EAJS: About the EAJS

EAJS Executive Committee
History and Aims of the EAJS
Past Presidents and Secretaries of the EAJS
A SHORT HISTORY OF THE EAJS: The First 25 Years

EAJS Executive Committee

President
Professor Judith Olszowy-Schlanger (Paris)

Secretary
Professor Daniel Langton (Manchester)

Treasurer
Dr Gad Freudenthal (Paris)

Committee Members
Dr Javier Castaño (Madrid)

Professor Edward Dabrowa (Cracow)

Professor Martin Goodman (Oxford)
Professor Alberdina Houtman (Kampen)
Professor Dr Andreas Lehnardt (Mainz)

Professor Mauro Perani (Bologna-Ravenna)

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History and Aims of the EAJS

Jewish Studies in Europe
Jewish studies as an academic discipline covers the full range of Jewish history, literature, languages, and culture. Practitioners of the discipline are those involved in teaching, researching, publishing, or curating museum exhibitions. Jewish studies includes a very wide range of subjects including, for example, Jews in the Graeco-Roman period, Jewish-Muslim relations, medieval Bible exegesis, Hebrew and Yiddish, modern Jewish thought and history, and the Holocaust.

During the Holocaust about 750 institutions of European Jewish learning were lost forever. Many cities which were the main centres for Jewish studies before the Second World War were destroyed by the Germans and experienced the near-total devastation of their Jewish studies resources. Jewish studies never properly recovered from the Holocaust, and reconstruction has taken place on a country-by-country basis. The rebuilding of a pan-European field in Jewish studies and the promotion of European cooperation has been particularly haphazard and slow.

The position today is one of a new sense of departure. Attempts are being made now to reconstruct and consolidate the field - partly because of the new spirit of European cooperation fostered by the European Union, and partly because of the new impetus provided by contacts since 1989 with eastern Europe, where teaching and research in Jewish studies was prohibited by law after the Second World War. Reconstruction of the field is proceeding here (e.g. Jewish studies was officially restarted in Slovakia only in May 1996). There is enormous interest, with a marked wave of new publications, cultural festivals, and student demand for teaching in a subject which until recently was taboo, although it is now coming to be seen once again as part of the history of many national cultures.

The European Association for Jewish Studies
The main aims of the European Association for Jewish Studies (the sole umbrella organization representing this field of university studies in the continent) are the encouragement and support of the teaching of Jewish studies at university level in Europe, and to further an understanding of the importance of Jewish culture and civilization and of the impact it has had on European cultures over many centuries. The EAJS was founded as a voluntary academic association in 1981, and the Association has since organized a number of international conferences in Jewish studies. After the Rashi congress in Troyes in August 1990 the Association was dormant for some four years because of the difficulties encountered in organizing an international association without a permanent secretariat. Nevertheless, the congress in Copenhagen in August 1994 was highly successful.

At the General Meeting of the Association held during that congress it was resolved to ask the Executive Committee to establish a permanent secretariat to organize the affairs of the Association between congresses. At its meeting in September 1995, the Committee agreed to site the secretariat at Yarnton Manor, Oxford, the home of the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, the largest centre for Jewish studies in Europe. Through the generosity of an anonymous benefactor, the new EAJS Secretariat was enabled to start work in Yarnton on 1 November 1995.

The publication in March 1996 of the first EAJS Newsletter in six years marked the revitalization of the European Association for Jewish Studies as the main institution for the promotion of Jewish studies at university level in Europe. In 2007 the Newsletter was superceded by the expanded European Journal of Jewish Studies. We hope and believe that the Association is now well placed to thrive and grow. There is much evidence that conditions are favourable for the study and teaching of Jewish languages, culture and history to flourish in Europe to an extent not seen since 1939. It is the duty and privilege of the EAJS to ensure that those engaged in this field do not do so in isolation from each other, so that through the Association Europe may again be recognized world-wide as a great centre of scholarship throughout the range of Jewish studies.

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Past Presidents and Secretaries of the EAJS

EAJS Presidents

1981-1984 Geza Vermes (Oxford)

1984-1987 Arnold Goldberg (Frankfurt)

1987-1990 Gabrielle Sed-Rajna (Paris)

1990-1994 Ulf Haxen (Copenhagen)

1994-1998 Angel Sáenz-Badillos (Madrid)

1998-2002 Albert van der Heide (Leiden/Amsterdam)

2002-2006 Rashid Kaplanov (Moscow)

2006-2010 Mauro Perani (Ravenna)

EAJS Secretaries

1981-1987 Harry Gaylord (Groningen)

1987-1990 Philip Davies (Sheffield)

1990-1994 Philip Davies (Sheffield)

1994-1998 Martin Goodman (Oxford)

1998-2002 Hanne Trautner-Kromann (Lund)

2002-2006 Sacha Stern (London)

2006-2010 Sacha Stern (London)

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A SHORT HISTORY OF THE EAJS: The First 25 Years

Early in the summer of 1980 Professor Jacob Neusner, then of Brown University, sent out a ‘Proposal for a European Consultative conference on Judaic Studies’, which began as follows:

“My recent trip to lecture at a number of universities in Germany, France, The Netherlands, and Britain, left the impression that Judaic studies in Europe are now poised for an important step of stabilisation and consolidation. The purpose of this letter is briefly to describe the situation as I see it and to propose a modest but concrete act to improve that situation.”

After some months of energetic correspondence Prof. Neusner sent out a letter of invitation to some 25 European Judaic scholars to attend the first meeting of an organising committee, to be held at the Oriental Institute in Oxford from 11th to 13th May 1981 and chaired by Dr. Geza Vermes, who by then had taken over all preliminary responsibilities.

The meeting was held, with the participants from abroad lodged in, no less, the Randolph Hotel; the participants also attended the Sacks Lecture given by Prof. Neusner at Yarnton Manor. The organising committee agreed that periodic conferences, inventories of research, a newsletter, and a journal, would be the proper means to promote research in Jewish studies, and immediately started to implement these resolves. A conference was announced for July 1982, a bulletin was planned, and membership solicitation was undertaken. Prof. Neusner took leave of the enterprise with a final report dated 21 May, which, among other matters, thanked The Max Richter Foundation for its support.

The next year the first Congress was held in Hertford College Oxford, 18–21 July, and at its business meeting Dr Geza Vermes was elected as president and the first Constitution of the EAJS was discussed and accepted.

The next Congress was planned for 1984, and was held again in Hertford College, 22–26 July, under the presidency of Geza Vermes. During these years the EAJS Newsletter, edited by Harry E. Gaylord, appeared regularly, though in diminishing frequency.

In 1987 (26–31 July), under the presidency of Prof. Arnold Goldberg and organised by Professor Peter Schäfer and the Institut für Judaistik in Berlin, the third Congress took place there in Schloss Glienicke, practically on the border between West and East. The 950^th anniversary of the birth of Rashi offered the setting for the fourth Congress, held 8–13 July 1990 in Troyes under the presidency of Dr Gabrielle Sed-Rajna, with an opening session in the Institut de France in Paris. The fifth Congress was held in Copenhagen, 14–18 August 1994, under the presidency of Dr. Ulf Haxen. It was the scene of some important resolutions for improvement. In 1998 the sixth Congress was held in Toledo, 19–23 July, under the presidency of Prof. Angel Sáenz Badillos, and in 2002 the seventh Congress took place in Amsterdam, 21–25 July, under the presidency of Prof. Albert van der Heide. In 2006, the eighth Congress was held in Moscow under the presidency of Prof. Rashid Kaplanov.

In November 1995 a permanent secretariat was established at Yarnton Manor, Oxford, and in 1996 a new start with the Newsletter was made after an interval of six years. From this date business meetings of the Executive Committee were held annually, and in this context the production of the first Directory of Jewish Studies in Europe was realised in 1998, with support, amongst others, of the European Union. A new Directory, to replace the directory published in 1998, was launched in 2006 on a new EAJS website, designed to adapt the exchange of information to the standards of the twenty-first century.

Also in 1995 an affiliation with the Jerusalem based Centre for the University Teaching of Jewish Civilisation (henceforth ECUTJC) was established which lasted until 2006, and resulted in a series of seven EAJS/ECUTJC Summer Colloquia held at Yarnton Manor in the years between congresses:

1996: Medieval Jewish Bible Exegesis (15–19 July)

1997: Early Rabbinic Judaism (22–26 September)

2000: Medieval Hebrew Poetry in its Religious and Secular Context (24–27 July)

2001: Issues in Jewish Philosophy (23–25 July)

2003: Teaching the Holocaust in Higher Education in Europe (30 June–2 July)

2004: Epigonism and the Dynamics of Jewish Culture (5–8 July)

2005: The Teaching of Hebrew in European Universities (18–21 July)

After 2006 the Colloquia continued to be hosted by the EAJS:

2007: The Cultures of Maimonideanism: New Approaches to the History of Jewish Thought (16–19 July)

2008: Hebrew Linguistic Thought and its Transmission in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times (7-9 July)

In 2006 the Newsletter was transformed, after 17 issues, into the European Journal of Jewish Studies (EJJS).

It is abundantly clear that the plans formulated in 1981 were not only desirable, they were realistic too. May the next 25 years, and more, confirm that view.

Albert van der Heide

November 2008

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Directory of Jewish Studies in Europe Universities / Institutes / Departments Scholars Libraries Subject Areas National Associations Quick search or use the Advanced Search Place your professional details online by completing our questionnaire: Scholars, teachers and researchers Institutions Libraries You may provide your details in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish or Russian Open to members and non-members of the EAJS	EAJS: About the EAJS EAJS home > About the EAJS EAJS Executive Committee History and Aims of the EAJS Past Presidents and Secretaries of the EAJS A SHORT HISTORY OF THE EAJS: The First 25 Years EAJS Executive Committee President Professor Judith Olszowy-Schlanger (Paris) Secretary Professor Daniel Langton (Manchester) Treasurer Dr Gad Freudenthal (Paris) Committee Members Dr Javier Castaño (Madrid) Professor Edward Dabrowa (Cracow) Professor Martin Goodman (Oxford) Professor Alberdina Houtman (Kampen) Professor Dr Andreas Lehnardt (Mainz) Professor Mauro Perani (Bologna-Ravenna) [Return to top of page] History and Aims of the EAJS Jewish Studies in Europe Jewish studies as an academic discipline covers the full range of Jewish history, literature, languages, and culture. Practitioners of the discipline are those involved in teaching, researching, publishing, or curating museum exhibitions. Jewish studies includes a very wide range of subjects including, for example, Jews in the Graeco-Roman period, Jewish-Muslim relations, medieval Bible exegesis, Hebrew and Yiddish, modern Jewish thought and history, and the Holocaust. During the Holocaust about 750 institutions of European Jewish learning were lost forever. Many cities which were the main centres for Jewish studies before the Second World War were destroyed by the Germans and experienced the near-total devastation of their Jewish studies resources. Jewish studies never properly recovered from the Holocaust, and reconstruction has taken place on a country-by-country basis. The rebuilding of a pan-European field in Jewish studies and the promotion of European cooperation has been particularly haphazard and slow. The position today is one of a new sense of departure. Attempts are being made now to reconstruct and consolidate the field - partly because of the new spirit of European cooperation fostered by the European Union, and partly because of the new impetus provided by contacts since 1989 with eastern Europe, where teaching and research in Jewish studies was prohibited by law after the Second World War. Reconstruction of the field is proceeding here (e.g. Jewish studies was officially restarted in Slovakia only in May 1996). There is enormous interest, with a marked wave of new publications, cultural festivals, and student demand for teaching in a subject which until recently was taboo, although it is now coming to be seen once again as part of the history of many national cultures. The European Association for Jewish Studies The main aims of the European Association for Jewish Studies (the sole umbrella organization representing this field of university studies in the continent) are the encouragement and support of the teaching of Jewish studies at university level in Europe, and to further an understanding of the importance of Jewish culture and civilization and of the impact it has had on European cultures over many centuries. The EAJS was founded as a voluntary academic association in 1981, and the Association has since organized a number of international conferences in Jewish studies. After the Rashi congress in Troyes in August 1990 the Association was dormant for some four years because of the difficulties encountered in organizing an international association without a permanent secretariat. Nevertheless, the congress in Copenhagen in August 1994 was highly successful. At the General Meeting of the Association held during that congress it was resolved to ask the Executive Committee to establish a permanent secretariat to organize the affairs of the Association between congresses. At its meeting in September 1995, the Committee agreed to site the secretariat at Yarnton Manor, Oxford, the home of the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, the largest centre for Jewish studies in Europe. Through the generosity of an anonymous benefactor, the new EAJS Secretariat was enabled to start work in Yarnton on 1 November 1995. The publication in March 1996 of the first EAJS Newsletter in six years marked the revitalization of the European Association for Jewish Studies as the main institution for the promotion of Jewish studies at university level in Europe. In 2007 the Newsletter was superceded by the expanded European Journal of Jewish Studies. We hope and believe that the Association is now well placed to thrive and grow. There is much evidence that conditions are favourable for the study and teaching of Jewish languages, culture and history to flourish in Europe to an extent not seen since 1939. It is the duty and privilege of the EAJS to ensure that those engaged in this field do not do so in isolation from each other, so that through the Association Europe may again be recognized world-wide as a great centre of scholarship throughout the range of Jewish studies. [Return to top of page] Past Presidents and Secretaries of the EAJS EAJS Presidents 1981-1984 Geza Vermes (Oxford) 1984-1987 Arnold Goldberg (Frankfurt) 1987-1990 Gabrielle Sed-Rajna (Paris) 1990-1994 Ulf Haxen (Copenhagen) 1994-1998 Angel Sáenz-Badillos (Madrid) 1998-2002 Albert van der Heide (Leiden/Amsterdam) 2002-2006 Rashid Kaplanov (Moscow) 2006-2010 Mauro Perani (Ravenna) EAJS Secretaries 1981-1987 Harry Gaylord (Groningen) 1987-1990 Philip Davies (Sheffield) 1990-1994 Philip Davies (Sheffield) 1994-1998 Martin Goodman (Oxford) 1998-2002 Hanne Trautner-Kromann (Lund) 2002-2006 Sacha Stern (London) 2006-2010 Sacha Stern (London) [Return to top of page] A SHORT HISTORY OF THE EAJS: The First 25 Years A SHORT HISTORY OF THE EAJS: The First 25 Years Early in the summer of 1980 Professor Jacob Neusner, then of Brown University, sent out a ‘Proposal for a European Consultative conference on Judaic Studies’, which began as follows: “My recent trip to lecture at a number of universities in Germany, France, The Netherlands, and Britain, left the impression that Judaic studies in Europe are now poised for an important step of stabilisation and consolidation. The purpose of this letter is briefly to describe the situation as I see it and to propose a modest but concrete act to improve that situation.” After some months of energetic correspondence Prof. Neusner sent out a letter of invitation to some 25 European Judaic scholars to attend the first meeting of an organising committee, to be held at the Oriental Institute in Oxford from 11th to 13th May 1981 and chaired by Dr. Geza Vermes, who by then had taken over all preliminary responsibilities. The meeting was held, with the participants from abroad lodged in, no less, the Randolph Hotel; the participants also attended the Sacks Lecture given by Prof. Neusner at Yarnton Manor. The organising committee agreed that periodic conferences, inventories of research, a newsletter, and a journal, would be the proper means to promote research in Jewish studies, and immediately started to implement these resolves. A conference was announced for July 1982, a bulletin was planned, and membership solicitation was undertaken. Prof. Neusner took leave of the enterprise with a final report dated 21 May, which, among other matters, thanked The Max Richter Foundation for its support. The next year the first Congress was held in Hertford College Oxford, 18–21 July, and at its business meeting Dr Geza Vermes was elected as president and the first Constitution of the EAJS was discussed and accepted. The next Congress was planned for 1984, and was held again in Hertford College, 22–26 July, under the presidency of Geza Vermes. During these years the EAJS Newsletter, edited by Harry E. Gaylord, appeared regularly, though in diminishing frequency. In 1987 (26–31 July), under the presidency of Prof. Arnold Goldberg and organised by Professor Peter Schäfer and the Institut für Judaistik in Berlin, the third Congress took place there in Schloss Glienicke, practically on the border between West and East. The 950^th anniversary of the birth of Rashi offered the setting for the fourth Congress, held 8–13 July 1990 in Troyes under the presidency of Dr Gabrielle Sed-Rajna, with an opening session in the Institut de France in Paris. The fifth Congress was held in Copenhagen, 14–18 August 1994, under the presidency of Dr. Ulf Haxen. It was the scene of some important resolutions for improvement. In 1998 the sixth Congress was held in Toledo, 19–23 July, under the presidency of Prof. Angel Sáenz Badillos, and in 2002 the seventh Congress took place in Amsterdam, 21–25 July, under the presidency of Prof. Albert van der Heide. In 2006, the eighth Congress was held in Moscow under the presidency of Prof. Rashid Kaplanov. In November 1995 a permanent secretariat was established at Yarnton Manor, Oxford, and in 1996 a new start with the Newsletter was made after an interval of six years. From this date business meetings of the Executive Committee were held annually, and in this context the production of the first Directory of Jewish Studies in Europe was realised in 1998, with support, amongst others, of the European Union. A new Directory, to replace the directory published in 1998, was launched in 2006 on a new EAJS website, designed to adapt the exchange of information to the standards of the twenty-first century. Also in 1995 an affiliation with the Jerusalem based Centre for the University Teaching of Jewish Civilisation (henceforth ECUTJC) was established which lasted until 2006, and resulted in a series of seven EAJS/ECUTJC Summer Colloquia held at Yarnton Manor in the years between congresses: 1996: Medieval Jewish Bible Exegesis (15–19 July) 1997: Early Rabbinic Judaism (22–26 September) 2000: Medieval Hebrew Poetry in its Religious and Secular Context (24–27 July) 2001: Issues in Jewish Philosophy (23–25 July) 2003: Teaching the Holocaust in Higher Education in Europe (30 June–2 July) 2004: Epigonism and the Dynamics of Jewish Culture (5–8 July) 2005: The Teaching of Hebrew in European Universities (18–21 July) After 2006 the Colloquia continued to be hosted by the EAJS: 2007: The Cultures of Maimonideanism: New Approaches to the History of Jewish Thought (16–19 July) 2008: Hebrew Linguistic Thought and its Transmission in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times (7-9 July) In 2006 the Newsletter was transformed, after 17 issues, into the European Journal of Jewish Studies (EJJS). It is abundantly clear that the plans formulated in 1981 were not only desirable, they were realistic too. May the next 25 years, and more, confirm that view. Albert van der Heide November 2008 [Return to top of page]	News and Information EAJS Noticeboard Newsflash EAJS Congresses and Colloquia European Journal of Jewish Studies Scholarships and Fellowships Conferences and Calls for Papers Positions Available General News and Events Resources in Jewish Studies About the EAJS Become a member Have you paid your membership fees? Contact us EAJS Database of Funding Sources
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