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Keren Or – Liberal Synagogue of Lyon

Present in Lyon for more than 30 years, the Keren Or community (“ray of light” in Hebrew) welcomes and accompanies nearly 200 families in the different stages of Jewish life, and offers them many religious and cultural activities.

Promoting a tolerant, benevolent and progressive Judaism is Keren Or’s mission.
Concerned about Jewish continuity, the comunity welcomes any person or family of Jewish faith or wishing to become one who wishes to live their Judaism in all simplicity and transmit it to their children.

Keren Or is a religious association governed by the Laws of 1901 and 1905.

Learning

  • Talmud Torah
  • Introduction to Judaism
  • Hebrew classes
  • Jewish Philosophy classes
  • Parasha of the Week classes
  • Singing workshops
  • Library

Advocacy

  • Eco Syngagogue: Monthly study and working group with the following missions:
    • study the texts on which the themes targeted by the project are based
    • develop proposals for concrete actions for the synagogue (proposals that will be presented to the Board of Keren Or for validation and commitment).
    • Among the themes that will be addressed (among others):
      • Community meals
      • Waste management
      • Energy management
      • Awareness-raising, education to respoect the environment within the community (children and adults)
      • “Relational ecology”
  • Social work: accompaniment of people in difficulty, alone, sick, elderly or bereaved.
    • Organization of collections (food, school supplies and clothing) for people in difficulty, refugees, students during the Covid health crisis.
  • Inter-religious :
    • Keren Or is part of an inter-religious approach around formal/official and informal meetings with the Christian and Muslim communities of Villeurbanne.
      The members are always delighted and enthusiastic about these moments of exchange.
      Sharing the holidays, the traditions of our friends from other communities is the best way to get to know each other better and to live together.
      They meet at services, Shabbaticals, visits to places of worship, parish feasts at our Catholic friends’ homes, when breaking the fast during Ramadan… but also to discuss current issues that concern them all: the reception of refugees, ecology / the environment …
    • Associations such as CoExister are visiting. Young people of all faiths were able to come and ask questions to the Rabbi and visit the synagogue. These exchanges are always very enriching, and the opportunity to discover other traditions and to question our own texts.
  • Yom Hashoah