The OJC the Ohio Jewish chronicle. (Columbus, Ohio), 1994-05-19

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VOLUME 72 MAY 19,1994
NUMBER 20 9 SIVAN 5754
Israel and PLO sign
self-rule accord
page 2
T.ATtlfi Pa^iiic* ."A itA/tniirn
if lowers for Living' award
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WeMer Heritage Village
to honor Eleanor Resler
-   ,- ,         page 10
Tenth Annual
ABOUT THE COVER       '~
, / First graders have fun learning Hebrew in the
newly-created Jewish School in Sofia, Bulgaria
where Jewish students come from all over the city -
„'to be together and to study Hebrew, Photo by *
TJebprah Kazis.,        '
EARLY DEADLINE
The deadline, for the June 2 issue of the OJC is noon
on Thursday, May 26.
The OJC Office will be closed on Memorial Day,
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Bulgaria's Jewish community —
Small, unique and vibrant
Third In A Series
By Deborah Kazis
Flying from Warsaw to Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, I
wasn't at all certain of what I'd
find. Bulgarian Jews? Are
there any? Are they just like
any other East European community?
As soon as I landed I knew
something was different. This
is not Eastern Europe. Sofia is
a lovely old city surrounded
by mountains and buzzing
with activity. The sun is shining and there's a strong Mediterranean feel. Turkish and
Greek influences are obvious
in the food, music and bustle
ofthe city. Small cars zoom
around the cobblestone streets,
crisscrossing over train tracks
and dodging in and out among
the bright yellow and orange
electric trams whizzing by.
Bulgaria's Jewish community has the same bustle and excitement. Beit Ha'am, the
House of the People, is the
community building and the
center of Jewish life. Little
kids rush by as I make my way
to my first stop—the office of
Eddie Shwartz, chairman of
"Shalom," the main organization of Bulgarian Jews.
"Jews have been in Bulgaria
since the firSt century," he
tells me. "You can ask who
were the first people to live,
here — Bulgarians or Jews?
Bulgaria's 6,000 Jews make up
one ofthe oldest communities
in Europe. Almost all are Se-
phardic, and many ofthe older people speak Ladino — a
mixture of Spanish and Hebrew. Most of their ancestors
, came to Bulgaria after being
expelled from Spain during
the Inquisition.
"How long has your family
been here? I ask Victoria Me-
lamed, a young member ofthe
community. "Oh, I'm not exactly certain," she says casually, "but I can trace my family's
roots in Bulgaria back to
1375." ','
During The Holocaust
Bulgaria doesn't feel like a
graveyard, as does so much of
Eastern Europe, simply because it isn't one. No specter
of death hangs in the air as it
does in Poland. Concentration
camps, mass graves and monuments to murdered Jews
don't dot the countryside.
None of Bulgaria's 50,000*
Jews were killed in the Holocaust. Bulgaria was allied with
the Nazis, and the Jews were
sent to labor camps and faced
severe discrimination. Jews
from Macedonia and Thrace
— areas annexed by Bulgaria
— were sent to Treblinka, but
the government refused to deport the Jews of Bulgaria despite persistent Nazi demands.
Fact and legend are mixed
in the stories of Bulgaria's
King Boris being summoned
to Germany and poisoned by
Hitler for not deporting the
Jews and of Bulgarians being
ready to lie on train tracks to
physically prevent the deportation of their Jewish compatriots. The entire community
survived the war, and the majority left for Israel.
Bulgarian Jews escaped Hitler, but those who stayed could
not escape the devastation of
45 years of oppressive Communism which enforced an official policy of complete assimilation in Bulgaria and
isolation form the <•outside
Jewish world.
All Jewish education was
stopped. Young people were
forbidden to come to the community center or synagogue
and were told to be Bulgarians, not Jews.
Robert Djerassi, a young
Bulgarian who today runs the
American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) office in Sofia, has a quick smile
and laughing eyes. He tells me
about life under Communism.
"When I came to celebrate
Passover at the community
center a policeman stopped
me at the door," he says. "He
told me this is only for the old
people, and turned me away."
Bulgarian Jewry Today
But this community survived. And today, only three
years into their freedom, Jewish life is thriving. Often
throughout Eastern Europe,
,1      • i „
A Jewish man in Sofia, Bulgaria comes to the JDC-supported
pensioner's club In the Jewish community center to eat, to play
chess and to be with other Jews. Photo by Deborah Kazis.
Jewish community buildings
are used only by old men to
reminisce in smoke-filled
rooms. Not in Bulgaria.
As I walk through the Beit
Ha'am, the community center, I'm told that just three
years ago people were afraid to
be overheard speaking Hebrew. But, today the walls of
this large four storybuilding
are bursting with activity day
and night. Colorful posters of
Israel -brighten the halls.
There's a Jewish library, a huge
concert >hall, Jewish Agency,
B'nai B'rith and Macabbee
club offices. Here the Sunday
school teaches over 130 kids,
and Hebrew lessons are held
throughout the week. There's
a Jewish choir and a Union of
Jewish Students. On the fourth
floor the office of the Jewish
newspaper is piled high with
books and papers.
Next door the Jewish Resource Center buzzes with activity. Young people, parents,
little kids, rush in and out.
Strong Turkish coffee and
cookies seem always available.
The walls are decorated with
pictures — the skyline of Tel
Aviv, sailboats in Netanya, a
JDC calendar next to a colorful Benetton poster. A mixture
of Hebrew, English and Bulgarian flies around the room
as everyone works frantically
on the computers, fax and
copy machines. Jewish videos
and books are everywhere.
The TV switches back and,
forth from Israeli TV to MTV.
Rachel Brodie and Adam
Weisberg, young American
volunteers sent by JDC to help
energize the community, are
at the center of the activity.
' They teach Hebrew and lead
seminars on all aspects of Judaism, and travel to small cities across the country to help
celebrate Shabbat. When I'm
there, Rachel patiently helps a
teenage boy who wanders in
with a question about the mystical Jewish world of kabbalah,
see BULGARIA pg. 3