Jewish-Literary Rondeel: Queer lifeworlds in Germany and Israel

At the same time, this anniversary comes at a time of profound uncertainty: the terrorist attacks by Hamas on October 7, 2023 and the subsequent and ongoing war in Gaza have brought the relationship between Israel and Germany into focus in a special way. Hardly any other topic is currently being debated in the German public with comparable emotionality and intensity. All the more reason for the anniversary to call for reflection and dialog.


The New Synagogue Berlin - Centrum Judaicum Foundation is taking this as the starting point for three evenings as part of its Jewish-Literary Rondeel series. This year, German and Israeli authors will engage in an exchange about what shapes and moves their work.


The three themed evenings will focus on the following central questions: What connects authors in both countries, what distinguishes their realities? How do they see each other? Which texts by other authors have influenced their own work? And: What role can literature play in times of social upheaval?


The series is organized in cooperation with the Leo Baeck Institute Jerusalem.


It is supported by theHeinrich Böll Foundationand sponsored by the Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion.


Location:

• Repräsentantensaal, Neue Synagoge Berlin - Centrum Judaicum
  
• Oranienburger Straße 28-30, 10117 Berlin
  
• Registration: info@centrumjudaicum.de
  

The individual theme evenings (each at 6 pm)

4. November: Queer lifeworlds in Germany and Israel (with Ronya Othmann and Sharron Hass)


Being Jewish and queer often means being a double outsider. Growing anti-Semitism goes hand in hand with homophobia, in Berlin and elsewhere. The Jewish religion has a tense relationship with homosexuality. On the other hand, new forms of solidarity with one another and participation with others are emerging. They ask about experiences and perspectives.


Sharron Hass, born in Israel in 1966, is a poet, essayist and literature lecturer. She studied Classics and Religious Studies and lectures on literature and poetry at the Alma Institute (Tel Aviv) and teaches in the Creative Writing Program at Tel Aviv University. She has won several poetry prizes, including the Prime Minister's Award (2003), the Bialik Prize (2012), the Dolitsky Prize (2017) and the Amichai Poetry Prize (2018).


Ronya Othmann, born in Munich in 1993 to a German mother and a Kurdish-Yazidi father, is a writer (prose, poetry, essays) and journalist. She has received numerous awards, including the Mara Cassens Prize for Die Sommer (2020), the Orphil Debut Prize for die verbrechen (2021) and the Düsseldorf Literature Prize for Vierundsiebzig (2024). Her column "Import Export" has appeared in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung since 2021.


Further dates:

9. October: Bilderwelten nach dem 7. Oktober (with Adriana Altaras and Yirmi Pinkus)

Since October 7, terrible images have been going around the world, images of the Hamas terror attack, images of horror and devastation, images of hostages held hostage, images of suffering and destruction in Gaza. In Tel Aviv, new street art has been created to capture the experience. Which images can be seen in Israel? Which ones in Germany? Which images do we share? Which ones divide us?

• Greeting: Galili Shachar, Chairman Leo Baeck Institute Jerusalem
  

4. December: Germans and Jews (with Durs Grünbein and Ofer Waldman)

German, Israeli, German-Jewish and everything in between: What agreement or disagreement is there between Germans, Israelis and German Jews on the issues of the day, especially after October 7? What language barriers or deeper barriers are there? What history are we talking about, what about universalism and particularism when we speak of "Germans" and "Jews"?