Blog for the Study of the Jewish Book

CFP: German-Jewish Reading Practices

2012-01-27T12:35:00.002-05:00

FROM H-JUDAIC:

From: Nick Block
Sent: Thu 1/26/2012 8:46 AM
Subject: CFP: Cultural Perspectives on German-Jewish Reading Practices, = GSA, Deadline: Feb. 5
=20
CFP: Cultural Perspectives on German-Jewish Reading Practices=20 36th Annual Conference of the German Studies Association (GSA),=20 Milwaukee, WI; October 4-7, 2012=20

Walter Benjamin unpacks his library. _The Star of Redemption_, with the magen David emblazoned on the cover, sits ostentatiously under Gershom Scholem's arm in the streets of Berlin. A Viennese caf. Reading = practices inform much of culture. In turn, "readings" inform much of scholarship.
Reading can shape imagined communities but can also be symptomatic of disengaging from community. In what ways do German Jews perform reading?
How does the book play into notions of identity? Can the affixing of a Jewish-themed bookplate be seen as an intervention by the reader, a = modern take on the affixing of a mezuzah? This panel at the GSA seeks presentations which engage with reading practices in the German-Jewish sphere from any vantage point. Papers in dialogue with Jewish studies, gender studies, visual culture, and critical theory are especially welcome.
Possible topics include:=20
-subcultures and reading=20
-material culture: the comic book, the bookplate, book collecting=20 -reading aloud and the aural reading experience=20 -sites of reading: the park bench, the Strassenbahn, the desk=20

Please submit abstracts (max. 250 words) to Nick Block =
(nblock [at] umich.edu)
by Sunday, Feb. 5th.=20

Presenters must be or become members of the German Studies Association = by Feb. 15th. Information on membership is available on the GSA website (www.thegsa.org).

------------------------------

April 19, 2012: Emile Schrijver at Columbia

2012-01-17T13:12:00.000-05:00

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY BOOK HISTORY COLLOQUIUM: SPRING 2012

All programs are in Room 523, Butler Library, on the Columbia campus. Start time is 6:00 PM.

April 19, 2012

Emile Schrijver (University of Amsterdam)

"Defining a Field: Jewish Books in the Age of Print"

The study of the Jewish book since the invention of printing has developed from a rather traditional, descriptive bibliographical discipline into an independent field of research in which the book is studied as an expression of Jewish culture and as an instrument for the transmission of Jewish and non-Jewish knowledge. The foundations for this new field were laid in medieval book research, in the fields of Hebrew codicology and Jewish art, to be more specific. In particular the leading medievalists Malachi Beit-Arié and Colette Sirat have defined new fundamental research questions, which are closely related to, and often precede modern research into non-Jewish medieval books. Their research is based on the careful study of large corpora of carefully selected primary source material, but is not limited to descriptive work. They have produced a number of monographs in which more fundamental research questions have been dealt with. For the centuries since the invention of printing a comparable development may be observed, but the results are not as definitive yet as those achieved for medieval Hebrew manuscripts. This lecture will address some of the pertinent methodological issues.

Emile G.L. Schrijver is curator of the Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana, the Jewish special collection at the University of Amsterdam. He is also a curator of the private Braginsky Collection of Hebrew Manuscripts and Printed Books in Zurich, Switzerland. He is an expert of post?medieval Hebrew manuscripts and printed books and has published and lectured extensively on both topics. He has written a number of introductions to facsimile editions of Hebrew manuscripts and has published numerous auction and exhibition catalogues, most recently (2009, co?edited with Evelyn M. Cohen and Sharon Liberman Mintz) A Journey through Jewish Worlds. Highlights from the Braginsky Collection of Hebrew Manuscripts and Printed Books. A German version of this catalogue, entitled "Schöne Seiten: Jüdische Schriftkultur aus der Braginsky Collection", accompanies an exhibition in the Landesmuseum in Zurich (25 Nov 2011 ? 11 March 2012). He serves on boards and advisory committees of numerous Jewish cultural organizations in and outside the Netherlands.

New Book on Christian Hebraism

2012-01-05T13:30:00.002-05:00

In press:

Stephen G. Burnett, Christian Hebraism in the Reformation Era, 1500-1660: Authors, Books, and the Transmission of Jewish Learning.
Brill 2012.

http://www.brillusa.com/christian-hebraism-reformation-era-1500-1660?page=1&quicktabs_brill_product_tabs=2

From the publisher's description: "Christian Hebraism in early modern Europe has traditionally been interpreted as the pursuit of a few exceptional scholars, but in the sixteenth century it became an intellectual movement involving hundreds of authors and printers and thousands of readers. The Reformation transformed Christian Hebrew scholarship into an academic discipline, supported by both Catholics and Protestants. This book places Christian Hebraism in a larger context by discussing authors and their books as mediators of Jewish learning, printers and booksellers as its transmitters, and the impact of press controls in shaping the public discussion of Hebrew and Jewish texts. Both Jews and Jewish converts played an important role in creating this new and unprecedented form of Jewish learning."

Call for Papers: Society for Textual Scholarship

2011-11-22T14:56:00.000-05:00

re-posted from SHARP-L

CALL FOR PAPERS

The Society for Textual Scholarship

International Interdisciplinary Conference

31 May - 2 June 2012

The University of Texas at Austin

Program Chairs: Coleman Hutchison & Matt Cohen, The University of Texas at Austin

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:

George Bornstein, The University of Michigan

Jeffrey Masten, Northwestern University

Phillip H. Round, The University of Iowa

Deadline for Proposals: January 2, 2012

This conference will bring the Society for Textual Scholarship to a campus with internationally significant archival holdings, in one of the most interesting cities in the United States. A number of on-campus resources--the Harry Ransom Center, the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, and the Benson Latin American Collection, among others--and the vast multicultural attractions of Texas¹s capital city and technology hub make this an exciting venue for the meeting.

The Program Chairs invite a broad set of proposals on the discovery, enumeration, description, bibliographical analysis, editing, annotation, and mark-up of texts in disciplines such as literature, history, musicology, classical and biblical studies, philosophy, art history, legal history, the history of science and technology, computer science, library and information science, archives, lexicography, epigraphy, paleography, codicology, cinema studies, new media studies, game studies, theater, linguistics, women¹s studies, race and ethnicity studies, indigenous studies, and textual and literary theory.

Given the local context of the conference, we especially encourage submissions dealing with issues of race, ethnicity, cross-cultural textual questions, and translation--issues reflected in our choice of keynote speakers. As always, the conference is particularly open to considerations of the role of digital tools and technologies in textual theory and practice. Papers addressing aspects of archival theory and practice as they pertain to textual criticism and scholarly editing are also most welcome.

Submissions may take one of the following forms:

1. Papers. Papers should be no more than 20 minutes in length. They should offer the promise of substantial critical or analytical insight. Papers that are primarily reports or demonstrations of tools or projects are discouraged.

2. Panels. Panels may consist of either three associated papers or four or five roundtable speakers. Roundtables should address topics of broad interest and scope, with the goal of fostering lively debate between the panel and audience following brief opening remarks.

3. Workshops. Workshops should pose a specific problem, tool, or skill set for which the workshop leader will provide expert guidance and instruction. Examples might include an introduction to forensic computing or paleography. Workshop leaders should be prepared to offer well-defined learning outcomes for attendees, and describe them in the proposal. Proposals that are accepted will be announced on the conference website and attendees will be required to enroll with the workshop leader(s). NB: All workshops will be scheduled for Thursday, 31 May 2012.

Proposals for all formats should include a title; abstract of the proposed paper, panel, seminar, or workshop (500 words maximum); and the name, e-mail address, and institutional affiliation for each participant. Workshop proposals in particular should take care to articulate the imagined audience and any expectations of prior knowledge or preparation.

***All proposals should indicate what, if any, technological support will be required.***

*NB: We have secured on-campus housing for the conference at the rate of $70 per night. Conference participants who wish to arrive early and/or stay late--perhaps to take advantage of UT's vaunted archival resources or Austin's music scene--are welcome to do so.*

Inquiries and proposals should be submitted electronically to:

Professor Coleman Hutchison

STSTX2012@gmail.com

Additional contact information:

Department of English

1 University Station B5000

University of Texas at Austin

Austin, TX 78712

Phone: (512) 471-8372

Fax: (512) 471-4909 (marked clearly to Coleman Hutchison's attention)

All participants in the 2012 STS conference must be members of STS. For information about membership, please contact Secretary Meg Roland at or visit the Indiana University Press Journals website and follow the links to the Society for Textual Scholarship membership page: .

For conference updates and information, see the STS website at .

Call for Papers Association of Jewish Libraries 2012 Annual Convention

2011-11-22T14:49:00.000-05:00

reposted from H-Judaic:

From: Rachel Leket-Mor

Subject: Call for Papers Association of Jewish Libraries 2012 Annual Convention

Association of Jewish Libraries
Research Libraries, Archives, and Special Collections Division Call for Papers, 2012 Annual Convention

The Research Libraries, Archives, and Special Collections Division (RAS) = of the Association of Jewish Libraries is soliciting paper proposals for = AJL's 47th Annual Convention in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, = California. Librarians, archivists, scholars, educators, authors and = others will meet to share their interest in Judaica librarianship, = Jewish literacy, and related topics.

We solicit paper proposals on all aspects of Judaica librarianship as it = is practiced in research libraries, archives, museums, and special = collections. Examples of appropriate topics include, but are not limited =
to:

* Future of libraries in the context of Jewish Studies;
* Technological developments and tools used in higher education =
libraries, such as cloud computing, academic social networks, or e-book = platforms;
* Special and rare collections;
* A special theme this year is Jewish life in Los Angeles: we welcome =
presentations about local institutions, libraries, archives and museums, = as well as programs celebrating Jews in Hollywood, the history of the = Jewish community in California or the Israeli community in Los Angeles.
* Collection development practices and policies, patron-driven =
acquisitions, and the print book culture;
* Best practices for library operations such as licensing, copyright, =
cataloging and processing of print, electronic and non-text materials;
* Best practices for user-oriented library services such as =
interlibrary loan, virtual reference, or teaching information literacy;
* Collaborative programs among AJL libraries or chapters;
* Round table discussions are welcome.
Submissions should include the following: presenter's name, address, = affiliation, telephone and email contacts; brief biography; title of = proposed presentation; summary of proposal; and specific technology or = equipment requirements, if any.

All submissions must be received by December 31, 2011. Please submit proposals by email to: ajl2012la [at] gmail [dot] com,or by mail to:

Sharon Benamou
UCLA Library Cataloging & Metadata Center
11020 Kinross Ave.
Box 957230
Los Angeles, CA 90095-7230

Rahcel Leket-Mor
President, Research Libraries, Archives, and Special Collections = Division (RAS) Association of Jewish Libraries =

JOB: Judaica and Hebraica Cataloger (contract), University of Maryland Libraries

2011-11-22T14:48:00.000-05:00

reposted from H-Judaic:

Subject: JOB: Judaica and Hebraica Cataloger (contract), University of Maryland Libraries

The University of Maryland Libraries is seeking a Judaica and Hebraica = Cataloger (contract). Reporting to the the General Resources Cataloging = Unit Head the Judaica and Hebraica Cataloger is responsible for = performing original and complex copy cataloging of Jewish and Israel = Studies materials, in Hebrew or Yiddish, as well as in English and other = languages, and in all formats. Catalogs using relevant national, = University System of Maryland and Affiliated Institutions (USMAI) and = local standards in both a consortial database and OCLC. Trains and = supervises student assistant(s) direct reports.

Requirements:

=B7 High School Diploma or equivalent

=B7 Proficiency in reading, writing and speaking Hebrew =
language; familiarity with Hebrew romanization system; in-depth = knowledge of history, literature and other aspects of Jewish culture, = including rabbinics; knowledge of Yiddish desirable.

=B7 Minimum of three years of relevant experience in libraries =
with a minimum of two years of copy cataloging and /or database = maintenance experience in an academic, research, or special library in = one or more of the following areas: monographs cataloging, serials = cataloging, or authority control.

=B7 Knowledge of and proficiency with automated library systems, =
AACR2, RDA, LCPSs, LCRIs, LC classification, LCSH and MARC 21 formats, = and OCLC Connexion.

=B7 Must be able to manage a broad variety of tasks in response =
to shifting priorities and changing constraints.

=B7 Excellent interpersonal skills: ability to work both =
independently and collaboratively in a congenial team environment and to = interact effectively with a broad variety of staff within and outside of = Technical Services; ability to communicate clearly, knowledgably and = personably, orally and in writing, with all persons potentially affected = by the scope of the work.

This is a contractual appointment

Contact:=09
APPLICATIONS: Electronic applications required. Please apply online at = https://jobs.umd.edu. No relocation assistance will be provided. You = must be legally able to work in the United States; the University of = Maryland Libraries will not sponsor individuals for employment. An = application consists of a cover letter which includes the source of = advertisement, a resume, and names/e-mail addresses of three references.

The position is open until filled. Application review will begin on = Dec. 7, 2011.

The University of Maryland, College Park, actively subscribes to a = policy of equal employment opportunity, and will not discriminate = against any employee or applicant because of race, age, sex, color, = sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, religion, ancestry or = national origin, marital status, genetic information, or political = affiliation. Minorities and women are encouraged to apply.=20

Website: https://jobs.umd.edu/applicants/Central?quickFind=3D55879

November 30 at UPenn: Discussion of Talya Fishman's new book

2011-11-22T14:47:00.000-05:00

Penn's Jewish Studies Program and Religious Studies Department host a panel book discussion of Talya Fishman's new book: "Becoming the People of the Talmud: Oral Torah as Written Tradition in Medieval Jewish Culture" -- Wed. Nov 30

WHO: David B. Ruderman (Penn), Harvey E. Goldberg (Hebrew University), Ephraim Kanarfogel (Yeshiva University), Joseph E. Lowry (Penn), Talya Fishman (Penn)

WHAT: Book Discussion "Becoming the People of the Talmud: Oral Torah as Written Tradition in Medieval Jewish Culture"

WHEN: Wednesday, November 30, 5:00 pm to 6:30 pm. Reception to follow.

WHERE: Class of '55 Room (2nd floor), Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center, 3420 Walnut Street. Please bring a photo I.D. to enter library.

In her new book, Becoming the People of the Talmud: Oral Torah as Written Tradition in Medieval Jewish Cultures, Professor Talya Fishman reconstructs evidence of the Babylonian Talmud’s transformation from an oral corpus to a written one, and explores the impact of this shift on many dimensions of Jewish society and culture.

Questions? Email jsp-info@sas.upenn.edu or call 215-898-6654

New Article in Book History

2011-11-15T11:33:00.001-05:00

Eva Mroczek, "Thinking Digitally About the Dead Sea Scrolls: Book History Before and Beyond the Book," Book History 14 (2011).

available by subscription:
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/book_history/v014/14.mroczek.html

Today, 5 pm: David Stern in the History of the Book Seminar at Harvard

2011-11-15T10:42:00.000-05:00

Tuesday, November 15, 5:00 pm. History of the Book (Humanities Center Seminar) presents:
“The Monk's Haggadah: The Story of a Remarkable Manuscript and the Story of its Discovery.”
David Stern (University of Pennsylvania and Radcliffe Institute)
Barker Center, Room 133, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

Fellowships at Columbia University Libraries

2011-11-07T16:35:00.001-05:00

The Columbia University Libraries (CUL) invites applications from scholars and researchers to a new program designed to facilitate access to Columbia’s special and unique collections. CUL will award ten (10) grants of $2500 each on a competitive basis to researchers who can demonstrate a compelling need to consult CUL holdings for their work. Participating Columbia libraries and collections include those located on the Morningside Heights campus: the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, The Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary, Butler Library, the Lehman Social Sciences Library, the Rare Book & Manuscript Library, the C. V. Starr East Asian Library, and the Libraries' Area Studies Collections.

Applications will be accepted until January 31, 2012. Awards will be made by April 1, 2012 for research at Columbia during the period July 1, 2012 – June 30, 2013.

See http://library.columbia.edu/indiv/spcol/research_awards.html
Pamela Graham, Distinctive Collections Group Columbia University Libraries
212-854-3630
Email: libawards@libraries.cul.columbia.edu

Visit the website at http://library.columbia.edu/indiv/spcol/research_awards.html

UPDATE: And Michelle Chesner, librarian for Hebraica and Judaica at Colubmia, invites potential applicants who want to work with Columbia's large collection of Hebrew manuscipts to contact her directly: mc3395@columbia.edu; 212-854-8046

DVD's of Lehmann Workshop Available

2011-11-07T16:32:00.000-05:00

Announcing DVD's are available for the The Manfred R. Lehmann Memorial Master Workshop in the History of the Jewish Book:

2011 Topic: "Collectors and Collections: Hebrew Manuscripts and Incunabula in Russia"
Speaker: Shimon Iakerson, Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Russian Museum of Ethnography.
(manned camera and enhanced audio to hear both speaker and participants)
6-DVD set $140

2010 Lehmann Workshop on "The Jewish Book In and Around Amsterdam"
Speaker: Emile Schrijver, University of Amsterdam
(manned camera and enhanced audio to hear both speaker and participants)
6-DVD set $140

2009 Lehmann Workshop on "The Traditional Eastern European Jewish Book, 1500-1900"
Speaker: Moshe Rosman, Bar Ilan University
(manned camera and enhanced audio to hear both speaker and participants)
6-DVD set $140

2008 Lehmann Workshop on "From Manuscript to Print: Reading Colophons, Title Pages, and Other Paratexts"
Speaker: Menachem Schmelzer, Jewish Theological Seminary.
(manned camera and enhanced audio to hear both speaker and participants)
6-DVD set $140

2007 Lehmann Workshop on "Genizah Texts and the Expansion of Jewish Literacy"
Speaker: Stefan Reif, University of Cambridge
(manned camera)
6-DVD set $130

2006 Lehmann Workshop on "Chapters in the Early History of Hebrew Printing in the Ottoman Empire and The Early Yiddish Book"
Speakers: Joseph Hacker, Hebrew University of Jerusalem; and Shlomo Berger, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
(manned camera)
6-DVD set $130

2005 Lehmann Workshop on "Jewish Book Art and Illumination"
Speaker: Sarit Shalev Eyni, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
(manned camera)
6-DVD set $130

2004 Lehmann Workshop on "Hebrew Printing 1470 to 1750"
Speaker: Mordecai Glatzer, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
(unmanned camera)
6-DVD set $100

2003 Lehmann Workshop on "Early Hebrew Printing"
Speaker: Mordecai Glatzer, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
(unmanned camera)
6-DVD set $100

Order by contacting Chrissy at 215-898-6654 or chwalsh@sas.upenn.edu. Price includes shipping. Speaker handouts are included. Please make checks or money orders out to: Walsh Video.

Christine Walsh
Administrative Coordinator
Jewish Studies Program
711 Williams Hall
255 S. 36th Street
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305
Tel 215-898-6654
Fax 215-573-6026
chwalsh@sas.upenn.edu

Lehmann Memorial Master Workshop in the History of the Jewish Book: Katrin Kogman-Appel

2011-11-04T13:15:00.000-04:00

The Twelfth Annual 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 Library and the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, are pleased to announce the twelfth annual Manfred R. Lehmann Memorial Master Workshop to be held on May 20-21, (Sunday-Monday), 2012, at the Katz Center. The topic is Jewish Book Art in the Late Middle Ages. This year's workshop will be led by Dr. Katrin Kogman-Appel, the Evelyn Metz Memorial Research Chair at the Department of the Arts at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel, and one of the world's foremost historians of Jewish art. She has published four major books and numerous articles on virtually every aspect of medieval Jewish art in both Ashkenaz and Sefarad. This spring Harvard University Press will publish her newest book, A Mahzor from Worms: Art and Religion in a Medieval Jewish Community.
The workshop will be devoted to Hebrew illuminated manuscripts of the fourteenth and the fifteenth centuries and to the ways in which current methods in art history and related fields can be fruitfully applied to them. Among the subjects to be treated will be issues of patronage, function, historical context, reception, mediality and visuality, and cultural interaction. Specific sessions will focus on the illustration programs of Ashkenazi Mahzorim; the Sephardic Bible within the framework of Judeo-Arabic culture; the Sephardic Haggadot with particular stress on cultural exchange and patronage; Jewish-Christian collaborations in late medieval manuscript workshops; and strategies employed by Ashkenazi book producers like the fifteenth century scribe-artist Joel ben Simeon to make the haggadah accessible to wide audiences from different social strata. The final session will deal with the persistence of manuscript culture after the invention of the printing press with a discussion of the work of some early modern printers.
No art historical background is expected and some basics of visual analysis will be taught. Iconographic method implies the study of text, and since not all texts to be discussed exist in English translation, participants should be able to read Hebrew.
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 May 19 and 20 (with the option of May 19), 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, 2012. Make checks payable to Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania. A registration form is available at: http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/jwst/registrationLW2012.pdf
Please address all correspondence to:
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 Foundation

Steinschneider volume is now published

2011-10-17T10:04:00.000-04:00

Studies on Steinschneider: Moritz Steinschneider and the Emergence of the Science of Judaism in Nineteenth-Century Germany, ed. Reimund Leicht and Gad Freudenthal. Leiden: Brill, 2012.
See here.

Hebrew Manuscripts at Les Enluminures

2011-09-22T16:39:00.002-04:00

Les Enluminures, a French gallery and store puts up digitized copies of the manuscripts they have for sale at http://www.textmanuscripts.com/index.php.
They have a small selection of Hebrew manuscripts.

September 22: Open House at George Washington University Library

2011-09-19T10:38:00.001-04:00

An introduction to the treasures of
The I. Edward Kiev Judaica Collection
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Kiev Room, Gelman Library
7th floor
Refreshments in the foyer
12:00 to 4:00 p.m.
Reception & hors d’oeuvres
4:00 to 6:00 p.m.
Remarks
by the University Librarian
and the Curator of the Collection
5:00 p.m.

Sep 13: Lecture at the Library of Congress

2011-09-07T12:49:00.001-04:00

The Hebraic Section
African and Middle Eastern Division
Library of Congress
presents:
"Rethinking the Canon of Modern Jewish Thought"

A lecture
by

Gershon Greenberg

Professor, Department of Philosophy and Religion
American University, Washington, D.C.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011
12:00-1:00
African & Middle Eastern Division Conference Room
Thomas Jefferson Building, LJ 220
10 First St. S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20540
Metro: Capital South

For information: Sharon Horowitz (202)707-3780 or email: shor@loc.gov
Request ADA accommodations five business days in advance at (202)707-6362 or email: ada@loc.gov

Digital News

2011-09-01T11:51:00.003-04:00

Tarbiz and Zion are now available on JSTOR.

The National Library in Jerusalem now has links to most digitized Hebrew manuscripts through their catalog.

Details are available at the Talmud Blog with links (as well as some other information about recent developments in digitized material for rabbinics).

Call for Papers: Session on Manuscripts at International Medieval Congress

2011-07-19T10:07:00.002-04:00

Call for Papers: “Outside the Ruling: Signs of Use in Medieval Manuscripts”
International Medieval Congress, Leeds, 9-12 July 2012.

Organizers: Kathryn Rudy, University of St Andrews, and Kathryn Gerry, University of Kansas
Sponsor: St Andrews Institute of Mediaeval Studies

The careful planning and structuring of medieval books offer implied guidelines for how they should be used, but as is made clear by many of the manuscripts themselves, readers were free to follow or ignore such guidelines. This session will include papers on the physical manifestations of use in medieval manuscripts, with an emphasis on the ways medieval readers/viewers interacted with their books. Interaction could include touching, rubbing, kissing, or adding/removing materials from medieval manuscripts, at any stage in the course of their lives; evidence of such interaction might be manifest in the materials of a given manuscript (including leaves, bindings, pigments, inks, gold, etc), or might be reflected in a later copy, description or depiction. Papers might also explore ways in which producers of books (or portions of books) sought to direct, control, hinder, or otherwise mediate the responses of readers/viewers. We seek papers from researchers in art history, history, literature, codicology, conservation, history of religions, and other fields concerned with the history of the medieval book. It is our intention to publish a collection of essays on this subject, and papers accepted in this session will be considered for inclusion in this project.

Papers should be 20 minutes in length, to be delivered in English. Please send an abstract of not more than 250 words and a current CV to both of the organizers: Kathryn Gerry ( kbgerry@gmail.com) and Kathryn Rudy (kmr7@st-andrews.ac.uk); proposals must be received by Friday, 9 September, 2011.

The nineteenth International Medieval Congress will take place at Leeds, UK, 9-12 July, 2012; for more information on the IMC, please visit http://www.leeds.ac.uk/ims/imc/

New Curator at Bodleian and Yarnton Manor

2011-07-06T21:36:00.004-04:00

Cesar Merchan Hamann will be the new curator of Hebraica and Judaica in Oxford libraries.

See http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/51220/curator-named-oxford-hebrew-centre for the announcement in the Jewish Chronicle.

Congratulations and best wishes to Piet van Boxel on his retirement.

Doctoral and Post-Doctoral Positions in Germany for Work on the Masora

2011-06-30T16:02:00.001-04:00

SFB 933

"Materiale Textkulturen. Materialität und Präsenz des Geschrieben in non-typographischen Gesellschaften" (http://www.materiale-textkulturen.de)

Project B4 (Jewish Studies)
Scholarly Knowledge, Drollery or Esotericism? The Hebrew Bible's Masora in its Various Material Properties

invites applications for two positions, one Post-Doc and One Doctoral stipend to begin Juli 1, 2011:

TVL E 13, 100% (Post-Doc)
und
TVL E 13, 65% (Dissertation Project)

This project deals with the Hebrew Bible's Masoretic Traditions as found in micrographic form in the Hebrew Bible codices from the High Middle Ages (masora figurata) as well as in non-figurative layouts in Hebrew Commentaries and Grammatical treatises.
It will concentrate on the area of text reception in its relationship to materiality and, thereby, focus on the question in which way handwritten artefacts effectively shape the meaning attributed to it through its material presence.

1. Post-Doc position (TVL E 13 100%):
The successful candidate will be working on the editing of the masora figurata in one Hebrew Biblical manuscript (digital edition of the text and its illustrations). In addition, the edition will be accompagnied by an indexing commentary and partial translation.

2. Doctoral stipend (TVL E 13 65%):
The successful candidate will be working on the masorah references found in Biblical commentaries and grammatical treatises as his PhD-project.

The integration of the project into the collaborative research center 933 and as well as into the research network of the Center for Jewish Studies demands regular attendance at Heidelberg. For further information, please contact:

Prof. Dr. phil. habil. Hanna Liss
Hochschule für Jüdische Studien, Landfriedstr. 12, 69117 Heidelberg
Tel: +49-6221-54-192-27 // Fax: +49-6221-54-192-09
email: hanna.liss@hfjs.eu

Applications should be sent only via email (PDF)

New book by Marc Epstein: The Medieval Haggadah

2011-06-30T14:52:00.002-04:00

Received via e-mail:

In his new work, The Medieval Haggadah: Art, Narrative and Religious Imagination, (Yale University Press, 2011), Marc Michael Epstein (Professor of Religion at Vassar College) explores four enigmatic, quirky, and interesting illuminated haggadot including the earliest-known surviving illuminated haggadah, the Birds’ Head Haggadah, likely made in Mainz around 1300, in which many of the faces on the human figures depicted throughout the work are replaced with those of birds; the Golden Haggadah, possibly from Barcelona, circa 1320-30, the iconography of which seems so indisputably “formed in the image and likeness” of contemporary manuscripts made for Christians; and two Spanish “siblings,” the Rylands Haggadah and its so-called Brother, made between 1330 and 1340 also possibly in Barcelona, which have historically been paired because of the similarity of their iconography and style.
The Medieval Haggadah is itself a lavishly illustrated book that presents the complete sequence of illustrations in each of the manuscripts discussed in full size and full-color, along with corroborating examples, for a total of 151 full-color illustrations.
Rather than viewing the art in these books as merely illustrating the text or its commentaries, Epstein understands these manuscripts to be visual commentary in and of themselves. He argues that they not only contain "midrashic details," but evince a strong midrashic mindset.
Though the importance of these manuscripts is universally acknowledged, they contain a number of elements which have been little explored. For instance, the Golden Haggadah includes forty-six distinct depictions of women, whose presence has been glossed over as mere "narrative detail," and the faces in the Birds’ Head Haggadah turn out not to belong to birds, strictly speaking, at all, but to composite beings of deep significance in Jewish tradition.
Epstein proposes some startling new solutions to long-unresolved questions concerning the meaning of the art contained within them. But he also engages in analysis of this art as a springboard to addressing broader issues in the study of Jewish thought, visuality, and culture, both material and intellectual.
The Medieval Haggadah: Art, Narrative and Religious Imagination,
Yale University Press, May 09, 2011 344 p., 8 1/2 x 11
151 color illus. ISBN: 9780300156669 Cloth: $65.00

http://tinyurl.com/EpsteinMedHag

Digitization and New Resources

2011-06-23T15:34:00.002-04:00

The Bibliography of the Hebrew Book is now available on-line (free access) at the website of the National Library of Israel (formerly Jewish National and University Library). See here

Click here for a link to the digitized Hebrew manuscripts at the Goethe Universität in Frankfurt am Main.

Call for Papers: "From Text(s) to Book(s)"

2011-06-20T12:52:00.000-04:00

via SHARP:

CALL FOR PAPERS

An international and SHARP-sponsored conference 'From Text(s) to Book(s)'
21-23 June 2012
Nancy-Université, France

Deadline for proposals: 15 December 2011

I.D.E.A. (‘Théories et pratiques de l’Interdisciplinarité Dans les Etudes Anglophones’ / Interdisciplinarity in English Studies), the research group of the Nancy-Université English Department, will be hosting an international and SHARP-sponsored conference on the subject ‘From Text(s) to Book(s)’. This conference will provide a forum to discuss the ways in which texts are materialised for consumption by the reading public, both historically and in the contemporary context. Papers that adopt a historical approach to this question might discuss book production practices at specific periods or their evolution over time. Papers with a contemporary focus might deal with cases where the materialisation of texts does not necessarily involve production in the codex form, or discuss the impact that technological developments, like advances in digital printing and the emergence of devices such as Amazon’s Kindle Reader or Apple’s iPad, have had on the passage from text to ‘book’. Case studies of individual works and reflections upon fundamental theoretical questions relating to the making and materialisation of texts are equally welcome.

The full call for papers can be found on the web site that has been put in place for the event: http://idea-udl.org/from-texts-to-books/

Confirmed keynote speakers for the conference are Espen Aarseth (Center for Computer Games Research, IT University of Copenhagen), Daniel Ferrer (CNRS, ITEM, France), David Finkelstein (Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, UK) and Claire Parfait (Université Paris 13, France).

Proposals of no more than 300 words, for 25-minute presentations, should be sent to David Ten Eyck and Monica Latham (david.ten-eyck@univ-nancy2.fr, monica.latham@univ-nancy2.fr) before 15 December 2011. Articles based on conference papers will be considered for publication in the Book Practices & Textual Itineraries series published by the Presses Universitaires de Nancy: http://idea-udl.org/book-practices-and-textual-itineraries/

Conference organisers:

Nathalie Collé-Bak, Monica Latham & David Ten Eyck With the support of SHARP (the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing)

------------------

Call for Papers for "The Future of Holocaust Testimonies"

2011-06-20T12:51:00.002-04:00

via H-Judaic:

The Future of Holocaust Testimonies No. 2=20 An International Conference and Workshop
19-22 March 2012, Akko, Israel

Call for Papers=20

Statement of Purpose

The Holocaust Studies Program of Western Galilee College and the = USC Shoah Foundation Institute announce a second international = interdisciplinary conference and workshop on The Future of Holocaust = Testimonies to be held on 19-21 March 2012.

Rationale

Holocaust survivors and their testimonies have been, for many = years, key factors in Holocaust memorial culture. As survivors pass = away, critical focus will inevitably move to the legacy they leave =
behind: especially in the forms of written, audio and video testimonies. = Scholarly work on survivor testimony emerges from the full spectrum of = university disciplines including history, literary analysis, = linguistics, cultural criticism, psychology, neuroscience, sociology, = etc. The rich and varied and corpus of testimonies requires the = collaborative effort of researchers across disciplines to enable us to = hear the voices of survivors articulated through their testimonies.=20

The first Future of Holocaust Testimonies Conference was held on = January 2010. It brought together scholars from eight countries who = presented new approaches to studying and working with testimonies. The = upcoming Future of Holocaust testimonies no 2 conference will add = another layer to this endeavor.=20

The Conference

In order for the conference to make an impact on Holocaust research and = benefit the public discourse as well, one day will be open to the = public, while two days will be for researchers only.=20

The conference will be conducted in English. The open public day will be = conducted in English and Hebrew with simultaneous translation.
Speakers will be accorded full hospitality.=20

We welcome proposals for papers that address the conference theme, = including, but not limited to, the following topics:
=B7 Methodological issues
=B7 Oral testimonies, memoirs, life stories, diaries=20
=B7 Video testimonies
=B7 Early and late testimonies
=B7 Different approaches to testimony analysis
=B7 Place of testimonies in Holocaust research
=B7 Historical value of testimonies
=B7 Testimonies reflecting culture and identity issues
=B7 Age and gender issues
=B7 Authenticity, verification and false memories=20

Please send a one page proposal and a CV to: TestimonyConf@wgalil.ac.il =

(Doctoral candidates please add a letter of recommendation from your =
advisor)=20
Deadline: September 5 2011

October 31, 2011: Judaica Europeana Digital Humanities Workshop

2011-06-20T12:49:00.000-04:00

via H-Judaic:

Digital Humanities and the Study of Jewish History and Culture A day of workshops at the British Library exploring new research = opportunities created by Judaica Europeana. London, 31 October 2011

Judaica Europeana www.judaica-europeana.eu is making available online a = vast archive of books, documents, visual and audio material related to = Jewish history and culture. The increased availability of digitized = primary sources is paving the way to a radical change in research, = teaching and publishing. This goes in tandem with the development of = tools that support scholars in their work of discovering, annotating, = comparing, referring and illustrating. This day of workshops will = provide an opportunity to introduce new resources and tools that are = becoming a standard part of the toolbox of historians and other = scholars. The workshops at the British Library will be of particular = interest to scholars and post-graduate students in Jewish studies and = European history.
=20
Please make a note in your diary. Programme and registration available = from September 2011 on www.judaica-europeana.eu from. Email: =
contact.judaica.europeana@gmail.com=20

Kestenbaum auction

2011-06-10T13:56:00.001-04:00

Via e-mail:

Kestenbaum & Company's spring auction of Fine Judaica will be held on Thursday, June 23rd at 3:00 pm. The sale will take place at the company's gallery at 242 West 30th Street in New York City with viewing beforehand from June 19th through June 22nd.

Highlighting this auction will be Part II of the historic Cassuto Collection of Iberian-related Books and Manuscripts. This extensive sale also features many fine early printed books from the Delmonico Collection, a celebrated library of fine Hebrew books formed by the late New York-based collector, William Roth. The sale also includes books recently de-accessioned from a European institutional library.

For further information relating to bidding or any other queries, please contact:
Daniel Kestenbaum
Tel: 212-366-1197
Kestenbook@aol.com

Forthcoming Book

2011-06-03T15:27:00.003-04:00

The Hebrew Book in Early Modern Italy
edited by Joseph R. Hacker and Adam Shear
University of Pennsylvania Press, scheduled for publication Fall 2011

http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/14918.html

New book: Treasures of the Valmadonna Trust Library

2011-06-01T10:37:00.001-04:00

Flyer received via e-mail:

TREASURES OF THE VALMADONNA TRUST LIBRARY

A NEW PUBLICATION OF THE VALMADONNA TRUST

SPRING 2011
Treasures of the Valmadonna Trust Library provides a complete checklist of the Trust’s nearly 250 incunables and deluxe Hebrew books printed on vellum and coloured paper, the first published record of Valmadonna holdings in these most prized areas of Hebrew printing. The volume also includes original bibliographic studies by Isaac Yudlov of the National Library of Israel, Jerusalem, Dr A. K. Offenberg of the Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana, Amsterdam, and Brad Sabin Hill of the I. Edward Kiev Judaica Collection at George Washington University, Washington, DC.

The catalogue and studies are accompanied by over 60 colour plates, detailed indexes, and a bibliography of specialist literature on early and deluxe Hebrew books.

Treasures of the Valmadonna Trust Library: A Catalogue of 15th-Century Books and Five Centuries of
Deluxe Hebrew Printing.
Edited by David Sclar.
Hardcover, 168 p., illustrated.
$ 60.00 (US)

For information, write to the Librarian at
Valmadonna Trust Library
Fairport, 7 Turner Drive
London NW 11 (U.K)
custodian.valmadonna@idcholdings.com

PUBLICATIONS OF THE VALMADONNA TRUST LIBRARY

Two Prague Haggadahs. Facsimile of the 1556 edition on vellum and the 1590-1606 [?] edition on paper. Introduction by C. Abramsky. 1978.

Grace After Meals (Birhat Ha’Mazon). Facsimile of the 1514 Prague edition. Introductions by C. Abramsky and B. Nosek. 1984
The Pesahim Codex (Babylonian Talmud). Facsimile of the Provence c.1447 manuscript. Palaeographic description by M. Beit-Arié; introduction by E. S. Rosenthal. 1984.

The only dated medieval Hebrew manuscript written in England (1189 CE) and the problem of pre-expulsion Anglo-Hebrew manuscripts. By M. Beit-Arié; appendices by M. Banitt and Z. Entin Rokéah. 1985.

Seder keriat shema al hamitah: Matteo Zanetti and Comino Presigno, Venice 1593. 1986.

Hebraica (saec. X ad saec. XVI): Manuscripts and early printed books from the Library of the Valmadonna Trust. An Exhibition at the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York. By B. S. Hill. 1989.

The Alphabet of Ben Sira. Facsimile of the Constantinople 1519 edition. Intros by J. Hacker and A. M. Haberman; foreword by J. Dan. 1997

The Hebrew Manuscripts in the Valmadonna Trust Library. Edited by B. Richler. 1998.

Birkat Ha-Mazon (Grace After Meals). Facsimile of the N. Italy, ca. 1476 edition. 2004.

THE VALMADONNA TRUST LIBRARY, based in London, is the most valuable private collection of early, rare and deluxe Hebrew printing in the world.

Among the greatest treasures of the Library are the incunables, books produced in the 15th century, just after Gutenberg’s invention of movable type. The Trust holds over 70 volumes - or excessively rare fragments - printed in Italy, Spain, Portugal and Ottoman Turkey before 1500. Among these are some of the very first Hebrew books; books printed by the fabled Soncino family in their native town; and leaves of the Arba‘ah Turim printed by Iberian refugees at Istanbul in 1493, the first book in any language printed in the Islamic world.

The earliest printers issued special copies of their books on vellum (parchment), a convention of fine printing maintained by their successors over the centuries. The Trust holds some 27 Hebrew books printed on vellum from the 15th and 16th centuries, the oldest from before the expulsions of Spanish and Portuguese Jewry, more than 20 volumes from Italy, and others from Ottoman Greece and Turkey, Bohemia, the German lands and Holland. Some of them are the only deluxe copy of the book in existence.

Following the lead of Renaissance master-printer Aldus, the Christian publisher Bomberg produced deluxe Hebrew books on blue paper early in the 16th century. From Venice the elegant vogue spread to other presses in northern Italy. The Trust holds the world’s largest collection of deluxe Hebrew printing on coloured papers, especially of the 16th century, including the first edition of the Zohar on blue (Mantua, 1558).

The collection holds books on coloured paper, or in red ink, from the bibliophilic revival in Amsterdam and Central Europe in the late 17th and 18th centuries, as well as fine exempla of books on blue or ‘bluish’ paper from Eastern Europe in the early 19th century, and books and serials on coloured paper issued later in India and Baghdad.

In the annals of Hebrew booklore only one other collector - Rabbi David Oppenheim of Prague (1664-1736), whose library is preserved at Oxford - was known to cultivate this specialty of deluxe Hebrew printing. Among the Valmadonna copies on vellum and coloured paper are rare and unique liturgies of diverse European and oriental rites, editions of the Passover Haggadah, and ‘occasional poetry’ for weddings and in honour of royalty.

Article on Orphan Books and Digitization

2011-06-01T10:34:00.001-04:00

Not sure the headline matches the article content (not digitizing is not exactly the same as "locking away" the material, in the humble opinion of your blog manager), but here is an article from the Chronicle of Higher Education:

http://chronicle.com/article/Out-of-Fear-Institutions-Lock/127701/

Baranovich Auction

2011-06-01T10:27:00.003-04:00

Received an announcement of an upcoming auction via e-mail:

Wednesday, June 22, 2011 at Congregation Gvul Yaabetz in Brooklyn, NY.
Digital version of our upcoming auction catalog.
at http://www.baranovich.org/details_auction20.htm
Baranovich Auction Staff
Tel: +1-718-578-4150
www.baranovich.org

EAJS Colloquium in Oxford: Books within Books

2011-05-24T12:12:00.002-04:00

Program here.

Endowment for Jewish Studies at the University of Toronto

2011-05-17T12:00:00.002-04:00

One of North America's greatest research universities (with a long history of study in the history of the book) announces major fundraising campaign for Jewish Studies:

Click here for the Canadian Jewish News article

Washington Haggadah Lectures

2011-05-17T11:53:00.002-04:00

David Stern and Katrin Kogman-Appel speak about The Washington Haggadah at the Met:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiffdGBnZ0c (David Stern)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOVilqbEVw&feature=related
(Katrin Kogman-Appel)

Hebrew manuscripts at British Library

2011-05-17T11:51:00.002-04:00

Hebrew illuminated manuscripts at British Library are being digitized.

See here.

Price Library of Judaica

2011-05-11T12:11:00.000-04:00

Over the digital transom:

"Discover the University of Florida Price Library of Judaica’s hidden treasures

Established in 1981, the Isser and Rae Price Library of Judaica at the University of Florida has grown to be one of America’s important repositories of research materials for scholars of Jewish history and culture. After 30 years of inspired curatorship and tireless collecting of scarce and unique materials, the Price Library of Judaica is now ready to seek increased exposure of its hidden treasures.

Originally built around the collection of Rabbi Mishkin, the largest personal library of Judaica and Hebraica in the United States at the time, the Price Library has over time developed several notable areas of strength.

The Price Library’s collection of late 19th and early 20th century scarce imprints stands out as does its collection of ephemeral materials, including pamphlets, brochures and newsletters not held elsewhere. Scholars of Latin American Jewish history and culture will find in the Price Library a wide range of books and periodicals in Yiddish and Spanish.

The Price Library of Judaica is especially placed to support scholarship on the Holocaust and its aftermath. Its collection of Yizkor (memorial) books commemorating the lost Jewish communities of Europe is among the ten largest in the United States Moreover, the Price library is one of a few American libraries that can provide access to key primary materials about the latter stages of the Holocaust and the Nazi cultural plunder of Europe.

Another major strength of the Price Library is its unique collection of materials pertaining to Florida Jewry alongside local and state Jewish newspapers. Under the leadership of Dr. Rebecca Jefferson, the new Head of the Isser and Rae Price Library of Judaica, the collection will continue to grow and develop major resources in American Jewish Studies, with a focus on Southern Jewish history and culture.

“It is certain that the history of Florida Jewry, the third largest Jewish community in the country, will excite great scholarly interest in the future. The Price Library of Judaica intends to ensure that it provides the resources for this future pioneering research,” said Jefferson

Making the unique holdings of the collection widely available in digital format is one of the major strategic priorities for Price Library and Jefferson is actively seeking partnerships with other Florida institutions to preserve and digitize Florida Jewish newspapers.

For more information on the collection please visit the library website at http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/judaica/ or contact Rebecca Jefferson at rjefferson@ufl.edu or (352) 273-2650.

Barbara Hood
Public Information Officer
University of Florida George A. Smathers Libraries
PO Box 117000
Gainesville FL 32611-7000"
352.273.2505 | Fax 352.392.7251

April 3: The Jewish Book: Past, Present, Future

2011-03-25T11:48:00.000-04:00

The Jewish Book:
Past, Present, Future
The Lillian Goldman Symposium
Sunday, April 3, 1–5:30 p.m.

What makes a Jewish book?
Who are the People of the Book?
How have Jewish books changed with changes in technology?

The “history of the book” is a lively field of historical scholarship that looks at authorship, publication, and dissemination of texts of all kinds as windows onto culture and society in different periods and places. Book history also plumbs the relationships between writers, scribes, printers, and readers. Join us as an international group of scholars examine the contours of Jewish identity through the study of texts in Hebrew and other Jewish languages, and of the Jews and non-Jews who produced and consumed them.
PROGRAM

What was a Jewish Book? Perspectives from Three Periods in History
moderator
Adam Shear | University of Pittsburgh
panelists
Katrin Kogman-Appel | Ben-Gurion University
Menahem Schmelzer | Jewish Theological Seminary
Gennady Estraikh | New York University

Texts and Cultures: Three Case Studies
moderator
Marjorie Lehman | Jewish Theological Seminary
panelists
David Stern | University of Pennsylvania
Elisheva Carlebach | Columbia University
Jeremy Stolow | Concordia University

The Future of the Jewish Book
moderator
Jonathan Karp | American Jewish Historical Society
panelists
Jeffrey Shandler | Rutgers University
Alana Newhouse | Tablet Magazine
Eliyahu Stern | Yale University

The program will be followed by a wine and
cheese reception and viewing of the exhibition
Zero to Ten: First Decades/New Centuries: Highlights
from the Collections at the Center for Jewish History

Your ticket includes free admission to the Yeshiva University Museum galleries and the exhibition Zero to Ten: First Decades/New Centuries: Highlights from the Collections at the Center for Jewish History. Visit zeroto10.cjh.org for details. Galleries open at 11:00 a.m.

Forchheimer Auditorium/
Kumble Stage
Center for Jewish History
15 West 16th Street, NYC

admission
$20 general; $15 CJH, partner and
Association for Jewish Studies members;
$8 students and seniors
For reservations, please call
SmartTix at 212.868.4444 or visit www.smarttix.com

www.programs.cjh.org

This program is made possible by the generous support of Amy P. Goldman and the Lillian Goldman Charitable Trust and presented by the Lillian Goldman Scholars Working Group on the Jewish Book

In collaboration with the Jewish Book Council, the Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University and the Columbia University Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies

April 11: Academic Seminar at Center for Jewish History

2011-03-21T12:52:00.001-04:00

A DECADE OF CULTURE, SCHOLARSHIP AND IDEAS

Upcoming Graduate Seminar
at the Center
Monday, April 11, 4:45pm

The Library that Never Was:
The Attempt to Build a Center for Jewish Books and Learning in Post-Holocaust Europe

Graduate Seminar Miriam Intrator, Lillian Goldman Fellow, PhD candidate at Graduate Center, City University of New York. Natalia Aleksiun, Associate Professor of Modern Jewish History, Touro College, responding. Dr. Nancy Sinkoff, Professor of History and Jewish Studies, Rutgers University, presiding.

Intended for an academic audience; space is limited.

Admission: Free, RSVP to jkaplan@cjh.org or 917-606-8226.

All coats and bags must be checked. Please plan accordingly.

Center for Jewish History Programs | www.programs.cjh.org

Center for Jewish History | www.cjh.org
15 West 16th Street
New York, New York 10011

The Washington Haggadah at the Met

2011-03-21T12:51:00.001-04:00

See here for information and related events:

http://broadwayworld.com/article/Rare_Medieval_Hebrew_Manuscript_on_View_At_The_MET_Begins_45_20110318

Washington Haggadah: new edition and event

2011-03-16T16:46:00.002-04:00

Click on image to enlarge.

MANFRED R. LEHMANN MEMORIAL MASTER WORKSHOP

2011-03-16T09:58:00.001-04:00

ANNOUNCEMENT

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 Library and the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, are pleased to announce the eleventh annual Manfred R. Lehmann Memorial Master Workshop to be held on May 8-9, (Sunday-Monday), 2011, at the Katz Center. The topic is Collectors and Collections: Hebrew Manuscripts and Incunabula in Russia. This year’s workshop will be led by Dr. Shimon Iakerson, the Head Researcher at the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Curator of the Judaica collections of the Russian Museum of Ethnography. One of the world’s leading experts on Hebrew incunabula, Professor Iakerson is the author of many books including Ohel Hayim Vol. 3 (Incunabula and Sixteenth Century Books in the Manfred and Ann Lehmann Collection) and the monumental Catalogue of Hebrew Incunabula from the Collection of the Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.

About 22 thousand Hebrew manuscripts and more than 100 Hebrew incunabula are preserved in the libraries and research centers of Russia. Until recently these volumes were largely unavailable to Western scholars. Since the opening of these collections some twenty years ago, they have revolutionized many fields in Jewish Studies. This year’s Lehmann Workshop will deal with the histories of these collections, the stories of the collectors and bibliographers who built them, and the importance of these books for the history of Jewish culture. Other topics to be treated will include the nature of the earliest Hebrew codices; Karaite manuscripts and communities; forgery; and the importance of the Russian incunabula for understanding the beginnings of Jewish printing. Since the workshop will concentrate upon reading colophons, dedications and owners’ notes, knowledge of Hebrew is highly desirable.

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 May 7 and 8 (with the option of May 6), 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, 2011. Make checks payable to “Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania.” A registration form is available at: http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/jwst/registrationLW2011.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 Foundation.

March 15: Lecture: Library of Congress "The Education of Jewish Girls in Tsarist Russia"

2011-03-09T16:24:00.000-05:00

IN CELEBRATION OF WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH 2011
PLEASE JOIN

THE HEBRAIC SECTION
AFRICAN AND MIDDLE EASTERN DIVISION
AND THE EUROPEAN DIVISION
THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

FOR A PRESENTATION
BY
ELIYANA R. ADLER

IN HER HANDS
The Education of Jewish Girls in Tsarist Russia

Tuesday March 15, 2011
12:00 – 1:00 p.m.
African & Middle Eastern Division Reading Room
Thomas Jefferson Building, LJ 220
10 First St. S.E.
Washington D.C. 20540

For Additional Information:
Sharon Horowitz (202) 707- 3780 or shor@loc.gov
Request ADA accommodations five business days in advance at (202) 707-6362
(Voice/TTY) or email ada@loc.gov

"Writing and Identity in the Jewish Tradition": Rome, March 27

2011-02-24T13:40:00.000-05:00

In occasione dell’Hachnasat Sèfer Torah
(cerimonia inaugurale per l’ingresso in Tempio di un Sèfer Torah) Scrittura e identità nella tradizione ebraica
Il Dipartimento Educazione e Cultura dell’Unione delle Comunità Ebraiche Italiane
e la Comunità Ebraica di Padova organizzano
Domenica 27 Marzo 2011 - 21 Adar Shenì 5771
Sala Ex Sinagoga tedesca - Ghetto, via delle Piazze 26 - Padova
design: dh@Daniela Haggiag.com
ore 14.45 - Saluti
Davide Romanin Jacur - Presidente Comunità ebraica di Padova
ore 15.00
Introduce e modera: Roberto Della Rocca - Direttore Dec-Ucei
Amedeo Spagnoletto - Sofer e docente CRI
Riccardo Calimani - Presidente della Fondazione MEIS
Donatella Di Cesare - Docente di Filosofia, Università “La Sapienza”
Adolfo Locci - Rabbino Capo di Padova
Rony Klopstok - Rabbino Yeshivat haKotel
ore 17.45
Hachnasat Sèfer Torah
Seguirà aperitivo
Sala del Consiglio della Comunità - via San Martino e Solferino, 9
Info: Comunità Ebraica di Padova / tel. 049 8751106 / mail: cebra.pd@tin.it
Comunità Ebraica diPadova

Jewish Book Week in London

2011-02-17T13:09:00.001-05:00

Program here: http://www.jewishbookweek.com/2011/programme.php

Upcomiong Kesternbaum Auction Information

2011-02-17T12:49:00.001-05:00

Iberian-Judaica from
the Distinguished Collection
of the Late Alfonso Cassuto
Highlights Kestenbaum & Company's
Auction of Fine Judaica
Thursday, February 24th, 2011

Iberian-Judaica | Incunabula | Chassidism | Passover Hagadoth | Autograph Letters Manuscripts | Graphic Art | Ceremonial Art | Exhibition Dates
For further details of any of the items mentioned click on the relevant lot numbers.
(Note: If links are not working please use HTML version by clicking link at very top of this e-mail)

Kestenbaum & Company's sale of Fine Judaica to be held on Thursday, February 24th at 3:00pm will mark the company's Fiftieth Auction since its establishment in 1996. With an exclusive commitment to the field of Fine Judaica, Kestenbaum has over the past fifteen years offered some 17,000 lots comprising an immense quantity of Judaic properties. Highlighting this Jubilee auction, will be the historic Cassuto Collection of Iberian-related Books and Manuscripts, alongside which, this extensive sale will feature Rare Hebrew Printed Books, Manuscripts, Autograph Letters, Graphic & Ceremonial Art.
The foundation of the Alfonso Cassuto Collection was laid by Mr. Cassuto's great-grandfather Jehuda de Mordehai Cassuto who in 1835 acquired a sizeable library assembled in the 17th century by the Namias Family of Hamburg. Subsequent generations of the family greatly expanded the library and Alfonso in particular immersed himself enthusiastically in the books and the library's further development. The present collection was consigned to Kestenbaum & Company by Alfonso's son, the distinguished composer and conductor Álvaro Leon Cassuto, Artistic Director of the Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra.

Click Here to View the Entire Auction Catalogue

For further information relating to bidding or any other queries, please contact:
Daniel Kestenbaum
Tel: 212-366-1197
Kestenbook@aol.com

Subjects
Iberian-Judaica

Incunabula

Chassidism

Passover Hagadoth

Autograph Letters

Manuscripts

Graphic Art

Ceremonial Art

Exhibition Dates

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Iberian-Judaica

The Collection of Iberian-Judaica in this auction features theological, historical and liturgical texts, as well as books and manuscripts relating to the Inquisition, literature, science and medicine. Important lots within the collection include a handsome manuscript by Isaac Orobio de Castro, Prevenciones Divinas contra la vana ydolatria de las gentes, Amsterdam, circa 1700, estimate $25,000-30,000 (lot 332) and three highly significant works bound in one volume by the celebrated mathematician and cartographer, Pedro Nunes, including his De Arte Atque Ratione Navigandi, 1573, at an estimate of $20,000-25,000 (lot 331). Further highlights include Isaac da Fonseca Aboab's Parafrasis Comentado Sobre el Pentateuco with the rare frontispiece portrait, Amsterdam, 1681, estimate $5,000-7,000 (lot 264); Flor de Apolo, a sumptuous edition of collected poetry by one of the most celebrated 17th century Marrano poets, Miguel de Barrios, Brussels, 1665, estimate $6,000-8,000 (lot 280); Joseph Penso de la Vega's Rumbos Peligrosos, Antwerp, 1683, estimate $4,000-6,000 (lot 286) and Luis de Granada's Introduction del Symbolo de la Fe, Salamanca, 1584-85, estimate $4,000-6,000 (lot 290). Also featured are medical texts by noted Marrano physicians such as Elijah Montalto (lot 322 ), Amatus Lusitanus (lot 317) and Rodrigo de Castro (lot 320).
Elsewhere in the 420-plus lot auction is a broad range of categories including Incunabula, Liturgy, Chassidic and Kabbalistic texts, Bibles, Passover Hagadahs, American and Anglo Judaic imprints, Anti-Semitic and Holocaust-related materials. Illustrated Books in the auction feature works by Max Liebermann, El Lissitzky, Reuven Rubin and Issachar Ber Ryback. Other sections include a significant collection of Autograph Letters, Graphic Art, a single-owner collection of Fine Photography and Ceremonial Art.
Incunabula

Incunabula in the auction include Joseph Albo's classic text of Jewish philosophy-Sepher Ha'Ikarim, Soncino, 1485, estimate $25,000-35,000 (lot 7); a wide-margined copy of David ben Joseph Abudraham's commentary to the prayers, the second book printed in Lisbon, 1489, estimate $20,000-30,000 (lot 265) and Alphonso de Spina's Fortalitium Fidei, Nürnberg, 1485, estimate $ 6,000-9,000 (lot 340). An important post-incunable is a crisp set of Daniel Bomberg's Biblia Rabbinica, presented here in four volumes in a fine, uniform contemporary binding, Venice, 1524-5, at an estimate of $50,000-70,000 (lot 53).
Chassidism

Among the Chassidic Books, the rarest is undoubtedly an extraordinarily fine copy of Schneur Zalman of Liadi's Sepher Likutei Amarim, the fundamental exposition of Chabad Chassidic philosophy, Slavuta, 1796, at a pre-auction estimate of $100,000-120,000 (lot 71). Other notable Chassidic texts in the sale include a scarce copy of Schneur Zalman of Liadi's first edition of the Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim), Kopyst, 1816, estimate $8,000-10,000 (lot 74) and the first anthology of the teachings of the Ba'al Shem Tov, Kether Shem Tov, two parts bound in one, Zolkiew, 1794, at an estimate of $7,000-10,000 (lot 70).
Passover Hagadoth

A sizeable selection of Passover Hagadahs includes many fine examples such as Arthur Szyk's opulently illlustrated Hagadah printed entirely on vellum (one of 125 numbered copies), London 1939-40, estimate $30,000-40,000 (lot 132); a beautifully designed Hagadah by Albert Daniel Rutherston rarely seen at auction (one of 100 copies printed on handmade paper), London, 1930, estimate $7,000-9,000 (lot 131); a copy of the celebrated Amsterdam Hagadah, 1695, estimate $4,000-6,000 (lot 123) and a deluxe, large-paper-copy of Jakob Steinhardt's artistic Hagadah, Berlin, 1921, at an estimate of $3,000-5,000 (lot 129).

Autograph Letters

The Autograph Letters section of the sale boasts an impressive selection of written correspondences by prominent Rabbinic thinkers and Chassidic leaders. Included are letters by the Chofetz Chaim and members of the Halberstam Family. Also on offer is correspondence from the Schneerson Family including letters written from Latvia in 1927 shortly after the family's expulsion from the Soviet Union. Far and away, the most prominent lot to be auctioned in this section is an immensely rare autograph letter written by the paramount Chassidic leader, Reb Nosson of Breslov. The letter was written by Reb Nosson in 1842 to a close disciple, Reb Meir Mirkis of Teplik, who was ailing at the time, and the missive has remained with the Mirkis family for nearly two centuries. This letter is of singular importance as it contains, at its heart, one of the central philosophies of Breslov Chassiduth: "Joy is the remedy for all sicknesses." The pre-auction estimate is $40,000-60,000 (lot 237). Another star lot in this section is a group of childhood photographs and autograph letters written by Oskar Schindler, the renowned rescuer of Holocaust-era Jews. The letters were written to Schindler's first cousin Emily Tyrolt. The pre-sale estimate is $5,000-7,000 (lot 245).

Manuscripts

Highlights among the manuscripts include an important autographed pedagogic work by Yitzchak Aryeh Zekel Leib Wormser, the Ba'al Shem of Michelstadt (1768-1847), estimate $15,000-20,000 (lot 255); a bizarre and rather fascinating Kabbalistic manuscript of folk remedies, Eastern Europe, 18th century, estimate $1,000-1,500 (lot 257) and a rare illuminated Marriage Contract from the ancient community of Mountain Jews in the region of Azerbaijan, 1867, estimate $1,500-2,500 (lot 353).

Graphic Art

The Graphic Art section features paintings by Artur Markowicz, Saul Raskin and Otto Eichinger among others. Of particular interest is a Hebrew Map of the World by Benedictus Arias Montanus, Antwerp, 1571, at an estimate of $700-1,000 (lot 354). A single-owner consignment of Fine Photography notably includes the works of Roman Vishniac (lots 371-373).

Ceremonial Art

The sale concludes with an attractive selection of Ceremonial Art. Fine examples include a 17th century Italian Bronze Chanukah Lamp, estimate $15,000-18,000 (lot 380), a pair of Continental silver and silver filigree Torah Finials, circa 1800, estimate $5,000-7,000 (lot 399) and an exceptional Italian embroidered Synagogue textile, dated 1698, at an estimate of $5,000-7,000 (lot 397). Also noteworthy is a varied collection of materials from the Bezalel School of Art (Lots 405-22).

This Jubilee Auction is particularly exciting and we look forward to welcoming a broad range of new clients likely to be drawn to the attractions found in the celebrated Cassuto Collection.

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Pre-Auction Exhibition:
Sunday, 20th February - 12:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Monday, 21st February - 10:00 am - 6:00 pm
Tuesday, 22nd February - 10:00 am - 6:00 pm
Wednesday 23rd February - 10:00 am - 6:00 pm
No viewing on day of sale

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March 3: Van Leer Event on "Kabbalistic Manuscripts and Textual Theory"

2011-02-17T12:28:00.002-05:00

Click on picture to expand it.

Call for Papers; "Authorship in the History of Jewish Textual Culture"

2011-02-02T13:30:00.001-05:00

(from H-Judaic)

From: Amit Assis [mailto:amit@assis.co.il]
Sent: Tue 2/1/2011 8:09 AM
Subject: Re: CFP - Authorship in the History of Jewish Textual Culture

CFP - Authorship in the History of Jewish Textual Culture

We hereby call for papers on the subject of authorship in Jewish and Hebrew
textual cultures, for a volume of studies published by the Sapir Forum for
the Discussion and Research of Culture. The purpose of the volume is to go
beyond the issue of the identity of the real author and move towards a
meta-cultural discussion of the transformation of the conception of the
author and its implementations in various Jewish cultures throughout the
ages. Beyond an examination of the formal characteristics of the text, we
expect the issue of authorship to raise other, in-depth questions related to
the various Jewish texts and cultures such as:

- Is the author perceived as the creator of the text? And if not - who is
perceived as its author?
- How is the presence of the narrator expressed in the text? What is the
role of the addressee in the creation of the text?
- Does the text have one author or many? What is the relationship between
the various partners creating the text?
- What is the status of 'the source of inspiration', the editor, the
compiler, the copier, the translator and the like, who stand behind the
text?
- How does authorship relate to the technological, social and
institutional practices of a text's composition, transition and reception?
- What is the role of the author in creating the normative status of the
text?
- What is the relationship between the actual author and the fictitious
one (in pseudo-epigraphy, for example)?
- How is the author a model for the national subject (individual or
collective)?
- What are the relations between the human author of the text and the
divine "Author" (prophecy, incarnation, inspiration)?
- How is the function of the author related to non-textual cultural
functions?
- What is the theological, political, ideological, etc. significance of
the manner of appearance of the author in the given field of discourse?

The papers can address these questions or similar ones, while dealing
with a relatively large segment of the Jewish and Hebrew textual culture
such as: the Bible, *Midrash*, Gaonic literature, renaissance poetry, and
so on, or they can refer to a narrower definition such as: *Rabbi
Ishmael's Mekhilta*, the *Tikkunei Zohar*, the political journalism in "*
Ha'Shiloah*", etc. Papers may be written in Hebrew or English. Papers
that will be chosen by the editorial board will undergo a professional
reading by a reviewer from the paper's field, and they will be translated so
that the volume will appear in both languages. The papers, which will not be
longer than 9000 words, must include a textual reading alongside fundamental
conclusions as to the historical, theoretical, literary, ideological, or
theological aspects. These can refer to the formal aspects of the presence
of the narrator in the text as well as to more fundamental questions such as
the manner in which the perception of the author in the text reflects
broader basic conceptions related to the function of "the Author" and the
institute of authorship in the given historical period and culture.

Please send a proposal no longer than 600 words, detailing the subject of
the paper, the fields of research from which it is written, its hypotheses,
as well as an initial bibliography, no later than May 1st, 2011. The
papers should be ready no later than January 1st, 2012.
Itamar Brenner itamar.brenner@gmail.com
Amit Assis amit@assis.co.il

Tychsen Collection and Rostock University Library Digitized

2010-10-26T14:47:00.000-04:00

we are pleased to inform you that we just released our new online publication:

The Hebraica and Judaica of the Tychsen Collection and the Rostock University Library.
The Oldyiddish Literature

For further information please download the PDF-flyer at: http://www.haraldfischerverlag.de/hfv/Tychsen-OL-E.pdf
or visit our website: http://www.haraldfischerverlag.de/hfv/tychsen_engl.php

We welcome any questions, inquiries or requests for trials.

Kind regards, Claudia Schorcht

----------------------------------
Harald Fischer Verlag GmbH
POB 1565 • D-91005 Erlangen
Ph +49 9131 205620 • Fax +49 9131 206028
info@haraldfischerverlag.de
www.haraldfischerverlag.de

Call for Papers: Assocation of Jewish Libraries

2010-09-06T16:57:00.001-04:00

Call for Papers

The Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) will hold the 46th Annual Convention at the Marriott Chateau Champlain in Montreal, Quebec June 19-22, 2011. Librarians, archivists, scholars, educators, authors and others will meet to share their interest in Judaica librarianship and related topics.

AJL is soliciting proposals for papers and presentations on aspects of Judaica librarianship as it pertains to libraries, archives, museums, schools, synagogues and related institutions. Past topics have included literature and other resources, collection management, programming, reader advisory services, special and rare collections, cataloging and classification, digital and electronic resources, technology and local Jewish history.

A special focus this year will be the cultural and linguistic diversity of the Montreal Jewish community.

Submissions should include the following:
Presenter's name, address, affiliation, telephone and email contacts.
Brief biography.
Title of proposed presentation.
Summary of proposal.
Specific technology or equipment requirements, if any.

All submissions must be received by November 30, 2010. Please submit proposals by email to:
ajlconvention@gmail.com [mailto:ajlconvention@gmail.com]
or by mail to:
Marsha Lustigman,
Bialik Library,
6500 Kildare Rd.,
Cote St. Luc, QC, Canada, H4W 3B8

Proposals will be reviewed by the Program Planning Committee, which is composed of national and local AJL members. Notification will be made in January, 2011.

Conference on "Technologies of Medieval Song" in Philadelphia November 19-20 2010

2010-08-25T16:42:00.000-04:00

3rd ANNUAL LAWRENCE J. SCHOENBERG SYMPOSIUM ON MANUSCRIPT STUDIES IN THE DIGITAL AGE

November 19-20, 2010

*/Cantus Scriptus: Technologies of Medieval Song/*

In partnership with the Rare Book Department of the Free Library of Philadelphia and the Department of Music, Penn Libraries are pleased to announce the 3rd annual Lawrence J. Schoenberg Symposium on Manuscript Studies in the Digital Age .
This year's symposium will be on the theme of music in medieval and early modern manuscripts. We will explore a range of issues relating to music’s materiality in the late medieval period, especially as it pertains to the manuscript source. We will bring together scholars and performers who will examine the ways the written text of music, especially in the unit of the codex, can be expressive as well as prescriptive; the multiple functions of music’s most important technology – its notation; and finally, the role that modern digital technology can facilitate the study of manuscripts today.

The symposium begins Friday evening at the Free Library of Philadelphia with a lecture and performance by the award-winning early music duo Asteria . On Saturday at the University of Pennsylvania, seven speakers will present papers on various topics relating to the history of music manuscripts and notation. The symposium will conclude with a roundtable to discuss issues related to the digitization of music manuscripts and related documents and the role of the digital humanities in medieval musicology.

Special exhibitions of music manuscripts will be on view at both institutions.

/*Participants include:*/

Jane Alden, Wesleyan University
Julia Craig-McFeeley, Digital Image Archive of Music Manuscripts
Michael Scott Cuthbert, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Emma Dillon, University of Pennsylvania
Lauren Jennings, University of Pennsylvania
Susan Rankin, University of Cambridge
Anne Stone, City University of New York
Emily Zazulia, University of Pennsylvania

For program and registration details, go to:
http://www.library.upenn.edu/exhibits/lectures/ljs_symposium3.html

Frank L. Herz Collection of Reuchliniana at Leo Baeck Institute

2010-08-06T16:43:00.002-04:00

From The New York Times, August 6, 2010

"Christian scholars battled in the early 1500s over whether all Jewish texts should be burned. Johannes Pfefferkorn, a Jewish-born theologian in Cologne who had converted to Roman Catholicism, petitioned Emperor Maximilian I to have Hebrew books declared dangerously blasphemous. The emperor sought a second opinion from Johannes Reuchlin, a linguist in Stuttgart, who decided that Hebrew was a biblical tongue worth preserving.

"Besides, Reuchlin wrote, if Hebrew texts were all erased, “the Jews might well write much stranger stuff from scratch, far more objectionable.”

"From the 1950s to the 1990s, Frank L. Herz, a German-born leather-goods merchant in New York, collected books related to the 16th-century controversy by prominent authors like Erasmus and Martin Luther. Mr. Herz’s heirs have donated the collection to the Leo Baeck Institute, a library focused on German-speaking Jewry at the Center for Jewish History on West 16th Street in Manhattan. The staff is now repairing and digitizing the books and planning for exhibitions later this year.

"Mr. Herz, whose family had escaped the Nazis, was fascinated by Reuchlin’s lucid arguments against anti-Semitism and his and Pfefferkorn’s efforts to attract publicity by circulating pamphlets and attending book fairs. The idea of using printing presses to mold public opinion “was very new, very modern at the time,” said Renate Evers, the institute’s head librarian.

"The institute will put commemorative Herz bookplates on protective cardboard cases for the 63 books; the plates will each have an image of eyeglasses copied from one of Reuchlin’s title pages. The linguist used spectacles, Ms. Evers said, to symbolize scholarship and insights into the heated debate."

"Lectures on the Art of Hebrew Manuscripts and Books" on YouTube

2010-08-06T14:14:00.003-04:00

Lectures by Evelyn Cohen, Ephraim Karnafogel, Emile Schrijver, and Sharon Lieberman Mintz at the Metropolitan Museum of Art are now available on YouTube. Start here.

Conference: Patronage and the Sacred Book in the Medieval Mediterranean

2010-07-26T20:59:00.003-04:00

October 18-19
Brandeis University.

The program is available here.

Google Books starts up in Israel

2010-07-22T17:17:00.001-04:00

Click here for the article from Globes.

New Work on Copyright in Jewish Law

2010-07-21T12:45:00.002-04:00

Neil Netanel writes that a draft of his forthcoming, co-authored article, “Is Copyright Property? The Debate in Jewish Law,” (Theoretical Inquiries in Law, Vol. 12, No. 1, 2011) can be downloaded (for free) at the SSRN website
here.

Professor Netanel and his co-author, David Nimmer, welcome comments and feedback.

The article will make up a part of their book, forthcoming with Oxford University Press in 2011, From Maimonides to Microsoft: The Jewish Law of Copyright Since the Birth of Print.

Here is an abstract of the article:

Is copyright a property right? That question raises a host of thorny theoretical issues regarding the foundational underpinnings of both copyright and property. The notion that if copyright is “property,” it will or should resemble a perpetual, absolute, pre-political property right, has repeatedly infused judicial proceedings, legislative enactments, and public debate in both common law and civil law countries.

Like their common law and civil law counterparts, Jewish law jurists have engaged in protracted debate about whether copyright is a property right. Recent decades have seen numerous rabbinic court decisions, responsa (rulings in disputes or advisory opinions coupled with a lengthy exegesis on Jewish law in answer to questions posed), scholarly articles, and blog entries on such issues as whether it is permissible, without license from the author or publisher, to republish a book after the rabbinic printing privilege has expired; to copy and distribute software or sound recordings; to perform music in wedding halls; to make copies for classroom use; and to download songs from the Internet. And like in secular law, but for somewhat different reasons, the characterization of copyright as “property” has significant doctrinal consequences for resolution of these controversies in Jewish law.

There are numerous, and at times profound, differences in the terminology, form of argument, doctrinal specifics, and overarching legal framework of Jewish law and secular law in this area and others. Nonetheless, the arguments within the Jewish law debate have some intriguing parallels with those of secular law copyright. In fact, one finds the direct, if largely unstated, influence of secular copyright just below the surface in the debate about whether copyright is property in Jewish law.

An earlier article, also part of the project, is also available at SSRN here:
"Maharam of Padua v. Giustiniani: The Sixteenth-Century Origins of the Jewish Law of Copyright," Houston Law Review 44 (2007).

Contact info for Professor Netanel:

Neil Netanel
Pete Kameron Endowed Chair in Law
UCLA School of Law
405 Hilgard Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90095
310-825-1634
http://www.law.ucla.edu/home/index.asp?page=638

Books and Manuscripts in Museums

2010-06-29T13:02:00.002-04:00

A review of the Braginsky exhibit at the Yeshiva University Museum: Edward Rothstein in the New York Times.

A 9th-century Hebrew manuscript from the Vatican as well as other treasures are currently on display at the new Jewish Museum in London .

June 29-30: Conference on Reading Hebrew and Jewish Texts in Early Modern Europe, Oxford

2010-06-22T21:38:00.002-04:00

Program here.

Call for Papers: Early Book Society

2010-06-22T11:38:00.002-04:00

CALL FOR PAPERS

Out of Bounds: Mobility, Movement and Use of Manuscripts and Printed
Books, 1350-1550

Twelfth Biennial Conference of the Early Book Society in collaboration
with the Twelfth York Manuscripts Conference

in honour of Professor Toshiyuki Takamiya
3-7 July 2011

Centre for Medieval Studies
University of York

The Early Book Society will hold its twelfth biennial conference in
collaboration with the York Manuscripts Conference, at the Centre for
Medieval Studies, University of York, from the 3rd to the 7th of July
2011. The theme of this year's conference will be Out of Bounds:
Mobility, Movement and Use of Manuscripts and Printed Books, 1350-1550.
This theme may be interpreted literally or figuratively: papers might
consider unbound or rebound MSS and books, or MSS and books without
bindings (rolls), or marginalia beyond the boundaries of the text, or
the ways in which such boundaries might be created, or even MSS and
books that travel from their place of origin. Secondary threads running
through the conference will be related to Prof. Takamiya's manuscripts
or Nicholas Love (the conference includes a visit to Mount Grace
Priory). Please submit proposals for 20-minute papers relating to the
conference themes either to Martha Driver or Linne Mooney by 1 December
2010. Proposals sent via email should be copied to both
(LRM3@york.ac.uk and MDriver@pace.edu) or by post to Martha:

Prof Martha Driver
English Department
Pace University
41 Park Row, 15th floor
New York, NY 10038
USA

Please include your name, title and affiliation, the proposed title of
your paper, a brief abstract of your paper, and indication of any
electronic aids requested (data projector, overhead, and/or slide
projector).

(via Peter Stallybrass and the Workshop on Material Texts at Penn.)

Call for Applications: Rosalie Katchen Travel Grant

2010-06-22T11:30:00.001-04:00

Applications are now being accepted for The Hadassah-Brandeis Institute
Rosalie Katchen Travel Grant
to the Association of Jewish Studies Conference in Boston, Massachusetts
December 19-21, 2010.

This annual grant is available to junior scholars presenting papers
exploring Jewish women and gender issues. Scholars who completed their
dissertation within the past five years are invited to apply.

Travel grants of $250 each are awarded.

For application details go to:
http://www.brandeis.edu/hbi/grants/kat_grant.html

Deadline: October 20, 2010

Magnes Collection moving to Berkeley

2010-06-22T11:02:00.001-04:00

See here for details.

July 1: Lectures on the Art of Hebrew Manuscripts and Books at Metropolitan Museum of Art

2010-06-15T12:18:00.000-04:00

Lecture
As it is written: Lectures on the Art of Hebrew Manuscripts and Books
July 1, 2010; 2:00 p.m.–5:00 p.m.; Bonnie J. Sacerdote Lecture Hall, Uris Center for Education
Free with Museum admission.

Learn about recent research in the field of Hebrew illuminated manuscripts and decorated printed books on the occasion of the exhibition A Journey Through Jewish Worlds: Highlights from the Braginsky Collection of Hebrew Manuscripts and Printed Books, currently on view at Yeshiva University Museum.

Hidden Treasure: The Intellectual Life of Medieval Ashkenazi Jews
Ephraim Kanarfogel, E. Billi Ivry Professor of Jewish History, Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies, Yeshiva University

Making Hebrew Manuscripts in a Gentile World
Evelyn M. Cohen, independent scholar, New York

Hebrew Manuscripts after Gutenberg
Emile G. L. Schrijver, Curator, Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana, Special Collections, University of Amsterdam

These lectures are made possible by the René and Susanne Braginsky Foundation, Zurich.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For more information about events and programs at the Metropolitan Museum, see the online calendar.

June 22: Dan Rabinowitz speaking at the Library of Congress

2010-06-11T11:45:00.002-04:00

Click on the picture to enlarge.

Information about Hebrew Manuscripts in Madrid

2010-05-26T16:24:00.001-04:00

http://www.ucm.es/BUCM/blogs/Foliocomplutense/1688.php

New Publications Dept.

2010-05-26T14:34:00.002-04:00

David Stern, "'Jewish Art' and the Making of the Medieval Prayerbook," Ars Judaica 6 (2010.

Center for Jewish History Reading Room now open Sunday

2010-05-26T14:31:00.001-04:00

A MESSAGE FROM THE CENTER FOR JEWISH HISTORY

As part of its efforts to improve and enhance services for researchers, the Center for Jewish History is pleased to announce that it is extending the operating hours of the Lillian Goldman Reading Room and the Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute to six days a week.

Beginning on Sunday, June 6, 2010, scholars, students and the general public will have the opportunity to conduct onsite research every Sunday from 11am – 4pm.

The full array of electronic resources and the open stack reference collection will be available on Sundays. Additionally, materials from the archival and library collections of American Jewish Historical Society, American Sephardi Federation, Leo Baeck Institute, and the library of YIVO Institute for Jewish Research will be available upon request.

All requests for Sunday usage must be received by 5pm on the preceding Thursday. To make a request, please visit www.catalog.cjh.org, login or become a registered user, search for the materials you wish to request, and click the “Reserve” link on the left side of the item record. Once you fill out the required fields, your request will be processed. Should you have any difficulty in identifying materials or placing a request, please contact reference services at 917-606-8217 or publicservices@cjh.org.

In addition to new Sunday hours, the Center offers research hours on Mondays from 9:30am – 7:30pm, Tuesdays – Thursdays from 9:30am – 5:30pm, and Fridays from 9:30am – 1:30pm. Please note that YIVO archival collections are available Monday – Thursday from 9:30am – 5:00pm.

For more information, please visit www.cjh.org.

Strashun Collection and other books from YIVO on-line

2010-05-26T12:38:00.002-04:00

The Yivo News (Spring 2010) reports that the Society for the Preservation of Hebrew Books (at www.hebrewbooks.org) which has already digitized thousands of books from the Chabad Library is now digitizing rare books from the YIVO collection, beginning with the Strashun collection. The books can be found at www.yivolibrarybooks.org.

Kiev Judaica Collection Research Fellowship

2010-05-11T21:04:00.000-04:00

THE KIEV JUDAICA COLLECTION RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP

The Special Collections Research Center at the Gelman Library of the George Washington University is pleased to invite applications to the biennial Kiev Judaica Collection Fellowship Program for the 2010-2011 academic year.

The Fellowship Program provides stipends for short-term research and writing at the I. Edward Kiev Judaica Collection, housed in the Kiev Room of the Special Collections Research Center. Applicants for the Fellowship Program must be conducting research in the field of 18th-20th century Jewish history, Hebrew literature, Jewish art or Hebrew booklore. Candidates may come from a variety of disciplines including, but not limited to, Graphic Arts, History, Religion, Comparative Literature, Bibliography or any relevant area of Judaic Studies.

The Kiev Judaica Collection Fellowships will be awarded to:
- one graduate or post-graduate researcher or independent scholar, with a stipend of $2,500, and
- one undergraduate student at GWU in the final years of matriculation (Junior or Senior year status), with a stipend of $ 750.

Applicants must submit a letter together with a research proposal (max. 4 pages) outlining the scope of their project and indicating those materials from the Kiev Collection and/or other Judaica collections in the Special Collections Research Center relevant to their research. (A summary of research is required upon completion of the fellowship.) Applicants should also submit two letters of support, preferably from academic colleagues. For graduate and doctoral students, one of the letters must be from a dissertation advisor.

Download a fellowship application at http://www.gelman.gwu.edu/collections/SCRC/collecting-areas/rare-books-and-maps-1/applicationform.pdf or request to have one sent via postal mail. The deadline for submission of applications is July 31, 2010. Inquiries and application materials should be forwarded to:
Ms. Jennifer Kinniff
The Gelman Library
George Washington University
2130 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20052
e-mail: kinniff@gelman.gwu.edu
The I. Edward Kiev Judaica Collection was established in 1996 by Dr. Ari and Phyllis Kiev with the donation of the private library of Dr. Kiev’s father, Rabbi I. Edward Kiev (1905-1975), one of the preeminent Judaica librarians of the 20th century. In 1998, the Kiev Room was dedicated to house the collection – along with supplementary collections of Jewish graphic art, archives, printed and recorded music, ephemera, artifacts and ritual objects - and to provide a reading room for researchers.
For further information on the Kiev Collection and related Judaica collections in the Gelman Library, go to: http://www.gelman.gwu.edu/collections/SCRC/collecting-areas/rare-books-and-maps-1/judaica.

Call for Papers: Geographies of Intellectual Property

2010-04-22T14:49:00.001-04:00

via the Penn History of Material Texts workshop list:

International Society for the History and Theory of Intellectual Property
http://www.ishtip.org
___________________________________
Call for Papers
Second Annual ISHTIP Workshop

Geographies of Intellectual Property

American University, Washington, D.C.
24-26 September 2010

Following our first successful meeting in June 2009 at Bocconi University in Milan on "The Construction of Immateriality," the second ISHTIP workshop, to be held September 24-26, 2010 in Washington, D.C. will consider "Geographies of Intellectual Property." We are interested in
(i) the ways in which ideas, innovations, and creativity are "mapped" and thus transformed from actions, practices, and communications into property, and sovereignty over the mapped object(s) is attributed to particular individuals or creators;
(ii) those aspects of ideas and information that elude the capacity of intellectual property systems, because they are too slippery or mutable to be mapped (ideas as such, style, timbre, discoveries, mathematical theories, scenes à faire which resist the processes of "propertization"), or are regarded as incapable of ascription to particular individuals (genres, gossip, rumors, jokes, urban myths);
(iii) the ways that intellectual property laws (their historical precursors and social analogues) have understood or sought to influence the geographical movement of ideas and information (including the incentivization and restriction of the movement of texts, traders, machinery and trades through the grant of privileges, through criminal laws, and other arrangements);
(iv) the role of intellectual property laws (their historical precursors and social analogues) in channelling the movement of ideas, their modes of migration, and generative capacities of knowledge across conceptual spaces, through networks, via spillovers and the generation of clusters and hubs; the limitations of territorially-based rights in controlling the movement of information across peer to peer systems and through social networks;
(v) the relationship between intellectual property, authorship, invention, nationhood and empire; the role of intellectual property in reinforcing ideas of "place," through recognition of rights in "geographical indications" and denominations of origin.
(vi) the understanding of the many spatial dimensions of intellectual property, such as geographical and territorial restrictions, language barriers, and inter-linguistic relationships, the distinction between public and private places, as well as between virtual and physical space.
By focusing on the heterogeneous roots of our present intellectual property regime the workshop aims to foster richer contextualization of this regime than can be provided by legal history working alone. To this end it will assemble scholars from across the disciplines - from anthropology, economic and business history, the history of science, literary and cultural history, as well as from legal history and theory.
Up to ten papers/works in progress will be accepted; they will circulate in advance and will receive intensive discussion at the workshop. Case studies, close analyses of constellations of social and/or legal practices, and close readings of significant episodes in the history of information management are especially welcome. A maximum length of 9,000 words is recommended.

Participants who have already confirmed that they will attend include: Lionel Bently, Cambridge U; Mario Biagioli, Harvard U; Maurizio Borghi, Brunel U; Kathy Bowrey, U of New South Wales; Ronan Deazley, U of Glasgow; Christophe Geiger, U of Strasbourg; Johanna Gibson, Queen Mary U of London; Peter Jaszi, American U; Lilla Montagnani, Bocconi U; Martha Woodmansee, Case Western Reserve U

Important dates
Prospectus submission deadline: 5 June 2010
Notification of acceptance: 25 June 2010
Registration deadline (for all participants): 24 August 2010
Deadline for submission of papers: 24 August 2010
Workshop: 24-26 September 2010

Contacts
For information and program updates, see http://www.ishtip.org
Please address questions and submissions to: ishtip@case.edu
Submissions should include a prospectus of approximately 2 pages and a short (maximum 2-page) resumé

Organizing committee
Lionel Bently, Maurizio Borghi, Peter Jaszi, Martha Woodmansee

AJS Panels

2010-04-22T12:15:00.003-04:00

The deadline for proposals for the Association for Jewish Studies conference is coming. I am happy to have the "Blog for the Study of the Jewish Book" serve as a clearinghouse for papers looking for panels and panels looking for papers.
Please send me a brief description at ashear[at]pitt[dot]edu.

Lehmann Workshop at Penn

2010-04-13T21:02:00.000-04:00

Space is still available.

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 Library and the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, are pleased to announce the tenth annual Manfred R. Lehmann Memorial Master Workshop to be held on May 23-24, (Sunday-Monday), 2010, at the Katz Center.
This year's workshop will be led by Dr. Emile Schrijver, Curator of the Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana at the University of Amsterdam. The workshop will treat "The Jewish Book In and Around Amsterdam," and will focus on three main topics: (1) the heyday of Hebrew printing in Amsterdam in the 17th century and its coming into existence; (2) the printed and manuscript book tradition of the Amsterdam Sephardim; and (3) the influence of the Amsterdam Hebrew book on surrounding Jewish communities. The last session will focus on future research agendas for the various fields of research dealt with in the earlier sessions. The sessions will include detailed readings of title pages, colophons, and relevant archival and other primary and secondary sources.
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.
Because much of the Workshop will be devoted to the reading of Hebrew texts like colophons, it is necessary that all participants be able to read non-vocalized Hebrew texts.
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 May 22 and 23 (with the option of May 21), and all meals and refreshments (all kosher) during the course of the workshop.
Graduate students may apply for a scholarship to the workshop, that covers tuition, hotel accommodations, and meals. N.B. 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, 2010. Make checks payable to “Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania.”
A registration form is available at: http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/jwst/registrationLW2010.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 Foundation.

Jeremy Stolow, Orthodox by Design

2010-04-05T13:34:00.003-04:00

Jeremy Stolow's book on Artscroll Orthodox by Design has now been published by the University of California Press.

Click on the image to see the flyer.

Post-Docs in Humanities and Social Sciences at Pitt

2010-04-05T13:28:00.001-04:00

The University of Pittsburgh School of Arts and Sciences Announces a New
Postdoctoral Fellowship Program for 2011

For the first time, the University of Pittsburgh School of Arts and
Sciences is offering up to eight postdoctoral fellowships in the humanities
and social sciences to begin in January 2011. These inaugural fellowships
are designed to attract excellent scholars from outside the University of
Pittsburgh and to offer junior scholars the time, space, and financial
support necessary to produce significant scholarship early in their
careers.

The Arts and Sciences Postdoctoral Fellowships are for one year and are
renewable for an additional year. Fellows will teach two courses per year,
complete scholarly work, and participate in the academic and intellectual
community of the School of Arts and Sciences and the department or program
with which they are affiliated. The fellowship offers junior scholars the
time, space, and financial support necessary to produce significant
scholarship early in their careers. The annual stipend will be $45,000.
Fellows will receive an annual research fund of $3,500 and a one-time
reimbursement of up to $1,500 for moving expenses.

Eligibility
We invite applications from qualified candidates in the humanities and
social sciences who have received the PhD from outside of the University of
Pittsburgh between December 1, 2007 and November 30, 2010. Applicants who
do not have the PhD in hand at the time of application must provide a
letter from the Department Chair or the Advisor stating that the PhD degree
will be conferred before the term of the fellowship begins.

Guidelines
Postdoctoral education is an important facet of research and scholarship at
the University of Pittsburgh, and the University has developed a
comprehensive set of guidelines for postdoctoral fellows and the faculty,
departments, and programs who work with them.

Application Requirements and Procedure
Applicants should submit the following materials:
1. An application form (available at www.as.pitt.edu/postdoc)
2. Curriculum vitae
3. Detailed statement of current research interests (1,000 words) that
clearly outlines the goals of the research you will undertake during the
term of the fellowship.
4. One writing sample no longer than 20 pages.
5. A copy of the Dissertation Table of Contents
6. A two-page statement of teaching interests and one or two course
proposals (subject area, brief syllabus, proposed methods) for a 15-week
course directed towards advanced undergraduates or graduate students.
7. Three letters of recommendation. (NOTE: Letter writers should e-mail
their recommendations directly to postdoc@as.pitt.edu, using the
applicant’s name and the word, “Postdoc Recommendation” in the e-mail
subject line.)
Application Deadline and Notification of Awards
All application materials—including letters of recommendation—must be
submitted electronically before June 1, 2010. Only fully completed formal
applications will be considered. It is your responsibility to ensure that
all documentation is complete and that referees submit their letters of
recommendation to postdoc@as.pitt.edu by the closing date. Awards will be
announced in July 2010.
The University of Pittsburgh is an affirmative action/equal opportunity
employer and educator. Women, minorities, and international candidates are
especially encouraged to apply.

New journal: Contemporaneity: Historical Presence in Visual Culture

2010-03-10T15:36:00.002-05:00

Visit Contemporaneity online: http://contemporaneity.pitt.edu/

Fan us on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Contemporaneity-Historical-Presence-in-Visual-Culture/299991115604?ref=nf

CALL FOR PARTICIPATION

Contemporaneity: Historical Presence in Visual Culture aims to explore how the complexities of being in time find visual form. Crucial to this undertaking is accounting for how, from prehistory to the present, cultures around the world conceive of and construct their present and the concept of presentness visually. Through scholarly writings from a number of academic disciplines in the humanities, together with contributions from artists and filmmakers, Contemporaneity maps the diverse ways in which cultures use visual means to record, define, and interrogate their historical context and presence in time.

For our inaugural issue, we seek submissions from scholars, artists, and filmmakers. Possible topics or areas of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

- The concept of the present across time and cultures

- Cultural exchange, temporal disjunction, historical coincidence

- The simultaneity of conflicting kinds of time

- The persistence of the past in the present

- Collecting, the archive, forgery

- Messianic time, circular time, the eternal return, the event,
everyday life, historical time, timelessness

- Teleology, apocalypse, the end of time, the end of art, the end
of history

- Tradition, decadence, renaissance, restoration, avant-garde,
modernization

- Phenomenology of time

- Nostalgia, melancholy, boredom

- Chronophobia and chronomania

- Making time visible, representing time through images and texts,
narrating

- The life of images and reception history

- Treating the present historically

- Historical delays and the acceleration of history

- Methodological problems concerning the writing of art history or
film history

- Periodization

The deadline for submissions is September 30, 2010. Manuscripts should be no more than 6,000 words in length and should adhere to the Chicago Manual of Style. Contributions from artists and filmmakers may take many forms.

Please visit contemporaneity.pitt.edu for more information. To make a submission, click Register and create an Author profile to get started.

Contemporaneity: Historical Presence in Visual Culture is a scholarly, peer-reviewed online publication edited by graduate students in the Department of History of Art & Architecture at the University of Pittsburgh. It is hosted by the University Library System of the University of Pittsburgh as part of its D(c)\Scribe Digital Publishing Program

--
Saskia Beranek
Member, Editorial Board, Contemporaneity Doctoral Candidate History of Art and Architecture University of Pittsburgh
104 Frick Fine Arts Building
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
srb43@pitt.edu

Call for Papers: "Texts and Places"

2010-03-02T10:11:00.001-05:00

TEXTS AND PLACES
October 9-10, 2010
Center for Urban and Global Studies
Trinity College, Hartford CT

CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT / CALL FOR PAPERS

As part of the growing field of the history of media, including book history, this workshop will explore how the production and reception of the written word in all its forms is shaped by and in turn shapes particular places and their inhabitants.

The workshop will create intellectually coherent panels and discussion groups so that scholars from different fields can engage productively around a central theme or question. Participants will be asked to pre-circulate their papers so that each session can be devoted to an informed discussion of the subject.

Speakers and discussants will include Lisa Gitelman (NYU), Robert Gross (Univ. of Connecticut), John Kelly (Univ. of Chicago), Jonathan Rose (Drew Univ.), and Barbara Sicherman (Trinity College).

We invite proposals for papers that consider such questions as the following:
How does the cultural significance or meaning of texts (including but not limited to books, letters, pamphlets, newspapers, websites, or images) change in different global societies or cultures?
What role have texts played in defining local or global identities?
How do reading and writing affect different members of the same (urban, national, regional, ethnic, global) community?
Is there a relationship between the canonicity of texts and the sacredness of places?
How do texts create or transform real or imagined places?
How do texts create audiences, and what is the relationship of audiences to place?
What are the implications of seemingly placeless digital texts for the definitions of places?
Please send a brief abstract and cv to by March 31, 2010. Direct questions to the same address or to Jonathan Elukin, Christopher Hager, or Seth Sanders at: .

(reposted from SHARP-L)

Virtual Printing Press

2010-03-02T10:09:00.002-05:00

A team of scholars led by Ian Gadd at Bath Spa University have constructed a virtual printing press in "Second Life." Videos are also available for those not able or not willing to take the plunge into "Second Life." (I am such a person so I can't report on what the full experience looks like.)

http://www.virtualprintingpress.com/

News

2010-02-12T15:31:00.001-05:00

Two items from the Forward:

Digitization of Judaica in Europe.

The launch of the Jewish Review of Books

Call for Papers: SBL Session on Reception History

2010-02-02T13:13:00.001-05:00

From: Leonard Greenspoon [mailto:ljgrn@creighton.edu]=20
Sent: Saturday, January 23, 2010 3:42 PM
Subject: SBL Session on Jewish Reception History

Call For Papers: The SBL Forum invites proposals for a special session =
on Jewish Reception History. Reception History is generally understood =
as an investigation of the way(s) in which biblical literature has been =
received, engaged, exegeted, rendered, and utilized by flesh-and-blood =
interpreters, sometimes within but often outside of faith communities. =
Papers are welcome on all aspects of Jewish biblical interpretation in =
art, literature (especially comics and graphic novels), music =
(especially modern), dance, material culture (such as tchotchkes, board =
games, dolls, etc.), ritual practice, television, and/or film. Papers =
that employ multimedia components are especially welcome, as are =
proposals by first-time presenters.

Program Unit Chair=20
Dan W. Clanton Jr.=A0=A0(dan.clanton@doane.edu)

(reposted from H-Judaic)

New Website: Teaching á la Modiya

2010-02-02T13:00:00.000-05:00

> From: "Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett"
> To:
> Sent: Friday, January 22, 2010 5:09 PM
> Subject: [jfe] Teaching á la Modiya: Jews, Media, Religion | New online
> resource | Please post
>
> We are pleased to announce:
>
> Teaching á la Modiya: Jews, Media, Religion
> http://modiya.nyu.edu/handle/1964/917
>
> “Teaching à la Modiya” offers strategies and multi-media primary sources for
> teaching selected readings related to cultural practices at the intersection
> of Jews, media, and religion. Each installment brings students into direct
> contact with the primary sources upon which a given reading is based.
> Inspired by Teaching the Journal of American History, each installment
> includes a reading, commentary by the author, and exercises using primary
> sources (artifacts, photographs, film clips, audio, excerpts from a variety
> of texts), as well as recommended readings and links to relevant materials
> accessible online.
>
> The first installment is dedicated to "Absolut Tchotchke," Chapter 5 of
> Jeffrey Shandler's, Adventures in Yiddishland: Postvernacular Language and
> Culture (University of California Press, 2005).
> http://modiya.nyu.edu/handle/1964/918
>
> This chapter explores how American Jews express their postvernacular
> relationship to Yiddish through objects.
>
> The Absolut Tchotchke installment includes the complete chapter, discussion
> questions, recommended readings, and four exercises, together with primary
> source materials, on the following topics:
>
> • Analyzing Objects of Postvernacular Yiddish
> • Mock Yiddish-English Dictionaries
> • Postvernacular Yiddish on eBay
> • Material Culture of Other Postvernacular Languages (Irish, Occitan)
>
> “Teaching à la Modiya” is a project of the Working Group on Jews Media and
> Religion, which is convened by Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett and Jeffrey
> Shandler at New York University’s Center for Religion and Media. New York
> University’s Humanities Council and Center for Religion and Media provided
> the initial funding for developing “Teaching à la Modiya.”
> http://crm.as.nyu.edu/page/home
>

February 23: JTS Library Open House

2010-02-02T12:35:00.001-05:00

Please join JTS Library staff on Tuesday, February 23rd from 4:30-6:00pm
on the 5th floor of the Library, for our Library Open House. You will
have an opportunity to view a broad selection of rare and unique
materials from the Library's magnificent Special Collections relating to
the holiday of Purim.

Curators will present items spanning the 10th-21st centuries --
manuscripts, rare books, broadsides and archival material, as well as
our digital collections. The Open House will showcase our extensive
collection of megillot (scrolls), many of them elaborately decorated.
David Wander. a well-known Judaica artist, will be on hand to discuss
the megillah he created, influenced by his engagement with traditional
Jewish texts and commentaries.

For educators, there will be a panel discussion and question and answer
session from 6:00-7:00pm, led by a Shira Epstein, a prominent educator
from the Davidson School of Education, a practicing artist and Dr. David
Kraemer, Seminary Librarian, on how the primary materials of Jewish
study can transform both the teaching and the learning experiences of
students.

We look forward to seeing you on February 23rd. If you would like to
attend this event, please RSVP to Hector Guzman at heguzman@jtsa.edu.
We are located at 3080 Broadway, at the corner of 122nd Street,
accessible by the 1 train and the M4 and M104 buses.

(from H-Judaic, posted there by David Wachtel)

Call for Papers: Reception

2010-02-02T12:34:00.001-05:00

Call for Papers: Reception:
Texts, Readers, Audiences, History, vol. II

The
editors of Reception: Texts, Readers, Audiences, History, the journal
of the Reception Study Society, invite submissions for its second
issue, which will appear in the spring of 2010.

The journal
seeks to promote dialog and discussion among scholars in several
related fields: reader- response criticism and pedagogy, reception
study, history of reading and the book, audience, media/textual, and
communication studies, institutional studies and
histories, as
well as interpretive strategies related to feminism, race, ethnicity,
gender, sexuality, and postcolonial studies. The journal publishes
theoretical and practical analyses in these fields, focusing mainly but
not exclusively on the literature, culture, and media of England and
the United States. Vol. I is available on-line at the RSS website:
http://www.english.udel.edu/rsssite.

The journal is refereed and appears once each year on line. At least two
members of the editorial board will provide independent reports on each
essay submitted for publication. Contributors will receive these
reports in a timely fashion. Papers should follow MLA guidelines and
should not exceed 6,000 words. Panelists from the RSS conferences are
especially encouraged to submit proposals. Please limit the proposals
to 500 words and send them to Philip Goldstein. His addresses are
pgold@udel.edu and the University of Delaware, 333 Shipley St., #309,
Wilmington, DE 19801.

(from SHARP-L, posted there by Barbara Hochman)

‎
‎

February 3, 2010: Shimon Iakerson Lecture at Library of Congress

2010-01-19T20:51:00.001-05:00

News from the Library of Congress
Press contact: Audrey Fischer (202) 707-0022
January 8, 2010
Judaica Collections in Russia Subject of Feb. 3 Lecture At the Library of Congress

Shimon Iakerson, curator of Judaica at the Russian Museum of Ethnography, will deliver a presentation on "Unique Hebrew Manuscripts in St. Petersburg, Russia" at the Library of Congress at noon on Wednesday, Feb. 3, in the African and Middle Eastern Division Reading Room, located in Room LJ220 of the Thomas Jefferson Building at 10 First Street S.E., Washington, D.C. The event is free and open to the public; tickets are not required.

Iakerson is the preeminent scholar in the field of Hebrew incunabula (books printed before the year 1501), and the author of several books on the subject. In addition to his curatorial duties at the Russian Museum of Ethnography, he is the senior researcher at the St. Petersburg branch of the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In 2005, he received the first Honorable Medal presented at the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress in Jerusalem for his two-volume work, "Catalogue of Hebrew Incunabula from the Collection of the Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America" (New York and Jerusalem, 2004-2005). In 2009, he won the Antsiferov Award, an international prize in honor of the historian N.P. Antsiferov, for his overall contributions to the field of St. Petersburg studies for his most recent work, "Jewish Treasures of Petersburg: Scrolls, Codices, Documents."

Founded in 1800, the Library of Congress is the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution. The Library seeks to spark imagination and creativity and to further human understanding and wisdom by providing access to knowledge through its magnificent collections, programs and exhibitions. Many of the Library’s rich resources can be accessed through its website at www.loc.gov and via interactive exhibitions on a personalized website at myLOC.gov.

The Library’s African and Middle Eastern Division (www.loc.gov/rr/amed/) is the center for the study of some 78 countries and regions from Southern Africa to the Maghreb and from the Middle East to Central Asia. The division’s Hebraic Section is one of the world’s foremost centers for the study of Hebrew and Yiddish materials.

# # #

PR 10-004
01/08/10
ISSN 0731-3527

New on-line resources of interest

2010-01-17T11:05:00.004-05:00

Highlights from the Braginsky collection are now on-line here.

Shnayer (Sid) Leiman has put much of his scholarship on-line here.

Dan Wyman Booksellers has a new on-line catalog of Jewish liturgical history here.

And the Andy Holt Virtual Library at the University of Tennessee has compiled this page with references to key medieval textual studies web resources.

Baranovich Auction January 13, 2010

2009-12-29T21:35:00.002-05:00

Follow this link for a catalog.

Of Interest at AJS

2009-12-16T10:08:00.002-05:00

This is not an exhaustive list but a list of what caught my eye as relevant to the study of the history of books, other material texts, and new media. If I left out anything, please include in the comments.

1.4 (Sunday 9:30-11)
Jews in (Cyber)Space: Sephardic Virtual Communities and Their Survival
Kenya Dworkin y Mendez (Carnegie Mellon University)

4.6 (Sunday 4:15-6:15)
Was There a Canon of Bible Commentaries in Early Modern Italian Jewish Culture?
Adam B. Shear (University of Pittsburgh)

5.1 (Monday 8:30-10:30)
A Redeeming Context: Hasidic Piety and East European Jewish Book Culture
Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern (Northwestern University)

6.1 (Monday 10:30-12) Poster Session
Ashkenazi Minhagim Literature in the Century before the Black Plague
Rachel Zohn Mincer (Jewish Th eological Seminary)

7.4 (Monday 11-12:45)
Fatimid Manuscripts in Hebrew and Arabic
Vivian B. Mann (Jewish Th eological Seminary)

7.5 (Monday 11-12:145)
THE CENTERING OF THE BIBLE IN SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY AMSTERDAM:
RELIGION, POLITICS, AND SCHOLARSHIP
Chair and Respondent: Miriam Bodian (University of Texas at Austin)
Uriel da Costa, the Bible, and the Rabbis
Matt Goldish (Ohio State University)
Saul Levi Mortera: A Jewish Reader of the New Testament
Benjamin Fisher (University of Pennsylvania)
Seventeenth-Century Sephardim on the Bible as a Source of Political Law
Anne Oravetz Albert (Brown University

9.14 (Monday 4:30-6:30)
A Neglected (and Unpublished) Book by Ber of Bolechow: Report on a First Reading of Divre Binah
Gershon David Hundert (McGill University)

10.2 (Tuesday 8:30-10:30)
Reappraising the German-Jewish Bible: The Hirsch Chumash
Alan T. Levenson (University of Oklahoma)
Dueling Prayerbooks: ArtScroll, Koren, and Contemporary Orthodox Values
Martin I. Lockshin (York University)

11.11 (Tuesday 10:45-11:45)
THE YIDDISH PRESS
Chair: Matthew B. Hoffman (Franklin & Marshall College)
Discourse Analysis and the Yiddish Press: Some Theoretical Reflections
Gerben Zaagsma (University College London)
Th e Jewish Daily Forward and Its Female Reading Audience, 1900–1940
Ellen D. Kellman (Brandeis University)
“Darfn arbeter froyen nutzn kinstleche shaynkayt-mitlen?” [Do working women need to
use artifi cial beauty products?]: Women in the 1920s Pro-Soviet Yiddish Press in Canada
Ester Reiter (York University)

Complutense Manuscripts Digitized

2009-12-13T22:36:00.003-05:00

The blog of the special collections library at the Universade Complutense Madrid, "Folio Complutense" has an entry on their Hebrew Bible manuscript that served as the model for the Hebrew text in the Complutense Polyglot.
See here. Follow the link from the blog-post to a fully digitized version of the manuscript. Many other manuscripts in the collection, including Hebrew ones, have also been digitized.

Thanks to Marta Torres, head of Special Collections in the Complutense library, for alerting me to this.

Hebrew Manuscript Exhibit in Oxford Opens Today

2009-12-08T09:23:00.002-05:00

"CROSSING BORDERS: Hebrew Manuscripts as a Meeting-place of Cultures"

Oxford, 8 December 2009
The Bodleian Library's winter exhibition tells the story of how Jews, Christians and Muslims have together contributed to the development of the book as an object of great cultural importance. The exhibition draws on the Bodleian's Hebrew holdings, one of the largest and most important collections of Hebrew manuscripts in the world.

Covering a time span of 300 years between the thirteenth century and fifteenth century, the exhibition brings to light different aspects of Jewish life across medieval Europe and the Middle East, in cultures that were non-Jewish.

The social and cultural interaction between Jews and non-Jews in both the Muslim and Christian world can be seen in the decorative patterns, writing styles, script types and text genres of the manuscripts themselves. As a result, Hebrew manuscripts produced in different regions look quite different, showing greater similarities to the non-Hebrew books produced in the same region than to other Hebrew books.

As this exhibition shows, by importing elements of the host culture, Hebrew manuscripts are proof of coexistence and cultural affinity, as well as practical cooperation between Jews and their non-Jewish neighbours, challenging received ideas about the treatment of Jews in the Middle Ages.

Highlights of the exhibition include:

The Kennicott Bible, undoubtedly the most beautiful and extensively illustrated manuscript among Spanish Bibles of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The illuminations reveal cross-cultural influences from Spanish Bible illustrations and popular European art to Islamic non-figurative carpet and vegetal decorations. The most striking illuminations will be shown through interactive digital technology, where visitors to the exhibition can "Turn the pages" of this extraordinary treasure;

A manuscript in the hand of the great Jewish philosopher Maimonides (1135-1204) a draft of his legal code Mishneh Torah.

The Michael Mahzor: the earliest illuminated Jewish prayer book for the Festivals, produced in Germany in 1258. The prayer book was illuminated by a Christian, who - not familiar with the Hebrew script- painted the first illustration upside down.

The largest fragment of uninterrupted text of the book of Ben Sira (Ecclesiastics) in Hebrew, found at the Genizah of the synagogue in Fustat (Old Cairo). Dated 10th century it is one of the earliest examples of a Hebrew codex.

Piet van Boxel, Curator of Hebrew and Jewish Collections, Bodleian Library said: "As the exhibition title suggests, Crossing Borders recounts the history of medieval culture at the intersection between Jewish, Christian and Muslim communities. It is a largely unfamiliar story which needs to be told and can help us to understand better the relationship between these communities even in our contemporary times."

For more information please contact:
Oana Romocea, Communications Office, Bodleian Library
Tel: 01865 277627 E-mail: mailto:oana.romocea@bodley.ox.ac.uk

8 December 2009 to 3 May 2010
Exhibition Room, Bodleian Library
Opening Hours: 9.00 am - 5.00 pm (Mon - Fri); 9.00 am - 4.30 pm (Sat);
11.00am - 5.00pm (Sun)

Admission free

* Founded in 1602, the Bodleian Library is home to over 9 million volumes and a large number of manuscripts and rare printed books. It is the largest university library in Britain and the second largest library in the UK. The Old Bodleian is also a major visitor attraction, drawing over 300,000 visitors a year. More information about the Bodleian Library and its activities can be found at http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk

* The Bodleian's Hebraica collection dates from the earliest years of the Library's history and the accession of several key collections in the 19th century, such as the Oppenheimer Library and fragments from the Cairo Genizah, has rendered it one of the most important collections of Hebrew manuscripts in the world, alongside an extraordinarily rich collection of early Hebrew and Yiddish printed books. All fields of traditional Hebrew scholarship are represented in the collection. The Library continues to select and acquire the latest books in the various fields that support the University's programmes in Hebrew and Jewish Studies, and Eastern Christianity.

* The exhibition catalogue with the same title is also available. Crossing Borders: Hebrew Manuscripts as a Meeting-place of Cultures, edited by Piet van Boxel and Sabine Arndt, paperback, 128 pp, 70 colour images, £24.99, ISBN: 978 1 85124 313 6

Jewish Leipzig Conference and Exhibition

2009-12-08T09:20:00.001-05:00

See below for some of the conference papers of book-historical interest....

"Jewish Leipzig - The university,the city and the court as producers, storehouses and transmitters of knowledge on Jews and Judaism in the early modern period"

The conference "Jewish Leipzig - The university, the city and the court as producers, storehouses and transmitters of knowledge on Jews and Judaism in the early modern period" explores Jewish history as an integral part of the history of the university and city of Leipzig as well as of the broader political framework of the Electorate of Saxony, the Union between Saxony and Poland and the Holy Roman Empire. The conference Jewish history as part of the history of Leipzig on three levels, concerning a) the subject matters, b) the persons and c) the institutions involved.

The conference is meant to accompany the exhibition "Leipziger Judentümer". The marginalization of the study of Judaism in the canon of university studies in the 19th and 20th centuries has often been bemoaned. It has been taken as near axiomatic that any academic studies in this field dependend ulimately on theology. In the 19th century Leopold Zunz stated regretfully that no professor gave lectures on Judaism or Jewish literature, that no German academy bestowed prizes on research on such matters and that no scholar went on research trips for such purposes. What tends to be forgotten is that Zunz claimed that the situation was different before 1760. This is the point of departure for the conference. Like the exhibition it pursues two objectives. On the one hand it aims at the reconstruction of the interest in and knowledge of Jews and Judaism, amazingly intense, ambivalent and broad, that existed in the early modern period. On the other hand the conference explores to what extent this body of knowledge was already separate from theological concerns. Contrary to the widely held opinion that interest in Jews and Judaism in premodern times was motivated predominantly, if not exclusively by theological considerations, there are several indications to the contrary. In the 18th century, but already before, there is a large body of writings that ought to be described as historical, legal, anthropoligical ,literary rather than as theological.

There are several reasons, why Leipzig is particularly suited to explore the two questions outlined above. First, together with the universities of Göttingen, Halle and Jena the university of Leipzig numbered among the most popular universities in the Holy Roman Empire. Second, founded in 1409 it was next to Heidelberg, Prague and Vienna the fourtholdest university in the Holy Roman Empire north of the Alps. Its long and uninterrupted history makes it possible to study the changing place of knowledge of Jews and Judaism in the canon of knowledge. Third, the university of Leipzig was located in a commercial town of European rank. Unlike Hamburg or Frankfurt Leipzig was both a university and a commercial town. Fourth, although neither the capital of the Electorate of Saxony nor of the Union between Saxony and Poland, nor the seat of an imperial institution of the Holy Roman Empire, its history can only be adequately understood within these broader political contexts. The court of the Elector of Saxony and King of Poland made its presence felt also in Leipzig. The specific location of Leipzig at the interface of learning, culture, politics and commerce provides us with an opportunity to combine questions of theory and practical application.

"Leipziger Judentümer - Universität, Stadt und Hof als Produzenten, Speicher und Vermittler von Wissen über Juden und Judentum"

Prof. Dr. Johannes Ulrich Schneider, Direktor der Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig; Stephan Wendehorst, Dr. Phil. (Oxon.); Anke Költsch M.A., Leipzig
16.12.2009-18.12.2009, Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig (Bibliotheca Albertina), Beethovenstrasse 6, 04107 Leipzig

Ziel der Tagung sind Rekonstruktion und Untersuchung der Rolle, die Juden und Judentum in der Wissenskultur der Frühen Neuzeit einnahmen. Die gängige Vorstellung von dieser Rolle ist durch drei Prämissen geprägt: In der Vormoderne war die Beschäftigung mit Juden und Judentum - so die herrschende Meinung - erstens theologisch motiviert, zweitens, unter Ausklammerung des zeitgenössischen Judentums auf das biblische Judentum beschränkt und drittens gemessen an modernen wissenschaftlich-kritischen Maßstäben von allenfalls antiquarischem Interesse. Diese drei, als geradezu axiomatisch geltenden Annahmen sollen auf der Tagung kritisch reflektiert werden.

Noch im 18. Jahrhundert war ungeachtet aller Voreingenommenheiten und Verzerrungen auf nicht-jüdischer Seite quer durch die philosophischen, theologischen und juristischen Fakultäten eine relativ breite Beschäftigung mit jüdischen Themen, darunter auch zeitgenössischen und innerjüdischen Gegenständen, anzutreffen. Dies lässt sich anhand zahlreicher Abhandlungen, Disputationen und Gutachten der Theologischen Fakultät wie auch der Juristenfakultät und des Leipziger Schöffenstuhls, aber auch an den Bibliotheksbeständen nachweisen.

Die Prozesse der Professionalisierung, Verstaatlichung, Nationalisierung und Verfachlichung der Wissenschaften, die wir mit der Modernisierung der Wissenschaft im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert verbinden, hat eher einen Wandel in den Herstellung und Vermittlung universitären Wissens über Juden und Judentum bewirkt als erst die Voraussetzungen für deren Entstehen geschaffen. Dieser Wandel hat einerseits, etwa auf dem Gebiet der Philologie, zu einer Professionalisierung und Ausdifferenzierung des Wissens geführt. Er war aber andererseits auch unmittelbar mit der Streichung jüdischer Themen aus dem universitären Kanon verbunden.

Es gibt mehrere Gründe, die gestellten Fragen, am Beispiel Leipzigs zu verfolgen. Erstens, Leipzig gehörte mit Göttingen, Halle und Jena zu den größten und beliebtesten Universitäten des Alten Reichs. Zweitens, nach Prag, Heidelberg und Wien war Leipzig, gegründet 1409, die viertälteste Universität des Römisch-Deutschen Reichs nördlich der Alpen. Ihre lange und ununterbrochene Geschichte bietet ausgezeichnete Voraussetzungen dafür, den sich verändernden Platz von Wissensbeständen über Juden und Judentum im Wissenskanon in epochenübergreifenden Längsschnittstudien zu untersuchen. Drittens, Leipzig war nicht nur Universitäts-, sondern auch Handelsstadt. Viertens, auch wenn Leipzig weder die Hauptstadt des Kurfürstentums Sachsen noch der Union zwischen Sachsen und Polen-Litauen war noch Reichsinstitutionen wie den Reichstag oder das Kammergericht beherbergte, kann seine Geschichte nur im Kontext der politischen Geschichte Sachsens, der Verbindung mit Polen-Litauen und des Reichs verstanden werden. Der Hof des Kurfürsten-Königs war nicht nur während der Messezeiten in Leipzig präsent, ein nicht unerheblicher Unterschied zu Hamburg oder Frankfurt.

Die Konferenz wird gefördert von der Fritz Thyssen Stiftung.

Mittwoch, 16.12.2009:
Teil I: Die Vormoderne in der Moderne/ Part I: Premodernity in Modern Times

Ruth von Bernuth (Chapel Hill): Paulus von Prag und seine moderne Nachgeschichte/Paulus von Prag and his Modern Legacy

Dagmar Hoffmann-Axthelm (Basel): Bach und die "perfidia iudaica"

Stephan Wendehorst (Gießen/Wien): Vergessene Vorläufer des Zionismus? Hugo Grotius, John Selden, Carl Ferdinand Hommel und die völkerrechtliche Deutung der rechtlichen Stellung der Juden in der Frühen Neuzeit

Teil II: Rahmenbedingungen/Part II: Contexts

Detlef Döring (Leipzig): Stadt und Universität Leipzig in der Frühen Neuzeit

Markus Denzel (Leipzig): Der Leipziger Wechselmarkt in der vorindustriellen Zeit

Keynote-Lecture
Elisheva Carlebach (New York): Combining Business with Pleasure: Jews at the Leipzig Fairs in the Early Modern Period

Donnerstag, 17.12.2009
Teil III: Institutionelle Schnittstellen/Part III: Institutional Interfaces

Nathanael Riemer (Potsdam): Das Bild vom "Judentum" in der Frühneuzeitlichen Journalistik. Die Wochenzeitschrift "Der Rabbiner" des Theologen und Polyhistors Johann Christian Schöttgen

Christoph Rymatzki: Das Institutum Judaicum in Halle/Saale und dessen Leipziger Freundeskreis in seiner Vermittlerrolle zwischen Kirche und Judentum: periodische Informationsschriften, Korrespondenz, missionarische Begegnungen sowie jiddische Sprach- und Proselytenpflege

Giuseppe Veltri (Halle): Die Judaicabestände der Universitäten Halle und Wittenberg

Jacub Goldberg (Jerusalem): Das Gutachten der Leipziger Theologen gegen die Ritualmordvorwürfe in Polen

Anja Amend-Traut und Gabriele Schlick-Bamberger (Frankfurt am Main): "Aus dem Grunde der Menschlichkeit..." - Wie die Leipziger Juristenfakultät dazu beitrug, die Teilhabe der Juden an den geltenden Rechten zu bekräftigen

Alexander Schunka (Stuttgart): Konvertiten und Kirche in Sachsen um 1700

Stefan Ehrenpreis (Berlin/München): Herrschaftskonkurrenz und Antisemitismus - ein antijüdischer Wettlauf? Die brandenburgischen Erbansprüche in Franken und der Fall Eisenmenger im 18. Jahrhundert

Ittai Tamari (München): Der Hebräische Buchdruck in Leipzig

Teil IV: Personen/Part IV: People

Christoph Bultmann (Erfurt): Wahrnehmung oder Widerlegung? Hugo Grotius über die Vielfalt der Religionen

Stefan Michel (Jena): Christliche Hebraistik und lutherische Orthodoxie - Das Beispiel Johann Benedikt Carpzov (1639-1699) in Leipzig

Freitag, 18.12.2009
Grit Schorch (Halle): Moses Mendelssohns Gottsched-Kritik. Philosophische und ästhetische Differenzen zwischen Berlin und Leipzig

Jeannine Kuhnert (Erfurt): Wissensspeicher - Speicherort: Zwei "Juden-Könige" in "christlichen" Quellen - Sabbatai Zwi und Oliger Pauli

Teil V: Konkurrenz und Austausch: Kunst und Architektur/Part V: Matters of Contest and Exchange and Negotiation: Art and Architecture

Heinrich Dilly (Halle): Der Schattenriss des Jerusalemer Tempels aus dem Jahr 1694 von Leonhard Christoph Sturm

Tobias Funke (Leipzig): Eine christlich-kabbalistische Interpretation der Inschriften an Barthels Hof, als Beispiel der Rezeption jüdischer Traditionen im Leipzig des 16. Jahrhunderts

Michael Korey (Dresden): Die 'Juden-Schul' im Dresdner Zwinger. Eine Spurensuche nach einem vergessenen jüdischen Museum des 18. Jahrhunderts

Abschlußdiskussion/Concluding discussion

Dr. Stephan Wendehorst
Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen
mailto:Stephan.Wendehorst@geschichte.uni-giessen.de

New Auction Catalogues

2009-12-01T10:43:00.003-05:00

From Kestenbaum & Company, for an auction on December 10: www.kestenbaum.net. Also there is information about their new address.

And from Sotheby's, for an auction that took place last week: http://catalogue.sothebys.com/auctions/N08606/pdf_lowres/N08606-catalogue.pdf
(via the Hagahot blog: http://manuscriptboy.blogspot.com/2009/11/sothebys-scrolls.html

Catalogue of Hebrew Mss in Vatican Library now on-line

2009-11-03T13:18:00.001-05:00

The National Library of Israel is pleased to announce that the catalogue of the Hebrew manuscripts in the Vatican library is now available online on the website of the National Library of Israel.:

http://jnul.huji.ac.il/heb/vatican-catH.html

The catalogue was published by the publishing house of the Vatican Library which graciously granted permission to display it online. In the near future the catalogue will also be online at the website of the Biblioteca Apostolica Vatican.

Hebrew Manuscripts in the Vatican Library: Catalogue, compiled by the staff of the Institute of Microfilmed Hebrew Manuscripts, Jewish National and University Library, Jerusalem, edited by Benjamin Richler; paleographical and codicological descriptions Malachi Beit-Arié in collaboration with Nurit Pasternak. (Città del Vaticano: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 2008, Studi e Testi 438)

Benjamin Richler

Call for Papers: British Association for Jewish Studies

2009-11-03T09:30:00.002-05:00

CFP 'The Image and the Prohibition of the Image in Judaism'
British Association for Jewish Studies (BAJS), Southampton,
5-7 September, 2010

Call for Papers:
The theme of 2010 BAJS Conference (Sunday 5th - Tuesday 7th September 2010) is 'The Image and the Prohibition of the Image in Judaism'. Topics may cover any time period from antiquity to the contemporary, and any place or cultural context relevant for Jewish Studies. The 'image' may be interpreted broadly to include the non-visual (e.g. literary representations and conceptual images) as well as the visual. The =
expectation is that papers will explore different aspects of the acceptance and the rejection of images in Jewish thought and practice from the Bible to the modern world. Topics may include the secular as well as the religious sphere.

Proposals for papers (and panels) in the following areas are especially welcome:

* biblical traditions and their interpretation
* notions of 'the image of God'
* Jewish art and Jewish symbols
* idolatry and iconoclasm
* the prohibition and acceptance of images in Holocaust representation
* representing Jewishness in film and television
* Jewish/non-Jewish relations and the second commandment

Practical details:
Single paper proposals should be no longer than 250 words and panel proposals need not exceed one page. Please email proposals to Dr Sarah Pearce (s.j.pearce@soton.ac.uk) with 'BAJS 2010' in the subject line. The deadline for paper abstracts and proposed panels is 31 May 2010.
Registration details will be circulated soon.

Please note the September date for this meeting instead of the usual July date. This change was made for 2010 in order to avoid clashes with the July 2010 conferences of the European Association of Jewish Studies (Ravenna) and the UK Society for Old Testament Studies (Sheffield).

Please note that though the conference is open to all (see details below), anyone wishing to present a paper who is not a member of BAJS must join by the time of the conference. Membership is open to anyone interested in an academic approach to Jewish studies. For membership enquiries and applications, please write to: Dr James K. Aitken,Lecturer in Hebrew, Old Testament and Second Temple Studies, Faculty of =
Divinity | West Road | Cambridge CB3 9BS | UK. Email:jka12@hermes.cam.ac.uk BAJS Website : http://britishjewishstudies.org/about/join-bajs/=20

There are three categories of membership of BAJS:
1. Ordinary Members: Ordinary membership is open to scholars concerned with the academic pursuit of Jewish Studies.
2. Student Members: Student membership is open to graduate students working for a higher degree in the field of Jewish Studies.
3. Associate Members: Associate membership is open to (a) those outside the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland who have a serious academic interest in Jewish =
Studies, and (b) those within the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland with a serious academic interest in Jewish Studies but who are not professionally involved in the subject.
Members of all categories are welcome to attend the annual conference and to present papers at it (subject to acceptance via the Call for Papers process).

------------------------------
(from H-Judaic)

Call for Papers: Canadian Association for the Study of Book Culture

2009-11-03T09:19:00.002-05:00

May 31-June 1, 2010
6th Annual Meeting: Canadian Association for the Study of Book Culture
(Association canadienne pour l'etude de l'histoire du livre)
CFP at: http://casbc-acehl.dal.ca: due December 15, 2009

(from SHARP-L)

American Academy of Religion Montreal Nov 7-10

2009-11-02T17:14:00.004-05:00

Of interest:

Religion in Europe and the Mediterranean World, 500–1650 CE Consultation
Monday - 4:00 pm-6:30 pm
Martha Newman, University of Texas, Presiding
Theme: Monasteries, Madrasahs, and Metivtas: Centers of Religious Learning in Medieval Christianity, Islam, and Judaism

Heather Empey, McGill University
North African “Schools” in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries: Some Pre-Madrasah Institutions of Learning in the Western Mediterranean
Robert Moore, Emory University
Professionalizing the Professorate: Exclusionary Practices in Madrasahs of Mamluk Cairo (1250–1517)

Hartley Lachter, Muhlenberg College
Brotherhoods of Secrecy: Jewish Mystical Fraternities and Esoteric Discourse in Medieval Spain

Rabia Gregory, University of Missouri
Slipping Off the Wedding Ring: Mystical Authority and Women Teachers in Late Medieval Convents

Lehman Marjorie S., Jewish Theological Seminary of America
The Salonikan Jewish Community: Making Curricular Inroads Following the Spanish Expulsion

for more details: http://www.aarweb.org/Meetings/Annual_Meeting/Current_Meeting/

American Historical Association

2009-11-02T17:05:00.002-05:00

The on-line program for the January AHA conference is now on-line:

Papers/Sessions of Potential Interest:

Alejandro Dujovne , Instituto de Desarrollo Economico y Social, Buenos Aires,
"The Translation and Publishing of Books in the Construction of Transnational Jewish Geography: The Case of the Jewish Argentinean Publishing House “Israel,” 1938–69"
http://aha.confex.com/aha/2010/webprogram/Paper3950.html
------------------------------------
James W. Cortada, IBM
Anthony Grafton, Princeton University
Brian E. C. Schottlaender, University of California, San Diego
Abby S. Rumsey, independent consultant
Panel: What Becomes of Print in the Digital Age?
http://aha.confex.com/aha/2010/webprogram/Session3800.html
-----------------------------------

2010 Lehmann Workshop Announced

2009-11-02T17:00:00.001-05:00

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 Library and the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, are pleased to announce the tenth annual Manfred R. Lehmann Memorial Master Workshop to be held on May 23-24, (Sunday-Monday), 2010, at the Katz Center.
This year's workshop will be led by Dr. Emile Schrijver, Curator of the Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana at the University of Amsterdam. The workshop will treat "The Jewish Book In and Around Amsterdam," and will focus on three main topics: (1) the heyday of Hebrew printing in Amsterdam in the 17th century and its coming into existence; (2) the printed and manuscript book tradition of the Amsterdam Sephardim; and (3) the influence of the Amsterdam Hebrew book on surrounding Jewish communities. The last session will focus on future research agendas for the various fields of research dealt with in the earlier sessions. The sessions will include detailed readings of title pages, colophons, and relevant archival and other primary and secondary sources.
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.
Because much of the Workshop will be devoted to the reading of Hebrew texts like colophons, it is necessary that all participants be able to read non-vocalized Hebrew texts.
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 May 22 and 23 (with the option of May 21), and all meals and refreshments (all kosher) during the course of the workshop.
Graduate students may apply for a scholarship to the workshop, that covers tuition, hotel accommodations, and meals. N.B. 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, 2010. Make checks payable to “Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania.”
A registration form is available at: http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/jwst/registrationLW2010.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 Foundation.

YIVO Programs of Interest

2009-11-02T16:58:00.002-05:00

Upcoming YIVO Programs

NOTE: The lecture "Remembering (in) the Mother Tongue" by Hannah Pressman originally scheduled for Thursday, November 12 has been postponed until Thursday, May 13, 2010.

ESTABLISHING BEYS YA'AKOV: LEGITIMIZING GIRL'S RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
THURSDAY 3 DECEMBER | 3PM

DORA AND MAYER TENDLER FELLOWSHIP LECTURE · MAX WEINREICH CENTER

Agnieszka Oleszak
University College London

This presentation aims to reconstruct the history of establishing Beys Ya'akov in 1917 in Krakow as well as to explain the process of its institutionalization. This early stage in the history of Beys Ya'akov seems to be neglected in the existing research, most likely due to the lack of historical sources. In her presentationOleszak will attempt to shed new light on the early years of the school in order to illustrate the process of legitimizing the idea of institutionalized religious education for Jewish girls.

Admission: Free
RSVP: 917.606.8290 | nkahn@yivo.cjh.org
For more information, click here.

DI ROYTE YIDLEKH: FROM HEROIC MUSCLE JEWS TO LITTLE REDHEADS
THURSDAY 17 DECEMBER | 12PM

DINA ABRAMOWICZ EMERGING SCHOLAR FELLOWSHIP LECTURE · MAX WEINREICH CENTER

Dr. Rebekka Voss

The lecture traces the Yiddish term and legend of the Red Jews, the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, to its origins in Medieval German lore. It explores what different meanings the Jewish notion of the Red Jews has acquired over the centuries, how the term has been filled and refilled with new content in order to express larger ideas, central to the Jewish experience from the early modern times through modernity.

Admission: Free
RSVP: 917.606.8290 | nkahn@yivo.cjh.org

All events take place at the
YIVO Institute for Jewish Research | 15 West 16th Street
New York | NY | 10011
www.yivo.org

November 6 in Los Angeles: GlobalPrint Conference

2009-11-02T16:56:00.001-05:00

In LA on Friday, I will speak at a USC-Huntington Early Modern Studies Institute Conference on "Printing Globalized":
details at: http://college.usc.edu/emsi/conferences/print_conference.html

Reminder: David Stern at the Newberry Library Thursday

2009-11-02T16:49:00.002-05:00

In Chicago on Thursday--David Stern will speak at the Newberry Library:

The Newberry Library Center for Renaissance Studies
History of the Book Lectures
with co-sponsorship by the Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies

David Stern , University of Pennsylvania
"Through the Pages of the Past: The Jewish Book in Historical Contexts"
5:30 pm, Thursday, November 5, 2009
Advance registration required: e-mail renaissance@newberry.org or call 312-255-3514

Hebrew Printing in Ukraine

2009-10-29T20:37:00.001-04:00

The exhibit "Hebrew Printing in Ukraine" from the Kiev collection at George Washington University is now online.

Call for Papers: Conference at University of Manchester, 21 January 2010

2009-10-22T12:19:00.001-04:00

The History of the Book: Culture, Community, Criticism

Chetham’s Library and the University of Manchester are pleased to
announce their third one-day interdisciplinary history of the book and
material culture conference at Chetham's Library, Manchester, taking
place Thursday 21st January 2010.

Call for Papers

We invite 20-minute papers from postgraduate students of any discipline
who are interested in book history and material culture. Our aim this
year is to encourage the combining of methodologies developed in book
history in the last thirty years with those of other currents in
twentieth-century cultural theory, literary criticism and the study of
community. While all abstracts relating to book history and material
culture will be considered, we particularly welcome papers that engage
any of the following areas:

- The use book history can make of other twentieth-century cultural and
literary theory; what might book history perspectives have to say about
the writing and dissemination of these intellectual trends?
- The tension between practices of ‘form and content’ reading and book
history’s interest in paratextual apparatuses, editorial processes and
distribution.
- The relationship between the texts and materials we study and the
communities that produce them; study of the evidence of how communities
inscribe themselves into texts as in the study of second hand books, or
communal responses to texts as in fan fiction.
- The national or cross-cultural transmission of texts, the function of
technology in this transmission and the production of international
readerships.

Guest Speakers

We are very pleased to announce that Joad Raymond (University of East
Anglia) and Isabel Rivers (Queen Mary, University of London) have
agreed to present guest papers at our event. Professor Raymond will be
discussing Milton and the pan-European circulation of newsbooks in the
seventeenth century, and Professor Rivers will present her current
research on the culture of religious publishing in the eighteenth
century.

It's free! And so is lunch!

Thanks to the support of the School of Arts, Histories and Cultures
SAGE Postgraduate Training Programme, there will be no charge for the
conference or for the conference lunch.

Abstracts

Abstracts of no more than 300 words should be sent to
book-history@manchester.ac.uk by Friday 20th November 2009.

To register to attend please contact the same with details of your
position/institution.

Email: book-history@manchester.ac.uk

Thurs Oct 29: Women and the Yiddish Press: Panel in NYC

2009-10-22T12:18:00.002-04:00

*The Jewish Feminist Research Group presents:*
*

"Addressing the Ladies": *
*A Panel on Women and the Yiddish Press*

Thursday, October 29, 2009 5:00-6:30 PM

*Dr. Rachel Rojanski* Associate Professor of Modern Jewish History,
University of Haifa, Fellow Katz CAJS, UPENN "Yiddish Journals for Women
in Israel:Immigrant Press and Gender Construction (1948-1952)"

*Shelby Shapiro* Ph.D. in American Studies, University of Maryland "A
Woman's Place: The Women's Sections in Three Yiddish Mass Circulation
Daily Papers, 1914-1925."
/Respondent:/
*Dr. Rebecca Kobrin* Assistant Professor of Jewish History, Columbia
University The event will be held in the Berman Board Room at the Jewish
Theological Seminary, 3080 Broadway, NYC (@ 122nd St).

Light refreshments will be served.

Please RSVP to jfrg.jts@gmail.com and
receive a copy of the paper to be discussed.

November 16 in Paris: LES TRAVAUX EN COURS SUR LES MANUSCRITS HEBREUX À l’EPHE :

2009-10-08T13:17:00.001-04:00

Postgraduate conference sponsored by Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes and the Société des Etudes Juives :
LES TRAVAUX EN COURS SUR LES MANUSCRITS HEBREUX À l’EPHE :
ÉTAT DES RECHERCHES ET PERSPECTIVES
(‘Ongoing research on Hebrew manuscripts at EPHE: present and future’)

Salle Vasari, Galerie Colbert, 2 rue Vivienne, 75002 Paris (France)
Monday, 16 November 2009
Access: http://www.inha.fr/spip.php?article1040

All papers will be given and discussions will be conducted in French.
Further details: ephepaleo@gmail.com

9h00-9h15 Opening remarks: Judith Olszowy-Schlanger (EPHE)

First session “Palaeography and Codicology”; chairperson: Jesús de Prado Plumed (EPHE, Universidad Complutense)

9h15-9h45 Élodie Attia (EPHE), “Les types et genres d’écriture en Italie au XVIe siècle” (‘Types of Hebrew script in sixteenth-century Italy’)
9h45-10h15 Éliane Roos Schuhl (EPHE), “Pérégrinations d'une ligature : le alef-lamed en amont et en aval d'un manuscrit alsacien du XVIIIe siècle” (‘Pilgrimage of a ligature: alef-mem upstairs, downstairs in an eighteenth-century Alsation manuscript’)
10h15-10h45 Justine Isserles (EPHE, Université de Genève): “Description et mise en contexte du manuscrit hébreu de rite français MS Parm. 1902 (Bibl. Palatina, Parme) suivi de l'étude d'une recette de Harosset en judéo-français” (‘Description and context of French rite Hebrew manuscript : MS. Parm. 1902 (Bibl. Palatina, Parma) followed by a study of a Harosset recipe in Judaeo-French’)

10h45-11h00 Break

Second session: “Text and context”; chairperson : Élodie Attia (EPHE)

11h00-11h30 Emma Abate (EPHE, Università della Sapienza), “Pages manquantes : une étude sur les fragments magiques de la Guéniza conservés dans la bibliothèque de l’Alliance Israélites Universelle” (‘Missing pages: A study on Genizah magic fragments hold by Alliance Israélite Universelle’s Library, Paris’)
11h30-12h00 Ilana Wartenberg (University College London): “Iggeret ha-Mispar par Isaac ben Salomon Ibn al-Ahdab (Sicile, XIVème siècle)” (‘Iggeret ha-Mispar by Isaac ben Salomon Ibn Al-Ahdab (Sicily, 14th century)’)
12h00-12h30 Silvia Di Donato (CHSPAM, CNRS): “Le nouveau catalogue des manuscrits hébreux de la BnF. Les commentaires bibliques, premier volume” (‘The new catalogue of Hebrew manuscripts at the National Library of France. Biblical commentaries, first volume’)

12h30-14h00 LUNCH BREAK

Third session: “Fates of manuscripts”; chairperson : Silvia Di Donato (CHSPAM, CNRS)

14h00-14h30 Luca Baraldi (INALCO, Fondazione San Carlo) : “Cum bonis et familiis tuti et securi ? : lumière et ombre sur les écritures hébraïques de la Maison d’Este” (‘Cum bonis et families tuti et securi?: light and shadow on Hebrew scripts of the House of Este’)
14h30-15h00 Jesús de Prado Plumed (EPHE, Universidad Complutense): “Qu’est-ce qu’un livre juif ? À propos de quelques paradoxes tirées de l’œuvre manuscrite d’Alfonso de Zamora (fl. 1512-1545)” (‘What is a Jewish book? On some paradoxes drawn from the manuscript corpus of Alfonso de Zamora (fl. 1512-1545)’)

Fourth session (I) : « Teamwork and tools”; chairperson: Éliane Roos Schuhl (EPHE)

15h15-15h45 Wissem Gueddich (EPHE): “Les travaux menés en 2008 sur les fragments en écriture hébraïque de Figuig (Maroc)” (‘Fieldwork on Hebrew-script fragments in Figuig (Morocco) conducted in 2008’)
15h45-16h15 Judith Kogel (EPHE): “Fragments hébreux dans les bibliothèques de France – Nord-Est” (‘Hebrew fragments in French libraries: Northwest of France’)

16h15-16h30 Break

Fourth session (II) : “Teamwork and tools”; chairperson: Ilana Wartenberg (University College London)

16h30-17h00 Élodie Attia (EPHE), Justine Isserles (EPHE, Université de Genève) : “Fragments hébreux dans les bibliothèques de France – Sud- Est et Suisse “ (‘Hebrew fragments in French libraries: Southwest and Switzerland’)
17h00-17h30 Rodolphe Kay (Projet ‘Fragments hébreux’), “Le site web du projet ‘Fragments hébreux dans les bibliothèques de France” (‘A website for the Project ‘Hebrew fragments in French libraries’)

Fifth session: “Book, script and detail”; chairperson: Judith Olszowy-Schlanger (EPHE)

17h30-18h00 Geoffrey Khan (University of Cambridge): “La tradition tibérienne de lecture de l'hébreu et les manuscrits médiévaux avec des signes vocaliques tibériens” (‘The Tiberian Hebrew reading tradition and Medieval manuscripts with Tiberian vowel signs’)
18h00-19h00 Colette Sirat (IRHT, EPHE): “Panorama des monuments graphiques en caractères hébreux du Moyen Âge” (‘An overview of Medieval written landmarks in Hebrew script’)
19h00-19h30 Élodie Attia (EPHE), Jesús de Prado Plumed (EPHE, Universidad Complutense): “Conclusions et perspectives” (‘Conclusions and perspectives’)

19h30-19h45 Judith Olszowy-Schlanger (EPHE), closing remarks