About Norway
Norway is a Scandinavian country encompassing mountains, glaciers and deep coastal fjords. Oslo, the capital, is a city of green spaces and museums. Preserved 9th-century Viking ships are displayed at Oslo’s Viking Ship Museum. Bergen, with colorful wooden houses, is the starting point for cruises to the dramatic Sognefjord. Norway is also known for fishing, hiking and skiing, notably at Lillehammer’s Olympic resort. The southern and western parts of Norway, fully exposed to Atlantic storm fronts, experience more precipitation and have milder winters than the eastern and far northern parts. Areas to the east of the coastal mountains are in a rain shadow, and have lower rain and snow totals than the west. The lowlands around Oslo have the warmest and sunniest summers, but also cold weather and snow in wintertime. Stunning and dramatic scenery and landscape is found throughout Norway. With expansive forests, Norway has long had a tradition of building in wood. Many of today's most interesting new buildings are made of wood, reflecting the strong appeal that this material continues to hold for Norwegian designers and builders.
Jewish History, POI & Kosher Establishments in Norway
There are some 1,200 Jews in Norway, most of whom live in Oslo. There is also a small community in Trondheim. Some 500 Jews, about half of them Israelis living in Norway, are not affiliated with the community. Norway, for centuries part of the Danish kingdom, shared the same Lutheran-inspired laws that effectively restricted Jews from settling in the western regions of Scandinavia. Some flexibility was allowed for Portuguese Jews to have links with Norway, at this practice was essentially in order to make use of these Jews' trading connections. The Mosaiske Trossamfund (Mosaic Community) represents the Jews of Norway. There is one rabbi in Norway, who officiates at the synagogue in Oslo and who also supervises the kosher food shop in the capital (shechita is prohibited). There is a second synagogue in Trondheim. There are small Jewish museums in Oslo and Trondheim, while at Bygdøy in Oslo, the Center for Studies of Holocaust and Religious Minorities contains an exhibition of the Holocaust. At the Ostre Gravlund cemetery, there is a monument to the victims of the Shoah.
