Comparative European Perspectives on a Changing Diaspora

Nearly seventy years after the cataclysm of the Holocaust, it has once again become possible to speak of “European Jewry.” Against the historical background of widespread communal destruction, Jewish life has emerged and grown throughout the continent. Since the fall of the Iron Curtain, we are witnessing the establishment of new communities and new forms of Jewish existence - ranging from urban “lifestyle Judaism” to patchwork identities – as well as a growing diversity of religious orientation. At the same time, different ethnic and religious minorities are re-evaluating their place and role within European civil society, discovering both new possibilities of participation and new pressures and dangers. These processes reveal not only a pluralization of Jewish identities and practices, but also raise new questions about the future of a Jewish diasporic community within the ethnic and cultural diversity of today’s Europe. In light of the widespread emergence of neo-nationalistic movements and the ever increasing number of anti-Jewish manifestations, these questions have become even more urgent. In response to these developments the Jewish Museum Berlin is hosting an international conference to discuss the issues, conflicts, and challenges facing contemporary Jewish life in Europe.

Thursday, 11 December 2014

1.30 p.m. Registration
2.00 p.m. Welcome
Cilly Kugelmann Program Director Jüdisches Museum Berlin
Dr. Karen Körber Fellow, Jüdisches Museum Berlin
Prof. Dr. Stefanie Schüler-Springorum TU Berlin / Zentrum für Jüdische Studien
Berlin-Brandenburg
2.30 p.m. Panel 1
Contemporary Jewish Life: Between Jewish Lifestyle, Individualization and Mutual Forms of Belonging
Chair: Prof. Dr. Michael Brenner, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München / American University, Washington DC, USA
Constructing New Jewish Identities in Post-Socialist Central Europe
Dr. Zsofia Kata Vincze Eötvös Lóránd, University Budapest, Hungary
A Young Generation of Russian-Speaking Jews in Berlin: the Jewish and the Urban
Dr. Alina Gromova, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin
Jewish. Jewish! “Jewish” Jewish? New Definitions, New Authenticities in Jewish Europe
Ruth Ellen Gruber, Italy
Once in a While Kosher, once in a While Shabbat: Postmodern Identities of Children of Mixed Marriages
Dr. Julia Bernstein, Universität zu Köln
Discussion
4.15 p.m Coffee Break
4.30 p.m. Panel 2
Jews by Choice? Jewish Diasporas and the Changing Role of Religion
Chair: Cilly Kugelmann, Jüdisches Museum Berlin
Inclusion or Police? Gender in American and Israeli Liberal Liturgy
Rabbi Dr. Dalia Marx, Hebrew-Union-College Jerusalem, Israel
Pick’n’Mix Judaism: Jewish Life and Community in Contemporary Europe
Rabbi Lea Mühlstein, Northwood, Great Britain
Re-Defining Secularism: Jewish Renewal in Israel
Dr. Rachel Werczberger, Tel Aviv University, Israel
Jews and Judaism in the 21st Century: Religion, People or Culture?
Prof. Dr. Micha Brumlik, Zentrum für Jüdische Studien Berlin-Brandenburg
Discussion
6.15 p.m. Reception
7.30 p.m. Public Lecture
Welcome
Günter Saathoff Managing Board, Stiftung »Erinnerung, Verantwortung und Zukunft«
Dr. Karen Körber Fellow, Jüdisches Museum Berlin
The Future of European Jewry – Revisited
Dr. Diana Pinto, Paris
Comment
Dr. Isolde Charim, Vienna
Reception

Friday, 12 December 2014

9.30 a.m. Panel 3
25 Years after the Fall of the Iron Curtain: Russian-Jewish Migration and the Formation of a Transnational Community
Chair: Prof. Dr. Atina Grossmann Cooper, Union, New York / Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Russian Jews in Israel and the U.S. – Some Comparative Reflections 25 Years
after the Exodus
Prof. Dr. Larissa Remennick, Bar-Ilan University, Israel
Reconstructing Jewish Communal Life after Communism and the Persistence of the Past
Prof. Dr. Zvi Gitelman, University of Michigan, USA
Russian Jewish Elites as Stakeholders of Community Building in Israel and Germany – A Comparative Analysis
Dr. Olaf Glöckner, Moses Mendelssohn Zentrum, Potsdam
Everyday Realities. Contemporary Russian Jewish Life in Germany
Dr. Karen Körber Jüdisches Museum Berlin
Discussion
11.15 a.m. Coffee Break
11.30 a.m. Panel 4
What kind of future? European Jewry revisited
Chair: Prof. Dr. Raphael Gross, Jüdisches Museum Frankfurt / Leo Baeck Institute London
Anti-Semitisms between Reality and Obsession
Dr. Diana Pinto, Paris
Europe’s Past and Europe’s Future – and the Jews in Between?
Prof. Dr. Dan Diner, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
Are Today’s European Jews “Judeo-Christians”? – Post-Shoah Political Realignments
Dr. Anya Topolski, Katholische Universität Leuven, Belgium
Jewish Belonging in Europe – Between a Rock and a Hard Place?
Antony Lerman. London
Discussion
1.15 p.m. End of Conference

Ort: Jüdisches Museum, Berlin

Anmeldung:  www.jmberlin.de/contemporary-jewish-life

Veranstalter: Jüdisches Museum Berlin in Kooperation mit der Stiftung Erinnerung Verantwortung Zukunft EVZ und dem Zentrum für Jüdische studien ZJS