Ready to Shop? And Eat?

Berlin Vintage under $100. And Berlin eating for probably a bit more. (From the NYTimes).

Questions to Ponder for Session I

Why do you think Elon begins his book with a description of Moses Mendelssohn as a 14 year old immigrant (walking barefoot through the snow)? And why does he dwell so on Mendelssohn's appearance?

What is to gain and what is at risk in creating and maintaining the idea of the duality of identities and the dis/connect between the terms (and ideas) of "German" and "Jew"?

And what do you think is gained and/or lost by locating the narrative history of German Judaism in a specific geographical location? Elon centers his story of the modern Jewish presence in Germany in Berlin but Gay begins the narrative in locations in the west. How does geography affect your understanding of the trajectory of the story we are learning?

Books Returned to Berlin Gemeinde

Restitution project at the Staatsbibliothek recovers pre-WWII books (including travel guides and books from the Boys School in Berlin); they were returned in a big ceremony today at the Centrum Judaicum. News stories are here and here. And if you want to cut your teeth on some German, here's the article about the event in the Judische Allgemeine (the Jewish newspaper in Germany).