New 'Jewish campus' opens in Berlin
June 25, 2023
"This is a clear contribution toward a positive future. This is where we set an example," Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal told DW, standing among construction equipment and workers putting the finishing touches on his largest project, the Pears Jewish Campus in the western Berlin district of Wilmersdorf, set to open on June 25.
"We want to secure a long-term, positive, vibrant future for Jewish life in Germany," he said.
Rabbi Teichtal, who leads the Chabad community in Berlin, said the construction costs added up to around €40 million ($43.95 million). It was paid for by a combination of public funds from the German federal government and the state of Berlin, funding from large businesses and many individual donors. Recently, when money to complete the project was running out, Teichtal launched an online fundraiser which brought in another €1.5 million within 36 hours.
Day care, cinema, school, sports hall
The seven-floor bean-shaped building, colored a striking blue, could be seen taking shape from the street for months. The campus, as Teichtal describes it, is based on three pillars: education, culture and sport. He lists a multitude of planned offerings to be hosted by the facility: a day care for 200 children, a school for 350 students, a complete sports hall, a cinema, a library, a music hall, a studio and a cafe.
The kosher cafe and the "many encounters" expected to take place there are especially important to the rabbi. He hopes the center will be visited by Berlin students from all religions, as well as curious tourists from Germany and abroad. He also wants to reach other groups with initiatives including vocational training — for example, courses run by the federal police or other institutions preparing employees for leadership roles.
"Here is it not only about experiencing something of the past, but also to be able to raise questions people have in the present: What are Jews? How do they live? Which holidays do they celebrate?" Teichtal said.
With this project, the Chabad-Lubavitch Jewish movement is strengthening its presence in the German capital. According to Teichtal, who since 2012 has also been one of the rabbis of the Jewish Community of Berlin, the Chabad-Lubavitch movement is more than simply an Orthodox group in Judaism. "We are Orthodox and open," he said.
The movement, initiated and strongly influenced by rabbinic individuals and rabbinical dynasties, has its origins in late 18th-century pious Eastern European Judaism. The name Lubavitch comes from a small village near Russia's western border. Since the 1940s, the movement has been based in the United States, in the New York borough of Brooklyn.
The 51-year-old rabbi, who moved to Berlin from New York with his wife 25 years ago, advocates positive coexistence across religious divides. For him, the blue of the new building represents the sky and the future.
'Visible indication of Jewish life in the middle of Berlin'
Teichtal's initial ideas for the center date back to 2013. "Back then it was a dream; now it is becoming reality," he said when announcing the project in 2018. For him, the center is about integration. Teichtal said he hopes people from across Germany, beyond those of Jewish faith and culture, engage with the center's offerings.
The building's intentional openness is shown in many of its details. It is separated from other properties not by a high-security wall, but by a barrier made of bulletproof glass. The wall facing the street, also necessary for security reasons, was painted with a colorful mural of Jewish life by a Berlin graffiti artist.
Completing the center is the realization of a dream for Teichtal. Since construction began, he has invited many high-ranking federal politicians for a tour. The groundbreaking ceremony in 2018 was attended by then-Foreign Minister Heiko Maas; at the roofing ceremony in 2020, then-Finance Minister (now German Chancellor) Olaf Scholz spoke of a "visible indication of Jewish life in the middle of Berlin." And that is where it belongs, "in the middle of our society," Scholz said.
In Berlin and the rest of Germany, the resurgence of Jewish life goes hand-in-hand with the remembrance of Jewish life before the Shoah, the mass murder of 6 million Jews during the Nazi era. Dozens of Teichtal's relatives were murdered in German concentration and extermination camps.
Today, the Chabad movement is one element among the many Jewish traditions in the German capital, be they Orthodox, liberal, reform or secular. In the area surrounding the synagogue of the Chabad movement, Jewish individuals and families are again part of the streetscape, as in other parts of Berlin.
As the new facility opens, Teichtal is thinking and planning ahead. His community has long outgrown its 250-seat synagogue, which was established in a former industrial building at the other end of the property in 2007. The model for extending this building and constructing a new synagogue — to seat almost 600 people — is already in his office.
This article was originally written in German.
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