So you’re going to Berlin and want to experience that vibrant Jewish life you’ve heard about? What should you know ahead of time? Since I’ve put out the call for American Jews to step inside the door of a transformed Germany, I feel obliged to point out a few caveats. Berlin’s Jewish community doesn’t focus much on American Jews. After all, the vast majority of the city’s Jewish population is from Russia and Eastern Europe and a substantial network of programs and services is geared towards this population. That is as it should be.
But as an American it can be daunting to get a foothold, let alone find a niche, in the Jewish community. It’s heavily guarded, leans conservative to Orthodox, and is tightly structured compared to American Jewish communities. A Jewish friend of mine ran into trouble at a Berlin synagogue’s security checkpoint when the guard asked for identification and saw that her husband’s first name was Christian. If she had not been able to speak Hebrew they might not have been allowed to attend services. When I sought assistance with my German citizenship application from the Jewish Community of Berlin, I discovered that there were people who could help me get on welfare but no one to help me have my citizenship restored. The beautiful monthly magazine Juedisches Berlin offers a gateway into the city’s Jewish life but only for those who speak German, Russian, or Hebrew. A multilingual Jewish publication of such significance could at least offer a few English entries!
As a European center for Jewish life, the Berlin Jewish community could do more outreach to show that it’s doors are open to the diaspora. The influx of Russian Jews to Germany has slowed; though integration challenges remain, the future will bring more diverse groups to experience Jewish life in Berlin. Nearly half of the global Jewish population resides in English-speaking countries. While I don’t mean to suggest that there are no resources for this population, the welcome mat could be a little more visible for them.
Donna Swarthout 
Which is funny, considering how focused on “Americanized” (for lack of a more elegant term) Judaism the Jewish Museum Berlin is in their portrayals of Jewishness.
Cary, I agree. I’m making a distinction here between the many museums, memorials, etc. which are so well designed for an international audience and the Juedische Gemeinde.
It’s the same for Anglophones in all the state structures in Berlin. All school information (and remember that school is required here and home schooling is illegal) is available in German, Turkish and Russian- almost none in English. And I have called and spoken to the amts about information and resources in English: they aren’t available. The underlying belief seems to be that Anglophones can learn German and should. Result is I can indeed survive in German, because otherwise I would drown. I do think it’s unfair, because all the Russians I know say that German is an easy language for them (because Russian is so much more complex) while the opposite is true for Anglophones.
I do agree that it is important for those of us living in Germany to learn German. I’ve worked hard at this and speak it reasonably well. But there are many Jews in Berlin and from the diaspora who might be more involved with the Jewish community if there was more outreach to them.
Well, we are as involved with the Jewish community as we have time for (and that’s our family issue) – but we sent our kids to the Jewish school for that reason. I understand your plaint but it’s a numbers game- very, very few non-German non-Hebrew speaker Anglophone Jews here (and we tend to start by going to Chabad, where everyone is English fluent and very welcoming). I was at a great English lecture on Tu Bishvat this week, though, and I think such is increasing (a bit) as more of the (very small) Anglophone Jewish population asks for help. You know that Rabbi Ederberg is American, right (head of the Masorti community)?
Feel free to post more resources if you have them, though!
Yes, Rabbi Gesa is very warm and welcoming! Thanks for your comments.
Rabbi Ederberg is German but got her training at JTS, as far as I know
Donna, you speak German VERY well!!! 😉
Hi Donna,
Nice to hear from you via the blog. Thinking of you and like Marlene Dietrich said in 1957, “Ich hab noch einen Koffer in Berlin” and you do.
Yes, I do and one packed in Montana ready to go back to Berlin. Planning to be back in May!