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In Belgrade, at the edge of the Jewish world, everyone is learning
A Jewish educator from Serbia tells Limmud about reviving Jewish life - and teaching everyone else about it
December 24, 2019 11:52
A Jewish educator from Serbia tells Limmud about reviving Jewish life - and teaching everyone else about it
December 24, 2019 11:52As a Jewish educator in Belgrade, Serbia, Sonja Vilicic cannot afford to be dogmatic.
One of two full time partners in Haver Srbija, a not-for-profit NGO, she is trying to help Serbian Jews regain their lost religious and cultural practices while teaching other groups - Muslims, Orthodox Christians and Roma - about the community that she is in the midst of developing.
Understanding of Jewish life is thin even within large sections of the 3,000-strong community, she says in a talk at Limmud: “We often get phone calls from people asking whether some object or other is Jewish, then they realise they have it at home.
“A few months ago, a woman from Nis called me a said she just realised she had a menorah at home and she started exploring the subject with her parents. It turns out her mother and father are both Jewish but never wanted to talk about it.
“She also suddenly realised that some of the sayings told to her by her grandparents were quotes from the Talmud.”
At that point the woman wanted to connect to the community but was hesitant because her husband was Orthodox Christian and her children were already teenagers, Ms Vilicic said.
“This happens often. But it’s a sad story. I am happy that she is trying to explore this but it’s sad her parents never wanted to talk about her Jewishness.”
The reasons for this absence, she said, could be “Holocaust trauma, the fact they survived and who knows how, or Communism.”
Haver Srbija works in 23 cities across Serbia and runs classes in schools, with a focus on Jewish culture, minority rights and the Holocaust.
There is no Holocaust education within the Serbian system, and the NGO aims to introduce as many children to the subject as possible. At the same time, Ms Vilicic says, “we don’t want people to percieve Jews just through the Shoah” so classes always start with lessons on Jewish culture.
Haver Srbija does not run Holocaust education classes for adults and instead there is a focus on modern Jewish texts, as well as Jewish ethics.
There are, of course, prejudices to be overcome. During one tour of Jewish sites, a group of Muslim children did not want to enter a synagogue and insisted on sitting at the back even when coaxed inside. However, Ms Vilicic said, a question about Elijah’s Chair - where bit milahs are performed - prompted an warmer, more open and engaged discussion about circumcision in the Jewish and Muslim communities.
The outcome of any interfaith dialogue all depends how you deal with this kind of initial resistance, Ms Vilicic said.
