38. Jüdische Kulturtage Berlin

In the organizer's words:

The Jewish Community of Berlin invites you to the 38th Jewish Culture Days Berlin from Thursday, November 13 to Sunday, November 23, 2025. Under the direction of Avi Toubiana, the largest festival of Jewish life in Berlin presents more than 40 events with German, Israeli and other international artists at various venues, such as exhibitions, comedy, concerts, readings, discourse formats, screenings of new Israeli feature films and events for children and young people.

This year, the opening concert of the Jewish Culture Days Berlin combines Jewish history with well-known Hollywood film scores with "Let My People Grow". Under the direction of Igor Budinstein, the Sinfonie Orchester Berlin will perform musical excerpts from Oscar-winning films, while specially designed visual elements enter into a dialog with Evgeny Kozlov 's choreography. The result is a vivid picture of Jewish history.

The evening will be opened by Talya G. A Solan, founder of the Yamma Ensemble, which specializes in traditional Israeli music, will open the evening. She will sing the song "Munich 1972" from the Steven Spielberg-directed drama "Munich" (USA 2005). With this program item, the festival commemorates all Jewish victims of terrorist attacks worldwide - together with Agam Berger, who was kidnapped by Hamas on 7 October 2023, was held captive by the terrorist organization until the beginning of this year and will take part in the opening concert.

Highlights

This year's highlights include the new show by US stand-up comedian Modi Rosenfeld and the performance by jazz bassist Avishai Cohen & The Hebrew Book Band Chapter II with a Berlin-exclusive program at the Rykestraße Synagogue. The Yamma Teiman ensemble will celebrate its debut at the Jewish Culture Days with traditional Jewish music and contemporary sounds from the Middle East. For the closing concert at Fotografiska, Hadag Nachash, one of Israel's most successful hip-hop formations, will be performing.

Literature program

This year's literature program was developed in cooperation with the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin and the Freundeskreis der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin e.V. and consists of three pillars: Exhibitions, readings and a program for children and young people. Most of the events will take place at the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, with the following authors, among others: Christian Berkel, Dieter Borchmeyer, Susanne Schädlich, Irina Scherbakowa, Leon de Winter, Assaf Gavron, Dmitrij Kapitelman, Sarah Levy, Henrik Szántó and Christiane Wirtz.

Exhibitions

Materialized Holiness. Jewish book art in a cultural context at the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin Unter den Linden. The exhibition presents selected Hebrew manuscripts from the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin's exquisite Hebraica collection and provides fascinating insights into Jewish book art and its cultural context.

Mir zenen do! - We are here! - Documents from the DP camps

The Displaced Persons Collection of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, consisting of religious works, newspapers and newsletters, literature and textbooks, documentation and memorandum books, is one of the most important collections of its kind in Europe. Thanks to the support of foundations and donations, 150 particularly endangered works have been restored and are now on display.

Overture to "A Midsummer Night's Dream " - multimedia exhibition and concert in virtual reality

In collaboration with Henrik Oppermann from ReflectMusic, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, under the direction of Timothy Summers, has further developed a key work by the young Felix Mendelssohn and transferred it to the infinity of digital space.

Film program

The cinematic program is provided by Seret International, Israel's largest film and TV festival. Among others, the following films will be shown: Cabaret Total (Israel 2024, 91 min.), Director: Roy Assaf, Screenplay: Roy Assaf, Omri van Essen, Irena's Secret (Canada/Poland 2023, 121 min.), Director: Louise Archambault, Screenplay: Dan Gordon.

Venues

Rykestraße Synagogue, Rykestraße 53, 10405 Berlin

State Library, Theodor-Fontane-Saal, Unter den Linden 8, 10117 Berlin

State Library, Wilhelm von Humboldt Hall, Unter den Linden 8, 10117 Berlin

New Synagogue, Centum Judaicum, Oranienburger Str. 28-30, 10117 Berlin

Hackesche Höfe Cinema, Rosenthaler Str. 40, 10178 Berlin

Fotografiska, Oranienburger Str. 54, 10117 Berlin

Impressions of the Jewish Culture Days 2024: https://youtu.be/ZpQ8-TLvuGU

The program of the 38th Jewish Culture Days Berlin can be found on the website https://www.juedische-kulturtage.org/

The Jewish Culture Days are an event of the Jewish Community of Berlin.

Price information:

Tickets cost between six and 70 euros (plus additional fees if applicable), some events are free of charge. Tickets are available at all known advance booking offices, online via www.jkt.berlin or via Papagena ticket sales: +49 30 47997474 (Mon-Sat 9am-8pm, Sun 2pm-8pm) Tickets for the cinema films are available online via: www. hoefekino.de.hoefekino.de Discounts (proof required) Pupils, students, trainees 20%, disabled persons 100% (only by telephone) * Please note that ticket and advance booking fees may be added to the ticket price and that telephone charges may apply.