Rabbi

Rabbi Dr. phil Yehoshua Ahrens

 

Rabbi Yehoshua Ahrens is from Frankfurt, Germany. He has been the community rabbi of the JGB since 2023. Rabbi Yehoshua Ahrens was born in Germany in 1978. He studied international management and European studies in Germany and England and worked for various international corporations as a marketing manager. He then began training as a rabbi in Israel, parallel to the Jesselson Institute for Advanced Torah Studies, the Kollel at Bar Ilan University and Ohr Torah Stone's Joseph and Gwendolyn Straus Rabbinical Seminary, where he was also ordained. Rabbi Ahrens received his BA from Bar-Ilan University, his Masters from Cambridge University and his PhD from the Institute for Jewish-Christian Research at the University of Lucerne. Jehoschua Ahrens worked as a rabbi in Sofia/Bulgaria, at the ICZ in Zurich, in Düsseldorf and Darmstadt.

 

Rabbi Ahrens met his wife Mirjam Alba in Israel and married her in 2009. They have two daughters. In addition to traditional rabbinical duties, Rabbi Ahrens currently serves as the congregation's chasan (cantor) (the person leading the service as the prayer leader). As a rabbi, he is also responsible for the municipality of Biel. He has also been involved in interreligious dialogue in Switzerland for many years, especially in the Christian-Jewish working group and in the House of Religions in Bern. Rabbi Ahrens has now published or co-edited eight books and regularly contributes to Jewish newspapers, radio and television.