jews and jewish education in germany today - The Westbury Group

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22. LARISSA SYSSOEVA June 4, 2009, Berlin � Mrs. Syssoeva, what do you consider the major challenges facing Jews in Germany today? I rather want to refer to the Russian Jews in Germany with whom I have the closest contacts. And for them, life in Germany is still not easy. There are a lot of problems concerning general integration, and also dissonances with the native, German Jews, and also a difficult relation with the Zentralrat [Central Council of Jews in Germany]. And especially the elderly among the Russian Jews in Germany they don’t feel so well and see no betterment in the future. With the younger generation it might be different. � Where do you see the mean reasons for such dissonance and pessimism? The Zentralrat has almost nobody on its board who has come from the former Soviet Union. They just have no idea what the real problems and difficulties for elderly immigrants are here. If there would be a few representatives from the Russian Jews, the problem would probably not be that severe. But now, the establishment is probably waiting until the elderly will have all died, and then there is no problem to deal with. I don’t want to go in detail here, most of the problems [of the elderly] you can find in lots of articles in the press. But that has not turned to an improvement in their situation. � Do you see any unsolved problems that the RSJ immigrants are still facing here? I think all sides which are dealing with the immigration of the Russian Jews have made mistakes in the last years, and all of them carry a part of the responsibility that the integration was not so successful. The German policy transmitted responsibility more or less to the Central Council, and gave them the financial means. Besides this, German policy, in general, do not interfere much, and this can be quite comfortable. The German Jews, who still dominate the key positions [as in the Central Council], are not very interested in coming closer to the immigrants and their Zorres, but they can live quite well with the government subsidies. But we, the Russian Jews, are also partially responsible. We are passive. Many of us do not acquire sufficient German, many don’t know enough about German rules and regulations, many do not have a German promotion. All these mentioned factors, I guess, have contributed to the fact that the integration is stagnating. � Your colleague has already mentioned that the World Congress of Russian Jews is also doing a lot for young people. For example, there is the artist’s competition “Golden Chanukah” each year; also for the last four years the WCRJ in Germany has been organizing an international youth camp in Germany. Could you say a few words about this? We will have a youth camp this summer, like in the years before. It’s called “Art-Eck”. About 50 kids will take part, about one third of them from Israel, others from Germany, and there is also one from the United States, and one from the Czech Republic. The boys and girls are between 10 and 15, and they gather here in a small town near Berlin, just like in a holiday camp. We offer them a wide program that includes sightseeing, traveling, visiting museums and historical places, art workshops, and shopping. This year we’re fortunate that the camp will be financially supported by the German Foreign Office, and financial support is also coming from “ConAct”, the German-Israeli Coordination Center for Youth Exchange. Without this support it would hardly be possible to organize the camp this year. 141 | P a g e
� What would you say about the young adults? Do the Communities succeed in integrating and attracting them in Community life? At least for the moment, I would say, it’s not working. As I’ve seen and heard, many young people have left the Jewish Communities recently, even my own son. Many of the younger people just do not see any reason to be part of the Communities. Of course they remain to gather, to be in some networks, but then they do it outside of the Communities. This is a serious problem. � Does this mean that the current programs on offer by the Jewish Communities are not attractive for young people? I’d rather say the package on offer is not that systematic. For example, in former years we had these kinds of [religious] Sunday schools. They don’t exist anymore. Obviously, nobody needs it. Sporadic actions, yes. But probably that’s it. Jewish education is important. But actually nobody seems to miss this. � What about Israeli programs like “Birthright Israel”? That’s done by the Jewish Agency, by the Sochnut. We concentrate on other things, for example, the arts, culture, learning programs, political actions for Israel, public relations for Israel and the like. Anyway, our capacities are limited. � You know that many Jews in Germany keep their distance from Jewish Community bodies. What are, to your knowledge, the main reasons for that? What is to be done about this? If we speak about Berlin, then I would say the problem is that there are lots of politics and promises but not very much fulfillment. In the election campaigns so many things are promised to the members, but when a new representative assembly is elected they just start to think about their own interests. That’s one of the main problems. Of course, there are also a lot of objective problems like refurbishment of buildings, or caring for cemeteries, but it seems to me that the people are without a real program. � You mean the current leaders [of the JC of Berlin] or the former? I mean the current leadership, and the leadership before, and also the leadership before. I’ve been a member of the JC Berlin for 20 years, and I’ve felt the same dilemma all of this time. I also don’t know why. One of the difficulties might be a result of the different territories and mentalities where the Russian speaking Jewish immigrants come from; from Ukraine, the Baltic States, or Uzbekistan. They did not develop a sense of community by themselves, but rather remain on their own. That’s a real difference compared with the veteran, German speaking Jews, despite the fact that they have come from Poland and other Eastern European countries as well. However, there is a certain kind of homogeneity, but our people seem to be just from quite different worlds. Obviously, part of them has real problems to orientate themselves in the triangle of Jewish culture, German culture and their own culture from Russia, Ukraine, or Middle Asia. � To what extent are Jews in Germany becoming a part of German society, and identifying with the German nation? I ask here especially with respect to the Russian Jews. Good questions. Many of us have already been here [in Germany] for about 17 or 20 years. At the beginning there was a trend of quickly learning German, declaring oneself German and adopting German culture. Meanwhile, our children have become adults, but now there’s an obvious trend to go back to the roots. I see 142 | 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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● There was an overall survey in
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12. KÜF KAUFMANN June 17, 2009, Le
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keep the kindergarten afloat financ
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meeting the board member responsibl
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Probably everything together, we wo
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13. CHARLOTTE KNOBLOCH June 19, 200
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10. Many Jews in Germany seem to ke
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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
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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 and 126: will be some immigrants who are dee
Page 127 and 128: We started with 17 kids, and I thin
Page 129 and 130: ● What do you think about the gen
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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: ● What are the principal Jewish s
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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