Since 2015, under the direction of Prof. Dr. Sarah Ross, the European Center for Jewish Music (EZJM) has developed into an internationally recognized research and teaching center.

It unites the fields of Jewish music, Jewish cultural heritage, and Jewish contemporary research. In doing so, it has established innovative approaches within Critical Jewish Heritage Studies and is distinguished by a high level of expertise in the empirical study of contemporary Jewish life.

Based on music and living heritage, the EZJM investigates Jewish life today in Germany, Europe, and Israel. Music and cultural practices are immediate expressions of Jewish life. They provide direct access to Jewish perceptions of current social, political, religious, and cultural developments. For its research, the EZJM employs methods from musicology, cultural studies, and social anthropology:

• Making Jewish perspectives visible: Diverse Jewish experiences and viewpoints are placed at the center, alongside—but not limited to—the analysis of historical sources.
• Empirical research on the present: Through qualitative social research, longitudinal studies, and ethnographic fieldwork, the EZJM examines how Jewish life is lived, shaped, and further developed today.
• Documenting living practice: Music and cultural heritage are not understood as museum objects, but as dynamic and evolving expressions of Jewish identity and community.
• Addressing knowledge gaps: Research at the EZJM contributes to the generation of well-founded knowledge about contemporary Jewish life—as a basis for social participation and political engagement.

As a subfield of musicological research and teaching at the HMTMH, the EZJM studies and teaches Jewish music in all its manifestations—from synagogue chant and paraliturgical traditions to secular musical practices of Jews in diverse cultural contexts.

This thematic breadth is reflected in:

• academic conferences with a focus on the present
• two publication series: Jüdische Musikstudien (Peter Lang) and Jüdische Gegenwart (De Gruyter)
• the digital research database www.soundscape-synagoge.de
• the cataloguing and study of important collections, including the estates of Edith Gerson-Kiwi and Peter Ury.

Since April 2022, Prof. Dr. Sarah Ross is speaker of the DFG Priority Program "Jewish Cultural Heritage" (funding volume: EUR 11 million, duration: 2022–2028). This program marks a turning point in the German research landscape and, for the first time, systematically combines Critical Heritage Studies with Jewish contemporary research.

At its core lies the overarching question of how Jewish cultural heritage is constructed, authorized, and negotiated today.

The EZJM maintains close collaborations with leading international institutions:

• Jewish Music Research Centre, Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel)
• Tel Aviv University (Israel)
• Center for Critical Heritage Studies, University of Gothenburg (Sweden)
• University of Leeds (England)
• University of Amsterdam (Netherlands)
• Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. (USA)
• Concordia University, Montréal (Canada)

In cooperation with the universities of Leeds, Amsterdam, and Tel Aviv, an international doctoral network is currently being planned. It will unite empirically grounded, critical research on contemporary Jewish life and explicitly addresses the cultural and socio-political significance of Jewish heritage after 7 October 2023.

The EZJM library (since summer 2023 located in the “Judaica” section of the new HMTMH Library, Leisewitzstraße 39) is part of the HMTMH library system.

Its collection focus includes:

• Jewish music, especially synagogue music
• Jewish studies and ethnology
• Critical Heritage Studies and cultural sustainability
• the Andor Izsák Collection, including the estate of Edith Gerson-Kiwi and the collection of Chief Cantor Nathan Saretzki
• the estate of the German-Jewish composer Peter Ury.

Since 2016, students at the HMTMH have been able to study Jewish Music Studies as a major and elective field within the Master’s program "Musicology and Music Education". Four aspects are central:

• the connection between historical knowledge and analysis of the present
• training in empirical research methods (ethnography, qualitative interviews, fieldwork)
• preparation for working with living cultural practices
• preparation for careers in culture, education, and applied research

Within the framework of the Priority Program "Jewish Cultural Heritage", cross-site teaching collaborations are maintained, for example with the University of Education Schwäbisch Gmünd and the Hochschule für Jüdische Studien Heidelberg.

The EZJM regularly communicates its research findings to a broad audience. In cooperation with the Villa Seligmann, for example, concerts and salon discussions are held that combine scholarly content with artistic performances and engage with current topics:

• Sacred Music of German Jewry Through Time (2022)
• “The Kiss of Judas Is My Obsession”: A Portrait of the German-Jewish Composer Peter Ury (2023)
• Golden Times: Renewal in the Orthodox World Through Music in the Digital Age (2024)

These and other events make it possible to hear and experience how Jewish life sounds, expresses itself, and develops today.

With its expertise in Jewish contemporary research, the EZJM combines academic excellence with social relevance and understands Jewish cultural heritage as a living, evolving resource for the present and the future.

Through its distinctive approach via music and cultural practices, the EZJM contributes to making Jewish life today visible, audible, and comprehensible.