Thursday, December 13, 2012

Papers and Panels of Interest at AJS

If you are going to the Association for Jewish Studies conference in Chicago that begins this coming Sunday, here are a few papers and sessions relevant to the history of the book. Apologies if I missed anybody or anything that is relevant. Please add them in the comments.

SUNDAY 9:30-11 am
in session 1.3 The Yiddish Book of Customs (Venice 1593) by Shimon ben Yehuda ha-Levi Guenzburg and Its Dissemination in the Ashkenazi Communities Jean Baumgarten (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

1.9 Missouri
PATHWAYS OF KNOWLEDGE: JEWISH INTELLECTUAL NETWORKS IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE, 1850-1939
Chair: Simon Rabinovitch (Boston University)
Communicating Modern Jewish Scholarship: The Correspondence Network of David Kaufmann (1852-1899)
Mirjam Thulin (Goethe-Universität / Leibniz Institute for European History)
Samuel Orgelbrand’s Polish Encyclopedia: Jewish Publishers and Nineteenth- Century Networks of Polish Scholarship Karen Auerbach (Monash University)
YIVO’s Aspirantur and the Training of Jewish Scholars in Eastern Europe on the Eve of the Holocaust
Natalia Aleksiun (Touro College)

SUNDAY 4:15-6:15 pm
in session 4.9
Books, Religion, Reconstruction
Miriam Intrator (The Graduate Center, CUNY)

4.13 Colorado MAPPING READERSHIP: NEW DIRECTIONS IN MEDIEVAL JEWISH CULTURE
Chair: Deeana Copeland Klepper (Boston University)
Centers and Peripheries in Medieval Ashkenaz: Rouen and Erfurt
Ephraim Kanarfogel (Yeshiva University)
The Last Sages of Corbeil: Their Work and Audience
Judah D. Galinsky (Bar-Ilan University)
Was Rupert of Deutz a Pashtan? Rupert and the School of Rashi
Isaac B. Gottlieb (Bar-Ilan University)
Food for Thought: A Fourteenth-Century Dietary Regimen in Hebrew and Its Possible Audience Susan L. Einbinder (University of Connecticut)

MONDAY 8:30-10:30 am
5.7 Ontario THE NEW AMERICAN HAGGADAH: PASSOVER IN THE DIGITAL AGE
Chair: Noam F. Pianko (University of Washington)
The Good Book: Storytelling and the New American Haggadah
Ari Y. Kelman (Stanford University School of Education)
Authenticity and Image in the New American Haggadah
Ken Koltun-Fromm (Haverford College)
 Imagining Identity: Cultural Responses to the New American Haggadah
Mara Benjamin (St. Olaf College)
Jewish Philosophy and Thought at Wordpress (Writing about the New American Haggadah)
Zachary J. Braiterman (Syracuse University)

MONDAY 4:30-6:30
9.5 Chicago X WORLDS OF ACCUMULATION: INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACHES TO COLLECTION PRACTICES
Chair: Erica Lehrer (Concordia University)
  Preserving the Past and Creating the Future: Collection and Display of Jewish Art in Interwar Poland
Sarah Zarrow (New York University)
Collection Memory: Archival Geographies in Israel and Palestine
Liora Halperin (Princeton University)
“Abstracted Yiddish Kinship”: Collection, Affect, and the Mediation of Generation at the Yiddish Book Center
Joshua Benjamin Friedman (University of Michigan)
Mock Ethnography and the Soviet Jewish Literary Imagination
 Sasha Senderovich (Harvard University)

TUESDAY 8:30-10:30
10.6 Chicago X JEWISH BOOK TRADE AND BOOK CIRCULATION: DEFINING A RESEARCH AGENDA
Moderator: Marjorie Lehman (Jewish Theological Seminary)
Discussants: Francesca Bregoli (Queens College) Stephen G. Burnett (University of Nebraska-Lincoln) Michah S. Gottlieb (New York University) Adam B. Shear (University of Pittsburgh) Magda Teter (Wesleyan University)
NOTE: Coffee and light breakfast will be served at this roundtable, courtesy of the Center for Jewish History in New York, sponsor of the Lillian Goldman Scholar's Working Group on the History of the Jewish Book.

TUESDAY 10:45-12:45
11.2 Sheraton I VOICES OF EARLY MODERN JUDAISM
Chair: Magda Teter (Wesleyan University)
Klausner’s Minhagim Book: Evolving Texts and Evolving Practice in Pre-print Era Ashkenaz Rachel Zohn Mincer (Jewish Theological Seminary)
Moses Hayim Luzzatto's Turbulent Romance with the Rabbinate in the Writing of Mesilat Yesharim David Sclar (The Graduate Center, CUNY)
The Agur: A Halakhic Code for Print
Debra Glasberg (Columbia University)
The Exorcist’s Medical Perspective: Exorcism and Medicine among Ashkenazi Jews in the Early Modern Period
Nimrod Zinger (Washington University in St. Louis)

Friday, December 7, 2012

June 2-3: Lehmann Workshop at Penn

THE MANFRED R. LEHMANN MEMORIAL MASTER WORKSHOP IN THE HISTORY OF THE JEWISH BOOK The Jewish Studies Program at the University of Pennsylvania, in conjunction with the University of Pennsylvania Libraries and the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, are pleased to announce the thirteenth annual Manfred R. Lehmann Memorial Master Workshop to be held on June 2-3 (Sunday-Monday), 2013, at the Katz Center. The topic is Hebrew Codicology in the Digital Age. This year’s workshop will be led by Malachi Beit-Arié, Ludwig Jesselson Professor Emeritus of Codicology and Palaeography at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the world's leading authority on Hebrew manuscripts. The first part of the workshop will be devoted to presenting the singularity of medieval Hebrew book production and consumption, and the consequences of its singular features for understanding the transmission of texts written in Hebrew characters as well as its implications for textual criticism and editing. In addition, the workshop will also deal with why and how text-scholars can apply codicological approaches to their textual work, and in particular a comparative codicological approach so as to appreciate the special circumstances of Hebrew manuscript production. The second part of the workshop will introduce the new on-line SfarData, the comprehensive data base for the codicology of dated Hebrew manuscripts (and those with indications of the scribe's names), which is now being converted into a free website. Along with explaining the new version, the workshop will demonstrate the diverse ways that Sfardata can be used for the complex retrieval of clustered data and its use for for historical and prosopographic research. The workshop is open to professors and independent scholars, professional librarians in the field of Jewish and related studies, and graduate students in Jewish Studies. Attendance at previous workshops is not a prerequisite for admission. For faculty and professionals, tuition is $250. In addition to attendance and all materials for the workshop, the tuition includes two or three nights in a hotel (double-occupancy) for the nights of June 1 and 2 (with the option of May 31), and all meals and refreshments (all kosher) during the course of the workshop. Graduate students may apply for a full scholarship to the workshop. To apply for the scholarship, a graduate student should write us giving the details of his or her academic program and a brief statement explaining how the workshop will further his or her academic studies. S/he should also ask a faculty advisor to write us a letter of recommendation on the student's behalf. Attendance is limited. If you are interested in attending the workshop, please notify us immediately. Full payment must be received by March 1, 2013. Make checks payable to Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania. A registration form is available at: http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/jwst/registrationLW2013.pdf Please address all correspondence to: Lehmann Workshop c/o Jewish Studies Program 711 Williams Hall 255 S. 36th Street Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305 jsp-info@sas.upenn.edu 215-898-6654 The Manfred R. Lehmann Memorial Master Workshop in the History of the Jewish Book has been made possible by a generous contribution from the Manfred and Anne Lehmann Foundation along with grants from Mr. Albert Friedberg, the Lucius N. Littauer Foundation, Andrew H. Cohn, Esq. C'66, and the University of Pennsylvania Research Foundtation.

June 15-19: Workshop on Hebrew Manuscripts

Hebrew Manuscripts Studies: An Introduction Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Orientabteilung, Potsdamer Str. 33, 10785 Berlin 15 July 2013 - 19 July 2013 orientabt@sbb.spk-berlin.de The participants will be introduced to the study of different codicological and paleographical aspects of Hebrew manuscripts, including their periodisation, writing supports, bindings, mise-en-texte, mise-en-page, inks, illuminations, dating systems, scripts, etc. The theoretical part will be supplemented by hands-on sessions, in which the participants will have to opportunity to observe the discussed features themselves in Hebrew manuscripts kept at Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin. The worshop will be conducted by: Prof. Dr. Judith Olszowy-Schlanger (École Pratique des Hautes Études, Sorbonne, Paris) Prof. Dr. Malachi Beit-Arie (Hebrew University, Jerusalem) Key-lecture: Dr. Ben Outhwaite (Genizah Research Unit, Cambridge University Library) Venue: Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Haus 2, Potsdamer Straße 33 The workshop is intended for advanced MA and doctoral students, and other junior researchers in the fields of Judaic Studies, Arabic and Islamic Studies, classic and medieval philology or comparative manuscript studies. Dependent on prior arrangement with the home institution, students of the Freie Universität Berlin, who are currently enrolled in Judaistik, Islamwissenschaft or Arabistik and PhD candidates at the BGSMCS, are entitled to receive credits for their participation. Please refer to your institute for details. The participation fee is 100 Euro. The enrollment in the workshop will only be active after payment. Bank details will be communicated to successful applicants, end of January 2013. The fee cannot be reimbursed in case of cancellation. The workshop will be held in English and is limited to 25 participants! Applications, including a cover letter with a brief description of your motivation, CV, summary of current research project, are to be sent to orientabt@sbb.spk-berlin.de or Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Orientabteilung, Potsdamer Str. 33, 10785 Berlin, until 15 January 2013. http://www.ihiw.de/w/scriptorium/hebrew-manuscripts-studies-an-introduction/ 15 July 2013 - 19 July 2013 Die Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin und die Research Unit „Intellectual History of the Islamicate World“ der Freien Universität Berlin organisieren einen weiteren Workshop in der Reihe Scriptorium: Workshops on the study of Oriental manuscripts Einführung in die hebräische Handschriftenkunde / Hebrew Manuscript Studies: An Introduction Die Teilnehmer werden durch Vorträge und Präsentationen in die verschiedenen kodikologischen und paläographischen Aspekte hebräischer Handschriften eingeführt (u.a. historischer Überblick, Beschreibstoffe, Bindung, Text- und Seitengestaltung, Tinten, Buchschmuck, Datierung, Schriftarten, Textüberlieferung, Provenienz). Die theoretische Einführung wird durch einen praktischen Teil ergänzt, in welchem die Teilnehmer die Möglichkeit zur Einsicht in eine Auswahl von Handschriften aus der Sammlung der Orientabteilung der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin erhalten. Durchgeführt wird der Workshop von Prof. Dr. Judith Olszowy-Schlanger (École Pratique des Hautes Études, Sorbonne, Paris) Prof. Dr. Malachi Beit-Arie (Hebrew University, Jerusalem) Key-lecture Dr. Ben Outhwaite (Genizah Research Unit, Cambridge University Library) Veranstaltungsort: Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Haus 2, Potsdamer Straße 33 Der Workshop richtet sich an fortgeschrittene Masterstudenten, Doktoranten und andere Nachwuchswissenschaftler der Fachbereiche Judaistik, Islamwissenschaft, der Alten und Mittelalterlichen Philologie und der Vergleichenden Handschriftenkunde. Für die Teilnahme an dem Workshop können für Studierende an der Freien Universität Berlin in den MA Studiengängen Judaistik oder Arabistik und für Doktoranden an der BGSMCS Leistungspunkte vergeben werden. Die Anzahl der Leistungspunkte ist abhängig davon, ob es sich um eine einfache Teilnahme handelt, oder ob eine besondere Leistung im Rahmen des Workshops erbracht wird. Einzelheiten sind vorab mit den jeweils zuständigen MA-Beauftragten bzw. mit der BGSMCS zu klären. Es ist eine Teilnahmegebühr in Höhe von 100 Euro zu entrichten. Die Anmeldung zum Workshop wird erst nach Überweisung dieser Gebühr wirksam. Die Kontodaten dafür werden Ihnen nach erfolgreicher Bewerbung Ende Januar 2013 bekanntgegeben. Bei Verhinderung kann die einmal entrichtete Gebühr nicht rückerstattet werden. Der Workshop findet in englischer Sprache statt. Die Teilnehmerzahl ist begrenzt auf 25 Personen! Wenn Sie teilnehmen möchten, senden Sie bitte eine Kurzbewerbung mit Angabe Ihres Studien-/Forschungsschwerpunktes, Ihres akademischen Lebenslaufes und einer Kurzmotivation bis 15. 01. 2013 an orientabt@sbb.spk-berlin.de oder auf dem Postweg an die Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Orientabteilung, Potsdamer Str. 33, 10785 Berlin.

Monday, December 3, 2012

December 6: Roundtable on Jews as Culture Brokers in the Book Trade

Thursday December 6, 6:30 pm at the Center for Jewish History Three generations of leading publishers explore Jewish participation in the dramatic changes that transformed the book publishing industry in the post-War era from a sleepy "gentlemen's club" into a dynamic and tumultuous industry. Speakers include: •Jonathan Karp, executive vice president and publisher, Simon & Schuster •Jane Friedman, CEO and co-founder, Open Road Integrated Media; former president and CEO, HarperCollins Publishers; and executive at Random House, Inc.; •Jason Epstein, former director, Random House; co-founder, The New York Review of Books; former editor, Doubleday; former editor for Norman Mailer, Vladimir Nabokov, E. L. Doctorow, Philip Roth and Gore Vidal •Altie Karper, editorial director, Schocken Books/Random House Co-sponsored by The Jewish Book Council. CJH, AJHS > $15 general; $10 CJH, AJHS members, seniors, students Culture Brokers: Publishing/The Book Trade is part of a series exploring the role of Jews as mediators, entrepreneurs and impresarios of the arts. For more information and additional programs on film and popular music, please visit www.cjh.org.

December 11: Conference on history of the YIVO library

The History of the YIVO Library PRESS NEWS: For immediate release Contact: Dr. Lyudmila Sholokhova Head Librarian YIVO Institute for Jewish Research 15 West 16th Street New York, NY 10011 Tel. 212-294-6168 lsholokhova@yivo.cjh.org (New York, NY – November 16, 2012) The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research is pleased to announce a conference on the history of the YIVO Library, to be held on Tuesday, December 11, 2012 at 7:00pm. This program will introduce to the public the fascinating history of the treasures of the YIVO Library and the often dramatic stories of their survival. This year marks the 65th anniversary of the return of the YIVO and Strashun collections from Frankfurt am Main to YIVO's New York headquarters in 1947. The Nazis had looted the books in order to present them as part of the planned Nazi Institute for the Study of the Jewish Question. Speakers include outstanding scholars and historians who have done profound research about the library's collections. The evening will include a digital presentation of the YIVO Library materials. TICKETS Admission: $15 general | $10 YIVO Members, seniors, students Box Office: 212.868.4444 | www.smarttix.com PROGRAM Jonathan Brent (YIVO Executive Director): Introductory Remarks Lyudmila Sholokhova (YIVO Head Librarian): YIVO Library’s Treasures: Looking Forward into the Future Cecile Kuznitz (Bard College): Dos zamlen: YIVO's Early Collection/Documentation Efforts David Fishman (Jewish Theological Seminary): The History of the YIVO Library Collections During WWII Zachary M. Baker (Curator of Judaica and Hebraica Collections and Assistant University Librarian for Collection Development, Stanford University Libraries): The Legacy of Mendl Elkin, the New York YIVO's First Librarian Bella Hass Weinberg (St. John’s University): • Organization of the YIVO Library Collections: Physical Arrangement, Classification Systems, and Cataloging Principles • Recollections about Dina Abramowicz ABOUT YIVO: Founded in 1925, the YIVO Institute is headquartered in New York City, and is the world’s premier teaching and research institute devoted to East European Jewish Studies; the Yiddish language, literature, and folklore; and the American Jewish Experience. www.yivo.org

New collection related to Jewish Book Trade at Columbia University Libraries

Collection of letters and ephemera relating to the Judaica book trade, most from 1926-1955. The collection includes correspondence from all over the world, including Vienna, Lisbon, Italy, the United States, and Palestine/Israel. It is notable as a rare glimpse into the world of pre-Holocaust collecting, as well as the early history of Jewish settlement in Palestine. Notable bookdealers and collectors include Biegeleisen (New York), David Frankel (Vienna and New York), Yochanan and Abraham Rubenstein (Haifa), Efraim Keizer (Pressburg) Yehuda Idil Bialistotsky (Slonim), Rubin Mass (Jerusalem), etc. The majority of the collection is in Hebrew, but other languages include English, German, and French. If anyone is interested in viewing the materials, they should please contact Michelle Chesner at mc3395@columbia.edu.