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Déjà-vu? A New Search for Old Answers

Online Lecture and Discussion with Ofer Waldman and Yael Kupferberg (in German)

In the third lecture of the series Déjà-vu? A New Search for Old Answers, Ofer Waldman talks to Yael Kupferberg about Max Horkheimer and Critical Theory as Jewish Philosophy. The important philosopher and founder of the Frankfurt School Max Horkheimer not only reflected on human existence, but also continued to write Jewish philosophy after ‘Auschwitz:’ his aim was to save Judaism philosophically without universalizing it and to defend diasporic Judaism without renouncing the affirmation of the state of Israel. The tension between philosophical-Jewish universalism and pragmatic-existential particularity still characterizes Jewish existence today and Horkheimer’s thoughts, not least on anti-Semitism, seem more relevant than ever.

Thu 18 Sep 2025, 7 pm

Where

online

The digital lecture series examines Jewish intellectuals of the nineteenth and early twentieth century and asks what long-overlooked answers their work might offer to the current challenges of Jewish life in Germany.

We invite five intellectuals from the social sciences and literature to answer the question: Which historic texts do they return to for answers to pressing present-day questions? And how do they read these texts?

Yael Kupferberg

Dr. Yael Kupferberg is a habilitated literary scholar and works on German-Jewish relations and literary history, Jewish philosophy of modernity, critical theory and anti-Semitism theory. Yael Kupferberg is currently once again holding the Martin Buber Professorship for Jewish Philosophy of Religion at Goethe University Frankfurt am Main. From October 2018 to September 2024, she researched and taught at the Center for Research on Antisemitism/ TU Berlin. Her monograph Zum Bilderverbot. Studien zum Judentum im späten Werk Max Horkheimer was published by Wallstein Verlag in 2022.

A brunette woman with dark glasses and a black sweater smiles at the camera.

Yael Kupferberg, photo: private

Ofer Waldman

Born in Jerusalem, Ofer Waldman moved to Berlin in 1999 as a member of Daniel Barenboim’s West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. He completed his studies at the UdK Berlin and played in numerous German and Israeli orchestras, including the Deutsches Sinfonie­orchester Berlin, the Staats­philharmonie Nürnberg, and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Waldman earned his doctorate in German studies at the FU Berlin and in Jewish history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He works as an author and journalist, and is active in multiple civil society NGOs. His literary debut, Singular­kollektiv. Erzählungen (Singular Collective: Stories), was published in 2023 by Wallstein Verlag. In 2021, together with Noam Brusilovsky, he won the ARD German Radio Play Prize for the radio play Adolf Eichmann: Ein Hör­prozess (RBB/DLF). In 2024, Suhrkamp publishers published Gleichzeit (roughly: Sametime), presents a correspondence between Ofer Waldman and Sasha Marianna Salzmann exploring the world in the wake of 7 October 2023.

A man with dark hair looks friendly into the camera.

Ofer Waldman; photo: Bernd Brundert

Digital Events: Our Netiquette

The Jewish Museum Berlin (JMB) invites people from all back­grounds to engage openly and actively with Jewish history and contempo­rary life in Germany. Our aim is to promote reflection and encourage constructive debate. You are cordially invited to ask questions and join the dis­cussion in our new online format, the Digital Lecture Series. It’s a space where diversity is welcomed, different points of view can exist side by side, and differences of opinion are part of meaning­ful discussion. To ensure that our events are conducted in a spirit of tolerance and are productive for everyone, we request that the following principles be observed in the interests of freedom of expression and respect­ful exchange:

During the Digital Lecture Series, participants are invited to submit questions and comments. These contributions will be reviewed, approved, and presented by a moderator.

Social media platforms are frequently used to spread radical views and stir up conflict. The anonymity of the online space can make it easy to forget that verbal or written attacks can be hurtful and offensive to the recipients. We therefore ask all participants to use their real names and express themselves as respectfully and responsibly in the virtual space as they would in person.

The JMB is committed to providing a space free from discrimi­nation. Antisemitic, racist, sexist or other discrimi­natory remarks will not be tolerated - online or offline. Please remember that participants are individuals with personal views, not represen­tatives of any national, ethnic, religious or cultural group.

Links to websites that promote violence or have ties to criminal activity will be removed immediately.

Repeated violations of these community standards may result in exclusion from the event.

Recording (including screen­shots) and sharing of the event or any part of its content is not permitted. Please note: We record our events and make them available =online afterwards. For more details, please see our data protection regulations.

Issued 14 April 2025

Purple-blue graphic with the inscription “Digital Lecture Series”

Digital Lecture Series
Déjà-vu? A New Search for Old Answers

We would like to thank the Berthold Leibinger Stiftung for supporting the Digital Lecture Series.

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Where, when, what?

  • Entry fee

    Free of charge
    Register for this event

  • Language German (Microsoft Teams offers the possibility of live subtitling or translation into different languages, information on this will follow in the event.)

    Please note The Lecture will be recorded and hosted on our website later on.

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