JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

elgium
deported at the end of 1940 to the province of Limburg, the
priests instructed the local population to help them. When
the Jews were compelled to wear the yellow badge, priests denounced
this discriminatory act and elicited the sympathy of
large parts of the population. The Belgians made attempts to
allay Jewish suffering, though prior to the invasion, the Germans
had encouraged Flemish nationalism and separatism
and fanned antisemitism. For this reason the persecutions met
with greater success in the mostly Flemish Antwerp region.
[Rivka Irene Banitt]
Early postwar years
In 1945 the Jewish population was composed of those who had
remained in the country, had returned from exile, or were liberated
from prisons and camps. Until about 1955, thousands
of Jewish refugees from Eastern and Central Europe resided
in Belgium for a limited time, awaiting immigration permits
to other countries of permanent settlement. In the 1960s
both emigration and immigration considerably decreased.
The number of Jews in Belgium in 1970 was about 40,000.
This population, essentially urban, was distributed approximately
as follows: Brussels, 18,000; Antwerp, 12,000; Liège,
1,000; Charleroi, 500; Ghent, Ostend, and Arlon, 1,000; the
remainder was dispersed among other cities. As the Jewish
population became stable, social and economic integration
within Belgian society improved in many respects. It was not
especially difficult to obtain citizenship, and a great number
of immigrants and their descendants were therefore Belgian
citizens. Although many arrived in the country without independent
resources, within a short period they displayed great
social mobility. The majority came to belong to the middle
class and were active in the fur and textile industry, wholesale
and retail trade, crafts, and the manufacture of clothing and
leather goods. Antwerp Jewry has been professionally concentrated
for a long time in the diamond industry and trade. Since
the end of World War II, more young people have undertaken
university studies, resulting in the growth of the professional
and white-collar classes. Though the country’s economic progress
benefited the Jewish population, there was still a small
number of underprivileged persons and social cases, most of
whom were cared for by the community. The favorable attitude
of the government and communal authorities, as well as
the population as a whole, facilitated the integration of Jews
in Belgium, though from time to time in the first two decades
after World War II certain manifestations of antisemitism were
provoked by small factions of the extreme right.
The Jewish religion is legally recognized along with the
Catholic and the Protestant religions. Belgian laws also guarantee
public Jewish worship. In 1970 there were 12 recognized
Jewish communities in the country: four in Brussels, three in
Antwerp, and one each in Liège, Charleroi, Ghent, Ostend,
and Arlon. Two of these communities were Sephardi, the others
Ashkenazi. The rabbis, cantors, and synagogue boards were
elected by the members of the community. Each community
has proportional representation at the Consistoire Central
Israélite de Belgique, which represents the communities in
their relations with the state. Though this institution, of Napoleonic
origin, supervises the administration of synagogue
properties and examines their budgets and accounts, it generally
does not intervene in their internal affairs but is called
to ratify the nomination of rabbis and ḥazzanim.
Until 1980 the chief rabbi was appointed by the Consistoire
to act as the supreme authority on Jewish religious
affairs. Since that time the post has been formally vacant,
though Albert Guigui, rabbi of Brussels from 1983, acted as
rabbinic adviser to the Consistoire and in effect fulfilled the
function of chief rabbi. In addition, at the outset of the 21st
century, four government-recognized regional rabbis, including
Guigui, were in office. Cultural differences between communities
represented in the Consistoire were evident. Some
older communities reflected many formal aspects of the Reform
movement, which spread through Belgium during the
19th century, but whose influence was reduced by East European
Jews. The result of the contact between the two elements
was the widespread practice of Conservative Judaism. Other
communities remained faithful to an Orthodoxy imbued with
Yiddish Ashkenazi traditions. In spite of the differences, most
blatant in the contrasting character of the Brussels and Antwerp
communities, the Consistoire preserved a sense of unity.
The state paid the salaries of the regional rabbis, cantors, and
state-recognized teachers who provide religious instruction
in public primary, secondary, and technical schools throughout
the country. The state also subsidized Jewish day schools
in which courses of Jewish content were taught in addition to
the compulsory general curriculum. The state’s contribution to
various religious and educational institutions illustrates concretely
the recognized position of the Jewish religion, which
gives observant and nonobservant Jews a feeling of security
and confidence.
About 100 Jewish organizations, either revolving around
the recognized communities or developing on the fringe, are
active in every facet of Jewish life. The main types of organizations
are welfare and philanthropic, Zionist and pro-Israel,
communal bodies, youth movements, and independent religious,
political, cultural, and sports-oriented groups. Welfare
and philanthropic organizations are united for fund-raising
purposes in Brussels and are absorbed into a central body in
Antwerp. These two centralizing institutions collaborate at the
national level in La Conférence Permanente des Oeuvres Sociales
Juives de Belgique. Youth movements are grouped in La
Fédération de la Jeunesse Juive de Belgique. Very influential
before the war, the Zionist Federation of Belgium continues
to concern itself with the renewal of its structure and with the
aim of expanding its membership; but since the creation of
the State of Israel, the distinction between Zionists and non-
Zionists within the community has lost much of its acuteness.
Indeed, most Belgian Jews express their support of Israel, and
for many of them it has developed into a component of their
identity. Manifestations of this support are shown in various
ways: financial contributions, collective trips to Israel, the
284 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3