jews and jewish education in germany today - The Westbury Group

● Do you see any gaps in the curricula or a lack of teaching materials or personnel in Jewish school
programs in Berlin and in Germany?
As I said before, I think the basic needs in Jewish education are covered in Berlin; for kids, for the youth and
also for adults. Of course you can raise the question of how optimal the programs are, and we try to undertake
the necessary improvements. For example, I am personally very much in favor of upgrading the Hebrew
teaching. Many of our students, young and old alike, are well qualified in reading Hebrew texts, but much
less qualified in Hebrew conversation. And that’s a pity for two reasons; on the one hand, public
communication in Hebrew is missing. On the other hand, it’s a pity when people do not succeed in praying
parts of the liturgy in Hebrew. I mean, Hebrew is our language of prayer.
● Are you satisfied with the level of volunteerism in the JC of Berlin?
I would be happy if more organized volunteer work would be done in our JC. However, I think that another
issue is quite underappreciated, but very much present; volunteering commitment without any organized
framework. In Berlin, we have this even among Community employees who will offer a dance course or a
seminar after work. I know a lot of people who do not join organized structures or groups but just help people
in their direct environment, and this is very Jewish.
● What do you think about the general media coverage of events that relate to the Jewish condition in
Germany, the Jewish world and Israel?
Obviously, the non-Jewish German interest in Jewish people and issues is nowadays disproportionately large,
and this is reflected in the established media as well. It is my impression that TV and print media cover
Jewish issues much more than they do in comparison with other minorities or religions. In general, I am not
sad about this, at least not if there is a real, objective interest. But what makes me nervous sometimes are
these kinds of subtle searches for sensationalism. If a Jew in Germany is convicted of a major crime, let’s say
robbery or bribery, then there’s a huge big bang of coverage in the media. The media would not specifically
report on a Catholic fraud or the Protestant Mafioso, so why do they do it with the Jews? That’s something
that seems strange to me.
I’m not saying that the majority of media reports are knitted using this pattern. There are also lots of articles
and reports which have a very positive tone; for example, in radio contributions by the Deutsche Welle or
Kulturradio. You can feel that the journalists are accompanying the new developments in Jewish life
positively. These radio stations have to serve the interests of their hearers as well, and have to take care of
their ratings. If they regularly send such profound, objective reports on Jewish life in Berlin or from other
places in Germany, that’s a good sign.
● What do you think of the existing Jewish media in Germany?
There is a small spectrum of nation-wide Jewish print media, with the weekly Jüdische Allgemeine on the
top. To my knowledge, the readership is not that big, but the Allgemeine is also a good source of information
for non-Jewish, interested people.
Besides this, most of the local Jewish Communities have their own journal so that the members have all the
necessary information about what’s going on in front of their door. Some of the Community journals also
report on national or international issues, and I guess that’s enough for many Jews in Germany, at least for
the time being. In Berlin we have Babel TV, a Jewish station that broadcasts twice a week on a local Berlin
TV channel. Compared with the Jewish media landscape in France or Great Britain, this is not much, but for
the time being, I don’t see it as a big problem. Some public broadcasts have special Jewish programs on
Friday night, and those who are not satisfied with this, they still can listen to Kol Israel or watch Israeli TV
which is now available via satellite. An attractive solution, of course, would be to have the Israeli programs
here in German.
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