Berlin, 17–19 May 2009
The conference is a joint project of the Foundation «Remembrance, Responsibility and Future» (Stif- tung «Verantwortung, Erinnerung und Zukunft»), the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes, the Jewish Museum Berlin and the Leo Baeck Institute London.
The conference is part of the Leo Baeck Fellowship Programme. The former fellows Dr Nitzan Lebovic (Tel Aviv University) and Dr Mirjam Wenzel (Jewish Museum Berlin) initiated this conference. We are very grateful to The Foundation «Remembrance, Responsibility and Future» which funded the conference and to the Jewish Museum Berlin which hosted it.
Programme
17 May 2009
Greetings
Cilly Kugelmann (Jewish Museum Berlin)
Martin Salm («Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future»)
Roland Hain (German National Academic Foundation)
Raphael Gross (Leo Baeck Institute London, Jewish Museum Frankfurt a. M., Fritz Bauer Institute)
Introduction
Nitzan Lebovic (Tel Aviv University)
evening session: A German-Jewish Critique?
German-Jewish scholars of the twentieth century often employed a refined system of critique to probe key ethical issues. Is it possible to define such critical attempts as a specifically Ger- man-Jewish ethics or culture? Was there a specifically German-Jewish perspective of critical thinking?
Presentations:
Steven Aschheim (Hebrew University.)
Icons Beyond Their Borders: The German-Jewish Intellectual Legacy at the Beginning of the Twenty First Century
Amir Eshel (Stanford University)
Futurity: On Paul Celan's poetry and thought
Adi Gordon (University of Wisconsin)
«East» and «West» as Central European-Jewish Critique: The Case of Hans Kohn
Chair and Commentator: Thomas Meyer (Simon Dubnow Institute Leipzig)
Reception
18 May 2009
Morning session: German-Jewish Intellectual Positions from Mystical traditions to Radical Politics
Modern German Jewry involved an unconventional alliance between mysticism and radical politics. Martin Buber, Gershom Scholem, Ernst Simon, Hans Kohn, and Hans Jonas are just a few of the twentieth-century figures who tried to reshape the heritage of Chassidism, Kabba- lah, and Gnosticism to suit the new Jewish state.
Presentations:
Martin Kavka (Florida State University)
The Success of the Desire: Verification in Martin Buber
Eugene Sheppard (Brandeis University
Taste the Forbidden Fruit: Reflections on Straussianism and the Homo-Erotics of Master-Dis- ciple Circles
Christian Wiese (Sussex University)
No «Love for the Jewish People»? Hans Jonas's Controversy with Hannah Arendt over «Eich- mann in Jerusalem» Revisited
Commentator: Udi Greenberg (Hebrew University)
Chair: Cilly Kugelmann (Jewish Museum Berlin)
Afternoon session I: A Jewish Political theology?
Jacob Taubes redefined Carl Schmitt’s concept of political theology in terms of Jewish reli- gious traditions, posing a series of questions: What is the task of political theology in a world very different from the one Schmitt knew? How did it become such a hotly debated topic? How should it be contextualized?
Presentations:
Vivian Liska (University of Antwerp)
Giorgio Agamben and the Legacy of Walter Benjamin’s Messianism
Nitzan Lebovic (Tel Aviv University)
Between Bund and Borders: The Israeli Case
Menachem Lorberbaum (Tel Aviv University.)
Two Concepts of Theocracy
Chair and Commentator: Martin Treml (Centre for Literary and Cultural Research, Berlin)
Afternoon session II: the Impact of German Jews on Political Culture and Constitutional Issues in Israel
Intellectual reflections on recent political developments often turn to the work of Leo Strauss on the one hand, and Hannah Arendt on the other. The history of law in the twentieth century was shaped by another figure: Hans Kelsen. Are the reflections of Kelsen, Strauss and Arendt on constitutionalism helpful in considering today’s political problems? Are they relevant for the situation in Israel?
Presentations:
Mordechai Kremnitzer (Institute for Democracy Jerusalem)
The Impact of German-Jewish Jurists on the Israeli Legal System
Izhak Englard (Hebrew University em./Israeli Supreme Court em.)
The Impact of Kelsen's Theory in Israel
Shai Lavi (Tel Aviv University)
Punishment and the Revocation of Citizenship in United Kingdom, United States and Israel Commentator: Alexandra Kemmerer (Simon Dubnow Institute, Leipzig)
Chair: Dieter Grimm (Humboldt University. em./Federal Constitutional Court em./Institute for Advanced Study Berlin)
19 May 2009
Workshops with students I
1. Politics meets Halakhic and Chassidic traditions (with Menachem Lorberbaum) 2. Carl Schmitt and Jacob Taubes (with Martin Treml)
Workshops with students II
1. Ethical considerations and aesthetic forms (with Vivian Liska) 2. An Israeli Constitution? (with Mordechai Kremnitzer)
Round table discussion: the end of German-Jewish History?
Is German-Jewish history at its final curve, dying with the generation that helped to shape it? Intellectual and political developments may suggest otherwise, but key academic institutions are quickly moving funds to other areas.
Contributions:
Steven Aschheim (Hebrew University), Martin Kavka (Florida State University), Nitzan Lebovic (Tel Aviv University), Vivian Liska (University of Antwerp), Stefanie Schüler- Springorum (Hamburg University)
Chair: Raphael Gross (Leo Baeck Institute London, Jewish Museum Frankfurt a. M., Fritz Bauer Institute)
