(Jewish Group) Germany's biggest Jewish educational and cultural complex since the Holocaust to open

[Behind the Aegis]

Germany's biggest Jewish educational and cultural complex since the Holocaust to open in Berlin

When Berlin Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal first talked about his dream of building Germany’s biggest Jewish educational and cultural complex since the Holocaust, most people who heard about the plan were skeptical.

But five years after the groundbreaking, Teichtal, a Berlin rabbi and head of the local Chabad community, beams as he steps onto the seventh-floor balcony of the new curved, blue-tiled building overlooking the campus amphitheater, garden, playground and a plot still covered with containers and construction material that will eventually become a sports field.


Blue tiles clad the curved building of the new Jewish educational and cultural complex in Berlin, Germany, Thursday, June 22, 2023. The Pears Jewish Campus, run by the local Chabad community, is located in the German capital's Wilmersdorf neighbourhood and will be officially opened Sunday, June 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber) © Provided by The Associated Press

“We’re changing the narrative about Jews in Germany,” Teichtal told The Associated Press earlier this week.

“Too often people only think about the Holocaust and antisemitism when it comes to Jews in Germany,” the 50-year-old rabbi said. “Our Jewish campus is about the future, it’s about joy, about studying and living together.”

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