Issue #405

Issue #405 – 24 February 2011 / 20 Adar I 5771

IN THIS ISSUE:

GRABINER ASSUMES CHAIRMANSHIP OF WORLD UNION

HAMELN CONGREGATION DEDICATES HISTORIC NEW BUILDING

PARIS CONGREGATION REAFFILIATES WITH WORLD UNION

FSU CONGREGATION HOLDS FUNDRAISER TO PLANT TREES IN CARMEL FOREST

UPCOMING EVENTS



GRABINER ASSUMES CHAIRMANSHIP OF WORLD UNION

Michael Grabiner of the UK, who until now was senior vice chairman of the World Union, is its new chairman, having been ratified by the World Union’s International Assembly at Connections 2011, its 35th biennial international convention, which recently took place in San Francisco. He succeeds Steven M. Bauman, who held the post for the past six years.

Grabiner represents the World Union on the Board of Governors of the Jewish Agency for Israel and chairs the board of governors of JCoSS, the first pluralist Jewish high school in the UK. He has been chair of Britain’s Movement for Reform Judaism and the UK Jewish Film Festival, a governor of London’s Leo Baeck College and a member of the executive committee of the UK Jewish Leadership Council. He is currently chairman of Partnerships for Schools, the UK government’s delivery agency for capital investment in schools. He was a partner at Apax Partners LLP from 2002-2009, chief executive of Energis plc and director BT Europe. He has also held non-executive directorships on company boards in France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Spain, Sweden, the UK and US. He is a member of Finchley Reform Synagogue in London.

In passing the baton, Steve Bauman expressed his gratitude for six wonderful years at the helm of the World Union. A former chair of its committee on the former Soviet Union, one of his achievements after taking office at the 2005 biennial in Moscow was a remarkable renaissance across the FSU, with a growing number of Jews affiliating with our communities. In fact, under his chairmanship the World Union saw all of its regions grow.

We look forward to Michael Grabiner’s stewardship with great anticipation.

An in-depth report on Connections 2011 will appear in an upcoming issue of WUPJnews.


Outgoing chairman Steve Bauman (left) congratulates Michael Grabiner for assuming the role of World Union chairman.


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HAMELN CONGREGATION DEDICATES HISTORIC NEW BUILDING

Some 200 members and guests of Judische Gemeinde Hameln (JGH), the World Union affiliate in Hameln, Germany, assembled to dedicate the congregation’s new synagogue and community center, "Beitenu" (Our Home), on Sunday, February 20. The structure is the first purpose-built Progressive synagogue to have been built in post-war Germany, and was constructed exactly where the town’s pre-war synagogue stood before it was destroyed on Kristallnacht in November 1938.

The dedication ceremony was led by Rabbi Irit Shillor, the congregation's spiritual leader, who was assisted by cantorial soloist Rebekka Dohme. Among the honored guests was Rabbi Jo David, who, as founder and executive director of the Jewish Appleseed Foundation, was instrumental in helping JGH become a congregation after being founded in 1997. Today, the congregation has some 200 members, most of whom are immigrants from the former Soviet Union.

Also present were  Leslie Bergman, president of the European Union for Progressive Judaism, the World Union’s European region; Dr. Jan Mühlstein, president of the Union of Progressive Jews in Germany, a World Union affiliate; Stephan Kramer, secretary-general of the Central Council of Jews of Germany; Rabbi Dr. Henry G. Brandt, president of the German Rabbinical Assembly; Dr. Berndt Althusmann, minister of culture for Lower Saxony; as well as Hameln’s mayor and the county commissioner.

The new building has a sanctuary with seating for 120, an office and library, and several classrooms. The sanctuary is airy and bright, its white walls and a warm dark oak floor receiving light from 10 slender windows above the ark, which was constructed from European maple. The ark curtain and Torah mantles are blue velvet with a motif of leaves and trees, as is the colorful glass ner tamid (eternal light). The ark doors are made of glass, with etched golden letters of the Ten Commandments. There is also a small garden with room for a sukka.

"Buildings are normally built from stone and brick,” said JGH president and co-founder Rachel Dohme at the ceremony. “This synagogue was built from love, patience and gratitude."

Two weeks prior to the dedication, the congregation was given a Torah in a ceremony at the World Union’s New York office (see WUPJnews #404). The scroll was brought into the new sanctuary in an emotion-laden procession under the tradition chuppa during the February 20 dedication ceremony.


Judische Gemeinde Hameln’s Torahs are brought into the sanctuary during the dedication of the congregation’s new synagogue building, as Rabbi Irit Shillor (left) watches. (Dana Pollok)


Congregation president and co-founder Rachel Dohme addresses the audience from the Hameln congregation’s new pulpit. (Adrien Michael Schell)


An exterior view of the new JGH building. The dark column lying on the ground is part of a Holocaust memorial on the site. “Until now, there was only a memorial on the land,” says Rachel Dohme. “Now there is a synagogue!” (Adrien Michael Schell)


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PARIS CONGREGATION REAFFILIATES WITH WORLD UNION

Union Libérale Israélite de France (ULIF) of Paris, also known as the “Rue Copernic Synagogue,” has reaffiliated itself with the World Union through its European region, the European Union for Progressive Judaism. ULIF has some 1,100 families, and it is believed to be France’s largest Jewish congregation.

According to the EUPJ, which says it “is extremely pleased to include ULIF as our family member again,” more than 250 people usually attend the congregation’s Kabbalat Shabbat services. It has some 120 bar or bat mitzvah ceremonies each year, and there are many activities for young people, including an affiliate of Netzer Olami, the World Union’s international Zionist youth organization.

According to the regional newsletter, “ULIF sponsors frequent cultural activities, including conferences, symposiums and museum visits. Their concerts of liturgical and classical music are famous. Charitable activities are important to the congregants of ULIF… and they collect money for two associations helping suffering and poor people in France and Israel. Their magazine, Hamevasser (The Messenger), is sent to more than 3,000 families.”

Lionel Errera, a senior member of the board of ULIF who was closely involved in discussions with the EUPJ, stated: “We look forward to the association with the EUPJ and WUPJ, and believe that the ULIF can play a major role in the French Liberal Jewish community and, looking into the future, the European arena.”

EUPJ president Leslie Bergman and Rabbi Dr. Andrew Goldstein, its chairman, called it a “major positive step for our movement, with the prominent history and status that the ULIF has in French Jewry."


Children participate in a service at ULIF.


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FSU CONGREGATION HOLDS FUNDRAISER TO PLANT TREES IN CARMEL FOREST

Congregation Sha’arei Shalom of St. Petersburg, Russia, marked Tu B’Shevat – the New Year for trees – with a special program to raise funds for new saplings destined for Israel’s Carmel Forest. The nature area, just southeast of Haifa, was ravaged by a wildfire in December, taking 44 lives and destroying an estimated five million trees over some 18,000 acres.

"Tu B'Shevat this year was a test of strength of the connection of us as Jews in the Diaspora to Land of Israel and the State of Israel,” said Rabbi Helena Rubinstein, spiritual leader of the St. Petersburg congregation.

The evening program featured entertainment provided by the Pliskin Family Trio, the Hersh Family Duo, singer  Leo Elgardt, the "Oasis" Ensemble (Olga Druzhuk, Diana Ponchishko, Marina Perlin and Catherine Gushin), Cantors Baruch Finkelstein, Inna Ostrovskaya and Alla Ostrovskaya, and poet Anna Rappaport. It was emceed by Anatoly Movshovich.

Other organizations taking part in the fundraising effort included the Northwest branch of the Jewish Agency, the city’s Sephardic Jewish community, the Adayn Lo family center, Hesed Abraham, Hillel-SPB, and KEROOR, the umbrella organization for Progressive Jewry in Russia.

“As rabbi of the community, I am happy to note that for the first time, so many of St. Petersburg’s Jewish organizations were both guests of our community and so instrumental in the event’s success,” said Rubinstein.

The evening netted 21,000 rubles ($720), which will be enough to plant 70 saplings in the Carmel Forest.






Scenes from Sha’arei Shalom’s Tu B’Shevat fundraiser for Israel’s fire-ravaged Carmel Forest.


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UPCOMING EVENTS

March 6-10, 2011 – 8th annual Riding4Reform bicycling fundraiser for the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism, Israel

June 10-12, 2011 – Dedication of new Progressive Jewish Center, Minsk

July 7-10, 2011 – Annual Conference, Union of Progressive Jews of Germany, Spandau-Berlin

December 14-18, 2011 – Union for Reform Judaism Biennial, Washington D.C

March 15-18, 2012 – Biennial Conference of the European Union for Progressive Judaism, Amsterdam




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