Jewish liberal community

A Jewish liberal congregation is a Jewish congregation that feels connected to progressive Judaism and mostly sees itself in the tradition of the important liberal direction of German Judaism before 1938. They are often recognizable by their names through self-designations such as “Jewish liberal community” or “Liberal Jewish community”. If there is no other Jewish community in the area by then, such newly founded communities often only call themselves a Jewish community , for example in Hameln .

After 1945

In the German-speaking area, the first liberal congregation after 1945 was founded in Zurich (Jüdische Liberale Gemeinde Or Chadasch ) in 1978. In 1990, a congregation called Or Chadasch - movement for progressive Judaism - was established in Vienna . In Germany, it was not until 1995 that new liberal communities emerged outside of the unified Jewish communities. Since 1997 they have maintained a joint umbrella organization, the Union of Progressive Jews in Germany , which also includes the Abraham Geiger College founded in 1999 , the youth organization Jung and Jüdisch Deutschland and the reform Zionist association ARZENU. Since the inclusion of two Jewish regional associations with mostly liberal communities from Schleswig-Holstein and Lower Saxony, more than half of the 22 liberal communities in the Union of Progressive Jews are now represented by the Central Council of Jews in Germany . There were repeated conflicts with the Central Council of Jews in Germany, mostly over the distribution of public grants. This dispute seems to be over for the moment. The dispute has shifted to the state level in some places - for example in Cologne, although a groundbreaking decision of principle by the Federal Administrative Court in favor of the synagogue community in Halle on February 28, 2002 was available. The Orthodox law-abiding Jewish communities also refer to this and on May 10, 2005 they obtained a judgment from the Higher Administrative Court in Frankfurt (Oder).

With over 500 members, the largest Jewish liberal communities in German-speaking countries are currently the Liberal Jewish Community of Hanover and the Jewish Liberal Community of Zurich "Or Chadasch".

See also

• Liberal synagogue Koenigsberg
• Jewish life in Berlin
• Jews in Breslau

literature

• Gilbert S. Rosenthal, Walter Homolka : Judaism has many faces. The religious currents of the present. Bastei Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 2006, ISBN 3-404-60575-6 .
• Heinz-Peter Katlewski: Judaism on the move. About the new diversity of Jewish life in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Jewish Publishing House, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-934658-38-5 .

Web links

• Congregations in the Union of Progressive Jews in Germany
• Beth Shalom Liberal Jewish Community Munich
• Jewish Liberal Congregation Or Chadasch Zurich
• State Association of the Jewish Communities of Schleswig-Holstein
• Liberal Jewish Community of Hanover
• Or Chadasch Vienna - Movement for progressive Judaism
• Annette Böckler : What does "liberal" mean? (From: Keschet. 8 [2003], 3)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Judgment of the Higher Administrative Court for the State of Brandenburg , Frankfurt (Oder), 1 A 744/03, 12 K 4144/00, announced on May 10, 2005 (PDF; 725 kB). In: Legal compliance with the Jüdische Landesgemeinde Brandenburg (toratreu.de), accessed on March 28, 2019.