Rabbi Folger: running the community: after a three-year search to find the right person to lead them into the future, the Jewish Community of Basel elected Arie Folger with an overwhelming 70 per cent majority to be their new Rabbi.
He was only 29 years old when he arrived from New York City with his young wife and two babies. He was fresh out of school, excited and charged with a desire to make the world a better place. He did not speak German and did not know any of the members of his new community except for those who had been involved in his recruitment.
Now, nearly two years and another baby later, he says he's passed the toddling stage and is firmly on his feet. He learned German quickly and now speaks well enough to get to know the members of his community, to give lectures and to hold religious services. He has also begun to develop and implement new programmes for the Basel Jewish community and to build alliances with other rabbis in Switzerland.
Becoming A Rabbi
The path that led Rabbi Folger to the doors of Basel's Synagogue is intriguing. Arie Folger was born and raised in Belgium. After completing high school, he went to England for some years to study at a Talmudic academy. Then, he spent three years in Israel where he started a bachelor's degree by correspondence at the Dutch Open University. Afterwards, he went to the United States where he finished his Bachelors degree in economics and history. By that time he had lived in three countries and spoke five languages fluently, French, Yiddish, Dutch, Hebrew and English.
After completing his Bachelors degree, he wasn't planning to become a Rabbi. He simply loved to study so he started three graduate programmes: an MBA at New York University, Rabbinical studies at Yeshiva University in New York City, and a Masters in Jewish Studies, also at Yeshiva University.
When Rabbi Folger first looked into studying at Yeshiva University, he had intended to simply pursue Jewish studies because it is a topic he loves. "It took about an hour," he said, "then the Yeshiva professors started convincing me to become a rabbi. There is a great demand for rabbis and they looked at me and decided that I might he a good one. I didn't know it but they are the experts." So he decided to give it a try.
A Hectic Lifestyle
"You can get used to five hours of sleep a night, if you do it for a period of time, but once you stop, it takes weeks to get back into it," says Rabbi Folger of his crazy schedule. Unfortunately, three Masters got to be too much for him, not because of the workload, but because one year into his studies, he got married. "I had to give up the Jewish studies masters," he says, "I needed to get a job instead to be able...
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