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O
utside the cafe in down-
town Frankfurt, Filipp
Goldscheider is waiting for
me as planned. We greet
each other warmly. It's been over
a year since we met for the first
time here in Frankfurt — he as a
busy college student working on
a new project, and I as journalist
eager to interview him.
Waiting at the appointed spot,
Filipp is again carrying a bulging
book bag. He opens it and takes
out the newest edition of Chuzpe.
Is a magazine which is unique
in Germany, a lively and varied
publication geared specifically to
the interests of young Jews in Ger-
many. And it's entirely written by
a small group of college students,
including Filipp.
A native of Prague who moved
here in 1981 and has been active in
Jewish youth activities, Filipp and
several of his friends got the bold
idea of starting their own maga-
zine. They saw it as a way to get
their peers more interested in
Jewish life.
With no professional experi-
ence, with no financial backing-
but with plenty of chutzpah —
they published the first issue in
1993. It's been flourishing ever
since.
"The response has been very
good," says Filipp, as we start to
walk to Westend, a nearby resi-
dential area where he has
arranged for me to meet two oth-
er Chuzpe staffers.
Meanwhile, he tells me about
all the mail he's still receiving
from people interested in Chuzpe.
The letters come from all over Ger-
many and beyond. And it isn't only
Jewish readers who write.
"Many times it's non-Jews,"
says Filipp, as we walk along the
colorful Zeil, the long pedestrian
mall lined with cafes and shops in
downtown Frankfurt. "They're in-
terested in Jewish life and they
want to know more about it. Many
of them are looking for a dialogue
between Jews and non-Jews in
Germany."
They learn much about Jewish
issues and perspectives from read-
ing Chuzpe. Interviews, articles
about liberal Judaism and about
Orthodoxy, essays about Israel,
news briefs — all this and more
fills the pages of Chuzpe, which is
published twice a year. It's a mag-
azine that keeps gaining readers.
"We started with 500 copies," re-
calls Filipp. "Now we have 2,500
to be sold, plus 500 subsribers."
He's had inquiries about Chuzpe
from as far as Miami and New
York City, as well as from many
small towns and villages through-
out Germany.
Walking and talking, we soon
reach our destination: a spacious
brownstone building called Liter-
atur Haus, which is on a pleasant,
tree-lined street in Westend. It's
the same area where Frankfurt's
main synagogue and Jewish com-
munity center are located.
Inside, I meet Oliver Viest and
Iris Mayer. They, like Filipp, are
founders of Chuzpe. All three are
college students in their mid 20s.
They are part of the small, hard-
working staff of Chuzpe who put
out the magazine virtually by
themselves.
They write the articles, edit
each other, do the layouts, sell the
ads, and supervise the production.
And they meet the deadlines no
matter what other assignments
or exams are due.
Working on Chuzpe has given
these three friends an even
stronger bond. They get together
often to brainstorm and to talk
about article ideas for future is-
sues.
"We talk, we shout, we get an-
gry sometimes," relates Oliver,
"We get involved in heated con-
versations."
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The three member staff of the magazine at a meeting.
-