The Liberal Jewish community of Luxembourg as you see it today is only possible thanks to the constant strength, unwavering support, and the vision of some of the many people who have dedicated so much time into helping us grow and guiding us.
Rabbi Alexander Grodensky
Rabbi Alexander was born in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, and grew up in the Russian North. In 2015 he graduated from Abraham Geiger College in Berlin-Potsdam with rabbinic ordination and from the University of Potsdam with a Master of Arts in Jewish Studies. Before joining Abraham Geiger College Rabbi Alexander studied in different yeshivot in Russia and Israel and was a fellow at Paideia – The European Institute for Jewish Studies in Stockholm. During his rabbinic training, he worked as a rabbinic intern in Hamburg, Vienna, and Ridgewood, New Jersey.
In addition to his rabbinic training and Jewish Studies, Rabbi Alexander holds graduate degrees in Public Administration from the Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration in St. Petersburg and in Management from Lauder Business School in Vienna.
Rabbi Alexander is as a member of the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), the principal organisation of liberal rabbis worldwide, and of the General Rabbinical Conference of Germany (Allgemeine Rabbinerkonferenz Deutschland – ARK). His further engagements include supporting emerging liberal Jewish communities in Europe, currently in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Rabbi Alexander is actively involved in the inter-religious dialogue in Luxembourg and Europe-wide. Among others, he is the advisor to the board of the Lutheran European Commission on Church and Judaism.
He is married to Isak Schneider.
You can email Rabbi Alexander at rabbi[at]jewish.lu
Please, ensure that you include your name and a phone number if you would like the rabbi to get back to you. Rabbi Alexander is fluent in English, German, and Russian.
Rabbi’s Office Hours: Sunday through Friday 11:00-19:00, day off: Tuesday. We ask that you do not call on Shabbat and Jewish Holidays.
Previous Rabbis
Rabbi Nathan Alfred
Rabbi Nathan Alfred is a British-Israeli Reform rabbi. He grew up in Bromley Reform Synagogue in Kent, where he celebrated his bar mitzvah, taught in the Sunday School, and sang in the choir.
Rabbi Nathan read Classics at King’s College, Cambridge, before moving to Budapest to play and study chess. There he became involved in the Szim Salom community, where he acted as chazzan and youth leader. He studied for the rabbinate at Leo Baeck College in London – including a year at Hebrew Union College and the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem – and received semicha (rabbinic ordination) in 2008.
Rabbi Nathan has worked for Jewish communities all over Europe, including Beit Warszawa in Poland, Nottingham Liberal Synagogue, and the International Jewish Center in Brussels. He was the founder and coordinator of EuroJews and, between 2003 and 2009, ran fifteen events bringing young adults together in different European cities.
From 2009-2015 he worked as the rabbi of Esch-Sur-Alzette and oversaw our synagogue’s transformation into a vibrant and liberal community.
He then spent five years based in Singapore working for the United Hebrew Congregation, and building up small communities across South East Asia.
In 2020 he made aliyah and is now to be found living in Jerusalem.
Grand Rabbis of Luxembourg
Until 2008, our community was under the authority of the Grand Rabbis of Luxembourg:
Rabbi Dr. phil. Samuel Hirsch (1843 – 1866)
Rabbi Michel Sopher (1867 – 1871)
Rabbi Dr. phil. Isaac Blumenstein (1871 – 1903)
Rabbi Dr. phil. Samuel Fuchs (1904 – 1928)
Rabbi Dr. phil. Robert Serebrenik (1929 – 1941)
Rabbi Dr. phil. Joseph J. Kratzenstein (1946 – 1948)
Rabbi Dr. phil. Charles Lehrmann (1950 – 1958)
Rabbi Dr. phil. Emmanuel Bulz (1958 – 1990)
Rabbi Joseph Sayagh [Grand Rabbi of Luxembourg until 2011] (1990-2008)
Previous Ministers
Mr. Feldmann (1900 – 1909)
Mr. Bass (1909 – 1915)
Mr. Katz (1915 – 1917)
Mr. Moritz Rosenbaum (1915 – 1923)
Mr. Julius Levy (1923 – 1937)
Mr. Walter Hertz (1939 – 1940)
Mr. Moïse Hoffmann (1953 – 1971)
Mr. David Rothschild (1972 – 1973)
Mr. Victor Portal (1992 – 2008)