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Ordained In Germany First German-trained Orthodox students become rabbis.
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abbi Steven Burg was able to observe firsthand the growth of Jewish life in Germany on a visit to Munich where he attended the first Orthodox rabbinic ordination of German-trained rabbinical students. Burg, international director of NCSY, the New York-based Orthodox Union (OU) youth program — who lived in the Detroit area while serving as associate director of NCSY’s Central East region from 1996-2000 — joined Jews from around the world at the history-making event. The two new rabbis — Zsolt Balla, 30 and Avraham Radbill, 25 — graduated from the newly established Orthodox rabbinical seminary, Rabbinerseminar zu Berlin. The seminary was founded by the Central Council of Jews in Germany and the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation. It grew out of the programs of the Torah-study institution Yeshivas Beis Zion in Berlin. There are seven more students in the rabbinical program there. Having already met Balla on a visit to Germany last year, Burg reconnected with the new rabbi at the June 2 ordination ceremony. And Both Balla and Radbill had previous OU connections, having visited the agency’s New York headquarters last August to participate in a seminar on kashrut laws. Balla also collaborated on the Hungarian and German editions of the NCSY bencher, edited by David Olivestone, OU national director of com-
munications and planning. Burg first met Balla last year in Germany where Burg worked with the Lauder Foundation to develop strategies to inspire Jewish teens, something he strived for during his four-year tenure at the Southfield NCSY regional office. During his time in Detroit, Burg created NCSY’s Latte and Learning program, bringing high school students to coffee houses to discuss the relevance of Torah in secular life. The program is now in place in dozens of cities across North America and has expanded to Chile, where NCSY has a thriving presence. Burg was joined in Germany by Rabbi Zvi Sobolofsky, of Yeshiva University in New York and NCSY Kollel, a program of touring and learning in Israel for high school students. A Momentous Event “The rabbinical ordination that recently took place in Germany was a truly significant and momentous occasion,” Burg said. “This extraordinary ceremony was televised throughout Germany and left everyone in attendance inspired, our eyes brimming with tears and shining with pride. The fact that the German minister of the interior was there to witness the event is unbelievable when one considers that the same position was once in charge of the Gestapo during the Holocaust.” Rabbi Joshua Spinner, vice president of the Lauder Foundation, said, “We intended for the day to be a statement that Torah Judaism is alive in Germany, and impressively so. Responses to the day
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Rabbis Balla and Burg following ordination of the German-trained Orthodox rabbinical students.
indicate we were successful in our goal.” In addition to attending the ordination ceremony, Burg and Sobolofsky led 20 students of Yeshivas Beis Zion, including the two new rabbis, on a mission touring Poland. “We wanted to show the young men who had just finished a yeshivah program their Jewish roots,” Burg said. Further cooperation is planned between NCSY and Am Echad, the Youth and National Outreach Department of Lauder Yeshurun, which is dedicated to facilitating Jewish education for young Jews in Germany. “The recent rabbinical ordination, the fact that Am Echad is flourishing and the day school in Germany that is growing rapidly, all signify the growth in building b’nei Torah [children who follow a Torah way of life] in Germany,” Burg said. “The purpose of this trip was to advance the cause of passionate Judaism, and give strength and moral support to those all over the world who are in the trenches of that cause.” ■
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Drake Road Construction The Road Commission for Oakland County expects to close Drake Road at both the north and south sides of the Maple/Drake roundabout in West Bloomfield on July 13 so the roundabout can be modified slightly to accommodate new pedestrian crosswalk signals. Drake, a crossroads for the
Eugene and Marcia Applebaum Jewish Community Campus in West Bloomfield, is expected to remain closed at the roundabout until Aug. 14. The work will reconfigure the “splitter” islands, adjust some of the curbs and install the crosswalk signals. The signals are a new form of pedestrian-activated signals, and will be placed at all four entrances to the
roundabout. The signals will stop traffic entering and exiting the roundabout to allow pedestrians to safely cross the road. Unlike traditional pedestrian-crosswalk signals, the new signals will remain unlit unless a pedestrian presses the crosswalk button. — Keri Guten Cohen, story development editor
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July 9 • 2009
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