The Song of Songs – between Innocence and Audacity

Lecture and discussion with Ilana Pardes and Galili Shahar in the program accompanying the exhibition Sex. Jewish Positions

The story of the Song of Songs, also known in a Christian context as the Song of Solomon, begins with a riddle: Why was a bold, sensual love poem that makes no reference to God, religious rules or to the history of the Jewish people included in the Bible? This is the question that literary scholar Ilana Pardes seeks to answer, looking everywhere from the rabbis of late antiquity, who saw in the “Song of Songs” a key to the mysterious connection between God and humanity, to today’s feminist and artistic interpretations.

Following her lecture, Ilana Pardes (digitally connected) will discuss with the literary scholar Galili Shahar (on site at the JMB), moderated by Miriam Goldmann, curator of the exhibition.   

Tue, 4 Jun 2024, 7 pm

Map with all buildings that belong to the Jewish Museum Berlin. The W. M. Blumenthal Academy is marked in green

Where

W. M. Blumenthal Academy,
Klaus Mangold Auditorium
Fromet-und-Moses-Mendelssohn-Platz 1, 10969 Berlin
(Opposite the Museum)

Ilana Pardes

Ilana Pardes is Katharine Cornell Professor of Comparative Literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Director of the Center for Literary Studies and of the Institute of Literatures. She has taught at Princeton University, UC Berkeley and Harvard. During the fall of 2009, she was a fellow at the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at Penn and in fall 2017 she was a fellow at the Humanities Council of Princeton University. Her work focuses on the nexus of Bible, literature, and culture, as well as on questions of gender, aesthetics and hermeneutics. 

Profilfoto einer Frau mit langen, welligen Haaren, die freundlich in die Kamera schaut.

Ilana Pardes, Photo: Bruno Charbit

Colorful photo collage of art objects from the exhibition.

Sex: Jewish Positions: Features & Programme

Exhibition Webpage
Sex: Jewish Positions – 17 May to 6 Oct 2024
Accompanying Events
Performance and public guided tours with the exhibition’s artists – 17 May 2024
The Song of Songs – Between Innocence and Audacity. Lecture by Ilana Pardes – 4 Jun 2024
From Orthodox to Queer. SEX – Jewish Positions in Film – 23 Jun 2024
Publications
Sex. Jüdische Positionen – Catalog accompanying the exhibition, German edition, 2024
Sex: Jewish Positions – Catalog accompanying the exhibition, English edition, 2024
Digital Content
The Song of Songs. Between Literal and Allegorical Loves – Essay by Ilana Pardes
Listen to the exhibition’s soundtrack – on Spotify
Jewish Places – Find information about Jewish sites related to the exhibition on our interactive map
Tours & Workshops
Public tour – in German
Public tour – in Hebrew
Bookable tours – for groups
Duty and Pleasure – Workshop for adults
Hey you! Flirting without Sexism – Workshop for students with drama-pedagogical elements on the exhibition

Where, when, what?

  • WhenTue, 4 Jun 2024, 7 pm
  • Where W. M. Blumenthal Academy,
    Klaus Mangold Auditorium
    Fromet-und-Moses-Mendelssohn-Platz 1, 10969 Berlin (Opposite the Museum)
    See location on map

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