We, the initiators of the Jewish Culture Festival Trondheim, want to show a Norwegian audience excerpts from a thriving Jewish culture, a culture that has survived both harassment and genocide on Norwegian soil and that lives on today around the world.
We want to show how Jewish religion, culture, language and history have influenced art forms and provided impulses for new forms of expression.
Jews have lived in Norway for around one hundred and fifty years. The vast majority came here from Eastern Europe and have gradually become an integral part of Norwegian society. Very few of those who came were performing artists. It was also difficult for the small group to pass on their cultural heritage in a small Jewish community. This must also be seen in light of their background, the reasons why they left their homelands and especially the losses the Jewish population suffered before and during the Second World War.
The Jews lived a quiet life in Norway. Due to experiences of persecution and genocide, they kept their individuality to themselves as much as possible.
In today’s Norway, Norwegian Jews, like all other minorities, are free to practice their religion and cultural identity. However, this is not unproblematic: In recent years, we have seen several examples of attacks against Jewish institutions and individuals, some of a very serious nature – others have been less serious – but overall this creates an impression of insecurity in the Jewish community that quickly leads to inward-looking attitudes, also in purely cultural terms.
The fact that society at large recognizes this description of reality is demonstrated by many examples, including extensive security measures aimed at Jewish institutions and the comprehensive survey of the Norwegian population’s relationship to Jews and Jewish faith, history and culture initiated by the government in 2010.
This situation is not conducive to an open exchange of impulses and cultural expressions, yet this is more important than ever in such situations.
The Jewish Culture Festival will present Jewish culture to a Norwegian audience. Through its programme, the festival will show how Jewish religion, language, tradition and history have influenced various art forms, and given impulses to new expressions. The festival will be a bridge-builder between Jewish cultural and religious practice and today’s Norwegian multicultural society.
* Provide audiences from different backgrounds with a common frame of reference when encountering Jewish culture.
* communicating Jewish life and traditions today without forgetting history.
* raising the level of knowledge about the Jewish culture, which is little known in society at large even though it has lived
Jews in Norway for almost 150 years.
* Communicate artistic expressions of Jewish origin and background in several different art forms,
both traditional and further developed.
* bring in artists and social commentators from several countries to show breadth and diversity.
* familiarize the audience with Jewish food traditions.
Jewish Cultural Festival is supported by:
