Akiva Weingarten

Rabbi Akiva Weingarten (born December 23, 1984, in Monsey, New York) is a German-American liberal rabbi. He serves as the rabbi of the Jüdische Kultusgemeinde of Dresden, Germany, from 2021, and the Liberal Jewish community "Migwan" in Basel, Switzerland. He is the founder of the Haichal Besht synagogue in Bnei Brak, Israel, the Haichal Besht synagogue in Berlin, and the Besht Yeshiva in Dresden. In April 2026, he was convicted of fraud in 469 cases as well as aiding money laundering in 44 cases and sentenced to a two year suspended prison sentence.

Early life and education Weingarten grew up in the Satmar Hasidic community in New Jersey. The eldest of eleven siblings, his mother tongue is Yiddish. His family on his father's side emigrated from post-World War II Hungary, and his maternal ancestors came from Lithuania. He was a "critical thinker" from an early age, and asked questions in the yeshivot, which was met with rejection in his Hasidic community.

He received his first rabbinic ordination at the age of 17. The following year, he went to Israel to continue his studies, and lived in the Haredi city of Bnei Brak for ten years. At the age of 19, he was engaged and married. Two years later, he was already the father of two children. In Israel, he was ordained a rabbi two more times. Today, Weingarten supports Jews who have left the Haredi communities to get integrated in a life outside of the strictly religious environment. In 2017, he founded the liberal Hasidic community "Besht-Berlin", where Kabbalat Shabbat services, Kiddush, and joint study groups were held regularly. In 2021 he left the "Jüdische Gemeinde zu Dresden" where he had served as the Rabbi from 2019 until 2021 and founded a new community "Jüdische Kultusgemeinde Dresden" that has about 200 members, the community's synagogue is the Synagogue Neustadt in Dresden.

The Jüdische Kultusgemeinde Dresden is part of the Landesverband Jüdischer Gemeinden und Einrichtungen Sachsen, which considers Weingarten to be one of two Chief Rabbis of Saxony, but neither organization is affiliated with the largest Jewish representative body in Germany, the Central Council of Jews in Germany who considers Zsolt Balla to be the Chief Rabbi of Saxony. In his sermons, he often uses Hasidic stories and explanations about the Torah, along with a liberal and up-to-date interpretation. He describes his approach to Judaism as "liberal Hasidic".