Cultural Program in October 2014

Special Exhibition

24 October 2014 to 1 March 2015

Snip it! Stances on Ritual Circumcision

Press Conference on 23 October, 11 am (preview: 10.30 am)

In 2012, Germany became embroiled in a heated public debate about ritual circumcision. Two years on, the Jewish Museum Berlin will dedicate an exhibition to this topic. "Snip it! Stances on Ritual Circumcision" approaches this complex subject from its various perspectives. The exhibition will offer insight into the traditional concept of a covenant sealed by signs on the body. Alongside circumcision’s religious, cultural, historical, legal, and medical aspects, the exhibition will address anti-Semitic and Islamophobic concerns rooted in the distant past.

A central chapter of the exhibition studies the motif of Jesus’ circumcision in Christian iconography and the history of his circumcision ceremony in the church calendar. Extraordinary objects from international collections and contemporary accessories will be juxtaposed with film clips, recent interviews, and installations that shed light on this most controversial of topics.

Location: Old Building, first level

Admission: with the museum ticket (8 €, reduced rate 3 Euros)

Academy Programs Migration and Diversity (all events in German)

12 October

SemiTones – A Sephardic-Arabic Concert as part of the Jewish-Islamic Forum

Sephardic music combines Jewish and Islamic cultural elements in an impressive way. In this tradition, Turkish-Jewish singer Hadass Pal Yarden and the German-Algerian singer and multi-instrumentalist Momo Djender meet in a brilliant concert project by composer Max Doehlemann.

In Arabic, Hebrew, Ladino, Turkish, and French and with traditional instruments such as mandola, oud, and duduk, the musicians merge oriental-Jewish sound worlds while taking care to preserve the differences.

Location: Glass Courtyard, Old Building, ground level

Time: 6 pm

Admission: 15 €, reduced rate 8 Euros

Bookings are requested: tel. +49(0)30 25993 488 or reservierung@jmberlin.de

13 October

How can Politics and Society Support the Intercultural Opening of Schools?

Panel Discussion

In the last decade, schools have expanded their pedagogical approaches to include intercultural perspectives and a critical awareness of discrimination. Nevertheless, the handling of differences and inequality still remains a testing ground. For some years now, the Jewish Museum Berlin has been working closely with schools and would like to discuss results, open questions, and conflictual aspects of this education work in the panel discussion. Perspectives on political policy options will also be considered. The occasion is the end of the three-year project "Diversity in Schools" which was conducted in cooperation with the German Children and Youth Foundation and sponsored by the "Stiftung Mercator."

Panel discussants: Dr. Diana Dressel (Jewish Museum Berlin), Evelin Lubig-Fohsel (German Union for Education and Science, GEW), André Barth (Ernst Schering School), Özcan Mutlu (member of the Bundestag). Moderated by Dr. Nkechi Madubuko

Location: Old Building, second level, Great Hall

Time: 6.30 pm

Admission: free

Bookings are requested: tel. +49(0)30 25993 488 or reservierung@jmberlin.de

21 October

10 Years – Berlin-Brandenburg Migration Council

A multi-generational conversation about history, common struggles, and visions

The Berlin-Brandenburg Migration Council (MRBB) was founded in 2004 as an umbrella organization to over 60 immigrant organizations in Berlin. Since then, the MRBB – in this form a unique association covering all countries of origin – has played an important role in Berlin migration, residence rights, and anti-discrimination policy. As part of the 10th anniversary celebrations, the Jewish Museum Berlin Academy and the Berlin-Brandenburg Migration Council invite founding members to discuss achievements and visions for the future.

Guests: Pastor Pierre Botembe, African Ecumenical Church

Dr. Irene Runge, formerly Jewish Cultural Association, Berlin

Koray Yılmaz-Günay, MRBB board member

Dr. Noa Ha, Korientation

Moderated by Meral El

Location: Academy, Hall

Time: 7 pm

Admission: free

Bookings are requested: tel. +49(0)30 25993 488 or reservierung@jmberlin.de

Lectures, Readings, Talks (all events in German)

1 October

Moral and method Richard M. Meyer between Goethe, Nietzsche, and George

Reading and discussion with publisher Nils Fiebig, Ralf Klausnitzer (HU Berlin), and the actor Frank Riede

In his literary salon at Voßstraße 16, everyone who had made a name for themselves in the Berlin cultural scene could be found – alongside Thomas Mann, Stefan George, and Ricarda Huch, also Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche. The literary scholar Richard Moritz Meyer became famous for an award-winning Goethe biography in 1894, and five years later his literary history of the 19th century was published. He also supported a number of contemporary authors as a discrete patron.

To mark the 100th anniversary of his death, a selection of Meyer’s essays, lectures, and aphorisms will be published.

A cooperation with the Richard M. Meyer Foundation and Wallstein Publishers

Location: Auditorium on ground level of the Old Building

Time: 7.30 pm

Admission: free

Bookings are requested: tel. +49(0)30 25993 488 or reservierung@jmberlin.de

16 October

Meir Shalev: "Two she-bears"

Reading with the author Meir Shalev and the actor Ulrich Matthes

In a village in northern Israel, 1930 sees the suicides of three farmers. At least that’s what the files say, but everyone in the village knows that only two of the deaths were suicides. Seventy years have passed since then. The teacher Ruta Tavori knows who killed the third man and wants to bring it out into the open. From this woman’s perspective, a harrowing family saga unfolds about people who follow their instincts and emotions – their love as much as their hatred. An unconventional literary thriller of archaic force.

A cooperation with the Literaturhandlung.

Location: Old Building, second level, Great Hall

Time: 7.30 pm

Admission: 10 €, reduced rate 6 Euros

Bookings on tel. +49(0)30 8824 250

20 October

Lieneke

Staged reading by and with the actress Chris Pichler

Born in Utrecht in the Netherlands in 1933, Nili Goren has lived in Israel since 1948. Today she is better known by the name given to her by her father in 1942, Lieneke.

Lieneke survived the Holocaust in hiding at Dr. Hein Kohly’s home. He was in the Resistance and had illegal connections, so Lieneke’s father could send her letters. They were brightly colored and came as small booklets. Hein Kohly hid the letter-books under an apple tree and after the liberation he gave them to Lieneke, who passed them on to an Israeli children’s museum. There, the writer Agnès Desarthe discovered the letters and published them in 2007. The story inspired the Viennese actress Chris Pichler to bring the life of Lieneke to the stage.

Music: school students of the Moses Mendelssohn Jewish Secondary School, Berlin; directed by Boris Rosenthal

A cooperation with the Society for Christian-Jewish Cooperation Berlin, the Israeli Embassy, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and the Republic of Austria / Austrian Cultural Forum, and Jacoby&Stuart Publishers, Berlin

Location: Great Hall, Old Building

Time: 7 pm

Admission: free

Bookings are requested: tel. +49(0)30 25993 488 or reservierung@jmberlin.de

27 October

Hebrew Worlds – On the Presence of Ancient Texts in Modern Ivrith

Inaugural lecture by Anne Birkenhauer

The August Wilhelm Schlegel guest professorship of the German Translators’ Fund and the Free University of Berlin honors outstanding literary translators and creates a space for reflection on the poetics of the translator’s art.

In the winter semester, one of the most important mediators of Israeli literature is honored in Anne Birkenhauer, who lent authors such as Yaakov Shabtai, Yehoshua Kenaz, and David Grossman her voice.

Location: Academy Hall

Time: 7.30 pm

Admission: free

Bookings necessary: mail@uebersetzerfonds.de

28 October

75 Years – Blue Note

Concert and book presentation with Roger Willemsen and Joe Locke

The world-famous record label "Blue Note" was founded by Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff, two Berlin Jews, in 1939. On the label’s 75th anniversary, Jazzprezzo Publishers is releasing "Painted Jazz" with 75 abstract picture compositions by the artist Dietrich Rünger and numerous photographs and text contributions.

Roger Willemsen will present this book – framed with original Blue Note recordings. The New York vibraphonist Joe Locke will perform with his band and the singer Kenny Washington, and further prominent surprise guests will appear during the course of the evening!

In cooperation with Jazzprezzo Publishers.

Location: Old Building, ground level, Glass Courtyard

Time: 7.30 pm

Admission: 15 €, reduced rate 10 Euros

Bookings are requested: tel. +49(0)30 25993 488 or reservierung@jmberlin.de

30. October

Zimzum. God and the creation of the world (by Christoph Schulte)

Micha Brumlik and Vivian Liska in conversation with the author

The Zimzum is one of the most colorful and famous teachings of Jewish mysticism. The omnipresent God before the creation of the world has to withdraw into His Zimzum to make room at his own center for the creation of the world. World and man, revelation and freedom arise only where God withdraws.

The book explores Jewish and Christian intellectual history over four centuries from the Zimzum perspective. From kabbalistic circles around Isaac Luria in Safed to popular Hasidism, from the Christian Hebraists to Newton and Schelling, from esoteric manuscripts to Else Lasker-Schüler and Anselm Kiefer – Zimzum interpretations and appropriations mix the divine and the human, mysticism, philosophy, theology, and art.

Moderated by Thomas Lackmann

In cooperation with the Institute for Jewish and Religious Studies at the University of Potsdam and the Jewish Publisher at Suhrkamp Publishing House.

Location: Old Building, second level, Great Hall

Time: 7.30 pm

Admission: free

Bookings are requested: tel. +49(0)30 25993 488 or reservierung@jmberlin.de