Community life
Community
At the heart of Jewish communal life in Finland are numerous associations, whose number may come as a surprise given the small size of the community. They include charitable associations, a sports club, a choir and several traditional Zionist organisations. The Jewish day-care centre and school also have an important role in carrying Jewish culture forward.
Many of these associations are among the oldest in Europe, as the operation of comparable associations elsewhere ceased during the Second World War. Their continued work in Finland is concrete evidence that the Finnish Jewish community survived the Holocaust, unlike most of Europe's Jewish communities.
In this section, we look at the work of these associations, both in history and today.
Chevrot
Religious associations
At the heart of traditional Jewish religious life in Finland have been – and still are – the so-called chevrot, associations whose work is founded on the teachings of the Torah and the sacred writings. The oldest association operating in Finland is the burial society Chevra Kadisha. Helsinki is also still home to the society for aid to the sick, Bikur Cholim, and to the women's charitable association Fruntta.
From 1906
Sport and culture
In the wake of the third conference of the Russian Zionists, held in Helsinki in 1906, and of the Helsinki Programme it drew up – a programme that called on Jewish communities to strengthen their own cultural and social life – a Jewish sports club was founded in Helsinki, as well as a Yiddish-language cultural association with its own choir and theatre group. The sports club Makkabi is still active.
Makkabi
From 1917
The rise of cultural life
When Finland gained its independence in 1917, Jewish cultural life rose to new heights. The Jewish choral society Juutalainen laulukuoro ry, which is still active, was founded that same year. Helsinki was also home to a Yiddish-language theatre society and a literary society, as well as the Hebrew-language club Chug Ivri, which remains active.
Hazamir
The 1920s
Zionist organisations
Zionist associations were also founded in the 1920s to support Jewish communities in Eretz Israel, the Land of Israel. These include the women's charitable organisation WIZO and Keren Kajemet, which today supports various environmental and climate development projects in Israel. Both associations remain actively at work.
Youth
Youth activities
Youth associations have always been an important part of the community's activity, and there have been several of them over the course of history. They have included both ideological and academic associations. Helsinki was also home to a Jewish scout troop. Today these traditions are carried on by BBYO and JOY.
Heritage
Veterans and heritage
Remembering those who fell in the Second World War and assisting the veterans have been important matters for the Jewish community. The Association of Finland's Jewish War Veterans was founded in 1979, and its work is carried on today by the Heritage Guild, which maintains the veterans' memory.
Media
Magazines
Many magazines have been published within the Jewish community in Helsinki – in Swedish, Finnish and Yiddish. The first of these, Judisk Krönika, began to appear in 1918, and it has had several successors. The present magazine Hakehila has appeared since 1978 and will soon be almost fifty years old. Today it is published electronically.
1893 · 1918
Schools and the day-care centre
The Jewish community in Helsinki has had Jewish schools from its very beginning. Cheders, schools that teach the basics of Judaism, held an important place in the upbringing of children in the 19th century. The first Jewish co-educational school was founded in 1893, and it was succeeded by the Hebrew-language school that operated in the lower floor of the synagogue building. The present Helsingin juutalainen yhteiskoulu (Jewish school of Helsinki) was founded in 1918.
A living community — yesterday and today.