Jewish Journal: Jews of the Midnight Sun

“We’re just wild about Harry” was our pervasive feeling in Norway, because we spent a week with Harry Rodner, a former oil company executive, and now a marvelous guide. Sophisticated and menschlich, Harry’s family contributed the funds for Oslo’s synagogue. Norway is now the richest country per capita in Europe because of North Sea oil and salaries (and expenses) are 30 percent higher than in the rest of Western Europe.

Like all good guides, Harry shared more than facts; he told us wonderfully fascinating stories of Norway and its Jews, including his own. Harry introduced us to the Vigeland Sculpture Park — a must — representing 20 years of an artist’s creativity, in which Vigeland evoked powerful images of love and hate — within families, between lovers and in human striving. The National Gallery and Munch Museum were also artistic experiences of the highest order and we realized how little we knew about the cultural contributions of Scandinavia to Western Civilization.