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Press release/ July 27th, 2010
Rabbinical ordination in Leipzig on 30th August 2010
On Monday, 30th August 2010, two graduates of the Rabbinical Seminary of Berlin (Rabbinerseminar zu Berlin), which was re-established a few years ago, will receive their rabbinical ordination in the historic synagogue of the Jewish Community of Leipzig. The ordination represents another milestone in the Seminary's mission to train German-speaking rabbis for Jewish communities in Germany and is an important contribution to the revival of Jewish life in this country.
Prominent figures from all around the world such as the President of the World Jewish Congress, Ronald S. Lauder, and the President of Yeshiva University in New York, Richard M. Joel, leading European rabbis, numerous prominent representatives of the Jewish community, and other distinguished guests are expected to attend the ordination ceremony. This year's ordainees are Rabbi Moshe Baumel and Rabbi Shlomo Afanasev.
Demonstration in solidarity with Israel
Cologne – "The vat of hatred that is being poured out against Israel is unspeakable," said the Vice-President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Dr. Dieter Graumann, at a large pro-Israeli demonstration titled "Fair play for Israel – for truth and solidarity" that took place in Cologne on 13 June 2010. According to a report in the newspaper Die Welt, about 1,000 people gathered in Cologne on Sunday to express their support for the Israeli government's Middle East policy. The demonstration was organised by the German-Israeli Society (Deutsch-Israelische Gesellschaft, DIG) and the Jewish Community of Cologne in response to international criticism of the Israeli raid on a flotilla of Gaza-bound aid ships at the end of May in which at least nine activists died and numerous people were injured. The President of the DIG, Dr. h. c. Johannes Gerster, too, spoke of the public's lack of "objectivity and fairness towards Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East, that 62 years after its establishment is still being attacked and facing acute danger". (14.06.2010)
Media service of the Central Council of Jews in Germany: Jewish immigration
Judaism, Jewish life in Germany, and current issues that are of interest to the Jewish community as well as to the entire German public are topics that are regularly covered by the German media. In order to contribute to the information flow on these topics, the Central Council of Jews in Germany provides its media service. This issue of the media service gives an account of Jewish immigration from the USSR that began after the fall of the Berlin Wall twenty years ago.