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BERLIN (EJP)--- Aside from an appearance in Mexico in 1970, Israel has never qualified for the World Cup finals. But contrary to clichés circulating in Germany, Jews are as interested in football as most Europeans.
“It was very difficult to sit in the synagogue knowing that the USA was playing during Shabbat,” groaned an American member of an orthodox congregation in Berlin last week. An Italian member of the synagogue was distraught that Italy was also playing on the Jewish day of rest – when observant Jews don’t watch television or listen to radio.
Over 7,000 Israelis have descended on Germany to experience football fever at its hottest; a leading Israeli travel firm predicted that most would cheer on the Brazilian, English and Dutch teams.
This is despite the cliché that Jews are more known for following basketball, baseball and cricket.
Rabbi Itzach Ehrenberg, head of Germany’s orthodox rabbinical conference, told the weekly Juedische Allgemeine, or JAZ, that he saw no reason to object to a Jewish person’s enjoyment of the sport. “I used to be an avid player myself,” he said. However, he said he would have preferred that games would not be played on Shabbat – perhaps to keep the temptation to watch them at a minimum.
About 90 percent of the 200,000 Jews living in Germany today do not have German heritage. Most come from the former Soviet Union, and a number hail from Israel, the United States and South American countries. It is not always clear who these people will cheer for.
In recent weeks, JAZ has been busy collecting the reactions of Berlin-based Jews to the World Cup.
Claudio Offenberg, trainer of the FC-Berlin Maccabee football team, said he would be away on vacation for most of the World Cup month, in order to make space for the thousands of tourists that have descended on Berlin. He will be back for the quarterfinals – “because I just happen to have a ticket,” he said. However, he does not think his own team will learn any new techniques in the final games. Offenberg is placing his bets on a Brazilian or Dutch win.
Andre Brusk, a teacher at the Heinz-Gallinksi Jewish school, is hoping for a French or English win. The students on the school soccer team are extraordinarily interested in the tournament, he said. “They are particularly thrilled about an invitation to watch Germany’s national team train,” Brusk said.
Harald Falkenberg, head of the school-bus company that drives students to Galinski school, said the school’s proximity to the German team’s training grounds as well as to the Olympic Stadium had caused severe traffic jams in the area. “I am just waiting for the day that my bus drivers will not get the kids to school on time,” Falkenberg said.
The Brazilian team’s accommodation in the Kempinski Bristol Hotel has been taxing on employees and visitors to the headquarters of the Jewish Community, located right across the street. The entrance to the community building is often blocked by Brazil fans and security forces, JAZ reported.
JAZ reported that the Community Council would be holding many of its legislative meetings during important matches – when teams like Germany, Ukraine and Poland were playing. Although many council members hail from these countries, “legislative matters take precedence and would be discussed anyway even if fewer members will be present,” Josef Latte, a councillor, told JAZ.
Rabbi Chaim Rozwask, who leads services at Berlin’s reformed Pestalozzi Strasse Synagogue, was perturbed that Jewish football fans had not yet found their way to his synagogue – one of the largest in Berlin.
Nevertheless, Roswazki said that while churches were erecting huge viewing screens to attract visitors, “we do not have to do that as we already have the best reason for visitors to come -- the Torah.”
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