Which "we"? Beyond "inside" and "outside"

This marks undeniable progress – particularly given that for a long time people spoke about Jewish men and women without really understanding their actual lived experiences and worlds.

At the same time, the talk of Jewish perspectives raises fundamental questions: does this term imply essentialist, rigid attributions that tend to narrow down identities? And who is able to articulate Jewish perspectives? Furthermore, even within the Jewish community, views on how to situate oneself within the tension between Jewish and non-Jewish identity vary considerably.

Who is speaking here, and of which ‘we’ or ‘us’? Who sees which alliances?

All this is taking place against a backdrop of profound social transformations. Extreme polarisation and a marked rise in anti-Semitism – which has long since taken hold even in the so-called centre of society – characterise the context.

Under these conditions, what scope remains for Jews to position themselves independently? How can Jewish self-empowerment succeed without being reduced to a mere defensive reaction? To what extent is thinking in terms of ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ becoming entrenched?

Beyond the threat posed by anti-Semitism, the question of self-assertion remains complex. Even a well-meaning, non-anti-Semitic public conveys certain fixed notions and expectations about what it may and should mean to be Jewish. The phenomenon of such external categorisation is by no means new in historical terms. Does not even the concept of diversity sometimes become a slogan and a form of imagination imposed (not only) from the outside, which nevertheless serves to relieve pressure on society as a whole whilst paying too little heed to the complex situations described?

To paraphrase Adorno’s postulate of ‘being able to be different without fear’, the question is therefore to what extent the Jewish minority can and will – or can no longer – openly articulate and live out its internal differences? Or is the more relevant question, in fact, to what extent Jewish people, even as a collective, can still be different without fear, or whether even this is becoming a utopia?

This event invites you to reflect on these questions.

Venue: Repräsentantensaal, Neue Synagoge Berlin

Moderator: Tanja Berg

Panelists:

Sharon Adler, born in Berlin, journalist, writer, photographer and presenter. Founded the online magazine AVIVA-Berlin in 2000; has served on the board of the Zurückgeben Foundation for the promotion of Jewish women in the arts and sciences since 2013. Co-editor of the series ‘Jewish Women in Germany after 1945’ since 2020.

Her topics: feminism from a Jewish perspective; a lack of solidarity, antisemitism and one-dimensional reporting on Israel following 7 October 2023; the plundering of Jewish property and challenges in provenance research; exile, resilience and the culture of remembrance in public and digital spaces; the experiences and perspectives of the first and subsequent generations.

Anton Livshits, born in Bryansk (Russia), has lived in Germany since the age of four. A cultural studies scholar, he works in political education for various organisations; he is involved in Jewish-Palestinian dialogue projects.

The themes of his educational work and research: right-wing extremism, racism, anti-Semitism; pluralistic politics of remembrance – here, and more generally, he is concerned, amongst other things, with strengthening post-Soviet perspectives. His doctoral thesis project examines how certain narrative modes shape collectives that are not defined by shared characteristics. In this context, he is interested in a responsible approach to the catastrophes of modernity.

Amir Theilhaber, born in Cologne, completed his secondary education in Toronto, studied in Brussels, Jerusalem and Berlin; a fellow in Washington D.C., with research projects as a historian and scholar of Islamic studies; associate researcher at the Moses Mendelssohn Centre (University of Potsdam); since summer 2026, Executive Chairman of the New Israel Fund Germany.

His formative practical experiences include working in the laundry at the Mishmar HaEmek kibbutz, an internship at Yad Vashem, running a legal aid clinic for refugees in Cairo from 2010 to 2011, and setting up the student secretariat at the Barenboim-Said Academy in Berlin.

Maya Wolffberg, born in Haifa; BA in Sociology and Anthropology (University of Haifa), MA in Conflict Resolution and Mediation (Tel Aviv University). She has been living in Berlin since 2017, where she is involved with Israel Community Europe.

Her areas of focus: Holocaust remembrance and the fight against antisemitism; networking between Israeli and Jewish communities in Europe; issues of identity and belonging. Her grandfather survived the Shoah as a child whilst in hiding in Berlin.

Event held in conjunction with two current exhibitions at the New Synagogue in Berlin,

which explore contemporary Jewish life:

– Forms of Alignment

– Pride and Prejudice – Jews in Focus

• both running until 17 November

In cooperation with the

Network of Jewish Organisations in Berlin

‘Jewish Round Table’, supported by the Jewish Agency for Israel.

and

• Dagesh – Jewish Art in Context, a programme by DialoguePerspectives e. V.
• European Academy Berlin
• Jewish Life in Europe e.V. (JEWLIF)