Guided Tours and Educational Program in July, August and September 2012

Public Guided Tours For Adults

Saturdays

11 am: Jewish Life and Jewish Traditions

3 pm: Through the Museum in Seven-League Boots

Sundays

11 am: Jewish Life and Jewish Traditions

2 pm: Guided Tour Through the Special Exhibition: until 15 July "Berlin Transit", from 23 September "Obsessions"

3 pm: Moses Mendelssohn and the Promise of Enlightenment

Duration: 1 hour

Cost: 3 € plus admission (Permanent Exhibition: 5 €, reduced rate 2.50 €; Special Exhibition: 4 €, reduced rate 2 euros)

Meeting Point: Old Building, "Meeting Point" in the foyer

Bookings and information about the tours (for non-journalists) on tel. +49 (0)30 25993 305 or fuehrungen@jmberlin.de

Public Guided Tours for Children

Halacha and Braided Braed - What goes into the Shabbat Basket?

Guided Children´s Tour through the Permanent Exhibition

How did a Jewish merchant woman live three hundred years ago? What did she have to pack into her bags when she traveled? A prayer book, travel clothing or maybe even a cell phone? Jewish traditions and how they have changed through the centuries are presented in a way which makes it easy and fun for kids to understand. Children will learn what it feels like to wear a kippa on your head, see genuine Scripture scrolls, and stick their noses into the besamim boxes filled with spices.

When: 1 July, 5 August and 2 September

Duration: 1 hour, from 11 am

The Crazy Crooked House

Daniel Libeskind for Children

Why are the walls in the Jewish Museum Berlin crooked? Why does one of the staircases lead into a void? Why are there no flowers in the garden? Young visitors are introduced in an engaging and age-appropriate way to Daniel Libeskind’s architecture. Afterwards they can use cardboard, playdough or other crafting materials to build their own crazy dream house.

When: 15 July, 19 August and 16 September

Duration: 2 hours, from 11 am

Cost: 3 € including admission and crafting material

Meeting Point: Old Building, "Meeting Point" in the foyer

Bookings and information on guided tours (for non-journalists) on tel. +49 (0)30 25993 305 or fuehrungen@jmberlin.de

On every first Saturday of the month admission is free for all visitors under 18.

Vacation Program

How Numbers Express Time

A museum tour for children between 6 and 12

Who invented numbers? How can we measure time, and what does the word "history" mean? People have discussed such topics for millennia. This museum tour takes up these questions and examines changes in the life of German Jews over the last two thousand years.

When: 25 June (and every Monday during the summer vacation)

Duration: 1 hour, from 11 pm

Summer Vacation Camp - Time Travel: A Thousand Years in Four Days

When: from 3 to 6 July and from 31 July to 3 August

The Roman Empire: The Market Square in Trier

Role play for children between 6 and 12

How did people light their rooms two thousand years ago? How did Romans and Jews bath in those times, and why was salt so expensive? After their time travel through the museum the participants end up at the market square of Trier in the Roman Empire, adorned with swords and helmets. Dressed up as Roman legionaries and Jewish merchants, they meet the Celts and Germanic tribes in the dark woods of the museum garden. When they have together overcome fights, hunger and oppression, the little visitors gather for a delicious meal and find out why wild boars roasted over a camp fire are not kosher.

When: Tuesday, 3 July and 31 July from 10.30 am to 4 pm

Middle Ages: Isaac the Cloth Merchant

Textile Art Workshop for children between 6 and 12

Silk, velvet and cotton were not introduced to Germany until the Middle Ages. This guided tour on medieval life explains what type of cloth Isaac the Merchant used to trade and solves the mystery surrounding his white elephant Abul Abbas. Afterwards the children can be their own textile designers: they are invited to create a picture of Abul Abbas the Elephant using different materials to take home with them.

When: Wednesday, 4 July and 1 August from 10.30 am to 4 pm

Early Modern Era: From Beggar to Baker

Bread-baking workshop for children between 6 and 12

An old beggar’s sack is waiting for the participants of this workshop - it explains how people used to live in the countryside almost four hundred years ago. As Jewish beggars, the children then travel back to the times of the Thirty-Year War. In the museum’s secret passage ways they trade buttons and scissors, and experience the adventure of the beggar’s long road to a Shabbat meal with a Jewish family. After a kosher picnic in the museum garden, the group gathers around a historic mud oven and listens to the baker talk about how bread was made back then. The young visitors learn about Kashrut, the Jewish food laws, and bake their own bread.

When: Thursday, 5 July and 2 August from 10.30 am to 4 pm

Enlightenment: Nathan the Wise

Puppet-theater workshop for children between 6 and 12

The old glasses of Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn take visitors back to the Enlightenment, an era characterized by the idea that independent thinking would free people and make them happier. The story is recreated with the means of large puppets and the children´s parents and siblings are welcome to watch the production. The time travel summer camp ends with a little celebration to which the children can invite their own guests.

When: Friday, 6 July and 3 August from 10.30 am to 4 pm

From 1 September

Blossoms - Boxes - Beat: The New Audio Guide for Children is Launched

Since its opening, the Jewish Museum Berlin has been welcoming its young visitors with guided tours, workshops and many exhibits with tactile components. Now it also offers a new interactive audio tour for children between ages 8 and 12, allowing them to discover the exhibition individually. With the help of an iPod Touch 4, equipped with RFID technology, children can become active learners, calling up stories, about three minutes each, on 14 of the objects; the overall tour leads to 22 stations and takes about an hour and a half to complete. Five cheeky besamim spice boxes - Columbine, Noyo, Diestrich, Cea and Lea - accompany the kids on their tour with music and quirky conversations.

The audio guides are available at the Info Counter of the Jewish Museum Berlin in exchange for a deposit.

Cost: 1 euro