Editor’s Note
This article examines the profound impact of globalization on a historic community, highlighting how the decline of Antwerp’s diamond trade has led to severe unemployment within its Hasidic Jewish population. It underscores the human cost of economic shifts that threaten traditional livelihoods.
There used to be tens of thousands of diamond cutters in the Belgian port of Antwerp. Now there are only a few hundred.
It is within the city’s Jewish community that most of the jobs have been lost – particularly among the Hasidic Jews who adhere strictly to religious laws. Out of about 2,000 Hasidic families in Antwerp, 1,000 are now headed by a man who has no job.
Unemployment of 50% would cause great hardship among any group of people. But for Hasidic Jews it brings special problems. Women do not usually work – they raise large families, with nine children on average – and the children are often given private religious education.
In fact, diamonds still make a lot of money in Antwerp – but it is shared among a small elite. Setting up as an independent dealer has become almost impossible.
Alan Majerczyk, a director of the Antwerp Diamond Bourse, denies there is any prejudice against any particular group.
Africa, too, has taken some of Antwerp’s jobs. Nations where diamonds are mined, like Botswana, now insist the lucrative cutting process is also done within the country.
The use of lasers to cut the diamonds has also reduced the number of jobs.
Most of the Jews who work in the diamond trade are self-employed, which allows them to observe the Sabbath and religious holidays.
Nowadays, though, the industry is increasingly dominated by huge businesses like de Beers, which made nearly $500m (£280m) profit last year.
Some of the Jewish men who have been left without work are now starting to retrain in other professions.
Sam Friedman believes it is vital for men from his Hasidic community to gain new skills, and so he offers them night classes in accounting, languages and computers.
Even among other Orthodox, non-Hasidic Jews, there is a major debate over education. Tradition-minded parents often do not let their children go to university, partly for fear that its secular environment will taint their religious beliefs.
Marcel Engelstein is a successful businessman in Antwerp who believes the changes in the diamond industry present an opportunity for positive change.
Some people already have learned new skills – like Daniel Verner, a young man who is making a name for himself locally as an architect. His father used to work in diamonds and his brothers still do. But he decided to go to university and then set up his own business.
Mr Verner believes that loosening the links between the Jewish community and the diamond trade will transform the society.