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“The Customs of Our Ancestors Are in Our Hands” Negotiating Tradition and Change in the Jewish Communities in Finland
Author(s): Muir, Simo; Tuori, Riikka
Date: 2024
Topics: Jewish Identity, Religious Observance and Practice, Religious Belief, Baal Teshuvah, Main Topic: Other
Abstract: The Jewish community of Finland represents a continuum of Eastern European Ashkenazic Orthodoxy that survived the Shoah intact. During recent decades there have been significant changes in the demography of the local congregations, and these changes have influenced the religiosity of the members: while secularism and indifference to religion have grown, many members have turned toward stricter observance of Halakhah. This article looks at these changes and how the informants relate themselves to the customs of past generations in their everyday lives by means of an analytic model developed in the study of vernacular religion.
Turn to Traditions – Calls for Change: Negotiations over Liturgy in the Synagogues of Finland
Author(s): Muir, Simo; Illman, Ruth; Tuori, Riikka
Date: 2023
Topics: Jewish Music, Main Topic: Culture and Heritage, Synagogues, Religious Observance and Practice, Liturgy
Abstract: This article explores how Jews in Finland relate to the musical traditions of their synagogues and the changes that have occurred in the customs over time and as the result of various cultural and spiritual influences. Based on ethnographic data, it focuses on rituals, liturgy, and music as contexts for negotiating relationships between the institution and the individual, memory practices, and contemporary innovation – being and doing Jewish, to use concepts from the vernacular religion framework. The article outlines the historical development of Minhag Finland, the vernacular liturgical customs. It concludes that the “turn to traditions” should be stated in the plural, as several Jewish customs, cultures, and context are engaged in the negotiations around liturgy. This is not just a way to freeze time and preserve the status quo. Instead, seeking for meaningful models in the past paves the way for change – especially when turning toward a broad range of traditions.
Being Jewish in Contemporary Finland
Author(s): Tuori, Riikka
Editor(s): Hoegaerts, Josephine; Liimatainen, Tuiri; Hekanaho, Laura; Peterson, Elizabeth
Date: 2022
Topics: Jewish Identity, Jewish Community, Main Topic: Identity and Community
Arjessa eletty uskonto: Suomen juutalaisten muistitietoa keräämässä
Translated Title: Religion lived in everyday life: Collecting memories of Finnish Jews
Author(s): Tuori, Riikka; Muir, Simo; Illman, Ruth
Editor(s): Savolainen, Ulla; Taavetti, Riikka
Date: 2022
Topics: Interviews, Oral History and Biography, Memory, Religious Observance and Practice, Main Topic: Other
Chabad on Ice: Jewish encounters with fundamentalism in Finland
Author(s): Czimbalmos, Mercédesz Viktória; Tuori, Riikka
Date: 2022
Topics: Jewish Community, Jewish Identity, Chabad-Lubavitch, Interviews, Main Topic: Identity and Community, Outreach
Abstract: The article examines the Finnish branch of Chabad Lubavitch as a fundamentalist and charismatic movement that differs from other branches of ultra-Orthodox Judaism in its approaches to outreach to non-observant Jews. Whilst introducing the history of Chabad Lubavitch in Finland and drawing on historical and archival sources, the authors locate the movement in a contemporary context and draw on 101 semi-structured qualitative interviews of members of the Finnish Jewish communities, who either directly or indirectly have been in contact with representatives of Chabad Finland. The material is examined through the theoretical concept of ‘vicarious religion’. As the results of the article show, whilst Chabad very much adheres to certain fundamentalist approaches in Jewish religious practice, in Finland they follow a somewhat different approach. They strongly rely on people’s sense of Jewish identification and Jewish identity. Individuals in the community ‘consume’ Chabad’s activities vicariously, ‘belong without believing’ or ‘believe in belonging’ but do not feel the need to apply stricter religious observance. Whilst many of them are critical of Chabad and their activities, they do acknowledge that Chabad fills the ‘gaps’ in and outside the Jewish Community of Helsinki, predominantly by creating new activities for some of its members.