Underground Berlin

Next time you think about visiting the capital city: Underground Berlin!

A. O. Scott reviews "Wings of Desire"

It's been 22 years since Wim Wenders' film was released.

So you want to know more about...

...the fall of the Berlin Wall? Check out the history provided by iMinds which will get you up to speed in time for your stroll down Wilshire. (Thanks to Culture Monster at the LA Times.)

They're heeeeerrrrreeeeee.....

Pieces of The Berlin Wall have arrived in Los Angeles for the re-building commemoration and are already being placed in front of LACMA on Wilshire Blvd. (LA Times, 10/17/09)

On 11/9 and 9/11

From Thomas Friedman, this op-ed in The New York Times (published Oct. 17, 2009).

36 Hours in (mostly East) Berlin

The NY Times offers this glimpse into an anniversary-inspired tour. The 20th Anniversary of the fall of the Wall is coming up fast!

The Berlin Experience at Tufts

An amazing program for undergrads at Tufts....

Judging Racism....

The national debate on race, decorum, and presumption reminded me of Project Implicit which coordinates a series of anonymous tests that measure one's (un/conscious) prejudices and biases. If you have the time, they are worth the self-discovery.

The news from the German Consulate...

The Wall Project brings together the city of Los Angeles and the German Consul General for the two parts of The Wall Project: The Wall Across Wilshire and The Wall Along Wilshire.

Dividing and Repairing

The Wende Museum (a museum and archive of the Cold War) in Los Angeles is sponsoring a contest in connection with The Wall Project. Put all those pictures and images to creative use and win a trip back to Germany. The museum invites folks to "use words, photographs, videos to address the issue of barriers and boundaries in your lives."
"What kind of words, sounds, images, and/or text would you create if you had to address and physically interact with the walls in our lives?"
(Look for the details under the "create" button.)

The Kidz of Horst

More celebratory art for the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall: the multilingual music video "Break Down the Walls."

Is it live or is it...

Twenty years later Los Angeles will build its own Berlin Wall stretching down a part of Wilshire Boulevard. On the eve of the 20th Anniversary of the fall of the Wall, there will be a live stream from LA to Berlin. Here's the article in the LA Times.

Libeskind's newest venture

A pre-fab house from the architect of The Jewish Museum.

Amos Elon

Strange that we did not know this while we were gone, but Amos Elon passed away on the second day of our trip.

on one foot....

So, it turns out that walking on a foot with several fractures (more than two, less than five) for a couple of weeks can really slow down recovery time.

and while we're talking monuments....

Some notes about NY's 9/11 monument which bring up the same issues of memorializing the unthinkable.

Pics from our last night together

The Last Supper

At Schneeweiss in Friedrichshain, saying goodbye to Berlin (and our German friends)...

at Schloss Charlottenburg

After a fascinating day of three excellent intellectual encounters (with Prof. Dr. Peter von der Osten-Sacken, then at the Foreign Ministry, then with Dr. Atina Grossman) we headed waaayyy west for a concert of baroque music (with musicians and singers dressed up in (18th century) period costumes).

I think we're all in a bit of shock knowing tomorrow is our last full day here.

The Hamburg-lers

Here's the group (minus the Leahs, though a tiny bit of one can be seen third from the right) with our guide Georg (who sounded much like Cary Grant) as we made our way through the port of Hamburg. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, which half the folks used to take a Schifffahrt (boat ride) through the harbor. The city's reconstruction plan is ambitious (to say the least) but also a wonder in urban development.

Hamburg's broken mural

On our tour of "Jewish" Hamburg, where it became clear that the city is less interested in preserving remnants of its past than in constructing a beautiful new (and extremely well-planned city), we were struck by the erasure of buildings or sites that marked the long, vibrant life of Hamburg's Jews. At the corner of the old Jewish section of the city, however, we happened upon a magnificent mural:


The broken fragments are populated by sites and people and signs of the real life that Jews in Hamburg lived (especially in the post-Emancipation period). The large section on the bottom is filled with a poem by Nobel Laureate Nelly Sachs.



A recent article in The Jewish Exponent does our experience some justice.

At the Jewish Museum

We had an unbelievable guide who raised the bar way up and above all others. Along with the commemorative Mendelssohn pennies, and interactive exhibit, came a frank discussion about whether this museum's collection is -about- Jews or about non-Jews who want to know about Jews in Germany.

AGK, HUC and Beit Or

Shavuot began with the warm welcome of Rabbi Gesa Ederberg (our "frisch gebackene Rabbinern"--newly ordained rabbis--Adam and Jill lit the candles) and a fantastic study session led by Jerusalem faculty member Rabbi Dr. Dahlia Marx. Break out groups were led simultaneously in German and English and some people managed to greet Shacharit at 4am Berlin time!

Our group visited the Jewish Museum on Shavuot afternoon--a fascinating building that houses an eclectic and highly interactive collection. Our tour guide was the fabulous Thorsten Wagner whose historical knowledge challenged all of us to remember our three long days in the classroom.

And we capped the day with a truly blessed evening with colleagues from the Abraham Geiger College, Germany's own liberal rabbinical program (which counts students who come from over 15 countries). Shabbat ended with a dinner shared with the students we met last week from Humboldt University. It's been a great holiday weekend.

Tomorrow: Hamburg or Bust!

Hag Shavuot Sameach and Shabbat Shalom!

We'll be celebrating with the Beit Or community tonight (think of us at 4am, Berlin time, when those who manage to stay awake will be davening Schacharit) and meeting our Abraham Geiger College colleagues tomorrow for Shabbat. More pics and posts after Havdalah!

Back to Berlin

After a truly hilarious walking tour through Weimar, we train'd back up to Berlin in time to meet with a group of theology students at the Humboldt University. Their needs met ours: as students in a class on inter-religious dialogue, HUCnikim engaged an incredibly thoughtful, open and honest colleagues.

With just a little bit of time left over before getting ready for our tikkun leil Shavuot, our group dispersed to all corners of the city. The weather has been crazy (Emma says it's as if Berlin cycle through all four seasons every four hours) but the drama fits the city well.

On our way back "home"

Great minds think alike

Looks like we're not the only ones who are interested in Weimar.

reaching back in space and time

adding to the intensity of the day was an evening in Erfurt where we were treated to a medieval themed dinner at Lutherkellar (Luther's Cellar).

Buchenwald Memorial

An early morning start had us arriving just outside of Weimar (in south eastern Germany) at the site of the former concentration camp Buchenwald around noon. The clock is stopped at the time American troops arrived to liberate the camp on April 4, 1945.

We gathered to mourn all the victims in front of Bunk 22, where the powerful memorial is flanked by a citation from Psalm 78:6: "So that the generation to come might know, the children, yet to be born, that they too may rise and declare to their children."

Crossroads of East and West

Reconstructed stoplight--the first in Europe--at Potsdamer Platz. As our guide said, people fought against the intrusion of technology with the claim, "we will never allow machines to rule our lives."

day tripping

From yesterday's long day of touring: an even longer respite at the Sony Center for lunch and a rainstorm.

HaYom Yom Huledet, HaYom Yom Huledet...

...to celebrate Sarah's birthday!

and so it begins...

Everyone made it safe and sound--and without too much trouble--to our fancy pants hotel in the middle of Berlin. Our guides, Nadine and Thomas, led us straight to the Centrum Judaicum in the Neue Synagogue where the fabulous Germany Close Up folks greeted us with fresh itineraries and all the tiny details that make up this trip. Then off we went to dinner at Cafe Orange....

and boy, are my arms tired!

As you make your way across the ocean, use a journal entry to describe your expectations for this trip? About what are you most intrigued and/or most anxious? And in what ways have (at least some of) your preconceived notions (about the class, the subject, the material) changed or been reinforced?

Monuments, Memorials, Meaning-Makers

For the third journal entry, describe a monument of your own construction that speaks to some aspect (or many aspects) of the focus of our class: German-Jewish history, culture, literature, thought, and/or experience. What kind of monument you make is entirely your choice; whether it be theoretical, highly symbolic and non-referential or concrete, specific, and well-explained is part of your design decision. Include in your description the location of your monument, the materials out of which it would constructed, and what it is meant to signify.

vielen Dank!

Thank you to Mr. Lars Leymann, Consul for Culture, Public and Legal Affairs from the Los Angeles General Consuls Office for joining our multi-campus class this morning/afternoon! (And the LA students thank you in particular for the copies of Jeffrey Peck's fabulous book Being Jewish in the New Germany.)

On the second night of class, my journal entry is...

Gershom Scholem wrote that a “German-Jewish Dialogue” never existed because a dialogue requires two parties and Jews had only thought their counterparts were listening. Discuss the oppositional terms “Germans” and “Jews” used here by Scholem and by our other authors, and—employing your expertise on Jewish-German history—detail and analyze the repercussions of his argument. What are the merits of disassociating Jewish Germans from non-Jewish Germans? Do you agree with the assessment that there was no “dialogue” between the two groups, why or why not? Make sure to use the readings from the day to support your opinion and, in doing so, identify how the non/dialogue has or has not changed through the history of Jewish presence in Germany.

Our Guest tomorrow....

We're looking forward to greeting and meeting a representative of the German Consulate in class tomorrow....


Make sure to check out the "Zeitgeist is German" photo contest! And, Germany is celebrating two anniversaries: the birth of the Federal Republic of Germany (in 1949) and the fall of the Berlin Wall (in 1989). Stay tuned for pictures of our own to celebrate the occasions.

the first of many journal prompts

In what ways do Judaism and Jews create ambivalence for German thinkers (and vice versa: in what ways does German-ness create ambivalence for Jews)? Considering the history of Jews and Judaism in the German context, how do both Jews and non-Jews in the eighteenth- and nineteenth-centuries affect strategies to integrate or segregate Jews and Judaism from majority culture? Think about what might be at stake for non-Jewish and Jewish Germans regarding integration and Emancipation as you formulate your answer.

the irony of satire

A quick piece from today's NY Times about the production of The Producers now showing in Berlin. Thoughts?

the all-nighter....

In thinking about what text to bring for our Shavuot study session, see if you can incorporate something about Germany or German Jews or German-Jewish history when you make your pick. A potentially obvious source would be something about revelation or Shavuot or a commentary on Ruth by one of the founders of the Hamburg Temple. (Plaut would be a good place to start looking for that.) Or, if you're a big fan of critical theory, why not bring something from Hannah Arendt? Or, if you've been more interested than you thought you might be about the medieval experience in Germany, make a stretch and bring a text from Rashi (or, Rabbenu Gershom, or, Glueckl of Hameln) to share. OR, if you're a literature person--why not a poem from any of the poets Elon mentions? Or--if you're feeling bold--pick something from Mendelssohn's Biur (his commentary on the TaNaKh). If you've got an idea that you're not sure how to find, check with me; I may be able to help.

mit gepackten Koffer...

Should you need or want such a thing, some helpful tips on packing for the upcoming trip.

phoning it in...

Worried about how to stay in touch? There are several articles about using cell phones while abroad. Here are two NY Times articles that might be helpful:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/15/technology/15basics.html?scp=1&sq=cell%20phones%20abroad&st=cse and http://frugaltraveler.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/24/staying-in-touch-internationally-on-the-cheap/?scp=25&sq=cell%20phones%20abroad&st=cse.

Also, Heath did some investigative research and found out that at&t's international plans seems like it charges $6/month for International Roaming, and with that, calls to the US are $0.99 a minute. He also found a website - Cellular Abroad (http://www.cellularabroad.com/germanyRcell.php) that rents phones. The rate to the US is $0.12 a minute, but it's about $50 to rent a phone for the length of our trip. (Thanks Heath!)

Location, Location, Location

check your in-boxes for an invitation (read: summons) to Google Documents where you will find all the readings not in our required sources....

At long last....

For your reading pleasure: the syllabus!

Edited to add: And, for those of you who are curious: here's also the final paper assignment.

Synagogues in Berlin

For your tefilot needs while in Berlin

On the Jewish Museum in Berlin

From this weekend's NY Times: a piece on the Juedisches Museum. Thanks to Jill Cozen Harel for the tip!

Guides and info

A nice, general guide, courtesy of Lonely Planet.com

Berlin: Save or Surge?

From the New York Times Travel Section, April 26, 2009