Saturday, June 02, 2007

A Jewish atheist in Berlin

What does a Jewish atheist do on a Jewish holy day in Berlin? He goes to synagogue, and prays!
We happened to be in Berlin on Shavuot, and Naomi selected the shool at Pestalozzi strasse, which was nearby and reputed to be an active congregation. It was a typical German mixture of orthodoxy and reform, with men and women seated separately, but with a choir and organ. This synagogue survived the Holocaust, almost intact, partly because it is situated inside the courtyeard of an apartment building, and cannot be seen from the street. We saw a similar case in Amsterdam, where a synagogue survived the Nazi occupation intact because it was hidden inside an apartment building, and was not "given away."
In the case of the Pestalozzi strasse shool the building was set on fire and damaged on Kristallnacht, 1938, but was not attacked after that. After the war it was completely restored, and now looks very good. However, the real damage was to the community, whereas before WWII it had a thousand members now at the service I counted no more than 30 people. I sat in the center, somehow to fill the vacuum. I had a feeling of dread that came over me and I could not shake it off. However, I was called up as the Cohen for the first aliyah and it made me feel a bit better to know that the old prayers and songs that I hardly believe in were sung out loudly. The human mind and heart are strange, complex things. I don't believe in the efficacy of prayer, yet it did comfort me to be there and think of those who were not.
The Rabbi in his speech mentioned that on the way to the service he had encountered a group of Israelis speaking Hebrew in the street. When he asked them if they knew what day it was, one remembered that it was Shavuot, but they said they had to go to the scientific meeting and could not go to shool. He said that my being there had made up for the rest, had restored his faith in Israelis and had redeemed them. I said nothing, it was a mitzvah that I did despite myself.
After the service there was a very nice kiddush and a small meal, and we chatted with some of the members who spoke English or Hebrew. It was a very rewarding experience.

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