jews and jewish education in germany today - The Westbury Group

13. CHARLOTTE KNOBLOCH
June 19, 2009, Munich
1. Dr. Knobloch, what do you feel are the greatest challenges and/or problems facing Jewry in Germany
today?
One major challenge is the integration of the new immigrants from the former Soviet Union into the
Jewish Communities and the majority society. The Central Council of Jews in Germany (Zentralrat der
Juden in Deutschland) and the Jewish Communities offer support programs for the new immigrants
where they can learn German and more about the Jewish faith, as well as offering concrete help for
problems occurring in everyday life. These programs are widely accepted.
Another major challenge is the fight against latent anti-Semitism, which has long established itself in
the center of society. Today anti-Semitism is often expressed in codes or disguised as criticism of
Israel. Here I would like to stress that objective criticism of Israeli politics is completely legitimate;
one-sided sweeping and biased judgement of Israel within the Middle East conflict is not.
2. How would you describe the current relations between Russian speaking Jews and German speaking
Jews in the Communities?
The relations between Russian and German speaking Jews are good. In the past few years there has
been a coming together, also due to contacts in the Communities, or volunteer projects where Russian
and German speaking Community members worked together. Learning the German language has also
facilitated the process of getting to know each other and allows understanding on a deeper level.
3. Which measures to improve the integration of the Jewish immigrants into the Communities and Jewish
organizations in Germany remain urgently needed?
The most important integration measures for the Jewish immigrants are learning German and
strengthening their Jewish identity. The Central Council and the Jewish Communities offer a variety of
programs that will continue to serve as the main integrative measures in the future.
4. How serious is the much discussed problem of being able to win over the younger generation for a
continued commitment to Community work?
In German society as a whole there are young people who are more socially committed than others.
The situation is no different in the Jewish Communities.
The Communities try to forge a bond with young people with attractive programs and incentives. When
they can see that their commitment is valued and that they can contribute their own ideas, then they
have more of an incentive to be active in the Community.
5. There are those who are talking about a new pluralism of Jewish life in Germany. Do you share this
view? And if so, what does this mean for the concept of the United Community in the long term?
Both variety and diversity have belonged to Jewish tradition for centuries. Pluralism is nothing new.
84 | P a g e