The Beth Cafe offers kosher drinks and dishes as a nonprot institution of the Israeli Synagouge Community in Berlin.

Photos Provided

Zachary Johnston

Ira Gewanter

Baltimoreans making a lm about why so many Israelis are moving to Hitlers headquarters By Phil Jacobs

When Zachary Johnston moved to Berlin in 2008, he phoned his friend Ira Gewanter in Baltimore to share something shocking about his new city: There are a lot of Jews here, particularly Israelis. As Gewanter and Johnston, who had met in a screenwriting graduate program, took a deeper look at Jewish life re-emerging in Berlin, they were convinced that there was an important story to tell. ey learned that Berlin has the fastest-growing Jewish population in Europe. e approximately 22,500 Israelis now outnumber the citys British and American expats. ere are Israeli-run cafes and cultural centers. Hebrew is spoken on the streets. This is due in part to Germanys Jewish Right of Return. Part of the post-war German Constitution passed in 1949, this law extends citizenship to descendants of German citizens deported or murdered during the Holocaust. The law echoes Israels Right of Return, granting citizenship to all Jews based on whether they
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would have been subject to persecution under the Nuremberg Laws. Gewanter, a Baltimore Jewish Times advertising consultant, laughs at the unavoidable irony of Israeli immigration to Berlin. If the past three years working [at the JT] has taught me anything, its that the facts of Jewish life are often stranger than fiction, he said. A Beth Tfiloh graduate, Gewanter, 29, remembers his senior trip to visit concentration camps before journeying to Israel. At the time, Israel was experiencing the Second Intifada. I couldnt avoid the awareness that my presence was unacceptable to families that lived only miles away. Knowing that a stranger was willing to die to kill me was incomprehensible. Its an issue much larger than the Arab-Israeli conflict its a universal problem of how to rebuild after terrible things happen, he said. e role of heritage in identity has always been at the forefront for Johnston, 32. Raised on and o the Skokomish Native American Reservation in

Washington State, Johnston says that he resonates with people who succeed in maintaining their culture which others tried to deny. e son of a German mother and Native American father, Johnston says he always felt like an outsider. is dissonance was amplied at the age of 18, when Johnston came home with his rst tribal tattoo. I imagine most moms wouldnt be thrilled with their kid getting a tattoo, he said, but my moms disapproval was completely unexpected. To make a long story short, she worried that I may have rendered myself unfit for Jewish burial. Johnston smiled. ats when I learned my mothers ancestors were German Jews, who had converted to Lutheranism to pass as average Germans. I dont identify as Jewish, but it totally informs who I am. I owe a lot to people who know how to persevere against all odds, and Im always proud of that, he said. After much correspondence between Baltimore and Berlin, Johnston

and Gewanter decided to make a documentary exploring the recent surge in Israeli immigration to Germany. e next step was assembling a team for the project. Gewanter invited DeDe JacobsKomisar,* a fellow Baltimorean and Israeli citizen with experience in fundraising and arts administration. Jacobs-Komisar, 29, found the premise intriguing. In my religious Zionist education, making aliyah to Israel is the dream and ultimate destiny of every Jew, she said. So I really wanted to understand the Israelis who seem to give up this dream by going back to the place that was Hitlers headquarters. eyre obviously not ignorant of history. So whats going on? Johnston next grabbed his camera and started interviewing Israelis in Berlin. Nirit Bialer, 34, grew up in Raanana and has been in Berlin since 2006. She founded HaBayit (e House), a Berlin hub for Israelis that hosts cultural events presenting Israeli culture

Jens Kalaene/dpa/picture-alliance/Newscom

Aliyah To Berlin?

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to the German public. Elinor Lewy, 27, grew up in Jerusalem and has lived in Berlin since 2007. e daughter of Israeli diplomats, she also spent time in the city as a child. After the army, I felt like I needed a change, Berlin seemed right. I like the quiet and the comfort, she said. Yet Lewy acknowledges the challenges of living in Berlin as a Jew. Youre confronted with thoughts and feelings you will have in no other place in the world. I have experienced anti-Semitism, mostly in subtext, but also more bluntly, she said. Of course, you reect on the atrocity that happened here not so long ago, its inevitable. But it doesnt rule my life. She said anti-Semitism is alive and kicking, and feels uncomfortable around Germans who are anti-Zionist. One is allowed to criticize Israel, but delegitimizing Israel as a country is awful, and its become a trend, she said. Asked if shes experienced any negative reactions from Israelis back home to her move, Bialer said, Is a Jew living any other place in the Diaspora any better? ... Israelis are just another normal group of people, wanting to live where things are happening. Foreigners have made Berlin what it is today. e infrastructure is German, but the character is international. Bialer says that living in Berlin has strengthened her identity as a Jew and an Israeli. She feels very connected to

Israel and plans to vote in the January elections. For Lewy, living in Berlin has made her much more aware of myself as a cultural Jew. Both see the Israeli aliyah to Berlin as positive, and both hope that the community continues to thrive. Lewy also is hands-on with the lm, working on production with Johnston. Right now, the team is raising startup funds to begin the project. We hope people check out the Kickstarter pitch and partner with us, said Gewanter. We think the lm will resonate with people everywhere. Its about the universal questions of identity, reconciliation and maybe even hope. JT *In full disclosure, Jacobs-Komisar is the authors daughter.

The lmmakers have created a pitch at kickstarter.com, a fundraising site for creative projects. They hope to raise $15,000 by the Nov. 28 deadline, funds that will cover initial research and travel. The way Kickstarter works is that the project must receive the full amount of pledges by its deadline or it does not receive any of the pledged funds. So the clock is ticking. For more information and to help support the lm, see kickstarter.com/ projects/bde-lms/aliyah-le-berlin.

Phil Jacobs is JT executive editor pjacobs@jewishtimes.com

Baltimore Jewish Times November 16, 2012