Amid signs of growing anti-Semitism in Germany, a new Jewish educational center aimed at reaching Jews of all stripes, as well as their non-Jewish neighbors, is being built in Berlin.
“Much has been said about fighting anti-Semitism in Germany, and this is something tachles, this is something concrete,” Yehuda Teichtal, a rabbi in Berlin’s Jewish community and executive director of Chabad Lubavitch Berlin, said Tuesday announcing the June 10 groundbreaking ceremony for the Jewish center, which German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas is expected to attend.
When construction is completed in about two years, the Pears Jewish Campus – adjacent to the Chabad Jewish Education Center – will house a school for up to 500 pupils ages 5 to 20; a gym, a library and event spaces. It is expected to cost about 18 million euro, or about $21 million, of which 2/3 has been secured, Teichtal said. The main donors so far are the British-based Pears Foundation, the German federal and state governments, and other private and public foundations.
JTA