Sim
Shalom
Magyarul Annual Report 2005
Legal Matters and Local Religious Politics
In 2005 the unsuitability of our present premises became a burning
problem for us. Due to the increasing attendance of our programs we grew
out our rented apartment in a block of flats. In addition we have been
suffering from the continuous anti-Semitic harassment of our neighbours.
We want to solve this problem with governmental help. Therefore as an
independent Religious Organisation we started negotiations with Mr.
Kálmán Gulyás, Hungarian State Secretary of Religious Affairs. Having
understood our need he expressed his willingness to help. On a separate
note we approached the Hungarian Treasury for allocating a suitable
premise for our community goals. As a registered congregation we became
eligible for such an allotment. Mr. Gulyás supported our application to
the Treasury Property Directorate for more suitable premises. Thus Sim
Shalom is now to obtain a villa (without the basement) in the flat leafy
suburbs of Budapest, not far from the city centre. The building suits
the requirements of the community, but needs complete renovation. We
have just started an international fundraising campaign to finance this.
Another financial benefit of becoming a registered congregation in
Hungary is that now Sim Shalom is eligible for a 1 percent share of the
income tax of each taxpayer disposing so. We are already earning a
sizeable amount of our yearly income from this source to be paid for the
first time in 2006.
Public Appearance and Contacts with Local Jewish Organisations
The breakthrough in this area happened at Purim when a newly born
Conservative youth organisation, Marom invited our Rabbi to a
round-table discussion. Its aim was to bring together the rabbis and
representatives of Chabad-Lubavitch, Orthodox, Modern-Orthodox,
Neologue-Conservative and Progressive streams of Judaism to introduce
themselves to the general public.
The next historical step towards acceptance of religious plurality in
Hungary was a conference entitled ˝Dialogue on Judaism˝ at the Hungarian
Academy of Science in November. It was set up by 18 secular and
religious Jewish organisations under the name Jewish Community Forum.
The main supporter of the conference was the American Jewish JOINT
Distribution Committee. Sim Shalom actively participated already in the
preparatory stage and had a strong presence there. Rabbi Katalin Kelemen
gave a lecture on Progressive Judaism and participated at another
round-table discussion. We offered two well attended Sabbath services
and raised a great interest with our booth, too.
Our media presence has remarkably increased, too. Sim Shalom and our
Rabbi featured in half a dozen newspaper articles and TV programs.
Programs and Activities
Family programs
Sim Shalom community has organised its traditional family summer camp
this year again, now in a different venue, in the Lauder-Joint Camp of
Szarvas. We were thrilled to have the opportunity to “make ourselves at
home” for the first time in this Jewish Camp. We also take this
opportunity to thank the American Jewish JOINT Distribution Committee
for granting us this possibility. In the special summer edition of our
Newsletter you can read a summary of the main events in English.
Youth Programs
Members of our young adult group ˝Simchaz˝ attended the annual Eurojews
Purim Party in Prague and they took a Summer Study Trip through NE
Hungary to see the remains of the vanished Jewish communities there.
They had their own booth at the ˝Sziget˝, biggest European Music
Festival and at the Day of Solidarity with Israel.
High Holidays
Sim Shalom had to organise all the High Holiday programs at external
locations due to the great number of attendants. We had a Seder evening
in Danube Palace, Rosh Hashanah in the synagogue of the Lauder School of
Budapest and Chanukah in Spinoza Café and Theatre, each place suitable
to accommodate more than 100 people.
Oneg Shabbat programs
Sim Shalom continued organising the prosperous Oneg Shabbat lecture
series on every odd Friday night. Let us mention a few lecturers just to
indicate the high-tone of these events:
Louise Vasvari , Professor of Comparative Literature at State University
of New York at Stony Brook gave a lecture on Imre Kertész, the world
famous Hungarian writer, who won the 2002 Nobel Prize in Literature.
Professor Ida Fröhlich, Associate Dean of the Pázmány Péter University,
Hungary gave a lecture on the Dead Sea Scrolls and the history of the
communities of Qumran.
Antónia Szász, anthropologist and sociologist gave a lecture on her
monograph ˝Embers˝ about Jewish revival of Hungary in Sim Shalom
community, published by the Hungarian Academy of Science.
Education
In addition to the on-going regular courses of Torah Study, Liturgy and
Hebrew, Rabbi Katalin Kelemen gave a Midrash course with the title ˝Dig
together with the Rabbis˝. Following its success she is invited to be
one of the teachers of an inter-denominational Beth Midrash course at
Balint Jewish Communal Centre, Budapest.
Life Cycle Events
In year 2005 we entered another few memorable days into the virtual
Almanac of Sim Shalom: we had two weddings, one adult Bat Mitzvah and a
Brith Bat ceremony.
International Relations
Sim Shalom was represented at the biannual GA of WUPJ in Moscow in
summer 2005, at the Beutel Seminar of WUPJ in Jerusalem for lay leaders
of progressive Jewish communities in January and the Berlin Rabbinical
Conference in May. We are grateful to Mr. Alex Dembitz whose generous
donation made possible for three of our young leaders to get all the
benefits from a Birthright Tour in Israel.
Among our numerous visitors we had the pleasure to have a memorable
visit of our Honorary Associate Rabbi Fred Morgan and his Synagogue
group of Melbourne, Australia, Rabbi Joel Abraham and his confirmation
class of Plainfield, New Jersey, Rabbi Francois Garai and his family of
Geneva, Switzerland and Cantor Melanie Gall from Alberta, Canada who
wonderfully contributed to our Yom Kippur services.
There were two interreligious meetings in 2005, a visit of the members
of the Evangelical Student Alliance of Berlin and a lecture of Rabbi Dr.
Ron Kronish, Director of the Interreligious Coordinating Council in
Israel (ICCI), when representatives of the Christian-Jewish Council of
Hungary were also invited.
Future Plans and Needs
Our main task in the future is raising funds for the renovation of our
new premises and afterwards the consecration of our new Synagogue. May
we have power enough to fulfil this enormous job before the end of this
year!
George Hajnal
vice-president at time of report