EAJS Summer Colloquium 2012

“Wissenschaft des Judentums in Europe: Comparative Perspectives”

Yarnton Manor, Oxford

23rd to 26th July 2012

Jewish Studies today is an integral part of academia, but the history of the discipline throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries is of a young, new field of research that was never really accepted at European universities before the Holocaust. Despite this discrimination, modern Jewish scholarship developed in Germany after the Enlightenment, when it was called Wissenschaft des Judentums.

The Wissenschaft des Judentums spread to most of the European Jewish communities, creating its own institutions and producing an impressive record of scholarship in the fields of Jewish history, religion, literature and culture. Apart from its scholarly endeavours, the Wissenschaft des Judentums served an important role in the Jewish minority’s struggle for political and cultural emancipation. Moreover Wissenschaft des Judentums was not only part of the attempt to foster Jewish identity but also served as an instrument for the defence against anti-Semitism.

Most of the research on Wissenschaft des Judentums undertaken so far focuses on Germany or analyzes the history of Jewish Studies along national lines without providing any comparative perspectives. This is especially problematic as Jewish Studies was clearly a transnational European endeavour, characterized by a network of scholars all over Europe and North America. Furthermore, the situation of Wissenschaft des Judentums varied in different countries and political contexts.

The purpose of the 2012 Colloquium is to bring together international scholars in the field and to partly rewrite the history of Wissenschaft des Judentums/ Jewish Studies in a collective, interdisciplinary endeavour, and to provide a comprehensive systematic and comparative representation of the history of Jewish Studies in Europe before the Holocaust while also taking into account new developments since 1945.

The colloquium organiser is Professor Dr. Christian Wiese, Martin Buber Chair, University of Frankfurt  and Visiting Research Professor, Centre for German-Jewish Studies at the University of Sussex. E-mail: Thulin@em.uni-frankfurt.de.

Participation in the Colloquium is by invitation.

Observers are welcome to apply to attend the Colloquium, though space is very limited and only a few places are available. To enquire about registering as an observer, please contact the EAJS Administrator at admin@eurojewishstudies.org.

Nexus 2: Essays in German Jewish Studies

Edited by William Collins Donahue and Martha B. Helfer

Nexus, the official publication of the biennial German Jewish Workshop at Duke University, invites proposals for our second volume. We are interested in innovative research that introduces new directions in German Jewish Studies, analyzes the definition and development of the field itself, considers the place of German Jewish Studies with the disciplines of both German Studies and Jewish Studies, and discusses pedagogical approaches to the field.

We welcome submissions from participants of the German Jewish Studies Workshop, as well as from other scholars in the German Jewish Studies community.  Nexus is a refereed publication.

Please send short (300 word) proposals, along with a brief CV, to our managing editor, Mr. Steffen Kaupp (steffen.kaupp@duke.edu). Deadline: July 15, 2012.

The third biennial German Jewish Studies Workshop will be held at Duke University in February 10 – 12, 2013.

Questions? Contact Bill Donahue (wcd2@duke.edu) or Martha Helfer (mhelfer@rci.rutgers.edu).

September 2012 to June 2013

The David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library and the Center for Jewish Studies are pleased to announce the availability of new fellowships to support scholars, students, and independent researchers whose work would benefit from access to the Judaica materials held by the Rubenstein Library, the Duke Divinity School Library, and/or Perkins Library. Applicants must live outside of a 100-mile radius from Durham, NC.

• Grants must be used between September 2012 and June 30, 2013
• Grant recipients will receive up to $1500 per week for funding, plus airfare
• Grant recipients will be required to submit a research report, either verbally via an informal luncheon colloquium or via written report

For research during summer 2012

• Complete applications must be received by August 17, 2012
• Recipients will be announced September 1, 2012

For more information and to download a copy of the application form with submission instructions please visit: http://library.duke.edu/specialcollections/services/grants/js.html. Applicants are strongly encouraged to submit their applications electronically.

The Jewish Studies collections at Duke Libraries include a wide variety of resources, from current publications, films and videos to rare and unique manuscripts and archival material. An impressive collection of Pesach Haggadot is hosted in the Rubenstein Library, spanning over 1000 years of history, from five continents, written in several different languages, and created for a variety of specific purposes. Many of these Haggadot are part of the Abram and Frances Pascher Kanof Collection of Jewish Art, Archaelogy and Symbolism, which also has an exceptional collection of unique art books by Jewish and Israeli artists, as well as Jewish ceremonial art pieces.  The Rubenstein’s Southern Jewish History collections include the personal papers of prominent Jewish families and individuals in the region; its Human Rights Archive holds the personal papers of the distinguished Jewish rabbi and human rights activist Marshall T. Meyer.

In addition to these special collections, Duke Libraries also holds a growing collection of modern Hebrew literature, both in the original Hebrew and in translation, as well as modern Jewish history, Zionism, the history and society of Israel, and the Arab-Israeli conflict.  The microform collection includes Testaments to the Holocaust from the Wiener Library, and the Guenzburg Collection of Hebrew Manuscripts in the Russian State Library, as well as Historical Hebrew Newspapers, to name but a few.

The Divinity School Library holds our collections of ancient and medieval Jewish history, as well as Biblical studies, Ancient Near East archeology and cultures, and Rabbinic literature.

For more information regarding these collections and for links to the catalogs, please visit:

http://library.duke.edu/research/subject/guides/jewishstudies/about.html

Applicants are encouraged to contact Jewish Studies Librarian Rachel Ariel before submitting their application. In our experience, those who spoke with a staff member about their projects before submitting an application have produced stronger applications. For detailed inquiries about our holdings, e-mail is the preferred mode of contact. Contact information is listed below:

David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library

Box 90185

Duke University

Durham, NC  27708-0185

E-mail: rachel.ariel@duke.edu

Website: http://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/services/grants/js.html

Applicants are strongly encouraged to submit their applications electronically.

University of Pennsylvania

Post-Doctoral Fellowship 2013–2014

Application Deadline: November 10, 2012

Constructing Borders and Crossing Boundaries:

Social, Cultural and Religious Change in Early Modern Jewish History

Scholars working in a wide variety of disciplines have long identified the late fifteenth through the late eighteenth century as a discrete historical period called “Early Modern.” Among scholars interested in the place of Jews and Jewish culture within this period, however, there has been little attempt to think broadly about early modernity as a whole or to connect the insights of discrete studies in any coherent and meaningful way. This research group will create a conversation that connects these smaller units and so examines those changes in the Jewish world which characterized the Early Modern. We will focus on the issue of borders and boundaries, understood as not only geographical, but also social, cultural, legal, political, and economic. Some divided and connected the Jewish and the non-Jewish, while others functioned within Jewish society, creating internal divisions and conjunctures. Considering, among other things, the breakdown of old social and cultural boundaries and the construction of new ones, the boundary as both a dividing line and a place of meeting and mixing between different groups (Jewish and non-Jewish), and the ambiguities inherent in situations where elites envisioned strong boundaries while others ignored them (and vice versa), will encourage a wide ranging discussion on the very nature of both Jewish Early Modernity and the early modern period in general.

Proposals might address the following questions:

• How did the establishment of new Jewish centers in new places with new legal frameworks affect the development of Jewish society and culture?
• What were the nature and characteristics of Jewish transregional networks in the Early Modern age?
• How did the religious and cultural borders between Ashkenazim and Sephardim change?
• How did the spread of printing affect cultural and intellectual boundaries both inside Jewish society and between Jews and non-Jews?
• To what extent did early modern Jewish society witness shifts in its cultural borders, such as those between men and women, the educated and the uneducated, and the rabbinic and lay elites?
• How did early modern European religious and intellectual life affect the social, cultural and political boundaries between Jew and non-Jew?
• What are the implications of changes in the social, cultural, religious, and political borders of the early modern Jewish world for our understanding of the early modern period in general? and of the modern Jewish experience as well?

The Center invites applications from scholars in the humanities and social sciences at all levels, as well as outstanding graduate students in the final stages of writing their dissertations. Stipend amounts are based on a fellow’s academic standing and financial need with a maximum of $50,000 for the academic year. A contribution also may be made toward travel expenses. The application deadline is November 10, 2012. Fellowship recipients will be notified by February 1, 2013.

Applications are available on our website: katz.sas.upenn.edu

For questions contact: Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies

420 Walnut Street     Philadelphia, PA 19106    Tel: 215-238-1290

email: carrielo@sas.upenn.edu

By Matti Friedman

ISBN: 9781616200404 (Hardback $24.95 / £15.62)

320 pages

Algonquin Books

The Aleppo Codex unveils the journey of the tenth-century sacred text from its hiding place in a Syrian synagogue to the newly founded state of Israel. The codex provides vital keys to reading biblical texts. By recounting its history, Friedman explores the once vibrant Jewish communities in Islamic lands and follows the thread into the present, uncovering difficult truths about how the manuscript was taken to Israel and how its most important pages went missing. Along the way, he raises critical questions about who owns historical treasures and the role of myth and legend in the creation of a nation.

The Newsflash contains information about Postions, Fellowships, Scholarships and Grants, Calls for Papers and Conferences, and other Announcements. It also lists the most recent book announcements posted in the New Books section of the EAJS website.

Judaica Europeana – an international network of museums, libraries and archives – exceeded its first target by uploading 3.7 million digital objects to Europeana.eu, Europe’s cultural heritage portal and digital services platform.

Judaica Europeana www.judaica-europeana.eu was launched in 2010 to digitize European Jewish collections and provide an integrated access point online. The network is led by the European Association for Jewish Culture and Frankfurt University Library. It has been co-funded by the European Commission, Rothschild Foundation (Hanadiv) Europe and project partners. Today the network includes 25 institutions in Europe, Israel and the US.

A vast digital archive online

The project created a vast digital archive of Jewish books, documents, objects, photographs, postcards, posters, music recordings and videos. It is an exceptional resource for the research, study and enjoyment of Jewish heritage.

The digitized material ranges from 16-18th century documents on the Venice Ghetto from the Venice State Archives, the Jewish museums’ collections from Amsterdam, Athens, London and Toledo; the extensive archive and library collections of Frankfurt University and Alliance Israelite Universelle, the archival collections from the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw and the Hungarian Jewish Archives in Budapest, and much more. A priceless collection of Yiddish press, books and music comes from the Medem Library in Paris: 4,000 recordings of Jewish music from East-Central Europe can be played online. This collection is complemented by the recordings and scores from the French Centre for Jewish Music. The National Library of Israel provided access to a collection of manuscripts and rare books, and will contribute more.

Europeana’s multilingual search engine, tagging facilities and vocabularies provide a unique finding aid for browsing all the collections at europeana.eu. To-date over 2,000 heritage institutions in 33 countries provide access to their digital collections to Europeana.

Building on the success and experience of the first two years

The first two years of the project culminated in a successful project review by a panel of EC experts, an international conference at the Italian National Library in Rome and the launch of a Virtual Tour of Jewish Frankfurt. This and other Judaica online exhibitions can be found on www.judaica-europeana.eu home page alongside illustrated newsletters and many other resources.

“We are delighted with the network’s achievements and shall continue to work together to bring more priceless collections online. We are planning more workshops, e-newsletters and exhibitions that will reach out to researchers, students, heritage professionals and the general public” said Lena Stanley-Clamp the Co-ordinator of Judaica Europeana and Director of the European Association for Jewish Culture. “The Linked Open Data environment is transforming the web. Thanks to Europeana, a leading force in this field, we are well placed to provide integrated access to Jewish heritage collections.” (For more information on Europeana and Linked Open Data see http://vimeo.com/36752317 )

Dr Rachel Heuberger of Frankfurt University Library and Chair of the Consortium of Judaica Europeana partners said “The Judaica Europeana project has enabled us to showcase Jewish collections in the context of their creation ― as an integral part of European heritage alongside other collections. We would welcome new partners, who wish to join us and give an international exposure to their Jewish collections.”

The European Association for Jewish Culture and Judaica Europeana are members of the Europeana Network of heritage institutions from 33 countries. They are also partners in a new European project ‘Digital Manuscripts to Europeana’ http://dm2e.eu/ led by Humboldt University in Berlin.

For more information and a selection of images from Judaica Europeana’s digital collections, visit http://www.judaica-europeana.eu/news.html#final

Tagung des Historisch-Kulturwissenschaftlichen Forschungszentrums (HKFZ) Trier
4. Juni – 5. Juni 2012

Tagungsort: Altstadthotel Trier, Porta-Nigra-Platz 6, 54292 Trier, Deutschland

Konzeption: Prof. Dr. Martin Przybilski und Prof. Dr. Carsten Schapkow

Der Begriff “Konversion” beschreibt bezogen auf die religiöse Sphäre einen (nicht notwendigerweise freiwilligen) Übertritt von einem Glaubensraum in einen anderen. Mit Blick auf die jüdische Geschichte geht diese Zuschreibung jedoch nicht weit genug. Da sich Jüdinnen und Juden im Verlauf der Jahrhunderte immer auch im Austausch und damit in “Kontaktzonen” mit einer häufig nichtjüdischen Mehrheitsgesellschaft befunden hatten, vollzogen sich Formen der Konversion auch in der gesellschaftlichen, wirtschaftlichen und kulturellen Sphäre, die nicht zwangsläufig einen Übertritt zum Christentum oder Islam nach sich zogen.

Inwieweit es sich dabei aber um Assimilation, Akkulturation oder noch ambivalentere Formen von Anverwandlung  handelte, bot und bietet noch viel Raum für Diskussion. Insbesondere konzeptionelle Vorstellungen und Überlegungen in den Kulturwissenschaften zur Vieldeutigkeit und Hybridität in der (Post-)Moderne haben auch die Jüdischen Studien beeinflusst, so dass heute die Vorstellung eines essentialistischen Judentums in Raum und Zeit nicht mehr vertreten werden kann. Der Tagung geht es daher vielmehr darum, nach den vielfältigen Orts-, Blick- und Rollen-Wechseln zu fragen, die verschiedenste Formen jüdischer Konversion für einzelne oder ganze Gruppen mit sich brachten, und wie sich diese Amalgamierungen “alter” und “neuer” (Stand-)Orte der Konvertiten in ihren jeweiligen Wissens- und Repräsentationsmodi niedergeschlagen haben.

Programm und weitere Informationen unter http://www.hkfz.uni-trier.de

Um Anmeldung wird bis zum 28. Mai 2012 unter hkfz@uni-trier.de gebeten

Kontakt:

Prof. Dr. Martin Przybilski

HKFZ Trier
Universität Trier – FB II
DM-Geb., PF 15
54286 Trier

by Jeffrey Kress

ISBN 978-1-936235-30-8 (cloth $95.00 / £44.25)

202 pages

Academic Studies Press

Development, Learning and Community uses data drawn from a study of pluralistic Jewish high schools to illustrate the complex and often challenging interplay between the cognitive and socio-affective elements of education. Throughout, Kress grapples with questions, such as: How can the balance between community cohesion and group differences be achieved in diverse settings? How can the “formal” and “informal” offerings of a school coalesce to address these broadly conceived identity outcomes, and what are the challenges in doing so?

By Huguette Herrmann

ISBN 978-1-936235-73-5 (cloth $59.00 / £40.25)

220 pages

Academic Studies Press

Bo, Jenny and I is a memoir describing the life of a young woman growing up in unusual circumstances, as well as a discussion of political and sociological effects of troubled times upon “ordinary people.” After an early childhood in pre-war Antwerp, the author, her formidable grandmother, and her young, unconventional working mother fled to England in 1940, upon Germany’s invasion of Belgium. As refugees, the family adapted to its changed circumstances and to life in World War II England. The political upheavals of the times are reflected in the life of this small family and its remarkable experiences.