Julius A. Leibert, the first Rabbi in Iceland

 

The first non-Christian religious ceremony in Iceland, after Christianity was officially adopted in Iceland in year 1000, was held over 941 years after the official conversion to Christianity at Alþingi, the original outdoor Parliament assembly at Þingvellir east of Iceland´s capital Reykjavík.

The 1941 gathering was a Jewish Yom Kippur gathering. It took a World War for a new religion to be practised in this culturally homogenous country of ours. In all likelihood, the first rabbi who led a religious ceremony in Iceland came to Iceland under the auspices of the US Army. It was in the fall of 1942. His name was Julius Amos Leibert. He was quite a remarkable man and an advocate of modern reformed Judaism.  Although Rabbi Julius Leibert only came to Iceland two or three times, it is quite certain that he is the first rabbi who served a Jewish congregation in Iceland. It seems to me that it is very fitting to remember him with the honour he deserves and for the great person he was. 

Born in Lithuania as Zelig Lebedko

Julius Amos Leibert was not born an American. He was, like many other Americans, a poor immigrant on the North American continent. Immigrants sought there to improve their conditions and sometimes to escape certain death due to persecution in their homeland.

Leibert was born in Lithuania on March 20, 1888. Some sources claim that he was born already in 1885; And that he intentionally kept his documents showing a later birth-date than the real one, in order to have a better chance of being admitted to the United States. When Julius was born, Lithuania belonged to the Russian Empire.

In Lithuania, Julius Leibert was not the name given to this first rabbi of Iceland. The boy was given the Jewish name Zelig, and the family name was at that point in the Russian style, Lebetky. However, at the turn of the century he was also recorded as Zalkan Lebedko (also Lebedky and Lebedkin, being names derived from ha Levi).

Zalkan was born in the town of Kedainiai, a small town that the Jews called Keidan in Yiddish. Keidan is not very far from Kaunas, which the Jews then called Kovno (see my article about my visit to Kaunas in 2015).

The family-name Lebedky has probably been adapted in Lithuanian, when Lithuanian was allowed as a language in Kedainiai. Around the time Zelig was born, the Russians banned all use of Lithuanian outright. People were imprisoned or even murdered, if they printed so much as one word in Lithuanian.

Zalkan Lebedko´s parents were Chaim HaLevi Lebedky (ca. 1851-1936), the son of Itzik HaLevi Lebedky (1806-1888), who was the son of Dov (Berel) HaLevi Lebedky (1751-1806). Zalkan´s mother was Leya or Ley (Leah), née Weintraub (1848-1902). Zelig Lebedky´s mother died of stomach cancer in 1902 and Chaim died shortly after. In 1904, Zalkan/Zeug emigrated to the United States with his 6 siblings. One of his sisters married to the name of Morris, and another sister´s name was (Fanny) Feige Elle, who later married Weinstein. Other sisters were Bluma Magil, who moved to Québec, Canada and Esther Feldman who lived in New York, as well as Rachel Sager and Molly Moskowitz both of whom lived in the Los Angeles area.

In the United States, the young Lebetky, like many in his steps, changed his name and called himself Julius Amos Leibert from then on. Some of his siblings also took this new name. Rabbi Leibert himself later said that he adapted the surname Leibert to celebrate the freedom, Liberty, that he received in the United States. Leibert sounded like Liberty in his opinion.

The synagogues in Kdainiai

When Zalkan/Julius was born, there were many synagogues, prayer houses and Jewish schools in Kedainiai. Seven prayer houses in the second half of the 19th century. The majority of the town´s population at the end of the 19th century were Jews. Jews first settled in the town in the 17th century and the town became an important religious midpoint and a center of great learning, and not only for Jews. Scottish Protestants also settled there.

 

Today, two beautiful buildings from the 19th century are preserved in Kedainiai, which before the Holocaust were synagogues. Today they are used as the town´s museums. Kaidan was also known for its production of gukurki (pickled cucumbers) and the town and the surrounding area was the main producer of cucumbers in the Baltic countries.

Some inhabitants of Keidan.

Before the 1920s, the number of Jews in Kedainai had dropped significantly. Many religious Jews of Kedainai fled for Poland and Belarus in 1939, but after the Germans arrived in the town at the end of June 1941, they murdered 325 of the Jewish inhabitants until the beginning of August of the same year. The executions took place in two forests around the town, with the loyal help of many locals. The remaining Jews of Kedainai, as well as ca. 1000 Jews from smaller villages nearby, were murdered at the Smilaga River. There the people were made to dig ditches - their own graves. They were shot on the spot, their bodies looted and then dumped in the trenches.

Jews in Keidainai herded together for execution

The Holocaust in Lithuania, with the loyal support of a great number of local collaborators of the Nazi, was from an anti-Semitic point of view a great success. Nowadays, many Lithuanians worship some of the the local murderers as national heroes, and it is a huge disgrace and sickening to witness that Nazis annually roam the streets of Lithuania´s largest towns hailing murderers of Jews with the full permission of the authorities, and without protests from the European Union, which Lithuania is a member state of. The names of Lithuanian street have been changed and in later years and have been given the names of the murderers of Jews.

A popular and a busy Rabbi

 

Julius A. Leibert´s career as a Rabbi in the United States was very long, spanning from 1915 to the 1960s. The man was a hard worker and could never really feel at ease unless he as working.

Julius A. Leibert studied ardently in the land of possibilities. He studied at the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, Ohio under Professor Julian Morgenstern. Morgenstern was one of the leading theologians and founders of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC), a movement that was later called the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ). Julius Leibert completed his rabbinical studies and training in 1915, but in addition to his theological studies, he studied law. There were a few breaks in the studies due to Rabbi Leibert´s military service in the First World War. He served as a rabbi in the US Army, but was not sent to a conflict zone in Europe.

His first position after military service as a rabbi was at the Beth El Synagogue in Scott, South Bend, Indiana, and later at Congregation Aavath Shalom in Indianapolis.

Julius Leibert got married in 1919. His wife was Leona, nee Goodman (1896-1971).

In his thirties, he got a position at a new synagogue, Emanu-El in the city of Spocane in the state of Washington, where he was very well received. He and his wife were given a car in 1920 as a token of appreciation for a job well done. The couple travelled widely in their car through the western regions of the United States.

Julius Leibert was tremendously busy in Spokane, i.a. during the construction of a new (second) synagogue for the city. He was also very active in the youth work. He also let himself be heard publicly, which was often necessary because in these parts there was a lot of anti-Semitism that other Europeans, including the Lutheran Swedes had imported with them in abundance from their old country in Scandinavia.

Leibert worked in Spokane from 1919 to 1923. From 1923 to 1928, Leiberts served in Temple Israel in Long Beach, California, and for a while in Temple Emanuel in Los Angeles.

Rabbi Leibert with his B´nos and B´nei Mitzvah outside Temple Israel, Long Beach.

 

In late 1930, Leibert was appointed chaplain for Hollywood Legion 43, which was the 43rd division of the American Legion, an organization of veterans. This division was considered one of the largest divisions of the regiment. As a member of the Officers´ Reserve, he was considered the most promising to fill this honourable position. Leibert also worked in the CCC, the Civil Conservation Corps, where young people found useful work on various projects during the high unemployment of the 1940s. Actor Walther Matthau spent one summer as a teenager in the work of young Jews under the direction of Leibert, and later in life Matthau spoke highly of that summer.

The photo below is from the fall of 1935 when Leibert conducted a New Year´s celebration for Jews who worked for the CCC. Several of Leibert´s colleagues from the US military chaplaincy also participated. Leibert is second from the right.

In 1933, Leibert retired and worked mostly as a lawyer in Los Angeles and mostly in favour of the poor. But then the Second World War broke out and Leibert again wore the uniform of the the US Army Chaplain.

1941: Rabbi Julius A. Leibert arrives in Iceland

 

Julius Amos Leibert was an Army Chaplain and major of rank from 1940, and later a lieutenant colonel. He served in the US Army until the late summer of 1945. He travelled widely within the US and abroad during the war years, and among other places to Iceland. He came to Iceland in the fall of 1942. To begin with, Jews in the British (who arrived in 1940) and American army contingents in Iceland did not bring rabbis with them (see here). Jewish religious gatherings took place under the direction of cantors, or those who were best versed in the rituals of Judaism.

There are various sources about Rabbi Leibert arrival in Iceland in 1942, when he presided over the Rosh Hashanah (New Year´s) festival and at Yom Kippur (The day of Atonement), but the most important on is the information that appears in the US Army newspaper in Iceland, The White Falcon.

The most amusing narrative of Leibert´s first visit in Iceland, however, can be found in the Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle of October 23, 1942,  in Boris Smolin´s column: Between YOU and ME:

And here are regards from the Jewish boys in Iceland and Greenland - Chaplain Major Julius Leibert of the U.S. army, who is stationed at Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis, Mo., has just returned from a special overseas mission. - He conducted services in Iceland on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. - More than 800 Jewish soldiers attended these services, among them, at least 40 officers and men of the RAF - On his way back from Iceland, Major Leibert conducted services for Jewish soldiers in Greenland and Labrador. - This is perhaps the first time in recorded  history that organized Jewish services have been held in these far-flung northern outposts. In Iceland Major Leibert found two Jewish families, one of the refugees.

The commander of the United States forces in Iceland, Charles Bonesteel visited the Jewish congregation in Iceland in the fall of 1942. The picture appeared in The Daily Times Tribune in Alexandria, Indiana in December 1942. The man with glasses to the right of the general is none other than Julius Leibert.

Same photo, but uncut in The Edwardsville Intelligencer Edwardsville, Illinois), May 18, 1944. See also Morgunblaðið.

 

In 1943, Rabbi William H. Rosenblatt took over religious observance among the Jews in Iceland, and later Rabbi Abraham Goldstein worked in the country. Often refugees, German and Austrian Jewish families, who had been allowed to settle in Iceland at the end of the 4th decade, took part in those gatherings. One of the people who came to the farm and larger festivals the most was Hans Mann. Hans (later Hans Jakobsson) received and used for a long time a prayer book (Siddur) issued by the American army during the war. The family of Hans Mann´s Icelandic wife has kindly allowed me to use a photo of the book which is now in their possession.

Jews gathered for prayers in various places in Reykjavík and the surrounding area. In The White Falcon in 1945 one can see various places of worship mentioned: March 6, 1946  there was e.g. prayer service in Finley barrack (Day Room) at 11.00. On Tuesday, there was a service in the Davis Theater at 18.00, White Rose Hall Theater in Reykjavík at 19.30 and in Turner Chapel likewise at 19:30. On Saturday, March 10, there was a service at the Rabbi´s office in the Dailey-Barrack at 11:00

Before Leibert came to Iceland, Benjamin Feldman made sure that everything was done decently.

Jews and Icelandic native Hendrik Ottósson in 1945. Ottósson, who was not Jewish, married a Jewish refugee.

Leibert, second from left in the back row, at a conference of rabbis on the campus of Harvard University in May 1943.

In the post World War II years, Leibert served in various congregations in the United States, both in permanent positions or an assistant vicar. He was in Pensacola, Florida (1951-1954), later in Anchorage, Alaska, San Luis Obispo, Eureka, San Rafael (1956-57) and Santa Cruz (1957-58) in California. Julius and his wife settled for a while in Marin County in 1956 and built up the Congregation Rodef Sholom there. He also taught religious history at a high school in Marin. But he didn´t dwell there for long either, even though his intention was to settle down there and enjoy the eve of his life. Other and new projects were always waiting this passionate person.

Prison chaplain Leibert 1954-57

In 1954, Julius Leibert took on the task of caring for Jewish prisoners in the famous San Quentin prison. He also served as a chaplain at Folsom and Alcatraz prisons, and at the same time served at Hamilton Air Force Base.

Leibert´s work as a prison chaplain was very notable, and he cared deeply about the rights of prisoners that the American authorities tried to violate. In 1957, he resigned from San Quentin Prison. He did so due to pressure from the authorities. He was one of those men of God who vehemently refused to undergo a lie detector test. Authorities wanted prison chaplains to provide information that inmates might have confided to their religious guardians. Julius Leibert then uttered these words upon his departure from the prison system:

If the word of a man of God is not enough - be he rabbi, priest or minister - he might just as well take of his clerical gown and bury them.

Leibert added:

I resent the thought of having mechanical means of testing my credibility.

With the help of Emily Kingsbery, Leibert wrote the book Behind Bars, What A Chaplain saw in Alcatraz, Folsom & San Quentin. The book, published in 1965, shows the work and thoughts of a man who valued all human life equally and did not judge people, when they had already been sentenced to insanely long and harsh sentences in an unfortunately, and at times, insanely unjust US legal system, where there has been deliberately violation of the rights of the minority groups of society; a system that more and more Icelanders seem to be embracing.

After completing his work for prisoners, Leibert served a congregation in Santa Cruz. When he reached his retirement age, he could for no reason quit his busy schedule and life commitments. He began leading religious services in Reno, Nevada. He was the first rabbi of a new congregation in that city. In 1964, he gave the congregation (Temple Sinai) its own Torah scroll, which is still in use. Mark Davis, the fosterson of actor and entertainer Sammy Davis Jr., who had converted to Judaism after a car accident, became Bar Mitzvah in Reno in 1973.

Leibert, who was surely a man of spiritual freedom, wrote about Nevada:

Nevada is the only state that has shed hypocrisy by allowing liberal attitudes.

Leibert with the first Bar Mitzvah Boy at Temple Sinai in Reno in 1964. His name is Stephen Jaffe. He still resides in Reno.

Julius Leibert passed away in 1968 and was laid to rests next to his beloved wife Leona in a Jewish cemetery at Hills of Eternity Memorial Park in Colma, San Mateo County in California.

Author:

 

Dr. Vilhjálmur Örn Vilhjálmsson

 

An earlier version of this article was published in April 2017

 

Further reading in English and French:

Previous posts about the first religious gatherings of Jews in Iceland, refugees as well as foreign servicemen, in Iceland:

The first Jewish services in Iceland 1940-1943

 

Other articles on Icelandic Jewish matters by the author:

 

(2004)

Iceland, the Jews, and Anti-Semitism, 1625-2004

 

(2020)

Iceland: A Study of Antisemtism in a Country without Jews.

 

(2021)

What happened to Holocaust-education in Iceland?

Pourquoi l´Islande résiste à enseigner l´histoire de la Shoah

Please DO NOT use my articles without a proper references.

Hnífur Gilsbakkaprests

Hinn ágæti Íslandsvenur, bandaríski fornleifafræðingurinn dr. Kevin Smith, heldur úti FB-inni North Atlantic Archaeology. Það er einkar gott framtak hjá dr. Kevin sem hjálpar nefnilega þeim sem ekki nenna að eyða tíma sínum í að leita að nýjustu fréttum.

Nú má vart finnast títuprjónn við fornleifarannsókn, að ekki sé stórfrétt um það í blöðum og öðrum fjölmiðlum. Kevin vinsar þó aðeins "háu ljósin" sem ritað er um á ensku, en menn geta líka sjálfir sett inn fréttir á FB-ina North Atlantic Archaeology, ef þeim er mikið mál á því. Stór hluti íslenskra fornleifafræðinga fylgist með á FB Kevin Smiths, en einnig enn meiri fjöldi leikra sem lærðra sem hafa áhuga á fornleifafræði í löndum við Norðuratlantshaf.

Nú fyrir helgina var Smith á faraldsfæti á leið til Noregs. Hann sett frétt um forláta hnífsskaft sem fundist hefur í Osló, sem er frá seinni hluta miðalda og hugsanlega er skaftið úr fílabeini. Fornleifafræðingurinn sem stjórnar rannsókninni Osló (sem ættaður eru úr Niðurlöndum) bendir á, að forláta hnífssköft úr fílabeini hafi veri framleidd í Amsterdam og leggur til, þó án mjög haldbærra raka að skaftið í Osló sé þaðan. Hvort skaftið er örugglega úr fílstönn hefur þó ekki verið rannsakað.

Í góðum umræðum,sem oft skapast neðanmáls á FB-North Atlantic Archaeology, lækar fólk annað hvort eða skrifar bara "wow" og einstaka maður lætur ljós sitt skína, sýndi Kevin Smith forláta hnífskaft smellt, vafalaust hollenskt frá 17. öld sem hann og aðstoðarfólk hans fundu við fornleifarannsóknir á Gilsbakka á Hvítársíðu í Borgarfirði fyrir u.þ.b. 14 árum síðan (sjá mynd efst).

Ég kannaðist við skyldan grip sem fundist hefur í Frakklandi og fann fljótt skýrslu um hann sem ég hafði hlaðið niður á gamalt fornleifadrif Fornleifs.

Fyrir utan sekkjapíparann efst, ef lítill munur á hnífsskaftinu frá Gilsbakka og því sem fannst í Loches.

Skaft úr aski Síra Gunnars Pálssonar?

Greinilegt er að mjög miklar líkur er a því að Gilsbakkamenn hafi étið vel á 17. öld. Mig grunar hver það var. Dr. Kevin Smith reyndist einnig hafa haft augastað á sama einstaklingi. Á Gilsbakka bjó m.a. og þjónaði síra Gunnar Pálsson (1587-1661) sem var í sinni samtíð lýst sem miklu heljarmenni. Svo mikið "hreystimenni", (en það kallaði maður feita menn á þeim tíma): Hann var svo líkamsþungur að trauðlega báru hann sterkustu hestar. Er ekki ósköp líklegt að slíkur jálkur hafi átt forláta hollenskan hníf og jafnvel gaffal, svo hann gat skorið svera sneið af soðnum sauð á sunnudegi eftir messu.

Hver segir svo að fjasbókin sé til alls ónýt?

Pater fra Loches, og vel í holdum.

Sómi landsins og skjöldur var í Danmörku í dag

Nú varð það loks úr, að Forseti Íslands fékk skjöld þann sem hann hefur beðið eftir að fá síðan hann var sæmdur hinni dönsku Fílaorðu af Margréti Danadrottningu árið 2017. Ýmislegt hefur orðið til þess að það dróst, m.a. kórónan á okkur öllum og margt annað. En klukkan 11 í morgun var skjöldurinn afhjúpaður.

Fornleifur er, eins og allir vita, mikill forsetadýrkandi og drottningarsinni, en aðeins þegar þær verur eru viti bornar og mannlegar. Hann skrifaði í leiðindum á Cóvid-tímum um skildi þá sem íslenskir forsetar höfðu fengið í kjölfar þess að á þá var hengdur danskur albínófíll (Sjá hér og einnig hér). Getgátur Fornleifs í fyrri greininni um skjöld Guðna reyndust því miður ekki réttar.

Fornleifur fyrstur með fréttirnar

Fornleifur er oft fyrstur með fréttirnar og sendi í dag ljósmyndara sinn út í kúamykjusveit á Sjálanditil að reyna að ná mynd af Guðna Forseta og skildinum hans. Ljósmyndadeild Fornleifssafns hefur ráðið mjög góðan ljósmyndara, sem líka er ökufantur. Mjög seinn á ferðinni skaust á Skódanum sínum til Friðriksborgarhallar til að ná forsetanum og öðrum fyrirmönnum á filmu.

Haukfrán augu forsetans sáu ljósmyndaragarminn á Fornleifi (myndin efst sýnir akkúrat , þegar Guðni fékk pata af ljósmyndaragarminum). Forsetinn gekk beint til ljósmyndarans og heilsaði á hann með handabandi sterklegu, og lét þau orð falla að hann læsi nú oft Fornleif, en væri ekki endilega alltaf sammála honum. Ljósmyndarinn varð hálf munnlama við þann dóm, og vegna skyndilegrar snobblömunar vildi hann hafa sagt að Fornleifur væri nú ekki heldur alltaf sammála því sem hann skrifaði sjálfur - en hefði það samt allt sem réttast.

Fornleifur er heldur ekki alltaf sammála því sem forsetinn segir, t.d. nú síðast í lakkríssúkkulaðimálinu - svo það kemur út á eitt hvað forsetanum sýnist.

Ljósmyndagarmurinn er nú að koma út úr myrkraherberginu með ferskar myndir af Guðna og skildinum hans í höllinni.

Á skildinum stendur, DOM: GUÐNI TH. JÓHANNESSON PRAESES REIPUBL: ISLANDIE DIE XXIV JAN: AN: MMXVII eða Herra Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, forseti lýðveldisins Íslands. Þann 24. janúar árið 2017.

Á borða yfir opinni bók, sem rauður Þórshamar svífur yfir stendur:

TIBI IPSI ESTO FIDELIS 

sem eru að líkindum Sókratísk ummæli, og má þýða yfir á íslensku á þennan hátt: Vertu sjálfum þér trúr (eða samkvæmur), sem er líka ágæt íslensk lífsregla.

Þórshamarinn yfir bókinni er svo líklega tilvísun í sagnfræðina eða Thorlacius nafnið. Að hamarinn er rauður, skal látið ótúlkað hér á Moggabloggi.

Á neðra helmingi skjaldarins er silfrað haf, væntanlega Atlantsálarnir og í því birtist kanadíska Hlynslaufið rauða, og vísar það vafalaust til Alizu konu Guðna, sem hann sótti sér og þjóðinni, til heilla yfir álana.

Í hinu silfraða hafi dóla líka 5 lítil akkeri og þar eru ugglaust komin börn þeirra hjóna, sem eru fimm að tölu. Svartgljáandi bakgrunnurinn er kannski íslenski lakkrísinn sem Guðna er svo hugleikinn að hann berst með kjafti og klóm fyrir rétti hans á alþjóðavettvangi.

Fornleifur gefur skildinum ágætis einkunn, því hér kemur loks forseti, sem kemur því að, að forsetafrúin (eða maðurinn) gegnir einnig mikilvægu hlutverki fyrir embættið: Ber er á baki kvenlaus karl. Þannig á það að vera.

Annað, sem fréttnæmt mætti þykja, er, að íslenski sendiherran kom allt, allt, alltof seint í skjaldarafhjúpunina í Friðriksborgarhöll. Ég sem hélt að hún ætti hraðskreiðan sportbíl.

... og að einhver afgangur varð af smákökum, snittum og kampavíninu. Hér sjást orðumeistarar eða starfsmenn Þjóðsögusafnsins í Friðriksborgarhöll bera fat af kökum og smá kampavínssull frá höllinni. Verði þeim líka að góðu.

The Greatest of all Icelandic Inventions - The Chocolate coated Licorice

Monday, 12 September 2022, the President of the Republic of Iceland will have his very own crest, accompanying the Danish order of the Elephant, revealed at the Chapel of the Palace of Frederiksborg, North of Copenhagen.

The Icelandic President, the honourable Dr. Jóhannesson gets his specially personalized crest as a part of the honour bestowed upon him in 2017, when Danish Queen Margrethe II pinned the Order of the Elephant, the highest of all orders in the Kingdom of Denmark, to the president´s chest.

Everyone, who receives the Order of the Danish Albino Elephant, also receives a personalized crest - among them all heads of states in the Nordic countries, kings, queens and presidents alike. The white Jumbo is simply the Top-Bling of Denmark.

The Elephant-bling on the chest of a man, who once in a while behaves like a clumsy giant elephant in a glass-shop, is actually quite appropriate. Recently, President Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, brought perpetual shame upon the Icelanders, when he praised the presidents and foreign minister from three Baltic States, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, when they were on a state visit in Iceland. The governments of these three states have since 1991 been systematically white-washing the numerous local murderers of Jews during WWII, who nowadays are highly praised as freedom-fighters in these new European Union republics. The great-grandfather of the present foreign minsiter of Lithuania was a member of a Nazi collaborator government in 1941, and supervised ghettos and the "Jewish sollution" in Lithuania.

Few weeks later the Icelandic president appeared is in the role of the protector and spokesperson of all sorts of Chocolate-coated licorice, which the President is convinced is a 100% Icelandic invention, possibly predating the voyages of Columbus to the Americas.

Icelandic President: "Eat your chocolate pork, Danes"!

Yes, you read me right, the president of Iceland has become the supreme judge of the world´s licorice production, but mainly the bland part of it which is covered in bad chocolate. In a rather presumptuous statement, which does not befit a president of any nation - unless his name is Trump,  Dr. Jóhannesson said that the Danes ought:

Rather cover pork roast and their

assorted smorgasbord-bread in chocolate

as he proclaimed that the Danes had stolen the idea of the chocolate-covered licorice from the poor Icelandic island-nation on he edge of the frozen seas of the North.

This emotional statement came after a licorice maker of dubious aristocratic pedigree in Denmark had, in a moment of mad hype, claimed, that he had invented the great art of covering licorice in chocolate. But now this licorice-wunderkind of Denmark, Johan Sebastian Bülow, has admitted that he was fantasizing just tiny little licorice bit. To make a mends, the Danish licorice-Wonka has invited the President of Iceland to his licorice/chocolate factory to reach a reconciliation with the Icelandic nation and its leader.

But the fact of the matter is that the protector of the Icelandic licorice as well as Bülow the licorice producer are both way off in their selfish fantasies.

As a spoiled kid, the editor in chief of Blog-Fornleifur was pacified with licorice covered in chocolate and also licorice jelly covered in chocolate. These treats were given to him in the land of some of his ancestors, the Netherlands. The boy-editor dubbed this candy "chocolate poops" and was reprimanded for that, like almost anything else he did or said. I liked candied ginger covered in chocolate much better, as well as anise jelly with a thin chocolate shell made of high quality 50% chocolate made from Surinamese cocoa - that was simply the best.

Food product nationalism

Taking credit for all kinds of edible goodies has for ages been a part of the national pride, and even an indescribable and silly obsession, like in the case of the chocolate-licorice in Iceland.

The many century old controversy over the origin of the "French fries" is still not resolved. The Flemings in Belgium still think their is the honour, but the Spaniards probably beat them, because they brought the potato to the Netherlands, when they controlled the region. In the process of frying the Dutch the also fried potatoes.

The Greeks fought hard for sole rights to the  Feta cheese. That cheese is most likely a direct influence from Turkey (the Ottoman Empire), which ruled Greece for a long time, but the word Feta itself is etymologically related to the word Fita (fat) in Icelandic. Maybe the Icelanders should also demand their rights, now that they have given the Icelandic soft-cheese product, Skyr, to the world for free on a silver platter. Icelandic Skyr has become a Reg. trade. mark in Germany and Denmark and Iceland does not benefit at all after keeping the 1100 year recipe intact and safe so many year.

The Scots might as well start chocolate coating Haggis, the same way they deep fry Mars bars - They believe that a spirit they call Whisky is Gaelic, down  to the last drop. Well, wrong again. The word has Norse roots and is related to the Danish Væske (liquid), which is is also rooted in the verb vaska (to wash) in Icelandic.

The good old Ketchup is neither English nor American, because the words Katchup/Ketchap were borrowed from Indonesia by the Dutch, who brought the Indonesian word for sauce to the US.

The French canapé appetizers are not French at all, but primarily Russian in origin... People still argue over mayonnaise, which many nations consider to be the part of their national soul. Icelanders thought for a long while that a certain Gunnar, who was the Icelandic codfather of a great tasting coronal artery lubricant, could be the inventor.  Gunnar´s Mayo was actually and only a very good Icelandic local variation of mayo. The French confiscated the mayo for a while, and introduced a slow-Mayo, but the substance was  actually created long before the Roman Empire. On the other hand, the Russians or the Jews introduced it to the French. In the Soviet era, mayonnaise was the highlight of Russian food culture from Leningrad all the way to Vladivostok. Employees of the Soviet embassy in Copenhagen were seen sneaking into Copenhagen Irma stores, buying a tube of mayo, which they pressed directly into their mouths on top of a layer of caviar then to wash it down with a half bottle of vodka while sitting on a bench in the park with Danish spies dressed like hobos and hoodlums.

The real origin of mixing Chocolate with licorice

A former "Dutch" company, VENCO [pronounced FENCO] established in the 19th century, which now has been taken over by the Swedish Cloetta group - which actually was originally a "Danish" company founded by two Italian-speaking brothers from Switzerland in 1862 - has launched a series of 10 types of of licorice-filled chocolate balls, similar to those produced by Bülow ---- at a much lower and even more affordable price than the balls of the "inventor" Johan Bülow, who started his production when he had just started walking in 2007. The licorice droppings of Bülow Licorice Inc. are so pricy, that you might suspect that Saint Zelenskij got to test-lick all the chocolate balls before they were packaged. Well, somehow crap gets contagious.

Now it seems to me, that VENCO/CLOETTA most probably needs to get a special permission from the All Sorts Licorice-President of Iceland, where one of the main national prides is the countries 4th grade licorice that has been dipped into bad chocolate? In the Licorice Republic of Iceland One must seriously wonder if there is something very wrong when a president, when he is not praising statesmen from countries who falsify their history in order to justify hatred of minorities (Jews, Russian, Roma and the Gay community) throws himself into trivial disputes over licorice coated chocolate.

The editorial board of Fornleifur suspects that President Jóhannesson will have to swallow the hard uncoated fact that the chocolate-coated licorice is not a genuine Icelandic invention. Next Christmas, all the Smoked lamb roast at he Presidential residence at Bessastaðir will be covered in chocolate and the caramelized potatoes (which are heavenly and neither Icelandic, Danish nor French) will smothered in a thick sauce of South American chocolate sprinkled with licorice shavings.

The fact of the matter is that Icelanders have never invented anything except a lot of nonsense.

Latest news out of Copenhagen

which Fornleifur gets from a rather unreliable sources deep within the the Danish Court), states that the the signature legend on elephant shield of President of Iceland, will read

Omnia Islandica est sicut liquiritiae

texit scelerisque

which translates into the King´s English as: Everything Icelandic is like chocolate-covered licorice. The Crest bears the image of a brown and black piglet in a brown muddy puddle.

Good luck to you dear President Guðni. Rattle your Jumbo-bling and give our greetings to the Danish Royalty. Promise me to roll a seriously good licorice joint with Queen Margrethe II before she leaves for Queen Elizabeth´s funeral.

By the way, one of the pieces of the Black Magic chocolate box originally produced by Rowntree´s in York (swallowed by Nestlé), which used to be produced by the Appointment of HM Queen Elizabeth, was a lump of slightly licorice flavoured fondant or dark caramel, covered with thick dark Chocolate. It was called Dreamy Fudge or something like that, if my memory serves me right.

Omnia Islandica est sicut liquiritiae texit scelerisque

Forseti Íslands fær nú á mánudag, 12.9.2022, skjöld sinn hengdan upp í Friðriksborgarhöll á Sjálandi. Skjöldinn fær hann í framhaldi af því að hann fékk Fílaorðu með kórónu árið 2017. Allir sem fá fílinn verða að bera skjöld (sjá meira um fílaskildi forsetanna hér).

Fílabling á brjóstið á manni, sem hagar sér eins og ólmur elefantur í glervörubúð, er reyndar mjög vel við hæfi.

Nýlega mærði Guðni menn frá löndum þar sem gyðingamorðingjar eru í gríð og erg hylltir sem frelsishetjur og svo nokkru síðar var hann orðinn talsmaður sukklakkríss á Íslandi. Já,forsetinn hefur gerst æðsti dómari fyrir lakkrísframleiðslu heimsins.

Í mjög þóttafullri yfirlýsingu, sem ekki sæmir forseta þjóðar - nema ef hann heitir Trump eða Prump, sagði Guðni um daginn, að Danir ættu frekar að hjúpa svínasteik og smurt brauð í súkkulaði og hélt því fram að Danir hefðu stolið súkkulaðihjúpuðum lakkrís frá okkar aumu þjóð í Ballarhafi.

Þessi tilfinningarþrungna yfirlýsing kom í kjölfar þess að lakkrísframleiðandi af vafasömum aðalsættum í Danmörku hélt því fram í andartaks ofmetnaði auglýsingaheimsins, að hann hefði fundið upp þá miklu list að hjúpa lakkrís súkkulaði. 

En nú er lakkgrísdrengurinn Johan Bülow frá Borgundarhólmi búinn að gefa sig og hefur boðið Forseta Íslands í lakkrísverksmiðjuna til að ná sáttum við íslenska þjóð og forystusauð hennar. 

Lakkrísforsetinn og Bülow lakkrísframleiðandi eru báðir á villigötum.

Ritstjóri Fornleifs fékk sem ungur lakkrís hjúpaðan í súkkulaði og einnig lakkríshlaup hjúpað í súkkulaði. Það var í Hollandi. Ég kallaði þessa bita lakkrískúka og var ávíttur fyrir það eins og allt annað. Betri þótti mér sykraður engifer hjúpaður í súkkulaði og anishlaup með þunnri súkkulaðiskel úr hágæða 50% súkkulaði framleiddu úr kakó frá Súrínam.

Það hefur lengi verið hluti af þjóðernisstolti og jafnvel ólýsanlegum og kjánalegum rembingi, líkt og með súkkulaðilakkrísinn á Íslandi, að þjóðir eigni sér ákveðna rétti eða matvöru. 

Deilan um uppruna "frönsku kartaflnanna" er enn ekki leyst. Flæmingjar í Belgíu halda enn að þeir eigi heiðurinn, en líklegast eiga Spánverjar hann, því þeir komu með kartöfluna til Niðurlanda, er þeir stjórnuðu þeim um tíma. Grikkir hafa farið hamförum út af Fetaostinum. Sá ostur er að öllum líkindum bein áhrif frá Tyrklandi (Ottómannaríkinu) sem stjórnaði Grikklandi í langan tíma, en sjálft orðið Feta er málsifjalega skylt orðinu Fita á íslensku. Kannski ættu Íslendingar líka og krefjast réttar síns á Fetunni, nú þegar þeir eru búnir að gefa heiminum Skyrið gratís á silfurfati. Skyr er orðið Regtrademark í Þýskalandi og Danmörku.

Skotar gætu alveg átt það til að súkkulaðihjúpa Haggis, eins þeir djúpsteikja iðnaðarsúkkulaði -  Þeir halda einnig að brennt vín sem þeir kalla Whiskey sé gelískt til allra síðasta dropa, en orðið er norrænt og skylt Væske (vökva) á dönsku og vaski (að vaska sig) á Íslensku.

Tómatsósan er hvorki ensk né bandarísk, og orðin Katchup/Ketchap eru fengið af láni frá Indónesíu af Hollendingum, sem skiluðu indónesíska orðinu fyrir sósu til BNA. Canapé-forréttir Frakka eru ekki franskir fyrir fimm aura, heldur fyrst og fremst rússneskir að uppruna... Menn deila svo  enn um majónesið, sem margar þjóðir telja sig eiga. Íslendingar héldu lengi vel að einhver Gunnar væri Gvöðfaðir þeirrar kransæðasmurolíu. Frakkar eignuðu sér majóið um tíma, en drullumallið var reyndar búið til í Rómarveldinu. Aftur á móti voru það Rússar eða gyðingar sem líklega kynntu það fyrir Frökkum. Í Sovétríkjunum sálugu var majo hápunktur matarmenningar. Of sáust starfsmenn sovéska sendiráðsins í Kaupmannahöfn kaupa sér í túbu af majó í Irma-búðunum, sem þeir pressuðu beint í munninn og skoluðu gumsinu niður með hinum vota vodka.

 

Nú er fyrrum "hollenskt" fyrirtæki, Venco að nafni og mjög fornt, sem fyrir löngu er komið í eigu sænsku Cloetta samsteypunnar - sem reyndar var upphaflega "danskt" fyrirtæki sem stofnað var af ítölskumælandi bræðrum frá Sviss árið 1862 - farið að framleiða heil 10 afbrigði af lakrísfylltum súkkulaðikúlum, svipuðum þeim sem Bülow framleiðir ---- eeen á miklu lægra og jafnvel viðráðanlegra verði en kúlur "uppfinningarmannsins" Johan Bülows sem byrjaði sína framleiðslu er hann var nýfarinn að ganga árið 2007.

Bülowspörðin eru svo dýr, að halda mætti að Sankti Zelenskij hafi fengið að prufusleikja allar kúlurnar áður en þær voru settar í umbúðir. Ja, einhvern veginn smitast vitleysan.

Nú sýnist mér það liggja í augum uppi, að VENCO/Cloetta þurfi þegar að fá leyfi hjá hjúpt sokknum lakkrísforsetanum á Álftanesi á Krummalakkrísskuðinu í Norðurballarhafi, þar sem eitt helsta þjóðarstoltið er 4. flokks lakkrís sem dýft hefur verið í léleg súkkulaði? 

Lakkríslýðveldið Ísland

Maður verður alvarlega að velta því fyrir sér, hvort eitthvað mikið sé að í lýðræðisríki, þar sem forseti, sem þegar hann er ekki að mæra ráðamenn frá löndum sem falsa sögu sína til að réttlæta hatur á minnihlutum í landi sínu (sjá hér), kastar sér út í milliríkjadeilur um lakkríssúkkulaði. 

Fornleif grunar, að Guðni verði að éta lakkrískonfektið ofan í sig. Allt hangikjötið á Bessastöðum um jólin verður hjúpað súkkulaði og brúnu kartöflurnar (sem reyndar eru hvorki íslenskar, danskar, né franskar) verða í þykkri sósu af suðuramerísku súkkulaði með lakkrískurli stráðu yfir.

Íslenska ruglið LENGI LIFI og kandískóngurinn á Bessastöðum líka. Við hrópum í heift og full af andagift eins og Karíus og Baktus gerðu áður en þeim var skolað út í hafsauga með veskju: Meira gott, meira gott  - Jens, VEÐ HEIMTUM ÍSLENSKAN SÚKKULAÐILAKKgRÍS! Danir geta bara étið sín litningabreyttu sukksvín. Í þau hefur verið bætt erfðasyndum úr mannskepnunni.

En athugið: Sannleikurinn er ávallt bestur berrassaður án brúnkukrems, hjúps eða hvers konar glassúrsaðra litningasvika.

Staðreyndin er einu sinni sú, að Íslendingar hafa aldrei fundið neitt upp, ekki einu sinni vitleysuna. --- Afsakið lesendur góðir landhelgisklippurnar voru reyndar alíslensk hugmynd.

Nýjustu fréttir frá Kaupmannahöfn

Fornleifur hefur fengið af því nasaþefinn, að einkennisorðin á fílablingsskildi Guðna forseta, sem afhjúpaður verður nk. mánudag, beri þessa áletrun:

Omnia Islandica est sicut liquiritiae

texit scelerisque

sem útleggja má á eftirfarandi hátt: Allt íslenskt er eins og súkkulaðihjúpaður lakkrís. Skjöldurinn ber mynd af brúnum og svörtum gríslingi í brúnun forarpytti, sem strýktur hefur verið hrínandi með hrísi. Undir stendur skamm skammtöfunin: G [uðni],[Lakk) RÍS.

Verði ykkur að góðu. Guðni heilsar frá okkur blandfólkinu í höllinni og rúllar síríously góða lakkrísjónu með Margréti áður en hún fer í útför Betu frænku.

Fíll Guðna er vitaskuld með veglegan rana á milli bakfótanna. Vel á við að hann sé rauður. Takið eftir hinum þjóðlega lakkrísbakgrunni. Girnilegt...

Vindlar Jóns Forseta

Guðmundur Magnússon sagnfræðingur, blaðamaður og fyrrverandi löglega settur þjóðminjavörður hefur mikinn áhuga á mikilmennum. Ef það var ekki Gorbatsjov eða Thorsarar, heilir, hálfir eða skornir, þá hefur Jón Sigurðsson lengi verið honum mikið áhugaefni.

Á FB sinni leitaði Guðmundur um daginn upplýsinga um vindla sem munu hafa verið seldir á Íslandi á 3. áratug 20. aldar. Voru þetta vindlar sem kenndir voru við Jón Sigurðsson eða báru nafn hans.

Sendisveinn Fornleifssafns hefur mikinn áhuga á vindlum. Hann er bókstaflega fæddur með vindlareik í æðum, sonur vindlainnflytjenda (sem flutti inn Willem II), kominn af vindlarúllurum og skyldur tóbaksplantekrustjórum sem voru, er  þeir kréperuðu úr pestum á plantekrunum, fluttir til Hollands saltaðir í tunnum, svo hægt væri að grafa þá í vígðri mold. Sendillinn hjá Leifi hinum forna reykir þó ekki vindla frekar en Guðmundur Magnússon.

Sendisveini Fornleifs datt í hug að mynd af "uppdigtuðum" þjóðhöfðingja sem prýddi vindla frá hollensku vindlaverksmiðjunni Mignot & de Block í Eindhoven í Hollandi (sjá efst), sem kallaðir voru REGAL, hefðu verið kallaðir Jóns Sigurðssonar vindlar á Íslandi. Sendisveininn setti upp myndir af REGAL-kössum og vindlamerkjum hugmynd sinni til fulltingis á FB Guðmundar Magnússonar.

En nei, Guðmundur greindi þá frá því, hvernig þessir vindlar voru notaðir í stjórnmálabaráttunni fyrir kosningar árið 1926, og setti neðanstæða úrklippu úr Mogganum máli sínu til stuðnings.

Hjálp!

Fornleifur biður nú alþjóð aðstoðar við að finna kassa undan Jónavindlum Sigurðssonar, eða vindlana sjálfa og vindlamerkið.

Ef einhver býr svo vel að hafa geymt vindla, vindlamerki eða óopnaðan kassa síðan 1926-28, eru verðlaun í boði. Fornleifur sendir eintak af "Súkkulaði Siggu" til þeirra tveggja fyrstu sem geta upplýst og sannað að þeir eigi vindlakassa eða vindla með nafni og ásjónu Jóns Sigurðssonar Jóns forseta frá fyrirtækinu Mignot & de Block. Vindlar eða kassar verða að vera frá 3. áratug 20. aldar.

Þess má geta að hún Sigga, sem tveir eigendur Jónavindlaminja (ekki þó öskunnar) fá í verðlaun, ef þeir eiga kassa af Jóni Forseta eða bara vindilinn með merki, reykti eins og strompur síðar á lífsleiðinni - en vissulega ekki Jóns Sigurðssonar vindla. Sigga reykti velrúllaðar Jónur og vildi ekkert annað.

Úr auglýsingu í Alþýðublaðinu 18 júní 1930. Jón er ávallt nefndur með Regal. Er það tilviljun?