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Factual Truth and the Impossible: Judaism and Utopian Thought

Lecture by Omri Boehm as Part of the Exhibition The Opposite of Now

Utopian thinking is often imagined – and sometimes derided – as an escape from history. In his lecture, Omri Boehm returns to the origins of utopian thinking in the Hebrew prophets: formulating the impossible in the indicative, they conceived the “opposite of now” not as a time beyond history, but a truth spoken within it. Not a deferral of action beyond time but, arguably, the only way to remain in it. What remains of this prophetic tradition today?

Thu 15 Oct 2026, 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)

Where, when, what?

Omri Boehm is Associate Professor and Chair of Philosophy at The New School for Social Research in New York. Born in Haifa in 1979, he studied in Tel Aviv and earned his Ph.D. at Yale with a dissertation on Kant’s critique of Spinoza. Omri Boehm holds Israeli and German citizenship, has conducted research in Munich and Berlin, among other places, and writes about Israeli politics for Haaretz, Die Zeit, and The New York Times. His most recent publications include Radical Universalism: Beyond Identity (New York 2025) and, co-authored with Daniel Kehlmann, The Starry Sky Above Me: A Conversation about Kant (Original: Der bestirnte Himmel über mir: Ein Gespräch über Kant, Berlin 2024).

Omri Boehm; photo: Emil Salman

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Omri Boehm; photo: Emil Salman
Graphic: an orange area with a yellow, radiant dot in the center that is reminiscent of a sunrise.

Exhibition The Opposite of Now: Artistic Paths to a Different Present: Features & Programs

Exhibition Webpage

The Opposite of Now: Artistic Paths to a Different Present: 4 Sep 2026 to 10 Jan 2027

Accompanying Events & Tours

Publications

Exhibition Catalog – English/German, will be published in Sep 2026

See also

Where, when, what?

  • WhenThu 15 Oct 2026, 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
  • Entry fee

    Free of charge – Booking opens soon in our ticket shop.

  • Language English and German

Hashtag #JMBerlin

Source: https://www.jmberlin.de/en/lecture-factual-truth-and-the-impossible
Printed on: 08/10/2026