Progressive Wedding In Hameln
Featured in German High School Textbook

WUPJnews, December 8, 2005

Germany's Progressive movement has been in the Jewish headlines of late, thanks to a policy reversal by the Central Council for German Jews, which disburses government funding and has moved to include Progressive congregations among its membership (see WUPJnews #183). However, the Progressive movement is now being brought to the attention of the wider German public, thanks to a high school textbook.

The Westermann publishing house recently put out a new history book for ninth and tenth graders in the state of Lower Saxony that features the first Jewish wedding ceremony to be held in the city of Hameln (Hamelin) since World War II. A captioned photo shows Rabbi Arnold Zoref officiating at the marriage of Faina Pelts and Felix Golbereg. Pelts and Golbereg are members of Hameln's Progressive congregation and are shown standing beneath a traditional marriage canopy. The Hameln congregation lacks a full-time rabbi, and Zoref was sent to officiate by the New York–based Jewish Appleseed Foundation, which has been one of the congregation's main backers in the area of spiritual leadership.

“How gratifying to know that school students will learn about modern Judaism, and that our congregation is helping them do so,” says Rachel Dohme, a leading force behind the Hameln congregation since its establishment in 1997.

Lower Saxony is one of two states where the Central Council decided to recognize Progressive congregations (the other is Schleswig-Holstein), meaning Hameln and an additional 10 Progressive congregations in Germany will now be eligible for part of the $3 million in funding the Central Council receives annually from the federal government.