7 October, the terror of Hamas war in Gaza, and the worldwide protests against it, pose new and crucial questions for Jews around the world: questions of belonging, alienation from Israel or loyalty to the Jewish state, and representation. While anti-Semitic hostility is on the rise worldwide, many liberal, secular or progressive Jews disagree with the policies of the current Israeli government and find themselves struggling to explain their position. A field of tension has emerged that is not only political but also existential. How can solidarity and criticism be reconciled? Does being Jewish also mean being Israeli? The book, edited by Amir Eshel and Thomas Sparr, familiarises readers with the discussion on this topic in the United States.

The discussion will be led by the panellists:

Sarah Hammerschlag: Sarah Hammerschlag is John Nuveen Professor of Religion and Literature, Philosophy of Religions and History of Judaism at The University of Chicago. Her research thus far has focused on the position of Judaism in the post-World War II French intellectual scene, a field that puts her at the crossroads of numerous disciplines and scholarly approaches including philosophy, literary studies, and intellectual history.

David N. Myers: David N. Myers is Distinguished Professor and holds the Sady and Ludwig Kahn Chair in Jewish History at the University of California. He has written extensively in the fields of modern Jewish intellectual and cultural history.

Thomas Sparr: Dr. Thomas Sparr is an author and Editor-at-Large at Suhrkamp Verlag. Together with Professor Amir Eshel, he is the editor of Being Jewish Today. Having studied literature and philosophy, he worked at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem from 1986 to 1989, headed Jüdischer Verlag from 1990 to 1998, and served as editor-in-chief at Siedler Verlag.

The discussion will be chaired by Andrew Gross: Andrew Gross is Professor of North America Studies at the University of Göttingen. In his research he focuses on representations of the Holocaust, modernist poetry, and the cultural history of the Cold War.

In Kooperation mit der Peter Suhrkamp Stiftung und den Freunden der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin e.V.

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