Dragica
Levi
La
Benevolencia
- A Multi-Religious Jewish Vision
[German]
Sarajevo is a
really multi-religious town. In three - four hundred square meters you'll find
synagogues, mosques, Christian-orthodox churches, Catholic cathedrals and an
institutionalised neighbourhood - to have a good neighbour is something like an
institution in Sarajevo. This is the reason why everybody helped us when we
became active in 1992. The beginning was sad. Almost all our members left the
city for a safe place. We even considered closing the doors of our synagogue. It
was a very difficult moment. But then two things happened. Jews all over the
world stood up and were with us. "La Benevolencia" - that is Ladino or Judeo-Espaniol
- became our cultural, educational and humanitarian society by the help of many
friends all over Europe. The second thing that happened was that people came to
our community. They were not members before the war, but they brought original
documents proving that their fathers, mothers or grandparents were Jewish - and
we are lucky to have old record books, both Ashkenazi and Sephardi, so that we
were able to check it. So all of a sudden we had 340 Jews. And lots of friends
of different religious or national backgrounds wanted to help us too.
With the help
of the whole Jewish world and the friends of La Benevolencia a great job was
done for all the people of Sarajevo, for all our friends, all our neighbours,
for everyone - Jews, Muslims, Croatians and Serbs. For example, in 1993 La
Benevolencia in Sarajevo distributed more than 50 percent of the medicine. We
opened soup kitchens, we had a First Aid Department with physicians and nurses,
three pharmacies in the town and a home care programme for old people - people
really in need, who without our help for sure wouldn't have survived. One other
interesting thing: In the beginning of the war some Jewish children, members of
the community, came and we suddenly started a Sunday school. Now they asked: "I
have my best friend nearby, he is Muslim or he is Croatian. May I bring him
too?" Our answer was “Yes.” So together they learned about Jewish tradition and
history. And then we did the same with the young people of our community.
Now to be
honest about the spiritual history of the communities in Eastern Europe: We
still do not have a rabbi, but all of us are learning a lot. I can proudly tell
you that we now have weekly Shabbat services and guest rabbis from Israel for
the main holidays. But if you ask what kind of synagogue we have - I really
cannot answer, because on the one hand men and women sit separately, but on the
other we don't keep kosher at all. But we are trying, we are learning...
I think that
our Jewish community got a lot of credit for the future, because we were open
for everybody and we helped all our friends and neighbours in Sarajevo. I give
you a few examples: There is no foreign guest, no ambassador in Sarajevo, who
does not come to our community to ask: What do you need? All of them heard what
La Benevolencia did during the war. Thanks to the help of the Norwegian
government the old Jewish cemetery, which was the frontline during the siege,
was de-mined. The rabbi of Norway came to the official reopening of the
cemetery. Not only do we experience solidarity in Sarajevo, but also in other
cities of Herzegovina, where there was fighting against Muslims and Croatians.
The tiny Jewish community of Mostar, a handful of members, helped people in
need. Last April we celebrated the laying of the cornerstone of a new synagogue
and Jewish cultural centre in Mostar. It is financed by the city of Mostar, due
to the credit given to Jewish life in our country.
Dragica
Levi is an activist of
La Benevolencia, Sarajevo.
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