Berlin Synagogue
Seeks New Rabbi

Berlin (JTA) — Help wanted:
Two rabbis needed in major met-
ropolitan city, one for a Conserv-
ative synagogue, the other to
coordinate youth programs.
Salary well above average pay at
American synagogues. Women
need not apply. Professional re-
quirements: Must speak German
and be willing to live in Germany.
The last requirement may well
provide the Jewish community of
Berlin with difficulties as it seeks
a replacement for Rabbi Ernst
Stein, who ran the Conservative
Pestalozzistrasse Synagogue for
the past 14 years before retiring
last month.
In a recent interview with the
Jewish Telegraphic Agency,
Jerzy Kanal, chairman of Berlin's
Jewish community, expressed
confidence that the community's
board of directors would find two
candidates to fill the openings by
the end of the year.
But he admitted that it will be
an uphill battle to find rabbis who
speak German and want to move
to the German capital..
"Germany doesn't have the
best image," Mr. }Canal said. 'We
receive lots of delegations from
overseas, and there's hardly a del-
egation that doesn't ask us, 'How
can you live here?' "
Mr. Kanal added that compe-
tition from other Western coun-
tries makes the Berlin
community's search process more
difficult.
Mr. Kanal added that it is
equally difficult to find native-
born rabbis, noting that in
wealthy Germany, young Jews
do not see a need to go into the
rabbinate. He claimed that if the
economic situation here were
worse, there would be more in-
terest in religion.
But the retired Rabbi Ste' in is
more critical. He said the Ger-
man Jewish communities, and
Berlin in particular, are known
among German-speaking rabbis
as tough assignments.
The city's congregants, Rabbi
Stein said, are more interested in
political or business contacts they
can obtain from membership in
the community than they are in
religion.
Congregational politics in Ger-
many, the object of many of Rab-
bi Stein's criticisms, is different
from what might be found in oth-
er countries.
Unlike the situation in the
United States, where Jews join a
temple, Jews here must register
with the German Jewish corn-
munity and then pay a kind of
"church tax' that is levied by the
government.
The tax amounts to about 8
percent of an individual's annu-

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al tax payment.
In another major difference
from other countries, a rabbi in
Berlin does not deal directly with
his or her synagogue's board of
directors because synagogues
here do not have their own di-
rectors.
The real "machers" are the
board members who serve the en-
tire community.
The board has so far inter-
viewed several candidates and
has even turned some down, Mr.
Kanal said, noting that "not every
rabbi fits in with every congre-
gation."
Following up on an idea from
the late Heinz Galinski, who
headed both the Berlin Jewish

The real "machers"
are the board
members who serve
the entire
community.

community and the Central
Council of Jews in Germany,
Jewish leaders here are trying to
hire a "youth rabbi."
The new rabbi will not be re-
sponsible for a particular con-
gregation, but for keeping young
people interested in Judaism af-
ter they have their bar or bat
mitzvah.
One thing about the two new
rabbis the community is seeking
is already definite: They will be
men.
Mr. Kanal has not ruled out
that a woman might one day be
a rabbi in Berlin. But he said that
a woman would not be hired now
and not in the near future.

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pledged to invest the unprece-
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The director of the Geneva-
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