Religiositet, nationalitet och sekularisering bland Sveriges judar
Translated Title
Religion, nationality and secularism among Sweden's Jews
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Abstract
Sveriges judar är liksom andra svenskar i hög grad sekulariserade. Det är därför ingen överraskning att de mer ser judendomen som en nationell tillhörighet än som en religion. Det passar bra i det svenska samhället där man idag uppskattar multikulturalism och förhåller sig reserverat till svensk nationalism.
Translated Abstract
The Jewish community in Sweden is small, comprising about 17,000 individuals. Much like Swedes in gen-eral, they are quite secular. Studies show that the Swedish Jews see themselves primarily as members of the Jewish people and not as a religious minority. The impact of historical events – the Holocaust and the estab-lishment of the State of Israel – and the fact that Swedish nationalism is seen with scepticism by most Swedes have influenced the tendency of Swedish Jews to embrace a national notion of Jewishness.
Many Swedish Jews follow some religious traditions, like celebrating Passover Seder and Hanukkah, but seem to do it more in order to manifest their Jewish belonging than to express their religious faith. They are selective in their religious observance and see the inner feeling of being Jewish, loyalty to their Jewish herit-age, and the sense of belonging to the Jewish people as the most important elements in their Jewishness.
The Jews of Sweden are modern, i.e., secular, tolerant and liberal. They are, at the same time, proud of their Jewishness, something they show by, among other things, commemorating the Holocaust and manifesting their right to be openly Jewish. In the wake of growing Anti-Semitism in the city of Malmö, local Jews initiat-ed so-called kippah walks, to demand their right to show their Jewishness in the public sphere without being harassed.
Many Swedish Jews follow some religious traditions, like celebrating Passover Seder and Hanukkah, but seem to do it more in order to manifest their Jewish belonging than to express their religious faith. They are selective in their religious observance and see the inner feeling of being Jewish, loyalty to their Jewish herit-age, and the sense of belonging to the Jewish people as the most important elements in their Jewishness.
The Jews of Sweden are modern, i.e., secular, tolerant and liberal. They are, at the same time, proud of their Jewishness, something they show by, among other things, commemorating the Holocaust and manifesting their right to be openly Jewish. In the wake of growing Anti-Semitism in the city of Malmö, local Jews initiat-ed so-called kippah walks, to demand their right to show their Jewishness in the public sphere without being harassed.
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All rights reserved
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Volume/Issue
89(2)
Page Number
82-87
ISBN/ISSN
0039-6761
Link
Bibliographic Information
Religiositet, nationalitet och sekularisering bland Sveriges judar. 2013: 82-87. https://archive.jpr.org.uk/object-swe16
