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Munich - Broadcast live on TV Rabbis Graduating Rabbinical Seminary Once Closed by Nazis |
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Munich, Germany - Two Orthodox rabbis were ordained by the reestablished Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary, for the first time since the seminary was closed by the Nazis in 1938.
At a ceremony broadcast live on German television, Zsolt Balla and Avraham Radbil became the first rabbis to graduate from the seminary, which historians consider the cradle of Modern Orthodoxy.
"Sixty years ago, who would have thought that we'd be standing here today?" said Charlotte Knobloch, chairwoman of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, at the ordination ceremony, which took place in Munich's Ohel Jacob synagogue. "I myself wouldn't have thought it would be possible ... It's a small miracle."
German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schauble said it was a "moving" and "magical" event. "In the very city where the Nazis' reign of terror started, we are able to celebrate that Jewish life thrives again in Germany," he said in his speech, which also surveyed the history of the legendary seminary.
Rabbi Azaria Hildesheimer, whose great-grandfather founded the original seminary in 1869, also addressed the new rabbis.
Balla, 28, was born in Budapest and came to the German capital in 2003 to study at Yeshivas Beis Zion, which is sponsored by the Ronald Lauder Foundation and a part of the new seminary. He will lead outreach programs for the yeshiva in Berlin and serve as a "weekend rabbi" in Leipzig, Germany, the same city where his fellow graduate lived after emigrating from his native Ukraine at the age of 12. Radbil, 25, who later this year will also conclude his psychology studies, will become Rabbi Yaron Engelmayer's assistant in Cologne.
The new Hildesheimer seminary, founded in 2005 and supervised by Dean Rabbi Chanoch Ehrentreu, the former head of London's Orthodox rabbinical court, comprises three years of full-time study focusing on Talmud and religious law. The seven students currently enrolled there are also tasked with preparing Shabbat programming for small Jewish communities, writing articles for Jewish newspapers and giving lectures.
While the seminary's ordination is recognized by the Conference of European Rabbis and the Orthodox Rabbinical Conference of Germany, critics said it is absurd for the new program to compare itself with the original, which was known for producing influential and erudite scholars.
Radbil and Balla are not the first rabbis to be ordained in post-Holocaust Germany, however. The Abraham Geiger College, a Potsdam-based Reform seminary, ordained three rabbis in 2006, and Chabad-Lubavitch says its Yeshiva Gedola Berlin has ordained 16 students. Unlike Hildesheimer's graduates, however, Chabad graduates are not specifically trained to serve the German community.
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Read Comments (14) — Post Yours »
1
Jun 04, 2009 at 07:13 PM Anonymous Says:
does anyone know if the 3 rabbonim who got their semicha from the Geiger Yeshiva in Potsdam are still serving congregations in Germany?
2
Jun 04, 2009 at 07:13 PM Anonymous Says:
What sweet revenge to the nazis the one who laughs last laghs best
3
Jun 04, 2009 at 10:55 PM Pesach Says:
Shehechiyanu v'kiyemanu v'higiyanu lizman hazeh. Absolutely beautiful.
4
Jun 04, 2009 at 11:15 PM Charlie Hall Says:
May this yeshiva follow in the path of the great Rabbi Dr. Azriel Hildesheimer and produce even greater Torah!
5
Jun 05, 2009 at 02:10 AM Milhouse Says:
“ does anyone know if the 3 rabbonim who got their semicha from the Geiger Yeshiva in Potsdam are still serving congregations in Germany? ”
They are not rabbonim, and it's not a yeshivah. Sheigetz arois!
6
Jun 05, 2009 at 03:30 AM Concerned Yid Says:
What I am about to say will seem shocking to some. The Hildesheimer Yeshiva represents the best in the integration of traditional learning and ACADEMIC STUDY OF TALMUD AND TANACH. You heard me- the gaon R' Hildesheimer was one of THE FATHERS OF THE MODERN JEWISH STUDIES MOVEMENT- WISSENSCHAFT DES JUDENTUMS, along with Leopold Zunz, Abraham Geiger, Moses Gaster and others. I challenge all of you to consider what this means for the contemporary yeshivishe program of learning- our yeshivas and kollels today learn practically nothing compared to what R; Hildesheimer knew and mastered- history, tanach, mishna, gemara, midrash, machshava, poskim, everything imaginable.
7
Jun 05, 2009 at 02:35 AM PulpitRabbi Says:
“ does anyone know if the 3 rabbonim who got their semicha from the Geiger Yeshiva in Potsdam are still serving congregations in Germany? ”
The Geiger institute is not a yeshiva; it doesn't produce rabbonim. Rabbais, yes, rabbis, no!
8
Jun 05, 2009 at 07:27 AM Ben Says:
The Beis Halevi accorded Reb Ezriel special honor when the later came to Brisk
10
Jun 05, 2009 at 10:32 AM Zsolt Balla Says:
“ They are not rabbonim, and it's not a yeshivah. Sheigetz arois! ”
Dear Milhouse,
I am one of the two who received smicha on Tuesday. I definitely believe, that our knowledge compared to those who we learned from, is far smaller, this is the yeridas hadoros. However, to say that our bochurim, and ourselves were not learning in a Yeshiva, I really take it as an offense. To say that, you just insulted many dozens of baalei tshuvas, who left their way of life, learning Torah day and night. Gut Shabbos!
Zsolt Balla
11
Jun 05, 2009 at 11:35 AM Anonymous Says:
“ What I am about to say will seem shocking to some. The Hildesheimer Yeshiva represents the best in the integration of traditional learning and ACADEMIC STUDY OF TALMUD AND TANACH. You heard me- the gaon R' Hildesheimer was one of THE FATHERS OF THE MODERN JEWISH STUDIES MOVEMENT- WISSENSCHAFT DES JUDENTUMS, along with Leopold Zunz, Abraham Geiger, Moses Gaster and others. I challenge all of you to consider what this means for the contemporary yeshivishe program of learning- our yeshivas and kollels today learn practically nothing compared to what R; Hildesheimer knew and mastered- history, tanach, mishna, gemara, midrash, machshava, poskim, everything imaginable. ”
that is precisely the main problem with the 'hildesheimer derech' in that the study of limudei kodesh was treated as simply another subject of study, like at university.
12
Jun 05, 2009 at 11:33 AM Anonymous Says:
“ Dear Milhouse,
I am one of the two who received smicha on Tuesday. I definitely believe, that our knowledge compared to those who we learned from, is far smaller, this is the yeridas hadoros. However, to say that our bochurim, and ourselves were not learning in a Yeshiva, I really take it as an offense. To say that, you just insulted many dozens of baalei tshuvas, who left their way of life, learning Torah day and night. Gut Shabbos!
Zsolt Balla ”
he was (correctly) referring to the geiger seminary as not being a yeshiva. i think you misunderstood the direction of his criticism.
13
Jun 05, 2009 at 06:05 PM Milhouse Says:
“ Dear Milhouse,
I am one of the two who received smicha on Tuesday. I definitely believe, that our knowledge compared to those who we learned from, is far smaller, this is the yeridas hadoros. However, to say that our bochurim, and ourselves were not learning in a Yeshiva, I really take it as an offense. To say that, you just insulted many dozens of baalei tshuvas, who left their way of life, learning Torah day and night. Gut Shabbos!
Zsolt Balla ”
I will forgive you because I assume English is not your native language. If a native English speaker had shown such inability to comprehend a simple sentence, it would have cast doubt on his fitness to be a rabbi.
14
Jun 06, 2009 at 06:29 PM Zsolt Balla Says:
“ I will forgive you because I assume English is not your native language. If a native English speaker had shown such inability to comprehend a simple sentence, it would have cast doubt on his fitness to be a rabbi. ”
Dear Milhouse,
I would like to apologize, my second post have not been posted. I have not seen the quote your post was referring to. Please accept my apologies. This is a wonderful example how one can make a mistake because not paying enough attention and not clicking on "show quote". Please accept my apologies. Kol tuv, Gut woch.
15
Jun 06, 2009 at 03:35 PM Anonymous Says:
“ Dear Milhouse,
I am one of the two who received smicha on Tuesday. I definitely believe, that our knowledge compared to those who we learned from, is far smaller, this is the yeridas hadoros. However, to say that our bochurim, and ourselves were not learning in a Yeshiva, I really take it as an offense. To say that, you just insulted many dozens of baalei tshuvas, who left their way of life, learning Torah day and night. Gut Shabbos!
Zsolt Balla ”
He meant the "RABBAIS" who were ordained at the Abraham Geiger College and not you, nor your collegue Kvod Harav!!!