Judeo-Futurism

The performance “Judeo-Futurism” took place on December 11th 2025 at the Jewish Museum in Amsterdam. The event, a collaboration between David Bernstein, Julie Weitz, and Lara Bongard was part of the public series called “Imagining Futures: The power of futures thinking in uncertain times” curated by Mirthe Frese.

The evening was a humorous, joyful, and critical look at our Jewish future. Grounded in human rights and an understanding that we are all intertwined in this world together, as Judeo-Futurists we celebrate "Doykeit", the Yiddish concept meaning "Hereness". Doykeit says that as Jews, we are home wherever we are. In contrast to Zionism and ethno-nationalism, Judeo-Futurism is based in solidarity and fights for the collective liberation of all people, especially for Palestinians.

Our evening at the Jewish Museum in Amsterdam was also about taking a break from the broken reality of the present to imagine an alternative future, a cosmic future that draws from the ancestral wisdom of Judaism. We served up Sour Wandering Jew cocktails; offered anointing oils, protective garlic, special spiraling pastries from historical recipes; and the Psychedelic Tzadik led everyone in pickle play and an exercise in moving from Oy to Joy! We created new rituals and opened up the door to the world to come.

I developed a vision of what Judeo-Futuristic food could be. In collaboration with Veerle Melis, we created a braided basket, inspired by early 19th-century portable market vendors in Eastern-Europe, who walked from village to village carrying baskets filled with fresh produce and strings of baked goods wrapped under their arms.

In Judaism, time is understood as non-linear – a spiral rather than a straight line, endlessly regenerating. The present is always carrying the past, while holding the future within it.

During the performance, I walked in spirals while distributing spiral-shaped ensaïmadas from Mallorca, embodying non-linear time and regeneration. The audience could break off a sushka (the smaller sister of the bagel) from the strings draped around my shoulders, symbolizing the cycle of life. Around my neck, I wore a braided garlic necklace as a protective charm. Everyone was given a clove of garlic to keep in their pocket.

I was inspired by Jewish diasporic movements across continents, weaving different traditions and localities over time. Jewish food traditions never existed in isolation, but mirror a kaleidoscope of interwoven cultures and histories of cultural exchange and dynamic coexistence.