Leipzig hosts Jewish wedding
First wedding since World War II. Since war, city’s aging Jewish population has not been conducive to marriages. Before fall of Berlin Wall, only 35 people belonged to Leipzig’s Jewish community. Influx of Jews from former Soviet Union has boosted community’s numbers
The German city of Leipzig has hosted its first traditional Jewish wedding in more than 67 years.
The couple - music scholar Rostislav Uciteli, 26, who grew up in Moldova and 25-year-old Maria Schapiro, a travel agent from Russia - said they were proud to take part in the groundbreaking ceremony. They have both lived in Germany for about 10 years.
American-born Rabbi Joshua Spinner, who runs the Lauder Foundation Yeshiva (Jewish Seminary) in Germany, conducted the wedding at the Keilstrasse synagogue.
Rare occasions
Jewish weddings, whether Orthodox or Liberal (Reform), have been few and far between, in Germany’s 100,000 strong Jewish community.
And since 1938 there had been none at all in Leipzig, one of Germany’s largest cities.
Kuf Kaufmann, who heads the Leipzig community told the Juedische Allgemeine Zeitung Jewish newspaper that since the war the city’s aging Jewish population has not been very conducive to marriages. Before the fall of the Berlin Wall, only 35 people belonged to Leipzig’s Jewish community.
But the influx of Jews from the former Soviet Union has boosted the community’s numbers. Today, it boasts several hundred members, all from the former Soviet Union and many slowly coming of age.
Increasingly traditional
The Leipzig wedding is an example of the rise in traditionalism amongst modern Germany Jewry.
Jews have been living continuously in Germany for the past 2,000 years, despite episodic expulsions and countless annihilation attempts.
Secular emancipation, the Nazi catastrophe, postwar consumerism and 40 years of atheistic Communism caused many to discard the maintenance of Jewish traditions, including the chuppa, the time-honored Jewish wedding ritual.
Until recently, many Jews found themselves denying their heritage, or keeping it under cover - marrying in city halls or intermarrying into other religions.
However, increasing numbers of Germany’s Jewish community have now been coming forward to “marry properly.”
One newlywed couple told EJP they chose to remarry because they no longer felt that their liberal wedding had the spiritual foundation which they now believe in.
“We also took this step in order to encourage others to follow suit and accept the values that traditions bring with them - values which make a marriage more solid,” one said.
Reprinted by permission of European Jewish Press
Germany: Jewish wedding in Leipzig first in decades
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