Exhibition about head - and body covering - at the Jewish Museum Berlin

It starts with shpitzel and ends with burka...

You can approach the issue of women head covering and woman modesty in general in different, more or less controversially. For instance, one can pledge for the way in which women are usually requested to submit to rules mostly elaborated by men or the historical perspective can be chosen, by outlining the religious and traditional reasons that lead to the adoption of a certain custom. 

The newest exhibition at the Jewish Museum Berlin is dedicated to exactly this topic. I had some mixed feelings about going there, particularly after being very disappointed about the simplistic - to say the least - way in which the fascinating topic of Golem was presented last autumn. 

But it seems disappointment can only go further. It a convenient way close to the multi-kulti concept usually associated to the city of Berlin, the Jewish head covering and modesty approaches are presented together with burqa and nun clothes. Indeed, there are approaches to modesty, but I dare to say that there are many different interpretation of the same concept, but the power of the curious mind is to outline and trace the differences, instead of creating simplistic versions.

In fact, I would have been very curious to explore the eventual similarities and synergies in the case of the attitude towards women in Oriental communities. Or a historical evolution about how the rules in the case of Jewish women head covering became stricter and more elaborated in the last decade. Or, I would have even accepted to see a rebelious approach on head covering, including the moment when women can chose not to cover their head, while adherring to the Orthodox religious principles. Or...or...The list is too long, but none of my curious inquieries were answered. Instead, I was offered an undefinite setting aimed at illustrating the topic, but without properly saying anything. More than being confusing, such a stance is disappointing and I have only to regret that (just) another interesting topic was destroyed willingly by a 'fast-food' like approach. Turning any topic into a popular culture (maybe one of the best exhibitions at this museums I enjoyed in the last years was about super heroes and comics so maybe there is an exclusive knowledge potential for such topics) issue doesn't work for any subjects.