Becoming Jewish in Berlin

Why do young Israelis choose to come to Berlin and how does this impact Jewish life? With this ethnography, Vanessa Rau provides a captivating portrait and analysis of a new Jewish-Hebrew urban scene. Depicting different initiatives and biographical trajectories, she shows diverse and complex ways of being and becoming Jewish in Berlin, and presents an analysis of a vibrant scene, its actors, stages and performances and how it is shaped by its historical and socio-political context and representations. She shows how actors struggle with fundamental questions of 'being Jewish' and 'being German' and illuminates contemporary Jewishness – offering new understandings of migration and its impact on social and religious life.