Welcome to the Jewish Congregation of Hamelin

Hamelin (Hameln), Germany is best known as the home of the famous “Pied Piper” and of Glückel of Hameln, the Jewish female chronicler of daily life in mid-17th–early 18th century Germany. The town supported a small but vibrant Jewish community for over 400 years until Kristallnacht or Pogrommnacht, November 9, 1938, when the synagogue was destroyed and the Jewish population decimated.

Jüdische Gemeinde Hameln, the Reform Jewish Community of Hamelin, founded in 1997 by Rachel Dohme, Polina Pelts, and a small group of Russian immigrants, is the first organized Jewish community to be established in Hamelin since the Shoah. The congrega­tion has grown to include over 200 congregants, almost all of whom are recent Russian Jewish émigrés. JGH is a member of the Jewish Liberal-Egalitarian Organization, the World Union of Progressive Judaism, and the Central Council of Jews of Germany. Close work­ing relationships with the local government, cultural and church groups, and the Society for Christian-Jewish Solidarity have contributed to the congregation’s success.

JGH is a dynamic congregation that has made important strides in revitalizing Jewish life in Hamelin. In 1999 the congregation was successful in having Hamelin’s historic Jewish cemetery, desecrated during WWII, reopended for use. A new, larger Jewish community cemetery, administrated by the city, was dedicated in November 2001. The community built the first newly constructed Reform synagogue in post-war Germany. The synagogue stands on the very ground the town’s synagogue stood until its destruction on November 9, 1938. The new synagogue was dedicated on February 20, 2011. See Dedication photos.

JGH is proud to have its own rabbi, Dr. Ulrike Offenberg, who is in residence with the community bi-monthly and serves as its spiritual leader and advisor. Dr. Ulrike Offenberg is successor to our Rabbi Emerita Irit Shillor, who served the congregation for 15 years. The congregation observes and celebrates the holidays and Shabbat with rabbinic assistance, augmented by lay leaders.

This Web site is an important outreach vehicle to educate others about the special needs of German Jews and Russian Jewish immigrants in Germany. The congregation is beginning to raise money for its own needs with a new Tree of Life. We look forward to the future with hope. Contributions to the synagogue building fund can be made online through PayPal. May you be blessed for you generosity.

JLEV — Jewish Liberal-Egalitarian Organisation JLEV is an umbrella organization for liberal and egalitarian communities in Germany. It was founded on April 20th, 2023 (Nisan 29th, 5783) by nine German Jewish congregations. We are a unit of the Central Council of Jews in Germany. The nine founding congregations are: Egalitäre Jüdische Chawurah Gescher Freiburg e.V. Egalitärer Minjan in der Jüdischen Gemeinde Frankfurt am Main Jüdische Gemeinde Göttingen e.V. Jüdische Gemeinde Hameln e.V. Jüdische Liberale Gemeinde Region Kassel e.V. Emet weSchalom Liberale Jüdische Gemeinde Bad Pyrmont e.V. Liberale Jüdische Gemeinde Hannover K.d.ö.R. Liberale Jüdische Gemeinde Wolfsburg - Region Braunschweig e.V. Unabhängige Synagogengemeinde Berlin - Bet Haskala e.V. Our members are liberal and egalitarian Jewish communities of different sizes from all over Germany. We’ve agreed on high ethical standards, known as the JLEV Compass, that govern our organization. Our aim is to further liberal and egalitarian Jewish life in Germany and be a strong voice for progressive Judaism. We are open for other communities to join. We‘ve opened the JLEV House of Learning (Lehrhaus), which gives our member communities and their congregants many learning opportunities. Our organization is organized by grass-roots democratic principles. Our members’ meeting convenes regularly and has elected a board consisting of seven representatives. Our chairs are: Sarah-Elisa Krasnov (Kassel region) and Dr. Rebecca Seidler (Hannover). The deputies are Dr. Achim Doerfer (Göttingen) and Tatjana Mass (Hannover). The three committee members are: Dr. Ruth Geiss-Friedlander (Freiburg), Cornelia Haberlandt-Krüger (Freiburg) and Rabbi Prof. Dr. Elisa Klappheck (Frankfurt). If you’d like to learn more about JLEV, please get in touch. We speak German, English, Hebrew and Russian.

For more information about the Jewish Community of Hamelin, contact: jgh@jghreform.org Please support our community. A tax-deductible donation may be made through PayPal.       Please select Tree of Life or JGH Building Fund. To view our past newsletters, please see our Newsletter Archives.