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Dear members, friends and supporters,
Summer is finally here. Looking back, we thoroughly enjoyed beautiful Shavuoth services led by our Rabbi Irit Shillor. Warm June breezes carried our voices in prayer and song as our sanctuary filled with many members, young and old. Lovely leafy branches and fragrant flowers decorated our rooms. The Kiddush table was laden with homemade cheesecake and other delicious dishes made from milk and honey. Once again, we celebrated this beautiful holiday together, combining tradition and modernity. Afterwards, our tradition of Tikun haLaila (Study night) began. Rabbi Shillor led us through “Gan Eden” (Garden of Eden) with biblical readings and discussions from Mishna and Talmud. Everyone contributed, making the dialogue lively and interesting throughout the night. At midnight, Dieter and Volodymr treated us to steaming vegetable soup and sweet yoghurt fruit salad, which gave us strength to go on. Exhausted and happy, we look forward to next Shavuoth with our Rabbi. Our synagogue is truly a house of prayer and learning.
Our children and youth enjoyed a weekend in Berlin, which not only was “totally cool” but also strengthened their Jewish identity. Read more about it below.
The adults enjoyed a special outing, thanks to the organizational talents of Matvey and Faina. We traveled to the city of Hamburg, where we enjoyed a city tour and a visit to the Liberal Congregation there. A special treat was the concert performed by their synagogue choir. Visits between congregations of the Union of Progressive Jews of Germany (UPJG) strengthens our ties to one another. We hope to host our Hamburg friends in Hameln soon.
There’s certainly been a lot going on!
With the summer months of July and August come warm days and the need to take things a bit more slowly. We wish all our members and friends a restful, happy and healthy summer. Our congregational activities will also take a rest as we gather our energies for the new Jewish year and all we’ve planned. We are happy to announce that Rabbi Ilana Baird from Haifa will join us again this year for the High Holidays.
There’s no lack of work and challenges ahead as we take each step forward toward our goal of building the first Reform synagogue in post-war Germany. In November, we will remember the 70th anniversary of the so-called “Pogrommnacht” with a benefit concert for our new synagogue. Member Uwe Wolandowitsch is working day and night and hopes this will be the best concert ever.
Not to worry, even though things will slow down a bit in July and August, all classes and groups will begin again in September. Social worker, Faina Pelts will be on vacation a week after the UPJ conference in July but the office will remain open during the summer as usual.
Jewish July and August
On Saturday, July 5th we will celebrate Shabbat Chukkat and Benyamin Meschede-Krasa’s Bar Mitzvah. Benyamin has been an exchange student this past year and a member of our community. As the year draws to a close and Benyamin becomes Bar Mitzvah, he wants to celebrate this day in our congregation and with us. Rabbi Shillor will lead the services and Benyamin will be called to the Torah for the first time. We are honored to share this day with Benyamin, his American, Israeli and German family and his relatives from Prague. We hope everyone will join in the celebration.
Religiously seen, Benyamin becomes an adult and publicly accepts the rights and responsibilities of his Jewish life, just as the 5 young men and women of our congregation before him have. After many hours of preparation, Benyamin is ready to be counted in a Minyan, or religious quorum.
We are all proud of Benyamin and happy for him. Please join Benyamin and his family on Saturday, July 5th at 10:00 a.m. A festive Kiddush will follow the service.
On Wednesday, July 9th, our congregation will open the summer series, “Music and Words” at Hameln’s Market Church at 6:15 p. m.. The motto this year is “Blessings and Happiness” and we hope our members and friends will join us for this special evening. Rachel Dohme will read texts, reflecting the concepts of blessings and happiness from Jewish perspective and the acclaimed pianist, Albert Mamriev will perform on the piano. Mr. Mamriev was born in the former Soviet Union where he attended the Conservatory in Moscow, lived, studied and performed in Israel, where we received many awards for his virtuosity and now resides in Hannover. It is our pleasure to present Hameln with an international artist of his caliber.
Our Youth Group
In last month’s newsletter, we reported that our member, Julia Berhovski had planned a trip for our children and youth. Additional help came from Peter and our rabbinical student, Adrian Schell. Please read the following report from Miriam, 10 and Gabriel, 8.
We traveled to Berlin on June 14th and 15th.Everyone from our youth group came along. Julia and Peter planned a great program for us. We all took the train from Hameln to Berlin and student rabbi Adrian was waiting there to meet us when we arrived. We saw many famous sights in Berlin. Julia’s friend invited us for lunch and afterwards we visited
the Holocaust memorial and museum. After nightfall, we took a walk and saw the city lights at night. That was cool! Breakfast the next morning was delicious. We visited a chocolate factory and then went to the synagogue in Oranienburger Street. We were all very impressed. We ate in a kosher restaurant for lunch and everything tasted very good. Adrian and Chaim accompanied us the entire time, showing us things and explaining things to us. They helped Julia and Peter take care of us. We laughed so much and had so much fun. It was totally cool! The two days were really great and we want to thank everyone, the congregation, and especially Julia, Peter, Adrian and Chaim.
—Miriam and Gabriel
We wish all the children and youth a “totally cool” summer camping experience at the UPJ’s annual summer camp, “Yehonatan” in Denmark.
14th national conference of the Union of Progressive Jews of Germany
We wish our delegation a successful conference. This year’s national conference of the Union of Progressive Jews of Germany (UPJG) will be held once again in Berlin-Spandau. From Thursday, July 10th until Sunday, July 13th, liberal Jews from our UPJG communities will join together for four days of communal learning, socializing and prayer. This year’s conference theme is “Liberal Judaism in Germany today.” Conference languages are German, Russian and English. A new national board will be elected and we’ll report the results in our September newsletter.
New Members
We welcome new members, Mrs. Gerr and son to our community. They’ve already gotten involved and our youth group is pleased to have a new member! Do you know anyone in Hamelin who is looking for an active Jewish community? Please have them contact us and we will provide them with information about our congregation. Our door is open and we welcome new members.
Friends
We receive many interested visitors in our congregation. Sometimes they wish to visit more often and in general, take part in our activities. One such visitor, Mrs. Anja Grah, has joined our “Friends” group. Welcome and see you soon!
Contributions
We thank the community members and friends who have so generously supported our communal life and synagogue construction plans with their contributions: Mr. Mark Schwartz, Mrs. Anja Grah, Mr. John Smith, Mrs. Ursula Niedert, the Hameln Lion’s Club and the Society for Christian-Jewish Solidarity. May you all be blessed for your generosity.
Tree of Life
Who will sponsor the next leaf on our tree? Leaf for leaf we get closer to our aim of building a synagogue.
Leaves can be ordered through our office or by contacting Rachel Dohme at racheldohme@cvmx.de . Each leaf costs €54 (triple chai). Contribute a leaf and help us to build our synagogue!
Mazel Tov
Mazel Tov to Benyanim Meschede-Krasa on his Bar Mitzvah and successful year as an exchange student in Germany. We wish him all the best and miss him already!
Thank You — Todah Rabah
We thank our student rabbi Adrian Schell for an excellent internship year. Adrian always invested 110%, displaying initiative, creativity and dedication. Each visit was valuable. We wish him all the best in his further studies, especially next year in Israel. We look forward to working with Adrian again in the future.
The visit was short but we enjoyed and thank Rebekka Dohme for beautifying services with her voice during her summer vacation at home. We look forward to her next visit in December.
Thank you to all the teachers and group leaders of all our classes and activities. Through your volunteer work, our congregational life is varied and colorful, offering something for everyone. We also thank those members who take time to attend seminars and lectures and who bring back and enrich our congregational life with their newly acquired knowledge.
Thank you to Julia Berhovski, Peter Blase and Adrian Schell for organizing and accompanying our youth group to Berlin.
Many thanks to Matvey Dvortsis and Faina Pelts for organizing the trip to Hamburg.
Our library has grown thanks to new contributions from the following people: Mrs. Büthe, Mrs. Christa Bruns, Rachel and Rebekka Dohme. Library hours are Wednesday and Friday mornings.
We wish to thank the Foundation’s advisory board for the hard work put into re-writing our new brochure: “A Synagogue for Hameln”, which will soon be available. Thanks also to bme, Hannover for the layout and C W Niemeyer for printing 1000 copies without cost to us.
We wish to thank each and everyone who helped to make our June events such a success.
Birthdays in July and August
For all those celebrating a July or August birthday, the very best wishes for health and happiness. We have a small gift for all our July and August Birthdays after services on July 20th and August 25th. Join the party!
Refuah Schlama — Get Well Wishes
We wish all who are confined to their homes or in the hospital a complete recovery. If you would like a visit please contact the synagogue office.
Yahrzeits in June — We remember:
Nataliya Zaychenko — July 1, 2003 / 1 Tammuz 5763
May her memory be a blessing. Please join us at services as we recite Kaddish with family members. Yahrzeit candles are available through the synagogue office.
Shalom,
—Your Synagogue Board
Program for July-August 2008 • Sivan–Tammuz–Av 5768
Office hours: Mon., Wed. & Fri., 8:00 a.m.–12:00 noon and Tues. & Thurs., 9.00 a.m.–4.00 p.m. |
Tuesday, July 1
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9:00 a.m.
4:00 p.m.
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Monthly synagogue board meeting
Video Afternoon, M. Dvotsis |
| Friday, July 4 |
2:30 p.m.
4:00 p.m. |
Rabbi Irit Shillor's monthy visit
Giyur class
B'nei Mitzvah class |
| Saturday, July 5 |
10:00 a.m. |
Bar Mitzvah Benyamin Meschede-Krasa
Kiddush following the service |
| Wednesday, July 9 |
6:15 p.m. |
“MUSIC and WORDS” Rachel Dohme and Albert Mamriev, Piano Market Church |
| Thursday, July 10–Sunday, July 13: |
14th Annual Conference of the Union of Progressive Jews of Germany, Berlin-Spandau |
| Saturday, July 19 |
10:00 a.m. |
Saturday morning services and Torah study, D. Vogelhuber |
| Friday, July 25 |
3:30 p.m.
5:00 p.m. |
Rabbinical student Adrian Schell's monthly visit
Bar Mitzvah class
Friday night services, Guest: our new rabbinical student, Yan Tsipris Guest: Ruth Torode, Ireland |
| Saturday, July 26 |
10:00 p.m. |
Saturday morning services and Torah study, R. Dohme |
| Tuesday, July 29–Sunday, Aug. 10: |
Union of Progressive Jews of Germany Summer
Camp “Jehonatan”, Denmark |
| Tuesday, August 5 |
9:00 a.m. |
Monthly synagogue board meeting |
| Friday, August 8 |
5:00 pm. |
Friday night services, R. Dohme |
| Wednesday, August 13 |
11.00 a.m. |
“Clean up Day”, Synagogue Place, Bürenstrasse |
| Friday, August 22 |
5:00 p.m. |
Friday night services, R. Dohme |
Activities outside the community |
| Wednesday, July 9 |
6:15 p.m. |
“MUSIC and WORDS” Rachel Dohme and Albert Mamriev, Piano, Market Church |
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Archived Newsletters:
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