ABSTRACT
The Jewish Community of Malmo in the south was founded in the late 1890s by refugees from Eastern Europe and has remained both Orthodox and open to Zionism. The Jews of Eastern Europe, and among them the masses of Russian Jews prior to the Communist Revolution, considered themselves to be members of both a religion and a people. In 1863 a law was passed permitting a Jew marrying a non-Jew to either convert to Christianity or to retain membership in the nearest "Mosaic Community". In 1981, under the urging of the late Bernhard Tarschys, a leading cultural figure in Sweden, the "Mosaic Communities" of Sweden changed their names and became "Jewish Communities". Swedish Jewry does belong to the European Council of Jewish Communities and has participated in its programs but these are few when compared to educational and cultural ties with Israel, which are both numerous and intensive.
