30 August 2007
The Chabad orthodox Jewish movement is to open the first new privately funded Jewish center in Germany since the Shoah. The center, which includes Germany’s largest synagogue as well as a library, a kosher restaurant, a tourist information center and a lecture hall, will open in Berlin this week. The center’s director, Chabad rabbi Yehuda Teichtal, said: "Everyone is welcome to come in and learn about Jewish life. Knowledge breeds tolerance. We want to send a message that Jewish life is here and thriving."
The Jewish community in Germany is one of the fastest growing in the world, with about 110,000 members thanks to an influx of immigrants from the countries of the former Soviet Union. The US$ 8.3 million center is run by the orthodox Chabad-Lubavitch movement. Rabbi Teichtal, a New York native, said the funding for the Berlin centre had come largely from donations, 70 per cent of which were small contributions by individuals. German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, ambassadors and about 30 rabbis from across Europe and Israel are expected for the opening ceremony. A street fair and an open-air concert is to follow in the afternoon.
