海角大神

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

But five years after the groundbreaking, Mr. 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.

鈥淲e鈥檙e changing the narrative about Jews in Germany,鈥� Mr. Teichtal told The Associated Press earlier this week.

鈥淭oo often people only think about the Holocaust and antisemitism when it comes to Jews in Germany,鈥� the rabbi said. 鈥淥ur Jewish campus is about the future, it鈥檚 about joy, about studying and living together.鈥�

The Pears Jewish Campus, in the German capital鈥檚 Wilmersdorf neighborhood, officially opens on Sunday. The Chabad community鈥檚 550 kindergarten, elementary, and high school students who are currently spread out in different buildings across the city will all move to the campus when the new school year begins at the end of August.

In addition to the schools, the campus also will feature a movie theater and a music studio, a library, a kosher deli, and a huge indoor basketball court and gym that can be turned into a lecture hall for up to 600 people or a reception hall for weddings and bar mitzvahs.

There鈥檚 a kitchen for the school cafeteria and another huge one to cater receptions, which includes a bakery to make pastries or to prepare challah for Shabbat.

Jessica Kalmanovich, a mother of two children who attend Chabad鈥檚 elementary school and kindergarten in different neighborhoods of the city, said her family can鈥檛 wait for the campus to open.

鈥淓very morning, when we drive by the campus, my son asks me, 鈥榃hen is my kindergarten in the blue building finally ready for me to start going there?鈥欌�� she said.

Ms. Kalmanovich, who was born in Kazakhstan and came to Germany as an infant, called the new campus 鈥渁 milestone鈥� for Jews in Berlin.

鈥淥ur children will get a good Jewish education there, we will be in the center of the city, and we will no longer have problems finding kosher food,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e will be very visible as Jews in Berlin but at the same time feel protected.鈥�

Unlike many other Jewish institutions in Germany that are hidden behind walls for fear of possible antisemitic attacks, the new campus has a glass fence around it. It is connected to the synagogue and community center that have been operated for many years by Chabad, an Orthodox Jewish Hasidic movement.

鈥淲e didn鈥檛 want this to feel like a ghetto,鈥� said Mr. Teichtal. 鈥淲e want this to be a happy place, an open house.鈥�

When Mr. Teichtal, who grew up in Brooklyn, New York, was asked to go to Germany 27 years ago to revive Jewish life there, he had mixed feelings. His great-grandfather was murdered in the Nazis鈥� Auschwitz death camp and more than 60 other relatives also perished in the Holocaust.

But together with his wife Leah, he set out to 鈥渂ring light to the darkness.鈥�

Berlin was home to Germany鈥檚 biggest Jewish community before the Holocaust. In 1933, the year the Nazis came to power, around 160,500 Jews lived in Berlin. By the end of World War II in 1945, their numbers had diminished to about 7,000 鈥� through emigration and extermination.

Almost 80 years after the Holocaust, in which 6 million European Jews were killed by the Nazis and their henchmen, Berlin鈥檚 Jewish community is still a far cry from the past. But it鈥檚 vibrant and alive again 鈥� with an estimated 30,000 to 50,000 Jews 鈥� and Rabbi Teichtal has played a major role in creating this bustling community.

In addition to the descendants of the surviving German Jews, many Jews who now live in Berlin emigrated from the former Soviet Union after the collapse of communism in the early 1990s. Young Israelis and American Jews came in droves over the past 15 years, fascinated by the city鈥檚 laissez-faire vibe, buzzing nightlife, and low cost of living.

In a recent development, several thousand Ukrainian Jews settled in Berlin after Russia attacked their home country last year, among them several hundred refugees and orphans who found shelter at the Chabad community.

The new Jewish campus, over 86,000 square feet, cost $43.7 million that was paid for by the federal and state governments, private companies, foundations, and donations. It鈥檚 designed to cater not only to Jews but also members of other religions, Mr. Teichtal says.

鈥淭his place is about creating dialogue, about overcoming prejudice and ignorance,鈥� the rabbi said. He paused, then added that his work in Berlin is not yet done with the opening of the Jewish campus.

鈥淚 have many other plans,鈥� he said with a smile, gazing across the campus. 鈥淭he synagogue has to be enlarged and there鈥檚 a need for a nursing home 鈥� with the help of God, we will make it all come true.鈥�

This story was reported by The Associated Press.聽