WUPJ Leadership meets german chancellor
World Union (for Progressive Judaism) President Rabbi Uri Regev and Immediate Past-president Ruth Cohen met last week with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in what was the first meeting between Progressive Jewish leaders and a sitting German chancellor since prior to World War II.
The focus of the meeting was the failure by the Zentralrat, Germany's recognized Jewish leadership, to share government funding with the country's re-emerging Progressive movement.
A German government statement said Schroeder "emphasized the government's view that pluralistic Judaism has a right to self-determination, regardless which stream or tradition the growing communal religious life takes."
The statement added that, "it is an important sign of trust toward Germany and the German people that Jewish life is growing and developing here." After the meeting, Regev told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that Schroeder "expressed support for diversity in the Jewish community while making it clear that he did not want to get involved in internal Jewish matters."
Cohen said there had been no expectations that the meeting would solve the funding issue. "We knew that the Chancellor would not be in a position to provide funding for our movement, but welcomed the opportunity to tell him about [the] WUPJ (he was, in fact, already well informed) and explain the problems our German Union was facing. I believe we gained his sympathy, but this is a man in the midst of a campaign fighting for his political future."
Cohen spoke prior with German Interior Minister Otto Schily and with Paul Spiegel, who chairs the Zentralrat. "We had a useful, frank discussion," Cohen says of her conversation with Spiegel. "It was useful, I believe, because Mr. Spiegel and I met for the first time and were able to form a friendly relationship at the same time as making clear some points of conflicting interest. Above all, I confirmed to him, as I had on another occasion made clear to Minister Schily, that [the] WUPJ does not wish to encourage our German [movement] to split the German Jewish community. Rather, [the] WUPJ feels that it can assist the [movement] to grow, thus supporting growth of the entire Jewish community."
The focus of the meeting was the failure by the Zentralrat, Germany's recognized Jewish leadership, to share government funding with the country's re-emerging Progressive movement.
A German government statement said Schroeder "emphasized the government's view that pluralistic Judaism has a right to self-determination, regardless which stream or tradition the growing communal religious life takes."
The statement added that, "it is an important sign of trust toward Germany and the German people that Jewish life is growing and developing here." After the meeting, Regev told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that Schroeder "expressed support for diversity in the Jewish community while making it clear that he did not want to get involved in internal Jewish matters."
Cohen said there had been no expectations that the meeting would solve the funding issue. "We knew that the Chancellor would not be in a position to provide funding for our movement, but welcomed the opportunity to tell him about [the] WUPJ (he was, in fact, already well informed) and explain the problems our German Union was facing. I believe we gained his sympathy, but this is a man in the midst of a campaign fighting for his political future."
Cohen spoke prior with German Interior Minister Otto Schily and with Paul Spiegel, who chairs the Zentralrat. "We had a useful, frank discussion," Cohen says of her conversation with Spiegel. "It was useful, I believe, because Mr. Spiegel and I met for the first time and were able to form a friendly relationship at the same time as making clear some points of conflicting interest. Above all, I confirmed to him, as I had on another occasion made clear to Minister Schily, that [the] WUPJ does not wish to encourage our German [movement] to split the German Jewish community. Rather, [the] WUPJ feels that it can assist the [movement] to grow, thus supporting growth of the entire Jewish community."
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