The Landesverband Jüdischer Gemeinden und Einrichtungen in Sachsen e.V. (State Association of Jewish Communities and Institutions in Saxony) was founded back in 2021 and now goes public under the name Jüdischer Landesverband Sachsen (LVJG for short). Many people ask: Why a second Jewish regional association?
There were two main reasons for founding the LVJG. The first and most important reason was that there are now several Jewish communities in Saxony that cannot find a home in the existing state association. The second reason was that there should also be an umbrella organisation for non-religious Jewish institutions in order to represent many more Jews in Saxony.
Our mission
The goals of LVJG can be divided into three pillars:
representation of Jewish life to the outside world
internal representation of our members
development and promotion of Jewish activities
Culture, society, politics and religion
The first pillar of our work consists of being a point of contact for Jewish-related issues in Saxony, as well as actively seeking contact with politics, culture and society in order to put Jewish issues on the general agenda when necessary. With the Jewish communities among our members and the saxonian rabbinate, which is made up of rabbis from the most important Jewish denominations, we are also the point of contact for questions from urban society or from communities of other religions in religious matters. If required, we support our members with specific contact enquiries at regional and state level in the various societal areas.
Our members
Jewish communities and other institutions with a Jewish connection can become members of LVJG. On the one hand, we support and promote the networking of our members; on the other hand, we try to utilise synergies that relieve the associations in particular of tasks that are often difficult to perform on a voluntary basis. In doing so, we build on the wealth of existing players with their commitment and wealth of experience. LVJG does not impose any content requirements on its members and does not participate in the unsolicited or public evaluation of their services. From the outset, our services include counselling and networking on all topics and, if necessary, representing our members in the Jewish community in Saxony and Germany.
Development
As expected, the launch of a new regional association brings with it a whole range of future ideas for projects, services, co-operations and political developments. LVJG will proceed step by step and build on existing initiatives. Associations or projects that do not wish to be members of LVJG are also very welcome to participate in the networking and pooling of expertise on Jewish topics in Saxony. In addition to practical things, such as maps of Jewish Saxony and individual Saxon cities or a compilation of all Jewish publications (especially those of our members) and contact details, the work of the communities and associations should also be supported in the future in order to make Jewish life in Saxony richer and more visible.
Funding
LVJG is currently working on a number of funding applications. In addition, we finance ourselves primarily through donations and voluntary work. This is another reason why we opted for the organisational form of a registered association (e.V.) from the outset, in order to have our non-profit status recognised and to be able to issue donation receipts. In contrast to similar organisations, LVJG is not (yet) supported by the public sector.
Our dreams
The LVJG has worked best when the public hardly notices anything about it, but can concentrate on the diverse, well-organised, solidly financed and lively Jewish events and Jewish life in Saxony in general. The frequent use of our services by members, the public, politics, the press and culture is entirely in our interest. The future idea of a large network of people and institutions centred on Jewish life in Saxony is already partly a reality, but we would like to see even more of it. If Jews feel a little more comfortable in Saxony, that would also be a significant result. Likewise, if even more Saxons (Jewish or non-Jewish) found it easier to gain insight into and access to Judaism, associations or communities and we could help to reduce misunderstandings and prejudices.
Call for action
We ask all Jewish communities and organisations with a Jewish connection in Saxony to join us, to submit an application for membership or to send us information about themselves so that we can get in touch with them. And we ask all people who are interested in Jewish topics to continue to support our members at their events and programmes as guests or helpers. We would be very pleased to receive donations from everyone to secure our programmes and make it easier for us to get started. Please use the information in the info box for all questions, comments and feedback. The info box also contains a list of current members.
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