Moses Rosen

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Moses (Moshe) Rosen (23 July 1912 – 6 May 1994) was Chief Rabbi of Romanian Jewry from 1948 through the entire Communist era in Romania and continued in that role until his death several years after the Romanian Revolution of 1989.

He was born in the shtetl of Moineşti, son of a rabbi. He himself became a rabbi about 1939. In 1948 he became Chief Rabbi of Romanian Jewry, and in 1957 a member of the Romanian Parliament, representing a Bucharest constituency with a large Jewish population. In 1964 he became chairman of the Federation of the Jewish Communities of the Socialist Republic of Romania. He edited the Journal of Romanian Religious Jewry.[1]

In March 1979, Rabbi Rosen and Patriarch Justinian, head of the Romanian Orthodox Church, jointly sponsored a Jewish and Orthodox Christian Dialogue in Lucerne, Switzerland. [2]

A public square in Jerusalem is named after Rabbi Rosen and his wife Amalia.

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[edit] Controversial relationship with Communist authorities

According to Elvira Groezinger, in the Stalinist era, Rabbi Rosen's articles in the Yiddish-language weekly IKUF-Bleter showed him to be "one of the staunchest leaders of the anti-Zionist and anti-Israel campaigns, and one who praised the Romanian Communist leaders." [3]

Hadassah magazine wrote in 2000 of the "alliance" between Nicolae Ceauşescu, "From Rosen's viewpoint, anything he could do to help Romania's Jews was legitimate. So he became as close to Ceauşescu as he could-in the name of preserving Jewish life in Romania and keeping the exit doors open. After the Six-Day War Romania did not break diplomatic relations with Israel. In return Rosen praised Ceauşescu in the West, undoubtedly contributing to the Romanian chief's reputation as a benign Communist leader. What didn't become clear until later was that he [Ceauşescu] was extorting a princely sum for his leniency toward the Jews."[4]

In this connection Rabbi Rosen, in his short 1987 piece "The Recipe", quoted Charles de Gaulle: "I have no enemies, I have no friends, I have interests," and added "I succeeded in convincing the Romanian Government that, by doing good to the Jews, by meting out justice to them, it could obtain advantages in matters of favourable public opinion, trade relations, political sympathies... The 'business transaction' was profitable to both sides." Millions of Jews, he wrote, were living "in Eastern Europe, in a socialist society. No matter if one likes this or not, it represents a reality... Can they, somehow remain Jewish? The answer given by the past 40 years of the life led by a Jewish community in socialist Romania is categorical and irrefutable. Yes, indeed. They can. "Our 'balance-sheet' proves that, without making any noise, demonstrations or rows, we have succeeded in making Romania's interests correspond to ours..." He also wrote proudly of the fact the Jews who had left Romania had overwhelmingly made aliyah to Israel: "More than 90 per cent of the Romanian Jews reached Lod. They did not 'lose their way' heading for other continents..." [Rosen, 1987]

After the Romanian Revolution of 1989, Rabbi Rosen was a harsh critic of the efforts to rehabilitate the image of Ion Antonescu, Romania's leader during the period when it had been allied with the Axis Powers during World War II, and continued to advocate emigration to Israel: "Demagogy is very strong here... Neofascist propaganda... plays on xenophobia. Jews are a very easy scapegoat... I advise every Jew who can do so, to go to Israel." [5]

[edit] See also

[edit] Further reading

[edit] Works by Rosen

  • `Itim la-Torah (1988, in Hebrew). Ari'el, Jerusalem.
  • The paper bridge; essays on Judaism (1973), Translated from the Romanian by Carol Kormos, revision of the English translation by Wolf Gottlieb. International Library, Washington, 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 Michael Riff, The Face of Survival: Jewish Life in Eastern Europe Past and Present, Valentine Mitchell, London, 1992, 215-222, ISBN 0-85303-229-7.

[edit] Works about Rosen

  • Finkelstone, Joseph. Dangers, tests and miracles: the remarkable life story of Chief Rabbi Rosen of Romania (c1990). Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, ISBN 0297810677

[edit] References

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