REYKJAVIK — December mild is transient in Iceland. It was not but 4 p.m., and by the point the large menorah was lit in downtown Reykjavík, the day had already slipped into darkness. A gentle drizzling rain blurred the streetlights and soaked the pavement the place fewer than 100 folks gathered, roughly half of the nation’s Jewish inhabitants, which has all the time been small and largely unseen.
The celebrants had been calm, virtually subdued; safety was not. Armed plainclothes police ringed the realm. They moved via the group whereas surveillance drones hovered overhead. Air assist was on standby, measures virtually exceptional in a rustic that tops the world’s most peaceable checklist.
The gathering occurred simply hours after information broke of the newest terrorist assault on Jews, this one a celebration of Hanukkah at Bondi Seaside in Sydney, Australia.
Rabbi Avraham Feldman and his spouse, Mushky, welcomed the group, their voices regular however restrained. Iceland’s minister of international affairs, Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir, adopted, and he or she lit the menorah herself. Curious passersby slowed, some watching silently earlier than transferring on. The occasion handed with out incident.
“The assault in Sydney reminds us that darkness shouldn’t be solely one thing we examine in historical past books. It nonetheless exists on this planet and seems all of the sudden and violently,” stated Avraham Feldman, who’s related to the Chabad motion, which makes public menorah-lightings a centerpiece of its outreach around the globe.
“Hanukkah doesn’t ask us to disclaim this darkness,” he added. “As an alternative, Hanukkah teaches us that each certainly one of us can create mild and positivity. Even a small mild pushes away nice darkness. And when many lights stand collectively, we overpower the darkness.”
In a press release issued the identical day, Gunnarsdóttir condemned the assault in Sydney, which occurred at a Chabad occasion. “I strongly condemn the horrific assault on these celebrating Chanukah at Bondi Seaside in Australia,” she stated. “There isn’t any place, anyplace, for antisemitism or terror. I prolong my heartfelt condolences to the victims, their family members, and others affected.”
Her presence on the Hanukkah occasion carried significance nicely past the ceremony itself. Iceland’s authorities has been amongst Europe’s most vocal critics of Israel, and public discourse across the struggle in Gaza has been intense. Jewish teenagers have reported more and more tense relationships with their friends, and the nationwide broadcaster lately introduced that it will boycott the Eurovision track contest over Israel’s participation.
For some Jews in Iceland, the political scenario has shaken their sense of acceptance.
“It has turn into very completely different for me since Oct. 7,” stated an American Jew dwelling in Iceland who requested to stay nameless. “Earlier than, I used to be pretty extensively open about being Jewish, however the panorama has modified.”
When he and his partner moved into a brand new dwelling final yr, he ordered a mezuzah for the entrance door, however he hesitated to place it up. “For the primary time, I discovered myself involved about putting my Hanukkah menorah within the window,” he stated, whilst he added that the majority Icelanders would possible not acknowledge the image anyway, given the prevalence of seven-armed electrical creation lights in home windows every December.
For some current, having Gunnarsdóttir on the Hanukkah occasion provided a uncommon and significant sign that assist for a susceptible minority needn’t be conflated with geopolitics.
“It’s so particular to have the international minister be a part of us in the present day, to face with us, assist the neighborhood, and supply her continued friendship,” stated Mushky Feldman stated. “We’re honored to have her communicate tonight and lightweight the primary candle.”
Jewish life in Iceland has no lengthy historic footprint. There are not any historic synagogues, no Jewish neighborhoods, and no centuries-old establishments. Holidays are celebrated in rented areas or non-public properties. Till 2018, there was not even a resident rabbi. The neighborhood is made up largely of immigrants — together with an Israeli jewellery designer who was the nation’s first woman for 13 years till 2016 — their youngsters, and Icelanders who’ve claimed a Jewish identification later in life.
“How do you educate your youngsters what it means to be Jewish with no ready-made neighborhood?” requested Reykjavík resident Adam Gordon, an American Jew. “The reply is that we should create that neighborhood ourselves.”
Sensible challenges abound. “Provides will be tough to return by,” stated the American Jew, who determined that he would mild a menorah. “I lastly positioned a bulk order from overseas with sufficient Hanukkah candles to get me via the tip of this decade.”
An impediment is the standard Icelandic method to faith. Most Icelanders are nominally Christian however the nation is named one of the secular in Europe. (Judaism grew to become an official state faith in 2021, following Avraham Feldman’s advocacy.)
“Icelanders see Jewishness as a perform of faith, which they largely see as a quaint if outdated view of the world incompatible with their collective stage of political and ethical evolution,” stated Mike Klein, an American Jew dwelling in Iceland.
“Discussions about my being Jewish usually turn into uncomfortable, partly due to the present political predicament, but in addition as a result of Icelanders discover it unusual that I’d select to make my life tough by sustaining my Jewish identification after I’m in any other case comparatively nicely accepted,” Klein added.
Others echo the identical pressure. A Jewish American dwelling in Iceland, who declined to be named out of issues about figuring out publicly as Jewish, stated antisemitism in Iceland is usually rooted in misunderstanding slightly than specific hatred. “There’s lots of ignorance,” she stated.
“Many Icelanders don’t know that there are solely about 15 million Jews on this planet, and that whereas we’re few, we aren’t a monolith. We now have alternative ways of connecting to our Jewish identification, that it isn’t solely rooted in faith, however tradition, a shared heritage.”
On the identical time, some Icelanders have embraced the neighborhood in significant methods. Finnur Thorlacius Eiríksson first encountered Jewish life in 2017, when he met an Israeli couple visiting Iceland. After they later moved to the nation and invited him to a Passover seder in 2018, he joined.
“The expertise was a optimistic one, which prompted me to attend extra occasions the place I obtained to know the Jewish neighborhood in Iceland fairly nicely,” he stated.
Eiríksson now holds the excellence of the one non-Jew identified to be registered as a member of the official Jewish neighborhood. He attends main holidays and occasions and is even contemplating changing to Judaism.
“Fortunately, almost all my Jewish pals are open about being Jewish,” he stated. “They comprehend it by no means helped the Jewish folks to cover their identification, so that they put on their Jewish identification with satisfaction.”
Andrea Cheatham Kasper, who’s Jewish and lives in Iceland along with her household, stated her Shabbat desk has turn into a cornerstone of connection.
“Our Shabbat desk has been central in our dwelling and likewise as our strategy to make pals and construct neighborhood,” she stated. “Relationships have grown there, some instantly and a few after many meals collectively.”
Kasper stated she doesn’t conceal being Jewish or Israeli however avoids on-line political battles. “My purpose is to deal with face-to-face relationships and interactions which are human, not political,” she stated. “What I’ve discovered is that the noise comes from the loud voices, they usually aren’t all the time consultant.”
On the lighting, the menorah flickered in opposition to the rain and the early darkness. Kids stood near their mother and father. Photographs had been taken to share with household far-off, and fresh-baked sufganiyot (jelly-filled donuts) had been handed out to the group.
“Occasions just like the menorah lighting turn into these valuable moments after we can collect and have fun collectively,” stated Gordon. “None of us got here to Iceland to deepen our Jewish observe, however we don’t need to abandon it. As an alternative, we need to weave it along with our Icelandic identities.”
