C'est en 1659 environ que Rabbi Aron est arrivé de Bavière à Scherwiller près de Sélestat.
Prenant le patronyme de son lieu d'origine, Heimerdinger, qui deviendra selon les variantes
d'un état-civil incertain Hemmen(r)dinger, il s'installe au pied des Vosges sur ce qui deviendra
la fameuse route des vins. Le recensement de 1786 relève à Scherwiller la présence d'une
quinzaine de familles portant le patronyme. La communauté juive se développera
jusqu'à devenir assez importante à la veille de la guerre de 1940 avec une belle synagogue,
et toutes les institutions nécessaires.
Seul un descendant Hemmendinger, Monsieur Lévy, y demeure encore.

On Sunday, 11 July 1999, many of the descendants of Aron Hemmerdinger and his wife, Ella bas Samuel Gougenheim, will gather at the cemetery of Sélestat. There, a plaque to honor their memory will be dedicated. The ceremony will be performed by Rabbi Yehoshua Hemmendinger, of Jerusalem, a 6 times great grandson of Rabbi Aron.
Aron Hemmerdinger was the rabbi of Scherwiller (B-R) at the end of the 17th century, and early years of the 18th. He died before 1723, although his wife lived perhaps 20 years longer. Together they had 6 children that have been identified, one daughter and 5 sons. Four of his sons were also rabbis, as were several of his grandsons. Indeed, one grandson was the Rabbi Benjamin Hemmerdinger, one of the Prpos of Alsace.
After 25 years of research I have almost 2800 names in the family database. There are hundreds of descendants of this couple all over the world, although only about 90 will be able to attend the reunion. They will be coming from the U.S., Israel and of course, France. There are also family members in South America and Great Britain, who unfortunately will be not be able to join us.

Report on the reunion of the HEMMERDINGER/HEMMENDINGER clan in Scherwiller (B-R):

On July 11, 1999, after 4 years of planning a reunion was held in the town of Scherwiller (B-R), Alsace for the descendants of the Rabbi Aron Hemmerdinger and his wife, Elle bath Samuel GOUGENHEIM. Present were about 110 people from France, Germany, Israel, Martinique and trhe United States, of whom approximately 80 were direct descendants of this couple, plus spouses, fiancés, friends, and some descendants of a probable brother of the Rabbi. Invited guests included representatives of Jewish and civil communities, among whom were Eliane Roos-Schuhl, Dr. André-Marc Haarscher, Lyse Schwarzfuchs and her aunt Andrée Sichel, as well as Jean-Pierre Kleitz, a specialist in Alsatian genealogy.

Currently, the earliest document that positively establishes this family in Scherwiller is a Möhelbuch from nearby Dambach that dates from the last decades of the 17th century. Entry # 140 in this Möhelbuch lists the circumcision of "Joseph ben Ha Rav Aron, circumcised in Scherwiller on Tuesday the 8th of Nissan, 459" This corresponds to the date of April 7, 1699. As yet no documents relating to the arrival of the Rabbi in Scherwiller have been located. His date of birth was about 1670, and his date of death, from the marriage of the Joseph above, was prior to January 1723.

On Sunday, July 11, the family gathered at the old Jewish cemetery in Sélestat were a plaque was unveiled which read as follows: "Dedicated ot the memory of Rabbi Aron Hemmerdinger and his wife, Elle bath Samuel Gougenheim, of Scherwiller by their descendants, during a reunion of the Hemmerdinger family, Scherwiller, the 11 July, 1999".

Rabbi Claude Spingarn of Strasbourg, and Rabbi Yehoshua Hemmendinger of Jerusalem, a six-times great grandson of Rabbi Aron and his wife, presided over a very moving ceremony. This was followed by a kosher luncheon, at the salle polyvalente in Scherwiller, which permitted everyone to come together, to get to know one another, and to begin to grow together as a family group. It was a truly joyous time, with much picture-taking and speech-making, and laughter and tears, as well.

The following day we were able to visit the historic cemetery in Rosenwiller, and to make our way to the grave of the renowned Rabbi Benjamin Hemmerdinger, a grandson of the couple we were honoring, who had been rabbin du Directoire de la Noblesse immédiate de Basse-Alsace à Niedernai, 1771 à 1793. Among those family who came to the reunion was a direct descendant of R. Benjamin, Pierre Lautmann, of Vincennes, FR.

The final day of the reunion found the entire family, by now incredibly close and happy terms with one another, participating in the annual celebration on the eve of the 14 July (Bastille Day), at a Grand Bal held in Place de la Mairie of Scherwiller. Together they were singing, dancing, anc finally marching through the town with lit torches, in rowdy camaraderie, following the band of the Fire Department !

All departed vowing to keep in touch, and exchanging addresse, e-mail address, etc.

The entire event can best be summed up by a moving letter, written by one of our young cousins, Fabrice Slimak, of Melun, as follows : "...the history of Europe, the exchanges among peoples and migration to other countries has made of our family an example of pluralitiy and of differences. Jews, Protestants, Catholics, religious or secular, believers or non-believers, we are all reunited in our diversity, to celebrate our common ancestors in the spirit of combat for tolerance and universalism..." Everyone departed, no longer a group of strangers, but as a family reunited after 300 years!