A Is for Jewish

א
For the first letter, “Aleph” the exhibition was 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” stood 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” stood for “disintegration” which 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 presented 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 explored the topic of weddings. It also playfully reinterpreted 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 were also part of the exhibition. This photo by the famous photographer Leonard Freed from our photography collection (more at our website) belonged 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 engaged 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 were many more informative and entertaining stations. In the letter כ (“Kaph”) for “kosher,” for example, you could 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 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