Moses Rosen
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Moses Rosen (known in Hebrew as David Moshe Rosen, דוד משה רוזן) (July 23, 1912 – May 6, 1994) was
Family and youth
He was born on July 23, 1912, in the town of
After having passed the state maturity exams in Dorohoi, in 1931 the young Moses Rosen entered the Law faculty in the University of Bucharest. But the antisemitic atmosphere, which dominated university life in the Romanian capital at that time, caused him to stop his law studies there and to continue them in Vienna. At the same time, he began his studies at the Viennese Rabbinical Seminary. For economic reasons, he had to return to Romania, and this time, despite hardships, he succeeded in finishing his studies at the Faculty of Law and got his license (Dr. Juris) in 1935. He then began his two-year military service in the town of Fălticeni, most of the time as military rabbi and confessor. In 1937, he returned to Vienna to resume his Rabbinical studies, where he learned with rabbi Alter Dorf (Gornik) who came from Sadagura. The Anschluss in May 1938 forced him to leave soon after. He returned to Romania, where he received his ordination in 1939, from some of the greatest rabbis of the country: Haim Rabinovici, Baruh Glanz, Moses Berger, members of the Rabbinical Council of Bucharest and from the chief rabbi of Romania, dr
Activity as young rabbi in Romania
His first job as rabbi was in a small synagogue in the Mahala quarter of
Election as Chief Rabbi of Romanian Jewry – 1948
In December 1947 the much esteemed Romanian Chief Rabbi in office, Dr
The rival of Moses Rosen in this election was Dr David Şafran, a nephew of the former chief rabbi, known as fervent Zionist activist. Following the item written on the scrap of paper he had pulled out, David Şafran had to give a sample of sermon about the fight for peace on basis of a week pericope from the Torah. At his turn, following the same procedure, Moses Rosen was demanded to preach at the inauguration of a craftsmen cooperative on basis of other pericope. On June 20, 1948, Moses Rosen, as winner of the contest, was installed as "Rav Kolel" in Romania, at a ceremony in the Choral Temple, in the presence of many officials, among them the vice-president of the Great National Assembly (the Romanian parliament under the communist regime),
Leader of Judaism in Romania in the years of Stalinism
As leader of the Jewish religious institutions, Rabbi Rosen was submitted to the control of the Communist authorities which in the 1950s ran a very harsh policy against expressions of Jewish national feeling, especially Zionism, Hebrew culture and Jewish religion. There was some tolerance, but mostly limited to the culture in the Yiddish language. Openly opposing the regime, which used Stalinist terror methods, would have attracted cruel individual and collective repression and revenge measures.
After having been allowed during June 27 – July 6, 1948, to take part in the meeting of the World Jewish Congress in Montreux, Switzerland, following Moscow's directives, the Romanian communist regime disconnected totally the Jews of Romania from the other Jewish communities in the world for a period of eight years. In those difficult circumstances the diplomatic mission in Bucharest of the newly founded Jewish state of Israel remained active.
In 1948, the Rabbinical Council of Romanian Jews led by Moses Rosen was coerced to sign a declaration of condemnation of the so-called "Zionist activity" of the former Chief Rabbi Dr. Alexandru Şafran, who was meanwhile elected Chief Rabbi of Geneva. Nevertheless, despite his formal membership in the Jewish Democratic Committee, Moses Rosen tried to keep a distance from the policy of the leaders of the Committee (Bercu Feldman, H. Leibovici-Şerban, Israel Bacalu etc.) who desired to encourage a Jewish secular culture in Yiddish on account of the Hebrew religious and secular one, to satisfy the ideology of the Communist regime. The reserved attitude of Moses Rosen[1] vis-a-vis the political and cultural line of the Jewish Democratic Committee proved to be the right diplomacy. In March 1953, the regime, again inspired by Moscow, decided to rid itself from the Committee and led to its "voluntary" dissolution. The press organ of the Committee, "Unirea" was closed.
After Stalin's death and later, after the beginning of de-Stalinization in USSR, the Communist authorities in Romania decided to use the good offices of the leaderships of the different religious faiths in Romania, including those of religious minorities, in order to improve their image in the world and to improve Romania's economic relations with other countries.
In 1956, the year when many of the Zionist activists were freed from the Romanian prisons, the authorities allowed Rabbi Rosen to take part again in Jewish meetings and conferences abroad. The first occasion was the contact with the Chief Rabbi of Sweden, Kurt Wilhelm. The same year, in October 1956, Rosen was authorized to found "Revista Cultului Mozaic" (The Mosaic Cult Review), official press organ of the Romanian Jewry, published in Romanian, Yiddish and Hebrew. It was the sole Hebrew periodical regularly printed in the entire communist world, for over 30 years. The prestigious scholar Ezra Fleischer former Romanian Prisoner of Zion, and Israel Prize winner, was one of the first editors of the journal, before his emigration to Israel.
Since 1957, Chief Rabbi Rosen, following a renewed tradition existing during the pre-Fascist epoch, was elected member of the Romanian Parliament, representing a Bucharest constituency (then still with a rather large Jewish population).
Activity and leadership in the years 1960s–1980s
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In 1964 the Chief Rabbi Moses Rosen added to his functions that of the chairman of the Federation of the Jewish Communities of Romania and kept it until his death.
The position of Rabbi Rosen got strengthened following the change in the Romanian foreign policy after 1964. The regime of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej in his last days and then the new Romanian Communist leaders, Nicolae Ceaușescu and Ion Gheorghe Maurer were interested in increasing the independence of their country from Soviet Union, and to develop good relations with the West.
After the big waves of Jewish emigration permitted by the Communist Party in the years 1947–1952 and again in the first years of the 1960s, approximately 40,000 Jews have remained in Romania (in 1956 they were 146,000 as per the official census). The Ceauşescu regime decided to strengthen Romania's relations with Israel and with the Jewish communities of the world, especially the
In 1979 he founded, again with the permission of the Romanian regime, the Museum of the history of the Romanian Jews, in the building of "Unirea Sfântă" Jewish Temple in Bucharest.
The activity of Rabbi Rosen in those years, with the silent approval of the regime, from encouraging the emigration to Israel, to the study of the Hebrew language and Jewish traditions and values, to managing the social work network for the Jewish population, won esteem among the Jewish leaders in the world, who praised him for his leadership and diplomatic abilities.
On one occasion, the chief rabbi of England, Sir Immanuel Jakobowitz expressed his enthusiastic admiration for Rosen's achievements.[2]
Rabbi Rosen, who always felt like a proud Jew, while still being well acquainted with Romanian culture, became one of Romania's non-official "ambassadors" on the international scene. (As did other minority religious leaders, for example the
In the 1970s he participated in the efforts of the Bucharest regime to obtain the status of Most favoured nation for Romania's trade relations with the USA.
In March 1979, Rabbi Rosen and
Criticism of his relationship with Communist authorities
According to Elvira Groezinger, in the
In the 1980s in his opposition to antisemitism and xenophobic trends which were sometimes encouraged by Ceauşescu himself, Rabbi Rosen dared to raise his voice even against some protégés of the regime, like the poet Corneliu Vadim Tudor, the writer Eugen Barbu and the literary historian Dumitru Vatamaniuc who edited posthumously, and without adequate critic notes, some controversial articles of the Romanian national great poet, Mihai Eminescu which were not favorable towards Jewish people.
After the 1989 Revolution
After the
In 1992, he became an honorary member of the Romanian Academy.[4]
Rabbi Rosen was married since 1949 to Amalia, born Ruckenstein, from Burdujeni-Suceava. The couple had no children.
His elder half-brother (from the first marriage of his father) Eliyahu Rosen, was rabbi of the Jews in the
Sources
- Collection of "Revista Cultului Mozaic"
- ISBN 3-8257-0313-4.
See also
- List of Jewish Romanians
Notes
Bibliography
- Maja Wassermann: Gefahren, Versuchungen, Wunder. Zu einem Erinnerungsband von Oberrabbiner Dr. Moses Rosen. In: David. Jüdische Kulturzeitschrift (Viena), an. 5, nr. 16, 4/1993, pag. 25.
- Claus Stephani: Der Holocaust begann in Rumänien. „Eine Kerze, die in diesem Land langsam erlischt“. Gespräch mit Dr. Moses Rosen, dem Oberrabbiner Rumäniens. In: Jüdische Zeitung (Munich), an. 7, nr. 4/5, 10.5.1991, pag. 3–4.
- Claus Stephani: Oberrabbiner Moses Rosen spricht in Bukarest von einer bedauerlichen Identifikation der Rumänen mit Hitler / Potentielle Mörder warten auf ihre Chance. „Die systematische Vernichtung der Ostjuden begann in Rumänien.“ Ein Mahnmal im Hof des Tempels für 300.000 jüdische Opfer des Antonescu-Regimes. In: Allgemeine Jüdische Wochenzeitung (Bonn), nr. 46/23, 6.6.1991, pag. 11.
- Claus Stephani: Erwachen nach einem halben Jahrhundert. Ein Volk wird mit seinen Verbrechen konfrontiert / Gedenken an die Opfer des rumänischen Holocaust / Rechtsextremisten im Kommen. In: Jüdische Zeitung (Munich), an. 7, nr. 6/91, 25.7.1991, pag. 3.
- Rabbi Meir Wunder: Entziklopedia shel hakhmey Galitzia, Makhon leHantzahat Yahadut Galitzia, Yerushaliyim, 1990 (ebraică) (Enciclopedia rabinilor și învățaților evrei din Galiția, Institutul memorial al iudaismului din Galiția, vol.4, Ierusalim, 1990).
- Claus Stephani: “Den Ganef vor die Tir stellen”. Ein Gespräch mit Dr. Moses Rosen, Oberrabbiner von Rumänien. In: Neuer Weg (Bucharest), an. 42, nr. 12673, 3.3.1990, pag. 1–2.
External links
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Further reading
Works by Rosen
- `Itim la-Torah (1988, in Hebrew). Ari'el, Jerusalem.
- The paper bridge; essays on Judaism (1973), Translated from the Romanian by OCLC 1085536.
- Eseuri biblice. Ed. a 2-a. (1992, in Romanian). Editura Hasefer, Bucharest, ISBN 973-95006-7-6.
- Veha-seneh enenu ukal: zikhronot mi-tekufot ha-ma'avak le-hatsalat Yehude Romanyah me-et David Mosheh Rozen. (1993, in Hebrew) Sham, Jerusalem.
- "The Recipe", 1987 (with a post-1989 postscript), published as epilogue to ISBN 9780853032298.
Autobiography
Dangers, tests and miracles: the remarkable life story of Chief Rabbi Rosen of Romania as told to Joseph Finkelstone (c1990).
- ^ "Moses Rosen, 81; Romanian Rabbi Helped Thousands Flee Communism". Los Angeles Times. May 11, 1994. Retrieved August 29, 2023.