Beith Shalom Synagogue

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Beith-Schalom Synagogue in Speyer , open day, four days after the inauguration on November 9, 2011
The Beith-Schalom synagogue from the north, on the right the new elliptical prayer room, on the left the community center in the former hall church of St. Guido. In the background the building of the State Office for Mobility.
Initiation by first inserting the Torah into the Torah shrine , which is opened here. On the curtain you can read: " Truth springs from the ground and justice looks from heaven ". Above is the eternal light of Ner Tamid

The Beith Shalom Synagogue ( Hebrew בית שלום, German  House of Peace ) has been the Speyer synagogue and the community center of the Jewish community of the Rhine Palatinate since November 9, 2011 . It is the fourth synagogue since the existence of Jewish communities in Speyer .

Laying of the foundation stone and inauguration

At the laying of the foundation stone in 2008 - 70 years after the destruction of the previous Speyer synagogue on the Night of the Reichspogrom on November 9, 1938 - the then managing director of the community, Manfred Ehrlich, declared that the new building should be a sign of the return of Jewish life in the cathedral city.

The actual construction work began in autumn 2009 and lasted until shortly before the opening date on November 9, 2011.

The building, which was built for around 3.5 million euros, is partly a new building, namely the actual synagogue room, and partly the community center with assembly rooms, seminar rooms, offices and overnight accommodation for the rabbi is based on renovated and newly structured parts of the former collegiate church of St. Guido . The costs were borne by the municipality, the state of Rhineland-Palatinate and the city of Speyer.

The synagogue was inaugurated on November 9, 2011. The chairman of the community, Israel Epstein, welcomed Federal President Christian Wulff , the Prime Minister of Rhineland-Palatinate, Kurt Beck , the Lord Mayor of Speyer, Hansjörg Eger, the President of the Conference of European Rabbis, Pinchas Goldschmidt, and the Catholic Bishop of Speyer to the inauguration , Karl-Heinz Wiesemann , and the Church President of the Palatinate, Christian Schad . A bridge to the old congregation was built by the participation of the meanwhile 80-year-old Jack Mayer, who traveled with his wife from the USA, at the synagogue inauguration. Mayer, born in Speyer in 1930, had fled to the USA with his mother and older brother in the spring of 1938 from the increasingly vehement persecution of Jews by the National Socialists.

The synagogue became the biblical synagogue by solemnly placing the Torah in the Torah shrine . The architect Alfred Jacoby handed the keys over to the community.

In addition to the Jewish Community of the Rhine Palatinate , there was a second Jewish community in Speyer, the Jewish Community of Speyer eV , whose chairman Juliana Korovai asked before the inauguration which rooms in the synagogue would be used by her association. There was a long-term dispute between the two communities because the religious community does not recognize Korovais association as a Jewish community. On the occasion of the inauguration, Korovai emphasized "that the cultural community of the Rhine Palatinate cannot speak for all Speyer Jews" and criticized the fact that their association was excluded from using the synagogue and that no one from their association had been invited to the inauguration.

Salomon Korn , Vice President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany , emphasized in a radio interview on the occasion of the inauguration that the “media bloat” of synagogue buildings was still a sign of a lack of normality.

layout

The actual sacred space is set on the eastern foundation of the old hall church as an ellipse . The main part of the hall church that has been preserved was converted into a community center.

The entrance portal points in a north-westerly direction to the neighboring St. Bernhard Church of Peace , which was dedicated to the reconciliation between Germany and France . The windows around the Torah shrine in the southwestern end of the ellipse point towards the Speyer Cathedral .

At the inauguration, architect Alfred Jacoby explained: “ The building itself reflects the idea of ​​this dialogue, because from today it is a connection between the former church of St. Guido and the new synagogue Beith-Schalom - House of Peace. If you stand here on Weidenberg, one of the oldest squares in the city, you also understand that you are visually related to the Salier Cathedral in Speyer and the St. Bernhard Reconciliation Church, which is oriented towards France and was consecrated in 1954. ... This synagogue is intended to raise awareness of the tension in which Jews lived and live here. From the Salier Cathedral to the Reconciliation Church, which the Speyerians built after the terrible war. Today is the day on which Speyer faces its history again. "

On the red cloth of the curtain of the Torah shrine the psalm verse " Truth springs from the ground and righteousness looks from heaven " ( Ps 85.12  EU ) is applied in Hebrew script . This writing can also be read when the doors are closed thanks to the recesses in the two wings of the Torah cabinet.

In the middle of the ceiling, which is white like the walls, is a square skylight, the architect called it a portal to heaven, with a star of David in the middle. The bench seats with 110 seats are arranged in double rows along the longitudinal arches of the ellipse.

During the prayer ceremony, the holy Torah is lifted from the shrine and placed on the bima , the lectern. As in the traditional Ashkenazi synagogues, whose traditions were essentially established in the ShUM cities of Speyer, Worms and Mainz (as well as in the newer synagogues Mannheim or Recklinghausen ), the Bima is located in the middle of the interior.

Building history

The construction costs rose from an estimated 2.5 million to 3.5 million euros. The reasons for this were / are given on the one hand an expansion of the building program (including the relocation of the municipal administration from Neustadt to Speyer) and corresponding plan changes, and on the other hand difficulties with the building fabric.

Gallery inauguration

source

Individual evidence

  1. kya: The countdown is on. 11 a.m. in Speyer. Two days until the synagogue opens. The Rheinpfalz , Speyerer Rundschau of November 8th, 2011, page 2 LSPE
  2. Program of the inauguration
  3. spa: Place of encounter and dialogue: Speyer synagogue as a visible sign of great Jewish tradition , in www.speyer.aktuell.de, report from November 10, 2011, accessed on November 19, 2011
  4. Igal Avidan: A House for Two. Jüdische Allgemeine , October 12, 2011, accessed April 6, 2015 .
  5. ^ A b Benjamin Fiege and Ellen Korelus brother: New synagogue in oldest community. Jüdische Allgemeine, November 17, 2011, accessed April 6, 2015 .
  6. Source: speech manuscript handed over by Alfred Jacoby for his key handover on November 9, 2011.

Web links

Commons : Synagoge Beith-Schalom (Speyer)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 49 ° 19 ′ 19 ″  N , 8 ° 25 ′ 55 ″  E