jews and jewish education in germany today - The Westbury Group

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person’s mind in making a decision. So, if you say that you can’t keep kosher, because there is no kosher food available, that’s a problem, and we have to make it possible that everybody can buy kosher food. If anybody says later that they don’t want to keep kosher, that’s his or her business, but the opportunity, however, is given. And as we have to provide the right possibilities not only in material things, we also have to provide it conceptually. Whether the people are taking the opportunities or not, whether people want to study religion and tradition or not, we are going to make it possible for them. ● Can you just give a short overview of the programs now offered by the Lauder yeshiva in Berlin? There’s a wide ranging program now in the yeshiva, starting with beginners, attended mostly by high school pupils or university students, they study here in the evenings. There’s also a full time program, usually for people who are post-high school and pre-university. They study full time, for one or two or three years. At the end of the third year we encourage the people to continue their education at a college or university except for those who intend to join the Rabbinical program. Now there’s something that is actually a new and independent institution, it’s called the Rabbinerseminar zu Berlin, which is the historical name of the Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary. This will be then a Germanwide federal institution in the Brunnenstrasse, which is where the Lauder yeshiva is. ● How many students are visiting now the Rabbinical program at the Rabbinerseminar zu Berlin? There are nine at the moment, including two who are about to be ordained. ● How many of them do you think intend to work after ordination as Rabbis in Germany? I can’t give a guarantee, but I guess all of them want to be Rabbis in Germany then. ● Where do the participants come from? It’s a very interesting mix. From the two graduates now, one is from Budapest, and the other one is a former immigrant from Russia. One will serve, in the future, as Rabbi in Leipzig, the other one will serve in Cologne. And the other students, one is an American who came here with a Fulbright scholarship, there’s another native German Jew, and the rest are immigrants from the Former Soviet Union. ● You mentioned that there was, at the very beginning, a midrasha in Frankfurt am Main, but then you moved it to Berlin? Why? We had several reasons to take this step. The first was an intention from the general project perspective. It means the sum of the parts is just greater in one place, or the effects are just stronger. It had also the effect that we had a lot of chuppot here in Berlin, alone in the first year 12 weddings! Another reason was financial. We rented facilities in Frankfurt at great cost, and in Berlin, we had a much better infrastructure. Local support, for example, by Dr. Roman Skoblo [ an important Jewish donor in Berlin, O.G.], helped a lot. ● Are there other projects in German towns which are supported by the Lauder Yeshurun community? Yes, Lauder Yeshurun is committed to projects in Leipzig and Hamburg, and separately, The Ronald S. Lauder Foundation supports the Lauder-Moriah-School in Cologne and the Lauder Kindergarten of the Jewish Community in Hamburg. ● How many kids did you start with in the Lauder primary school in Berlin in 2008? 125 | P a g e
We started with 17 kids, and I think it will grow year by year. The kindergarten is already attended by about 30 girls and boys now. The kids in the kindergarten and school come at least from three different backgrounds. There’s the group of children who stem from our core families; a second group is from Jewish families from the neighborhood, who probably would never have sent their kids to a Jewish kindergarten, if there wouldn’t have been an option close to their own neighborhood. And the third group are Jewish families and parents from around Berlin who are not part of our group or from our neighborhood, who don’t identify with orthodox Judaism at all, but who want the educational experience we provide. ● What about children who just have a Jewish father? Can they also go to the Lauder primary school? Since we are a publicly recognized school with the status, of course there’s the possibility for such children to join our school. On the other side, I think it’s natural that we also have a kind of priority system, and this is threefold. Priority number one is for children who are affiliated with the sponsoring Community, i.e. the core community. Priority number two are children who are affiliated with the umbrella organization, i.e. children of parents who are members of the local Jewish Community of Berlin. Priority number three are children of parents who are eligible for membership in the Jewish Community, but for whatever reasons are not members of the community. In priority group four there are children from parents who do not fit the first three groups, but theoretically it’s possible that such kids attend our school as well. And indeed, we have children in our kindergarten and school now, whose parents are not Jewish according to the Halacha. ● The Jewish population of Berlin is very heterogeneous now, not only by denomination but also by geographical background, duration of stay here and so on. If you take all the institutions that Lauder Yeshurun is running now in Berlin; the kindergarten, school, yeshiva, midrasha and family services, would you say that there is a certain subgroup which dominates? Let’s say the Russian speakers, or the Israelis, or American Jews? No, not at all. It’s a very diverse grouping, that’s right. You can meet here four different groups; Israelis, somehow German-speakers, Russian-speakers and English-speakers. It’s a mix of it all, and that has a kind of neutralizing effect. However, you have to be careful with all the subgroups. For example, we have sensed that if you succeed in identifying yourselves sufficiently as a non-Russian speaking environment, you can lose the Russians completely. The major issue is how to keep a neutral balance while still being sufficiently attractive for all groups, including the Russians. That’s a challenge. ● So you don’t have all these cultural quarrels and fights which prevents a creative cooperation in many local Jewish Communities? When I first came here I really spent a lot of time mediating socio-cultural conflicts. As a person from the West I understood and identified with the local Community members, but as a Russian speaker I was also able to relate to the immigrants. Here we don’t really have these problems. There are three reasons for this. First, we are so heterogeneous that there is little subgroup definition. Second, our Community is very young, and so a lot of cultural differences are softer and less pronounced. Third, and this is the most important, in this Community we have a defining authority. The defining authority is the Torah and Halacha. If the framework of Jewish experience is a traditional-religious one, and the questions that are raised are traditional and religious ones, then, in general, cultural differences can be handled more easily. Sometimes it’s amusing to see that some cultural games are played, but it’s not really threatening. And we have cross-cultural marriages of all thinkable constellations, thus Russian with German, American with German, Russian with Israeli. Creating an identity of shared values also makes it easier to develop a system of voluntary, shared activity which is, in general, less developed in the Jewish Communities. 126 | P a g e
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JEWS AND JEWISH EDUCATION IN GERMAN
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Leading figures: The agenda of the
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1. TOBY AXELROD May 13, 2009, Berli
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Yes. Aside from the three-day festi
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2. DMITRI BELKIN Frankfurt, June 8,
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lives, they would say that they are
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● And how much are they percentag
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This has been different from town t
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something that would be different?
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oth are led without contact or with
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don’t go to synagogue every Sabba
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Germany after the 1990’s is a del
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● It’s probably an unusual situ
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18-30 year olds, yes, and within it
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● Well, Chabad could say they’r
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in German politics. This still does
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I think the Jüdische Allgemeine Wo
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I would say so. The Community reall
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think you know them better, I’m t
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centers. The state supports them in
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7. GESA EDERBERG May 4, 2009, Berli
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these spaces. Places where people m
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the respective Community and less o
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synagogue to meet the people and th
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8. DAVID GALL May 28, 2009, Munich,
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if the people in the Ministry don
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presume, the close connection with
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The question is how could they thro
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● Is the percentage of young peop
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Israel is important. I can’t say
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Very poorly. People might be willin
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This would only be possible with st
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Yes, I see it in the bigger Communi
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● What the perspectives for someb
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Now we are also in talks with the U
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● At least probably for those who
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I am sure that one of the next issu
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Page 77 and 78: 12. KÜF KAUFMANN June 17, 2009, Le
Page 79 and 80: keep the kindergarten afloat financ
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Page 83 and 84: Probably everything together, we wo
Page 85 and 86: 13. CHARLOTTE KNOBLOCH June 19, 200
Page 87 and 88: 10. Many Jews in Germany seem to ke
Page 89 and 90: 14. MICHAEL KOGAN June 12, 2009, D
Page 91 and 92: ● If you come to the Community be
Page 93 and 94: ● You mean there are good things
Page 95 and 96: 15. SERGEY LAGODINSKY June 11, 2009
Page 97 and 98: ● Would you say that most Russian
Page 99 and 100: to make a big fuss out of not being
Page 101 and 102: 16. ARKADY LITVAN May 27, 2009, Han
Page 103 and 104: can’t speak German well up to tod
Page 105 and 106: ● Another youth center? Our youth
Page 107 and 108: 17. JEWGENIJ SINGER June 8, 2009, F
Page 109 and 110: philosophical concept of Liberal Ju
Page 111 and 112: For the Community board election, f
Page 113 and 114: The social circumstances have impro
Page 115 and 116: Well, from the perspective of the F
Page 117 and 118: understand me in stores or doctors
Page 119 and 120: librarians all over Germany. Now we
Page 121 and 122: Yes, and in Hebrew. That’s one di
Page 123 and 124: organize that with the help of othe
Page 125: will be some immigrants who are dee
Page 129 and 130: ● What do you think about the gen
Page 131 and 132: and the question exactly how volunt
Page 133 and 134: Opening to different movements. Tha
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Page 137 and 138: I think what is really missing is t
Page 139 and 140: Community]. I don’t see this plur
Page 141 and 142: ● What are the principal Jewish s
Page 143 and 144: � What would you say about the yo
Page 145 and 146: throughout Germany]. They come out
Page 147 and 148: There are some challenges of true a
Page 149 and 150: Unfortunately, the reporting about
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