Dominique Tomasov Blinder

was born in New York and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where she earned a Masters degree in Architecture from the University of Buenos Aires.

Her professional experience includes work in Argentina, the United States and Spain.

Since 1991 she has lived in Barcelona, where she was a founding member of ATID, the Masorti Jewish Community. Since 1999 she has been dedicated to the study, preservation, dissemination and advocacy of Jewish Heritage. Listen to the podcast with Dominique Tomasov Blinder …

More information about Dominique Tomasov Blinder’s activities and research:

e-mail  tomasovd@gmail.com

Urban Cultours project: online-sessions with Dominique about Jewish history of Barcelona available!

Research of ancient cemetery limits (in English): Middle Ages Jewish cemetery in Barcelona.in English and Spanish: www.urbancultours.com/montjuic

Center of Studies Zakhor: www.zakhor.net 

Facebook weekly postings about everything Jewish in Barcelona and Spain

Linkedin

Alice Shalvi

Alice Shalvi: Scholar, Feminist, Educator and Peace Activist

Alice Shalvi did not only make a remarkable career as a university teacher, but also as an educator and activist. Her biography also reflects the development of feminist activism in Israel.

 

Alice Shalvi was born in 1926 in Essen/Germany to an orthodox Galician family. In May 1934 her family had to flee to Great Britain where Alice grew up. In 1944 she was one of the few women students in Cambridge ¬– a particularly impressive achievement for a Jewish girl. After finishing a BA in English literature Alice Shalvi moved to the London School of Economics and completed an MA in Social work. As an ardent Zionist she wished to apply her skills as a social worker to help integrate Holocaust survivors into the society of the Jewish state. However, when she immigrated to Israel in late 1949 she found no job as a social worker. Instead, she was offered a position in the English department of the Hebrew University. She taught there for forty years until her retirement in 1990. In 1950 Alice married Moshe Shelkowitz, an immigrant from the US. The couple later changed their name to Shalvi. Their six children were born between 1952 and 1967. Alice Shalvi could make her remarkable career because her husband Moshe was not only a supporting partner, he was also a true feminist. Being an editor and publisher of reference books he initiated the ground-breaking “Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia“. Editors were Paula Hyman and Daliah Ofer who were assisted by Alice and Moshe Shalvi. The Encyclopedia was published in 2006.

 

Feminist Awakening and the Beginning of Women’s Studies
Alice Shalvi’s career as an academic was very successful: she taught in the English department of the Hebrew University and in 1969 established the English department at the newly founded University of the Negev in Beer Sheva (since 1973 Ben Gurion University of the Negev). However, when in 1973 she wanted to apply for the position of Dean of Beer Sheva University, she was told that she did not have a chance – because she was a woman. Back at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem she talked to women colleagues who on one hand had made respectable careers, but on the other hand had all experienced discrimination in promotions. What was most shocking for them was the revelation of widespread sexual harassment at the university. When the women presented data concerning their discrimination to the Rector of the University he was sympathetic and promised improvements. Still, the women were too embarrassed to raise the topic of sexual harassment. In 1998 the “Prevention of Sexual Harassment Law” was issued. In 2011 Moshe Katsav, former president of Israel, was sentenced to seven years in prison for rape and sexual harassment.
Another lasting result of this new consciousness of the women academics was the development of Women’s Studies. The newer universities in Tel Aviv and Beer Sheva readily introduced Women’s Studies into their curricula, the conservative Hebrew University lagged behind. Therefore, feminist lecturers in Jerusalem introduced Women’s studies into their fields of specialization and into their classes. Alice Shalvi investigated the image of women in Chaucer and Shakespeare, later in all of English literature.

 

Pointing out Inequality
For many Israelis the Yom Kippur War of 1973 became an eye-opener to the extend of women’s inequality and discrimination. With the men drafted industries ground to a halt because there were no technicians, public transport collapsed because there were no drivers, decision-making processes in the economy had to be delayed because there were no decision makers. The reason for this was that these vital and well paid positions were all in the hands of men who had to serve in the army while there were no women who could substitute for them in their absence. For the first time in the history of the State of Israel, people were made aware of the extent to which women had been relegated to inferior, lower-paid positions, were employed primarily in the service professions and excluded from vital decision-making and determination of public policy.
In 1975, Prime Minister Yizhak Rabin invited Ora Namir to head a commission of enquiry into the status of women in Israel. Alice Shalvi was among the women in the commission. During the two year existence of the commission they collected and collated hitherto unknown data on women in Israel, which were summarized in a two-volume report that not only exposed the truth behind the myth of Israel as an egalitarian society, but also presented 140 recommendations for change. However, very little government action followed (in part because the prime minister to whom the commission reported to was no longer Yitzchak Rabin, but Menahem Begin).

 

Improving Education for Religious Girls
While working in the Namir Commission Alice Shalvi took upon herself another task, which also had to do with the empowerment of women, albeit not in the political but in the religious realm. In 1975 she took over the voluntary and unpaid directorship of Pelech (Spindle), a progressive school for ultra-orthodox girls. Although the study of Talmud was prohibited for girls in Jewish tradition it was a compulsory subject in Pelech. The girls also studied topics like world literature that were taboo for the ultra-orthodox community. Therefore the ultra-orthodox community boycotted Pelech, however, modern orthodox parents – among them Alice and Moshe Shalvi – were happy to send their girls to study there. Although Shalvi made the school a success she was far too liberal for the taste of the religious educators: She hired a young woman who had studied at the Conservative (non-orthodox) Jewish Theological Seminary in New York to teach religious studies, she arranged meetings between her students and girls from Arab schools and – what was the worst transgression – she was active in the Israel Women’s Network and openly criticized the Chief Rabbinate concerning women’s status at divorce trials. The department of religious education demanded that she desist immediately from her political actions otherwise the school would lose accreditation. Shalvi withdrew from Pelech in 1991.

 

The Israel Women’s Network
The Israel Women’s Network (IWN) had been founded in the wake of the elections of 1984. Research on the electorate of these elections showed that there were more women voting than men. Women also were better educated, i.e. they had more years of schooling. Nevertheless the number of female members of parliament (MPs) shrank. A number of women academics decided to act against underrepresentation of women in the Knesseth and helping the few women politicians to pass legislation to improve women’s rights. For this purpose they founded the Israel Women’s Network. After a decade of research and women’s studies the academics of the IWN undertook to support the women politician’s legislative proposals by providing data, appear as experts on committees, help bring issues to public attention, promote their initiatives. Out of these modest beginnings developed a respected think tank dealing with all aspects of women’s discrimination in so different spheres as the rabbinic courts, the army, social security and support of victims of human trafficking etc.

 

Peace Activist
During the Six-Day War, in June 1967, Israel had occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Although Alice Shalvi is living in Jerusalem it took her until 1986 to meet an Arab woman that was not doing menial works for Jews, but similar to herself in class and educational background. Father Emanuel of the Dormition Abbey introduced her to a lecturer of botany at Bir Zeit University in Ramallah. They talked about themselves, not politics and decided to meet again and bring some friends. All women who came had already participated in groups that worked to further peace and coexistence of Jews and Palestinians. Still, the new Arab participants did not accept the first partner as representative because she was Christian. When the first Intifada broke out at the end of 1987 the meetings came to a halt. But the women continued to work for peace. They organized weekly demonstrations against the occupation on Paris Square near the prime minister’s residence and at Zion Gate in Jerusalem. They wore black T-Shirts and gave themselves the name Women in Black. Alice Shalvi not only demonstrated with the Women in Black in Israel but also abroad. Women from abroad also joined the Women in Black in Israel. Among them was Simone Susskind from Brussels. In 1989 she organized a dialogue between Jewish and Palestinian women in Brussels. Among the Jewish women there was not only Alice Shalvi but also two members of Knesseth: Shulamit Aloni from the Civil Rights List and Nava Arad from the Labour Party. After initial tensions and accusations the talks became constructive. Naomi Chazan, a political scientist and board member of the IWN, and Hanan Ashrawi, the representative of PLO, drew up a joint paper calling for a two-state-solution and a cessation of hostilities – and this four years before the Oslo accords. However, the joint paper was never presented to the press because Nava Arad did not get the permission from the Labour Party in Jerusalem in time.
In 2000 Alice Shalvi retired from the IWN. Today Alice Shalvi is a board member of the New Israel Fund, an organisation supporting progressive civil society in Israel, as is Naomi Chazan.

 

Photo: Alice Shalvi (2nd from the right) at the Boardmeeting of the New Israel Fund in Tel Aviv, February 2020. © NIF

 

Bet Debora
In 2000 Alice Shalvi came on her first visit to Germany since her escape in 1934. She was filled with trepidations and fears. But she found a changed Germany and could make peace with it. On this trip she also met with the founders of Bet Debora, Lara Dämmig, Monika Herweg and Elisa Klapheck, and was impressed by their enthusiasm and their vision of a renewal of Judaism in Europe after the fall of the communist regimes and of the role of women in this development. Shalvi agreed to participate in the second Bet Debora Conference, which took place in Berlin in 2001. There she got to know the richness of European Judaism. So far she had known English, Israeli and American Judaism, but no post-Holocaust European Jewish communities. She had not been aware how vibrant this Judaism was and how much creativity and energy was to be found among European Jewish women. She also came to later conferences. With her rich knowledge of Judaism, her vivacity and her enthusiasm for new ideas she was one of the mentors of Bet Debora.

Eleonore Lappin-Eppel

Jewish Women: Being Present, Bringing Change

 

Wir laden herzlich zu einer Gesprächsrunde am Dienstag, dem 17. Dezember 2019 um 19 Uhr ein.   Ort: Myer’s Hotel, Metzer Straße 26, 10405 Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

mit: Rabbinerin Barbara Borts (Newcastle upon Tyne), Eleonore Lappin-Eppel (Wien), Ana Lebl (Split),  Dragana Stojanović (Belgrad)

Moderation: Tanja Berg und Lara Dämmig (Berlin)

 

Die Veranstaltung findet in englischer Sprache statt.

 

Wir heißen alle interessierten Frauen und Männer herzlich willkommen!

– Der Eintritt ist frei –  

 

Anschließend besteht die Möglichkeit, miteinander bei einem Glas Wein oder Wasser ins Gespräch zu kommen.

 

Wir bitten um Anmeldung bis 16. Dezember 2019 unter bet.debora@gmail.com  

 

Im September 2019 fand die 9. Bet Debora Tagung in Belgrad (Serbien) statt, die dem Thema Jewish Women: Being Present, Bringing Change gewidmet war. Bet Debora und Haver Srbija haben sie gemeinsam organisiert. Haver Srbija ist eine gemeinnützige jüdische Organisation, die mit ihren Bildungsprogrammen eine pluralistische und inklusive Gesellschaft fördert und sich gegen Vorurteile, Diskriminierung, Antisemitismus und Xenophobie engagiert. In unserer Gesprächsrunde, zu der wir Referentinnen und Organisatorinnen der Tagung eingeladen haben, möchten wir uns über interessante Themen, spannende Debatten und Begegnungen austauschen.  

 

Dragana Stojanovic gehörte dem Team von Haver Srbija an. Sie wird die Arbeit der Organisation vorstellen und darüber sprechen, welche Anstöße die Tagung für das jüdische Leben in Serbien gegeben hat.

 

Rabbinerin Barbara Borts spricht über die Reaktionen auf Frauenstimmen in den Synagogen im 21. Jahrhundert

 

Eleonore Lappin-Eppel wird die Biografie der israelischen Feministin und Friedensaktivistin Alice Shalvi (geb. 1926 in Essen) vorstellen, die die Arbeit von Bet Debora seit vielen Jahren unterstützt.

 

Ana Lebl wird das Wirken der Schriftstellerin und Aktivistin Ženi Lebl würdigen.

 

***

 

Rabbi Barbara Borts has served pulpits in the UK, the USA and Canada. She is an honorary research fellow in anthropology at Durham University and a research fellow of Leo Baeck College, as well as a half-complete BaalatTefilah through EAJL. She has written many articles and papers, recently researching Jews and Christmas, rabbinic roles, and the conundrum of women’s voices in Judaism. She is the co-editor, with Rabbi Elizabeth Tikvah Sarah, of Women Rabbis in the Pulpit: A Collection of Sermons. Her PhD work was on Anglo-Reform Judaism through the lens of its music.

 

Eleonore Lappin-Eppel ist Historikerin am Institut für Kulturwissenschaften und Theatergeschichte der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Sie ist Mitbegründerin der jüdischen liberalen Gemeinde Or Chadasch in Wien, Vorsitzende des New Israel Fund in Österreich und seit 2015 Vorstandsmitglied bei Bet Debora e.V. 

 

Ana Lebl holds a BA in Near Eastern Archaeology from the University of Belgrade (Serbia) and an MLitt from the St Andrews University (Scotland, UK) in Maritime Archaeology. She lives in Split, Croatia with a husband and two daughters. Ana has been President of the Jewish Community of Split. As a Jewish volunteer and lay leader, she dedicates most of her time to organizing cultural, religious and educational events, programs and seminars. Ana also promotes interfaith and intercultural dialogue in her city.

 

Dragana Stojanović works in the field of cultural studies and media theories, researching the ways that media influences the everyday cultural reality and processes, as well as our notions of history, contemporaneity and future. Her particular interest involves memory studies, gender studies, (post)feminism studies, posthuman studies, traditional culture studies and the like. Currently she is working as an Assistant Professor for cultural studies and theory of art and media at the Department of Media and Communications in Belgrade. She is also active within the Jewish community of Serbia, working with the organization Haver Serbia as an educational project consultant and program facilitator.

 

Tanja Berg ist Politikwissenschaftlerin und arbeitet seit vielen Jahren an der Schnittstelle zwischen politischer Bildung und Forschung. Ihre Schwerpunkte liegen dabei in den Bereichen Demokratieentwicklung, Gender und Vielfalt. Sie gehört dem Vorstand von Bet Debora an.

 

Lara Dämmig studierte Bibliothekswissenschaft und Management von Kultur- und Non-Profit-Organisationen und arbeitet bei einer jüdischen Organisation in Berlin. Sie ist Mitbegründerin von Bet Debora.

 

Verkehrsverbindung: vom S-Bahnhof Alexanderplatz oder Prenzlauer Allee mit der Tram M2 bis Prenzlauer Allee Ecke Metzer Straße oder mit der U2 bis Senefelderplatz  

 

 

Die Veranstaltung wird von der Senatsverwaltung für Gesundheit, Pflege und Gleichstellung – Geschäftsstelle Gleichstellung gefördert.

 

Bücherspenden gesucht!

 

Haver Srbija möchte eine Bibliothek aufbauen. Gesucht werden Bücher in Englisch zu jüdischer Geschichte, Kultur oder Tradition. Wer gern ein Buch spenden möchte, kann uns gern per E-Mail kontaktieren bet.debora@gmail.com oder einfach das Buch zur Veranstaltung mitbringen.

Kulinarischer Dialog

 

am Sonntag, dem 3. November 2019 um 14 Uhr im Hort der Lemgo-Grundschule, Müllenhoffstraße 7, 10967 Berlin

 

mit Ewa Alfred und

Najda Sinanyan-Erbas

 

 

Auch 2019 wollen wir unsere beliebte Reihe fortsetzen und zum 11. Mal zu einem Dialog der armenischen und jüdischen Kochkunst einladen. Ewa Alfred wird Speisen der osteuropäisch-aschkenasische Küche aus ihrer eigene Familientradition kreieren.

Unsere diesjährige Gast Najda Sinanyan-Erbas (Istanbul) kommt aus einer Familie bekannter Kochkünstlerinnen der armenischen Gemeinde. Sie wird mit uns vegane Gerichte zubereiten, die traditionell zwischen Aschermittwoch und Karfreitag gegessen werden.

 

Ewa Alfred (Berlin) ist Juristin und Therapeutin

Najda Sinanyan-Erbas (Istanbul) ist Wirtschaftswissenschaftlerin und Konditorin. Sie spricht Französisch, Englisch, Armenisch und Türkisch. 

 

Unser kulturelles Rahmenprogramm wird dieses Mal von Kathleen Michael gestaltet.

Die Amerikanerin mit armenischen Wurzeln ist Performance-Künstlerin, Tänzerin und Fotografin. Sie wird über Identität und Tanz und über ihre Familiengeschichte zwischen Damaskus und Brooklyn sprechen.

 

Zur Deckung der Kosten bitten wir um 17 € (Ermäßigung 12 €) pro Person.

 

Wir bitten um Anmeldung bis 30. Oktober 2019 unter bet.debora@gmail.com oder talin.bahcivanoglu@berlin.de

 

Verkehrsverbindung: U7 Südstern, U8 Schönleinstraße

 

Wir danken Talin Bahcivanoglu und dem Hort der Lemgo-Grundschule für die Unterstützung!

 

Die Veranstaltung wird von der Senatsverwaltung für Gesundheit, Pflege und Gleichstellung – Geschäftsstelle Gleichstellung gefördert.

Ten interesting facts about the Jewish community of Serbia

 

Did you know that…

 

10. …according to many the 2nd largest synagogue in Europe and one of the only synagogues designed in the Hungarian Art Nouveau style left in existence is the Subotica synagogue.

 

 

Located in northern part of Serbia, this synagogue was completed in 1902and constructed when Serbia was still part of Austria-Hungary, hence this uncanny cultural influence in the synagogue’s aesthetic. The Subotica Synagogue served the Serbian Neolog community and today it is considered a Monument of Exceptional Importance, and it is protected by the national government. For many years the synagogue was neglected and just in 2018. was fully renovated.

https://www.wmf.org/history-architecture-subotica-synagogue

 

 

 

9.Shira U’tfila is the only band in this region and probably in the whole Europe that nurtures the culture of Sephardic music. The band brings together a multi-ethnic, multi-faith ensemble that draws its inspiration from the diversity and richness of Judeo-Spanish, Ottoman-Turkish, Arabic and Balkan musical traditions.

 

Our favourite song

You can also follow them on Facebook

 

 

8. …there is such a thing as Belgrade Purim?

 

The first Jewish community building in Belgrade was erected in 1860 in Dorćol, in Solunska Street- It was the famous Old Home or mildar. Mildar was also the school building where, during the Turkish bombardments in 1862, a miracle happened and the whole community found the shelter and miraculously survived the bombing of the city. There were shots and whistles on all sides. An artillery shell hit the building, but became lodged in the roof and failed to explode. This event is well-known as Belgrade Purim.

 

 

7. …the hotel where the conference will take place was owned and built by the Jewish engineer Leon Talvi in 1923, was the most beautiful and most modern hotel in the whole country and without competition even in the Balkans.

 

Constructed in reinforced concrete, with two basements, ground floor and six floors, it had its own power plant, cooling installation and ice-cream production, laundry, pumps for hot water, central heating, large kitchen, three lifts, post office and car or bus transfer. Silver cutlery, gallery of paintings and sculptures in five lounges on the fifth floor, worth 2.5 million dinars, with Italian, French, Russian and local artists paintings, open roof restaurant, café, restaurant, dancing theater and banquette halls made it even more special. According to Politika newspaper, the first Yugoslav Zionist congress took place in the theater hall of this hotel on June 16th and 17th 1924. (source: https://ester.rs/walk-jewish-inter-war-belgrade/ )

 

 

6. …a very early and strong  advocate of Jewish return to Zion was Rabbi Judah Alkalai who lived in part of the Belgrade called Zemun.

 

Judah ben Solomon Hai Alkalai, (born 1798, Sarajevo, Bosnia, Ottoman Empire [now Bosnia and Herzegovina]—died 1878, Jerusalem, Palestine) was a Sephardic rabbi .Alkalai was taken to Jerusalem at an early age, and there he was reared and educated for the rabbinate. At 25 he went to Semlin(Zemuna), than Croatia, as a rabbi and found himself teaching Hebrew to the young men of his congregation, whose native language was Ladino. He wrote two books in that language, in the first of which he argued that a physical “return to Israel” (i.e., to EretzYisraʾel, the Holy Land in Palestine) was a precondition for redemption (salvation), instead of the symbolic “return to Israel” by means of repentance and resuming the ways of God. This doctrine was unacceptable to Orthodox Jews and generated much controversy. His second book was a refutation of the heated attacks directed at his proto-Zionist views.

Here you can read more about Jewish history of Zemun and about Rabbi Judah Alkalai:

https://thenutshelltimes.com/2018/08/27/hidden-belgrade-34-rabbi-alkalai-zemun-and-zionism/

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Judah-ben-Solomon-Hai-Alkalai

 

 

5. …the grandparents of Theodor Herzl are buried on the Jewish cemetery in Zemun

 

Theodor Herzl’s paternal grandfather, Simon Loeb Herzl, reportedly attended Alkalai’s synagogue in Semlin and the two frequently visited. Grandfather Simon Loeb Herzl “had his hands on” one of the first copies of Alkalai’s 1857 work prescribing the “return of the Jews to the Holy Land and renewed glory of Jerusalem.” Contemporary scholars conclude that Herzl’s own implementation of modern Zionism was undoubtedly influenced by that relationship.

In 2018 a street in Zemun was named after Theodor Herzl.

 

 

4. …that there are still few community members that are very passionate to pass on the “secret” receipts of Sephardic cousin, one of them is Hanika Gashic and she prepares amazing Sephardic dishes.

 

If you would like to hear a little about her life you can watch the movie made by Centropa organization.

And also you can have a look at the recipe for burmuelos traditionally made for Chanukah

 

 

3.Geca (Geza Kon) established a bookselling and publishing business in Belgrade which soon became the largest in Yugoslavia.

 

From his premises in Belgrade he published over 3,500 books before his business was closed in 1941 with the Axis Invasion of Yugoslavia. Kon was born in Csongrád (Hungary). His father was a rabbi and was the director of an elementary school. Unable to complete school, Kon moved to Belgrade in 1889. In Belgrade, he found work in the bookshop owned by Frederick Breslauer. From there he continued his own carrier.

Today this bookstore still carries the name of Geca Kon and is located in the main street in Belgrade.

 

 

2. …the first Women’s club in Serbia was the Jewish Women’s Society

 

Jewish women’s clubs began to spring up in Sephardi and Ashkenazi communities in Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, and the Vojvodina in the late nineteenth century, around the same time that Jewish and Christian women were creating similar organizations elsewhere in Europe. Although Jewish women were not treated as equal members of the Jewish community and were excluded from voting and participating in communal governance, women’s philanthropic organizations came to play an important role within Jewish communal life because they not only helped large numbers of needy Jews, especially women, children and the elderly, but also enhanced the communal spirit of solidarity and cooperation by holding numerous social activities and entertainments to benefit charitable causes and promote both Jewish and secular culture.In 1874 a handful of Sephardi women formed the first women’s club in Serbia, the Jewish Women’s Society.

 

 

 

1. …through all the years of 1990s wars in Yugoslavia Jews and Jewish communities were helped by many communities and organizations around the world.

 

The contacts, friendships and  “am echad lev echad” spirit followed all members during those difficult years and immediately after the war up to today,  communities of Ex-Yugoslavia continued to create programs and events where members will meet and celebrate their Jewishness.

 

 

 

Short history of Jewish presence in Serbia

 

 

 

Jewish presence in Serbia can be traced back thousands of years ago to Roman times. By the 12th century, Jews were quite influential in the region as traders and were generally treated well. Under Ottoman rule, Jewish merchants became influential in trade between the northern and southern portion of the Ottoman Empire and accordingly prospered. Later in the 16th century, Jews expelled from the Iberian Peninsula during the Inquisition arrived in the region

Synagogue in Subotica

and Jews slowly began to settle in. Austria also ruled over part of the region, so Jews from various parts of the Austrian Empire began to settle in Vojvodina and establish communities in villages and cities across the region.

 

After Serbia obtained its independence in the 1830s, the newly formed Serbian government began persecuting Jews, barring Jews from certain professions. It was The Treaty of Berlin in 1878 that gave Serbian Jews full civil rights, but it was not until 1889 that the Serbian Parliament declared equal rights for all Serbian citizens and officially lifted restrictions on Jews.

 

In the early portion of the 20th century, Jews fought in the Balkan War from 1912 to 1913 and later fought in World War I. After the war, Serbia became a part of the state of Yugoslavia, and the Jewish community in Serbia was linked to Jews in other parts of the kingdom. 

 

The interwar years saw Jewish life in Serbia maintain a relative sense of stability. Antisemitism generally was not an issue, and Serbian Jews were able to participate equally in Serbian society. However, the aftermath of World War II and the Holocaust saw Serbian Jewry devastated. A majority of Holocaust survivors in Yugoslavia emigrated for Israel following its establishment in 1948, and many Serbian Jews assimilated.

 

With the disintegration of Yugoslavia in 1991 and the outbreak of the civil war, Yugoslavian Jews were thrown into the middle of the violence. Throughout the war, the organized Jewish body in Serbia provided food aid, clothing, medicine, and organizing accommodation for refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina. During the NATO campaign on Yugoslavia in 1999, the Federation of Jewish Communities of Serbia evacuated around 600 of its members to Hungary from bombed cities, and then to Israel and other countries.

 

Though many Jews left Serbia during the violence that engulfed the region throughout the 1990s, the Jewish community in Serbia remains stable today and experiences support from the Serbian government, which recognizes Judaism as one of the seven “traditional” religious communities in the country.

 

Useful links:

Jewish Virtual Library

European Jewish Congress: Serbia

World Jewish Congress: Serbia

The Times of Israel: In impoverished: Serbia Jewish community is isolated – and rapidly shrinking

The Jerusalem Post: Zionisms. Was the Jewish state born in Serbia?

 

 

Jüdische Frauenbewegung: Allianzen und Bündnisse

am Sonntag, dem 25. August 2019 von 14:00 bis 18:00 Uhr

 

in den Räumen der Synagoge Fraenkelufer, Fraenkelufer 10-12, 10999 Berlin

 

in Kooperation mit dem Kreuzberg Beit Midrasch, einer Initiative des Jüdischen Zentrums Synagoge Fraenkelufer

 

 

 

Wir heißen alle interessierten Frauen und Männer herzlich willkommen! Der Eintritt ist frei.

 

 

Feminismus ist gerade in Zeiten eines gesellschaftlichen Rollbacks und einer Infragestellung demokratischer Grundverständnisse aktueller den je. Frauen* in Minderheiten wie Jüdinnen, Musliminnen oder Romnja sind gleich doppelt von antifeministischen und antidemokratischen Diskursen betroffen. Umso wichtiger ist es, dem selbst etwas aktiv entgegen zu setzen. Aber was können wir tun? Darum soll es bei dieser Veranstaltung gehen:

  • Wie gehen wir in jüdischen Gemeinschaften, aber auch darüber hinaus, mit Fragen von Geschlechtergerechtigkeit, Genderrollen und Ungleichheit um?
  • Was macht jüdischen Feminismus heute aus?
  • Was beschäftigt Aktivist*innen in anderen Minderheiten?
  • Welche Bündnisse und Allianzen sind zukunftsweisend?

Die Veranstaltung eröffnet Räume zum Diskutieren, Lernen und Vernetzen.

 

 

Programm

 

14 Uhr: Begrüßung und Einführung ins Thema Jüdische Frauenbewegung

Tanja Berg (Bet Debora) und Dekel Peretz (Kreuzberg Beit Midrash)

 

14:30 Uhr Workshop-Phase 1:

Jüdischer Feminismus – Geschichte und Gegenwart –Tanja Berg

Der Workshop gibt einen Einblick in die verschiedenen Felder jüdischen Feminismus. Wir werden zentrale Fragestellungen, Erfolge und Herausforderungen gemeinsam diskutieren.

Die Stellung der Frau im Islam – Einführung in die Thematik“– Fereshta Ludin

Mit diesem Workshop werden Grundlagen über die Sicht auf die Frau in den islamischen Quellen vermittelt und weitere Diskussionen darüber angeregt.

 

15:25 Uhr: Pause

 

15:40 Uhr: Workshop-Phase 2:

Feministische Themen, Herausforderungen und Ansätze in Islam und Judentum – Kübra Özermis und Rebecca de Vries 

Der Workshop vergleicht Aspekte feministischer Herangehensweisen in Islam und Judentum und richtet dabei den Blick besonders auf Herausforderungen, die wir teilen.

 

16:30 Uhr Pause

 

16:45 Uhr Podiumsdiskussion: Jüdischer Feminismus – Bündnisse und Allianzen mit anderen Gruppen

Diskutant*innen: Dalia Grinfeld (Keshet Deutschland), Kübra Ösermis, N.N. (RomniPhen, angefragt), Eleonore Lappin-Eppel (Bet Debora), Rabbinerin Ulrike Offenberg (Jüdische Gemeinde Hameln)

Moderation: Tanja Berg (Bet Debora)

 

17:45 Uhr: Auswertung und Abschluss

 

18:00 Uhr: Ende der Veranstaltung

 

In Kooperation mit:

Kreuzberg Beit Midrash, eine Initiative des Jüdischen Zentrums Synagoge Fraenkelufer

 

Gefördert von:

 

 

 

Jüdisches Leben in Berlin: vielfältig und bunt?

Wir laden herzlich zu einem Gespräch mit der Rabbinatsstudentin Noemi Henkel-Gümbel ein:

 

am Dienstag, dem 21. Mai 2019 um 19 Uhr, im Stadtteilzentrum am Teutoburger Platz (ehemaliges Jüdisches Kinderheim), Fehrbelliner Str. 92, 10119 Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg

 

Wir heißen alle interessierten Frauen und Männer herzlich willkommen! Der Eintritt ist frei.

 

Was macht die jüdische Gemeinschaft in Berlin heute aus? Wie vielfältig und bunt ist sie heute und wer gestaltet die verschiedenen Facetten jüdischen Lebens in der Stadt? Wir haben zu diesem Diskussionsabend, der an unsere Gesprächsrunde zum jüdischen Feminismus zu Channukka anknüpft, die Rabbinatsstudentin Noemi Henkel-Gümbel eingeladen, die sich u. a. bei Keshet e. V. für die Sichtbarkeit von LGBTQI* (Lesben, Schwule, Bisexuelle, Transgender, Queer, Intersexuelle) innerhalb der jüdischen Gemeinschaft engagiert. Wir möchten uns mit ihr und dem Publikum u. a. über folgende Fragen austauschen:

  • Wie blicken wir auf jüdisches Leben in Berlin heute? Können wir schon von einem pluralistischen Judentum sprechen oder ist es noch ein weiter Weg dorthin?
  • Wie sieht es aus mit Gleichberechtigung in den Synagogen, jüdischen Einrichtungen und Institutionen, Gruppen und Initiativen?
  • Welche Rolle werden Rabbinerinnen und Rabbiner innerhalb der jüdischen Gemeinschaften in Deutschland und Europa spielen? Wird sich ihr Selbstverständnis wandeln? Wird der Beruf weiblicher?

Wir wünschen uns ein buntes Publikum, das Interesse hat, über alle Unterschiede hinweg mehr miteinander zu reden. Deshalb freuen wir uns auf bekannte und noch unbekannte Menschen!

 

Noemi Henkel-Gümbel (27) ist seit 2018 Rabbinatsstudentin am Zacharias Fraenkel College. Sie wuchs in München auf, machte nach der Schule Alija und hat in Israel u. a. Psychologie am Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) in Herzlia studiert. In Tel Aviv war sie in unterschiedlichen jüdischen Communitys aus dem breiten religiösen Spektrum engagiert.

 

 

Verkehrsverbindung: U2 Senefelderplatz

Die Veranstaltung wird von der Senatsverwaltung für Gesundheit, Pflege und Gleichstellung – Geschäftsstelle Gleichstellung gefördert.