This is a black and white photograph of Sulim Grimberg and his Bnei Akiva group in Sulita, Romania. Pictured are children of a variety of ages and adult madrichim. They are wearing coats and a variety of head coverings including caps, headscarves and tall hats. The group is standing on the pavement in front of shop windows. A Bnei Akiva logo with the Star of David is hanging from the building. Sulim is in the back of the group, wearing a cap.
Sulim (or Salo, in Romanian) Grimberg was born in 1927 in Sulita, Romania. He was a member of the religious, Zionist youth group Bnei Akiva and participated in meetings and activities. Sulim received a Jewish education. He spoke Hebrew, knew the prayers, read from the Torah in synagogue, and studied privately with a rabbi. During World War II, Sulim continued going to learn with his rabbi, even when Jews were required to wear a yellow star and it was dangerous to be out in the streets at night. In 1947, Sulim went on a trip to Sibiu, Romania with his Bnei Akiva group which included swimming in a lake. Sulim and a friend drowned in the lake.
Sulim’s story was part of a family history given by Berta Finkel. Berta Finkel was from a Romanian Ashkenazi family. She was born in Sulita in 1925 to an orthodox family and had memories of observing Shabbat, kashrut, and Jewish festivals. She spoke Yiddish at home and Romanian and Hebrew at her Jewish school. After four years at a Jewish school, Berta moved to a Romanian school. During World War II, Berta and her family were forced to leave their home and were separated from their father. During the war they lived with relatives, were forced to wear a yellow star, and experienced other restrictions. After the war, her father returned to the family and submitted a request to immigrate to Israel. After Berta’s mother died, her father emigrated to Israel, but Berta and her husband remained in Romania. Berta describes the difficulties of life under the Ceausescu regime, especially since they were not members of the communist party and raised sheep as a living. The family lived an observant life, following kashrut and observing Shabbat and the Jewish festivals. Their son, Gustav, received a Jewish education and leads the Jewish services at the synagogue.
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Bnei Akiva – Bnei Akiva is the religious Zionist youth movement associated with the religious Zionist Mizrachi organisation and founded in 1929. Bnei Akiva is defined by its commitment to the Torah, the Jewish people, and the Land of Israel and is named after Rabbi Akiva who was a rabbi during the Mishnaic period and represents perseverance, leadership, and love of God, Torah, and Israel. Today, 45,000 young people in 35 countries participate in Bnei Akiva’s activities.
Jewish Youth Movements - Jewish youth movements are organisations for Jewish children and young people that originated in Eastern Europe at the beginning of the twentieth century. Many were ideologically driven, characterized by their adoption of Zionist ideals and a desire to return to the Land of Israel. Individual groups attached themselves to different Zionist ideologies; for example, Betar was the youth movement of the Revisionist Zionist Organisation, Bnei Akiva was affiliated with the religious Zionist religious movement, and Habonim was aligned with the Labour Zionist movement. Many young people immigrated to pre-state Israel with other members of their youth movement, and together they founded new settlements and kibbutzim. Today too, many Israeli children are involved in youth movements, meeting for weekly activities, trips, and summer camps.
Jewish Community of Romania – The Jewish history of Romania began in Roman times when a small number of Jews settled there. Jews began arriving in Romania in large numbers at the end of the fourteenth century after they had been expelled from Hungary. The community grew after the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492 and then, later, after the Chmielnicki massacres in Poland in 1648–1649. The Jews of Romania suffered anti-Semitism and were denied citizenship and faced many restrictions. In the 1800s, Romania fought for independence, first against the Ottomans and then against Russia. Romania gained independence in 1878 but, despite pressure from the world community, they continued to deny citizenship to Jews. Many Jews left Romania due to the anti-Semitic atmosphere in the country. In the years before World War II, there were over 750,000 Jews living in Romania. Although there was a Sephardi, Ladino-speaking community in Romania, most Romanian Jews were of Polish or Russian descent, spoke Yiddish, and followed Ashkenazi customs. When Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933, the Romanian government enacted additional exclusionary laws against Jews. Romania became a satellite of Germany in 1940, and by the end of the Holocaust over half of the Jewish population had been killed. After World War II, Romania came under Soviet rule but was allowed to have a level of religious freedom that was unavailable to others living in the Soviet Union. Large numbers of Romania’s surviving Jews moved to Israel and other countries. Today the community consists of approximately 15,000 people.
