From the DW:
“German hospital opens
synagogue and kosher kitchen”
(Managing director David-Ruben
Thies feels the synagogue in his state-of -the-art hospital is necessary to
reflect the religious diversity in Germany)
Many hospitals in Germany have a
Christian chapel or a "room of silence" for their patients as an
opportunity for prayer. One clinic in Thuringia is now opening its own
synagogue. The new initiative is unique in Germany. In the eastern state of
Thuringia, the Waldkliniken Eisenberg hospital will inaugurate its own
synagogue space on Sunday. The hospital has also expanded its kitchen and menu
to provide kosher care for patients under rabbinical supervision. The building
also has a "Shabbat elevator" that runs completely automatically on
the Jewish holiday, and can thus be used by religious Jewish patients.
(The Torah ark that encases the
scroll was specially made in Israel)
The guest list for the
inauguration by Orthodox Rabbi Yitzhak Ehrenberg from Berlin gives an idea of
how unusual the event is. Thuringia's State Premier Bodo Ramelow intends to be
there, as does the former president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany,
Charlotte Knobloch, as well as the Thuringian State Rabbi Andreas Nachama and
various other rabbis. They will all touch the mezuzah, the traditional
scriptural capsule at the entrance to the synagogue. The project was not
initiated by any government agency, nor was it conceived as part of this year's
celebrations of 1,700 years of Jewish life in Germany. The building already has
a prayer room for all religions and denominations.
International cooperation
(Rabbi Ehrenberg believes the synagogue
and kosher meals could attract patients from around the world)
The 53-year-old Thies told DW,
that he found that no clinic in Europe offered kosher cuisine, although it is
important that sick people feel they are in good hands. Thies went a step
further and decided to include a synagogue —
and looked for partners. "The Jewish community in Thuringia was
delighted," Thies said and put him in touch with people who could help
with the project. Thies then met Charlotte Knobloch by chance during his
training as a nurse in Munich and talked to her about what Jewish patients expected.
"I had no idea about that at all," he said today. "That
encounter was more of a personal experience. It stuck in my memory."
The 254-bed clinic is now home to
the German Center for Orthopedics. It is housed in a building designed by the
Italian architect and designer Matteo Thun and is more reminiscent of an
elegant hotel than a clinic. Berlin's Rabbi Ehrenberg called the plan for the
synagogue "unique, very, very beautiful and positive." He will
personally carry the Torah scroll, which is about 80 years old, into the room
on the second floor on Sunday and solemnly say and sing the prayers. The
"Torah ark" that encases the scroll was specially made in Israel, and
the inscription on the outside is dedicated to the memory of the victims of the
Shoah. The furnishings for the room with its 16 seats also come from Israel,
from a kibbutz settlement that has already furnished well over 5,000 synagogues
in Israel and worldwide. According to the clinic, all of this was financed by
its sponsoring association, private donations, and funding from state
lotteries. If needed, there will be services and prayers in the wards in the
future, not just on Shabbat, Ehrenberg explains. The rabbi, born in Jerusalem in 1950, says he
has been involved in the kosher kitchen project from the start. A "proper
kosher kitchen" is so important for Jewish patients, he says.
A business model A week
after the synagogue's dedication, Knobloch, Thies, and the rabbi will meet
again. That's when the plenary session of the European Conference of Rabbis
(CER), with hundreds of Orthodox rabbis, meets in Munich. Ehrenberg is a member
of the conference's Standing Committee. During the CER meeting, Thies will
present his clinic's new synagogue and kosher kitchen. Ehrenberg, more
explicitly than Thies, definitely sees a market: "This can bring a profit
for the hospital if you advertise accordingly. Yes, it can become known beyond
Germany."
^ This is very interesting –
especially since it is in Germany. ^
https://www.dw.com/en/german-hospital-opens-synagogue-and-kosher-kitchen/a-61879241
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.