WINTER 2005-2006Program in Judaic Studies

PERELMAN INSTITUTE PRINCETON UNIVERSITY

In this Issue 2 Courses NEWSDIRECTOR’S MESSAGE into the first decade of the new century. The beginning of the As late as Princeton was among its peers 3 Students academic year 2005- in finally establishing a Program in 3 The Class of 2005 2006 saw a change in Judaic Studies, thanks to Froma’s vision 3 2005 Alumni the directorship of and relentless energy, as well as to the 4 Judaic Studies Senior Theses 2005 Princeton’s Program generous support she garnered from the 6 Graduate Fellowships in Judaic Studies. After administration, the Program has become 7 Graduate Students nine years of dedicated not only highly visible on Princeton’s 10 Summer Funding and distinguished campus, but it has developed into one of 16 Sefer Hasidim service, Froma Zeitlin the most active and successful programs Photo: John Jameson, 17 Committee Office of Communications handed over the reins among Princeton’s distinguished under- of the program. We graduate institutions. It is an honor to 17 Support celebrated Froma’s many successful follow Froma as Program Director and 18 Faculty Research & News achievements as Program Director with a charge of great responsibility to build 20 Jewish Studies Quarterly a party last May upon the strong foundations so vigorously 21 Director’s Message (continued) Peter Schäfer becomes and honored her designed and developed by her. 22 Events scholarly contri- new director. butions in early November with NEW BUILDING beautiful view of Chancellor Green a Yom Iyyun, a one-day workshop dedi- We are now safely at home in the Scheide courtyard. Located among related fields cated to her major areas of teaching Caldwell House, Princeton’s newest, and in the Humanities, imbued with vibrant and research. very luxurious, addition to the Andlinger intellectual activities, and at the very Center for the Humanities. We enjoy Froma has left a distinctive mark on the center of Princeton’s campus, we could our office there on the second floor and Program, shaping it in its infancy during not think of a better place for securing the wonderful seminar room with its the nineteen nineties and paving its way Jewish Studies as an integral element within the curriculum of the universitas litterarum. For this is our mission, to further integrate Jewish Studies into the canon of the Humanities and to foster a constant and fruitful dialogue with the BREAKING NEWS: broad spectrum of Humanities’ disci- plines – for the benefit of both Jewish Studies and the Humanities. Jewish We are thrilled to report that Sidney Lapidus ’59, P84, P88, Studies have come a long way, from the first visions of the fathers of the P93, has announced a very significant gift that will establish Wissenschaft des Judentums (Science of Judaism) of the early nineteenth century, “The Lapidus Family Fund for American Jewish Studies.” through the horrors of the first half of the twentieth century, until Jewish Mr. Lapidus will also be donating additional works from his Studies finally gained acceptance as a natural and legitimate presence in the collection on American Jewish history to Firestone Library. European and American university. It is our duty to make sure that the precious More information will follow. and demanding role of Jewish Studies among the Humanities is filled with substance and dignity.

(Director’s Message continued on page 21) COURSES 2004-2005

FALL SEMESTER SPRING SEMESTER FALL SEMESTER 2004 2005 2005 Survey Courses: Survey Courses: Survey Courses: Jewish Mysticism: From the Introduction to Judaism: Topics in Hebrew Literature: Love and Beginnings to Kabbala Religion, History, Ethics Death in Hebrew Narrative from the Peter Schäfer James Diamond Bible to Contemporary Israeli Fiction James Diamond Modern Jewish History: 1750-Present Jewish Messianism from the Bible Olga Litvak to the Modern Period Jewish Mysticism: From the Bible Topics in Judaic Studies: Prejudice Peter Schäfer to Kabbala Peter Schäfer on Trial: Antisemitism, the Courts, The Family in Jewish Tradition and the Law Ruth Westheimer Topics in Judaic Studies: Prejudice Jenna Weissman-Joselit on Trial: Antisemitism, the Courts, Transformations of Jewish Culture and the Law in the Early Modern World Antiquity: Jenna Weissman-Joselit The Ancient Near East: (16th-18th Century) From City-State to Empire Andrea Schatz, Society of Fellows Jewish History Through the Middle Ages Beate Pongratz-Leisten Problems in Near Eastern Olga Litvak Religion and Literature of the Jewish History Old Testament: Through the Mark Cohen Antiquity: Babylonian Exile Antiquity: Ancient Near Eastern History: Martha Himmelfarb From City-State to Empire Religion in Culture – Culture in Beate Pongratz-Leisten Studies in Greco-Roman Religions: Religion: A History of Religion Genres of Rabbinic Literature in the Ancient Near East Judaism in the Greco-Roman World Peter Schäfer Beate Pongratz-Leisten Martha Himmelfarb Jews, Gentiles, and Christians in the Rabbinic Judaism: Literature, Studies in Greco-Roman Religions: Ancient World History, and Beliefs The Origins of Jewish Mysticism John Gager Peter Schäfer Martha Himmlefarb and Peter Schäfer 2004-2005 Middle Ages: Studies in Greco-Roman Religions: Middle Ages: Introduction to Judaism in the Jews, Muslims, and Christians in the Jews, Muslims, and Christians Greco-Roman World Middle Ages in the Middle Ages Martha Himmelfarb Mark Cohen Mark Cohen Modern Period: Modern Period: Readings in Medieval Hebrew Literature Jewish Thought and Modern Society Studies in the Philosophy of Religion: Andras P. Hamori Leora Batnitzky Religious Existentialism Leora Batnitzsky Modern Period: Topics in Germanic Culture and Topics in American Literature: Religion and Law Society: “Nation and “Diaspora” American Jewish Writers Leora Batnitzky in German Jewish Literature Deborah Nord Andrea Schatz, Society of Fellows Culture Mavens: American Jews Texts and Images of the Holocaust and the Arts The Jewish Presence in Modern Froma Zeitlin French Fiction and Film Jenna Weissman Joselit David Bellos Holocaust Controversies: Language Courses: Texts and Images of the Holocaust Historiography and Politics Readings in Judeo-Arabic Froma Zeitlin Anson Rabinbach and Jan T. Gross Mark Cohen Language Courses: Between Resistance and Collaboration: Elementary Hebrew The Experience of the Second World Esther Robbins Readings in Judeo-Arabic War in Europe Mark Cohen Jan T. Gross Intermediate Hebrew Esther Robbins Elementary Hebrew Esther Robbins Language Courses: Advanced Hebrew: Aspects of Readings in Judeo-Arabic Israeli Culture Intermediate Hebrew Abraham L. Udovitch Esther Robbins Esther Robbins Elementary Hebrew Advanced Hebrew: Aspects of Esther Robbins Israeli Culture 2 Phillip Hollander Intermediate Hebrew Esther Robbins STUDENTS

2005 ALUMNI

Netti Minsker Herman is currently an analyst in the Business Intelligence Group of Goldman Sachs (New York). She began working in July 2005 and so far has been enjoying her experience in the financial industry. Rena N. Lauer has been awarded a Shatil/New Israel Fund Social Justice Fellowship, which supports her for 10 months as she does social justice work of her choice in Israel. She will be working in Jerusalem for a non-profit organization which aids the Ethiopian community in Israel through education and media 2005 Certificate Students. empowerment programs. She will also be living in Jerusalem. Joseph Aaron Skloot is in Israel to begin Hebrew Union THE CLASS OF 2005 College-Jewish Institute of Religion’s Year-in-Israel program. This is the first step on the road to becoming a rabbi. He is living in Jerusalem until approximately June 2006, studying JEWISH STUDIES CERTIFICATE STUDENTS at HUC-JIR’s campus in that beautiful city, attempting to We are proud to congratulate Netti Minsker Herman, master Modern Hebrew and immersing himself in Israeli Rena Nechama Lauer, and Joseph Aaron Skloot, the 2005 and Jewish culture. Princeton University graduates who earned the Certificate in He writes: After a quick post-thesis, post-graduation breather Judaic Studies. in New York City with my family, I headed off to Israel to begin rabbinical school at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. HUC-JIR’s rabbinical program lasts five THE CAROLYN L. DRUCKER, CLASS OF years and begins with a year of intensive Hebrew immersion, 1980, PRIZE text-study and cultural exploration at the college’s campus hrough the generosity of the Drucker family, the Program overlooking Jerusalem’s Old City. There are 40 rabbinical Tawards an annual prize for the best senior thesis in Judaic students here, as well as 10 cantorial and 10 education students. Studies. Before the establishment of the program, the prize Of course, this is a fascinating time to be in Israel with disen- was offered under the auspices of the Committee for Jewish gagement from Gaza only recently completed and campaign Studies, the program’s predecessor. season just beginning. I can’t imagine being in a more exciting or beautiful place, and I feel lucky to have this year to explore The 2005 Drucker First Prize winner was Rena N. Lauer and grow in such a stimulating environment. What has been for “The Second Controversy of Paris: Text, Context, and challenging is making the transition from Princeton, where Intertextuality” in the Department of History. A Second scholarship was at the core of my undergraduate experience, to Prize was shared by Netti M. Herman for “Of Wives and a seminary/professional/graduate program where acquiring Other Demons: A Comparative Analysis of the Tale of the raw skills (from classical Hebrew grammar to homiletics) is Jerusalemite and the Tale of the White Snake,” in the emphasized, but these difficulties are slight when compared to Department of Comparative Literature, and Joseph A. Skloot the simple joy of being in this country and beginning a lifelong for “Moses of Hamilton Terrace: The Hertz Torah dream. What’s also terrific is that I get to share this experience Commentary in Context and Interpretation” in the with two other Princetonians: David Segal ’03 and Geoff Department of History. Mitelman ’00!

3 JUDAIC STUDIES criticism of the interplay between Taoism far. The main body of my thesis, then, SENIOR THESES, 2005 and Buddhism. Other topics resonate is a translation of this manuscript into with a timeless and universal appeal— English from the original Hebrew. I hope relationships between men and women, that in making the work available in Netti Minsker Herman, expressions of sexuality and betrayal, and English, it will spark more scholarly notice Comparative Literature the fear of death and the unknown. and debate. Of Wives and Other Demons: A Beyond the translation, the goal of this Comparative Analysis of The Tale of thesis is to contextualize the Second the Jerusalemite and The Tale of the Rena N. Lauer, History Controversy narrative. Where does it fit White Snake The Second Controversy of Paris: into the genre of Jewish polemical works? he folktale enjoys a unique status in Text, Context, and Intertextuality How does it relate to contemporary Tworld literature. Like epic and poetry, The disputation narrative of the Second Christian and secular matters? To under- it represents a cross between oral and Controversy of Paris is very much a stand this, I explore Jewish life in Paris written literature, but its style is often product of its genre. The account records in the thirteenth century and the history less lofty and formulaic and closer to a forced disputation that occurred in of the Jewish-Christian polemic leading narrative prose. Until recently in literary 1272 between a mean-spirited apostate- up to the time of the Second Controversy. history, scholars paid little attention to Jew-turned-Dominican friar named Paul I then investigate the history of the the folktale, dismissing it as a lower form and a pious, wise Jew by the name of physical manuscript, as well as the limited, of literature—the stories of the “simple Rabbi Abraham ben Samuel. The Jewish but useful, historiography on the text. folk.” The term “folklore” did not exist disputant used many standard anti- This disputation narrative was not written until the mid-nineteenth century; only Catholic refutations of Christianity and in a vacuum, and therefore, I explore the in 1938 did the American Folk-Lore borrowed the argumentative tone char- role Nachmanides’ account of his own Society define folklore as a study of not acteristic of these works. Biblical and disputations with Paul Christian in just history and anthropology, but also rabbinic passages were used by the Barcelona played in the composition of the literature embraced by the collec- author to place the event within the the Moscow Manuscript. tive people. It is impossible to under- salvational history of the Jewish people. Ultimately, I hope that this will not be stand a culture without appreciating the 2004-2005 Yet the conformity to a certain style the end of scholarship on the Second STUDENTS “voice” of the people, which directly and Controversy of Paris, but the beginning. authentically reflects a society’s value should not prevent one from seeing the Understanding its context and influences system, religious rituals, and daily cus- unique historical value of the text. The while delving into the text itself is, I toms and observances. very existence of this polemic gives readers insight into the Jewish world of believe, as good a place as any to start. My thesis explores the literary similarities thirteenth-century France. It shows that and differences between a Hebrew folktale, the edict issued by King Louis IX in Joseph Aaron Skloot, History Ma’aseh Yerushalmi (The Tale of the 1269 really did begin a series of forced Jerusalemite), and a Chinese folktale, debates and sermons, and is evidence of Moses of Hamilton Terrace: The Bai She Zhuan (The Tale of the White the fear with which Parisian Jews lived at Hertz Torah Commentary in Context Snake). Both stories focus on the fatal this time. Additionally, it offers a view and Interpretation union between an ordinary husband and into French Jewish life in the period Between 1929 and 1937, Rabbi Joseph a supernatural, demonic wife. Ma’aseh immediately before the expulsion of 1306. Herman Hertz, the Chief Rabbi of the Yerushalmi existed around the twelfth From a literary perspective, its similarities British Empire, published his monumental and thirteenth centuries, during the to the Nachmanidean account of the English-language commentary on the Middle Ages of Jewish history. Bai She Barcelona disputation shed light on the Pentateuch, The Pentateuch and Haftorahs, Zhuan took on its primary form at influence which that text had on the often referred to today as “Hertz com- roughly the same time during the Song polemical genre. and Ming Dynasties. Since multiple ver- mentary” or the “Hertz chumash.” Hertz sions of each story exist, I have chosen One reason that I was so eager to work himself was the first graduate of the to analyze the primary versions that have on this manuscript was that I felt that it Jewish Theological Seminary of America been recorded and that offer the most should be accessible to an English read- in New York City, the founder of the insights into literary techniques and cul- ing audience. Its import may rank with South African Jewish Board of Deputies, tural understanding. Some issues are cul- Nachmanides’ narrative of the disputation a “Champion of Honor” in the British ture-specific, such as The Jerusalemite’s at Barcelona and Rabbi Yehiel of Paris’s Empire and a prolific author and speaker. necessity to affirm Judaism when faced account of the Trial of the Talmud in The commentary was, however, his by temptation and threats from the 1240. Yet it has been mostly French greatest achievement, it being the first “Other,” or The White Snake’s implicit speakers who have had access to it thus English-language Jewish commentary on 4 the Bible ever published. For over half a Thus, in this thesis, I have sought to contextualize the Hertz commentary by placing it within the spectrum of Hertz’s life: the contemporaneous ideological and philosophical movements and debates, the struggle for control of the Anglo-Jewish community, the Enlightenment in Europe, the English Bible Movement, the Wissenschaft des Judentums, Imperialism, anti-Semitism and many others. This great untold story, it turns out however, teaches us a great deal not only about the Jewish Froma Zeitlin and 2005 Judaic Studies Theses Students. past but also about the Jewish commu- nity in the United States and Great Britain today. century, it could be found in synagogues mentary. At the same time, in spite of of all Jewish denominations across the these contradictions, Hertz rarely 1 globe. It was, in some places remains, a expressed indecision or ambivalence. His David Ellenson, “A Vindication of Judaism: The Polemics of the Hertz ubiquitous element of American and pronouncements were always firm and Pentateuch: A Review Essay” in Modern Anglo-Jewish synagogue life. Indeed, declarative. He relished the authority his Judaism 21 (2001), 67. Italics in this and the historian David Ellenson has written, office afforded him. Hertz’s authoritative all subsequent quotes are original. “The Hertz Pentateuch became the (and sometimes authoritarian) voice has 2 I am indebted to my advisor, Professor Jewish lens for viewing the biblical made it easy for scholars to pigeonhole Anthony Grafton, for suggesting this idea. heritage of the Israel [sic] people in the him to a single ideology or point of view.2 English-language world. Countless numbers of Jews were schooled through its pages, and the impact of Hertz upon how English-speaking Jews under- stand the Bible has, unquestionably, been immense.”1 Surprisingly, Hertz and his commentary have received little attention from scholars. The scholarship which exists tends to pigeonhole both Hertz and his masterwork with contemporary denomi- national labels; some say he and the book were “Orthodox” and others say he was “Conservative.” However, neither Hertz nor his commentary can be char- acterized by a contemporary label. In fact, Hertz himself was a polyglot; a man whose ideas and experiences were shaped in both the Old World and the New, and especially in that peculiar middle ground between the two: England. Hertz was a man of contradictions. He urged British Jews to abide by halachah (traditional Jewish law) but advocated radical alter- ations to yeshivah education; he spoke out on behalf of women’s education but did nothing to relieve the plight of agunot; he angrily denounced Liberal and Reform Judaism but cited its Liberal leader Claude Montefiore in the com- 5 GRADUATE FELLOWSHIPS

A new initiative was implemented in 2003-04 for graduate school applicants who demonstrate a major interest in some aspect of Judaic Studies. In consultation with the relevant department, the Program has now offered top up fellowships for the third year. The understanding is that the students will maintain research interests in Judaic Studies throughout their graduate careers. Additionally, there have been and will be opportunities for draw-down and dissertation assistance later on in students’ graduate careers. he following 2003 incoming students were the first to Tbenefit from the new Judaic Studies graduate fellowships: Gregg Gardner in the Department of Religion studies ancient Judaism within Greco-Roman and Christian context, specifically focusing on the economy of ancient Palestine during the Mishnaic and Talmudic periods; Danielle Shani in the Department of Politics concentrates on political theory relating to Israel’s attempt to reach a constitution by consensus; Jamie Sherman in the Department of Anthropology studies ties between gender and power and the prescriptive models embedded within repre- sentations, fictional and ‘real,’ in the contemporary Middle East; and Uriel Simonsohn in the Department of Near Eastern Studies focuses on social history of non-Muslim communities in the Middle Ages, namely Jews and Christians, and hopes

STUDENTS to conduct comparative work through the extensive use of documents found in the Cairo Geniza and contemporary Christian literature. In 2004 these incoming students were awarded Judaic Studies fellowships: Yaron Ayalon in the Department of Near Eastern Studies will explore the history of the lower social strata in Middle Eastern and Ottoman contexts; Adam Jackson in the Department of Religion will Top ups go to four new investigate Jewish experiences of and graduate students. attitudes toward Roman rule and culture during the empire and late antiquity; The top up fellowships for 2005 were given to Yiftah Elazar, Meir Soloveitchik in the Department in the Department of Politics who is currently interested in of Religion will study Jewish and Christian theology, particularly conservative political thoughts; Ronnie Halevy, in the the theology of thinkers who ponder the relationship between Department of Anthropology, who will be focusing on the these two faiths.; AlanVerskin in the Department of Near intersection of women/gender, multicultural education in the Eastern Studies will primarily focus on the study of social globalized age, and tribal societies within nation-states, and and intellectual interactions between Jews and Muslims in whose fieldwork will most probably be amongst the Bedouin the medieval period; and Moulie Vidas in the Department community in the Negev of southern Israel; Miriam Hess in of Religion is interested in interpreting rabbinic literature in the Department of German; and Kristina Szilagvi in the the context of religious theory. Department of Near Eastern Studies, whose dissertation will deal with the polemical and apologetical literature of the Near Additionally, Holger Zellentin, a fourth-year student in the East from the century before the Arab conquests until at least Department of Religion was awarded a research fellowship for his the thirteenth century. dissertation preliminarily titled “Late Antiquity Upside Down: Rabbinic Parodies of Jewish, Christian and Gentile Literature.”

6 GRADUATE STUDENTS

lthough the Program in Judaic Studies is designed for Reading between the Strata: Literature, Archaeology and Aundergraduates, there are many graduate students at Methodological Considerations for the Study of Judaism in Princeton who are pursuing topics relevant to Judaic Studies Late Antiquity. within their home departments. At the present time, these Ronnie Halevy, Anthropology, is a first year student, who include Anthropology, Architecture, Comparative Literature, earned her BA at the University of Maryland and her MA at English, Germanic Languages and Literature, History, Music, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, with honors. Her thesis Near Eastern Studies, Politics, and Religion. title was “Walking the Thin Line: the Multiple Struggles of Yaron Ayalon, Near Eastern Studies, is a second-year student Educated Bedouin Women in the Negev.” She will be focusing whose topic of study is the ways minority communities (i.e. on the intersection of women/gender, multicultural education Jews and Christians, though the emphasis is mainly on Jews) in in the globalized age, and tribal societies within nation-states. the Ottoman Empire dealt with calamities and hardships. This Her fieldwork will most probably be amongst the Bedouin year he is taking generals, so is concentrating on courses and community in the Negev of southern Israel. readings. Ayalon was born in Princeton, NJ, when his father Adam Jackson, Religion, began his studies at Princeton in was working on his PhD in the same department (NES). He 2004 in the subfield of Late Antiquity, the Program in the grew up both in the US and in Israel, where he did his under- Ancient World and the Program in Judaic Studies. His main graduate studies at Tel Aviv University, majoring in Middle focus of interest is the history of religious and cultural interac- Eastern history and education. He graduated in 2002 and tions in the Roman Empire from the early imperial period to began his MA studies in Middle Eastern history, which were late Antiquity. Adam spent this summer working on excavating not completed due to his coming to Princeton in 2004. a Roman fort from the time of Diocletian at Yotvata in southern Yiftah Elazar, Politics, is a first year student of political theory, Israel. A few of his recent projects: a comparison of rabbinic currently interested in conservative political thought. Before and Roman accounts of Titus entering the temple; a critique of coming to Princeton, Yiftah studied at The Hebrew University Rene Girard’s anti-historical view of the New Testament; and of Jerusalem, where he earned his MA in Political Science, and an analysis of the social effects of the introduction of the fiscus his BA in Philosophy and the Amirim Honors Program for Iudaicus tax after the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE. the Humanities and Social Sciences. In his career as a journalist, Born in London, Adam came to Princeton after a BA in Yiftah reported from the Israeli Supreme Court for Galei- Classics at Merton College, Oxford, and intensive Hebrew and Zahal national radio station, and worked as a news editor in Aramaic textual studies at the Conservative Yeshiva (under the Israel’s most widely distributed daily newspaper, Yedioth auspices of the Jewish Theological Seminary) in Jerusalem. Ahronot. He was also a staff writer for The Seventh Eye, the Philip Lieberman, Near Eastern Studies, currently starting his Israeli bi-monthly journal for criticism of the media issued by fourth year, studies the economic and social life of the Jewish The Israel Democracy Institute. community under Islamic rule. He completed his general Gregg Gardner is a third-year doctoral student in Religion, exams in October 2004 in Jewish History, Islamic History and specializing in Jewish history and literature in the Greco- Islamic Commercial Law; his dissertation mines the riches of Roman period. He holds a B.A. in Economics from Binghamton the legal documents of the Cairo Geniza. The topic is “A University and an M.A. in History of the Jewish People from Partnership Culture: Economic Partnerships Seen through the the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His research interests Legal Documents of the Cairo Geniza.” He gave two confer- include the relationship between archaeological finds and liter- ence papers this summer on the 11th century Jewish Maghribi ary works, and the socio-economic history of Galilee and Judea traders who plied the Mediterranean: one at the World History in late antiquity. Recent projects include studies on the begin- Association Conference in Ifrane, Morocco; and one at the nings of the rabbinic movement at Yavneh, benefaction in International Medieval Congress in Leeds, UK. Also he is cur- Hellenistic Judea, the economy of first-century Jerusalem rently involved in the Friedburg Genizah Project as senior proj- (M.A. thesis), and astrology in the Talmud. Gregg will spend ect assistant and a graduate researcher for the Center for 2005-6 taking his general examinations in early Christianity, Online Jewish Studies. ancient Judaism, rabbinic literature, and the Greco-Roman Kevin Osterloh, a sixth-year graduate student in Religion, world. In addition, he will help organize a workshop and collo- Program in the Ancient World and Judaic Studies, had the quium entitled Antiquity in Antiquity: Jewish and Christian honor of being a Center for Human Values (CHV) Graduate Pasts in the Greco-Roman World, which explores collective Fellow last year, and he would like to thank Prof. Philip Pettit memory and the construction of tradition in the ancient world. and all of the CHV graduate fellow colleagues for the opportu- The colloquium (January, 2006) will feature papers presented nity to become acquainted with them and their research, and by Princeton graduate students as well as faculty from Princeton to share his work before such a receptive and helpful audience. and universities around the world. Gregg will also give a talk at He spent the summer doing research and writing related to his the Judaic Studies Graduate Student Colloquium entitled dissertation, which deals with the reinvention of Jewish collective

(Graduate Students continued next page) 7 (Graduate Students continued from page 7)

identity in 2nd century BCE Judaea. He has also been working Uriel Simonsohn, Near Eastern Studies. In his third year, together with Gregg Gardner on the planning stages for a Simonsohn earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees Princeton colloquium on historical memory and ancient identi- from Tel Aviv University in Jewish and Islamic history. His ty, entitled: “Antiquity in Antiquity,” to be held this coming main interest is social history of non-Muslim communities in January. The remainder of the summer months were spent the Middle Ages, namely Jews and Christians, and hopes to managing the Sefer Hasidim project. He is currently holding a conduct comparative work through the extensive use of docu- Princeton pre-doctoral research position that is dedicated to ments found in the Cairo Geniza and contemporary Christian the latter project, which is directed by Prof. Peter Schäfer. The literature. His dissertation will focus on the history of Jewish end goal is to publish a scholarly edition of the best manu- and Christian elites in the early medieval Muslim world. He is scripts of both manuscript families of Sefer Hasidim (Parma particularly interested in examining whether the presence with- and Bologna) in a synoptic format. We are very pleased with in an Islamic state posed before these elites new challenges our progress to date, and with the excellent work of our team which required special adaptation. He is giving a talk at the of student transcribers. His role, as Assistant Director, is to act coming MESA (Middle East Studies Association of North as a coordinating liaison among Prof. Schäfer, Michael Meerson, America) conference in November and also at the Princeton- a post-doctoral fellow in the Religion Department, and the stu- Oxford Syriac Studies Conference to be held here in Princeton dent transcribers. He arranges the individual assignments and on January. In both cases he will be discussing the issue of manages the work-flow. Osterloh states that ‘it is a pleasure and non-Muslim appeals to Muslim authorities. an honor to work with Prof. Schäfer, Michael Meerson, and all Maya Soifer, History, is a fourth-year student, who was born of the dedicated student transcribers on this very exciting proj- in Moscow, Russia and came to the United States in 1990. She ect and I look forward to a rewarding and productive year.’ received a BA and an MA in history from the University of William Plevan, Religion. Bill Plevan is in the third year of Colorado, Colorado Springs, won a Mellon Fellowship in the Religion department’s program in Religion and Philosophy Humanistic Studies in 2002, and just published an article in after earning his rabbinic ordination from the Jewish the September issue of The Journal of Medieval History entitled Theological Seminary. He is interested in modern Jewish phi- “You say that the Messiah has come?: The Ceuta Disputation losophy, philosophy of religion, ethics and political theory and (1179) and its place in the Christian anti-Jewish Polemics of is currently preparing a dissertation prospectus on the philoso- the High Middle Ages” Her working dissertation title is “The phy of Martin Buber. Jews of the ‘Milky Way’: Jewish-Christian Relations and Royal

STUDENTS Power in Northern Castile (12th-14th centuries).” Elliot Ratzman, Religion, is finishing his dissertation, “Jewish Thought and the Problem of the Twentieth Century: Social Krisztina Szilágyi, Near Eastern Studies, is a first year stu- Ethics, Moral Agency and Political Messianism.” He is a con- dent, from Hungary, who received her M.A. from the Hebrew tributing editor for HEEB Magazine and New Voices, and University of Jerusalem in the Department of Religious soon a regular contributor to Tikkun and Zeek. Last year, he Studies. She is currently preparing two articles for the second taught religious ethics and philosophy of religion at Vassar and third issues of Ginzei Kedem (to be published in 2006 and College. This year he is teaching courses on “Jewish 2007). The provisional titles are: “A Christian Library of Jews Secularism” in Temple University’s Jewish Studies Program. in Medieval Islamic Society: Fragments of Christian Arabic He recently gave papers on Left-wing conceptions of Jewish Writings from the Cairo Genizah,” and “Abraham ibn Daud’s Chosenness, and ‘Secular’ Saints, as well as a workshop for the Physics: A Recently Discovered Fragment from the Kaufmann NY Jews for Darfur ‘Day of Learning’ on Levinas and Africa. Collection.” She is also revising her thesis, Muhammad and the Monk: Metamorphoses of a Legend in the Medieval Middle East, Danielle Shani, Politics, is a third-year student whose work is from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem for publication in in the field of public opinion, voting behavior, political psy- two articles. Her dissertation will deal with the polemical and chology, and democratic theory. Currently she is studying how apologetical literature of the Near East from the century before citizens perceive “objective” national conditions and the politi- the Arab conquests until at least the thirteenth century and will cal implications of biases in their perceptions. Prior to coming either examine a broader topic of this genre and/or the levels to Princeton, she completed a B.A. in Political Science and and methods of disputation. It will take into consideration the Philosophy, summa cum laude, and an M.A. in Political polemical and apologetical literature of all the religions present Science, summa cum laude, both at Tel-Aviv University. in the region in this period and will therefore be concerned Danielle is also the co-author of Auditing Israeli Democracy with the Jewish contributions as well. 2003, the first effort in a series of annual evaluations of the quality and functioning of the Israeli Democracy. Her disserta- Adriana X. Tatum, Comparative Literature, is a fifth-year tion will explore under what conditions citizens have accurate student who works primarily on Twentieth century modern perceptions of “objective” national and group conditions, and Hebrew poetry, particularly the works of Esther Raab, Avot will examine the implications of the biases in their perceptions Yeshurun, Leah Goldberg and Harold Schimmel. Her disserta- for the prospects for democratic accountability. tion explores the ways diasporic languages were made present 8 in modern Hebrew writing in the State of Israel. This project will articulate a “poetics of multilingualism” through a close look at the various literary modes and strategies (e.g., transla- tion, personae, the turn to prose) which poets employed as a challenge to the monolingualism of the national canon. She recently presented a paper titled “Robert Lowell and Harold Schimmel: A Jerusalem Encounter” at the National Association of Professors of Hebrew Conference (Stanford University). She received her BA in Literary and Cultural Studies from the College of William and Mary and attended the Hebrew University of Jerusalem prior to coming to Princeton. Alan Verskin, Near Eastern Studies, is a second-year doctoral student. His primary area of research is the study of social and intellectual interactions between Jews and Muslims in the medieval period. He presently holds a doctoral fellowship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (2004-2008). He is giving a paper entitled “Teaching Philosophy to the Multitude: The Thought of Nissim ben Moshe of Marseilles” at the American Academy of Religion 2005 Annual Meeting. Erica Weiss, Anthropology, is a second-year student who did Holger Zellentin, Religion, is a fifth-year student in the sub- her undergraduate work at Johns Hopkins University where field of Late Antiquity in the Religion Department. Interested she started as a major in International Studies, but changed to in all aspects of adaptation and subversion in Late Antiquity, Anthropology after taking a course in the department for dis- his dissertation is titled “Late Antiquity Upside Down: tribution. Her interest is ethnic relations in Israel, and next Rabbinic Parodies of Jewish, Christian and Gentile Literature.” year she will go to Israel for more than a year of fieldwork. In 2005, he organized a conference on Heresy in Late Jeris Yruma is currently in her fourth year in the Program in Antiquity under the auspices of Professor Peter Schäfer and is History of Science. She graduated with honors from Michigan currently editing a conference volume. Other projects include a State University in 2002 with a B.S. in physics and a B.A. in study of Artapanus’ re-written Exodus story, an article on the history. Her dissertation is on the discovery of nuclear fission Babylonian Talmud’s appreciation of the Sermon on the and the different narratives of that discovery that were told by Mount, notions of play in rabbinic literature, rabbinic adapta- the discoverers themselves as well as by the press between the tions of Hellenistic Historiography, and practicing with the discovery in 1938 and the deaths of two of the major discover- Princeton Cycling Team. ers in 1968. Of note is the story of Lise Meitner, who was Other graduate students working in areas relevant to Jewish heralded as “the Jewish mother of the atomic bomb.” The Studies are the following: Amit Bein (Near Eastern Studies), working title is “How Experiments are Remembered: The Soelve I Curdts (Comparative Literature), Joshua Derman Discovery of Fission, 1938-1968.” (History), Joshua Dubler (Religion), Jesse Ferris (Near Natasha Zaretsky, Anthropology, is a sixth-year graduate stu- Eastern Studies), Miriam Hess (German), Michael Kirkwood dent who is currently writing her dissertation on the Jewish House (German), Eduard Iricinschi (Religion), Devra Jaffe- community in Buenos Aires, Argentina, entitled “Memory, Berkowitz (Sociology), Hannah Johnson (English), Ari Violence, and the Politics of Belonging: European Jews in Lieberman (Comparative Literature), Ernestina Osorio Buenos Aires, Argentina.” She has been awarded a fellowship (Architecture), Leeore Schnairsohn (Comparative Literature), from the Fellowship of Woodrow Wilson Scholars (2004- Rafael Segal (School of Architecture), Hanoch Sheinman 2006). She received her BA from Dartmouth College in (Philosophy), Jamie Sherman (Anthropology), Amy Shuster anthropology in 1997, where she also earned a Senior (Politics), Meir Soloveitchik (Religion), Bella Tendler (Near Fellowship (1996-1997) for a project entitled “Negotiating Eastern Studies), Natasha Tessone (English), Philippa Identities, Transcending Boundaries: Soviet Jewish immigrants Townsend (Religion), Moulie Vidas (Religion), Keri Walsh in Brooklyn, New York.” Her research interests include memory, (English), and Eric Yellin (History). social movements, the anthropology of violence, citizenship and belonging, and performance studies.

9 SUMMER FUNDING for language study and dissertation research; Maya Soifer (HIS 3rd year) did archival work on the conversos of n the summer of 2005, the Program Spain; Adriana Tatum (COM 4th year) in Judaic Studies assisted eight under- I studied Yiddish and continued her graduate and twelve graduate students research on the poetics and politics of with special funding grants for summer multilingual writing; Bella Tendler projects. Caroline Block (’06) pursued (NES 1st year) studied Arabic at the senior thesis research in France on how ALIF School in Fez, Morocco, in order my summer working as an unpaid intern anti-Semitism effects the internal to enable her to read the classical texts at the Jewish Museum of Vienna. dynamics of the Jews who live there; dealing with Jewish-Muslim cross-fertil- Maggie Dillon (’06) had an unpaid While at the museum, I worked on two ization, with a strong emphasis on internship at the Jüdisches Museum exhibitions: “Between Tolerance and religious jurisprudence; Philippa Wien, where she did research on the Aryanization: Lorenzo Da Ponte, Townsend (REL 4th year) took a Holocaust; Henryk Jaronowski (’06) Mozart and Vienna”, which will open in Hebrew Ulpan course in Israel as well researched the Jewish community in late March of 2006, and “A Streetcar did research at archaeological sites and Vienna today; Sarit Kattan (’06) studied Named Hypocrisy: Erich Zeisl’s Escape museums for her dissertation; Moulie Latin at Columbia University and took to Hollywood,” which will open at the Vidas (REL 1st year) visited the Institute courses on Talmud, Mishna, and Jewish end of November. As the two exhibi- of Microfilmed Hebrew Manuscripts of philosophy at Drisha Institute for Jewish tions were at different stages of develop- the Jewish National and University Education; Elizabeth Landau (’06) ment, I had the chance to see the way a Library in the Hebrew University of traveled to Spain for primary research museum really works – from construct- Jerusalem to research rabbinic literature for her senior thesis; Dylan Tatz (’06) ing the overarching concept for the exhi- of late antiquity; Erica Weiss (ANT 1st traveled to Columbus, Ohio and bition to meeting with architects to sort- year) took a Hebrew Ulpan course in Washington, D.C. to do research for his ing artifacts in the cellar of the museum. Israel and researched minority Jewish senior thesis on the prioritization of My own work allowed me to become populations; Jeris Yruma (HOS 3rd Jewish philanthropies of Zionist/Israel intimately acquainted with the lives of Year) studied German and did disserta- causes versus North American causes two extraordinary figures: Da Ponte tion research in Germany.

STUDENTS since 1948; Jason Turetsky (’07) took a (1749-1838), who was born Jewish in course, “Politics and Government in These following reports are well worth Ceneda, Italy and later ordained a priest Israel,” at Penn, which is not available at reading. They give a sense of the variety – before becoming Mozart’s storied Princeton, and which he needs to pursue of opportunities for research in Judaic librettist and the father of the study of his interest in Israeli politics. Studies and are proof, if proof were Italian language and literature in the needed, of the vitality of such studies United States, and Zeisl (1905-1959), a The graduate students varied in level nd at Princeton. composer who, with the rise of National from I-IV: Gregg Gardner (REL 2 Socialism, was forced to leave his year) took intensive Latin and Greek beloved hometown of Vienna in 1938, language courses at CUNY in order to UNDERGRADUATE interrupting his career when he seemed STUDENTS: continue his research into the literature to be on the brink of gaining wider and culture of the Jewish people in the Caroline Block This summer, with the reception and critical acclaim. Greco-Roman era; Adam Jackson (REL generous support of the Judaic Studies st But it was how I got to know these fig- 1 year) worked at the Roman fort Program, I had the opportunity to ures I found most fascinating – and edi- excavation site in Yotvata, Israel and spend time in Paris researching the fying. What I “know” about Da Ponte – continued his archival research on the formation of Jewish identity against the and what we considered for the exhibi- Greco-Roman era in Rome and London; French Republican cultural model. I th tion – is how he told his story in his Kevin Osterloh (REL 5 year) did was able to take advantage of the own words. I pored over Da Ponte’s dissertation research and writing on the numerous Jewish cultural institutions memoirs, making an index for the 500- general analysis of communal identity in and research facilities unique to Paris nd page English and German translations 2 century BCE Rome; Rafael Segal during my stay, and look forward to nd from the Italian. Da Ponte’s memoirs (ARC 2 year) went to Israel for pre- incorporating the valuable information are page-turners: he gambles and galli- dissertation research relating to the work I gathered there into my thesis for the vants across Europe; he’s at the center of Alfred Neumann, who investigated Department of Anthropology. the application of scientific studies to of scandal in the opera house; he crosses architectural practices; Jamie Sherman Maggie Dillon I would like to thank the Atlantic to reunite with his family (SOC 2nd year) traveled to Venezuela the Program in Judaic Studies for its and becomes a professor at Columbia generosity, which allowed me to spend 10 University. And while there are certain more than eight hours of interviews with It’s very meaningful for me to travel to “facts” about Da Ponte’s life that we ten people associated, in some way, with the Old Country, to catch a whiff of my find in the text, these facts are couched the Jewish community. My time at the grandparents’ Mitteleuropa, at to stand at in a narrative fueled by Da Ponte’s own Vienna Jewish Museum last summer the intersection of history, spirituality, and motivations. As memoirist, he presents helped me know what questions to ask, culture. I thank the Program and all those the reader with his version of his story. what issues to raise, and to whom I who make its work possible for these gen- A curator works in a similar manner, should talk. My interviewees ran the erous gifts, which have not only shaped presenting the museum visitor with his gamut from an ultra-Orthodox furrier the course of my education at Princeton, version of a story. The memoirist manip- to a retired dermatologist who is the but more importantly have contributed to ulates words; the curator manipulates founder of Vienna’s only Reform syna- my development as a person. space – and both act in a position of gogue, from a non-Jew who converted Sarit Katan I would like to thank the authority with the assumption of a view- to Orthodox Judaism to another non- Program in Judaic Studies for generously er. In getting to know Zeisl, I felt myself Jew who encountered the community allowing me to spend six weeks studying a voyeur: I touched what he and his through her interest in education and elementary Latin at Columbia University family touched – photographs, immigra- youth groups. I am working with Prof. and five weeks studying Talmud at the tion papers, newspaper clippings, concert Arnd Wedemeyer of Princeton’s German Drisha Institute for Jewish Education in programs, music manuscripts (including Department to write a paper, as part of NYC. As soon as I began my Latin the Hebrew Requiem and the overture my pursuit of a German Certificate, on course, I fell in love with the ancient to an opera version of Joseph Roth’s the basis of this research. language; before I even completed the Hiob), letters (which the Nazi Wehrmacht My own experience in Vienna, however, summer semester, the Latin I had had also inspected and stamped) – but in is so much more than comes across on learned became very helpful in decipher- the context of putting together his life audiotape or in a historical discussion. ing meaning of words, as well as larger story for public display. Taking part in a Sabbath service at a concepts and themes of the texts, in my My time at the Jewish Museum of tiny, ultra-Orthodox synagogue in the Talmud classes. At Drisha, I studied Vienna allowed me to wrestle with morning and a Talmud study and an Masekhet Succot and Moed Katan: the questions of representation and of the even smaller (though newer) Reform former was a deeply analytical study of construction and stakes of national and synagogue in the evening shows the the Talmud’s conceptualization of the cultural identity. great diversity of Jewish life in a city structure of a “Succah” and the ideas’ with as few Jews as Vienna does (less biblical and Midrashic origins, the latter What does it mean to curate an exhibi- than ten thousand). I even had the was a broader study of rabbinic mourn- tion – in a museum that is at once chance to speak with the former cantor ing rituals and laws, aimed at improving Austrian, Viennese, and Jewish? And of the synagogue in Baden, which is my textual comprehension. I am eager what does it mean to be a viewer of such about to be reopened. I went to a cul- to continue improving my command of an exhibition? How do we document tural festival at Moerbisch, on the Latin and Talmud and using my under- our experiences? What is it, exactly, that Neusiedlersee by the Hungarian border, standing of the languages in my study of people expect when they visit a Jewish and visited the Austrian National Jewish rabbinic literature and history. museum. What is it that a museum can Museum at Eisenstadt, which has the do? And what is it that a Jewish museum This coming year, I plan to write my best-preserved Jewish ghetto neighbor- can do? senior thesis on an early rabbinic hood in Austria. In the Jewish cemetery Midrash on Exodus, Mekhilta de Rabbi I hope to examine these questions and in Vienna itself, I looked for my grand- Ishmael, in which I hope to explore the many others raised by my time at the mother’s brother, who moved there after ideas of rabbinic self-irony and identity Jewish Museum of Vienna when I am a the war. The New Jewish Cemetery in the text. Through my analysis, I graduate student. I am grateful to the occupies a vast plot of land intended for would like to address the rabbis as a Program in Judaic Studies for its support Jews and their putative descendants group of men interacting with each of a summer that was intellectually stim- whom the Shoah would deny this rest- other, as well as a group interacting with ulating and demanding – a truly forma- ing place. I couldn’t find his grave, but the political and social context around it, tive experience. I did find several tombs bearing my in order further to shed some light on family name. I don’t know if their occu- Henryk Jaronowski The Program in the Palestinian rabbinic community. No pants are actually related to me, but I Judaic Studies was kind enough to give doubt, the Talmud and Latin skills that paused and placed stones on their head- me a summer grant to research the I was privileged to acquire this past stones, since it is unlikely that there is Jewish community of Vienna. The main summer will tremendously aid my anyone else to do so. component of my research consisted of research. I am grateful to the Judaic

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Studies Department for their continuous services with them, and explored Israel between Jews and Arabs, support and encouragement. medieval Jewish neighborhoods. Ashkinazim and Mizrachim, and the Contrary to popular belief, Jewish life in secular and religious as lenses with Elizabeth Landau This summer I Spain did not die in 1492. which to view the institutional forma- traveled to Spain to explore the legacy tion of the Israeli political system and of the medieval Jewish community that Dylan Tatz During the final two weeks how it functions today. This summer at flourished there in the Middle Ages. In of August, I traveled to Los Angeles and the University of Pennsylvania provided the 14th and 15th centuries there were Washington, D.C. to do research for my me with a different perspective of Israeli several pogroms in Jewish communities senior thesis on recent efforts made by society which I am now able to bring to throughout Spain, resulting in mass con- American Jewish philanthropists (Edgar my independent work. versions to Catholicism. Converts were Bronfman, Michael Steinhardt, Leslie called “marranos”—meaning “pigs”—or Wexner, and Lester Crown in particular) GRADUATE STUDENTS: “conversos.” King Ferdinand and Queen to bridge the gap between American Gregg Gardner My research interest, Isabella appointed Tomás de Jewry and Israel. In essence, my thesis the history and literature of the Jewish Torquemada to investigate and punish seeks to use philanthropy as a lens people in the Greco-Roman period, anyone, Jews or Muslims, who had through which to analyze the nature of require a working knowledge of Latin in apparently converted but was really prac- Zionism in contemporary America, and order to read primary sources in their ticing Judaism or Islam in secret. This evaluate the extent to which a connec- original language. This past summer I Inquisition fever culminated in the Royal tion with Israel should define American participated in an intensive Latin course Crown’s decision to expel all Jews from Jewish identity. at the City University of New York’s Spain in 1492. But while officially no While in Los Angeles and Washington, Latin-Greek Institute. During the Jews remained in the country. In secret, I met with a range of experts in the course, I completed a grammar book some Jews continued practicing their field, from philanthropists to Jewish pro- and read from the works of Caesar, religion. Though Catholic in public, fessionals to lay leaders to discuss various Cicero and Sallust. Other prose readings these “conversos” in private maintained aspects of my thesis. Due to the gen- included selections from Ennius, Cato, a Jewish identity through hidden practices. erosity of the program in Judaic Studies, Augustine, Einhard, Petronius and Today, now that being Jewish in Spain is I will also be able to travel to Columbus, Tacitus. I also read a great deal of

2004-2005 no longer a crime, some descendants of Ohio over fall break to conduct further Vergil’s Aeneid and Cattulus, as well as conversos are going to synagogue, learn- research on the Wexner Foundation. other works of poetry. In all, this ing about Judaism, and sometimes even I am deeply grateful to the program in intensive summer course was roughly “converting back” to Judaism. Spanish Judaic Studies for making this first-hand equivalent to four to six semesters of cities are also reclaiming their Jewish research possible. university-level Latin. While I began heritage. From Toledo to Sevilla to the summer with no prior experience in Jason Turetsky I am concentrating in Girona to Palma de Mallorca, local gov- reading Latin, I now have an excellent the Woodrow Wilson School and writing ernments are restoring medieval Jewish working knowledge of this important my fall junior paper and my senior thesis neighborhoods and offering historical language, which is indispensable to my on the Middle East Peace Process. I felt tours and information. Jewish cultural research. I greatly appreciate the funding that to be able to do my independent societies have formed in several cities and support provided by the Program in research on this topic, I needed a better that host conferences and festivals. My Judaic Studies. understanding of the inner political thesis, being written in the Department workings of Israeli society. So when I Adam Jackson This summer, thanks to of Anthropology, will explore the found out that Prof. Amal Jamal of Tel the generosity of the Judaic Studies process of reclaiming Judaism, and Aviv University was coming to the program, I was able to pursue my address some fundamental questions: Is University of Pennsylvania to teach research interests in the relations of Jews Judaism an ethnicity to be inherited or a “Politics and Government in Israel,” in the ancient world with their Christian faith to be believed, or both? What does there was no question that this was a and gentile neighbors, and to gain a it mean to convert to Judaism, vs. great opportunity for me. Generous deeper understanding of the interactions “returning” to Judaism? How do people funding from the Program in Judaic between different cultures and ethnicities who have just come to Judaism feel Studies allowed me to take advantage of in the Roman Near East. about Israel? What would more Jews this chance to study some of the domes- mean for Spain, a Catholic country? Under the direction of Professors Jodi tic policy questions facing Israel today. Magness and Gwyn Davies, experts in These questions are complicated and will The class was unlike anything we have at Roman archaeology and Roman military become more complicated in light of Princeton. Instead of focusing on the history respectively, I participated in various testimonies I collected this conflict with the Palestinians, this course excavating the Roman fort at Yotvata, in summer. I spoke to about 20 descendants was about understanding the political the Negev desert just north of Eilat in 12 of conversos, attended several Shabbat processes that shape and are shaped by Israel. The dig taught me the techniques Israeli society. We used the splits within of painstaking archaeological field younger colleagues Zvi Hecker and Having dinner with the family, I learned research, and I now find myself able to Eldar Sharon) a series of exceptional a great deal about Jewish culture in visualize and understand the dense buildings in different parts of the country, Caracas, where on one hand, the major descriptions of archaeological field which gained international recognition - division is between Ashkenazi (European) reports. Yet more importantly for my admired for both their experimental Jewry who immigrated in the post World own work, our findings (coins, potsherds, architectural approach and their integra- War II era, and Sephardi, or Middle plaster, bones and glass) illustrated con- tion of climatic and environmental factors. Eastern and Mediterranean Jewry, many cretely the military, economic and social My summer travel to Israel included of whom had originally immigrated from history of the area in my period. visits to his buildings and interviews Morocco. The division, while real, was conducted with his former students, as said to be an amicable one, and the After the excavation, I was privileged to part of the attempt to define the archi- couple whose hospitality we enjoyed visit the Nabatean site of Petra for the tectural principles and thought guiding were themselves a “mixed” marriage, first time, which has inspired me to this work. having met at the pool of the recreation examine the Nabatean experience in the center which serves both communities. Roman Empire as a comparandum to Jamie Sherman This summer I traveled While on one hand assimilation is a that of the Jews. In Jerusalem, I contin- to Venezuela for language study and concern in the community, the Jewish ued an ongoing research project on the exploratory fieldwork. I spent most of people I spoke to quite clearly saw fiscus Iudaicus in libraries and with a my time in Caracas, where I stayed with themselves as a distinct minority, and research visit to the Tax Museum, where a Venezuelan family, arranged through somewhat detached from Venezuela, I was given a personal tour by the cura- the language school. Caracas is a seeing themselves as a foreign entity tor who provided many helpful research bustling city with, like many other Latin within the nation (though I may be tips and resources. American cities, a sharp division between overstating this somewhat). Before rich and poor, and a preoccupation with Returning to Princeton via Italy allowed returning to the U.S., I managed to “security” and “safety.” I spent a good me to visit Ostia (Rome’s port in antiq- spend some time traveling outside of deal of time meeting with people, both uity) to examine the town’s synagogue. Caracas, to some of the smaller cities to local residents and Western scholars The opulence and antiquity of the syna- the northwest of Caracas. whom I located through networks of gogue is notable, and it has some sur- someone who knows someone who It was, for me, an extremely productive prising features: the entrance is placed knows someone. Venezuelans I met were trip; an opportunity to hone my ideas behind the ark which contained the a warm and friendly people, though my toward eventual fieldwork and identify Torah scrolls, and the building was lack of language skills sometimes made avenues I hope to pursue over the com- located on the ancient shoreline (which, conversation, well, simple. On a scholar- ing year. Specifically, I remain fascinated, due to erosion, has now moved some ly level, I was impressed by what strikes as I was when I left, by the configura- distance further out to sea). me as an emerging discourse on tions of gender relations and sexuality in I would like to thank the Judaic Studies Venezuelan history and contemporary the Venezuelan public, but after spending Program for making these stimulating culture with a surprising number of time in the country have come to realize experiences, which have provided tremen- graduate students and post doctoral that I would really like to locate my dous impetus for my work at Princeton scholars doing or planning to do research studies outside the urban centers, where this coming year, possible. on topics such as alternative media, such images are complicated by physical Kevin Lee Osterloh I spent the summer popular organizing, and the culture of and economic distance from the center, doing research and writing related to my plastic surgery and eating disorders. and yet connected as never before through television, mass media and dissertation, which deals with the rein- I was very interested in learning more internet connections. vention of Jewish collective identity in about the Jewish community of 2nd century BCE Judaea. I have also Venezuela and discovered the existence Maya Soifer In July, I spent several been working together with Gregg of a community and recreation center. weeks doing archival research in Spain Gardner on the planning stages for a I went there and discovered a beautiful, (Madrid and Palencia) for my disserta- Princeton colloquium on historical campus like setting with a school, sport tion, which is tentatively entitled “The memory and ancient identity, entitled: club, and swimming pool with its own Jews of the ‘Milky Way’: Jewish-Christian Antiquity in Antiquity, to be held this bank and restaurants behind (like every- Relations and Royal Power in Northern coming January. thing else in Caracas) high walls and Castile (12th to 14th Centuries).” tight security. Inside, however, people Rafael Segal My summer funding aided At the Archivo Historico Nacional in were friendly and open and I, along with my continuing research on the unique Madrid, I looked for documents that a friend, was invited to Shabbat dinner work of Alfred Neumann in Israel could shed light on Jewish-Christian for the following Friday evening at the throughout the 1950’s and 1960’s. interaction in the provinces of Burgos Neumann designed (together with his home of the lower school English teacher and her husband, a businessman. (Summer Funding continued next page) 13 (Summer Funding continued from page 13)

and Palencia. The Clero section of the in such semi-urban environment. encourage young scholars to apply Archive contains documentation from Especially valuable were the visits to Yiddish to their work. In addition to various ecclesiastical institutions in the towns left virtually untouched by the language instruction, students were able kingdom of Castile. I was particularly post-Franco urban renewal, where to take advantage of the proximity of the interested in testaments and bequests of streets and buildings still preserved their CJH to take part in a variety of pro- individuals to churches and monasteries, medieval blueprint. One such town was grams and activities related to Jewish hoping that this material would help me Belorado, located on the Camino de Studies in general and Yiddish in partic- understand the extent of Christians’ Santiago east of Burgos in the direction ular. In my case, this program not only indebtedness to Jews in northern of Logroño (la Rioja). Of the three gave me the language skills I needed to Castile. The results of my investigation towns I visited (the other two being incorporate several key Yiddish texts into surprised me: even though some credi- Briviesca and Oña), Belorado turned out my dissertation project, but also tors were Jewish, the majority of testa- to be the most interesting. Run-down acquainted me with the variety of con- tors owed money to other Christians. and decrepit, Belorado preserved some temporary Yiddish resources available in By now, I have nearly exhausted the of its medieval flavor. I visited the place the New York area. YIVO is not only AHN’s holdings on Burgos and where the medieval juderia is thought to concerned with making the Yiddish past Palencia, and am ready to expand my have been located, with its narrow, accessible to scholars but also in keeping search west into León and east into la crooked streets and houses that seem to Yiddish current, which was fascinating to Rioja. Geographically, then, my disserta- try to climb on top of one another. It is experience directly. tion will cover all the Jewish communities not far from the royal castle and the One of the poets I work on, Avot along the Camino de Santiago (pilgrim- tower of Homenaje, to the maintenance Yeshurun, challenged the norms of the age route to Santiago de Compostela) – of which the Jewish community was emerging Modern Hebrew national from Logroño (Rioja) to León. required to contribute. I was also able to literary canon in the Yishuv (pre-State visit Paredes de Nava – today a small In Palencia, I spent most of the time Israel) precisely in keeping Yiddish alive town 20 kilometers north-west from working at the town’s Cathedral in his own Hebrew poetry. His use of Palencia, but in the Middle Ages a fairly Archive, studying royal charters and multilingual expressions, puns, and large center of Jewish life. With the help privileges given by the kings of Castile to calques (to name a few of the strategies of a local historian, I found the old the bishops of Palencia in the twelfth to he employed) both in Yiddish and other 2004-2005 Jewish neighborhood near the church of fourteenth centuries. Most of this mate- languages, disrupted the illusion of a Santa María. A solid, square building on rial deals with the disputed jurisdiction monolingual Modern Hebrew and one of the corners used to be the church over the town’s Jews: the bishop was showed how Hebrew remained ostensibly of Corpus Cristi, and before the expul- their legal overlord, but the town con- haunted by diasporic languages, indeed, sion – the barrio’s synagogue. Nothing tested his power. This assertion by the the native languages of many of its early else remains in Paredes de Nava of the town council of its right to partial juris- writers. For Yeshurun, inserting a Yiddish Jewish community that had once thrived diction over the Jewish community was word in a Hebrew poem was one way of here – typical for a small town on the rather typical for the thirteenth-century challenging the silencing of Yiddish. northern meseta, where Jews were never Castile. Something similar, albeit less very numerous and their cultural roots The YIVO/NYU Summer Program pro- dramatic and on a smaller scale, hap- never deep. vided a strong foundation for my future pened in Burgos as well. I was able to uses (and abuses!) of Yiddish. At this find and photograph all the relevant Adriana X. Tatum With the support of time, there is considerable discussion thirteenth and early fourteenth-century the Program in Judaic Studies, I was concerning the relation between Hebrew royal charters given to the bishop and able to undertake an intensive study of and Yiddish and, in particular, a great the cathedral chapter. I also paid a visit Yiddish this past summer. The YIVO deal of interest in uncovering the sup- to the Archivo Diocesano, located in the Institute for Jewish Research organizes pressed layers of Yiddish in Modern bishop’s palace. At the library of the an annual summer language program Hebrew literary history. Current studies town’s museum, the very helpful staff which attracts students from around the on Hebrew/Yiddish bilingualism in showed me the latest published research world. This year, YIVO moved its pro- Israeli literature are extremely relevant to on medieval Palencia and its Jews. gram from Columbia University to New my dissertation work, so I am very York University’s Taub Center for One of my goals for this trip was to visit grateful to have the linguistic tools to Hebrew and Judaic Studies, which is several small towns in rural northern engage directly with the materials these located near the Center for Jewish Castile where Jewish communities exist- works discuss. I look forward to contin- History (CJH), which houses the YIVO ed in the Middle Ages. I wanted to uing my study of the Yiddish language archives. The aim of this collaboration is understand the pattern of Jewish settle- this year through Yungtruf, a New York- to integrate the study of Yiddish with a ment, the approximate size of these based Yiddish organization that offers broad range of scholarly interests and to communities, and the place of juderías language instruction. 14 Bella Tendler I attended the Arabic Moulie Vidas I divided my time this summer, one for the month of July and Language Institute in Fez, Morocco summer between Princeton and Israel. one for the month of August. This expe- (ALIF) where I completed their third In Princeton I wrote a seminar paper on rience was very rewarding because I was year program in Modern Standard the discourse of genealogical purity as a able to use the language skills that I was Arabic. The full immersion environment form of thinking on national identity, learning with the people that were of ALIF and Moroccan street life and revised two other papers. I also pre- around me. allowed me to progress more efficiently pared for the language examinations in Also during my trip I was able to meet that I could have in an American pro- French and German which I am about with different professors in Israel about gram as I was forced to rely on my to take this fall. the academic environment there and the Arabic skills to communicate. ALIF also In Israel I used the resources of the possibilities for my fieldwork. I devel- prepared me for the full time Arabic Institute of Microfilmed Hebrew oped a deeper interest in the Ethiopian language program that I am currently Manuscripts of the Jewish National and community in Israel, and I found many attending while in absentia from University Library at the Hebrew professors who are working on the issues Princeton University. University of Jerusalem. The Institute and culture of this community. Philippa Townsend The funding I has been called by one scholar in our I would like to thank the Judaic Studies received from Judaic Studies this sum- field “the best laboratory for Jewish Program at Princeton University for mer enabled me to travel to Turkey to Studies in the world” and is said to hold giving me the funds that are enabling visit archaeological sites in what was films of about 95 percent of known me to do my work. ancient Asia Minor. My dissertation Hebrew manuscripts. I was first intro- deals in part with the complicated and duced to work there by my professors in Jeris S. Yruma During the summer of varying relationships between Jews and the Talmud department at Tel Aviv. In a 2005 I spent over two months in Berlin gentiles in the first century and with particularly satisfying but not untypical studying German and doing archival how diverse communities of Christians moment I found in the catalogue a pho- research. I made two trips to Berlin, one emerged from their interactions. tocopy of a very fragmentary scrap of from May 25 to July 2, and one from Although Asia Minor was a key area for Talmud, held in an archive in Bologna, September 14 to October 8. During my the mission of Paul, the Jewish “apostle Italy, partially preserving the same sec- first trip I took a four-week German lan- to the gentiles,” I have never before had tion from tractate Qiddushin which was guage course at the Goethe Institute and the opportunity to visit it. Among the the subject of a paper I was about to began archival research for my disserta- highlights of my travels from Istanbul submit to Professor Schäfer back in tion at the Max Planck Society (MPS) down the Western coast and into Princeton. I thank the Program in Judaic Archives. During the second trip I Cappadocia, was Ephesus, one of the Studies for its generous support. focused exclusively on archival research. best preserved cities of the Roman Erica Weiss This past summer of 2005 I found the time I spent in Berlin this Empire and the site of Paul’s famous was dedicated for the most part to summer very profitable. My German clash with the followers of Artemis, studying Hebrew. My research area is language skills are much improved, according to the New Testament book Israel and in about one year I will be which is quite important for my project. of Acts. At Sardis I visited the remains of going to Israel to conduct my field I am studying the discovery of nuclear a late antique synagogue and its remark- research for at least a year. For this rea- fission, which took place in Berlin in ably well-preserved mosaics, along with son it is essential that I can speak 1938. To very briefly summarize: in a row of shops with inscriptions indicat- Hebrew fluently. I also needed to study December of 1938 two chemists, Otto ing that they belonged to Jewish resi- for the language proficiency exam that is Hahn and Fritz Strassmann, realized dents. Perhaps most interesting to me required for me to take my general that when they exposed uranium to a were the stunning remains of the city of exams. Before this summer I had had source of neutrons some of the atoms of Aphrodisias, where synagogue inscrip- three years of university level Hebrew uranium broke apart into much lighter tions have been discovered that refer to during my undergraduate experience at atoms such as barium. Hahn wrote of donations from so-called “godfearers,” Johns Hopkins University. this finding to his former colleague, the who supported the synagogue without physicist Lise Meitner, who had worked This summer, because of the money actually converting to Judaism. The on these uranium experiments with given by the Judaic Studies Program, the inscriptions constitute an important Hahn and Strassmann until she had fled Graduate School and PIIRS, I was able contribution to our evidence for gentile Germany for Sweden earlier in 1938 to travel to Israel for three months in involvement in Jewish synagogue wor- because she was Jewish. Meitner and order not only to take classes in Hebrew ship in Late Antiquity. I am extremely her nephew Otto Frisch developed a but also to have a language emersion grateful for the financial assistance of physical explanation for how uranium Judaic Studies for enabling me to make experience, which allowed me to acquire this valuable trip. Hebrew much more quickly. I took two courses in Advanced Hebrew over the (Summer Funding continued next page) 15 (Summer Funding continued from page 15)

could break apart and dubbed the SEFER HASIDIM process nuclear fission. All of Otto Hahn’s papers, as well as Peter Schäfer, Program Director of Judaic Studies, is working on some of Lise Meitner’s and Fritz a multi-year project to compile and translate Sefer Hasidim, or Strassmann’s, are located at the MPS Book of the Pious. One of the most important sources for the Archives in Berlin. During my time religion, history, and culture of medieval German Jewry, Sefer there this summer I was able to read all Hasidim is constructed as a guidebook for the practice of Jewish of the letters between Otto Hahn and piety as conceived by twelfth-century hasidim of the Rhineland Lise Meitner from when she was forced area (haside-Ashkenaz), and consists largely of parables, homi- to flee Germany in 1938 until their lies, and exempla that appeal to the everyday experiences of its deaths in 1968. I also read Otto Hahn’s author(s) and audience. There is currently no edition that inte- letters with many other scientists with grates all the Hebrew manuscripts (of both the Parma and whom he communicated about the Bologna manuscript families) into a single volume, and there is fission discovery, such as Niels Bohr, as no translation of the entire text in any modern language. With well as Hahn’s communications with the help from graduate and undergraduate students, Schäfer is press regarding the discovery. In addi- directing a two-pronged effort: first, the compilation of a critical tion, I read many of the papers of Lise synoptic edition of the Hebrew manuscripts; and second, the Meitner and Fritz Strassmann held at creation of a full, annotated English translation. He hopes that the MPS Archives. this single Hebrew volume will serve as a reliable source for fur- In my dissertation I am specifically inter- ther study of the heretofore-neglected manuscript evidence, and ested in the different ways in which the that the comprehensive English translation will make the text discovery narrative for fission was told accessible to a broad range of scholars. by different people at different times. Moreover, while Sefer Hasidim constitutes a major historical That is because multiple people were source for the religious life and Hebrew literary style of Jews in involved in the discovery and, at different medieval Germany more generally, it also constitutes one of the times, each of them could be awarded few witnesses to the distinctive worldview, and social and reli-

2004-2005 different amounts of credit for the dis- gious practices of those Jews who identified with the circle of covery. For example, in American news- pietists that took shape around Samuel ben Kalonymos, his son, papers after the atomic bombing of Judah of Regensburg, and Eleazar ben Judah of Worms in the Hiroshima, Lise Meitner was identified late twelfth to early thirteenth centuries. The radically new as the discoverer of fission. Because she approach of these pietists to ethical theory and practice, as artic- was Jewish and had fled the Nazis, ulated in Sefer Hasidim, went beyond the laws laid upon the Meitner thereby offered both an expla- righteous in the Bible and Talmud. Many of their innovative pre- nation for why the Nazis had not devel- cepts, which stemmed from their renewed interest in ascetic and oped the atomic bomb (they had perse- mystical practices, a system of penitence for sin, and a focus on cuted the discoverer of fission, the key the individual’s quest for self-perfection that appears to nullify to the bomb) and a validation for the the need for messianic redemption, often placed their followers Americans’ development of it (the Nazis in conflict with the larger community. had persecuted the Jews). In the docu- Additionally, an important element demonstrated by Sefer ments I read this summer I was able to Hasidim is that twelfth-century German Jews and their see Otto Hahn’s own discovery narrative Christian neighbors managed to live together in relative harmo- for fission, and how this changed over ny. This text preserves a picture of a pivotal stage in the history the thirty years from the discovery to his of Jewish-Christian relations in Europe, before the progressive death, as well as his reactions to the dis- imposition of social and political isolation on the Jewish people covery narratives told by others. throughout the following centuries that ultimately culminated in The documents I found at the MPS the Holocaust. Sefer Hasidim is often organized as a series of Archives this summer will appear in stories that answer such questions as: Are Jews permitted to read several chapters of my dissertation and Christian books? (If you go on a trip with a donkey, put the I presented one draft chapter at the Jewish books on one side and the Christian books on the other.) History of Science Program Seminar Are Jews allowed to teach monks about Judaism if they show in November. curiosity? (No, the monks might intentionally or unintentionally “borrow” the Jewish prayers and use them to praise the Christian

16 (Sefer Hasidim continued page 23) SUPPORT

JUDAIC STUDIES ADVISORY COMMITTEE COUNCIL The Program in Judaic Studies Advisory Council had its fourth meeting on April 18, 2005. They met with JUDAIC STUDIES COMMITTEE the Dean of the Faculty David Dobkin, Richard As of July 1, 2005 Bennett, the JDS Development Consultant, as well as Judaic Studies faculty, and graduate and undergraduate *Peter Schäfer, Director, Program in Judaic Studies, Perelman students. They commented on how rich and diverse Professor of Judaic Studies, Professor of Religion the program’s offerings and faculty resources are and how it continues to attract and inspire both graduate *Leora Batnitzky, Associate Professor of Religion, Richard and undergraduate students from across the humani- Stockton Preceptor ties. Once again, it’s clear that Judaic Studies at David Bellos, Professor of French, Comparative Literature Princeton can offer itself as a model of interdisciplinary study and cooperation, a great boon to all departments *Mark Cohen, Professor of Near Eastern Studies in the humanities. Stanley Corngold, Professor of Germanic Languages and Literatures, Comparative Literature We thank the members, listed below, who graciously John Gager, William H. Danforth Professor of Religion serve and help us in our efforts to improve and grow. Anthony Grafton, Henry Putnam University Professor of History, Director, Humanities Council Robert Alter, University of California, Berkeley Jan T. Gross, Norman B. Tomlinson ‘16 and ‘48 Professor of War and Society, Professor of History Mark Biderman ’67 Hendrik A. Hartog, Class of 1921 Bicentennial Professor in Melvin Jules Bukiet, Sarah Lawrence College the History of American Law and Liberty, Professor of History Joseph Fath, Princeton, NJ Wendy Heller, Associate Professor of Music Ruth Fath, Princeton, NJ Daniel Heller-Roazen, Professor of Comparative Literature Talya Fishman, University of Pennsylvania *Martha Himmelfarb, Professor of Religion, Chair Fanya Gottesfeld-Heller, New York, NY *William Jordan, Dayton-Stockton Professor of History Marcella Kanfer Rolnick ’95 *Stanley Katz, Lecturer with rank of Professor of Public and Ivan G. Marcus, Yale University International Affairs; Faculty Chair, Undergraduate Program; Director, Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies David N. Myers, University of California Los Angeles *Olga Litvak, Assistant Professor of History Debra G. Perelman ’96 Deborah Nord, Professor of English, Women & Gender Studies Ronald O. Perelman, New York, NY Anson Rabinbach, Professor of History; Director, Program in Mark Podwal, New York, NY European Cultural Studies (ECS) Philip Wachs ’78 Esther Robbins, Lecturer in Hebrew, Near Eastern Studies Ruth Westheimer, New York, NY Lawrence Rosen, Professor of Anthropology Mark Wilf ’84 *Esther Schor, Professor of English James Young, University of Massachusetts, Amherst Avrom Udovitch, Khedouri A. Zilkha Professor of Jewish Bruce Zuckerman ’69, University of Southern California Civilization in the Near East, Professor of Near Eastern Studies Froma Zeitlin, Ewing Professor of Greek Language and Literature, and Professor of Classics and Comparative Literature Sidney Lapidus ’59, sits with Council

* members of the Executive Committee

17 FACULTY RESEARCH & NEWS 2005

LEORA BATNITZKY, Associate is Kafka Before the Law, which will ing and research are both in the social Professor of Religion. Her new book, translate Kafka’s legal writings and com- history of law, with an emphasis on family Leo Strauss and Emmanuel Levinas: ment on their involvement in his poetic history and nineteenth and twentieth Philosophy and the Politics of Revelation work. In spring 2006 he will teach this century America. will be published this spring (2006) by material at the Columbia University Law WENDY HELLER, Associate Professor Cambridge University Press. She will School as Adjunct Professor of Law. of Music, is pleased to announce that also be teaching a new freshman seminar JOHN GAGER is the Danforth her book Emblems of Eloquence: Opera in the spring on religion and science. Professor of Religion. His scholarly and Women’s Voices in Seventeenth- DAVID BELLOS, Professor of French concerns are the religions of the Roman Century Venice was awarded the Best Languages and Literatures, taught Empire, especially early Christianity, and Book Award from the Society for Early FRE/JDS 367 last fall to an enthusiastic relations between Jews and Christians in Modern Women and was named Finalist and diverse group of students. The the early centuries of the common era. for the Otto Kinkeldey Award given by course dealt with the presence of Jews He is the author of Moses in Greco-Roman the American Musicological Society for as the authors and subjects of French Paganism; Kingdom and Community: the best book of 2003. She has recently literature and film in the second half of The Social World of Early Christianity; written articles on cantorial music for the twentieth century, with particular The Origins of Anti-Semitism; Curse the Dictionary of Eastern European attention to Schwarz-Bart, Memmi, Tablets and Binding Spells from the Jewry. Her essay “The Beloved’s Image: Wiesel, Gary, Lanzmann and Perec. He Ancient World; and Reinventing Paul. Handel’s Admeto and the Statue of is currently writing a study of the writer- Alcestis” will be published in the ANTHONY GRAFTON, Henry diplomat Romain Gary and pondering Journal of the American Musicological Putnam University Professor of History; an essay on Elie Wiesel’s classic account Society in January 2006. Interim Chair, Fund for Canadian of deportation to Auschwitz and Studies; Director, Program in Humanistic DANIEL HELLER-ROAZEN, Buchenwald, La Nuit. Studies; Chair, Council of the Humanities; Professor of Comparative Literature. His MARK COHEN, Professor and Director, Stewart Seminars in book, Echolalias: On the Forgetting of of Near Eastern Studies. His Religion, is now putting what he hopes Language, with fascinating remarks book, Under Crescent and will be the final touches on a collabora- about Hebrew and Yiddish, came out

FACULTY Cross: The Jews in the Middle tive book on the Christian library of from Zone Books in May, 2005. He is Ages (1994), has recently Caesarea Maritima in the third and currently preparing the Norton Critical appeared in a German translation and fourth centuries, written with Megan Edition of The Arabian Nights. And his will soon appear in French. The pro- Williams (Montana). He and Joanna next book, The Inner Touch: Archaeology ceedings of the 2002 conference Weinberg (Oxford/Center for Advanced of a Sensation, will be published by “Poverty and Charity: Judaism, Judaic Studies) are currently engaged Zone Books. Christianity, Islam” appeared at the end on a study of the late humanist Isaac MARTHA HIMMELFARB, Professor of 2004 as a thematic issue of the Casaubon as a Judaist. of Religion and Chair of the Department Journal of Interdisciplinary History. In JAN T. GROSS, the Norman B. of Religion. Her book “A Kingdom of the summer of 2005 he co-directed a Tomlinson ‘16 and ‘48 Professor of War Priests”: Ancestry and Merit in Ancient workshop for young European and and Society in the Department of Judaism will appear in spring, 2006 American scholars in Berlin, sponsored History, author of Neighbors: The (University of Pennsylvania Press). She by a consortium of Institutes for Destruction of the Jewish Community in has begun work on a book about apoca- Advanced Study (including Princeton’s) Jedwabne, Poland (2001), is finishing a lypses for Blackwell’s Brief History series. and supported by the Andrew Mellow book manuscript entitled “Fear - anti- Foundation and the Alexander von WILLIAM CHESTER JORDAN is Semitism in Poland after Auschwitz - an Humboldt Foundation. Dayton-Stockton Professor of History essay in historical interpretation.” It will and teaches undergraduate courses on STANLEY CORNGOLD recently be published next year by Random House. ‘English Constitutional History’ and published a book on Franz Kafka entitled HENDRIK HARTOG, Class of 1921 ‘Europe in the High Middle Ages.’ The Lambent Traces (Princeton UP, 2004), Bicentennial Professor in the History of topics of his graduate seminars vary, but which treats Kafka as a neo-Gnostic American Law and Liberty, is currently one is focused on the relations of Jews thinker and writer, and has been talked up at work on a book tentatively titled, and Christians in Europe in the High in the German scholarly press (“verbal “Someday All This Will Be Yours: Aging Middle Ages. His books include Louis precision, argumentative stamina”). Parents, Adult Children, and Inheritance IX and the Challenge of the Crusade: A Norton is bringing out his Selected in the Modern Era.” His previous book Study in Rulership (1979); From Servitude Stories of Franz Kafka, newly translated was Man and Wife in America, A to Freedom: Manumission in the Sénonais with commentary. His next book project History (HUP, 2000, 2002). His teach- in the Thirteenth Century (1986); The 18 French Monarchy and the Jews from Philip be published in 2006 by Columbia Augustus to the Last Capetians (1989); University Press. She is currently working Women and Credit in Pre-Industrial and on two essays: on the history of American Developing Societies (1993, Japanese Dickens criticism and on the Victorian translation 2004); The Great Famine: city. Her course on American Jewish Northern Europe in the Early Fourteenth writers is offered this fall. She presented Century (1996), the winner of the a paper, entitled “‘I wander’d til I died’: Haskins Medal of the Medieval Academy Matthew Arnold’s Vanishing Gypsies,” of America; Europe in the High Middle at the NAVSA conference at the University Princeton graduate students Eduard Ages (2001), a volume in the Penguin of Virginia in October, 2005 and another, Iricinschi and Holger Zellentin, a con- History of Europe; and most recently “The Making of Dickens Criticism,” at ference, “Making Selves and Marking Unceasing Strife, Unending Fear: Jacques a conference honoring Steven Marcus Others: Heresy and Self-Definition in de Thérines and the Freedom of the at Columbia University during the Late Antiquity.” In addition, he pub- Church in the Age of the Last Capetians same month. lished two articles on Jewish cosmology: (2005). Professor Jordan has also edited “In Heaven as It Is in Hell: The ANSON RABINBACH, several encyclopedias for elementary Cosmology of Seder Rabba di-Bereshit,” Professor of History and school children, high school students, and in Heavenly Realms and Earthly Realities Director of the Program in scholars. His current research involves a in Late Antique Religions, ed. R. S. European Cultural Studies, comparison of the relations of Westminster Boustan and A.Yoshiko Reed (Cambridge specializes in 20th century Abbey and the English government in University Press, 2004), and “From European history, with an emphasis on the thirteenth century with those of the Cosmology to Theology: The Rabbinic German intellectual history. He teaches Abbey of Saint-Denis and the French Appropriation of Apocalyptic Cosmology,” courses on European culture, intellectuals, government in the same period. in: Creation and Re-Creation in Jewish fascism, and the history of technology. Thought: Festschrift in Honor of Joseph STANLEY KATZ, Lecturer He is co-editing The Nazi Culture Dan on the Occasion of his Seventieth with rank of Professor in Sourcebook (with Sander Gilman). Birthday, ed. R. Elior and P. Schäfer Public and International Professor Rabinbach is currently the JP (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2005). In the Affairs, Faculty Chair of the Morgan Prize Fellow at the American summer of 2004 he was engaged in a Woodrow Wilson School Academy in Berlin. public debate (in German newspapers) Undergraduate Program, Director of the LAWRENCE ROSEN, W. N. Cromwell on Jan Assmann’s concept of monothe- Princeton University Center for Arts and Professor of Anthropology, is on leave ism and anti-Semitism; a full version of Cultural Policy Studies, Acting Director this year. He received a Carnegie his view appeared as “Geschichte und of Law and Public Affairs, and Past- Corporation Scholars award for Islamic Gedächtnisgeschichte: Jan Assmans President of the Center for Jewish Life. studies, and is currently a fellow at the ‘Mosaische Unterscheidung,’” in: His current main project is a book Woodrow Wilson International Center Memoria – Wege jüdischen Erinnerns: explaining the constitutional reasons for Scholars in Washington, DC. Festschrift für Michael Brocke zum 65. why the United States has found it so Geburtstag, ed. B.E. Klein and Ch. difficult to participate in the international PETER SCHÄFER, Director of the Müller (Berlin: Metropol, 2005). In an human rights system. Program in Judaic Studies, is the Perelman Professor of Judaic Studies and issue of the Hebrew journal Alpayim he OLGA LITVAK, Assistant Professor of Religion. He continues to published “The Root of Antisemitism: Professor of History, has work on the Sefer Hasidim (Book of the An Answer to A.B. Yehoshua” (in recently finished her first Pious) project and published a related Hebrew, 2005). In September 2004 he book, Foot Soldiers of article: “Jews and Christians in the High gave two lectures at a private workshop Enlightenment; Military Middle Ages: The Book of the Pious” in in Regensburg upon the invitation of Conscription and the Search for Modern The Jews of Europe in the Middle Ages: Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, soon to Russian Jewry, to be published by Proceedings of the International become Pope Benedict XVI. Indiana University Press in the spring of Symposium held at Speyer, 20-25 October ESTHER SCHOR, 2006. She is currently at work on her 2002, ed. Ch. Cluse (Turnhout: Brepols, Professor of English, will be new project, Jews and the Making of the 2004). From mid December 2004 until teaching a new course called Russian Imperial Image: from Realism mid January 2005 he was a member of “Yiddish Voices: Literature, to Modernism. the Institute for Advanced Studies at Tel Film and Music” in the DEBORAH NORD, Professor of Aviv University where he gave one public Spring of 2006. She has recently com- English. Her book, Gypsies and the lecture and two seminars. In January pleted a biography of Emma Lazarus for British Imagination, 1807-1930, will 2005 he organized, together with

(Faculty continued next page) 19 (Faculty continued from page 21)

the Jewish Encounters series, published JEWISH STUDIES QUARTERLY by Nextbook/Schocken; it will appear in the fall of 2006. The Jewish Studies Quarterly (JSQ), an academic journal edited ABRAHAM L. UDOVITCH, by Professors Leora Batnitzky and Peter Schäfer is entering its Khedouri A. Zilkha Professor of thirteenth year of publication and its third year at Princeton Jewish Civilization in the Near East, University. The journal publishes studies on all aspects of Department of Near Eastern Studies. Jewish history and culture. Originally founded by Schäfer and Co-editor of the journal, Studia Islamica the preeminent Israeli scholar Joseph Dan of the Hebrew and a member of the Executive University, its editors have always sought out an international Committee of the Encyclopaedia of array of authors (though it publishes mostly in English) and, Islam, he is also on the World Executive more recently, hope to see more submissions from Princeton’s Committee of the International Center faculty of any academic field and discipline. for Peace in the Middle East. Udovitch The past year has seen the journal thrive with the scholarly is a member of the Board of Overseers efforts of its contributors and a new managing editor, Alyssa of Koc University in Istanbul. His cur- Quint. Quint recently received her PhD from Harvard rent research centers on a study of the University and specializes in the field of Yiddish literature and social and economic life of the 11th Eastern European Jewish culture. century Mediterranean world based on a collection of about 500 Geniza docu- This past year’s first issue (Vol. 12 no.1) includes a selection of ments relating to the career of a merchant papers by some of the scholars who convened at Princeton for by the name of Nahray ben Nissim. Also the conference “Urban Diaspora: The City in Jewish History,” working on a short monograph on rural and was edited by Princeton history professor Olga Litvak. society in 11th century Egypt as reflect- Based on her talk, her article is entitled, “The Poet in Hell: H. ed in the Geniza documents, his other N. Bialik and the Cultural Genealogy of the Kishinev Pogrom” projects include one on intercommunal and redefines our understanding of the most important Jewish relations in the medieval Near East and poet of his age as it interrogates the complex relationship another in the field of Islamic law. between history and literature. The conference, which took FACULTY place in April, 2002 was chaired by Professors Litvak and FROMA ZEITLIN, Charles Ewing Barbara Hahn. Professor of Greek Language and Literature (in the Classics Department) Outside a special issue (typically one per year) devoted to the and Professor of Comparative Literature. study of one topic albeit from a multiplicity of vantage points, In addition to her work in Classics, she the editors try to cover large areas of time and place as well as contributed an essay, “Teaching the subject matter. Volume 12 for instance, includes pieces like Perpetrators,” to an MLA volume, “Theology and Cosmology in Rabbinic Ethics: The Pedagogical Teaching the Holocaust (2005). She is Significance of Rainmaking Narratives” penned by Jonathan preparing a final version of an essay, Schofer of University of Wisconsin that takes the Palestinian “Imaginary Tales in the Land of the Talmud (said to be redacted around the fifth century) as its Perpetrators,” which treats three recent main focus, to Columbia University professor Samuel Moyn’s works of fiction by authors in the US, “Divine and Human Love: Franz Rosenzweig’s History of the Germany, and Britain, respectively, to Song of Songs” and, in the volume’s final issue, Williams appear in a special issue of the Journal of College Professor Sarah Hammerschlag’s “Troping the Jew: Modern Jewish Studies. This essay origi- Jean François Lyotard’s Heidegger and “the jews.” The latter nated in a 2004 conference in Leiden, articles examine the work of prominent twentieth-century the Netherlands, entitled “The Generation philosophers—one Jewish and the other grappling with the After and Literature of the Holocaust.” intersection of Jews and culture and language. She is currently teaching her regular Upcoming volumes will include special issues devoted to a course, “Texts and Images of the range of papers on modern Jewish Philosophy, another on Holocaust,” but in spring 2006, she will Yiddish literature and culture and yet another will include a offer a new course, “Children in War: number of papers from the recent conference organized by Caught in Europe in the Nazi Web.” Professors Martha Himmelfarb and Peter Schäfer titled “Jewish From fall 1996-spring 2005, she was the Magic in Context: Hidden Treasures from the Cairo Geniza,” director of the Program in Judaic Studies. that took place at Princeton University on Oct. 9, 2005.

20 DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE (Director’s Message continued from page 1)

ACADEMICS years, we would like to give American who are also responsible for the publica- Jewish Studies a permanent home within tion of the papers in a conference vol- Our course offerings during the 2004-05 our curriculum. As I am writing this ume. After the first three highly success- academic year were as sumptuous as ever (a full report, nothing definite can yet be said; ful colloquia: “In Heaven as it is on list is printed in this Newsletter, featuring quite nevertheless, I am optimistic that a posi- Earth: Imagined Realms and Earthly a number of new courses). Beate Pongratz- tive solution will soon be found. Realities in Late Antique Religions” Leisten added a lecture course on the ancient (published in 2004 as Heavenly Realms Near East to our roster of courses, providing In the spring of 2005, we started a series and Earthly Realities in Late Antique the necessary cultural background for any serious of Friday lunch talks at which a member Religions by Cambridge University instruction in Hebrew Bible. David Bellos of our Judaic Studies faculty undertakes a Press), “The Ways that Never Parted: introduced our students to the Jewish presence presentation about his or her current Jews and Christians from Late Antiquity in modern French fiction and film, and Andrea research before a broader public of inter- to the Early Middle Ages” (published in Schatz continued to cover German-Jewish cul- ested colleagues and students (both 2003 under the same title by Mohr ture (with a course on “ ‘Nation’ and ‘Diaspora’ undergraduates and graduates). These Siebeck, Tübingen), and “Making Selves in German-Jewish Literature”). Pursuing the talks are meant to engage our community and Marking Others: Heresy and Self- topic of anti-Semitism, Jenna Weissman-Joselit of faculty and students in a meaningful Definition in Late Antiquity” (forthcom- inquired into the issue within the legal sphere dialogue about what matters to us most: ing), this year’s seminar and conference with her class “Prejudice on Trial: Antisemitism, our present research – why we find it rel- is dedicated to the fascinating topic of the Courts, and the Law.” evant and why we believe it is important contested memory and tradition, and is to our students and to the university at The more successful the Program in Judaic entitled “Antiquity in Antiquity: Jewish large. If we cannot pass this test, we are Studies becomes, the more we feel the need and Christian Pasts in the Greco- in the wrong place. During the spring to bridge the yawning gaps that remain in our Roman World”. term we had presentations by Jan Gross curriculum. Unfortunately, the lack of an on “The Pogrom in Kielce (July 4, Starting from the assumption that teach- endowed chair fully dedicated to the study of 1946),” Paul Mendes-Flohr (as a guest) ing with no research and research with the Hebrew Bible, although recognized and on “Judaic Studies: Retrospective and no teaching becomes sterile and fruitless, lamented for some time, has not been mended. Prospective Reflections,” and Peter it is clear as we move into the 21st cen- Establishing such a chair at Princeton remains Brown on “‘Treasures in Heaven’: tury that at Princeton University the our top priority since the consistent directed Forms of Religious Giving in the Late classic ideal of the university as a place study of Hebrew Bible is essential not just to Antique World;” the fall 2005 term that successfully combines teaching and any serious study of Jewish religion and culture was opened by Peter Schäfer’s talk on research has not lost its impetus and (and hence to our Judaic Studies Program); but “Jesus in the Talmud,” followed in attractiveness. We are proud that the also, it is essential to any serious study of what November by Ulrich Knoepflmacher on journal Jewish Studies Quarterly and the is invoked as “Western Civilization,” and “The Portable Torah: Some Recollections Sefer Hasidim project have finally found accordingly is regarded as belonging innately to of a Vanished Community in the their home in the Scheide Caldwell the canon of any serious university. As long as Bolivian Andes,” and in December by House, and we hope that other projects this situation persists, we are obligated to con- Marc Cohen on “Maimonides and will soon follow, with the result that our tinue to point out this fundamental gap in Charity: Understanding the Mishneh offices and seminar room become home Princeton’s Humanities curriculum. Torah in Light of the Documents of the to successively more vibrant scholarly We are fortunate, however, to have finally Cairo Geniza.” activity and lively intellectual exchange succeeded in including Biblical Hebrew in our between faculty and students. For the fourth time in the past six years, Hebrew language classes: this coming spring the Department of Religion, with gener- Emmanuel Papoutsakis, from the Department ous funding from the Dean of the of Near Eastern Studies, will teach a course in — Peter Schäfer, Program in Graduate School, is organizing a gradu- elementary Biblical Hebrew, followed by a sub- Judaic Studies Director. ate seminar in the fall term, followed by sequent course in the fall of 2006 focusing on an international conference in January, a variety of texts from the Hebrew Bible. We which aims at fostering collaborative hope that this will be the long-awaited jump-start research between faculty and doctoral which will assure Biblical Hebrew a permanent students in the religions of Late Antiquity. place in our Hebrew language teaching. Within the context of the study of late Another high priority in our ongoing effort to antique religion and culture, Judaism increase the quantity and depth of our course has, of course, always played a promi- offerings has long been American Jewish nent role in these seminars/conferences. Studies. While we have been able to offer a The seminars as well as the conferences number of individual courses over the past are organized by two graduate students, 21 EVENTS Nicholas de Lange Daniel Mendelsohn Adrienne Cooper Deborah Lipstadt

LECTURES AND EVENTS, 2004-2005

The Program in Judaic Studies has become widely known Religion, the Program in Judaic Studies, the Program in the for the variety of events we sponsor or co-sponsor, including Ancient World, and the Group Study of Late Antiquity at lectures, film series, symposia and panel discussions. 2004-05 Princeton University. This colloquium explored the ways in was an exciting year. It is noteworthy that we began the aca- which late antique groups and communities defined their own demic year by addressing the 350th anniversary of American socio-political borders and created secure in-group identities by Jewish history with an appearance by historian Jonathan D. means of discourses about “heresy” and “heretics.” Sarna, of Brandeis University, whose topic was “The 350-Year SPRING 2004 LECTURES: Our spring calendar of History of an Old Faith in the New World.” events included many visitors to Princeton. Of special note FILMS: Spanning the entire year was an Israeli film series were Hellenic Studies Fellow Nicholas de Lange, Cambridge coordinated by Hebrew lecturer Esther Robbins, featuring University, U.K., who presented two talks: “Evidence of the “Columbia: The Tragic Loss,” “Yom Yom,” “Silence of the Jews in the Byzantine Empire: Hebrew Inscriptions from the Sirens,” “Lullaby,” “The Road to Jenin,” “Miss Entebbe,” Byzantine Empire” and “Translating Amos Oz”; and Humanities “Father’s Braid,” and “Desperate Hours.” In several instances, Council Fellow Paul Mendes-Flohr, University of Chicago, the director of the film or a feature actor was present at the who also presented two talks: “Martin Buber as a Hapsburg screening for discussion. Intellectual” and “Judaic Studies: Retrospective and ISRAELI CULTURAL SERIES: An Israeli-Arab Prospective Reflections.” February and March welcomed cultural series, the Sallam-Shalom! Series, also coordinated by Daniel Lasker, Ben Gurion University, “The Jewish-Christian Robbins, was an ongoing project throughout the year. It Debate in the Early Modern Period: Spinoza, Modena and proved a great success. The programs included talks by Ayman Isaac of Troki”; Ra’anan (Abusch) Boustan, University of Agbaria, who addressed “An Israeli Arab Poet’s Perspective on Minnesota, “Jewish Counter-Geography in a Christianizing Israeli Culture and Multi-Culturism”; Salim Fattal, an Israeli Empire: Martyrs, Relics and Pilgrimage in Late Antiquity”; writer born in Iraq, who talked about “Jews in Iraq and the Dan Diner, Hebrew University/ Simon-Dubnow Institute, Leipzig/Institute for Advanced Study, “Transitionalizing

EVENTS Influence of Iraqi-born Writers on Israeli Literature”; and Anat Halachmi, an Israeli filmmaker, whose “Channels of Rage” European History”; Noah Efron, Bar Ilan University, “Physics film screening and talk tackled the idea of coexistence through & Civics: American Jews and Natural Sciences in the First Israeli and Palestinian rap music. Decades of the Twentieth Century”; Martin Goodman, University of Oxford, “Rome and Jerusalem” and “Romans, FALL 2003: A busy roster of lectures in the fall, each co- Jews, and Christians on the Names of the Jews”; Anita sponsored with different departments, covered a range of topics Shapira, Tel Aviv University, “People of the Book, People of including literature, art, architecture, history, and the current the Land: The Bible and Israeli Identity”; Susan Einbinder, Middle East. Sidra Dekoven Ezrahi and Linda Zisquit, both Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion/Cincinnati, of Hebrew University, presented “Writing Jerusalem.” Two “Beginning with Alef: The Expulsion of the Jews from France talks addressed the Holocaust and visual memory: UC Berkeley (1306)”; and Isaiah Gafni, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, & Leiden University’s Ernst van Alphen’s topic was “Visual “Past and Present in Talmudic Literature: On the Rabbinizaion Archives and the Holocaust,” and artists Renata Stih and of Jewish History.” Our additional speakers in April were: Frieder Schnock, gave a talk entitled “Public Space and Omer Bartov, Brown University, “The Holocaust from Below: Memory,” which included a visual presentation of their Buczacz, East Galicia, 1941-1944”; Christian Wiese, installations “Places of Remembrance: Memorial in Berlin- Universität Erfurt, “Challenging Cultural Hegemony: Jewish Schoenberg” & “Bus Stop.” Deborah Lipstadt, of Emory Studies, Liberal Protestantism, and Anti-Semitism in University, presented “American Jewish Responses to Wilhelmine and Weimar Germany”; Andrea Schatz, Princeton Antisemitism: From Complacency to Hysteria.” Two famous University Society of Fellows, “Beyond the In-Between: The American Jewish writers came to Princeton: Tony Kushner Field of Judaic Studies”; and Daniel Mendelsohn, Princeton (more below) and Jonathan Safran Foer, author of University, “Daniel Mendelsohn reads from his book in Everything is Illuminated, who read from his work. progress: THE LOST: Searching for Six of the Six Million.” COLLOQUIUM: In January, “Making Selves and Finally, on April 7, there was a special performance by Marking Others: Heresy and Self-Definition in Late Adrienne Cooper, the Yiddish Chanteuse, whose concert Antiquity” was organized by Peter Schäfer, Holger Zellentin, “Lost in the Stars” won rave reviews. and Eduard Iricinschi, sponsored by the Department of

22 Sidra Ezrahi Linda Zisquit Tony Kushner

(Sefer Hasidim continued from page 16)

Friday Lunch Works-in-Progress Seminar God.) Are Jews permitted to do business with Christians? (Yes, but never to cheat them.) Many of the rules in Sefer Hasidim are about In March we started a new monthly series with Jan T. Gross, setting up boundaries between Jews and their Christian neighbors in Department of History, speaking on “The Pogrom in Kielce everyday interactions; to a certain extent, the Jews wanted to know (July 4, 1946).” In April, Paul Mendes-Flohr addressed how far they could go. Acting as assistant directors of the Sefer the above mentioned “Judaic Studies: Retrospective and Hasidim project are Michael Meerson, a research associate, who has Prospective Reflections,” and finally in May Peter Brown, taken on the role of managing editor, and Kevin Osterloh, a doc- Department of History, spoke on “‘Treasures in Heaven’: toral candidate, who serves as project coordinator among Schäfer, Forms of Religious Giving in the Late Antique World.” Meerson, and the undergraduate transcription team located at These seminars are held to promote discussion and interaction Princeton and several other universities in the United States, between our students and faculty. Canada, Germany, and Israel, chosen for their exceptional Hebrew ENDOWED LECTURES: language skills. The team transcribes handwritten Hebrew script from Biderman Lecture (November 4): “An Evening With the manuscript into modern Hebrew font in Word documents. They Tony Kushner” must first decipher the scribe’s handwriting, abbreviations, and edito- rial style, before they complete the transcription – often a daunting The evening included a reading by Tony Kushner, author of task – but one that they have undertaken with great energy, skill, the Pulitzer Prize, Tony, and Emmy-winning work “Angels in and attention to detail. America,” followed by a question-and-answer session led by Emily Mann, artistic director of McCarter Theatre. Schäfer and the entire Sefer Hasidim team hope that the project not only will establish Princeton’s Program in Judaic Studies, the Mytelka Lecture (March 4): Anita Norich, University of Perelman Institute, as a leading center for the study of a great civi- Michigan, “How Tevye Learned to Fiddle” lization, but also will help to solidify its place as an integral element Norich is Associate Professor of English and Judaic Studies at of the academic life at Princeton University. the University of Michigan. The author of The Homeless Imagination in the Fiction of Israel Joshua Singer and co-editor of Gender and Text in Modern Hebrew and Yiddish Literatures, she teaches, lectures, and publishes on Yiddish language and literature, Jewish American literature, and Holocaust literature. Sholem Aleichem’s beloved Tevye the Dairyman has been adapted for stage and screen in various languages and coun- tries. The most famous of these is Fiddler on the Roof, but in addition to this English film, there are extraordinary adapta- tions in Yiddish, Hebrew and Russian. Using screen clips from each of these four films, Norich explored some of the reasons why this story continues to haunt the modern Jewish imagination and how it has been re-interpreted throughout the twentieth century. 27th Carolyn L. Drucker Memorial Lecture (March 30): Walter Laqueur, “Jerusalem 1938 and After” The distinguished historian, journalist, Sovietologist, and expert on international relations, Laqueur served in a leading position at the Center for Strategic and International Studies from 1968 to 2001 and presently has the title of Distinguished Scholar at that well known think tank. He was director of the Wiener Library and Institute of Contemporary History in London from 1964 to 1994, editor of the Journal of Contemporary History from 1966 to 2004, and founder and editor of the Washington Quarterly, 1974-94. He is also the Photography: author of some of the basic texts on terrorism. Jerusalem doorways.

23 PROGRAMS 2005-2006 HIGHLIGHTS OF THE FALL: September 21: Elie Wiesel, Boston University, Nobel Peace Prize winner and novelist, Walter E. Edge Lecture “An Evening With Elie Weisel.” September 27: Yair Lorberbaum, Bar-Ilan University, Faculty of Law, “Holiness and Imitatio Dei in Early Rabbinic Literature.” September 27: Colin Richmond, Keele University,

“The Missing Jews of Medieval London.” ARTISADesign by Arts Graphic Pomco by Printing LLC October 7: Peter Schäfer, Princeton University, “Jesus in the Talmud.” October 9: “Jewish Magic in Context: Hidden Treasures from the Cairo Geniza,” Colloquium. October 10: Orly Lubin, Tel Aviv University, Issam Nassar, Bradley University & Institute of Jerusalem Studies, “Between Gaza and the West Bank.” October 20: Steven Aschheim, Columbia University, “Icons Beyond the Borders: The German-Jewish Intellectual Legacy at the Beginning of the Twenty-First Century.” November 6: “Yom Iyyun: In Honor of Froma Zeitlin,” Conference. November 7: Meir Shalev, Noted Israeli Author, “My Russian FOR FURTHER INFORMATION Grandmother and Her American Vacuum Cleaner.” If you need further information please contact the November 11: Ulrich Knoepflmacher, Princeton University, “The Program Manager: Portable Torah: Some Recollections of a Vanished Jewish Marcie Citron Community in the Bolivian Andes.” Program in Judaic Studies UPCOMING: Princeton University December 2: Mark Cohen, Princeton University, “Maimonides Scheide Caldwell House and Charity: Understanding the Mishneh Torah in Light of the Princeton, NJ 08544 Documents of the Cairo Geniza.” (609) 258-0394 e-mail: [email protected] December 7: Mary Douglas, University College of London EVENTS emeritus, “Numbering the People of Israel: Biblical and Secular For the Director: Agendas,” The 28th Carolyn L. Drucker Memorial Lecture. Professor Peter Schäfer e-mail: [email protected] January 22-24: “Antiquity in Antiquity: Jewish and Christian Pasts in the Greco-Roman World,” Colloquium. Web Site http://www.princeton.edu/~religion/antiquity/ www.princeton.edu/~judaic/

Program in Judaic Studies Princeton University 201 Scheide Caldwell House Princeton, NJ 08544