This seems encouraging: Germany’s largest synagogue—one that somehow managed to survive both WWII and the Soviet-contolled aftermath in East Berlin—was restored and reopened in a moving ceremony on Friday that featured, among the thousand people who gathered to celebrate, elderly Holocaust survivors who had worshipped there before the war. The sermon was given by “Rabbi Leo Trepp, 94, who had preached at the synagogue in the 1930s after the Nazis came to power and later fled the country.”
And the opening has occurred not a moment too soon. Wait too much longer and there wouldn’t be any survivors still surviving.
It also featured, ominously enough, “airport-style metal detectors and dozens of police officers, some armed with automatic weapons.”
Well, of course; there’s still more than enough hated to go around, although the perpetrators may be different. At least now, the police with the weapons are protecting the synagogue.
Germany, home to a growing Jewish community—120,000 strong at the moment, fed mostly by emigrants from the former Soviet Union—is trying its best to make itself a welcoming environment for the Jews who are relocating themselves to a country that, until the 1930s, was one of the best places for Jews to be on the entire earth.
The building looks lovely:
[See this post I wrote recently about how Poland is dealing with its own Jewstalgia.]
Previously a lifelong Democrat, born in New York and living in New England, surrounded by liberals on all sides, I've found myself slowly but surely 
September 1st, 2007 at 3:11 pm
Why does Germany, the home of the peaceful Green folks, need assault weapons?
Why isn’t the gun infested US requiring such?
September 1st, 2007 at 4:05 pm
That is a beautiful synagogue!
I especially love the poignant example of Rabbi Trepp. I’m happy he was able to see the synagogue revived after all these years!
http://burkeanreflections.blogspot.com
September 2nd, 2007 at 12:24 pm
Sadly, it may be just in time to see the changeover to ‘Berlinistan’.
September 3rd, 2007 at 4:46 am
I visited the synagogue in 1982 when it was in a state of serious disrepair, to say the least. It was also hard to find, which is amazing considering its historic significance and sheer size.
I have mixed feelings about Jews moving to Germany, but it would have been a crime to let this magnificent building continue to crumble.
By the way, that synagogue did not have armed guards in 1983, but the Fasanenstrasse shul in Munich did, and you had to present your passport in order to be allowed in.
September 3rd, 2007 at 11:12 am
Slightly OT:
“Psychiatrists Are The Least Religious Of All Physicians”
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070903094243.htm
“Among psychiatrists who have a religion, more than twice as many are Jewish and far fewer are Protestant or Catholic, the two most common religions among physicians overall”
Also,
“In New Prayer Book, Signs of Broad Change”
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/03/us/03prayerbook.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
HotAir says “ Nuance: new Reform Judaism prayer book appeals to athiests”
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/03/us/03prayerbook.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Both links came from Hot Air:
http://hotair.com/
To see comments on top section entries you have to click on the unhighlighted links to the right. (it was quite a while before I noticed this)
September 4th, 2007 at 6:30 pm
Wow! From what I can see, that synogogue is really beautiful. I almost wish one could airlift up it and take it to Israel. How many Jews are left in Berlin, anyway?