AUFBAU  20. Februar 2003 The Many Ways to Be a Jew in Germany Today Tackling Identity Questions at Jewish Winter University By Adam Sacks When the Catholic Church of Wurzburg in southern Germany wanted to build a cloister in the 15th century, the town looked to the Jewish cemetery. It had been expropriated when the bishop had banished the towns Jewsfor construction material. The headstones were removed and set into the walls of the cloister with their backs to the outside. Ironically, this original act of desecration kept the headstone inscriptions in much better condition than if they had been lying undisturbed in the cemetery, but exposed to the elements all those years. Totaling 1, 496 headstones in all, the largest number of extant headstones from any single medieval Jewish cemetery, they were rediscovered some time in the 1990s. They are soon to be exhibited inside Wurzburgs new Jewish community center, where, among other signs of a rebirth of Jewish life in Germany, the second annual "Jewish Winter University" met from January 16-19. A forum for young Jews in Germany of which there are ever-growing numbers today to discuss issues of importance to them, the "Jewish Winter University" is organized by the Federal Union of Jewish Students in Germany, and was sponsored by the Ronald Lauder Foundation, the Wurzburg Jewish community, the Central Council for Jews in Germany and the World Zionist Congress. According to Uriel Kashi, the gatherings main organizer, they chose the English title "Jewish Winter University," because it lent it "a more modern feel." Furthermore, the use of the word university was meant to underline the fact that at mainstream universities "students learn from a Christian, albeit secular, perspective," although it is never explicitly acknowledged. The theme of this second Jewish Winter University was "What is Judaism?" Formal classroom presentations on the topic were plentiful, but it was the discussions in the wings that, perhaps, stirred the most passions. And although students disagreed with each other vehemently at times over what lay at the core of their own identities as Jews in Germany today, all seemed relieved to realize that, as several put it, "There are people like me, who think and struggle with these issues." Hanno Loewy, Director of the Fritz Bauer Institute, and one of the presenters, saw a unique opportunity for Jews living in contemporary Germany to shape their own sense of identity. "It is a struggle with something new," he said, "There is a certain independence from the German-Jewish tradition. Instead, it is a mixture of various cultures forming a less narrow culture." Loewy added that Jews in Germany today are "better integrated into German society than other minority groups." Indeed, the gathering was characterized by its pluralism and the diversity of views represented. When asked whether they felt themselves to be German Jews or simply Jews in Germany, students varied widely in their responses. Tobias Hansen, whose grandparents fled Berlin for Colombia, for example, insisted that "I am a Jew in Germany," and added that "I have a problem with my rabbi who says he is a German Jew." Gregor Wettberg, whose grandmother had survived the war in hiding, on the other hand, refused to define himself as either, although he stressed his links to German culture, saying that he believes "strongly that Jews should live in the Diaspora," as opposed to Israel. And Adam Mouchtar-Samorai, who claims he makes the best cappuccino in Bonn and who is a mix of Israeli, British, and German, said, "There are many possibilities. I have taken the best pieces of each piece of the cake." The Berlin artist Anna Adam was present at the conference, although due to the controversy surrounding her work, she had to hold her seminar in a local café. She plays with clichés and uses humor to tackle the issue of identity, as well as to address the larger context of relations between Germans and Jews. Calling the relationship "the German-Jewish sickness," Adam takes issue with Germans who attempt to blur the distinction between German and Jew, inappropriately identifying themselves with Jews. In her work, Adam breaks taboos in order to draw attention to the demarcation line between the two identities. She is dismayed by even well-intentioned philo-Semitism of which she says, "There is a shared helplessness in this problem. They should think with us and be careful with what they say. On the other hand, it wouldnt be better to hide ones feelings." How do these young Jews express their identity? Born in Riga, Emma Livsica made three unsuccessful attempts at settling in Israel, was ejected from a religious girlsschools for wearing shorts and currently performs at the Russian theater in Hannover. Of being Jewish, she says,"I feel different. I am a fighter for everything." Hansen takes a somewhat similar stance. "I like to provoke," he says, "I wear two David stars, one around my neck and another on my hand, to say, See, you didnt achieve what you wanted to. Others say, I am a football fan."I am a Judaism fan. Its just great." Johanna Vollhardt, cofounder of the group Jung und Jüdisch (Young and Jewish), Germany's Liberal Jewish youth group, feels that "Jewish life in Germany is less natural, and more cramped, than in New York, where I can also meet Jews through secular channels. Here there are those who strain to be super-Jews. My crazy Jewish biography with parents from two different countries, me born in another and a grandmother that lived in seven different countries, makes me different from others." Gabriel Wolff, a peace activist and one of over 500 Israeli soldiers who have refused to serve in the territories in Israel, tries to separate his "Jewish identity" from his "origins," he says. He says he feels that he is Jewish "only because I choose it. In no way do I see a Jew as more Jewish because he or she prays." He adds that, "Jews are responsible for what takes place in their name, especially in Israel." Israel was, of course, also included in the official and the unofficial programand was perhaps the topic that aroused the most heated debates. Yet here, too, the gathering displayed When Wolff got up to tell his story of conscientious objection, a religious Zionist rabbi interrupted him mid-sentence, accusing him of blaspheming the Jewish people. The tension in the air was palpable, but Kashi, the organizer, insisted that both Wolff and those opposing him be given equal opportunities to speak. And there were those who wanted to move away from the identity question altogether. Nurit Schaller put it this way: "I try to see it holistically. I am above all a person; I dont represent anything more. I dont let myself be determined by others, confined to a narrow role." The concluding talk by Michael Brenner, a professor for Jewish Studies at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, tackled the difficult question of the extent to which anti-Semitism and the fight against it determines Jewish identity. As Kashi explained, unlike almost all other conferences available for Jewish youth in Germany, this one doesnt let Judaism be reduced to a society for fighting anti-Semitism. This conference represents a move away from a "negative identity, which leads to frustration, because it doesnt really function well." Nevertheless, some asked if one can pose the identity question in Germany without taking into account the trauma of the Holocaust. The Wurzburg Jewish community, for one, decided not to commemorate its recent 850th anniversary, because the oldest evidence of its existence is of its destruction. Instead, the "Jewish Winter University" represents a more hopeful celebration.