Return-Path: Received: from tortoise.oise.utoronto.ca ([142.150.96.236]) by hazard.mail.mindspring.net (Mindspring Mail Service) with ESMTP id sj5h5k.jqm.37kb01i Mon, 29 May 2000 15:27:48 -0400 (EDT) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by tortoise.oise.utoronto.ca (8.8.8/8.8.8) id LAA17115 for js-network-outgoing; Mon, 29 May 2000 11:57:49 -0400 (EDT) Date: Mon, 29 May 2000 11:57:46 -0400 (EDT) From: Lorenzo DiTommaso To: js-network@OISE.UTORONTO.CA Subject: JSN: Jewish Studies Newsletter [10.002p5] Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-js-network@oise.utoronto.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Jewish Studies Newsletter THE * JEWISH * STUDIES * NEWSLETTER Positions & Events in Academic Jewish Studies Published by H-Judaic: The Jewish Studies Network ____________________________________________________________ Issue 10.002p5 * May 2000 * Readership = 6200+ for additional information: http://h-net.msu.edu/~judaic ____________________________________________________________ Table of Contents: * Positions - CEO, Mandelbaum House [Jewish College at the University of Sydney] - Archivist [Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington] - Yiddish Teacher Needed in NYC * Calls for Papers and Conferences - Writing the History of the Soviet Jewry Movement [Feinstein Center, Temple] - International Workshop: Aspects of Jewish Politics in Pre-Revolutionary Europe [Leipzig] * Notices - Post Doctoral Fellowships 2001-2002 [Pennsylvania] - Special Issue of EXEMPLARIA, the Journal of Theory in Medieval Studies - The Elijah School Summer School, Jerusalem - 2000 Canadian Jewish Book Awards - Research Associate for Spiritually Oriented Torah Commentary - Two Hebrew-related Web sites [Hebrew University of Jerusalem] - New Website on Archaeology and Chronology ------------------------------------------------------------ POSITIONS ------------------------------------------------------------ From: Lia Friedler Subject: CEO, Mandelbaum House, the Jewish College at the University of Sydney Mandelbaum House, the Jewish College at the University of Sydney, invites applications for the position of CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER This full-time post falls vacant on 15 January 2001, when the present incumbent concludes his term of office. Applicants must have tertiary qualifications, administrative experience and an intimate knowledge of Jewish religious practice. More information is available from (Telephone) 02 9351 2188 or (Fax) 02 9351 6685. The salary package is linked to University salary scales (level D). It includes married accommodation within the college, meals and the use of a car. Applications in writing with the names and addresses of three referees should be submitted by 15 June 2000, to Emeritus Professor Alan D. Crown AM, Council Chairman 385 Abercrombie St. Darlington NSW 2008. ------------------------------------------------------------ From: Arieh Lebowitz Subject: Archivist at Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington The Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington seeks a mature, poised, responsible individual with an interest in local Jewish history and prior experience in collections management and curatorial work. Primary responsibility will be with archival projects during the coming year and requires experience and knowledge of archival processing. Responsibilities include organizing, managing, and cataloging the Society's archival collections, assisting with exhibit development, responding to research requests, interacting with donors and the collections committee of the board of directors and other museum projects. Salary range $27,500 - $30,000 depending on experience. Good benefits. Start date in May or June. Housed in the oldest surviving synagogue in the greater Washington, D.C. area, the Society and its Museum are dedicated to preserving local Jewish history through exhibits, collections, and unique educational programs. Mail or fax cover letter and resume with two references to Laura Apelbaum, Executive Director, Jewish Historical Society, 701 Third Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001, FAX (202) 789-0485. ------------------------------------------------------------ From: dwymanbook@juno.com Subject: Yiddish Teacher Needed in NYC I send my son to the Workmen's Circle shule in Manhattan. Currently we're having trouble finding a new teacher, one who knows Yiddish and who is a secularist. Do you know such a person? If so, please let me know. The shule meets on Sunday mornings, and the position would begin in September. Thanks. Robert Lapides ------------------------------------------------------------ CALLS FOR PAPERS AND CONFERENCES ------------------------------------------------------------ From: Murray Friedman Subject: Writing the History of the Soviet Jewry Movement Among the purposes of the Feinstein Center has been to identify certain vacuums in the study of American Jewish History and attempt to organize one or scholars to fill them. One such vacuum has been the study of the SJM, largely of course because of its nearness to us in time. I am referring to that movement which found Jews of all political stripes joining together in mobilizing public sentiment as well as political activity to force the Soviet Union to release those Jews who wished to leave. The result was that at this point some l.5 million have come out, one of the great exoduses of the entire Jewish historical experience. We have published one book on this -- a collection of papers given at a conference we held, A Second Exodus: The American Movement to Free Soviet Jews. A second book dealing with the Philadelphia experience -- Philadelphia was one of the centers of the movement has just been accepted for publication. The purpose of this communication is to seek out one or more, probably senior historians who might be willing to undertake a full scale, and integrated study of this important episode in American Jewish history. We are prepared to provide significant back-up for such a project. We are prepared to make a significant grant not only for the scholar[s] but make available funding for a research assistant. We consider this a high priority in our program plan. I would be prepared to discuss this project with anyone interested. Please write to me at this E-mail address: MurrayFrie@aol.com Murray Friedman Director, Feinstein Center for American Jewish History Temple University ------------------------------------------------------------ From: Guesnet Subject: Workshop Dubnow-Institute Leipzig [Please excuse the loss of diacritica in some e-formats -- L.D.T.] Aspects of Jewish Politics in Pre-Revolutionary Europe. International Workshop, Leipzig, July 4th, 2000. Program 9.00 Uhr: Prof. Dan Diner Opening remarks 9 Uhr 15: Francois Guesnet Introduction 9 Uhr 45: Scott Ury (Hebrew University Jerusalem): Shtadlanim and Shtadlanut in the Rzeczpospolita 10 Uhr 45: Lois Dubin (Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts): Between Toleration and Equalities: Changing Conceptions of Jewish Status and Community in Pre-Revolutionary Europe 11 Uhr 45: Evelyne Oliel-Grausz (Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris): The Sephardic Communities in Late 18th Century Europe: Communication and Politics Break/Mittagspause 14 Uhr 30: Andreas Gotzmann (Universitaet Erfurt): Facing Absolutism: The German Jewish Community as Political Agent 15 Uhr 30: Francois Guesnet (Dubnow-Institut, Leipzig): Jewish Causes and their Presentation on the Eve of the Partitions of Poland. 16 Uhr 30: Hanna Wegrzynek (Jewish Historical Institute, Warsaw): Interceding in Rome: Polish-Jewish Deputations to the Papal Court in the 18th Century 17 Uhr 30: Final Discussion Please contact the Institute for details on participation. Contact: Francois Guesnet, Simon-Dubnow-Institut fuer juedische Geschichte und Kultur e.V. Goldschmidtstraesse 28 D-04103 Leipzig Phone ++49-341-217 35 50 Fax ++49-341-217 35 55 e-mail: guesnet@dubnow.de ------------------------------------------------------------ NOTICES ------------------------------------------------------------ From: Sheila R. Allen Subject: Post Doctoral Fellowships 2001-2002 Center For Advanced Judaic Studies University of Pennsylvania Post Doctoral Fellowships 2001-2002 Application Deadline November 15, 2000 Biblical Interpretation in a Comparative Context: Jewish, Christian, Islamic Biblical exegesis was critical to the formation of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and has historically served as one of the most significant vehicles for intellectual creativity as well as a medium for competition, polemic, and influence. The CAJS will devote its annual seminar to this theme, inviting experts in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic exegesis to participate in the hope of producing a new synthesis of material that heretofore has been treated in isolation. Among the questions it will consider are: In what ways has exegesis served as a formative element in the development of these religions? What is the relationship between specific types of hermeneutics (e.g. midrash, allegory) and their religious traditions? What have been the lines of influence between the different religious-exegetical traditions in terms of hermeneutic procedures as well as in substantive interpretive traditions? Does a comparative perspective offer a new way to study the different institutional contexts for Biblical exegesis? How has exegesis served as a focus of heretical, non-normative traditions? What are the points of similarity between "fundamentalist" exegesis in the three traditions? How has visual illustration worked as a medium of exegetical influence? Why the great interest in the retrieval of ancient and medieval exegesis in postmodern literary theory and criticism and in contemporary Biblical scholarship? Although proposals dealing with any historical period are welcome, it is anticipated that the seminar will focus on four main periods: the first centuries in the common era (Judaism and Christianity in particular); the 8-10th C.'s (Judaism, Karaism, and Islam); the High Middle Ages (all three traditions); and the modern period. We ask that all projects deal directly or indirectly with the question of comparative exegesis. We invite postdoctoral candidates, although outstanding graduate students in the final stages of writing their dissertations may also apply. Stipend amounts are based on a Fellows' academic standing and financial need with a maximum of $30,000 for the academic year. A contribution may also be made towards travel expenses. Application deadline is November 15, 2000. Awards will be announced on January 15, 2001. For application material contact: Administrator, Fellowship Program Center for Advanced Judaic Studies 420 Walnut Street Philadelphia 19106 Telephone: 215-238-1290 * Fax: 215-238-1540 Email: allenshe@sas.upenn.ed ------------------------------------------------------------ From: Sheila Delany Subject: Special Issue of EXEMPLARIA, the journal of theory in medieval studies This is to announce publication of a special Jewish Studies issue of EXEMPLARIA, the journal of theory in medieval studies. The issue, edited by Sheila Delany of Simon Fraser U., includes substantial innovative essays by Daniel Boyarin, Michael Chernick, Susan Einbinder, Elliot Wolfson, Tova Rosen, Bruce Rosenstock, Sonia Fellous, and Chanita Goodblatt (from the U.S., Israel, and France). Table of contents and editor's Introduction can be viewed on the EXEMPLARIA website at www.clas.ufl.edu/english/exemplaria, and issues can be bought or ordered for your university library by contacting R.A. Shoaf, editor of the journal, at exempla@nervm.nerdc.ufl.edu. Sheila Delany sdelany@sfu.ca ------------------------------------------------------------ From: Alon Goshen-Gottstein Subject: The Elijah School Summer School, Jerusalem I would like to bring to your attention an additional educational program, in which you may wish to take part. This program is run by the Elijah School for the Study of Wisdom in World Religions, in cooperation with McGill University's Faculty of Religious Studies. (The Elijah School operates from the platform of a consortium of Jewish, Christian and Muslim academic institutions). The Elijah School is an interfaith academic institution, bridging the academic study of religion with interfaith dialogue. This summer we will hold our fourth annual summer program in Jerusalem. The Summer School is based on an interfaith community study experience, in which scholars and students from different religions join together for lectures, textual study, dialogue, travel, visits to holy places, musical evenings, regular meals, and an attempt to engage one another's spiritual reality. This year's faculty includes: Harvey Cox, Christianity (Harvard University) Ali Asani, Islam (Harvard University) Vasudha Narayanan (Hindusim, University of Florida) Frans Jozef van Beeck, Christianity (Loyola University) Richard Hayes, Buddhism (McGill) Barry Levy and Alon Goshen-Gottstein, Judaism and moderation ( McGill and Elijah) One of the unique features of the Elijah program is that lecturers do not simply disappear after the lecture, but are present throughout the program, forming, together with the students, a communal body in which study and personal growth take place. The theme of this year's program is CONVERSION AND RELIGIOUS IDENTITY The program will explore the nature of religious identity: manners in which it is expressed, affirmed and strengthened; patterns by which individuals are encouraged to adopt new or renewed religious identities. A major portion of the summer school program will be devoted to the question of multiple religious identities: can one, and if so in what manner, be a member of more than one religious community. The summer program will take place from July 31 to August 16. Activities will take place at the beautiful campus of the Ratisbonne Institute, on 26 Shmuel Hanagid st. Jerusalem. Accommodations are available at the Ratisbonne Institute, though students are free to arrange for their own accommodations. Further information on the Elijah School can be found at www.elijah.org.il for further information on the summer school contact Alon Gottstein at "msgogo@mscc.huji.ac.il", fax 9722 6734191, phone 97252 780069 Alon Goshen-Gottstein Director The Elijah School ------------------------------------------------------------ From: Bernard Katz Subject: 2000 Canadian Jewish Book Awards 12th Annual Jewish Book Awards Features Chava Rosenfarb Book Launch One of the great authors of modern Yiddish literature, Chava Rosenfarb, winner of many awards and prizes, including the prestigious international Manger Prize, will be the guest reader at this year's gala awards evening and reception to be held in the Leah Posluns Theatre, Koffler Centre of the Arts, at the Bathurst Jewish Centre, Toronto on June 7th at 7:30 pm. The occasion also will mark the launching by Syracuse University Press of English translations of two of Chava Rosenfarb's most celebrated novels: *Bociany* and *Of Lodz and Love*. Nancy Huston's *The Mark of the Angel* (McArthur & Co.), a complex and remarkably told love story set in Paris during the Algerian war of independence and in its original French version the winner of literary awards in both France and Quebec, wins this year's Martin and Beatrice Fisher Prize for Fiction. This award, together with a substantial honorarium, will be presented at the festive 12th annual Jewish Book Awards evening, which this year features eleven winners in ten subject categories. The prizes and honoraria celebrate the many significant achievements by authors of books with Jewish themes published in the preceding two years, and are awarded each year by the Koffler Centre for the Arts' Jewish Book Committee, through the generousity of many individual donors. Among the other winners being honoured is Kathy Kacer, winner of this year's Book Awards Committee Prize for Young Adult Fiction, for her outstanding novel *The Secret of Gabi's Dresser* (Second Story Press), also a Canadian Children's Book Centre Choice. Lakehead University historian Bruce Muirhead's *Against the Odds* (University of Toronto Press), a fascinating biography of Louis Rasminsky, former Governor of the Bank of Canada, wins the Joseph and Faye Tanenbaum Award for Canadian Jewish History. Co-editors Seymour Mayne and B. Glen Rotchin will share the Henry Fuerstenberg - Betty and Morris Aaron Prize in Poetry for their edited collection of wide ranging poetic tributes to the late A.M. Klein, *A Rich Garland* (Vehicule Press), together with Malca Janice Litovitz, who wins for her moving volume of poetry, *To Light To Water* (Lugus). There are two awards this year for writing about the Holocaust. The Canadian Society for Yad Vashem Prize in Holocaust History goes to Montreal co- authors Naomi Kremer and Ronald Headland for their important study, *The Fallacy of Race and the Shoa* (University of Ottawa Press), while the Isaak Frischwasser Memorial Award for Holocaust Memoir is awarded posthumously to Arthur Schaller for his outstanding contribution to this genre, *100 Cigarettes and a Bottle of Vodka* ( Malcolm Lester). Another instance of double awards is that for biblical scholarship. McMaster University professor and associate dean Adele Reinhartz' masterful analysis, *"Why Ask My Name"? Anonymity and Identity in Biblical Narrative* (Oxford University Press), wins the Dorothy Shoichet President's Award in Feminist Jewish Literature, while the Canadian biblical scholar Shlomo Zalman Elazar Grafstein receives the Penina Rubinoff Memorial Prize for his insightful *Judaism's Bible: a New and Expanded Translation* (Spirit of the Desert Productions). The Louis L. Lockshin Memorial Prize for Scholarship on a Jewish Theme goes jointly to co-editors Sara Silberstein Swartz and Margie Wolfe for their wonderful compilation of *From Memory to Transformation: Jewish Women's Voices* (Second Story Press). Maintaining a profile on modern writing in and translation from Yiddish is important and the Committee is pleased to honour poet Simcha Simchovitch as winner of the Izzy and Betty Kirshenbaum Foundation Prize for Yiddish in Translation for his excellent volume of English translations from his own Yiddish poetry, *The Remnant* (Mosaic Press). The public is invited to attend the celebration (admission is free) and meet with authors at a festive reception with refreshments following the presentations, when they also will be able to purchase the winning books and have them autographed. The evening's events and reception are sponsored by the Koffler Centre of the Arts, with support from the Holocaust Education and Memorial Centre, and the Committee for Yiddish, UJA Federation of Greater Toronto. ------------------------------------------------------------ From: Rabbi Michael Lerner Subject: Research Associate for Spiritually Oriented Torah Commentary I need a research associate--and am willing to pay. I am the editor and working with a group of spiritually talented scholars and rabbis and we are creating a SPIRITUALLY ORIENTED TORAH COMMENTARY which would be published as a chumash (Hebrew text of Torah on one side, English translation on the other, and under both a commentary). My goal is to create a commentary that will speak to the spiritual hunger of people who turn to Torah as the classical Jewish text but who often find there little that would awaken or speak to their deepest spiritual needs. I've asked many people to send me weekly comments on the Torah portion of the week--most have agreed (among those who will be sending me material are Mordecai Gafni, Zalman Schachter Shalomi, Rachel Adler, Marcia Prager, Arthur Green, Mordecai Finley, Rami Shapiro, Vanessa Ochs, Sheila Weinberg, Menachem Kallus, Miles Krassen, Arthur Waskow, Aryeh Cohen, Elliot Ginsberg, Tsvi Blanchard, Michael Paley and many more. Now, I'm trying something else in addition. I'd like to hire a spiritually sensitive research assistant who could work with the Hebrew texts of Hasidic and Kabbalistic commentaries, finding for me those which are most likely to lend themselves to speaking to the sensibilities of contemporary 21st century people who want to hear a spiritual interpretation of the Jewish tradition. I want a research associate who has great facility in these texts, and yet who understands why something like the Art Scroll or the Hertz or the Plaut simply don't work to address the spiritual needs of the current and future generations, valuable though they are in other respects. The job will pay $25,000 full time for someone who would work in the Bay Area. Or $12,000 for someone who wished to work half time (but in this case, they'd have to be a whiz not only at research but at writing in a very accessible manner). Who do you know? An Israeli doing a sabbatical? A graduate student ready to start her or his career but not having a job for this next year? A highly trained yeshiva person who has spiritual desires which cannot be contained within the yeshiva world? A young academic looking for a year's diversion from her career ladder? A retired scholar? Or where should I advertise this?If you know someone, or know someone I should be asking or the right place or email list to advertise it, please email the phone or email. Rabbi Michael Lerner Editor, TIKKUN Magazine and rabbi, Beyt Tikkun Synagogue, San Francisco To apply, send a detailed letter helping me see why you are the right person for this job, plus something that you've written or thought that would should me your intellectual and spiritual proclivities when it comes to Torah. ------------------------------------------------------------ From: Tsuguya Sasaki Subject: Two Hebrew-related Web sites at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem I would like to inform you that we have just launched a Web site dedicated to the memory of our beloved teacher Prof. Shelomo Morag z"l of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who, to our great sorrow, passed away on 4 September 1999 (23 Elul 5759), as well as the site of the Jewish Oral Traditions Research Center (formerly Language Traditions Project), which Prof. Morag founded in 1957. http://www.hum.huji.ac.il/morag/ http://www.hum.huji.ac.il/masorot/ Tsuguya Sasaki, PhD http://www2.gol.com/users/tsuguya/ ------------------------------------------------------------ From: Nikos Kokkinos Subject: New Website on Archaeology and Chronology Since many of you would have interests in the archaeology of the centuries prior to our exciting 1st century AD, and probably as early as the beginning of the Iron Age, may I note the launch of a website discussing the thorny problem of archaeological chronology. It seems to be timely for the authors of 'Studies in Ancient Chronology' (1987) and 'Centuries of Darkness' (1991) to remind scholars that their theory is as alive as ever, and to invite them to stop for a moment and think before continuing with the recent, frenzied arguments regarding Biblical archaeology. It is clear that the role that these publications have played in the development of the 1990s turmoil has yet to be appreciated. Apart from an apparently complete catalogue of reviews (together with a number of notable quotations for and against), the website provides a complete list of responses by the authors, as well as a lengthy section (not to be missed!) answering all FAQs. Links of chronological interest are also included. You may check it out: http://www.centuries.co.uk Nikos Kokkinos. ____________________________________________________________________ H-JUDAIC DIGEST MODERATORS : Charles David Isbell Faydra Shapiro Anna Urowitz-Freudenstein PUBLISHER: Avi Jacob Hyman CHAIR: Jonathan Sarna BOOK REVIEW EDITOR and JEWISH STUDIES NEWSLETTER EDITOR: Lorenzo DiTommaso WEBSITE: Avrum Goodblatt JEWISH STUDIES ON-LINE EDITORIAL BOARD: Henry Abramson, Josh Backon, Lewis Barth, Judith Baskin, Herb Basser, Aviva Ben-Ur, Marsha Cohen, Bernard Cooperman, Alan Crown, Nathan Ehrlich, Yossi Galron, Penny Schine Gold, Avrum Goodblatt, Joseph Haberer, Guy Haskell, Howard Joseph, Yitzchak Kerem, Peter Margolis, Richard Menkis, Barry Mesch, Jim Mott, Leslie Train, Tzvee Zahavy, Belarie Zatzman, Reena Zeidman --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jewish Studies Network Homepage: http://h-net.msu.edu/~judaic --------------------------------------------------------------------------- This Jewish Studies Newsletter is published & distributed for members of H-Judaic@h-net.msu.edu - The Jewish Studies Network, an affiliate of H-Net: Humanities On-Line and Shamash.Org. H-JUDAIC is affiliated with the HEBREW COLLEGE OF BOSTON . This important service to the worldwide Jewish scholarly community is made possible by our members' generous contributions. Please mail your gift to H-Judaic at Hebrew College, 43 Hawes Street, Brookline MA, USA, 02446. Thank you! H-JUDAIC welcomes recently-published scholarly books on topics in Judaism from the ancient world to the modern. Please send books for potential review to: Lorenzo DiTommaso, H-Judaic Book Review Editor, Department of Religious Studies, McMaster University, Hamilton Ontario CANADA, L8S 4K1. ____________________________________________________________________