Avitall Gerstetter (Hebrew: אביטל גרסטטר; born 1972 [1][2]) is the first female hazzan (cantor) in Jewish Renewal and the first female cantor in Germany.[3][4]
Gerstetter was born into a Jewish family in 1972. Her father is a convert to Judaism.[5]
Gerstetter was ordained in 2002.[6][7] She served as a cantor in Berlin together with cantor Mimi Sheffer and Rabbi Daniela Thau; this was the first time after the Holocaust that women had led the services of the High Holy Days.[8] She served until August 2022 as cantor in the Oranienburger Straße Synagogue and in the Hüttenweg Synagogue in Berlin, and has created several CDs.[7] In August 2022 she published a letter in Die Welt, stating that converts to Judaism in Germany pose a threat to Jewish communities nationwide. The following week she was fired from her position in the Berlin Jewish Community.[5]
In 2007 Avitall was awarded the title of ‘Ambassador for Tolerance’ by the Bündnis für Demokratie und Toleranz of the German government.[9]
Vor sieben Jahren schrieb sie Geschichte: Avitall Gerstetter wurde die erste deutsche Kantorin, angestellt bei der Jüdischen Gemeinde ihrer Heimatstadt Berlin.[She made history seven years ago: Avitall Gerstetter became the first German female cantor to be employed by the Jewish community in her hometown of Berlin.]