Chairman: Rabbi Univ.-Prof. Walter Homolka PhD PhD DHL

Formerly Chief Rabbi for the Federal Land of Lower Saxony, Dr. Homolka has been Rector of the Abraham Geiger College since 2002. Parallel to this function, he holds the Professorial Chair in Modern Jewish Philosophy (Focus on Denominations and Inter-Religious Dialogue) at the School of Jewish Theology at the University of Potsdam, and is also the School’s Executive Director. In addition, he serves as Executive Director of Zacharias Frankel College, Board Chairman of the Ernst Ludwig Ehrlich Scholarship Fund, and Trustee of the Schwarz-Schütte Foundation in Potsdam.

Rabbi Homolka is Vice President of the European Union for Progressive Judaism (EUPJ) and an advisor to the Solomon B. Freehof Institute for Progressive Halakhah in Pittsburgh/Tel Aviv.

He is also a member of the following bodies: the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), the Rabbinic Conference of the Union of Liberal and Progressive Synagogues of Great Britain (ULPS), the New York Board of Rabbis, and the General Rabbinical Conference of the Central Council of Jews in Germany. He actively participates in the Jewish-Christian Roundtable organized by the Central Committee of German Catholics.

Dr. Homolka has published numerous books dealing with Jewish law, the intellectual history and contemporary state of Liberal Judaism, as well as Jewish Liturgy. He has co-published a revised edition of The Hebrew Bible (Die Israelitische Bibel), a seminal reference work by the famous rabbi and philosopher Ludwig Philippson (together with Prof. Hanna Liss and Prof. Rüdiger Liwak), and is also the co-author of Jewish and Israeli Law – An Introduction (together with Prof. Shimon Shetreet).