Abraham Geiger Kolleg is a rabbinic seminary

Seminary

A seminary, theological college, or divinity school is an institution of secondary or post-secondary education for educating students in theology, generally to prepare them for ordination as clergy or for other ministry...

 in Potsdam

Potsdam

Potsdam is the capital city of the German federal state of Brandenburg and part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. It is situated on the River Havel, southwest of Berlin city centre....

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. The school was founded 1999 as the only seminary in Germany since the Holocaust, when the Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums

Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums

The Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums, or Higher Institute for Jewish Studies, was a rabbinical seminary, established in Berlin in 1872 destroyed by the Nazi government of Germany in 1942...

 in Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

 was shut down by the Gestapo

Gestapo

The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...

. The college is named after Abraham Geiger

Abraham Geiger

Abraham Geiger was a German rabbi and scholar who led the founding of Reform Judaism...

 (1810- 1874), a German Reform oriented Jew, and is managed by the Rabbi

Rabbi

In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...

s Walter Jacob

Walter Jacob

Walter Jacob is a leading Reform rabbi and an expert in the Reform movement's approach to Jewish law . A protege of Solomon Freehof, Jacob served at Rodef Shalom in Pittsburgh as an assistant rabbi and as successor to Freehof as congregational rabbi...

 and Walter Homolka

Walter Homolka

Prof. Walter Homolka is a German rabbi.He studied in Munich, London, Lampeter and Leipzig and has a PhD from King's College London...

.

Organizational Integration

In 2001, Abraham-Geiger-Kolleg joined the World Union for Progressive Judaism

World Union for Progressive Judaism

The World Union for Progressive Judaism describes itself as the "international umbrella organization for the Reform, Liberal, Progressive and Reconstructionist movements." This overall Jewish religious movement is based in about 40 countries with more than 1,000 affiliated synagogues...

 and in 2005, the examinees received accreditation towards the Central Conference of American Rabbis

Central Conference of American Rabbis

The Central Conference of American Rabbis , founded in 1889 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, is the principal organization of Reform rabbis in the United States and Canada, the CCAR is the largest and oldest rabbinical organization in the world....

. The first-generation of ordained Rabbis - Daniel Alter, Tomáš Kučera and Malcolm Mattitiani - left the Kolleg in 2006. Daniel Alter is caring for the Jewish community in Oldenburg

Oldenburg

Oldenburg is an independent city in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated in the western part of the state between the cities of Bremen and Groningen, Netherlands, at the Hunte river. It has a population of 160,279 which makes it the fourth biggest city in Lower Saxony after Hanover, Braunschweig...

, and Tomáš Kučera leads Beth Shalom, a reform Jewish community in Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

. Malcolm Mattitiani returned to South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

 to lead the Temple of Israel Congregation in Kapstadt.

The five-year long studies take place in conjunction with the Kollegium Jüdische Studien, and upon completion, the examinees receive the title of Magister in Jüdischen Studien. The Kolleg is part of Universität Potsdam, funded by the German government, the Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland

Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland

The Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland is a federation of German Jews organizing many Jewish organisations in Germany. It was founded on July 19, 1950, as a response to the increasing isolation of German Jews by the international Jewish community and increasing interest in Jewish affairs by the ...

, the state of Brandenburg

Brandenburg

Brandenburg is one of the sixteen federal-states of Germany. It lies in the east of the country and is one of the new federal states that were re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former West Germany and East Germany. The capital is Potsdam...

 and the Potsdam Leo Baeck Foundation. The
founding principal of the Kolleg is Rabbi Professor Dres. Allen Podet, who came from State University College at Buffalo to take the post and served from 2001 to 2002.

Abraham-Geiger-Preis

The Abraham-Geiger-Kolleg dedicates a biannual prize for Verdienste um das Judentum in seiner Vielfalt or, service to Jewish cultural diversity.

• Nominees

• • 2000 Susannah Heschel
    Susannah Heschel
    Susannah Heschel is Dartmouth College's Eli Black associate professor of Jewish Studies, an award-winning author, and the daughter of Abraham Joshua Heschel....
    
    
  • 2002 Emil Fackenheim
    Emil Fackenheim
    Emil Ludwig Fackenheim, Ph.D. was a noted Jewish philosopher and Reform rabbi.Born in Halle, Germany, he was arrested by the Nazis on the night of November 9, 1938, known as Kristallnacht...
    
    
  • 2004 Alfred Grosser
  • 2006 Karl Lehmann
  • 2008 Prince Hassan Ibn Talal of Jordan
  • 2009 Hans Küng
    Hans Küng
    Hans Küng is a Swiss Catholic priest, theologian, and prolific author. Since 1995 he has been President of the Foundation for a Global Ethic . Küng is "a Catholic priest in good standing", but the Vatican has rescinded his authority to teach Catholic theology...
    
    

Emil Fackenheim Lecture

Famous and outstanding representatives of Jewish studies are invited as guest lecturers.

• 2003 John D. Rayner
• 2004 Daniel Boyarin
  Daniel Boyarin
  Daniel Boyarin is an historian of religion. Born in Asbury Park, New Jersey, he holds dual United States and Israeli citizenship. Trained as a Talmudic scholar, in 1990 he was appointed Professor of Talmudic Culture, Departments of Near Eastern Studies and Rhetoric, University of California,...
  
  
• 2005 Jakob Allerhand
• 2007 Michael Marmur

Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Fellows at Abraham Geiger Kolleg

Rabbi Dr Dalia Marx, Rabbi Dr Yehoyada Amir, Rabbi Dr Samuel K. Joseph and Rabbi Dr Reuven Firestone are members of the HUC-JIR Faculty. They visit Berlin and teach at the Kolleg for four weeks. Rabbis Marx and Joseph have participated twice in this program.

External links

• http://www.abraham-geiger-kolleg.de/dw_video2.php Deutschen Welle TV about the Kolleg
• www.abraham-geiger-kolleg.de Homepage
• Homepage of Leo-Baeck-Foundation in Potsdam
• Germany's only rabbinic seminary