ORF (Austrian Federal Broadcasting), November 9, 2019
German original: https://wien.orf.at/stories/3020983
Until 1938, the Jewish Community Vienna consisted of some 185,000 people. In 2019, some 8,000 people live in Jewish Vienna, who convey a buoyant lifestyle and want to be part of the city just like everyone else.
The November progroms of 1938, from the night of November 9 to 10, mark the transition from discrimination to persecution and murder, all the way to the Holocaust. It is a dark chapter, also for the Jewish Community Vienna. Today, 81 years later, Jewish Vienna presents itself as colorful and lively – and has become a point of attraction for Jewish tourists: “If you walk into an Israeli travel agency today as a religious Jew, who needs a kosher infrastructure during a vacation and asks where can I spend a kosher holiday, Vienna ist immediately the first city mentioned,” says Benjamin Gilkarov of the Jewish Community Vienna.
Jewish Lifestyle not just for Jews
Young people meet each other for a Shabbat dinner in Vienna’s Moische Haus, one of the worldwide flat-sharing communities for young Jewish people. Non-Jewish guests are also invited to the celebration; they respect each other the way they are, as one visitor puts it. They learn from each other and have fun together.
Today’s Jewish Vienna wants to open itself up even more. This includes “days of open doors,” for example at the synagogue or at cultural festivals. Those events, but also new shops and kosher supermarkets contribute to the Jewish lifestyle. “I believe that the majority of Jewish people in Vienna is proud of their faith and live it openly, so that one does not have to hide, being an open and active part of society, a part of Vienna, like everybody else,” says Gilkarov.
Sometimes More, Sometimes Less Kosher
And what would Vienna be without its culinary scene? Jewish gastronomy, not following the rules quite so strictly, is available as “Kosher Style,” for example at Café Eskeles in Dorotheegasse, or more strict – like kosher sushi. Kosher sushi? It is important that a religious Jew observes the cooking process, “he looks to see if the workplace is clean, that all products are certified kosher, 100% bio, without any additives – that is kosher sushi,” says Janet Faiziew from the Mea Shearim Kosher Restaurant.