Nathan Peter Levinson

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State rabbi Levinson left in the picture with Hans Heinz Altmann, Jewish emigrant from Nazi Germany to South America before the outbreak of the WWII. , Author of the moving book "Mother tongue, home of the homeless". Photo taken in the Catholic Academy Freiburg 1985

Nathan Peter Levinson , née Nathan Peter Lewinski (born November 23, 1921 in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg , Weimar Republic ; died October 27, 2016 in Berlin, Federal Republic of Germany ) was a German-Jewish emigrant , American military rabbi , rabbi and regional rabbi in Germany, Author of religious studies and holder of the Federal Cross of Merit, 1st class.

Family and origin

The family of Nathan Peter Levinson originally had the family name Lewinski. She came from Berlin. Since emigrating to the USA in 1941, she has had the family name Levinson. In 1950 the family returned for the first time to Berlin, to liberated Germany.

Youth and high school time

Nathan Peter Levinson grew up in Berlin. He began his high school education as a student at the Berlin High School in the Gray Monastery . After he was beaten up at this grammar school by Nazi-oriented classmates, his parents sent him to the Jewish private school to the Orthodox exit community Adass Jisroel in Berlin for further grammar school education .

After the November pogroms in 1938 , all Jewish private schools were closed. As a result, only the Jewish community's grammar school in Wilsnacker Strasse still existed. Nathan Peter Levinson was still able to take his Abitur there in 1940. On this occasion he gave a graduation speech that meant so much to him that he had it with him for most of his life.

Studied in Berlin

In 1940, after graduating from high school, Nathan Peter Levinson began his studies at the Institute for the Science of Judaism . Here his deep admiration for Rabbi Leo Baeck unfolded , which was to have a formative effect on him for a lifetime.

Emigration and studies in Cincinnati

In 1941 the Levinson family managed to leave Germany at the very last hour, and thus to escape certain destruction during the Nazi era by Adolf Hitler's henchmen . Via Poland, Russia, Korea and Japan, the Levinsons came to the United States in Cincinnati .

At Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati graduated Levinson a six-year-long Rabbinatsstudiengang he with the master's degree in Hebrew literature and the ordination graduated as a rabbi.

Return to Germany

In 1950 the World Union for Progressive Judaism sent Nathan Peter Levinson to Berlin. From 1950 to 1953 Nathan Peter Levinson held the office of the State Rabbi of Berlin . In the same year Levinson returned to the United States to complete a course to train as a military rabbi. Levinson actually wanted to return to Berlin as a military rabbi, but was then, in spite of agreements, committed to Japan as a military rabbi in 1955.

After serving as a military rabbi in Japan, Levinson was transferred to Ramstein Air Base in the Federal Republic of Germany as a military rabbi . In 1961 Levinson retired from military service.

Rabbi in Germany

Levinson settled in Heidelberg and in 1961 became rabbi of the Mannheim Jewish community . In 1964 Nathan Peter Levinson became the state rabbi of Baden and the state rabbi of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein .

Levinson was elected chairman of the Rabbinical Conference of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1964 . Since 1965 Levinson was chairman of the German Coordination Council of the Societies for Christian-Jewish Cooperation for almost 20 years , together with the Catholic Willehad Paul Eckert and the Protestant Martin Stöhr .

At that time he - together with his wife Pnina Navè - vehemently campaigned for the establishment of the University of Jewish Studies in Heidelberg . Levinson could be heard on the radio with weekly sermons on the Sabbath . In 1976 he was elected President of the International Council of Christians and Jews .

Rabbi Andreas Nachama paid tribute to Peter Levinson on his 90th birthday in the Jüdische Allgemeine : “For me he is the last German-speaking rabbi of his generation who actually still represents that mixture of the highest academic erudition, enlightened academic liberality and Jewish-traditional knowledge for that the German-Jewish generation of rabbis stood around Leo Baeck. ”In addition, he had rendered outstanding services to the Christian-Jewish dialogue as a reconciler.

Private life

Mazewa for Helga Levinson at the Jewish cemetery in Heidelberg with her own farewell lines

Levinson resigned from official positions in 1985. He then lived in Deià on Mallorca for half a year and in Jerusalem for half a year . Nathan Peter Levinson devoted himself intensively to religious studies research and his work as an author. Since 2002 Nathan Peter Levinson lived exclusively in Berlin.

Nathan Peter Levinson was married twice. In 1947 he married Helga Heimberg in Cincinnati. This marriage resulted in their daughter Sharon, born in 1952.

Helga Levinson died in 1968 after a long illness. She rests in the Jewish cemetery in Heidelberg, which is attached to the Heidelberg Bergfriedhof .

In 1970 Levinson married the scholar Pnina Navè, she died after heart surgery in 1998 and rests in Israel . Nathan Peter Levinson spent the last years of his life in the Berlin retirement home Tertianum, where he died at the age of 94.

Awards

Works

  • Martin Buber , a Jewish thinker and humanist. European publishing house, Frankfurt a. M. 1966, DNB 457421924 .
  • A rabbi explains the Bible (= treatises on Christian-Jewish dialogue. Vol. 14). Chr. Kaiser Verlag, Munich 1982, ISBN 3-459-01449-0 .
  • In memory of the righteous, obituaries ( Kaiser pocket books. Vol. 37). Chr. Kaiser Verlag, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-459-01767-8 .
  • with Manfred Görg and Hans Meier: Jews and Christians in conversation, balance sheet after 40 years of the State of Israel. Friedrich Pustet, Regensburg 1989, ISBN 3-7917-1202-0 .
  • The Messiah. Kreuz-Verlag, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-7831-1333-4 .
  • A place is who you are with. Stations in the life of a rabbi (= writings of the New Synagogue Berlin Foundation - Centrum Judaicum ). Autobiography. Ed. Hentrich, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-89468-206-X .
  • "Heretics" and apostates in Judaism. Historical portraits. Edited by Irmgard Zepf. Lutherisches Verlagshaus, Hanover 2001, ISBN 3-7859-0825-3 .
  • Resistance and stubbornness. Six Jewish teachers: Jesus - Jeschua, Martin Buber, Franz Rosenzweig, Leo Baeck, Joseph Carlebach, Abraham Joshua Heschel. Lectures and essays (= Schibboleth : Forum Jewish Cultural Philosophy. Studies on Religion and Modernity. Volume 3). Edited by Irmgard Zepf. Lit, Berlin / Münster 2006, ISBN 3-8258-8717-0 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Arnulf Scriba: Nazi Regime: Exclusion and Persecution of the Jewish Population. Boycott of Jewish shops, April 1, 1933. Deutsches Historisches Museum , June 23, 2015, accessed on November 13, 2018 .
  2. ↑ A place is who you are with. Autobiography. Berlin 1996.
  3. ↑ Quotation from Rabbi Prof. Dr. Nathan Peter Levinson. In: gcjz-berlin.de. Society for Christian-Jewish Cooperation Berlin, accessed on November 13, 2018 .
  4. ^ Anke Philipp: Obituary: Nathan Peter Levinson died in Berlin. Funeral service for popular rabbis. In: Mannheimer Morgen . November 2, 2016, accessed on November 13, 2018 (behind a paywall).
  5. ↑ a b Died. Pnina Navè Levinson . In: Der Spiegel . No. 34 , 1998 ( online - Aug. 17, 1998 ). Quote: "In 1982 the professor was the first woman to publish an 'Introduction to Rabbinical Theology '."
  6. ↑ ( yes ): Berlin: Rabbi Nathan Peter Levinson is dead. In: Jüdische Allgemeine . October 28, 2016, accessed on November 13, 2018 (obituary): " Central Council President Schuster : 'The Jewish community owes him an extraordinary amount'"
  7. ↑ to be found earlier on the website of the Office of the Federal President

Web links

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personal data
SURNAME Levinson, Nathan Peter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lewinski, Nathan Peter (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German rabbi
DATE OF BIRTH November 23, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg
DATE OF DEATH October 27, 2016
Place of death Berlin