jews and jewish education in germany today - The Westbury Group

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I’m saying there’s one German Jewish paper, I can’t count the Evreyskaya Gazeta, logically. [as German- Jewish media] What else? ● Ha Galil [German Jewish web portal] has 400,000 hits a month… Are those individual hits, or web pages? You need to find that out beforehand, I’m also well-versed in the Internet, but it doesn’t matter. What I would like to say is that there is the need for Jewish media, but no one has the wherewithal to take it upon themselves to do, because it’s expensive. I would say that one Jewish weekly paper is enough. Not because there shouldn’t be others, there just isn’t more demand. We’re not in the USA, England or France. It is different there. In France there are between 600,000-700,000 Jews. That’s another dimension. A TV channel is worth it there. I think that would be ridiculous here, not even mentioning a daily paper, which has never existed in Germany. And Jewry in Germany has seen much better times than today. I think that a radio station could be possible, it’s difficult. A TV channel, I think, is not an option. The market is limited, and even the interest amongst Community members. I’m always trying to reach Community members. They don’t care. There are other structures. So an important point is the Internet. We’re also re-doing our Internet site. That’s really important. I’m convinced of it. Where Jewish media in the future will take place is the Internet. If you look at the social platforms, they will blow you away. That’s booming. That’s why I think a lot that’s related to networking, PR will take place over the Internet in the future. We need to react to this fact. 39 | P a g e
7. GESA EDERBERG May 4, 2009, Berlin ● Rabbi Ederberg, what has attracted you to Conservative Judaism, i.e. Masorti? I think to locate myself within Masorti Judaism was really born out of two considerations: One is the modern, intellectual, very committed approach to Judaism. For me, Reform Judaism was not a really option in terms of commitment to Halacha, and to observance, and also to text-based knowledge. On the other hand, being a woman, Orthodoxy just was also not an option for me. ● What is your feeling about the prospects of Jewry in Germany, with its unique composition, in the near future and in the long term? It is very important to acknowledge the specific mix, just to figure out target groups and the way we can care for them. For example, in the younger generation, let’s say 30 and younger, it does not make sense any more to distinguish between Germans and Russians. Education should be in German for this group. It might include providing Russian learning options for the children of the Russian immigrants because they also have to study their mother tongue, but that’s a side issue. In general, that’s a target group where we don’t need to look at different backgrounds so much. Israelis and Americans also fit into this group, let’s say 30-35 years and younger. It’s completely different with the older generation. For the older generation, we need language specific educational programs. It doesn’t make sense to try to integrate elderly immigrants into German culture. We should just provide them with Jewish knowledge and Jewish information as much as we can. I would somehow put the focus on the younger generation, students and young families, because the middle generation, of the immigrants especially, are very busy in building their economic lives, and the chance to engage them in Community life when they came here, this chance has already been lost. We might have been able to reach them, but this window opportunity is closed. I would really focus on students, and on young families. Concerning the difference between the short-term and the long-term perspectives, currently we have a huge lack of teachers, educators, Rabbis and educated, committed people. That’s something which creates a vicious circle, because by not having these role models, we cannot attract the people choosing a career to become a Jewish educator. One important long-term goal should be to qualify Jewish educators, Rabbis, cantors and so on from Germany. We cannot start a successful school of Jewish education if we do not get the students. So in the short-term we need to import good educators, and we need to do so widely. For example, there’s this beautiful Lehavah project which brings young observant Israel youth and kids to our Communities. However, a big problem remains the language barrier. It’s just until they can communicate in German, half the year is already gone. This exchange should be expanded. We need more madrichim, more schlichim, and that means we need a lot of preparation and education beforehand. A mentoring system would also be an important step. Another very, very important piece is educational material. Even an excellent teacher will only be mediocre if there are no materials and you don’t always have time to prepare new material. ● How would you describe the current relations between the German speaking and Russian speaking Jews? This is a very complex issue and it’s important to look at it closely and not to generalize it in two or three words. By the way: I’m just coming from the Limmud Festival in Berlin which was a celebration of Jewish pluralism, just like in the years before. Obviously, there are cultural differences and the participants might show it in their taste in music or literature. However, people are joining together, and it works. 40 | P a g e
Page 1 and 2: JEWS AND JEWISH EDUCATION IN GERMAN
Page 3 and 4: Leading figures: The agenda of the
Page 5 and 6: 1. TOBY AXELROD May 13, 2009, Berli
Page 7 and 8: Yes. Aside from the three-day festi
Page 9 and 10: 2. DMITRI BELKIN Frankfurt, June 8,
Page 11 and 12: lives, they would say that they are
Page 13 and 14: ● And how much are they percentag
Page 15 and 16: This has been different from town t
Page 17 and 18: something that would be different?
Page 19 and 20: oth are led without contact or with
Page 21 and 22: don’t go to synagogue every Sabba
Page 23 and 24: Germany after the 1990’s is a del
Page 25 and 26: ● It’s probably an unusual situ
Page 27 and 28: 18-30 year olds, yes, and within it
Page 29 and 30: ● Well, Chabad could say they’r
Page 31 and 32: in German politics. This still does
Page 33 and 34: I think the Jüdische Allgemeine Wo
Page 35 and 36: I would say so. The Community reall
Page 37 and 38: think you know them better, I’m t
Page 39: centers. The state supports them in
Page 43 and 44: these spaces. Places where people m
Page 45 and 46: the respective Community and less o
Page 47 and 48: synagogue to meet the people and th
Page 49 and 50: 8. DAVID GALL May 28, 2009, Munich,
Page 51 and 52: if the people in the Ministry don
Page 53 and 54: presume, the close connection with
Page 55 and 56: The question is how could they thro
Page 57 and 58: ● Is the percentage of young peop
Page 59 and 60: Israel is important. I can’t say
Page 61 and 62: Very poorly. People might be willin
Page 63 and 64: This would only be possible with st
Page 65 and 66: Yes, I see it in the bigger Communi
Page 67 and 68: ● What the perspectives for someb
Page 69 and 70: Now we are also in talks with the U
Page 71 and 72: ● At least probably for those who
Page 73 and 74: I am sure that one of the next issu
Page 75 and 76: ● There was an overall survey in
Page 77 and 78: 12. KÜF KAUFMANN June 17, 2009, Le
Page 79 and 80: keep the kindergarten afloat financ
Page 81 and 82: meeting the board member responsibl
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
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● 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
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● 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
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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
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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
Page 131 and 132:
and the question exactly how volunt
Page 133 and 134:
Opening to different movements. Tha
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young people are always treated as
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I think what is really missing is t
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Community]. I don’t see this plur
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● What are the principal Jewish s
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� 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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