This article first appeared in “Plan W”, the SZ’s women’s business magazine. Why is the term superwoman outdated? What is the best way to save money for old age? And why do traveling professions have to be rethought? You can find answers to these questions and other interviews and portraits in the digital Plan W edition.
“My mother taught me everything. Before the holidays we talked about the stories in the Torah, also why there is this food and that music, and prepared everything together. That’s how I grew up. I was also in the from an early age Congregation: first in a children’s group and then also at church service, later in the youth center The older I got, the more clear it became to me how few people there are who are like me – how few Jewish people.
After graduating from high school, I didn’t know what I wanted to study straight away, so I did a voluntary year in my community. I’ve traveled a lot to seminars, including a Liberal Jewish conference in Boston. It was there that the idea of becoming a rabbi arose. I started studying at the Abraham Geiger College in Potsdam three years ago. The application was difficult, I had to organize letters of recommendation from rabbis, among other things, and really struggled at the time because I was the youngest person who ever applied there.
What I find very important for understanding Judaism: There is no such thing the Judaism. Every Jewish person you interview has their own experience. Some grew up with religious traditions, while others are dominated by culture, language and food. Some go to the synagogue for the holidays, others don’t. And not everyone and everyone has the same experiences with anti-Semitism. As a Jew, I am often asked about this topic. I am affected by it, but not an expert. In the case of the lateral thinker movement, a field has developed in connection with Holocaust relativizations and conspiracy narratives in which tendencies can intensify. But anti-Semitism doesn’t pop up here and there, it has always been there. Instead of constantly asking Jews to what extent they are affected by anti-Semitism – in the worst case, sharing their trauma – one could ask everyone else what they are doing about anti-Semitism.
Since I’ve lived in Berlin, I’ve noticed that there are many Jews who grew up outside of communities. This is how my ‘Basic Judaism Course’ came about. We meet every two weeks for an hour and a half and discuss a topic. There are also people who are not Jewish, but that shouldn’t get out of hand. My concern is not to enlighten the majority society, but to give Jewish people the opportunity to expand their knowledge. For me, a figure of inspiration from the Torah is the prophetess Mirjam. It has appeared many times in my sermons. I also want to highlight women because men are better known from biblical stories. She was a leader and a fighter and is mine spirit animal. If it hadn’t been for them, Moses would have drowned in his reed basket.
Queerness and Judaism are not mutually exclusive. I want to set an example that you can be how you want and not have to choose between belief and sexuality. Above all, I want to get young people excited about Jewish life. The next station is my two semesters abroad in Jerusalem, and after that my studies won’t take too long. But it’s not about becoming the youngest female rabbi in Germany. I would be happy if there were more who are also in their twenties. What could we achieve together ?! When the Berlin woman Regina Jonas was ordained as the world’s first female rabbi in 1935, she said: ‘I never cared about being the first, I wish I were the hundred thousandth!’ “