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Szarvas Inspired Erwin to "Want to Change Jewish Life in Romania"
As he stands before an audience of Jewish lay leaders in one of Manhattan's finest hotels and discusses Romania's Jewish revival, he mesmerizes with charm and enthusiasm. Impeccable in speech and presentation, Erwin could very easily be standing in a Fortune 500 board room selling a multi-million dollar ad campaign. In fact he has done just that. Winning detergent accounts may have energized his bank account, but it did not feed his spirit. He has a calling to revitalize Jewish life in his native country, and that is why the 26-year-old head of JDC’s Romanian National JCC Project is here today.
"You may have heard we are all dead," he tells the audience. "I'm not and there are many of us still around in Romania." Prior to the 19th century, the principalities that would later become Romania were a safe haven from the anti-Semitism prevalent in the rest of Eastern Europe. A rich diversity of Orthodox, Neolog (Reform/Conservative), and Hasidic traditions flourished under the tolerant Turkish Empire, which ruled Romania from the 13th to the 17th centuries. After the Russian conquest in 1819, Romanian Jewry felt the sting of anti-Semitism, with the institution of anti-Jewish laws, a ban on employment in industry and government, revocations of citizenship, expulsions, and even pogroms. On the eve of WWII there were approximately 850,000 Jews living in Romania. By the end of the war there were close to 450,000 left, most in Bucharest. During the early years of the communist regime, all but 150,000 made aliyah. Most of those who remained rapidly assimilated and Jewish life flickered out in what had been one of the Jewish world's premiere cultural and religious centers. Today there are a mere 14,000 affiliated Jews in Romania. Most are either elderly or under 35. "For 50 years we lost a generation," Erwin said. "The typical quote is, ‘My parents were Jews before the war.’ The fascists tried to kill us physically and the communists tried to kill us spiritually. But there are thousands of Jews still out there and we must create programs to bring them in." In 1967, JDC was allowed to re-enter Romania for the first time since WWI and began to provide basic, life-sustaining support for the poor and elderly. In 2005, JDC provided winter relief (utilities money, clothing and non-perishable food) to 1,090 elderly pensioners. It provided year-round food assistance to 1,150 people, including daily hot meals to 650 people in kosher canteens and ongoing meals-on-wheels deliveries to 240 homebound seniors. JDC also provided comprehensive medical care to 1,580 seniors. These welfare programs give seniors the chance to live in dignity and health. "Thank God JDC understands the value in the third ‘R’ of it’s mantra ‘Rescue, Relief and Renewal,’" Erwin says. "Europe is the world’s largest Jewish cemetery, but it’s also a place there are thousands of young people with so much energy." In the summer of 2005, 140 children participated in a seminar on Jewish history and a family camp attracted 32 participants. With funding assistance from the Lauder Foundation, the Romanian Jewish community sent 70 children to the Ronald S. Lauder/JDC International Youth Camp in Szarvas, Hungary. Erwin, one of the few Jews of his generation to grow up in household identified as Jewish, says his own experience at Szarvas fueled his initial desire to revitalize Romanian Jewry. "Szarvas was the most life changing experience, I could have gotten," he recalls. "It made me say, ‘I want to change Jewish life in Romania.’" In 2005 the JDC-funded Organization for Jewish Youth in Romania worked with 13 youth clubs to identify young leaders to join Erwin in his mission. "The organization started with 20 kids," Erwin says. "Now we’ve built two camps for young children, established Talmud/Torah groups and created a young leadership program." The biggest challenge remains connecting with the tens of thousands of "lost Jews" in the middle generation. Recently JDC with its partner agency, FEDROM, Federation of Jewish Communities in Romania, has spearheaded a project to convert an old synagogue reclaimed by the World Jewish Restitution Organization into a JCC. Erwin believes that a successful JCC in Bucharest is the key to creating a critical mass of young, engaged, pluralistic Jews. Zvi, JDC’s country director for Romania agrees, praising Erwin’s ability to run the project. "The JCC in Bucharest will be attractive and prestigious drawing thousands of unaffiliated Jews," Zvi says. "Erwin brings great energy, vision and ability to engage Jews of all ages who have never set food in a Jewish community setting before." May 2006 |
