A New Synagogue for Hamelin

ZDF
November 9, 2003

Portrait of an Unusual Woman

For Rachel Dohme, a Jewish lay leader who established her own congregation, things weren’t easy in the male-dominated Jewish world in Germany.  With determination she perseveres.

Rachel Dohme teaching a religion class

The year was 1982 when Rachel Dohme settled in Hamelin, Germany.  She found she was the only Jew in town.  The closest synagogue was in nearby Hannover.  Upon entering the Orthodox synagogue, she was told to go upstairs to the women’s gallery.  Rachel, a Reform Jewess, knew this could never be her spiritual home.

Back in Hameln, the immigration of Former Soviet Union Jews had begun, and she began working with the newcomers at their transitional shelter.  Thus began her idea to establish the Reform Jewish Congregation of Hameln.

Plans for a Reform Synagogue

Multifunction room of the Jewish Congregation of Hamelin

In 1997, the Jewish Congregation of Hameln was established by Dohme and seventeen FSU Jews.  The congregation has grown to over 200 and is now the same size as it was before the war.  At the moment the congregation rents one large room, which serves as a multi-functional community center.  Religious class, library, a small office, meeting room, and religious services all take place here.  This is reason enough that Rachel’s dream of a synagogue for the congregation should come to fruition.  The congregation has the ideal spot — the community has bought the land on which the original synagogue stood before its destruction at the hand of the Nazis in 1938.

The community knows what they’d like to build — what’s missing is the money.  Most of the members, recent FSU immigrants, haven’t the resources to help much financially.  Contributions are being sought.