We live in Germany (I am American, my husband is German, working for a German airline). After various postings to foreign countries, we are now here permanently with our 12-year-old daughter. We have purchased a piece of property and will be building soon on it. Currently there is an old house on the property, in which many generations of the same family were born and raised, until the remaining elderly owner passed on with no heirs, just 1 year ago. The property reverted to the state, from whom we purchased it.
Before the bulldozers come I would like to:
1. Pay tribute to the almost 100 years this family dwelt in the place. All who enter the old house express that it feels warm and inviting, with an overgrown but lovely garden.
2. Address any Nazi connections which may have existed. There is no indication of this in the deceased's history (I've googled him and asked many neighbors) but he was of that generation.
3. After the old house and yard have been removed and prepared for building, I would also like to bless the property prior to building.
To summarize, I am interested in an appropriate Jewish:
1. dedication
2. acknowledgement of possible misdeeds
3. property blessing
My upbringing was as Conservative Jew in San Diego, later practicing Reform.
This is indeed an intriguing question by an obviously caring and sensitive person. Kudos to you.
To address your multi-faceted question, I share with you a few ideas.
It might be nice to have a house-closing, wherein you hold a reception and invite those who live in the vicinity to come and say farewell to the house, allowing them to share their recollections, which you could tape for posterity.
You may want to take some small but significant part of the old house and incorporate it into the new structure. You may even have a cornerstone on the new house indicating that this replaces the old home in which FAMILY STRAUSS (or whatever the family name) once lived.
You can, just before starting the new structure, gather together whomever you feel comfortable with, and express the very ideas you mention - acknowledging (though you are not sure of this) possible misdeeds that may have taken place on this property, coupled with your resolve to assure that the new house will be a repository of goodness.
You may select a few Psalms to read, such as Psalm 30, and conclude by asking the help of God in making this new house a blessed home.
We live in Germany (I am American, my husband is German, working for a German airline). After various postings to foreign countries, we are now here permanently with our 12 yr old daughter. We have purchased a piece of property and will be building soon on it. Currently there is an old house on the property, in which many generations of the same family were born and raised, until the remaining elderly owner passed on with no heirs, just 1 year ago. The property reverted to the state, from whom we purchased it. Before the bulldozers come I would like to: 1. Pay tribute to the almost 100 years this family dwelled in the place. All who enter the old house express that it feels warm and inviting, with an overgrown but lovely garden. 2. Address any Nazi connections which may have existed. There is no indication of this in the deceased's history (i've googled him and asked many neighbors) but he was of that generation. 3. After the old house and yard have been removed and prepared for building, I would also like to bless the property prior to building. To summarize, I am interested in an appropriate Jewish: 1. dedication 2. acknowledgement of possible misdeeds 3. property blessing My upbringing was as Conservative Jew in San Diego, later practicing Reform.
The prophet Jeremiah’s inaugural vision included the mandate “to uproot and tear down, to destroy and to raze, to build and to plant” (Jeremiah 1:10). The work of removal of the old precedes the work of emplacement of the new. Conceptually, the first task is to “de-nazify” the property, if indeed any residue of Nazism inheres in it. One might give the former owner the benefit of the doubt, based on the research of the questioner, but it is easy to understand that misgivings endure. The collusion of the entire German people in the work of Hitler, up through the early years of the Second World War, is unfortunately all too well documented. So many “anti-Nazis” only became so when the tide of war turned against Germany, or even later still, when they reinvented their past to succeed in the post-war era. Even so, we should be guided by the maxim of Deuteronomy 24:16, “Parents must not be put to death for children, nor children be put to death for parents: a person shall be put to death only for his own crime.” If the previous owner was too young to have taken part in the Nazi era, then he was innocent, and his house was not at all implicated. On the other hand, if indeed the house sheltered Nazi supporters, and made them comfortable while they played a role in the crimes of that era, then the cleansing that the questioner has in mind is apt. But there is no question of “judicial guilt”. A house is a shell, until people invest it with values that make it a home.
I recommend creating a liturgy of dedication upon the beginning of the actual work of construction, after the site has been cleared. It is correct and praiseworthy to create moments of dedication and consecration. Certainly, the occasion of preparing a new domicile is one of life’s important transitions, and worthy of spiritual commemoration. The Hebrew termchanukkat ha-bayyit, “dedication of the house”, goes back to the Bible, and I recommend including Psalm 30, the “Psalm of David, for the dedication of the house” as part of the questioner’s own liturgy of dedication. Upon entering the completed new home, the questioner is well advised to adopt one of the existing liturgies accompanying the mitzvah of placing a mezuzah on the doorpost. All of these liturgies make Deuteronomy 6:4-9 central: Hear, o Israel, the LORD is our God, the LORD alone… You shall love the LORD your God… Take to heart these instructions… inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” I personally recommend the fine compilation of spiritual texts in the Rabbinical Assembly Rabbi’s Manual.
The central Jewish teaching regarding living nobly despite our human imperfections is teshuvah, “repentance”. Full repentance, as Maimonides teaches (Laws of Repentance, chapter 2), is the conscious decision to change one’s life, actualized in the proper decision when faced with the same problem. Living on the property that the questioner describes could well serve as a spur to mindfulness, a reminder that the Jew can best respond to the Holocaust by living out what the Holocaust survivor and Jewish theologian, Emil Fackenheim, has described as “the 614th commandment—thou shalt not grant Hitler any posthumous victories.” That would include a life of Jewish engagement, because Hitler attempted to destroy the religion as well as the people; a consecration of energies to defend the Jewish people from its current threats, which are all too real; and a posture of readiness to prevent the plague of bigotry against any group from recurring.
I admire the sensitivity of the person submitting these queries to us. In response I would encourage that the questioner likely would benefit by meeting with an equally sensitive Jewish authority in order to explore, explain and clarify the world of shading and nuance in the circumstances described above, as well as how Jewish practice may provide a path forward. Simply put, there is no simple "off-the-shelf" response or ceremony that covers the complexity of the situation.
Further, I want to emphasize that no ritual or blessing provide a formula to exorcise the echo of any evil that may have occurred on the property. That would be to confuse ritual with magic.
As to ritual, you may be familiar with the minhag/custom of beginning new ventures on Tuesday – the twice good day in Jewish lore. In addition, a groundbreaking moment would be an appropriate time for reciting the Shecheyanu prayer, as well as considering some use of Psalms. Examine Psalm 24, 101, 127 and 128.
When the property is ready to be occupied, especially in light of the concerns expressed by the questions, a hanukat habeit (dedication of the home) ceremony would be an invaluable way to recognize the opportunity for holiness in your new abode.
Finally, you may want to consider the custom of leaving a small part of the new building unfinished to serve as a reminder of all that remains unknown about this particular location and the unfinished, even broken nature of our world.
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