Dear members, friends and supporters,
We wish everyone a happy and healthy New Year 5768.
Leshana tovah tikatevu—May we all be inscribed for a good year!
September and autumn are upon us. It is the time of year when we once again feel the shift in the seasons. We notice the changes in nature and are reminded of our bonds to the earth and its rich bounty. The fruits of the trees and vines ripen and the grains of the fields are ready for harvest.
For Jews, the autumn is also the season of our High Holy Days—the New Year. It is also a time for us to take spiritual inventory of the fruits of our lives.
Rosh Hashanah is called “The Day of Judgment” and “The Day of Remembrance.” God judges us but remembers us and is merciful in his judgment. We are challenged to respond to our personal responsibilities for our actions and our sometimes less-than-perfect ability to live according to God's laws. We can be assured, though, that God is merciful when he remembers us. We always are afforded the opportunity to correct the error of our ways.
On Rosh Hashanah, “the head” of the year, we enjoy the sweetness of apple dipped in honey and wish one another a sweet and healthy New Year.
We then commence with the ten days of introspection, leading to the holiest of all days, Yom Kippur. Each and every person engages in his/her search for personal repentance.
After soul searching and receiving and giving repentance with one another, we are ready to approach God and atone. After the final Shofar blast and the concluding prayers, we feel relaxed and at peace with ourselves and our world, sharing challah and a cup of warm tea before returning to our homes.
With the first day of the New Year, we may begin building the Sukkah. Our next holiday, Sukkoth reminds us how our ancestors wandered homeless through the wilderness. Please join us on Erev Sukkoth, the 26th of September as we build and decorate the Sukkah together, on the land of our future synagogue.
We will erect the Sukkah with members and neighbors, continuing our annual tradition. Inside and outside the walls of our congregation, we rejoice in the beautiful cycle of our holidays.
Leading our High Holiday services this year are Rabbi Ilana Baird and Rabbinical student Margaret Frisch Klein. Rabbi Baird was born in Chelyabinsk, Russia. She made Aliya in 1993 and lives and works with her family in Haifa. We thank Rabbi Joel Oseran and Rabbi Alona Lisitsa for their help in setting up contacts. Rabbi Baird will spend Rosh Hashanah week with us. Rabbinical student Margaret Frisch Klein comes to us from the Academy for Jewish Religion, where she is finishing up her fifth and final year. Ms. Frisch Klein is in Germany on business and has offered us her services for which we are grateful.
Jewish Events in September
The month of September begins joyfully with the visit of our rabbi Irit Shillor. She will lead services, teach our children, and ready us for the High Holidays. Because our rabbi serves a congregation in England, she will unfortunately not be able to be with us for the High Holidays.With the help of the World Union and Rabbi Joel Oseran, we have been able to find visiting rabbis for the High Holidays. We are very grateful for this cooperation and support.
Visiting rabbi Ilana Baird will begin her week with us by leading cemetery services on Tuesday, September 11th. It is a tradition to visit the cemetery before the New Year. Please refer to the program for times.
Rabbi Baird will lead Erev Rosh Haschanah services on Wednesday, September 12th. After services we will all enjoy apples and honey, homemade challah and gefillte fish, beginning the New Year 5768 together. Rosh Hashanah services resume the next day at 10:00 a.m. A luncheon will be offered after services, followed by shiurim in both Russian and German, led by Rabbi Baird and rabbinical student Adrian Schell.
Erev Yom Kippur falls on Friday, September 21st. Rabbi Margaret Frisch Klein, of New York, will be leading Kol Nidre services, supported by community members. She will also lead services on Yom Kippur day. This holiest of all days, drenched in intensive prayers of the heart, will resume after morning services at 5 p.m. for Yiskor, Ne'ila, and Havdallah. We will break the fast upon conclusion of services.
On Wednesday, September 26th, we will meet on our future building site, Bürenstrasse, to erect and decorate the Sukkah. Services will take place in the Sukkah. We hope to see many members and friends there, celebrating this holiday, as usual, like a big family.
Rabbi Irit Shillor
We are pleased that our Rabbi, Irit Shillor, will continue to serve us this year. Rabbi Shillor will spend eight weekends with us, and we look forward to praying and learning with her. We hope the European Region of the World Union for Progressive Judaism will continue to help us afford her visits. Her first visit this year will be the weekend of September 7th–8th.
Rabbinical Student
Our Rabbinical student this year is Adrian Schell. He is 34 years old and in his second year at Abraham Geiger College in Potsdam. Adrian is looking forward to his six weekends with us. He will begin after the new Jewish year. Certainly it will be a productive experience for both him and us. We also look forward to welcoming his mentor, Rabbi Edward Van Voolen, back to Hamelin during the year.
Valerij Friedmann
Valerij Friedmann has served the congregational board for the past 10 years. As of September 1st, he has decided to vacate his position. We are deeply indebted to Mr. Friedmann for his service to the community, especially in the area of cultural affairs. We wish Valerij all the best and hope that he remains actively involved in congregation.
Religious Class
We plan to resume regular religious classes in October. Instruction will be led by our new Schlicha, Sivan from Israel. Classes will be held every other Thursday afternoon.
Auditions
We are holding auditions and an organizational meeting for our congregational choir “Shalom.” If you are interested in Jewish music, please attend the meeting on Thursday evening, September 27th. See you there!
Visitors
Our synagogue's doors are always open to visitors and we have hosted many groups over the years. In July we received a visit from a large group of the Orthodox Jewish Congregation of Düsseldorf. After sharing cake and coffee with our members, Rachel Dohme took the group on a walking tour of Jewish Hamelin. Our guests were fascinated to learn more about liberal Judaism, our congregation, and our beautiful town.
A very different group visited us for Friday night services. Again every seat in our synagogue was taken as more than 50 Boy and Girl Scouts from Hamelin and Lehavim, Israel, joined us for Sabbath prayers led beautifully by Cantors Rebekka Dohme and Dr. Jeremy Wasser.
 Tree of Life
Forms to buy a leaf are available in the office; a leaf costs 50 Euros. Please donate a leaf! Help us build a Synagogue for Hamelin! New leaves have been ordered from:
- Mark Schwartz: In memory of Maren Wehrmann
- Elena Gorbacheva: In memory of my parents
- Wendt Family: Bat Mitzvah of Malin Chaja Wendt 30 Sivan 5767
Donations
We are thankful for the generous donations of all the dear members and friends who support the establishment of the Synagogue:
- We thank the Lenze Company for their generous contribution to the building fund. This is the second contribution from them this year. We hope other Hamelin companies will follow their example.
- We thank Anne Armbrecht, Sabine Demuth, Ute Gibas, Florian and Brigitta Dorries, H. Koeniges, Mark Schwartz, Elena Gorbacheva, the Royal Ranger Boy Scouts, the Wendt and Dohme families..
- We would like to thank the Catholic Church and the Society for Christian-Jewish Cooperation again for the subsidies for our youth work. Without their donations, many of the children's families would not have been able to afford to take part in the Summer Machane (summer camp).
Thank you — Todah Rabah
We wish to thank Aron Kaplan, Konstyantyn Babich and Alex Pesin for work done around and in our community center. The stairs were repaired, picture frames were handmade and the paintings of our religious class students will soon be hung for all to enjoy.
Thanks go out to Dieter Vogelhuber, who with many members of the community manned an info booth during the Hamelin Cultural Festival.
We wish to extend our appreciation to Dr. Jeremy Wasser, who, for the 2nd year has offered his cantorial skills to our congregation during the summer months. Dr. Wasser led services and taught classes in 4 UPJ congregations this summer. He also gave a workshop during the UPJ conference. This was all done in his free time and without cost to the communities. We look forward to his next trip to Germany!
Mazel Tov
To Greta Golbereg and the German Makkabi table tennis team on winning gold for the team and in double during the Summer Games in Rome.
We are proud to congratulate three families from our congregation who have received German citizenship, Family Yeger, Family Pesok and Family Slavinski. They received their certificates from Hamelin mayor, Susanne Lippmann.
Congratulations to Gábor Lengyl on receiving an award for his inter-religious work.
During the festive 10th anniversary celebration of the Union of Progressive Jews of Germany in Berlin this summer, three renowned representatives of German liberal Judaism were honored. The German Minister of the Interior, Dr. Wolfgang Schäuble, was also present as Rabbi Dr. Henry G. Brandt, Professor Dr. Ernst Ludwig Ehrlich, and Rabbi Dr. William Wolff were honored with this year's Israel Jacobson Prize.
Last but certainly not least, we congratulate our sister community in Hanover on the opening of the first Jewish kindergarten in the state of Lower Saxony. Kol Hakavod!
Birthdays in September
We would like to congratulate everyone whose birthday is in September. After Kabbalath Shabbat services on the 14th of September we will be celebrating their birthdays during the Kiddush. Come and celebrate with us!
Refuah Shlama — Get well
We wish everyone who is ill at the moment a quick recovery. We wish all who are ill a speedy and complete recovery. Anyone wishing a home visit should call Mrs. Berta Friedmann (05151-13204) or the office at 05151-925625.
Yahrzeit — We remember:
Simon Avrus — September 3, 1999 / 22. Elul 5759
Please join the congregation and family to say Kaddish at services for them.
Shalom and a sweet New Year 5768
—Your synagogue board
| Program for September 2007 • Elul 5767–Tishrei 5768 |
| Saturday, Sept. 1 |
10:00 a.m. |
Saturday morning services/Torah study, R. Dohme |
| Monday, Sept. 3 |
12 :00 noon |
Jewish Studies class in Russian, V. Pesok |
| |
7:00 p.m. |
Visit of the communion class of St. Augustinus Catholic Church, R. Dohme |
| Friday, Sept. 7 |
3:30 p.m. |
B’nei Mitzvah class, Rabbi Shillor |
| |
4:30 p.m. |
“Young and Jewish” group, play rehearsal, R. Brückner |
| |
5:00 p.m. |
Friday night services, Rabbi Shillor |
| Saturday, Sept. 9 |
10.00 a.m. |
Saturday morning services/Torah study, Rabbi Shillor |
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1:00 p.m. |
Giyur class, Rabbi Shillor |
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7:00 p.m. |
Havdallah, Rabbi Shillor |
| Tuesday, Sept. 11 |
10:00 a.m. |
Cemetery service, Old Jewish Cemetery |
|
11:00 a.m. |
Cemetery Wehl, Bus # 2, Service led by Rabbi Ilana Baird |
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4:00 p.m. |
Video Nachmittag, F. Pelts |
| Wednesday, Sept. 12 |
5:00 p.m. |
EREV ROSH HASHANAH, Rabbi Ilana Baird Communal meal |
| Thursday, Sept. 13 |
10:00 a.m. |
ROSH HASCHANAH, Rabbi Ilana Baird Communal meal, Shiurim Russian (Rabbi Baird), German (Hr. Schell) |
| Friday, Sept. 14 |
5:00 p.m. |
Friday night services, Rabbi Baird |
| Saturday, Sept. 15 |
10:00 a.m. |
Saturday morning services/Torah study, Rabbi Baird |
| Friday, Sept. 21 |
6:00 p.m. |
KOL NIDRE, Rabbi Margaret Frisch Klein |
| Saturday, Sept. 22 |
10:00 a.m. |
YOM KIPPUR, Rabbi Margaret Frisch Klein |
|
5:00 p.m. |
YISKOR NE’ILA und HAVDALAH, Communal Break-the-Fast |
| Tuesday, Sept. 25 |
4:00 p.m. |
Russian Afternoon, M. Olvovskaja |
| Wednesday, Sept. 26 |
3:00 p.m. |
Building and decorating the Sukkah |
|
4:00 p.m. |
SUKKOTH service in the Sukkah Bürenstrasse, Synagogen Platz 1 |
| Thursday, Sept. 27 |
7:00 p.m. |
Meeting: Auditions for our congregational choir “Shalom” |
Events outside the community |
| Wednesday, Sept. 19 |
4:00 p.m. |
Society for Christians and Jews Series „Christians and Jews“ Topic: The High Holidays St. Augustinus, Lohstrasse |
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