jews and jewish education in germany today - The Westbury Group

I would probably tend toward the conservative movement. Certainly not reform or liberal, but also not
orthodox. That basically means conservative.
● Do you still see any problems in the relations between Russian speaking immigrants and German speaking
veterans inside the Jewish Communities that still need to be resolved?
Yes, and we have to be careful that these problems between the groups don’t spill over to the next generation.
In Limmud.de, for example, there are lots of German Jews and there are problems with the children. Not
many have attended a youth group as there were too many Russians there and they felt like outsiders. Russian
Jewish mothers, on the other hand, say we don’t go to other places, because there are too many Germans
there. Our children feel like outsiders there. However, I think that young people have more possibilities to be
flexible. Maybe the first step is to bring the children to religious courses and the adults should be role models.
The parents should understand this is how children take on their religion. What will be expected of me, how
do young people get married and so on.
I see a kind of lost generation of those between 30-35 till 40 or 50. The women are working, but they would
normally like to belong to a group. I think that yesterday [in the seminar] there were six-seven women around
45-50, who are working as music teachers at the university in Düsseldorf, and at the university in Dortmund.
This was a good thing, to go to Bonn together to see this Modigliani exhibit and then to go to a restaurant
afterwards. People need this kind of networking. They wanted to see this and communicate with each other,
but when do they come to the Community? They’re not so young, but not as old as the retirees. I think that
there isn’t enough offered for these “normal” women. They are interested in appropriate, good, prestigious
things. It doesn’t matter in which language. For example, yesterday we had a tour in German. There were 33
people, in the museum, everyone understood it. No one asked why does it have to be in German; let’s get a
special tour guide.
But anyway, you need to understand, that these things should jibe with the identity of the Russian-speakers.
Everything having to do with art and literature, travel, that’s acceptable for people. Then people will slowly
start coming to the Community. I think programs are needed that show full respect for their intellects,
regardless of which language, with an intellectual orientation. That’s why I think also the programs for
families should be made modern and interesting.
● When talking about identity, collective identity, or the future identity of the Jewish Community in Germany,
do you think that Israel will continue to have the same meaning for the Communities?
Yes, this covers different philosophical questions for every local Community. Some Communities say we’re
in a Jewish Community in Germany. We’re not an intermediary sending people on to Israel; we should
develop as a Jewish Community in Germany. The people themselves, especially those from Russia and the
former Soviet Union have a great interest in Israel and I’m trying to organize a project where we study the
history of Jerusalem and of Israel for a year, and then take a trip to Israel.
● Have you ever done something like this before?
We’re planning it together with Rabbi Michael Kogan [JC Düsseldorf] and others. People want to see Israel
through his eyes, or through my eyes. They have faith in us and want to make this program. They trust us that
it won’t be bad, but interesting. So we’ll first have the history and then take this same group to Israel. I think
that’s very important, also for the middle generation.
● What about travel programs for the whole family?
When we were in Israel the last time we found out about a special program for trips for the whole family.
This program is mostly used by Americans, but this could also be something for the future here. Each and
every time my people come and ask me when are we going to Israel? I can’t ever say, because I can only
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