Frankfurt Synagogue

I was surprised to see the photograph of Frankfurt’s Westend Synagogue (News, Tips & Bargains, March 5). My father, the late Rabbi William Weinberg, in his capacity as the first State Rabbi of Hesse and the city of Frankfurt, officiated at the rededication of that synagogue in 1950. It is a magnificent structure, a reflection of the proud pre-Holocaust Frankfurt community. It housed many luminaries and played a significant role in the development of modern Reform, Conservative and Orthodox Judaism. Quite an accomplishment for such a small community! I was part of a delegation of rabbis that visited Germany in 1985. Tragically, while there is a small renascent Jewish community in Frankfurt, the glories of the long-since-gone community could not be rebuilt. That is the sorry legacy that Hitler left for his country.

RABBI NORBERT WEINBERG

West Hollywood