In the photo: Rabbi Jonah Sievers, Berlin, ordained by Leo Baeck Institute; Rabbi Prof. Dr. Andreas Nachama, President, General Rabbinical Conference of Germany; Rabbi Dr. Antje Yael Deusel, Bamberrg, ordained by Abraham Geiger College.

The General Rabbinical Conference (ARK) is a body of the Central Council of Jews in Germany. It unites 29 rabbis who work in Jewish communities in Germany. However, the ARC does not represent a particular current of liberal Judaism, but rather members from various streams of Judaism.

A turning point:
Honoring the Past President

Landesrabbiner em. Dr. Henry G. Brandt served since the founding of the General Rabbinical Conference of Germany (ARK) in 2005 as its president. He helped to create a framework in which today can affect a new generation of rabbis in Germany. R’Brandt, Ninety-two-year-old, was no longer available for the ARK board elections.

Welcoming the New President
He is now followed by Rabbi Prof. Dr. med. Andreas Nachama as president. The outgoing director of the Foundation Topography of Terror and Rabbi of the synagogue congregation Sukkat Shalom was unanimously elected to his new post; Rabbi Dr. Yael Deusel (Bamberg) and Rabbi Jonah Sievers were confirmed as board members. Rabbi Brandt will remain with ARK as its honorary chairman for life.

Andreas Nachama writes:
“The General Rabbinical Conference (ARK), which I was able to co-found in 2005, is the most important link between the rabbis serving in the Jewish communities in Germany. To serve the ARK as president in the succession of Rabbi Dr. Henry Brandt, who still embodies the great erudition of rabbis born in pre-war Germany, is a privilege. My goal is to open the now increasingly difficult time for new Jewish life and thinking, but also to connect new challenges with Jewish thinking. I want to make the ARK a forum for Jewish thought and I want to serve as a bridge to pass on our heritage to the new generation of rabbis trained at the Geiger College in recent years.”

Rabbi Prof. Dr. Andreas Nachama is a rabbi of the synagogue Sukkat Shalom of the Jewish Community in Berlin, Jewish President of the German Coordinating Council of the Christian-Jewish Societies, Jewish Chairman of the Discussion Group Christians and Jews at the Central Committee of Catholics and Rabbi in the Presidium of the HOUSE OF ONE Berlin. Until the end of November 2019 he is also the director of the Topography of Terror Foundation in Berlin. From 2005 to 2015 he was Founding Dean and Professor of Holocaust Studies and Communication on the Holocaust at Touro College Berlin / New York.

Andreas Nachama, born in Berlin in 1951, studied Judaic Studies and History at the Free University of Berlin and graduated in 1976 with a Master of Arts degree. His PHD Thesis was on “Substitute Citizens and State Education in Early Modern Prussia.” He was ordained as Rabbi by R’ Zalman Schachter Shalomi z’l and ALEPH in 2000.

Rabbiner Prof. Dr. Andreas Nachama
Jüdischer Präsident des Deutschen Koordinierungsrates der Gesellschaften für Christlich-Jüdische Zusammenarbeit
http://www.nachama.de
0172 327 96 66

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