Liberal Jewish Community of Hanover

Synagogue of the Liberal Jewish Community of Hanover

The Liberal Jewish Community of Hanover Kdö.R. is the largest progressive Jewish community in Germany. It is based in their community center Etz Chaim ( Hebrew עץ חיים'Tree of Life') in the Hanover district of Leinhausen .

local community

The community currently has around 700 members. Two thirds of them are immigrants from the former Soviet Union . The community has existed since 1995 and was located in rented office space in the Bult district between 1997 and 2008 . On January 25, 2009, the synagogue and community center in the Hanover-Leinhausen district was inaugurated. The foundation is the Liberales Judentum Hannover Foundation . The building is a post-war building erected by the Evangelical Lutheran Church , which was used as the Gustav Adolf Church until it was deedicated in 2007 . The municipality, the state of Lower Saxony , the Hanover region and the city of Hanover jointly paid the costs for the purchase and renovation . The first and only progressive Jewish day-care center in Germany (“Tamar”) was set up in the new community center in autumn 2007. In addition, the community center includes the synagogue (egalitarian-liberal), a public Jewish library, a children and youth center, a culture and education center as well as event, seminar and practice rooms, for example for their own music group MIZWA and a day care center for six to four twelve year old children. The first event in the new premises took place on December 21, 2008. On the occasion of the first evening of the Channuka festival, the congregation held an open day. More than a thousand visitors, including many neighbors, came. On September 24, 2010 the community and the architects Roger Ahrens and Gesche Grabenhorst were awarded the Lower Saxony State Prize for Architecture 2010 for the community center and the synagogue.

The community has been cared for by community rabbi Yuriy Kadnykov since 2012 . Gábor Lengyel is the senior rabbi. Assaf Levitin has been the cantor of the community since December 2016 . Ingrid Wettberg has been the chairwoman of the Liberal Jewish Community since 1999 . She is also the chairwoman of the Liberales Judentum Foundation in Hanover. By resolution of the state government of Lower Saxony, the community was granted the status of a corporation under public law (Kdö.R.) on July 23, 2013 .

In addition to church services, the congregation also offers extensive cultural and social services such as social and migration counseling or language lessons (German and Hebrew).

The community also has a Jewish cemetery.

Organizations

The community center Etz Chaim of the Liberal Jewish Community Hanover is the seat of other organizations:

• State association of the Israelite religious communities of Lower Saxony Kdö.R.
• Liberal Judaism Foundation Hanover
• the Hanover Jewish Library. She is from the
• Israel Jacobson Society V. supports its development and participates through cultural events.
• Chaverim Hannover e. V., the association of patrons of the community.

The Liberal Jewish Congregation Hannover has two partner congregations: Temple Micah in Washington DC and a progressive congregation in Zichron Ja'akow ( Israel ).

Anti-Semitic assault

On June 19, 2010 the dance group of the Liberal Jewish Congregation Chaverim (Hebrew "Friends") was invited to the "5. International Day ”of the urban culture meeting in the Hanoverian district Sahlkamp by a group of predominantly Arab children and young people pelted with pebbles and insulted anti-Semitic . The incident led to nationwide media coverage and individual inquiries from international media.

The police investigated 14 suspects, five of whom could be proven to have thrown stones. Since there were three children who were under the age of criminal responsibility and a mentally handicapped person, charges were only brought against a German who was 14 years old at the time of the crime. He was sentenced to a youth sentence of one year and three months on probation for attempted dangerous bodily harm and other acts in other contexts (robbery, theft, stolen goods) . The court ruled out anti-Semitic motivation for him, as the ringleader of the attack was considered a nine-year-old.

See also

• History of the Jews in Hanover

Memberships

• World Union for Progressive Judaism
• Union of Progressive Jews in Germany
• State association of the Israelite religious communities of Lower Saxony Kdö.R.
• Central Council of Jews in Germany

literature

• Alisa Bach, Ingrid Wettberg (Red.): 10th anniversary of the Liberal Jewish Community of Hanover , Ed .: Liberal Jewish Community of Hanover eV (LJGH), 2005
• Ingrid Wettberg, Rebecca Seidler: 20 years of the Liberal Jewish Community of Hanover Kdö.R. , Hanover: LJGH, 2015

Web links

Commons : Liberale Jüdische Gemeinde Hannover  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Homepage of the community
• Liberal Jewish Community of Hanover receives corporate rights

Individual evidence

1. ^ Homepage of the Liberal Judaism Foundation in Hanover
2. ↑ Tamar day care center
3. ↑ Awarded architecture prize in Hanover . In: NWZ online from September 25, 2010 (accessed December 29, 2019)
4. ↑ New rabbi in the Jewish community . Neue Presse.de, October 18, 2012; Retrieved November 8, 2012
5. ↑ Rabbis and Cantor - Liberal Jewish Community Hanover. Retrieved on February 17, 2018 (German). 
6. ^ Foundation Liberales Judentum Hannover
7. ^ Israel Jacobson Gesellschaft e. V.
8. ^ Dismay at the anti-Semitic attack in Hanover . Welt Online , June 24, 2010
9. ↑ Probation for 15-year-olds after throwing stones at a dance group . In: Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung , February 8, 2011