Music and youth culture, commemoration and traditions, languages and homeland – 22 impressions depict the everyday life of secular and religious, long-established and newly arrived Jews in Germany.
Using the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, the exhibition explores keywords, concepts, and what is “Jewish” in Germany today. In the process, light is shed on very different aspects of the German-Jewish present and perceptions of norms are critically examined.
26 Nov 2018 to 19 Apr 2020
Where
Libeskind Building, lower level
Lindenstraße 9–14, 10969 Berlin
Sample a Few Stations from the Exhibition
א
For the first letter, “Aleph” the exhibition is dedicated to the “aleph-bet” itself, for example, with Victoria Hanna’s video art Twenty Two Letters, Israel, 2015; copyright: Victoria Hanna.
ב
In the exhibition, “Bet” stands for bat mitzvah. The photo shows Mussi Bistritzky during her bat mitzvah speech. Her father, Shlomo Bistritzky (an orthodox Landesrabbiner of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, as well as leader of the Hamburg Chabad Center), is adjusting the microphone; Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Gesche M. Cordes.
ד
The letter “Daled” stands for “disintegration” and describes a provocative movement of a new generation of Jewish artists who no longer want to be considered victims by German remembrance culture. Postcard from the festival “Disintegration: A Congress for Contemporary Jewish Positions” at Studio Я of the Maxim Gorki Theater in Mai 2016; conception Max Czollek, Sasha Marianna; design: Deniz Keskin
נ
Who knows the “Jewrovision?” – for the keyword “Youth,” the exhibition presents the largest Jewish song and dance competition for children and young people, at which around 1,200 participants presented their interpretation of the Jewish Circle of Life at the beginning of 2018. Kippot memorabilia Jewrovision 2018; Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Roman März.
ק
For the letter “Kuph,” the exhibition explores the topic of weddings. It also playfully reinterprets the museological concept of the “contact zone”: the Jewish Museum as a place where visitors can encounter the love of life—as the musician Daniel Kahn and his wife Ewa Lapsker did; they also held their wedding here at the museum. The kippah containing seeds (pictured) is from the wedding of Katarina and Rachel; Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Roman März.
ר
Along with new ideas brought by Russian-speaking immigrants, Jews who have long been based here are also part of the exhibition. This photo by the famous photographer Leonard Freed from our photography collection (more at our website) belongs to the letter “Resh” because the couple’s last name is “Rubinstein.” Leonard Freed, A Young Jewish Couple from Düsseldorf. From the series “German Jews Today,” Düsseldorf 1961; Jewish Museum Berlin
ת
For the last letter of the “aleph-bet,” “Tav,” the exhibition engages with the Torah, for example, with the installation bios [torah] by the artist collective robotlab, in which a robot wrote a Torah here in the museum in 2014/2015 (read more on the installation); photo: robotlab.
As this view of the exhibition A Is for Jewish shows, there are many more informative and entertaining stations waiting for you. In the letter כ (“Kaph”) for “kosher,” for example, you will find a vending machine with kosher gummi bears (for the meaning of the term “kosher,” see the topic “Kashrut” on our website); Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Yves Sucksdorff.
The post of a young Israeli who justified his move to Berlin with the cheap chocolate pudding prices at a German discounter made it from Facebook to the museum – and thereby triggered a debate in Israel. And where to find Berlin’s best hummus definitely belongs in a show on the German-Jewish present.
Anyone who is interested in contemporary Jewish culture in Germany of course comes across the new and interesting ideas that the new generation of Russian-speaking Jews bring to the Jewish community.
Russian-Speaking Jews in Germany
The founders of the band ROTFRONT; photo: Stephan Pramme
The author and journalist Dmitrij Kapitelmann; photo: Stephan Pramme
Student Julia Kildeeva; photo: Stephan Pramme
The film director Tatjana Moutchnik; photo: Stephan Pramme
The photographer Valentin Lutset; photo: Stephan Pramme
Student Greta Zelener; photo: Stephan Pramme
The exhibition was developed with Berlin school students, whose work is on show. At the special request of the students, there is also a “Chill Corner” with four bean-bag chairs and a Jewish pop playlist, as well as six interviews with musicians.
View of the exhibition; Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Yves Sucksdorff
Some Videos of our Jewish Music Playlist
Funded by the Friends of the Jewish Museum Berlin.
Exhibition Information at a Glance
- When
26 Nov 2018 to 19 Apr 2020
- Entry fee
Included in admission (8 €, 3 € reduced)
- Where
Libeskind Building, lower level
Lindenstraße 9-14, 10969 Berlin
See Location on Map - Hashtag
JMB Journal 20
Accompanying publication
Publication
2019
Jewish Power
What is Jewish Music?
By Fabian Schnedler
JMB Journal 20
2019
How the exhibition came about
Article by Léontine Meijer-van Mensch, Miriam Goldmann, Christiane Lindner, and Fabian Schnedler
JMB Journal 19
Further information on the exhibition
Press Release
from 26 November 2018
A Jew Is Not One Thing
The curator Miriam Goldmann about the exhibition A Is For Jewish
JMB Journal 20
Online Platform Jewish Places
This interactive map of Jewish life in Germany is also presented in the exhibition.
Project
Tours: Public and Bookable Tours through “A Is for Jewish” (2)
Public and Bookable Tours through “A Is for Jewish”
You can book tours through the exhibition A Is for Jewish: Journeys through Now in 22 Letters as a group or book a public tour. Dates, and information on booking and participation can be found on the page for the respective guided tour.
A Is for Jewish (in German)
Every Sunday at 11 am
Public tour through the exhibition. We recommend that you book tickets in advance online.
JMB in 60 Minutes (in German)
In addition to the museum architecture and the role of the museum for the German self-understanding, this tour also deals with the exhibition A Is for Jewish .
Guided Tour
Every Saturday, 3 pm
Events Accompanying the Exhibition: A Is for Jewish (6)
A Is for Jewish
Events related to the exhibition theme.
Who’s Gonna Love Me Now? Queer Jewish Monday Movies
24. Feb 2020
The documentary film by Barak and Tomer Heymann accompanies Saar Maoz, a gay, HIV-positive Israeli, and tells about his life after his coming-out. (UK & Israel, 2016, 84 min, English/Hebrew with English subtitles)
About a Tea Bowl
27 November 2019 (with video recording; in German)
Discussion with brief presentations about interwoven experiences of post-Soviet Jewish migration
Plain Talking!
8 to 12 May 2019
Conversations and Interventions in the exhibition »A for Jewish«
From One End to the Other!
12 March, 2 pm & 19 March 2019, 10 am and 2 pm
Exhibition Rally Through the "A Is for Jewish" Exhibition
In Germany – An Exchange
22 February 2019
Performance in the A Is for Jewish Exhibition
The Game of Life
14 December 2018
Come and play in our exhibition A Is for Jewish
Contemporary Jewish Life
“This four-minute performance means three to four months of training”
About the song and dance competition Jewrovision
Interview
17 Feb 2017
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Our Partner School Refik Veseli
Since June 2012, a close educational partnership has linked the Refik Vesli School in Berlin’s Kreuzberg district with the Jewish Museum Berlin.
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