Our Cultural Program in March 2017

An outwardly indistinguishable trio in the series is a symbol for the three major world religions. In search of common origins, the love of God or dialog with Moses, they experience various bizarre or everyday situations.

Exhibition Cherchez la femme. Wig, Burqa, Wimple – 31 March to 2 July 2017

Headlines and swimwear, headscarves and demon-s-trations, fashion shows and papal audiences – how much religiosity secular societies can tolerate is shown in a current intervention. In the 1950s and 1960s, style icons like Grace Kelly wore the headscarf as a fashion accessory. Today, religious context is the main reason why women cover their hair. These traditions go back to ancient times, when status and fashion determined which women were veiled. Hair was still regarded as too intimate to be shown publicly for many cultures. Today, women in Judaism and Islam find new ways to combine their religious traditions with a modern lifestyle. Conflicts in masculine societies are inevitable; the boundaries of what is acceptable are under constant negotiation.

9 March: Damascus With Love (Dimashq ma’ hubbi)

Movie screening

Feature film, Syria, 2010, 91 min, Arabic with English subtitles

Shortly before her planned immigration to Italy, Syrian Jew Hala learns that her long-lost love, Nabil, is still alive. Her search for him becomes a poetic and sometimes absurd journey through Syria, and on her way, she discovers not only her own past, but also the past and the beauty of her country. This tragicomic road movie is a plea for a multiconfessional, multicultural Syria. As a prelude to the film showing, well-known US photographer Robert Lyons will present his photo project Silenced Sacred Spaces: Selected Photographs of Syrian Synagogues vor.

A performance in the series Between Marrakesh und Maschhad. Jews in Islamic Countries

12 March: Purim – A Jewish Carnival?

Stroll through the Exhibition and Screen-Printing Workshop

The most fun festival in Judaism is Purim – just two weeks after Carnival, many dress up to celebrate the Purim festival. How these colorful goings-on are connected with the story of the Jewish queen Esther from ancient Persia is explained on a tour of our exhibition. And then the screen printer Martin Samuel will introduce us to the art of screen printing.

For Families and Children of 6 and Above

W. Michael Blumenthal Lecture

In honor of the founding director of the Jewish Museum Berlin, the W. Michael Blumenthal Lecture will take place for the first time. Internationally renowned scientists will discuss topical sociopolitical issues.

16 March: José Casanova: Secularisation or the Return of Religion?

On the Relationship Between Religion and Secularity in European Societies.

Discussion

José Casanova, head of the Berkley Center’s Program on Globalization, Religion and the Secular, will open the W. Michael Blumenthal Lectures. He is a sociologist of religion and is one of the most eminent experts on questions of secularization and the relationship between the state and religious communities. José Casanova argues that religion is in no way losing its importance in modern society and contradicts the assumption that secularization is a prerequisite for open, tolerant societies.

Sponsored by the Hubert Burda Media Holding GmbH & Co.

21 March: A Synagogue for Christians. The Story and Significance of the Teaching Synagogue in Greifswald

Book Presentation with the Editors Daniel Stein Kokin and Christfried Böttrich

Between 1706 and 1708, Johann Friedrich Mayer, theology professor from Greifswald, set up a teaching synagog in his house. The teaching was carried out by the Judaeus conversus Christoph Wallich, who also wrote a small booklet about it. After Mayer’s death in 1712, the “synagogue” went on an adventurous journey via Leipzig to Dresden, where it was shown in the wall pavilion of the Zwinger as part of a “Jewish Cabinet” from then on. After 1836, all trace of it is lost. The book follows this project and attempts to rediscover its theological and cultural history.

23 March: Our Father – A Sinti Family Recounts

Discussion and Reading as Part of the New German Stories Series

In her book, German Sintezza, civil rights activist, and author Anita Awosusi gives insights into her family biography and into the historical events and aftermath of Nazism. Taking as her starting point conversations with her father, musician and violinmaker Hermann Weiss, Awosusi talks about his life and survival, deportation, forced labor, Soviet war imprisonment, and his return to his hometown of Karlsruhe. At the same time, she reflects on her own development from the child of the post-war period to the journalist and active civil rights campaigner for the German Sinti and Roma. Moderation: Rosa Fava (W. Michael Blumenthal Fellow Jewish Museum Berlin)

26 March: Five Berlin Works by Micha Ullman

An Art City Tour

Five ground monuments and sculptures by the Israeli sculptor Micha Ullman can be found in the Berlin districts of Kreuzberg, Mitte, and Tiergarten. Inka Bertz (Jewish Museum Berlin) and Thomas Lackmann (Mendelssohn Society) will take you on a special tour of Ullman’s works Nobody, Page, Library, Steps, and Mendelssohn House, created between 1990 and 2015.

A cooperation with the Mendelssohn Society

29 March: Im/Possibilities. Perspectives on Refugee Participation

Keynote and Panel Discussion

There has been much discussion about escape and refugees since the summer of 2015. The distinction between “us” and “them” is almost taken for granted. The historically grown dominance relationship manifest in this distinction often goes unseen. Together with Gurminder K Bhambra (University of Warwick, UK) and representatives from politics and society, we will consider this situation – and discuss its importance for the possibilities and impossibilities of refugee participation.

The event will be held as part of the conference Im/Possibilities. Perspectives on Refugee Participation.

A cooperation with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation

Press Photos

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