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Email this pageGerman congregation breaks ground for new building
Judische Gemeinde Hameln, the World Union affiliate in Hameln, Germany, broke ground earlier this month for its synagogue and community center. The building is to be erected on the site of the city’s Buerenstrasse synagogue, which was burned by the Nazis in November, 1938, on Kristallnacht.
"What absolute joy!” congregational president Rachel Dohme told the 200 people who had assembled for the groundbreaking. “The gratitude that we feel is infinite. Most of all, we thank God." The construction project, she said, “is just as important to all citizens of Hameln as it is for us. Though the wounds of the Holocaust still pain us, the building of this synagogue is testimony to healing and normalization. It will be a vehicle for Tikkun Olam, a center of Jewish life, visible and open to all."
During the ceremony, Annette Wache, who lives near the site, handed Dohme a small parcel. Inside was a stone from the original synagogue. "We collected it from the rubble and have kept it ever since", Wache explained. "You surely need bricks to build the new synagogue, so we wanted to give one to you."
Hameln mayor Susanne Lippmann called the groundbreaking a "historical moment for the city. May the building of the synagogue proceed quickly and well." County Commissioner Ruediger Butte described it as a "proud day for Hameln and the entire region." Congregational vice president Polina Pelts told the crowd that when she arrived in Hameln from Odessa 14 years ago, “I never deemed it possible to experience a day like today. It is the highlight of my life as a Jew that this dream of a new synagogue has actually come true." Hannover-based Rabbi G?bor Lengyel recited the Shehechiyanu prayer and then joined Dohme, Pelts, Lipmann and Butte in symbolically sinking a spade into the soft earth.
To help raise funds for the construction, J?dische Gemeinde Hameln has been selling a CD of Shabbat melodies sung by Rebekka Dohme, who has served the congregation as cantor and is now studying in New York. The CD is available for $18, all of which is going toward the community’s building fund. You can visit the congregation’s Web site (www.jghreform.org) to listen to a selection of melodies. The original run of 500 copies was sold out, and another 300 have been ordered. The CD makes a perfect gift for any occasion.
Construction of the new synagogue and community center is already under way. If all goes according to schedule, it will be dedicated next February.
Left to right: County Commissioner Ruediger Butte, congregational vice president Polina Pelts, Rabbi Gabor Lengyel of Hannover, Hameln Mayor Susanne Lipmann and congregational president Rachel Dohme break ground for the long-awaited building. (Photo: Dana/Dewezet).
An artist’s rendition of the new Hameln building.
As a fundraising project, the congregation is selling copies of a CD of Shabbat melodies by Rebekka Dohme, its volunteer cantor, who has been away studying in New York City.
