President Joel Delivers Keynote Address at Rabbinic Ordination Ceremony in Leipzig

On August 30, Yeshiva University President Richard M. Joel delivered the keynote address at the second Chag Hasemikha (ordination ceremony) at the Rabbinical Seminary of Berlin. The two newly minted rabbis, both of whom grew up in the former Soviet Union, join a small cadre of rabbis ordained in Germany since the beginning of World War II. Rabbi Shlomo Afanasev and Rabbi Moshe Baumel are two of the approximately 200,000 Jews currently living in Germany, 80 percent of whom emigrated from the countries of the former USSR. The event, which took place in a synagogue in Leipzig, received German media coverage and attracted the attendance of state ministers and Jewish communal leaders, including Ronald Lauder, whose foundation sponsors the seminary. “President Joel is an articulate spokesperson for Torah values who, at the same time, occupies a prominent position fully understandable to a secular audience in Germany—that of President of a major American university,” said Rabbi Josh Spinner, director of the seminary. “His presence and his message was therefore not merely about a speech at a ceremony—it was about defining Torah Judaism today as relevant, exciting and primary in a broad context.” “This Chag Hasemikha shows that light can emerge from even the greatest darkness,” said President Joel about the ceremony, “wherever there are Jews there is a possibility of a Jewish future. All that it requires is that people know and own their Jewish story.”