Sophie Stern reports on the recent 'tent' trip to Berlin in November 2008:

In the early hours of Thursday 13th November, tent began its journey to Berlin. ‘tentniks’ from all over the country boarded planes, trains and buses in order to reach their final destination; Johannesstift, Berlin. We were all heading to Germany to be part of Progressive Judaism’s first ever trans-European seminar, coordinated by Jung und Judisch, tent and TaMar.

The first evening saw Jews from all around the world coming together to take part in a ‘Who is the Super-Jew?!’ ice-breaker session. Run by Avivit Katzil and Jordan Helfman, it was a great way to meet and talk to other Jews and by the end of the night, everyone was laughing and talking with each other about their backgrounds and their journeys. Many of the participants then headed out for the night into the heart of Berlin to continue their discussions over drinking and dancing, indeed, the way all good conversations should develop.

Friday morning saw the beginning of the seminar sessions. The programme had been built around a three track system, where sessions were held under a religious, political or cultural theme, giving the participant a wide variety of topics to choose from.

This meant that one could start their day with a religious session on ‘Lech Lecha in Modern Jewish Literature’, continue it with a politically themed ‘New Antisemetism – Same Old Problem’ and end it with a relaxing cultural session on ‘Jewish Meditation’. All sessions sounded so appealing and were of such a high calibre that participants found it very difficult to choose between the three!

The Kabbalat Shabbat service was led by our tent team Sandra Kviat, Rabbi Hillel Athias-Robles and Avivit Katzil. For many of the participants it was their first ‘tent’ service but this didn’t hold them back as everybody joined in with the ‘tent’ songs and it was a lovely way to welcome Shabbat. Needless to say, the ‘tent’ CDs were snapped up by the end of the service.

Saturday morning’s service was led by Student Rabbis Lea Muehlstein and Paul and accompanied by Nashville songwriter Michael Hunter Ochs. The rest of the day was spent studying, learning and talking to new friends. After a beautiful Havdallah, it was time to sit back and enjoy a play by Conflict Relief, The Arab and Israeli Theatre Collaboration: “The Arab, the Jew and the Chicken”.

The aim of the play was to address the conflict in the Middle East from a comedic perspective and the actors and actresses certainly achieved this. The audience were in hysterics throughout the night and the question and answer session held afterwards gave a great insight into the thoughts and ideas behind the show.

Our final day in Berlin gave us a chance to get out and really experience the heart of the city. Trips included a visit to the Jewish Museum, the Jewish Holocaust Memorial and a walking tour of Jewish Berlin. All groups then met up at the Jewish Museum where our trip was concluded by a Commemoration Ceremony for the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht.

And our ‘tentniks’, what did they have to say about the seminar?

David Finn: “The event was extremely well-organised and enabled us to reflect on Jewish issues through a number of channels. The setting of Berlin was ideal: as well as marking the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht, it showed us how far the Jewish community in Germany has revived. It was great to see so many young Germans celebrating their Judaism and inviting Jews from all over the world to share their new-found spirit and optimism”.

Natalie Aronson: “Most of all it was great to meet Jews from all over Europe (and the ‘United States of Obama’), to hear their stories and the stories of their families – something which I think is not only interesting but also important for new Jewish generations to share and understand”