For Young Jews in Germany, Jewish Identity Is Joyful

When Sandra Habermann fished for a topic for her senior thesis, she hit upon a subject that she was sure no one in her Munich gymnasium, public high school, would select: “Neshama – The Journey of the Jewish Soul.”

Habermann’s relationship with Chabad of Munich’s Rabbi Israel and Chanie Diskin stretched back to her years in elementary school. They were the ones who introduced her to the concept of the Jewish soul. Their receptiveness to her searching questions, the Diskins’ Bat Mitzvah Club, teen minyan, and stacks of programs for young German Jews made Chanie her first choice for thesis mentor.

While others think of Germany’s Jews in mournful retrospective, the Diskins have been involved in creating a Jewish future for Munich that is mindful of the past but heedful of the need for young Jews to feel joy, not maudlin, when reflecting on their heritage. In Munich, where the Jewish community of 10,000 has an official unified body that receives government support, Rabbi Diskin officiates as the rabbi in one of Munich’s synagogues. “We came here to be an asset to the community,” said Chanie , explaining the wide embrace they have received from the entire community.

Upon their arrival eighteen years ago, when the Berlin Wall divided East and West Germany, the Diskins analyzed the community to see where they were needed most. They hit upon bringing Jewish meaning to young people and the joy of Judaism to their parents. Now fans of Rabbi Diskin are as young as three. Each week, he visits the classroom at the local Jewish community kindergarten to sing, tell stories and introduce children, ages three to six, to the highlights of Jewish living. Throughout elementary school, Chabad of Munich conducts Jewish holiday workshops and special children’s parties.

Then in fifth through eighth grade, just as children round the bend to adolescence, Chabad kicks into high gear. Separation of church and state is a foreign concept in Germany. Law mandates all children must receive instruction in their religion twice a week. Chanie teaches religion to Jewish public school children, establishing close ties with them in the process. Her Bat Mitzvah Club for preteen girls is so popular that “graduates” of the program insist she carry on monthly club meetings until the members leave for university. When nervous twelve-year-old boys join Rabbi Diskin’s Bar Mitzvah Training Program, they are put at ease – not only by the rabbi’s charm and good humor – but also by his adeptness at downloading their bar mitzvah Torah portion onto their iPods. Once every month, 50 teenagers gather for Chabad’s Youth Minyan, a for-teens-by-teens affair where kids lead the services, prayers are said out loud, and phonetic prayer books allow everyone, regardless of Hebrew reading skills, to participate. Chabad’s holiday gatherings and their well-attended Torah classes are ongoing.

Valued as a partner in Munich’s Jewish life, representatives from the Central Council of Jews join Chabad’s activities. Council President Charlotte Knobloch attended Chabad’s menorah lighting last month. Chabad’s reputation for working with young people keeps the Diskins’ phone ringing. A Jewish youth group will be hosting a Purim disco… will Rabbi Diskin please read the megillah? Their compassion and sensitivity bring other calls: a teenager is depressed; a marriage is in trouble; a parent passed away; can the Diskins offer counseling?

During her years in Munich, Chanie has seen the community evolve. There are very few first generation Holocaust survivors left. The second generation, generally reluctant to admit they were settling in Germany for the long term, has nearly been supplanted by the third generation, among them many immigrants from the former eastern bloc countries, who have a different attitude. “They are no longer living with packed suitcases. They say, ‘We like it here. We are here to stay.’” 

Jewish communal self-confidence surged when Munich’s $78 million Jewish community center opened. The Diskins hosted the very first event in the architecturally striking complex: six hundred people from every part of Munich’s Jewish community came to celebrate the bar mitzvah of the Diskins’ son.