Remembering Kristallnacht An Evening of Reflection and Resilience

Kristallnacht Service – Friday night, November 7th, 7:30pm

Join us on Friday, November 7, 2025 at 7:30pm for an important commemoration of Kristallnacht. Kristallnacht, the “Night of Broken Glass,” was an organized mass riot by Nazi mobs against the Jewish community of Germany that took place on November 9 and 10, 1938.  Kristallnacht is often considered the beginning of the Holocaust.

This year, we have a special guest speaker, Dr. Frank Mecklenburg, a Senior Historian and Director of Research and Chief Archivist of the Leo Baeck Institute, the repository of the history of the Jews of Germany. His topic will be “Kristallnacht in Historical Context—a tumultuous 1938.” Dr. Mecklenburg is one of the creators of the LBI’s 1938 Projekt. He will examine Kristallnacht in the context of the tumultuous events of that year, such as the Anschluss and the Munich Conference.

This will be a joint Shabbat service with Temple Sinai of Bergen County and it will be led by Rabbis Paula Feldstein and Jordan Millstein, Cantors Josee Wolff and Nitzah Shamah and accompanist Cynthia Powell. The service will feature music by German composers and special readings.