Where Were You on Shabbat?

While in Jerusalem this July--while the children were in Toronto with Adam--I had the opportunity to read a book.  Since Efi, Noa and Elie were born, I have read innumerable articles, magazines, periodicals and "board books" (which usually involve Elmo, it seems), but books luxuriated over end to end are not so common for me.  I immersed myself in the world of German Jewry prior to 1933 in the lovingly empathetic work by Amos Elon, The Pity of It All.  Elon describes this history without damning German Jews for not knowing the course that history would take; he presents them on their own terms, with their own strengths, blindnesses and in all their diversity.  I do highly recommend it.

I thought of this as I read a piece in the German newspaper, Spiegel Online International, about the re-opening of Germany's biggest synagogue this past Shabbat.  It is an interesting but inevitably disconcerting portrayal of the state of Jewish life in Germany and the relationship between the Jewish community and a very difficult past.  Read it here.