Hundreds of children from the kindergartens, preschools and elementary schools of Berlin’s Chabad-Lubavitch Jewish Campus gathered together on Monday to welcome German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, alongside senior ministers, governors and party leadership from across Germany.
As the children sang “Heveinu Shalom Aleichem” and “Oseh Shalom,” the chancellor looked on. Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal, chief rabbi of Berlin and director of Chabad-Lubavitch of Berlin, noted that tears were visible in the chancellor’s eyes.
Moments later, Merz addressed the children directly: “You’re growing up in Germany. You’re going to have a strong future of Jewish life, and we’re going to do everything we can to support you.”
The visit had been months in the making.
“I invited the chancellor to visit us to make a statement about the strong, vibrant and active Jewish life in Germany,” Teichtal told Chabad.org.
What followed was unprecedented. The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) presidium—Germany’s senior governing political party—held its official party meeting on the campus, rather than at its usual Reichstag venue. Thirty-five senior political figures, including Bundestag President Julia Klöckner and governors from several German states, gathered at what has grown into Germany’s largest Jewish center: a 90,000-square-foot complex housing schools, synagogues and community institutions.
Each of the 35 leaders received a personalized leather-bound Book of Psalms embossed with their name from Chabad of Berlin. Inside the main synagogue—one of 11 Chabad synagogues now serving Berlin—they prayed together and heard a brief Torah thought from Teichtal. They also met the 13 Chabad emissaries serving the city, toured the campus and reviewed architectural plans for a new 600-seat synagogue currently under construction.
When Teichtal pointed out the Mitzvah Tank parked on the grounds and explained its connection to the outreach campaigns of the Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory—Merz asked to step aboard.
‘The Jewish People Are Strong’
At the formal event on the sports field, two students from the school told the chancellor proudly they study at the Rebbe’s school. Some 400 children sang classic Jewish songs as the German political leadership looked on.
Near the visit’s end, Teichtal brought Merz to a portrait of the Rebbe. The Rebbe had lived in Berlin for five years before departing for France in 1933, following the Nazi rise to power.
The visit generated a buzz throughout the community. One woman told the rabbi that it gave her “a renewed sense of trust in the legitimacy and in the future of Jewish life in Germany.”
After the tour, Teichtal was invited to open the CDU’s official party meeting on campus, where he spoke about Jewish education, moral responsibility, the Seven Noahide Laws, and the Rebbe’s teachings. Each leader also received a German edition of the Toward a Meaningful Life by Rabbi Simon Jacobson.
When the session concluded, Merz told Teichtal the proceedings had been “imbued with positive spirit and energy.” As a direct result of the visit, the CDU released a 14-point position paper with concrete commitments: affirming that Jewish life in Germany must be “free and visible,” strengthening protection for Jewish institutions, combating antisemitic structures both online and offline, and making the diversity of Jewish life more visible in education and public culture.
As Teichtal told the assembled guests: “Am Yisrael Chazak: ‘The Jewish people are strong.’ We don’t let our story be dictated by antisemites. Our story is one of proud observance of Torah and Judaism.”
Start a Discussion