President's message (Jan. 2012)

IJC President, Steve Brummel

Retrieval and Revival. The IJC members were lucky last month to hear a griping lecture by the Dutch author Paul Glaser on his book about his family’s history under the Nazi Occupation of The Netherlands. It is told through episodes of the life of his Auntie Rose (hence, the title “Tante Roosje”). It deals with the direct effects of Nazi rule and the Holocaust. But it also deals with the reactions once the Nazis were defeated in 1945. One reaction was the decision of the author’s father to cut all connections with Judaism and the survivors in his family, including links with his only sister Rose. The author was raised a Catholic in the south of The Netherlands. The book, in part, is the story of the author’s discovery and then dogged pursuit of the facts of his Jewish family’s life before, during and after World War II – that is, to uncover what had been buried by the currents of history and then again by his own father.

What motivated the author’s father is beyond the scope of this column. But the fact of cutting all links and hiding Jewish identify, I reckon, was not that uncommon in Belgium, Holland and elsewhere in Europe. Many reading this newsletter probably know individuals and families that in the late 1940s and the 1950s consciously broken the link. Why? Some probably felt they had to save themselves and their descendants from an imagined future holocaust. Others probably saw the indifference of government authorities and general society to survivors after the war as a coded message to dispense with Jewish identity so that all can go forward with a clean slate. For those in our congregation from America, such reasons for hiding and/or denying Jewish identity are nowadays unimaginable.

Our congregation in Brussels and our Rabbi Nathan are dedicated to reaffirming and celebrating our Jewishness and Judaism. The IJC has helped some of our members - who have come from families that hid and tried to bury their links to Judaism - rediscover their Jewishness. It has also helped to reignite the fire for some other families which, although not denying their Judaism, were indifferent to it and its practice. The IJC tries to foster an atmosphere in which members are unashamed to be Jewish and practice the rites and observe the traditions of Judaism. The IJC particularly focuses on ex-pat families who feel displaced in Belgium and consider putting their Judaism “on hold” because they believe it is too difficult to find an accommodating shul that understands them.

The new civil year 2012 has just started. We at IJC have much to do this particular year to ensure IJC fulfils its mission to its very diverse membership and the larger Jewish community in Belgium in need of an English-speaking progressive Jewish community. This includes a major effort to collect funds so that IJC can move from its current temporary building to a more permanent one. Please help spread the word about IJC so that we can gain in numbers and therefore gather more resources to serve our community needs.

Welcome back after the December holidays and I wish you a Happy 2012. .

Steve Brummel, President of the IJC