Return-Path: Received: from tortoise.oise.utoronto.ca ([142.150.102.138]) by mx6.mindspring.com (Mindspring Mail Service) with ESMTP id scq8iv.4u3.37kbi14 Mon, 13 Mar 2000 12:16:14 -0500 (EST) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by tortoise.oise.utoronto.ca (8.8.8/8.8.8) id HAA03911 for js-network-outgoing; Mon, 13 Mar 2000 07:37:23 -0500 (EST) Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2000 07:37:18 -0500 (EST) From: Lorenzo DiTommaso To: js-network@OISE.UTORONTO.CA Subject: JSN: Jewish Studies Newsletter [9.009p2] 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 9.009p2 * March 2000 * Readership = 6200+ for additional information: http://h-net.msu.edu/~judaic ____________________________________________________________ Table of Contents: * Calls for Papers and Conferences - Call for Papers: Postgraduate Conference for Students in Jewish Studies [London] - Call for Papers: The Thirteenth Annual Klutznick-Harris Symposium {New Deadline} [Nebraska-Lincoln] - Conference: "Sholem Asch Reconsidered" [Yale] - Anarchism and Judaism Conference [Venezia] * Notices - 2000 Fine Arts Festival Panel [York] - Eighth Annual Gerson D. Cohen Memorial Lecture - Jerusalem Summer School [bis] - Paris Summer University - Literary - Folkloristic tour in Ukraine ------------------------------------------------------------ CALLS FOR PAPERS AND CONFERENCES ------------------------------------------------------------ From: David K. Smith Subject: Postgraduate Conference for Students in Jewish Studies London 2000: Postgraduate Conference for Students in Jewish Studies Location: United Kingdom Call for Papers Deadline: 2000-03-31 We invite abstracts of 250 words from postgraduate students in any aspect of Jewish Studies. The field of Jewish Studies has expanded dramatically in the last fifty years. Numerous university departments, and other centres and institutes, offer Jewish Studies in a variety of forms. There are over 100 of these in Western Europe, more than 50 in the former Soviet Union, some in Asia and South America, large numbers in North America and an enormous concentration of resources in Israel. What is missing are strong lines of communication and information between them. In particular, students have little means of linking up with the wider world of Jewish Studies beyond their own academic institution or country. The conference aims to break through this barrier. We invite all postgraduates to participate in this major international conference, organised by students for students. Advanced undergraduates may also be considered. Anyone who wishes may submit for consideration an abstract of up to 250 words for a 20-minute presentation. Your paper should either be based on original research or a historiographical overview of your area of specialisation. For further information please see our website or e mail us at hjs-london2000@ucl.ac.uk We look forward to hearing from you. The Steering Committee Contact information: James E Renton The London 2000: Postgraduate Conference for Students in Jewish Studies University College London London, WC1E 6BT, UK 0171 387 7050 Email: hjs-london2000@ucl.ac.uk Call for Papers website: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/hebrew-jewish/conference/index.html ------------------------------------------------------------ From: Leonard Greenspoon Subject: Call For Papers: The Thirteenth Annual Klutznick-Harris Symposium {New Deadline} The Thirteenth Annual Klutznick-Harris Symposium September 17 and 18, 2000 "Spiritual Dimensions of Judaism" The University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Harris Center for Judaic Studies, Creighton University's Klutznick Chair in Jewish Civilization, and Creighton's Center for the Study of Religion and Society announce the Thirteenth Annual Klutznick-Harris Symposium to take place in Omaha, Nebraska, on Sunday, Sept. 17, and Monday, Sept. 18, 2000. (This is a continuation of the Klutznick Symposia, held from 1988-1999.) The theme of the Symposium will be "Spiritual Dimensions of Judaism." The Program Committee seeks proposals from presenters in the humanities (especially theology, literature, and philosophy), social sciences, applied and fine arts, and other appropriate fields. We hope to prepare a program that encompasses a variety of approaches and contexts. Preference will be given to individuals who have not been presenters at previous Klutznick Symposia. Those chosen to participate in the Symposium will be expected to make original oral presentations of their material in a manner suitable to an audience composed of the general public, undergraduate students, and other scholars. Audiovisual aids are encouraged. Participants must also submit written forms of their papers in a scholarly format; selected papers will be published in a thematic volume. The reading of papers as submitted for publication will not be appropriate for our audience. Some support for the presenter's costs of transportation and accommodation will be provided. For further information contact Jean Axelrad Cahan (jcahan@unlserve.unl.edu), Leonard J. Greenspoon (ljgrn@creighton.edu), or Ronald A. Simkins (rsmkns@creighton.edu). One page abstracts and vitae should be submitted by April 15 (via e-mail, fax, or hard copy) to: Leonard J. Greenspoon, Klutznick Chair in Jewish Civilization (ljgrn@creighton.edu, phone 402-280-2304, fax 402-280-1454); mail: Creighton University, 2500 California Plaza, Omaha, NE 68178. ------------------------------------------------------------ From: Nanette Stahl Subject: Conference: "Sholem Asch Reconsidered" Yale University will host an international conference, "Sholem Asch Reconsidered," analyzing the life and work of controversial Yiddish author Sholem Asch (1880-1957), from May 13 through 15. The conference is free and open to the public; no prior registration is necessary. In conjunction with the conference, the University will display treasures from the Sholem Asch collection from May through July. Manuscripts will be on view at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library and highlights from Asch's own collection of books and Judaica will be displayed in Sterling Memorial Library. Born in Poland and a resident of many countries - United States, France, Israel and England, among others - Asch was one of the best-known Yiddish authors of the first half of the twentieth century. A prolific writer of novels, plays and essays, he was the first Yiddish writer to be widely read in translation. Asch was not afraid to tackle controversial subjects. His play, "God of Vengeance," deals with both prostitution and lesbianism. It was banned from the Broadway stage in 1923 and the cast and producer were jailed. His most popular novels include "Three Cities," depicting the shattering effect of the Bolshevik revolution on the Jewish communities of eastern Europe; "East River," about the immigrant Jewish experience in New York City; and a trilogy on the origins of Christianity: "The Nazarene" (1939), "The Apostle" (1943) and "Mary" (1949). Asch's fervent belief that Christianity was a form of Judaism, and that Jews and Christians should live together in harmony alienated his core readers. With the publication of his three Christological novels during and immediately after the Holocaust, Asch was dropped from the Yiddish canon and more or less forgotten. Even Abraham Cahan, editor of the influential Yiddish newspaper, the Jewish Daily Forvorts, who was previously one of Asch's strongest supporters, spurned him. The conference at Yale will attempt to take a fresh look at Asch and his extensive literary output. Though he still generates strong emotions, the ecumenism,- which caused so much controversy during his lifetime- is very much in tune with present-day America. Asch had close ties to Yale, a fact not generally known. While in the United States, he lived for a time in Stamford, Connecticut, and did research for his novels in the Yale library. He felt a great affinity for Yale and decided that was where he wanted his collection of rare books and manuscripts to go. This became possible through the generosity of Louis M. Rabinowitz, who purchased Asch's collection and presented it to the University. Yale also received several manuscripts of Asch's writings. The Asch Collection is housed in the Beinecke Library. The conference will begin on Saturday evening with a performance of "The People vs. the God of Vengeance" at the Yale Repertory Theater. Written and directed by Yale Drama School student Rebecca Taichman, the play dramatizes the infamous obscenity trial of 1923, interspersed with scenes from Asch's banned play. A reception, free and open to the public, will take place at the Slifka Center for Jewish Life at Yale (80 Wall Street) following the performance. "The People vs. the God of Vengeance" will be performed at the Yale Repertory Theater from Tuesday, May 9, through Saturday, May 13. Call the theater at 203-432-1234 for performance time and ticket availability. Leading scholars in the field of Yiddish literature from the United States and abroad will participate in the sessions and discussions that will take place on Sunday, May 14, 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., and Monday, May 15, 9:00 a.m. till noon in the Whitney Humanities Center, 53 Wall St. Asch's great-grandson, David Mazower, will deliver a slide lecture about the author and his life. Other speakers include Joel Berkowitz of the Oxford Center for Yiddish Studies, David Roskies of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, Seth Wolitz of the University of Texas at Austin, and Alisa Solomon of CUNY and drama critic of the Village Voice. Keynote speaker will be Dan Miron, a noted scholar of Hebrew and Yiddish literature who has appointments at both Columbia University and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He will present "Mimesis, Faith, and the New Deal: Sholem Asch's East River, a major American/Jewish Novel" on May 14 at 9 p.m. in the Slifka Center for Jewish Life at Yale, 80 Wall St. For further information, visit the conference web site at or call Nanette Stahl, Judaica curator at the Yale University Library, at 203-432-7202. ------------------------------------------------------------ From: eleuthera Subject: Anarchism and Judaism Conference Anarchists and Jews: The story of an encounter Venice, 5-6-7 May 2000 The large number of Jewish anarchists at the end of the last century and the first half of this one (some of them of considerable intellectual standing and/or prominent in the anarchist movement) is of historical interest to both those interested in anarchism and in Judaism/Jewish history. Until now there have been no systematic and thorough studies of this convergence of two apparently distinct traditions. This convergence was linked to a particular historical period and a relatively precise social context. It first appeared in the Pale, that immense area of eastern Europe, the cradle of Yiddish culture, where Jews were forced to live under Tsarist laws. Then came the ever stronger attraction between the Jewish tradition and the libertarian utopian one, which became clear among Yiddish emigrants in England, Argentina and the USA (including Emma Goldman in the first generation, Paul Goodman, Noam Chomsky and Murray Bookchin in the second). In these countries, the driving force behind the emerging Jewish workers movement, made up primarily of immigrants from eastern Europe, were the young anarchists who had been brought up in the fear of God and respect for religious tradition, only to be later caught up in the great wave of revolutionary utopianism. They represented the radicalism of a proletariat for whom the Messiah was one of the spokesmen of libertarian ideology. It was not just that centuries of community self-government had made the people of Israel receptive to the theories of mutual association, federalism and autonomous communities put forward by the libertarian thinkers. Rather the very ethics of Jewish spirituality and Messianic thinking (which Martin Buber saw as Judaism's most original legacy to modern radical thinking) with their eschatological aspirations to a radically different future made a number of Jews move towards libertarian ideas. The same could not be said of the Jews of western culture who were largely assimilated into the societies they lived in, with a few notable exceptions such as the Frenchman Bernard Lazare and the Germans Gustav Landauer and Erich Muehsam. Judaism and anarchism came together again in Palestine and later in the Kibbutzim of Israel, both through the direct involvement of anarchists and even more strongly through the influence of the libertarian communist traditions on the guiding principles and organisational structures of the Kibbutz. One kibbutz scholar recently wrote that, whatever their founders may have thought and their current members may think, the Kibbutzim are the ideological heirs of the libertarian tradition: of Kropotkin rather than Marx and anarchism rather than marxism. The international meeting on this subject, to be held in Venice on May 2000, is organized by the Centro Studi Libertari of Milan and the Centre International de Recherches sur l'Anarchisme (CIRA) of Lausanne. The three day meeting includes a Study Conference that will take place at the Auditorium located in Campo Santa Margherita and various events, including theatrical and musical performances, debates and original documentary films, that will take place in the Venice Faculty of Architecture. The Study Conference, sponsored by the Peace Foundation of the Venice City Council and the History Department of the University of Venice, will have participants from Europe and beyond, with a simultaneous translation Italian/English/French. A more detailed program of the meeting will be available by the end of March 2000. For more information contact: centro studi libertari via Rovetta 27, 20127 Milano tel. e fax 02 28 46 923 email : csl http://www.club.it/biblo/archivio.pinelli ------------------------------------------------------------ NOTICES ------------------------------------------------------------ From: Belarie Zatzman Subject: 2000 Fine Arts Festival Panel Department of Fine Arts at Atkinson College, York University. We are pleased to announce the 2000 Fine Arts Festival Panel: TITLE: "History/ Memory / Identity............Telling Stories" PANEL PARTICIPANTS : Ruediger Bender, Philosopher, Germany; Rebecca Comay, Philosopher, University of Toronto; and Loren Lerner, Art History, Concordia University, Montreal. DATE: Monday, March 20, 2000 TIME: 6:30 - 8:30 P.M. PLACE: York University, Atkinson College, Harry Leith Room 004 FOR MORE INFO: Francesca L'Orfano (416 531-0420 or artista@cyberus.ca) Post-Memory "In the passing of survivors and direct witnesses, the inevitable dilemma arises not only about the appropriate form that representation should take but also about who can legitimately voice and recount the events. The very issue of legitimacy, the use of photography as historical proof, and the translation of traumatic memory into postmemories are some of the most perplexing issues that confront the representation of history. The indirect chronicling of history always crosses inevitable distance." Andrea Liss, 1998 ****Please join us for a lively evening of debate about issues of Memory / Identity / and History. Our guest panel will include: RUEDIGER BENDER, distinguished German philosopher and cultural theorist from the Universitat Erfurt. His research interests and areas of publication include "Personal Multiplexity and the Search for Coherence: A Study in Self-Deception and the Narrative Construction of Moral Identity"; "Collective Memory and Collective Amnesia: Pathologies of the Present German Discourse on Remembrance" and "The Aura and Topography in Contemporary German Art". REBECCA COMAY, distinguished Canadian professor of philosophy and literary studies at the University of Toronto. She has published extensively on continental philosophy (e.g. Benjamin, Hegel, Adorno, Levinas), literature (Proust, Kafka), art (Christian Boltanski, Rachel Whiteread) and architecture (Mies). Her book on Benjamin and psychoanalysis "Benjamin's Wake: Between Melancholia and Fetishism" is nearing completion. She is presently also working on two other books. One on Proust and trauma "Proustian Impressions" and the other on the Irish artist James Coleman. She is the editor of "Alphabet City", specifically a past issue "Fascism and its Ghosts" as well as the forthcoming issue "Lost in the Archive". LOREN LERNER, distinguished professor of Art History at Concordia University in Montreal. She is the curator of a new Canadian exhibition on art and the Holocaust , as well as an accompanying three-day symposium entitled " Evocations of the Holocaust in Contemporary Arts and Creative Literature", opening in May 2000. The exhibition and symposium will take place at the new Montreal Holocaust Centre and will run until June 2000. Professor Lerner has also compiled a website bibliography of Canadian women artists of Eastern European origin. ------------------------------------------------------------ From: flneumann@JTSA.EDU Subject: Gerson D. Cohen Memorial Lecture The Friends of the Library of The Jewish Theological Seminary invite you to: The Eighth Annual Gerson D. Cohen Memorial Lecture. Dr. Michael Fishbane, Nathan Cummings Professor of Jewish Studies, the Divinity School and the College, Chairman of the Committee on Jewish Studies of The University of Chicago will speak on: THE SONG OF SONGS AND THE JEWISH RELIGIOUS MENTALITY. Thursday, March 16, 2000, 8:00 pm The Jewish Theological Seminary 3080 Broadway at 122nd Street New York, NY 10027 R.S.V.P. 212-678-8962 or e-mail riweiner@jtsa.edu ------------------------------------------------------------ From: Isaiah Gafni Subject: Jerusalem Summer School [bis] The Hebrew University of Jerusalem - Institute for Advanced Studies announces The 10th Jerusalem Summer School in Jewish Studies, on: JEWISH LITURGY AND SYNAGOGUE LIFE 26 June - 5 July, 2000 This year's school will address the history and development of Jewish liturgy from its earliest and formative stages to contemporary attempts at forging new and innovative forms of prayer. Seminars will examine the historical and theological contexts in which normative jewish liturgical texts were created and disseminated. Specific topics of inquiry will include: the relationship of prayer to poetry; prayer as a mystical experience; the development of musical contexts for liturgical expression; the evolution of liturgical texts from Qumran and the talmudic/geonic periods through the Middle ages; varieties of liturgical development among specific Jewish communities; a comparative study of Christian and Jewish liturgies; prayer as the religious expression of elite and non-elite groups within the Jewish community; contemporary liturgy and the challenge of feminism. A day-long trip to ancient synagogues in the Galilee will attempt to provide a sense of the physical and social environments in which liturgical texts were produced and employed. Faculty for the Summer School includes: M. Halbertal, M. Idel, R. Scheindlin, R. Kimelman, T. Frymer-Kensky, D. Ellenson, E. Chazon, Y. Tabory and E. Seroussi. The school is intended for advanced graduate and post-doctoral students. Scholarships covering substantial portions of travel and accomodation are available to qualified candidates. For application forms write to: The Jerusalem Summer School, Institute for Advanced Studies, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Givat Ram 91904, ISRAEL. Fax: 972-2-6523429. E-mail: advanc@vms.huji.ac.il Application deadline: 20 April 2000 Website address: http://www.as.huji.ac.il/html/jewish2000.html ------------------------------------------------------------ From: Gilles Rozier Subject: Paris Summer University [please excuse the loss of diacritica in some e-formats - - L.D.T.] Chere amie, cher ami, Vous pouvez avoir toutes les information sur la 3e universite d'ete de langue et de litterature yiddish sur Yiddishweb.com, le site internet des yiddishistes de France. L'adresse exacte est la suivante : http://www.yiddishweb.com/zumerkurs/ Le document est disponible en francais, en anglais et en yiddish. Il comporte deux parties : - le contenu du l'universite d'ete - les details concernant l'hebergement pour ceux qui le necessitent. Si vous rencontrez des difficultes a telecharger les documents, contactez-nous a medem@club-internet.fr. Si vous souhaitez vous inscrire, contactez-nous egalement a la meme adresse e-mail, nous vous adresserons les documents necessaires. --- Dear friend, You can get any information you need about the 3rd Summer University Seminar in Yiddish Language and Literature (Paris) on yiddishweb.com, the web site of French yiddishists. The exact address is : http://www.yiddishweb.com/zumerkurs/ There is a French, an English and a Yiddish version of the information, in two parts: - all details about the Seminar - all details about accommodation for whom it may concern. If you meet any difficulty in getting the information, please contact us at medem@club-internet.fr. If you want to register, contact us at the same e-mail adress, we will send you all files. --- Tayere khaverte, tayerer khaver, Ir kent bakumen ale protim vegn der driter Parizer intensive zumerkursn fun yidisher shprakh un literatur oyf yiddishweb.com, der vebort fun frantseyzishe yidishistn. Der protimdiker adres iz : http://www.yiddishweb.com/zumerkurs/ Dortn vet ir gefinen di informatsye in frantseyzish, english un yidish. Zi nemt arum tsvey teyln : - di program fun di zumerkursn - ale protim vegn gefinen a voynort in Pariz Oyb s'iz aykh shver tsu dergeyn tsu di-o informatsye, zayt azoy gut, loz es undz visn oyf undzer blitspost-adres : medem@club-internet.fr Oyb ir vilt zikh aynshraybn darft ir undz oykh shraybn durkhn zelbikn blitspost-adres. Veln mir aykh shikn di aynshrab-boygns. --- Bien vous / Sincerely Yours / Mit dank un gros Gilles Rozier ------------------------------------------------------------ From: "Gitit Holzman" Subject: Literary - Folkloristic tour in Ukraine Announcement on Literary - Folkloristic tour in Ukraine, following the footsteps of Hasidut founders and Jewish authors. The tour will be guided by Professor Dov Noy of the Hebrew University, and Dr. Mordechay Yushkovsky Dates: July 31 - August 8, ?2000. Flights with El Al The plan: Visiting sights related to the lives of R. Israel Ba'al Shem Tov, R. Levi Isaac of Berdichev, R. Nahman of Bratslav, and more. Visiting memorial sights to the destruction of Ukraine Jewry: Babi Yar, Petchora, mass graves; Visiting places related to the lives of Jewish authors, who wrote in Yiddish and in Hebrew. The route: Kiev, Berditchev, Zitomir, Vinitza, Nemirov, Bratslav, Petchura, Shargorod, Medzibozh, Bershad, Kamenetz - Podolsk, Uman, Jchermovitz, Sadigora, Kosov. Kitev, Kolomey, Viznitz, Pereyaslav - Chmielnitzki (native town of Shalom Aleichem). All travels are in a very modern and comfortable bus, accompanied by a doctor. Hotels will be in the highest level, according to local standard. Price: 1380 $ - to one person in a double room, including flights from and to Israel and full board. Registration: Geographical Tours - Neot Hakikar, Tel Aviv, 8 Tveria st., tel. 03-5284113 For more details please contact: Mrs. Lila Holzman, Tel / Fax: 03-6742599 (Israel). ____________________________________________________________________ DIGEST MODERATORS : Charles David Isbell Faydra Shapiro Anna Urowitz-Freudenstein MANAGING EDITOR: Avi Jacob Hyman CHAIR: Jonathan Sarna JEWISH STUDIES NEWSLETTER EDITOR and BOOK REVIEW 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. ____________________________________________________________________