The state rabbinate
Rabbis teach and inspire us. They help us orientate ourselves in our identification as Jews. In Saxony too, the three major streams of Judaism - liberal, conservative and orthodox Judaism - at home. Our three rabbis represent this diversity and can bring different perspectives to the discourse, your questions and concerns.
Rabbi Akiva Weingarten
State Rabbi (liberal)
Akiva Weingarten comes from the Hasidic Satmar community in New York. At the age of 18, he went to Israel, where he lived for 10 years before leaving the ultra-Orthodox community to study Jewish studies in Germany at the Abrahm Geiger College at the University of Potsdam. Since 2019, he has lived in Dresden and is active as a rabbi and founder of various Jewish institutions.
Rabbi Esther Jonas-Märtens
State Rabbi (conservative)
Esther Jonas-Märtin is the founder of the Beth Etz Chaim teaching center in Leipzig. She studied Jewish studies, literary studies, modern history and religious studies in Leipzig and Potsdam, among other subjects. She completed her Master of Arts in Rabbinics in Los Angeles in 2017 and was subsequently ordained as a rabbi.