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Volodymr blowing the shofar
during High Holiday services
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Dear members, friends and supporters,
Once again, we wish all our members and Jews everywhere a happy New Year! Our High Holy Day services were beautiful, and almost every member helped in one way or another to make them so. Our communal prayers, song and the shofar’s call spoke to our hearts and souls; the “pot luck” Rosh Hashana buffet was delicious and delightful. We felt once again how truly we have grown to become a community.
May the New Year be as sweet as the apples and honey we shared. May we all be inscribed for a good year. May there be peace for Israel and the world.
Our Sukkoth celebration rounded out the busy month of September. Now an annual event, for the 3rd time we erected a Sukkah on our land. The home-made Challot and fruits we ate, the wine we drank, the lovely decorations the children made, the service we held-all strengthen the religious development of our congregation and enriches our town with modern and vital Judaism.
Our community's participation at the “Festival of Peace”, a celebration of inter-religious tolerance, where Jews, Moslems and Christians sat and prayed for peace together exemplified how barriers can be broken through mutual understanding.
We were grateful to the Society for Christians and Jews who, along with us, hosted Mr. Olaf Glöckner of the Moses Mensdelsohn Center for a fascinating lecture about the Russian-Jewish Immigration to Germany since 1990. We thank Mr. Glöckner for contributing his honorarium to the synagogue building fund.
Holidays in October
Shemini Atzeret is celebrated festively on the last day of Sukkoth. For Reform Jews, this day coincides with Simchat Torah. We conclude the last reading of the 5th Book of Moses and begin anew, reading from the 1st book. It's all a reason to celebrate Torah. Celebrate with us!
Synagogue Building Project
Hurrah! We've received acknowledgement from the state governmental agency that our Foundation, “Liberal Synagogue Hameln” is, as of August 13, an officially registered foundation. During the next few weeks, the foundation board will name members of the curatorium and advisory board. The congregation is aware of the awesome symbolism that the building of the synagogue will represent. The German Jewish Liberal tradition, represented in two-thirds of all German synagogues before the war will be re-established with this new synagogue.
Until the foundation sets up its own bank account, contributions for the building project can be made to Dresdner Bank Hameln, # 4434032202, bank # 254 800 21, or through the secure server on this site.
Religious School for Children
Classes commence with Rebecca on October 4 at 3 p.m. Please bring your children regularly and promptly. Moms and grandmothers are welcome to attend! A schedule of the year's classes has been sent out to all members.
UPJ Winter Camp
Our children are happily looking forward to this year's Winter Machene. UPJ Youth co-ordinator, Adi is busy working out all the details and we'll have more information in next month's newsletter. Youngsters between the ages of 12 and 18 can look forward to a great Jewish getaway!
After services at the Kiddush table
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A Very Special Sabbath
All Sabbaths are special and they're especially meaningful when Rabbi Shillor is with us. On Friday, the 29th of October we will host our young friends from the City of Bünde and their teacher, Mrs. Whitelaw, once again and their guests, a Jewish youth group from Temple Sinai, Denver, Colorado. We are honored to have these young people, their Rabbi Zwerin, and Cantor Gold with us.
Rabbi Shillor
Beginning in October, Rabbi Shillor will serve our congregation two days a month. We are pleased to have Rabbi Shillor return to us for another year and look forward to her visits. We thank the generosity of the European Region of the World Union for Progressive Judaism for this support. Without their financial assistance, we could not afford rabbinical services, so essential to the spiritual growth of our community. See the month’s program for our Rabbi’s schedule.
Israel Seminar
On five Thursdays between October and December, our member, Dieter Vogelhuber, will lead a seminar on Israel. The dates are October 21, November 11 and 25, and December 16 and 30. We're looking forward to this exciting new series.
Political Information
We reported in last month’s newsletter that our congregational president reacted swiftly to the news that Neo-Nazi Jürgen Rieger planned to hold right wing meetings and concerts in the building he owns in our town. The response to the numerous letters we sent to local and national politicians, church officials and civic leaders was heartening. The talks held between our congregation and the mayor's office and police also voiced solidarity with the Jewish citizens of Hameln. Our congregational president and our Rabbi took part in a public meeting organized by the anti-fascism league.
Our members were outraged by the false accusations made in the newsletter of the Jewish Cultural Congregation (IKG). As a result of legal action, the IKG will print a retraction and correction. We repeat emphatically — the anti-semitic, racist and xenophobic ideas of Neo-Nazis are not only a Jewish problem but a problem and a threat for all citizens!
We reacted immediately again to the planned “International Congress of Radical Islamists” to be held in Berlin in October. Once again, we received many letters of support and we are happy to report that the “congress” has been forbidden, and one of the organizers has been expelled from Germany. We will always raise our voice in the face of evil.
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Rabbinical student A. Gegel reads Torah
as Faina and Rimma follow along.
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Todah Rabah — Thank You
We wish to thank Rabbi Joel Oseran for helping to arrange the delivery of Russian-Hebrew Machsorim for the High Holy Days. The prayer books enabled our Russian-speaking members to enjoy a more meaningful service.
We wish to thank rabbinical student Arkady Gegel for leading High Holiday services, Rebekka Dohme for beautifying services with her lovely voice and Volodymr Pesok for his excellent shofar-blowing. We also thank Mr. Pesok for the gift booklets he created for our Russian-speaking members.
We thank one and all for preparations for Sukkoth. The Challot were luscious-thanks to Rebecca and the ladies, the decorations were gorgeous-thank you children and the Sukka was a masterpiece-thank you Dieter and team!
We wish to take this opportunity to thank our synagogue choir “Shalom” for representing our congregation so well. We recognize and honor the intense work which goes into preparations for each concert they give and admire their deep love of Jewish music and say… Todah Rabah!
Mazel Tov — Congratulations
Mazel Tov to our sister congregation in Bad Pyrmont on receiving their very own sefer Torah. Rabbi Shillor will lead their congregation in a dedication service on October 27. May Torah light their way.
Contributions for the Congregation and Synagogue
We wish to thank the following for their generous contributions to the community and/or the synagogue building fund:
Dr. Oleg Rubanov, Stephanie Lösche, Katarina Seidler, Polina Pelts, Olaf Glöckner, Julian David Dohme, Rachel Dohme, contributions from the Benefit concert and “Shalom's” concert in Stadthagen and many anonymous contributors.
Special thanks to Julian David Dohme, who contributed 10% of his Bar Mitzvah “Gelt” to our synagoue building project.
Also to Mrs. Stephanie Lösche, German parliamentarian, who asked her 100 guests for contributions for our synagogue in lieu of birthday gifts for her 65th birthday.
Tree of Life
We intend to create an album for our Tree of Life. The album will be a record of the “leaves” which grace our “tree”. We are looking for a volunteer to help. Who has beautiful handwriting and would like to take over this project? Please give us a call in the office!
October Birthdays
Happy birthday to all our members enjoying October birthdays. A birthday Kiddush will be held on October 29th after Friday night services. Please join us.
Refuah Schlama — Get Well Wishes
Get well wishes to all those ill at home or in the hospital. Please call the office if you would like a visit or if you are interested in visiting someone. Remember, it is a Mitzvah- “Bikur Cholim” to visit the ill and cheer them up.
Condolences
We wish to express our condolences to Rabbi Alexander Dukhovny of the Hatikva Reform Congregation in Kiev, Ukraine on the passing of his beloved wife. May her memory be for a blessing.
Shalom!
— Your board
Program for October 2004; Tishrei–Cheshvan 5765
October 4
3 p.m. Religion class for children led by R. Breuckner
October 5
5 p.m. Friday night services/ Simchat Torah led by R. Dohme
October 10
2:30 p.m. Community outing to Hoexter
October 12
4 p.m. Video evening
October 16
10 a.m. Saturday morning services led by rabbinical student T. Kucera
October 17
2 p.m. Intro to Judaism (in Russian)
October 18
4 p.m. Religion class for children led by R. Brueckner
October 21
11 a.m. Lecture: Israel led by D. Vogelhuber
5 p.m. “Russian Afternoon” led by M. Olvovska
Rabbi Shillor’s monthly visit:
October 28
9:30–11:00 Post-conversion class
11:00–12:30 “Rabbi's Table”
1:30–2:30 B’nei Mitzvah class
3:00–5:00 Rabbi's office hours
October29
9:30–12:30 Rabbi's office hours and house calls
2:00–3:30 Giyur class
5:00 Friday night services
Outside the congregation:
October 2
5 p.m. Podium discussion, “Women in Judaism”, R. Dohme
House of Religion, Rinteln
October 27
5 p.m. Torah Dedication Service led by Rabbi Shillor
Jewish Community of Bad Pyrmont
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Archived Newsletters:
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