On the Kiddush tables at the Portuguese Synagogue (Esnoga) in Amsterdam every Shabbat morning were plates of herring, salmon, tuna and various pastries. When one member of the small community, a Dutchman of course, saw us focusing on eating herring, he wondered, "You like herring? Israelis and herring?" We responded, "There's no Shabbat without herring on our table." He then added humorously, "But herring like ours can’t be found anywhere.
When the prayer ends, some of us bend under the synagogue floor and pull fish straight from the water to the table." 7 View gallery The Portuguese Synagogue (Esnoga) in Amsterdam ( Photo: Courtesy of the Jewish Museuem, Amsterdam ) This, of course, is a charming story, but it contains two important elements: the centrality of herring in the diet of the Dutch in general and Jews in particular, and the fact that the Portuguese Synagogue, inaugurated in 1675, stands on water. This led to thoughts of Emuna Alon's beautiful book House on Endless Waters, which tells the fate of Dutch Jewry during the Holocaust.
To many, the image of the Netherlands during World War II is entirely different and more favorable compared to Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Vichy France and other countries. However, this image is completely distorted. Of the approximately 140,000 Jews in the Netherlands on the eve of the Holocaust, more than 107,000, or about 75% of the Jewish community, perished during the darkest days.
The number of Righteous Among the Nations in the Net.