The pastor bringing Germans closer to Judaism
Dr. Timotheus Arndt is Protestant pastor teaching future pastors Hebrew and Judaism in Leipzig University. Last week he visited in Israel and revealed his father's story: A former member of the Nazi party who decided to connect with the Jewish communities
The next morning, the daily "Leipziger Volkszeitung" reported that the lecturer, charismatic Protestant pastor Dr. Timotheus Arndt, was asked whether anyone can walk into a Jewish synagogue. He stroked his long beard, which has become his trademark, and answered pleasantly: "Of course. After all, it's a public place, just like out church. The only difference is that in out church we ask visitors to remove their hats, while in Jewish synagogues it is customary to put on a hat, or some other head-cover, when praying. Anyway, the Jews and the Christians believe in the same God".
"And if a guest comes over and you want to know whether he's Jewish or not - how can you tell?", Asked another. "I'm afraid I can't give you a conclusive answer to that, neither am I qualified to. A Jew is whoever registered himself in his community as one, wants to live as one and who has a Jewish mother. Some consider someone Jewish also if he only has a Jewish father. I, in any case, reject and despise the genetic definition given by the Nazis, with weird body-part calculations", answered Arndt. Nearing the end of the lecture, one of the audience members asked a difficult question: "How do you explain the common conception that Jewish people are smarter than the average man?"
Arndt stroked his beard again, and then answered: "Maybe it's because they spent so many years running away from danger, they had to maintain a lot of knowledge, and develop a strong memory and a sharp mind".
Last week, Arndt visited Israel as a guest lecturer in an academic conference about regret and atonement between men, generations and nations, held in Bar Ilan University. It was the first time the Israeli public learned who he is and what his amazing story he has. At 55 Arndt is not only a pastor, but also a professor in the Leipzig University's Theology department, where he teaches Hebrew which he knows extremely well.
His college students are ordinands, and in addition to Hebrew he also teaches classes on the fundamentals of Judaism, a main research focus of his. That is also the reason he translated Rabbi Kuk's book, "Orot Torah" (Lights of the Torah" into German. He helped many Germans feel closer to Judaism, "and one of them even recently finished his conversion - and I'm extremely proud of him", he says with pride.
He first started to be interested in Theology in general and Judaism specifically began thanks to his father Siegfried. In the 30's, near the rise of the Nazis in Germany, Siegfried Arndt was a journalist. He was swept away by Hitler, joined the Nazi party and became a devoted member, who wouldn't listen to a single word against his beloved leader. During WWII he fought on the east front against the red army, and during a bombing was covered under an avalanche of dirt, which nearly killed him. When he recovered, he was sent to the western front while it as crumbling under the pressure, and was taken captive.
Siegfried told his capturers that he was a Nazi, and Timotheus says "they were shocked by this, since he was the only captive to admit it". He even agreed to serve as a translator. Later, when he understood what horrors the Nazis were responsible for and the size of the Holocaust, he considered taking his own life. "Since he realized his mistake, the transformation began", explains his son. He became a pastor in the early 50's, and asked to return to his East-Germany city so he can be a pastor in the Protestant community, which was growing smaller and smaller under Communist rule. "He also understood he must commit his life to trying to atone for his part in this monstrous abomination", adds Timotheus.
Siegfried Arndt confessed all this with tears in his eyes right before he died in 1997, as described in Wilma and Georg Iggers' book from 2006, "Challenges of the 20th Century Lives in Uncertain Times: Facing the Two". Timotheus says that "despite the anti-religious environment, father became closer and closer with the small Jewish community in Leipzig, and helped it in any way he could over the years. I would join him in prayers at the synagogue, was inspired to learn Hebrew and started to have my own strong ties with Judaism".
"What always impressed me about my father was the fact that he didn't ignore his past, and he acknowledged what he called 'his weakness of mind'. I found that he had much older spiritually than my friends' fathers. He admitted his mistakes, and did everything he could to atone for it and show his regret. He welcomed anyone and everyone into our home, the door was always open. He encouraged me to learn Hebrew, a language he sadly admitted he could never master after starting his Theology studies at the age of 40".
Pastor Timotheus is married to a Lutheran priest, and the two have four children: wo boys - one of which is a computer scientist and the other a mathematician - and two daughters, one of which just got ordained last month. "I understand my students who turned to Judaism and decided to convert. It's important to me that they cherish the Jewish tradition, have a positive attitude towards Judaism, as well as an understanding and good attitude towards all men", says Pastor Arndt.
He also holds a strong opinion about the relationship between church and state worth noting: "The state must create the right frame for co-existence and freedom for all religions, and also for those who are not religious. Sometimes the public place of religion should be negotiated. There is no one formula that works for all places, at all times. However, the religious traditions should be cherished and daily issues addressed".
In his lecture at Bar Ilan he presented his philosophy, according to which "people should be in the process of Tshuva their entire life". He thinks the word tshuva should be interpreted in its Hebrew meaning: an answer to a question, particularly the ultimate one: "Where art thou, man?", meaning they should always be aware and willing to listen to their brothers and sisters.
In his opinion, Israel should keep trying to live in coexistence with others, strengthen all who are working to achieve that and find ways for people to live side by side in peace. "Anyone who identifies humanity's weakness understands that it's much easier to ruin than to build. The great Oscar Wilde was the one who wrote 'It is the confession, not the priest, that gives us absolution'".
