On the nights of November 9 & 10, 1938, gangs of Nazi youth roamed through Jewish neighborhoods breaking windows of Jewish businesses and homes, burning synagogues and looting. In all, 101 synagogues and almost 7,500 Jewish businesses were destroyed. 26,000 Jews were arrested and sent to concentration camps. Jews were physically attacked and beaten and 91 died. (Snyder, Louis L. Encyclopedia of the Third Reich, New York: Paragon House, 19890291). While restrictions and abuses against Jews in Germany had begun many years earlier, Kristallnacht, The Night of Broken Glass, marked the real beginning of the tragedy of the Holocaust. Our temple member, Ingeborg Rabinowitz, lived in one of the cities that the Nazi's attacked, and has a first-hand account of the events of that night. Tonight, she will tell her very compelling story. This year, exactly 73 years after Kristallnacht shattered the world, we at Temple Beth Elohim will mark the solemn occasion with readings and historical accounts of the events which sparked the chaos. Please join us for this very moving Shabbat service at 7:30 PM on Friday, November 11th conducted by Rabbi Churgel and Cantor Pilatsky, accompanied by Temple Beth Elohim Choir.
