Paper short abstract:

This presentation discusses experiences and expression of negotiating religious rules within the small but diverse Jewish minority of Finland, shedding light on how vernacular Judaism is done in the margins of a secular society with strong Lutheran heritage – and in the margins of the Jewish world.

Paper long abstract:

Margins surface on many levels in the life-narratives Finnish Jews. In all the Nordic countries, Jews form a miniscule ethnic and religious minority with a long historical experience of framing their cultural memory and heritage as parts of highly secular societies – shaped by the domination of Lutheran Christianity but today increasingly diverse. Finland is also placed at the margins of the Jewish world: a local diaspora at its northernmost outskirts.

The synagogues of Finland are Orthodox by ritual, but the persons who come here seldom share this self-identification. Most of them are secular – others are seekers, converts, new-Orthodox, indifferent, traditionalists or self-guided innovators. Leaning on extensive ethnography (101 interviews) and archival data generated within the Minhag Finland research project, this presentation focuses on expressions and experiences of religious rules in day-to-day Jewish life as part of complex interactions between individuals, institutions, and the surrounding society. Building on the analytical framework of vernacular religion (Primiano 1995; Bowman & Valk 2012) we ask: What does making, bending and breaking rules look like in a minority community coloured by growing diversity and deep-reaching secularity? What rules are remembered, rejected and reshaped when meaningful ways of being, knowing and doing Judaism are formed?

Longstanding established minority communities seldom advocate a total rejection of the surrounding culture but rather ‘creatively straddle both worlds’ (Kupari & Vuola 2020). We strive to capture this complex image of minority experiences in a framework sensitive to historical data and cultural context but also individual narratives and nuances.