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In a twist, German rabbi at scandal’s center cedes rabbinical school ownership to Berlin Jews
(JTA) — In a shocking development, the embattled founder of Germany’s non-Orthodox rabbinical schools has relinquished his ownership stake in them to the Jewish Community of Berlin.
The 25,000 euro transaction means that Rabbi Walter Homolka is no longer in control of the Reform Abraham Geiger College and the Conservative Zacharias Frankel College at the University of Potsdam.
The sale achieves a result that the Central Council of Jews in Germany, the seminaries’ main funder, has been trying to reach openly since late last year, after two investigations confirmed that Homolka had abused his power at the seminaries.
The Jewish Community of Berlin had not publicly been part of the efforts to overhaul the schools launched after allegations against Homolka broke into public view last May. The allegations initially related to a sexual harassment scandal involving his husband, who was also his employee, but widened to implicate other aspects of Homolka’s leadership.
The group’s announcement late Wednesday of the purchase, executed the day before, initially alarmed some who have been advocating for changes at the seminaries, because the plan did not clearly rule out a role for Homolka. The Central Council of Jews in Germany issued a statement lambasting the fact that the deal “took place without consultation with the students, employees, or the donors” and said the new arrangement would not improve rabbinical education in Germany.
But in a hastily arranged meeting Thursday, Berlin Jewish Community President Gideon Joffe assured Josef Schuster, the council’s head, that Homolka would not be part of the seminaries going forward. The meeting left Schuster prepared to collaborate with Joffe’s group, a spokesperson for the council confirmed.
Now, the path is clear for the official Jewish community to seize authority over non-Orthodox rabbinical training in the country where Reform Judaism was born in the 19th century.
“This may not be the ideal situation, but it is a compromise that allows almost everyone to live with the results,” Cantor Itamar Cohen, the graduate whose complaint kicked off the scandal, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. He said he would fully embrace the offer “if it is accepted by Klal Israel, the majority of the Jewish community as encapsulated in the main representing bodies.”
Concerns about the surprise announcement largely reflected worries that Homolka could have structured the deal in a way that benefits him.
Rabbi Walter Homolka, then rector of the Abraham Geiger College, in the Liberal Jewish community’s synagogue in Hanover, Germany in December 2016. (Julian Stratenschulte/picture alliance via Getty Images)
Two separate investigations — one by the university and the other by lawyers commissioned by the Central Council — recently determined that Homolka had created an “atmosphere of fear” among students and staff in the very institutions he launched more than 20 years ago. The final report from the Central Council investigation is expected to be released in the coming weeks. Homolka has steadfastly maintained his innocence.
In the wake of those findings, there was an increasing appearance of desperation on the part of the old guard to hold on to control of the two seminaries. In December, days after the damning Central Council interim report was issued, the Union of Progressive Judaism in Germany — with a newly elected board friendly to Homolka — announced it had replaced the interim director of the Geiger College with its own appointee. The Central Council promptly nixed that plan, calling the Union of Progressive Judaism a puppet of Homolka and announcing its appointment of the scholar Gerhard Robbers to work on restructuring the two colleges.
Skeptics of the latest development said they were sure Homolka’s influence would emerge somewhere, for example in appointments to the reconstituted institutions.
“I don’t find this reassuring,” said Nick Hoermann, a current student at Frankel College. “It has been clear for a while now that Homolka’s only way to act in the future would be through back doors.”
But for now at least, the Central Council — which initially called the sale announcement “astonishing” — says it is ready to work with the Jewish Community of Berlin.
Though the official community’s move came as a surprise to many, Joffe and his team had been considering some kind of rescue maneuver since the scandal broke last May, Ilan Kiesling, a spokesperson for the community, said in an email to JTA. The concrete plan emerged only after the damning preliminary expert opinion came out in December.
Joffe approached Homolka directly at that point and convinced him “that a completely fresh start at [Abraham Geiger College] was indispensable – together with a complete renunciation of all his leadership positions. Rabbi Homolka agreed to this renunciation and transferred all shares of the non-profit limited company to the community,” Kiesling wrote.
The legally binding takeover took place this week, and did not cost the community anything beyond “the capital contribution of the limited company in the amount of 25,000 euros,” Kiesling said.
He added that the community “guarantees a complete and transparent new start” for the Geiger seminary. “There will no longer be an accumulation of offices” under one person, one of the habits for which Homolka has been criticized. There was no specific reference to the Frankel College, which until now has appointed its own academic leadership.
The community plans to establish an international advisory board and an external contact point for students to report any problems. Early on in the scandal, it emerged that Cohen’s complaint had been investigated internally, by parties beholden to Homolka.
Kiesling also told the JTA that the community had engaged a former community president, Rabbi Andreas Nachama, chair of Germany’s liberal rabbinical conference, known as ARK, to advise them from a rabbinical perspective. Nachama was ordained by the U.S.-based Alliance for Jewish Renewal movement and leads an egalitarian Reform congregation in Berlin.
In his statement Wednesday, Joffe said, “The top priority for us at the moment is to bring the Abraham Geiger College into calm waters and pave the way for the students to continue their education in a stable structure.”
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The post In a twist, German rabbi at scandal’s center cedes rabbinical school ownership to Berlin Jews appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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NYPD Details Increased Security Measures for Passover Amid ‘Heightened State of Alert’ Against Terrorism Threats
New York City Police Department (NYPD) vehicles are seen in Brooklyn, New York, United States, on Oct. 13, 2024. Photo: Kyle Mazza via Reuters Connect
The New York Police Department (NYPD) will increase its presence around the city as New Yorkers celebrate the Jewish holiday of Passover next week amid what Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch described on Thursday as the most threatening terrorist landscape of her career.
“In my 18 years in government, which started in counterterrorism, I have not seen a threat environment quite like this one,” Tisch told leaders of the Jewish community who gathered at 1 Police Plaza for the NYPD’s annual pre-Passover security briefing. “It is clear that we will be in a heightened state of alert for the foreseeable future.”
“You will see increased patrols in the vicinity of synagogues and other houses of worship,” NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism Rebecca Weiner said at the security briefing. She added that the NYPD will deploy members of its counterterrorism divisions, critical response command, heavy weapons teams, and K-9 units to “high threat” locations around the city.
The department is also relying on its system of cameras and sensors, monitored by members of the NYPD’s intelligence division, as well as as its international partners in the Middle East to help them with early-warning detection of threats against New Yorkers.
“These teams provide necessary deterrence and target guarding, and they should also provide reassurance that we are everywhere, that we can be omnipresent,” Weiner said. “There will be security measures that you see, and many others that you won’t. As this onslaught of misplaced retaliation, retribution, and hate continues, we will continue to do all in our power to interrupt it.”
In her remarks, Tisch mentioned four terrorist attacks that took place on US soil since the joint US-Israeli military strikes against Iran on Feb. 28. The attacks include a deadly mass shooting at a bar in Austin, Texas, on March 1, in which the gunman wore a shirt featuring the image of the Iranian flag; an ISIS-inspired attempted bombing at an “American’s Against Islamification” protest in Manhattan’s Upper East Side on March 7; a car ramming at a synagogue in Detroit, Michigan, on March 12 by a man whose family has ties to the Hezbollah terrorist organization; and the shooting of a ROTC instructor in Norfolk, Virginia, that same day by a gunman and known terrorist who screamed “Allahu Akbar.”
Tisch also noted attacks in Europe, including the arson attack targeting four Hatzalah vehicles parked outside a synagogue in north London early this week.
“These are perilous times to be sure. I know you feel the stress and anxiety in your synagogues, in your schools or community centers, and even in your own homes. I feel it too,” Tisch said. “But I also know the NYPD is laser-focused on keeping this city safe with one of the most impressive and sophisticated intelligence and counterterrorism operations in the world.”
She said the NYPD is preparing for a “safe and joyful Passover celebration” and talked about uniformed patrols officers being stationed over Passover around synagogues, Jewish schools, and other Jewish sites. “This work we do together is vital because on top of raising our terrorism level, escalating conflict in the Middle East is also fueling antisemitism around the globe and certainly here at home,” she noted.
In the immediate aftermath of the deadly Hamas-led terrorist attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, antisemitic hate crimes in New York City surged 80 percent from Oct. 7 until the end of 2023, according to the police commissioner. By the end of last year, that number began to decline and overall hate crimes decreased by nearly 16 percent. However, since the start of 2026 – following the appointment of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani — antisemitic crimes, as well as hate crimes overall, are again on the rise, she concluded by saying.
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Rubio, Pro-Israel Lawmakers Voice Alarm Over West Bank Settler Violence as IDF Warns of ‘Unacceptable’ Situation
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks during a US-Paraguay Status of Forces agreement signing ceremony at the State Department in Washington, DC, US, Dec. 15, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Mohatt
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that Washington is “concerned” by settler violence in the West Bank and expects Israel to act, as a growing number of pro-Israel lawmakers in the US and senior Israeli military officials warn that the unchecked attacks are harming Israel’s security and international standing.
Rubio, one of Israel’s staunchest supporters within the Trump Administration, said from France that President Donald Trump has opposed “any sort of change in the status quo in the West Bank” and indicated that Israeli authorities recognize the seriousness of the problem.
Rubio’s remarks came amid months of attacks across the West Bank that have continued during the war with Iran.
The Times of Israel reported this week that the first 25 days of the war with Iran saw 257 incidents of extremist settler violence and land seizures, with at least seven Palestinians killed by Israeli civilians.
Many of the attacks have involved West Bank settlers physically assaulting residents — including elderly Palestinian women and children — torching Palestinian homes and vehicles, and hurling stones at cars on West Bank roads.
Israelis who have tried to document or stop the violence have also been severely injured by settlers. In February, two Israeli activists were hospitalized with serious head wounds after being beaten by settlers near Qusra.
Israeli soldiers have also been repeatedly attacked and wounded by settlers while responding to incidents.
“The Israelis themselves have expressed [concern],” Rubio added. “You’ve seen that some of these groups and individuals — maybe they’re settlers, maybe they’re just street thugs — have attacked Israeli security forces as well, so I think you’ll see the government there do something about it.”
The violence has drawn unusually sharp criticism from US lawmakers generally seen as strong supporters of Israel.
Among them are Reps. Ritchie Torres and Daniel Goldman of New York. Torres, widely regarded as one of Israel’s strongest advocates in Congress, said this week that “the crisis of extremist settler violence in the West Bank must be confronted, and the perpetrators must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” calling for “zero tolerance for violent extremism, no matter what form it takes.” Goldman similarly described the violence as an “outrage” and said, “the Israeli government must hold those responsible accountable, as the rule of law requires.”
One of the strongest warnings, however, has come from within the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) itself.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said this month that attacks by extremist settlers on Palestinians and Israeli troops are “morally and ethically unacceptable” and cause “extraordinary strategic damage” to the military’s efforts during a multi-front war. Zamir stressed that the perpetrators “do not represent the settlements” and warned that such violence endangers “security, stability, and our values as a people and as a state.”
That warning took on added urgency when the IDF announced this week that it had diverted an infantry battalion that had been intended for fighting against Hezbollah in Lebanon to the West Bank amid the latest wave of settler attacks, according to a report from The Jerusalem Post.
In a separate report, Zamir was also said to have warned ministers that the IDF risks “collapsing in on itself” under mounting operational demands and manpower shortages.
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Berlin Police Report Over 12,000 Offenses Connected to Anti-Israel Demonstrations Since Oct. 7 Attack
Supporters of Hamas gather in Berlin. Photo: Reuters/M. Golejewski
Berlin police have recorded more than 12,000 criminal offenses tied to pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the German capital since the start of the war in Gaza, according to newly released figures — laying bare the sheer extent of unrest that has accompanied months of anti-Israel protests in the city.
Officials had documented 12,493 offenses connected to demonstrations and related activity as of March, according to data compiled by a Berlin police task force established after the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
German media, which first reported the data, noted the special investigative unit has been probing individuals involved in illegal activity or with criminal records who drew attention at anti-Israel demonstrations in Berlin, tracking their activities and connections across the city.
Among the most frequent charges were 2,277 violent crimes, including 1,189 cases involving resistance to law enforcement officers. Police also recorded 3,453 cases of property damage, 2,205 propaganda-related offenses, and 1,046 incidents classified as incitement to hatred.
Authorities further reported that their records include 3,327 investigations involving at least one suspect with foreign nationality or multiple nationalities — roughly a quarter of all cases.
In total, suspects from 189 different national backgrounds or combinations of nationalities were identified.
Among non-German suspects, Syrian nationals accounted for the largest number of cases, followed by Turkish and Italian nationals.
This newly released report comes amid ongoing debate in Germany over the involvement of foreign actors in organizing or taking part in anti-Israel demonstrations.
Ahmad Mansour, an expert on Islamism, recently warned in a post on X that security officials have begun referring to so-called “travelers” — individuals who allegedly come to Germany specifically to participate in or organize pro-Hamas protests.
However, a Berlin police spokesperson told German newspaper Bild that authorities currently have no reliable evidence indicating the existence of organized waves of individuals traveling from abroad to attend the demonstrations.
Police spokesman Florian Nath also pointed to the role of online networks in mobilizing protesters, describing the pro-Palestinian activist scene in Berlin as highly active across social media platforms.
“No significant foreign influence can be detected in the publicly accessible online sources examined here,” Nath said in a statement.
Like most countries across Europe and the broader Western world, Germany has seen a shocking rise in antisemitic incidents over the last two years, in the wake of the Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
According to recently released figures, the number of antisemitic offenses in the country reached a record high in 2025, totaling 2,267 incidents, including violence, incitement, property damage, and propaganda offenses.
By comparison, officially recorded antisemitic crimes were significantly lower at 1,825 in 2024, 900 in 2023, and fewer than 500 in 2022, prior to the Oct. 7 atrocities.
Berlin specifically has seen a record surge in antisemitism following the outbreak of war in Gaza.