Kosher and Jewish Life in Luxembourg City

Luxembourg was founded in 963 CE by Count Siegfried and the first record of Jews living in the city of Luxembourg, the capital of the country, was in 1276. Today approximately 600 Jews live in Luxembourg. By the 1930s, the population had reached nearly 4,000 persons. Only 1,555 of the 3,500 Jews who lived in the country in 1939 survived the Holocaust. After the Holocaust, approximately 1,500 Jews returned to Luxembourg, most of whom were merchants who rebuilt their prewar businesses. The government financially supported the reconstruction of the Jewish community, and helped build a new synagogue in 1953 to replace to old one destroyed in 1943. In Esch-sur-Alzette, a community of 40 families was established, and a new synagogue was built. Luxembourg has one kosher grocery store, Boulangerie Philip, which serves some thirty families who observe kashrut. Services at the main synagogue follow modern Orthodox ritual and are conducted in French and Hebrew by Moroccan-born Joseph Sayagh, believed to be the first Sephardic rabbi in Luxembourg history. Or Chadash, a small Reform congregation, was established in 1998 by Betty Preston, an American expatriate.