History of the Jews in Iceland
Encyclopedia
Jews did not come to Iceland
until the 17th century, but even then there was no real immigration until the 1930s
.
, and called them Gyðingar. The term was used since the 11th century and is apparently a diminutive of Guð (God). The Gyðinga Saga, the Saga of the Jews, was written in the 13th century. It is a translation of the First Book of Maccabees and fragments from the writings of Flavius Josephus.
A formerly neutral, currently negative term for Jew is Júði (plur. Júðar).
In 1704, Jacob Franco, a Dutch Jew of Portuguese origin
who was living in Copenhagen, was appointed to be in charge of all tobacco
exports sold in Iceland and the Faroe Isles. In 1710 Abraham Levin and Abraham Cantor were given similar responsibilities. Isak, Cantor's son, took over from his father in 1731.
In 1815, the Ulricha, a Jewish trade ship rented by Ruben Moses Henriques of Copenhagen, arrived in Iceland.
In 1853, Iceland's parliament, the Alþingi, rejected a request by the Danish king to implement the Danish law allowing foreign Jews to reside in the country. Two years later the parliament told the king that the law would be applied to Iceland and that both Danish and foreign Jews were welcome. The Alþingi said that the Jews were enterprising merchants who did not try to lure others to their religion. However, no Jew is known to have accepted this offer.
Though most trade was owned by native Icelanders, in the late 19th century there were a small number of trading agents which represented firms owned by Danish Jews.
At the millennial celebration of the Althing in 1874 a Jewish journalist from Hungary
, Max Nordau
(later co-founder and President of the Zionist Organization), was mentioned.
In 1906, Fritz Heymann Nathan came from Denmark and quickly became a prosperous merchant. In 1913, he founded Nathan & Olsen in Reykjavík. After getting married in 1917, he realized it was impossible to conduct a Jewish life in Iceland and moved to Copenhagen. The firm was highly successful until the Icelandic government introduced trade restrictions in the 1930s.
In 1916, Nathan built the first big building of Reykjavík, with five stories. The building was designed by Mr. Guðjón Samúelsson and was considered very elegant. It was the first building to be lit by electrical lights.
, it was much easier for non-Jewish immigrants, mostly Germans and Scandinavians, to obtain work and residence permits than for Jewish immigrants. Icelandic immigration policy generally followed that of Denmark's. In May 1938, Denmark closed its gates to the Austrian Jews and Iceland did the same a few weeks later.
In the late 1930s, the Hilfsverein der Juden in Deutschland (the Aid Association of German Jews) wrote a report to the Auswanderberater in Reich on the possibilities of Jewish immigration to Iceland and concluded it was impossible.
Several Jews were expelled from Iceland and in the late 1930s Icelandic authorities offered to pay for the further expulsion of Jews to Germany, if the Danish authorities would not take care of them after they had been expelled from Iceland.
Otto Weg, a Jewish refugee from Leipzig, was one of the few allowed to stay in Iceland during the war. He wanted to become fully Icelandic, left Judaism and adopted the name Ottó Arnaldur Magnússon. He had a doctorate in geology and mathematics, but he never received an academic post in Iceland. He worked in construction and later gave private lessons and wrote pamphlets teaching algebra and Latin.
The 1930 census listed no adherents to Judaism. The 1940 census gave their number as 9; 6 men and 3 women.
, and among there were some Jewish servicemen. They did not find a synagogue but eventually did find other Jews who had arrived earlier.
On Yom Kippur
of that year, about twenty five Jewish soldiers from England, Scotland and Canada gathered with eight Jewish refugees and Hendrik Ottósson. Ottósson, who had married a Jewish woman, served as their Shammash
. The Icelandic authorities offered a chapel in Reykjavík's old cemetery. Ottósson found the suggestion insulting and rented a hall of the Good Templars' Lodge. They borrowed the only Torah scroll available in town. This was the first non-Christian religious service in Iceland in 940 years.
At the end of the day the first Jewish congregation in Iceland was officially founded. Arnold Zeisel, an elderly manufacturer of leather goods from Vienna, became the first head of the community. The group gathered regularly until the Americans took over from the British.
The first bar mitzvah in Iceland took place on the Shabbat
of Passover
, 1941, though the matzo
s arrived too late for that Passover. The community persevered during that year even though the British forces were unwilling to send a rabbi
to Iceland.
Besides the American soldiers congregation there was also an Orthodox congregation. They used a corrugated-iron hut for their services.
The American rabbis who were stationed in Iceland during the war maintained contacts with the refugee Jews. The German-speaking Jews preferred the liberal, Reform
approach of the American rabbis over that of what they were used to from Germany or Austria.
At the Rosh Hashana service in 1944 at the Naval Air Station Keflavik
, there were five hundred Jews present and a Torah scroll was flown in from the United States.
From that point till the mid-1950s there were two Jewish congregations in Iceland. In 1944, the number of Jewish servicemen in Iceland was estimated at 2,000 out of a total of 70,000, and for a few years a rabbi was stationed in Keflavík.
During the postwar period, most Jews kept a low profile and wanted to attract as little attention as possible. Most were not religious and kept to themselves. In some cases, Jews hid their origins and past from their family and their acquaintances.
, and it has signed a declaration of the European Council
that obliges the member states to teach the Holocaust in their schools. In reality, this has not meant increased instruction on the Holocaust and genocide in Iceland's educational system.
In recent years there have been four bar- and bat mitzvahs in Reykjavík. The Jewish community has discussed applying for registration as a religious organization, but there has never been sufficient interest to do so.
There are Jewish Kosher tours to Iceland, and thousands of Jews are among the steady stream of tourists in Iceland. There are reports of Jews being buried in the old cemetery in Reykjavik and of headstones engraved with the Star of David
. However, the Star of David was used by the Freemasons and does not prove any connection to Judaism.
Despite the tiny population of Jews in Iceland, the First Lady of Iceland
is Dorrit Moussaieff
, an Israel
i-born Bukharan Jew
. Moussaieff has also introduced the Jewish culture to Iceland in a very positive way.
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
until the 17th century, but even then there was no real immigration until the 1930s
1930s
File:1930s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: Dorothea Lange's photo of the homeless Florence Thompson show the effects of the Great Depression; Due to the economic collapse, the farms become dry and the Dust Bowl spreads through America; The Battle of Wuhan during the Second Sino-Japanese...
.
Language
The Icelanders knew the Jews from the BibleBible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
, and called them Gyðingar. The term was used since the 11th century and is apparently a diminutive of Guð (God). The Gyðinga Saga, the Saga of the Jews, was written in the 13th century. It is a translation of the First Book of Maccabees and fragments from the writings of Flavius Josephus.
A formerly neutral, currently negative term for Jew is Júði (plur. Júðar).
Early history
The first Jews to come to Iceland were traders. Daniel Salomon, a Polish Jewish convert to Christianity, came to Iceland in 1625.In 1704, Jacob Franco, a Dutch Jew of Portuguese origin
Sephardic Jews in the Netherlands
As a result of the Inquisition, many Sephardim left the Iberian peninsula at the end of the 15th century and throughout the 16th century, in search for religious freedom. Some of them found their way to the newly independent Dutch provinces: independent from the reign of Spain, Sephardic Jews from...
who was living in Copenhagen, was appointed to be in charge of all tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
exports sold in Iceland and the Faroe Isles. In 1710 Abraham Levin and Abraham Cantor were given similar responsibilities. Isak, Cantor's son, took over from his father in 1731.
In 1815, the Ulricha, a Jewish trade ship rented by Ruben Moses Henriques of Copenhagen, arrived in Iceland.
In 1853, Iceland's parliament, the Alþingi, rejected a request by the Danish king to implement the Danish law allowing foreign Jews to reside in the country. Two years later the parliament told the king that the law would be applied to Iceland and that both Danish and foreign Jews were welcome. The Alþingi said that the Jews were enterprising merchants who did not try to lure others to their religion. However, no Jew is known to have accepted this offer.
Though most trade was owned by native Icelanders, in the late 19th century there were a small number of trading agents which represented firms owned by Danish Jews.
At the millennial celebration of the Althing in 1874 a Jewish journalist from Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, Max Nordau
Max Nordau
Max Simon Nordau , born Simon Maximilian Südfeld in Pest, Hungary, was a Zionist leader, physician, author, and social critic....
(later co-founder and President of the Zionist Organization), was mentioned.
In 1906, Fritz Heymann Nathan came from Denmark and quickly became a prosperous merchant. In 1913, he founded Nathan & Olsen in Reykjavík. After getting married in 1917, he realized it was impossible to conduct a Jewish life in Iceland and moved to Copenhagen. The firm was highly successful until the Icelandic government introduced trade restrictions in the 1930s.
In 1916, Nathan built the first big building of Reykjavík, with five stories. The building was designed by Mr. Guðjón Samúelsson and was considered very elegant. It was the first building to be lit by electrical lights.
Late 1930s
During the Great DepressionGreat Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, it was much easier for non-Jewish immigrants, mostly Germans and Scandinavians, to obtain work and residence permits than for Jewish immigrants. Icelandic immigration policy generally followed that of Denmark's. In May 1938, Denmark closed its gates to the Austrian Jews and Iceland did the same a few weeks later.
In the late 1930s, the Hilfsverein der Juden in Deutschland (the Aid Association of German Jews) wrote a report to the Auswanderberater in Reich on the possibilities of Jewish immigration to Iceland and concluded it was impossible.
Several Jews were expelled from Iceland and in the late 1930s Icelandic authorities offered to pay for the further expulsion of Jews to Germany, if the Danish authorities would not take care of them after they had been expelled from Iceland.
Otto Weg, a Jewish refugee from Leipzig, was one of the few allowed to stay in Iceland during the war. He wanted to become fully Icelandic, left Judaism and adopted the name Ottó Arnaldur Magnússon. He had a doctorate in geology and mathematics, but he never received an academic post in Iceland. He worked in construction and later gave private lessons and wrote pamphlets teaching algebra and Latin.
The 1930 census listed no adherents to Judaism. The 1940 census gave their number as 9; 6 men and 3 women.
1940-1941
On May 10, 1940, British forces arrived in ReykjavíkInvasion of Iceland
The invasion of Iceland, codenamed Operation Fork, was a British military operation conducted by the Royal Navy, the Royal Marines and a small Canadian task force during World War II....
, and among there were some Jewish servicemen. They did not find a synagogue but eventually did find other Jews who had arrived earlier.
On Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur , also known as Day of Atonement, is the holiest and most solemn day of the year for the Jews. Its central themes are atonement and repentance. Jews traditionally observe this holy day with a 25-hour period of fasting and intensive prayer, often spending most of the day in synagogue...
of that year, about twenty five Jewish soldiers from England, Scotland and Canada gathered with eight Jewish refugees and Hendrik Ottósson. Ottósson, who had married a Jewish woman, served as their Shammash
Gabbai
A Gabbai is a person who assists in the running of a synagogue and ensures that the needs are met, for example the Jewish prayer services run smoothly, or an assistant to a rabbi...
. The Icelandic authorities offered a chapel in Reykjavík's old cemetery. Ottósson found the suggestion insulting and rented a hall of the Good Templars' Lodge. They borrowed the only Torah scroll available in town. This was the first non-Christian religious service in Iceland in 940 years.
At the end of the day the first Jewish congregation in Iceland was officially founded. Arnold Zeisel, an elderly manufacturer of leather goods from Vienna, became the first head of the community. The group gathered regularly until the Americans took over from the British.
The first bar mitzvah in Iceland took place on the Shabbat
Shabbat
Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...
of Passover
Passover
Passover is a Jewish holiday and festival. It commemorates the story of the Exodus, in which the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt...
, 1941, though the matzo
Matzo
Matzo or matzah is an unleavened bread traditionally eaten by Jews during the week-long Passover holiday, when eating chametz—bread and other food which is made with leavened grain—is forbidden according to Jewish law. Currently, the most ubiquitous type of Matzo is the traditional Ashkenazic...
s arrived too late for that Passover. The community persevered during that year even though the British forces were unwilling to send a rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
to Iceland.
1941-1944
Once the American forces arrived in 1941-1942, Jewish life became more active. An American field rabbi arrived in Iceland at the end of 1941. The congregation had grown large enough that a new building had to be found.Besides the American soldiers congregation there was also an Orthodox congregation. They used a corrugated-iron hut for their services.
The American rabbis who were stationed in Iceland during the war maintained contacts with the refugee Jews. The German-speaking Jews preferred the liberal, Reform
Reform Judaism
Reform Judaism refers to various beliefs, practices and organizations associated with the Reform Jewish movement in North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In general, it maintains that Judaism and Jewish traditions should be modernized and should be compatible with participation in the...
approach of the American rabbis over that of what they were used to from Germany or Austria.
At the Rosh Hashana service in 1944 at the Naval Air Station Keflavik
Naval Air Station Keflavik
United States Naval Air Station Keflavik is a former NATO facility at Keflavík International Airport, Iceland. It is located on the Reykjanes peninsula on the south-west portion of the island...
, there were five hundred Jews present and a Torah scroll was flown in from the United States.
From that point till the mid-1950s there were two Jewish congregations in Iceland. In 1944, the number of Jewish servicemen in Iceland was estimated at 2,000 out of a total of 70,000, and for a few years a rabbi was stationed in Keflavík.
Post World War II
In 1955, author Alfred Joachim Fischer visited the country and wrote about the Jews there. Fischer mentioned that nearly all Jews who had come to Iceland and been naturalized had taken Icelandic names, as the law demanded.During the postwar period, most Jews kept a low profile and wanted to attract as little attention as possible. Most were not religious and kept to themselves. In some cases, Jews hid their origins and past from their family and their acquaintances.
Holocaust
In 2000, Iceland participated in a Holocaust conference in StockholmStockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
, and it has signed a declaration of the European Council
European Council
The European Council is an institution of the European Union. It comprises the heads of state or government of the EU member states, along with the President of the European Commission and the President of the European Council, currently Herman Van Rompuy...
that obliges the member states to teach the Holocaust in their schools. In reality, this has not meant increased instruction on the Holocaust and genocide in Iceland's educational system.
Jews in Iceland today
The Jewish community in Iceland today number about 100 members. Religious observance is traditional and the community has gathered in 2011 for two Passover Seders, and for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur services. The services, held in downtown Reykjavik, were organized by a Chabad rabbi who is on a quest to revive the Icelandic Jewish community. These were the first formal services with a rabbi and a Torah scroll held in the city by the local community since the end of World War II, according to community members.In recent years there have been four bar- and bat mitzvahs in Reykjavík. The Jewish community has discussed applying for registration as a religious organization, but there has never been sufficient interest to do so.
There are Jewish Kosher tours to Iceland, and thousands of Jews are among the steady stream of tourists in Iceland. There are reports of Jews being buried in the old cemetery in Reykjavik and of headstones engraved with the Star of David
Star of David
The Star of David, known in Hebrew as the Shield of David or Magen David is a generally recognized symbol of Jewish identity and Judaism.Its shape is that of a hexagram, the compound of two equilateral triangles...
. However, the Star of David was used by the Freemasons and does not prove any connection to Judaism.
Despite the tiny population of Jews in Iceland, the First Lady of Iceland
First Lady of Iceland
Wives and husbands of the presidents:*Georgia Björnsson wife of Sveinn Björnsson*Dóra Þórhallsdóttir wife of Ásgeir Ásgeirsson*Halldóra Eldjárn wife of Kristján Eldjárn*Vigdís Finnbogadóttir was not married...
is Dorrit Moussaieff
Dorrit Moussaieff
Dorrit Moussaieff is an Israeli-born British jewellery designer, editor and businesswoman. She is the First Lady of Iceland, married to Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, president of Iceland.-Biography:...
, an Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i-born Bukharan Jew
Bukharan Jews
Bukharan Jews, also Bukharian Jews or Bukhari Jews, or яҳудиёни Бухоро Yahūdieni Bukhoro , Bukhori Hebrew Script: יהודיאני בוכאראי and יהודיאני בוכארי), also called the Binai Israel, are Jews from Central Asia who speak Bukhori, a dialect of the Tajik-Persian language...
. Moussaieff has also introduced the Jewish culture to Iceland in a very positive way.