Jewish Salon in the Green Salon

Attuning. Speaking to One Another in Noisy Times

On Science, Belonging, and Responsibility

Historian Yfaat Weiss and theologian Ufuk Topkara discuss these tensions. Both work in German institutions that aspire to be places of knowledge and are simultaneously shaped by traditions and expectations. Starting with German-Jewish history, they discuss how to assert academic work and a clear voice – in a field that claims neutrality but constantly struggles for interpretation.


Yfaat Weiss, born in Haifa, is Professor of Jewish History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Director of the Dubnow Institute in Leipzig. Her research focuses on European and Israeli history. Her most recent book is "Misplaced Mission: Divided Jerusalem and the United Nations" (2025).


Ufuk Topkara is Professor of Comparative Theology from an Islamic Perspective at Humboldt University in Berlin. He studied history and philosophy in Berlin and Harvard and has conducted research at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, among other institutions. He is currently researching the religious-philosophical work of Hermann Cohen.