Saxony is celebrating Jewish culture with more than 300 projects in the coming year. Concerts, exhibitions, readings, workshops as well as dance and theater performances will make Jewish life and Jewish culture visible and tangible in all regions, according to the presentation of the program. According to Culture Minister Barbara Klepsch (CDU), around 1.45 million euros are available for this purpose. "People should be able to experience Jewish culture and history on their own doorstep."
The theme year will be launched on Sunday (December 14) in Chemnitz with the lighting of the first candle for the Hanukkah festival. Seiffen craftsman Ringo Müller and designer Markus Weber have created a special candlestick for the occasion: It combines the Christmas candle arch with the shape of a Hanukkia with nine candles. According to Jewish tradition, an additional candle is lit every evening during Hanukkah. The festival commemorates the rededication of the second temple in Jerusalem.
Encounters and respectful exchange
"The fact that we have Jewish life in Germany is, in my view, a great stroke of luck," said Alexander Dierks (CDU), President of the State Parliament. "In view of the terrible crime of the Shoah, it is anything but a matter of course."
The theme year is entitled "Tacheles" ("Tacheles") and thus stands for a free and respectful exchange of opinions at eye level. It is also about culture, history and encounters and their contribution to peaceful coexistence, explained Küf Kaufmann, member of the Presidium of the State Association of the Jewish Community in Saxony.
The program includes a concert project in Dresden's Frauenkirche and other venues where works from the Christian and Jewish musical tradition will be performed. In the Gebrüder Pfau cloth factory in Crimmitschau, artist Maja Gratzfeld will create a large textile installation entitled "Colors of Religions" and an interfaith moped service is planned in Großschirma.
In Leipzig, the "Alliances, Voices, Perspectives" series will include a panel discussion on anti-Semitism in rap and hip-hop, as well as a discussion with Holocaust survivor Renate Aris.
The occasion for the theme year is the founding of the first state association of Jewish communities in Saxony 100 years ago.
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