Talk:Moses Rosen
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[edit] Controversies
I know that Rosen was a controversial figure, but so far I haven't got a lot on that. I gather from many sources that during much of the Ceauşescu era, Israel was basically buying Jews' passage out of Romania at about US$2,500 per person, and that, while Rosen later denied knowledge or participation, given his role as the mediator between the Jewish community and Communist authorities, it is almost unimaginable that he was not involved. It seems certain that he was doing what he thought best for the Jewish community in Romania rather than seeking personal gain, but his failure at the end of his life to own up to some of what he did was definitely controversial. Also, I gather that he started out an anti-Zionist and later became a Zionist. I could go on, but I imagine the general point is clear: no one could steer a simple course and remain leader of a religious community through 40 years of the Romanian Communist era.
I've put into the article what little I could quickly find on line about any of this from appropriately citable sources. I'm going to try to turn up a copy of the Finkelstone biography, but I've heard that is a bit of a hagiography. Does anyone have anything well-sourced on the any of the controversies around Rosen?
Also I ran into a couple of references to some sort of rest home or asylum in Bucharest named after him, dating from the Communist era, but I don't know details; there must be an interesting story there. -- Jmabel | Talk 06:47, Dec 3, 2004 (UTC)
