First Time since WWII:
German Chancellor Meets with Leaders of Reform Judaism
29.04.05
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Members of government and parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany will meet with leaders of world Reform Judaism next week. The scheduled meetings include Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer and Interior Minister Otto Schily. The Mission program coincides with a Rabbinical Study conference of the Abraham Geiger College Potsdam and the conferral of the Israel Jacobson Award upon Rabbi Walter Jacob. It finishes with a concert at the Deutsche Oper Berlin to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day.
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During the week of May 1 to May 5 a mission of world Reform Judaism’s leaders will arrive in Germany . The aim of the visit is to engage in discussions with the German leadership as part of the World Union’s international agenda. Also, the obstacles placed before Liberal Jews in Germany to finally gaining equal rights will be addressed. Though Liberal Judaism dominated religious Jewish life in Germany before the Holocaust, today these congregations encounter discriminatory policies and rejection by the Jewish establishment in many of the cities and states, as well as by the Jewish national leadership in Germany .
While some progress has been made, following legal and public battles in Germany in 2004, Liberal Jews are still being denied full recognition, sufficient support from public resources and respect for Jewish pluralism is lacking. The meetings with government officials will outline the continued obstacles that Progressive Jewish communities and Abraham Geiger College, the rabbinic seminary at the University of Potsdam, face, especially with regard to receiving Federal and State funds for activities through the Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland, at which the Progressive arm of Judaism does not have equal standing.
The mission will express the concern of World Union members throughout the world over the unsatisfactory state of affairs that seriously contradicts constitutional principles and a variety of high court rulings. The leaders will voice their expectation that appropriate solutions be found by the government itself to ensure equal rights of all streams of Judaism in Germany .
While we were assured that “it is the expectation of the German government and parliament that an acceptable way to assure adequate funding of all branches of Judaism in Germany be found”, the last year shows that the matter can’t be left to the good will of the Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland.
Germany was the cradle of Reform Judaism some two hundred years ago. On the eve of the Holocaust, Liberal Judaism blossomed and was characteristic of most of the Jewish communities in Germany . The Holocaust severed this branch of Judaism for generations to come, and the stronghold of Reform Judaism shifted to North America where it thrived - thanks to rabbis that escaped the German carnage. Today, the Reform Jewish movement in the U.S.A. alone consists of some 900 Jewish communities and a wide variety of institutions. With the growth of the Jewish community in Germany in recent years, Liberal Judaism returned to Germany . It offers a response to the challenges of Jewish identity in this new era and assists in the spiritual and social integration of tens of thousands of émigrés from the former Soviet Union .
Today, the Reform Movement in Germany encompasses 20 congregations, a rabbinical seminary ( Abraham Geiger College ) and a youth movement. It is affiliated with the World Union for Progressive Judaism, the umbrella organization of Reform, Liberal, Progressive and Reconstructionist Jewish movements in 41 countries, with 1200 congregations and more than 1.5 million members. The international headquarters of Reform Judaism are in Jerusalem .
The meetings with the leadership of Germany reflect the central role Germany is playing in Europe and the global arena. The World Union for Progressive Judaism mission includes: Ruth Cohen, President; Rabbi Uri Regev, Executive Director; Leslie Bergman, Treasurer; Gordon Smith, Chairman of the European Region; Katarina Seidler, Vice President of the European Region Chair, and Governing Body member Rabbi Dr. Walter Homolka. They are accompanied by Dr. Jan Mühlstein, Chairman of the Union of Progressive Jews in Germany and Irit Raub-Michelson, Executive Director.
For more information:
Shmuel Bahagon, Press Advisor in Germany (+49) 0160-90670002
Rabbi Dr. Walter Homolka, WUPJ governor (+49) 0173-6595110
