Hackensack’s Jewish community will come together on Monday, Nov. 5, at 7:30 p.m. to mark 80 years since the horrors of Kristallnacht. The gathering will take place at the recently opened Chabad of Hackensack, located at 280 Summit Ave.
Addressing the community will be the first German-born rabbi since the Holocaust, Rabbi Yitzchak Mendel Wagner. One of Germany’s youngest community rabbis, Rabbi Wagner is also the first rabbi in his hometown of Krefeld in more than 70 years.
80 years ago, Nazis in Germany torched synagogues; vandalized Jewish homes, schools and businesses; murdered hundreds and dragged thousands of Jews from their homes, coldly dividing families as many looked on, unperturbed. That infamous night is now known as Kristallnacht, and is considered by many as the starting point of the Holocaust.
Krefeld’s synagogue was torched on Kristallnacht as firefighters turned a blind eye, and Torah scrolls were rolled out into the street and stomped on by anti-Semitic ruffians. The majority of the Jewish community was eventually sent to the Theresienstadt concentration camp, never to be heard from again.
Rabbi Wagner brings an insider’s perspective along with his own personal experience as he tells the story of German Jewry’s tragic demise and unexpected rebirth, rising from the ashes of the Holocaust to its current grandeur. He will address the struggles against anti-Semitism and the many new challenges and moral dilemmas facing today’s German-Jewish community.
“This is an exciting opportunity to hear firsthand what it’s like to be a rabbi in post-Holocaust Germany,” said Rabbi Mendy Kaminker, co-director of Chabad of Hackensack, the organization sponsoring the event. “Eighty years after Kristallnacht, once again Jews are walking the same streets where unspeakable atrocities took place. This event is an opportunity to ask some tough questions, and hear insightful answers from a Jewish community leader in modern-day Germany.”
The gathering is suitable for teenagers and adults and is free and open to the public. For more information and to RSVP, visit www.ChabadHackensack.com/4158605.
