About Finland
Finland is a Northern European nation bordering Sweden, Norway and Russia. Its capital, Helsinki, occupies a peninsula and surrounding islands in the Baltic Sea. Helsinki is home to the 18th-century sea fortress Suomenlinna, the fashionable Design District and diverse museums. The Northern Lights can be seen from the country's Arctic Lapland province, a vast wilderness with national parks and ski resorts. In the earliest historical sources from the 12th and 13th centuries, the term Finland refers to the coastal region around Turku from Perniö to Uusikaupunki. This region later became known as Finland Proper in distinction from the country name Finland. Finland became a common name for the whole country in a centuries long process that started when the Catholic Church established missionary diocese in Nousiainen in the northern part of the province of Suomi possibly sometime in the 12th century. Winters in southern Finland (when mean daily temperature remains below 0 °C or 32 °F) are usually about 100 days long, and in the inland the snow typically covers the land from about late November to April, and on the coastal areas such as Helsinki, snow often covers the land from late December to late March. In northern Finland, particularly in Lapland, the winters are long and cold, while the summers are relatively warm but short. A quarter of Finland's territory lies within the Arctic Circle and the midnight sun can be experienced for more days the farther north one travels. At Finland's northernmost point, the sun does not set for 73 consecutive days during summer, and does not rise at all for 51 days during winter. The Finnish landscape is covered with thick pine forests and rolling hills, and complemented with a labyrinth of lakes and inlets. Much of Finland is pristine and virgin as it contains 37 national parks from the Southern shores of the Gulf of Finland to the high fells of Lapland. Finland also has urbanised regions with many cultural events and activities. Commercial cruises between major coastal and port cities in the Baltic region, including Helsinki, Turku, Tallinn, Stockholm, and Travemünde, play a significant role in the local tourism industry.
Jewish History, POI & Kosher Establishments in Finland
There are some 1,500 Jews in Helsinki, the capital (1,100 of whom are community members) and another 200 in Turku. Jewish settlement in Finland is relatively recent, dating back to 1825. Finnish Jewry was spared the horrors of the Holocaust, in part due to the resolute stand of the Finnish authorities who refused to surrender Finnish Jews to the Germans. In Helsinki, there is a store selling kosher products, which is open five days a week, and there are two kosher bakeries. One specializes in pitot, the other in boulangerie-type breads, all Pat Yisrael under the supervision of Chief Rabbi Livson. There are only two synagogues in the country—one in Helsinki and the other in Turku. Services are conducted according to Orthodox practice. Most Finnish Jews, however, are less observant in their private lives. In 2013, Rabbi Simon Livson was appointed chief rabbi. Though Israeli-born, he is the son of Finnish Jews who returned to Finland when he was child. Rabbi Livson is the first Finnish-speaking rabbi in the history of Finnish Jewry.
