Invitation

After the great success of the first conference two years ago and repeated requests that Bet Debora continue, for the second time we would like to invite Jewish women and men and anyone else interested from all of Europe to Berlin. This time we want to engage with the myth and reality of the "Jewish family" from a women’s perspective. The traditional nuclear family continues to be seen as one of the foundations of Jewish tradition in which the role of women is clearly defined. And yet Jewish women and men also live in single households, as single parents, in "mixed" partnerships or in lesbian and gay partnerships and they attribute very different importance to their Jewish identity.

How does the diversity of lifestyles that exists enrich Jewish life? What new perspectives for Jewish tradition open up against this background? What issues does it bring up? What challenges and opportunities lie in this development?

Once again, women from various European countries will come and hold services, offer shiurim and workshops and read papers.

The conference will open on Friday 1 June 2001 at 11:00 a.m. in Krausnickstrasse 6 in Berlin’s Mitte district with the inauguration of a plaque dedicated to Regina Jonas (1902-1944), the world’s first female rabbi. The conference officially begins on the same afternoon at 4:00 p.m. at the Jewish Community Centre (Centrum Judaicum), Oranienburger Strasse 28/29. It ends on Monday 4 June 2001 with a steamboat trip along Berlin’s rivers and canals – past places where Jewish women were active in Berlin (2:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.).

Guests of honour:

• Lilli Marx, Ruth Galinski, Inge Marcus (Wiederbegründerinnen des "Jüdischen Frauenbundes" 1946)
• Prof. Dr. Alice Shalvi (Jerusalem)

Speakers:

• Adina Ben-Chorin (Zürich)
• Lynn Feinberg (Oslo)
• Dr. Jael Geis (Berlin)
• Kant. Avitall Gerstetter (Berlin)
• Rabb. Prof. Dr. Eveline Goodman-Thau (Wien)
• Dr. Rachel Monika Herweg (Berlin)
• Ruth Herzka Bollinger (Basel)
• Jessica Jacoby (Berlin)
• Dr. Susanna Keval (Frankfurt/ M.)
• Lori Klein (Santa Cruz)
• Esther Kontarsky (Berlin)
• Wanya Kruyer (Amsterdam)
• Dr. Eleonore Lappin (Wien)
• Drancia Levi (Sarajevo)
• Dr. Andrea Petö (Budapest)
• Dr. Hannah Rheinz (München)
• Jacqueline Rothschild (Berlin)
• Rabb. Sylvia Rothschild (Orpington)
• Rabb. Elizabeth Tikvah Sarah (Brighton)
• Rabb. Nelly Shulman (Minsk)
• Rabb. Alexandra Wright (Hertfordshire)
• Rabb. Daniela Thau (Bedford)

Organizer:

• Bet Debora e.V.
  Haus der Demokratie und Menschenrechte
  Greifswalder Str. 4
  10405 Berlin
  Germany
  
  Tel.: +49-30-4208 5330
  Fax: +49-30-4208 5332
  e-mail: bet.debora@berlin.de

Executive Committee:

• Lara Dämmig
• Elisa Klapheck

Conference Coordination Centre:

• Grit Beel
• Rainer Krokat
• Carolyn Naumann

Conference Venue

• Centrum Judaicum
  Oranienburger Str. 28-30
  10117 Berlin
  Germany
  
  (Underground station (U-Bahn): Oranienburger Tor, metropolitan station (S-Bahn): Hackescher Markt or Oranienburger Strasse, streetcar lines 1,6 and 13)

The conference coordination centre at the conference venue will be staffed on Friday from 10:00 a.m on.

All talks will be simultaneously translated into German and English. The workshops and shiurim will be held in either German or English.

Vegetarian food will be provided during the conference.

Please fill in the enclosed registration form and fax or send it to Bet Debora. The number of participant places is limited. Registrations will be processed on a first come first served basis.

• programme
• registration form