Are There Too Many Jews?
“The Jewish community—there are too many of you,” declared the owner of a snack bar in Les Deux-Alpes this summer. This statement encapsulates an age-old...
Ruben Honigmann
Born in 1983 in East Berlin, Ruben Honigmann grew up in Strasbourg. After studying at a yeshiva and completing a degree in history at university, he joined Akadem in 2008, where he now serves as editorial director.
Articles by Ruben Honigmann
Where Do the Jews Come From? (And Where Are They Going?)
On the occasion of the second evening of K. On Stage at the Théâtre de la Concorde in Paris, under the theme of "Jews of...
“I didn’t want to be a female rabbi, I wanted to be a rabbi.”
The first woman to be ordained as a rabbi in France in 1990, Pauline Bebe crystallized long-standing tensions within French Judaism: its relationship to tradition,...
The two beggars
Is being Jewish a pretense, a masquerade? Caught up in the eccentric merry-go-round between two beggars, Ruben Honigmann enjoys being thrown off balance, to the...
My neighbors from Auschwitz
As the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz is commemorated, and the last survivors are summoned to compensate for the inadequacies of a memory...
We are only ever the second to last Jew
On the occasion of the K. sur scène evening, centered on the theme of The Last of the Jews, Ruben Honigmann invited us to meditate...
October 8
What happens when the carelessness of ritual festivities comes to an end, and the merciless course of history takes over? In this text, Ruben Honigmann...
Jews amaze me
"One thing never ceases to amaze me about Jews—their ability to marvel at the hostility directed against them. With every antisemitic murder, attack, massacre, or...
The Class Photo
Often, I look at the class photo. Each time, I catch myself tracking down the tiny clues that foreshadowed the destinies: the Michael Jordan cap...
My Father’s Sukkah
"I like Sukkot. For a week, Jews are required to eat their meals in an ephemeral dwelling, in Hebrew a sukkah, which is translated, for...
“I pictured Austria as Germany without Nazism.” A Childhood Fantasy.
“I arrived in France when I was only one year old and waited 37 years to become French. I knew nothing about my homeland Germany,...
Is your German Hebrew?
"It's the same scene every time. I'm in a Parisian square and people ask me what language I speak with my children. My "Jewish face"...