jews and jewish education in germany today - The Westbury Group

3. EVGUENI BERKOVITCH
May 27, 2009, Hanover
● Dr. Berkovitch, you are one of the most vocal critics of the joint decision of the German government and
the German Jewish umbrella organizations to implement new regulations for Russian Jewish immigration in
2006, regulations that, as we see now, have seemed to bring RSJ immigration to Germany to an end.
I would say that the process of Russian-Jewish immigration to Germany has been stopped much too early.
For forming a stable Jewish Community across a whole country like Germany you need a critical mass.
Maybe in America the critical mass was reached a hundred years ago, but in Germany it hasn’t been. These
200,000 so called contingency refugees which have come from the former Soviet Union; many of them even
non-Jewish or not interested in Community life, this number is simply not the critical mass for the specific
conditions here. The new regulations have come too early, and that’s a pity and it’s dangerous. We cannot
predict whether there will be a positive Community development or not.
● What are the biggest challenges that Jews in Germany are facing today?
In Hanover the difficulty is that there are three or four Communities and I think that each plays their own
role. Of course, there are problems for the religious and non-religious. Now we have a new Liberal
Community in Hanover [founded in 1995, O.G.] and that was or is a good example. There is, thank G’d, a
Rabbi, originally an engineer from Hungary, Gabor Lengyel. This is the synagogue and the Rabbi. But
beyond that there are also other spheres. For example, the kindergarten, a sports center, gymnastics for
women, a Jewish library, literary circles and so on. People can meet their quite different interests.
Every person, not necessarily religious Jews, just normal Jews, regardless if Russian or German speaking,
can be a little closer to Jewish life. In my opinion, that’s the most important thing for Jewish life; somewhere,
sometime and somehow to feel like a Jew. That’s important for further Jewish life in Germany. When the
Community works very broadly and as widely as possible, then life can develop.
● How would you describe the relationship between Russian-speaking and German-speaking Jews today?
At the beginning there were very large difficulties und very large differences. With the passing of each year,
these differences and difficulties become weaker and less pronounced and things will probably be balanced
soon. I have noticed that for some lectures in German more and more people come whose native language is
Russian. The younger generation speaks German very well. I don’t think the important problems are between
Russian speakers and German speakers, but to get the new generation who can speak better German than
Russian [to be] involved in the Community or Jewish life, that’s the more important thing.
● That’s the difficulty.
But that’s a different kind of difficulty than a conflict between two different groups. The older generation is
going, new people are coming for whom the German language poses no problem. And therefore I think that
the chasm between these two groups has already been bridged, or will soon be bridged.
● Are there problems between religious and non-religious Jews? Or is there acceptance and understanding
on both sides?
The problem isn’t on the inside, the problem is that these groups have too few connections and therefore both
groups live separately from one another. That’s the problem. There aren’t any large conflicts, but the lives of
17 | P a g e