Today’s post details yet another case of misrepresentation by Walter Homolka.
In 1998, a letter in defense of Homolka, his Abraham Geiger College, the Liberal (that is, Reform) rabbinical seminary, and progressive Judaism in Germany appeared. Homolka had founded Abraham Geiger College and then a few years later turned it into a private business belonging solely to himself (another story altogether that has been covered by the press). Why was such a letter necessary? Because already back then Homolka and his school were mired in controversy. As can be seen from the letter defending Homolka, many questioned his rabbinic ordination. Indeed, many questioned his Jewishness itself. (I will gladly share the many news stories that discuss these matters with anyone who wants to read them for themself.)
The letter defending Homolka purported to be written by two rabbis and a lay leader from England.
The two rabbis whose signatures appear deny outright that the signatures are theirs. Rabbi #1:
Rabbi #2:
I have not yet managed to get in touch with Ms. Cohen, the third signatory.
Rabbi #2’s full response widens the scope of the dissembling significantly:
So, to sum up, two of the three signatories deny that they ever signed this letter. One of the signatories points out the obvious discrepancies in the letter. We can infer, though rabbi #2 hints at this directly, that the letter was likely written by Homolka himself, but in a way that makes it seem to have been penned by some of the leaders of the British Jewish community.
Perplexing and disturbing, to say the least.
Another Jew Back in Berlin 