Brukstein. The most outstanding Jewish artists were
Iosif Iser, M.H. "Maxy, and Jules *Perachim. Well-known
Jewish musicians were Matei Socor, Alfred (col. 414)
Mendelsohn, and Max Eisikovits. The only Jewish cultural
institution was the Jewish theater in Bucharest. It was
established as a state institution in 1948. The Jewish
theater in Jassy, which was established at the same time,
closed down in 1968. During the 20 years of its existence,
the theater produced 107 plays including works by Abraham
*Goldfaden, Shalom Aleichem, Molière, Gogol, Yiddish
playwrights, and others. In 1968 the Bucharest Jewish
theater performed on tour in Israel.> (col. 415)
<
Bibliography
-- S. Baron: The Jews in Roumania (1930)
-- J. Berkowitz: La Question des Israélites en Roumanie
(1923)
-- I. Davis: The Jews in Roumania (1872)
-- C. Blum, in: Sinai, 3 (Bucharest, 1931)
-- I. Cohen: The Jews in Rumania (1938)
-- W. Filderman: Adevarul asupra problemei evreesti din
România (1925)
-- M.A. Halevy, in: Anuarul evreilor din România (1937)
-- idem, in: RHMH, 10 (1957), 21-30
-- J. Loeb: La Situation des Israélites en Turquie, en
Serbie et en Roumanie (1877)
-- H.B. Oppenheim: Die Judenverfolgungen in Rumaenien (1872)
-- B. Peixotto, in: The Menorah, 1 (1886); 2 (1887); 3
(1887)
-- A. Ruppin: Die Juden in Rumaenien (1908)
-- E. Schwarzfeld, in: AJYB, 3 (1901/02), 25-87
-- idem, in REJ, 18 (1886), 127 ff.
-- idem: Impopularea reimpopularea si intermeierea
târgurilor si târgusoerelor i Moldova (1914)
-- M. Schwarzfeld: Ochire asupra istoriei evreilor ih
România (1889)
-- idem: Excursiuni critice asupra istoriei evreilor in
România (1888)
-- idem, in: Annuar pentru Israeliti, 10 (1887/88); 18
(1896)
-- L.P. Gartner, in: Jewish Experience in America, 4 (1969),
227-52
HOLOCAUST PERIOD
-- PK Romanyah (1970), 141-209, 219-224 (first pagin.),
introduction and comprehensive bibl.;
-- T. Lavi, in: Yad Vashem Studies, 4 (1960), 261-315; 5
(1963), 405-18
-- idem: Yahadut Romanyah be-Ma'avak al Hazzalatah (1965)
-- M. Carp: Cartea Neagra, 1 (1946)
-- I. Hirschmann: Caution to the Winds (1962)
-- M. Brozat, in: Gutachten des Institus fuer Zeitgeschichte
(1958), 102-83
-- A. Safran, in: Yad Vashem Studies, 6 (1967), 175-80
(1944/45)
CONTEMPORARY PERIOD
-- AJYB (1944/45- )
-- Ha-Congress ha-Yehudi ha-Olami: Yahadut Romanyah
ba-Tekufah she-le-Ahar ha-Milhamah (1952)
-- Al Yehudei Romanyah-be-Erez Galutam u-va-Moledet (1959),
passim
-- Rumanian Statistical Pocket Book (1965), 27-29
-- Anuarul Statistic al RPR (1957), 65
-- Congresul Mondial Evreesc: Asezârile Evreilor Din
România: Memento Statistic (1947)
-- L.P. Gartner, in: AJHSQ, 58 (1968), 25> (col. 416)
