Quick Facts
GeminiBiography
Walter Homolka (born 21 May 1964 in Landau an der Isar) is a German rabbi.
Homolka studied in Munich, London, Lampeter and Leipzig and has a PhD from King's College London. He is an adjunct full professor at the University of Potsdam and rector at its Abraham Geiger College, Germany's only rabbinical seminary which was founded in 1999. On 14 September 2006, Homolka ordained the first three rabbis in Germany since the Holocaust at the New Synagogue of Dresden. Rabbi Homolka is chairman of the Leo Baeck Foundation and an executive board member of the World Union for Progressive Judaism.
In 2007, Homolka established the Jewish Institute of Cantorial Arts, of which he is the president. A member of the French Legion of Honour, he is widely published internationally and holds a variety of distinctions. The Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion conferred upon him a "Doctor Humanarum Litterarum" honoris causa.
Homolka is active in Jewish-Christian dialogue as a guest at the Central Committee of German Catholics. In 2008, he condemned the new Good Friday Prayer instituted by Pope Benedict XVI.
Honours and awards
- Grand Decoration of Honour in Silver for Services to the Republic of Austria (2006)
- Muhammad-Nafi-Cheleby Award (2011)
- Knight of the Legion of Honour (France)
- Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art (2001)
- Gold decoration of the Province of Salzburg
- Gold Decoration for Services to the Province of Lower Austria
- Silver Medal of the City of Vienna
- Knight of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
- International honorary citizen of New Orleans
- Bundeswehr Cross of Honour in Gold
- Officer of the German Federal Merit Order
