EAJS Administrator

New Books. Combined Academic Publishers (CAP).

July 27, 2021 by EAJS Administrator

Combined Academic Publishers (CAP)

New Books

Forging Ties, Forging Passports: Migration and the Modern Sephardi Diaspora

Devi Mays

Series: Stanford Studies in Jewish History and Culture

Stanford University Press

Devi Mays traces the histories of Ottoman Sephardi Jews who emigrated to the Americas—and especially to Mexico—in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and the complex relationships they maintained to legal documentation as they migrated and settled into new homes.

Paperback: 9781503613218

August 2020 360 pages £22.99

https://www.combinedacademic.co.uk/9781503613218/forging-ties-forging-passports/

Stepchildren of the Shtetl: The Destitute, Disabled, and Mad of Jewish Eastern Europe, 1800-1939

Natan M. Meir

Series: Stanford Studies in Jewish History and Culture

Stanford University Press

Memoirs of Jewish life in the east European shtetl often recall the hekdesh (town poorhouse) and its residents: beggars, madmen and madwomen, disabled people, and poor orphans. Stepchildren of the Shtetl tells the story of these marginalized figures from the dawn of modernity to the eve of the Holocaust.

Paperback: 9781503613058

July 2020 360 pages £22.99

https://www.combinedacademic.co.uk/9781503613058/stepchildren-of-the-shtetl/

The Converso’s Return: Conversion and Sephardi History in Contemporary Literature and Culture

Dalia Kandiyoti

Stanford University Press

Series: Stanford Studies in Jewish History and Culture

Five centuries after the forced conversion of Spanish and Portuguese Jews to Catholicism, stories of these conversos’ descendants uncovering long-hidden Jewish roots have taken hold of the literary and popular imagination. Dalia Kandiyoti explores the cultural politics and literary impact of this reawakened interest in converso and crypto-Jewish history, ancestry, and identity.

Paperback: 9781503612433

August 2020 336 pages £19.99

https://www.combinedacademic.co.uk/9781503612433/the-conversos-return/

Thinking about God: Jewish Views

Kari H. Tuling

Series: JPS Essential Judaism

The Jewish Publication Society

Who—or what—is God? Does God intervene in our lives? Is God good—and, if yes, why does evil persist in the world? In investigating how Jewish thinkers have approached these and other questions, Rabbi Kari H. Tuling elucidates many compelling—and contrasting—ways of thinking about God in Jewish tradition.

Paperback: 9780827613010

August 2020 424 pages £24.99

https://www.combinedacademic.co.uk/9780827613010/thinking-about-god/

With Us More Than Ever: Making the Absent Rebbe Present in Messianic Chabad

Yoram Bilu

Series: Spiritual Phenomena

Stanford University Press

Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson was the designated Messiah of the Chabad Hasidic movement. Decades after his death, a group of radical Hasidim still keep the Rebbe close through traditional means and digital technologies. Bilu focuses on this group to explore how religious practice can sustain the belief that a messianic figure is present and accessible.

Paperback: 9781503612419

July 2020 344 pages £20.99

https://www.combinedacademic.co.uk/9781503612419/with-us-more-than-ever/

New Books. Littman Library of Jewish Civilization. Liverpool University Press.

July 9, 2021 by EAJS Administrator

Liverpool University Press

New Books

Religious Truth: Towards a Jewish Theology of Religions

Edited by Alon Goshen-Gottstein

Truth informs much of the self-understanding of religious believers. Accordingly, understanding what we mean by ‘truth’ is a key challenge to interreligious collaboration. The contributors to this volume, all leading scholars, consider what is meant by truth in classical and contemporary Jewish thought, and explore how making the notion of truth more nuanced can enable interfaith dialogue. Their essays take a range of approaches: some focus on philosophy proper, others on the intersection with the history of ideas, while others engage with the history of Jewish mysticism and thought. Together they open up the notion of truth in Jewish religious discourse and suggest ways in which upholding a notion of one’s religion as true may be reconciled with an appreciation of other faiths.

Rabbi, Mystic, or Impostor?

The Eighteenth-Century Ba’al Shem of London

By Michal Oron

The enigmatic kabbalist Samuel Falk, known as the Ba’al Shem of London, has piqued the curiosity of scholars for generations. Eighteenth-century London was fascinated by Jews, and as a miracle-worker and adventurer, well connected and well read, Falk had much to offer. Interest in the man was further aroused by rumours of his dealings with European aristocrats and other famous characters, as well as with scholars, Freemasons, and Shabbateans, but evidence was scanty. Michal Oron has now brought together all the known source material on the man, and her detailed annotations of his diary and that of his assistant give us rich insights into his activities over several years. We learn of his meetings and his travels; his finances; his disputes, his dreams, and his remedies; and lists of his books. We see London’s social life and commerce, its landed gentry and its prisons, and what people ate, wore, and possessed. The burgeoning Jewish community of London and its religious practices, as well as its communal divisiveness, is depicted especially colourfully.

Digital International Conference. “From Josephus to Josippon and Beyond”. 23-26 August 2021.

June 16, 2021 by EAJS Administrator

“From Josephus to Josippon and Beyond”

A Digital International Conference (on Zoom)

23-26 August 2021

Conference on the reception of Josephus and Josippon, also featuring two masterclasses on (1) Translating Josephus’ Greek into Modern Hebrew and English and (2) Josephus’ Reception in Latin and Hebrew.

Organized by the Institute for Jewish Studies, University of Bern, Department of Bible, Bar-Ilan University, and the Amsterdam School of Historical Studies, University of Amsterdam.

On zoom, registration required.

For the programme and registration, see: www.fromjosephustojosippon.com .

International Junior Scholars Workshop, Association for Jewish Studies in Germany, “Rural and Urban Jewries Between Tradition and Modernity”.

June 16, 2021 by EAJS Administrator

EAJS Conference Grant Programme 2019/20

REPORT

International Junior Scholars Workshop, Association for Jewish Studies in Germany “Rural and Urban Jewries Between Tradition and Modernity”

University of Bamberg (online), March 14-15, 2021

Abstract

The entangled histories of “Rural and Urban Jewries between Tradition and Modernity” play a crucial role in our understanding of Jewish history including long-lasting patterns to this day strengthening a dichotomy between city and country. During the course of the workshop all research presentations focusing on different geographical regions made clear that these terminologies and perceived contractions and innovations are still important to be aware of. However, focusing on regional history and with its active historical protagonists within proves to be a challenge for innovative scholarship to this very day.

Main report

Event rationale

This international junior scholar workshop, entitled “Rural and Urban Jewries between Tradition and Modernity”, was intended to bring together a group of junior scholars from different universities from Europe, Israel and the United States to discuss their research projects in the areas of rural and urban Jewries. These young researchers were supported by experienced researchers who commented on their papers and provided crucial feedback.

The workshop focuses on the phenomenon of rural Jewries in their relationship to urban Jewries in modern times. The Association for Jewish Studies in Germany (Vereinigung für Jüdische Studien) was one of the organizers of the event. The association has been promoting young researchers since more than a decade, organizing workshops on different topics of Jewish history in a transdisciplinary and international context. Due to the Corona pandemic the format of the workshop had to be changed from in-person to virtual. The presentations and discussions were adapted accordingly.

The digitized format of the workshop provided for a frequent change of speaker and a mix of methods to keep the attention span of all participants as high as possible during the course of the two-day workshop.

Event Program

Overview: The workshop consisted of two sessions with a total of two senior scholars as Chair and a total of seven junior scholars (Session 1: 3; Session 2: 4). The sessions consisted of short lectures by the young researchers, a discussion of their presentations and an integrated joint reading seminar. At the end of the workshop, a concluding joint reading seminar was held, which was designed by a young researcher and a senior scholar. In preparation for the workshop, all active participants received the lecture texts and several relevant scientific articles to promote the discussion during the sessions and the joint reading seminar on day 2.

Introduction: Following a brief welcome, the organizing team (Rebekka Denz, M.A., University of Bamberg. Prof. Dr. Carsten Schapkow, University of Potsdam/University of Oklahoma. Dr. Michael K. Schulz, University of Potsdam) introduced the concept of the two-day workshop. The organizers stressed that the dichotomy of ‘tradition’ and ‘modernity’ characterizes our image of Jewish history and culture to this day. The dualism of “land equals stagnation” and “city equals modernization” is a common scholarly pattern we sought to question and discuss during the workshop. The relationship between city and countryside has mostly been seen as a one-way street and as an “either/or”, either city or country. This raises crucial questions such as: is this dichotomy tenable in light of recent research on transformation processes? What happened in-between city and countryside and in movements that headed in both directions?

And moreover, questions need be to be asked such as: What exactly is a “city Jew”? What exactly is a country Jew? Is a city Jew just a Jew who lives in the city? Is it sufficient to live in a village or a small town to fall into the category of “rural Jew”?

To be sure Jews lived in the country site as well as in the city. Judaism as such has not changed significantly due to the relocation of Jewish life from the medieval city to the early modern country. In addition, in the 19^th century Jewish life has not changed significantly due to trends of urbanization. Judaism as a religious “system” was always able to reform itself from within, Judaism adapts to the prevailing conditions brought to it or imposed on it from outside and inside.

Both types of settlement required the same facilities: 1.) cemetery, 2.) synagogue as a multifunctional house (place of prayer, assembly, religious study, and jurisdiction), 3.) The mikveh. All three together made up the basic equipment – be it in the village, in the small town or in the city.

„The Jewish Families of the village were close-knit. They shared each other’s joy and sorrows, and a helping hand was readily extended whenever necessary. All the men who were at home at the time attended the daily minyan. If someone failed to put in an appearance on Shabbath morning he was surely ill, and everyone would visit him.“ (Hugo Mandelbaum: Jewish Life in the Village Communities of Southern Germany, p. 48)

This is how Hugo Mandelbaum describes the Jewish cohesion in the country. This passage is taken from his childhood memories in Sommerhausen, in a small rural village near Würzburg. Mandelbaum was born in 1901 in Sommerhausen. In 1939, he emigrated to the United States. Mandelbaum left a beautiful vivid source from which the living environment of rural Jewry in Franconia speaks.

But it can be assumed that this cohesion can be identified independently of the question of town or village. Because regardless of whether in the country or in the city, a minyan was and is always necessary to celebrate a complete service in synagogues. The Jewish communities in the city (in Franconia and elsewhere) also needed this reliability in the formation of minjanim. And it cannot always be assumed that Jewish communities in the city inevitably had more men coming to the service than those in the countryside.

Session 1: “Migration and Transnationality”, with Frank Jacobs as chair with three speakers.

The first speaker Felicitas Remer spoke about “City and Country as Sites of Modernization and Nation-Building: The Urban-Rural Dualism and the Zionist Movement, c. 1890-1939”. In conclusion of her talk, Remer emphasizes that in the context of the Zionist Movement the country became a signifier for the anti-modern and alternative modernities. City and country, beyond their material realities, came to be associated with a much wider set of binary categories: industry/agriculture, modernity/tradition, estrangement/authenticity – endowing the categories “urban” and “rural” with the quality of a spatial shorthand for the comprehensive historical transformations of the past century. It appears, therefore, that rather than ruralism it was “rurbanism” that dominated the Zionist intellectual and practical engagement with the urban-rural binary – reflecting a broader ambivalence towards modernity. The alleged antagonism between city and country thus gains relevance not only as an analytical category, but as a concept used and negotiated by the contemporaries in an effort to reinterpret and shape the world that surrounded them and therefore has its own conceptual and material history.

In his presentation Shai Abadi discussed “The ’Old’ Rural Jew in Hebrew Revival Literature” to emphasize the complexity of terminology and their shift in meaning in the different geographical and temporal contexts. Abadi argues, the dualism of city and country has historically grown which turned out to be an excellent research tool in the field of literary research.

Max Lazar lectured on the topic of “New People in the Old Community: Rural Jewish Migration to Frankfurt am Main, 1933-1941.” In his lecture, Lazar focused on the history of events and reflected on the relationship between city and country in a historical dimension. He described the pull and push factors for the (forced) urbanization in the Nazi era and the concrete situation in Frankfurt, i.e., the Jewish infrastructure that the Jewish population in Frankfurt am Main could use.

Session 2: The ambivalences between “Country and City: Modernity and Tradition” were discussed in Session 2 from several perspectives and in different historical contexts. Monika Müller examined the topic of country Jews in the Cities with a focus on local history in the early modern period when discussing the Importance of Country and City in the Jewish History of Palatinate-Neuburg. Müller argued that the question of how urban or small-town Jewish life was in Pfalz-Neuburg probably neither arose contemporarily nor does it arise from a historical distance. If only for lack of alternatives, the difference – not only from an official perspective – between town and country was marked. The examples from Lauingen and Monheim show that criteria such as the question of bourgeoisie or the urban scope of power were not defined according to the size of the city. Rather, they were related to its nature as a city, to its dense, broader social stratification, to its situation of privilege and not least to its consciousness as a city. For Jewish life in Pfalz-Neuburg, the city always remained an important reference, often a decisive benchmark.

Also, the next presenter, Moritz Bauerfeind, reflected on “Franconian Reform Rabbis as Conciliators and Troublemakers“ in a local history perspective. Bauernfeind argued that the life and works of the Franconian Rabbis in the first half of the 19th century can not only be seen as situated between city and countryside but also as testimonies that speak to us from the realities the Jewish majority faced away from the centers of bourgeois education. He highlighted that discussion about reform and tradition was a very passionate one, also and especially in the backyards and peripheries of the German-Jewish world. The province did not lag behind the cities as much as most of mainstream historiography makes us believe.

In her lecture Maja Hultman discussed “The Modern Jewish Stockholmer as both City Jew and Country Jew” as a local history paradigm. The parallel identity construction of the city Jew and the country Jew constituted together the Jewish Stockholmer during the first half of the 20th century. The realization of Jewish incorporation into the Swedish national identity was negotiated on both platforms, with the rural identity being equally important as the urban identity.

Ekaterina Oleshkevich’s presentation “Rural and Urban Jewish Childhoods in the Russian Pale of Settlement: What are the Differences?” shifted our attention towards Eastern Europe again. Rural and urban Jewry enjoyed a very different status in the Jewish society of the Pale of Settlement. Jews residing in towns or shtetls tended to look down upon the rural Jews, whom they considered ignorami and simpletons. She argued that the childhood in the village was in a way freer. There were more possibilities for interaction with the Christians and the environment stimulated Jewish children to master the local language (both boys and girls — in contrast to the shtetl where usually it was considered appropriate for a girl to learn non-Jewish languages, not for a boy). When rural Jews visited the shtetlach, it was difficult for them and their children to get used to the environment, even if it was not a big city, but a small shtetl. Their rural habits and behaviors were a dead give-away and made them feel uneasy and sometimes embarrassed.

Summary of Discussion

Scholarship as we know it is represented to this day by major narratives, which is also true for the assumed dichotomy between the city and the country (side). Based on the vivid discussions during the course of the workshop the arguments of arguably all participants were shaped.

It became clear that focusing on regional history and its identities proves to be a challenge up to this very day. Or in other words can we assume that the regional was always connected to the global in the eyes of the people that scholars are studying today?

There was some common sense among the workshop participants that to be aware of terminology and definitions regarding city and countryside are and will remain to be necessary to begin with. However, as we the organizers hoped for, the dichotomy of city and country was questioned during the course of the workshop. Questions such as how to define a city and the countryside were investigated from different research angles with different regional and historical perspectives in mind. In this regard Monika Mueller did emphasize the importance of small cities in the territory of Pfalz-Neuburg in her talk and during the discussions.

Similarly, Moritz Bauernfeind did emphasize the relevance of Southern Germany in order to go beyond paradigms of modernization focusing on Prussia exclusively. Moreover, he argued that urban environments were less enthusiastic about Reform than rural congregations. He asked, was the Jewish elite in Franconia really representative and were the rabbis really representative for what happened regarding modernization?

Cornelia Aust proposed an inclusive “connected history” that would integrate the city and country perspectives based on the “mental landscapes” (C. Aust) of its citizens. The term “citizens” in this regard was brought up during the discussions multiple times and did highlight that even before the emancipation of the Jews concepts of citizenship were negotiated in the city and the countryside.

The latter term, “mental landscapes”, was considered to be of relevance in particular when shifting towards the protagonists in question again by contextualizing the individual in the respective society s/he was living in. (Questions of gender could have been addressed more during the workshop as it actually happened, one might add here.)

In modern usage a sense of belonging can be assumed but due to the lack of sources in the early modern period and the middle ages cannot always supported.

Questions of social stratification and security, however, were raised multiple times. For instance, in Ekatarina Oleshkevich’s talk when focusing on Jewish childhoods in the pale of settlement.

Also, the question was asked if a focus on migration (histories) could not assist in solving the fixed contrast between city and country in scholarship. Eva Haverkamp also asked for older traditions of change not imposed by violence and opportunities the city or the countryside might promise.

Michael Schulz probed the need to understand history from the bottom up which would help to offer different insight even when this is questionable.

How does the local influence the broader perspective?

Without the local/the regional the global (perspective) would not come into being based on source material on the local level first of all (Frank Jacob)

Regions such as Franconia with its vivid Jewish living worlds need to be understood properly and not overlooked (Rebekka Denz)

Eva Haverkamp argued that already the late middle ages (late 13th and early 14th C.) were a point in history where questions of center and periphery were newly negotiated. And yet, this seemed to be another contrast that still proves to be viable.

In her talk Maja Hultman did shed light on questions of center and periphery when analyzing the Modern Jewish Stockholmer as both City Jew and Country Jew.

The other concept based on Shulamit Volkov’s scholarship would be the one of the inventions of Jewish tradition what Martha Stellmacher did highlight in her talk on Prague Jewry, namely how the usage of an organ before the emerging debates of Reform Judaism already existed. This was another strong point of reading the sources first before making general incorrect claims that then will remain in scholarship maybe forever.

The question of primary sources was raised at various points during the workshop and the lack thereof.

What to do with the existing scholarly paradigms on the dichotomy between city and country?

Be cautious to change those paradigms (Shai Abadi), be open to change the existing categories when it is fitting (Frank Jacob and Jonathan Schorsch).

Jonathan Schorsch alluded to the complex living situations of Sephardic Jews in the Americas. Here, fluctuation of identities were already viable in pre-modern times, but lack of sources makes it difficult to prove this.

And Frank Jacob emphasized that in regard to funding of research it is difficult to prove any new concepts because it is hard to pass overall accepted dichotomies (such as city and country for instance).

Hybridity as a concept further devolved by Moshe Rosman can be tempting as Rosman had suggested himself but also has its failures. The agenda of those writing history (today and then) should instead be kept in mind. Rosman maintains that besides, how much one has discovered the other crucial question is how much is my reading itself into the past what one does?

Final Program of the Workshop

Workshop Organisers: Rebekka Denz, M.A. (University of Bamberg), Prof. Dr. Carsten Schapkow (University of Potsdam/University of Oklahoma) and Dr. Michael K. Schulz (University of Potsdam).

Sunday, March 14, 2021

13:00 (plenum) Welcome, Concept of the Workshop, Introduction

Rebekka Denz, M.A. (University of Bamberg), Prof. Dr. Carsten Schapkow (University of Potsdam/University of Oklahoma) and Dr. Michael K. Schulz (University of Potsdam)

13:00 (2 small groups) Get Together – Work Together

Chairs: Dr. Cornelia Aust and Prof. Dr. Frank Jacob

14:45 Break

15:15 (plenum) Self Introduction

16:00 Break

16:15 – 18:45 (plenum, and small groups) Session 1 (with break)

Migration and Transnationality Chair: Prof, Dr. Frank Jacob (Nord University, Norway)

Felicitas Remer, MA (Free University of Berlin): City and Country as Sites of Modernization and Nation-Building: Urban and Rural Settlement in the Debates of German-Speaking Zionists, c. 1890-1939

Shai Abadi, MA (Tel Aviv University): The ‘Old’ Rural Jew in Hebrew Revival Literature

Max Lazar, MA (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill) : “New People in the Old Gemeinde”: Rural Jewish Migration to Frankfurt am Main, 1933-1941

Discussion and a joint reading seminar

Monday, March 15, 2021

13:00 Session 2 (with break) Country and City: Modernity and Tradition

Chair: Dr. Cornelia Aust (University of Bielefeld)

Dr. Monika Müller (University of Augsburg): Country Jews in the Cities? – On the Importance of Country and City in the Jewish History of Pfalz-Neuburg

Moritz Bauerfeind, M.A. (University of Basel): Franconian Reform Rabbis as Conciliators and Troublemakers

PhD Maja Hultman (University of Gothenburg): The Modern Jewish Stockhol-mer as both City Jew and Country Jew

Ekaterina Oleshkevich, MA (Bar Ilan University): Rural and Urban Jewish Childhoods in the Russian Pale of Settlement: What are the Differences?

Discussion and a joint reading seminar

16:15 Break

16:45 (plenum and small groups) Joint reading seminar (with break)

Rural and Urban Jewries Between Tradition and Modernity Chair: Prof. Dr. Eva Haverkamp-Rott (LMU Munich) and Dr. des. Martha Stellmacher (Culture Coordination Office – NDFI4Culture, SLUB Dresden)

18:30 – 19:00 Resume

Rebekka Denz, M.A. (University of Bamberg), Prof. Dr. Carsten Schapkow (University of Potsdam/University of Oklahoma) and Dr. Michael K. Schulz (University of Potsdam)

Publicitiy

The event was publicized at least through the following channels:

Webpage Association for Jewish Studies in Germany (Vereinigung für Jüdische Studien): https://v-j-s.org/

Webpage University of Bamberg: https://www.uni-bamberg.de/judaistik/forschung/veranstaltungen/

Webpage Selma Stern Zentrum (Center for Jewish Studies, Berlin and Brandenburg):

https://www.selma-stern-zentrum.de/kalender/Andere-Anbieter/2021_03_14-15_RuralAndUrbanJewriesBamberg.html

Newsletters such as H-Judaic, H-Soz-Kult.

MONITOR Global Intelligence on Racism

January 21, 2021 by EAJS Administrator

EAJS Conference Grant Programme 2019/20

REPORT

MONITOR Global Intelligence on Racism, RSCAS, European University Institute, Italy (http://monitoracism.eu).

International Centre on Racism (ICR), Edge Hill University, UK.

Zentrum für Antisemitismusforschung (ZfA), Technische Universität Berlin, Germany.

Hosted by the ICR.

Aims

Social media is impacting in significant ways on anti-Jewish racism- but what is novel about this relationship? Focused on this question, Edge Hill University, UK, hosted the first conference to analyse the connection between innovations in media and changes in antisemitism over the longue durée. Funded by the European Association for Jewish Studies, the event was a collaboration between the magazine MONITOR Global Intelligence on Racism (Monica Gonzalez-Correa) at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute, Florence (http://monitoracism.eu), Edge Hill’s new International Centre on Racism (ICR) (James Renton and Jenny Barrett), and the Zentrum für Antisemitismusforschung (ZfA) (Stefanie Schüler-Springorum, Uffa Jensen, and Marcus Funck) at the Technische Universität Berlin.

A principal aim of the conference was to bring experts in the digital humanities, literature, law, social sciences, and history into dialogue. With historian Professor Stefanie Schüler-Springorum (ZfA) and web epistemologist Professor Richard Rogers (Amsterdam) as keynotes, the organisers attracted participants in these fields from Germany, Israel, Norway, the UK, and the United States.

Scholars, analysts and policymakers have pointed to social media for some time as a driving force behind the increasing virulence of antisemitism. This new form of communication has evidently played an important role in the recent spike in violent attacks and murder of Jews by lone-wolf killers in the United States and Europe. The killers have interacted with like-minded people online, used the web as a means of articulating their ideology, and a platform for broadcasting their acts of violence. Beyond the realm of physical violence, antisemites are engaging with each other globally in new ways, are developing new forms of expression, and antisemitic notions and languages have moved into mainstream online debate and politics.

In order to combat this online racism effectively, we must decipher what, if anything, is really new – in form as well as content. Yet, the fundamental question remains: how can the novelty of contemporary antisemitic ideas, practices, and networks be assessed? The answer must begin, the conference organisers argue, by analysing new developments within a bigger historical framework: the relationship between media and antisemitism over the centuries. In collaboration, the meeting of academic disciplines can, we contend, sketch out new paradigms of analysis. In turn, this larger canvas provides new possibilities for thinking about effective anti-antisemitism.

Outcomes

The conference achieved our goal of providing a new temporal and multi-disciplinary framework for thinking about our subject; we began our analyses in medieval history, extended our discussions into modernity, and then delved into the recent past and the present. The speaker panel included scholars of literature, law, history, the social sciences, and digital humanities. Following recent scholarship on antisemitism, much of our discussions were embedded in the bigger subjects of the far-right, digital culture, and the relational dynamics between racisms.

Taken together, the conference established clear connecting elements that are pronounced in particular moments (for example between early modern Spain and contemporary global digital culture). This is not to say that we found unchanging features of antisemitism- to the contrary. Instead, the research unearthed points of similarity between points in time, including characteristics, defining emotions, and practices, that are brought into sharp relief by our deep historical approach. At the same time, the conference findings also underscore distinctive features of seminal junctures that are tied to innovations in media, and accompanying changes in political, economic, and social cultures.

Significantly for those combating antisemitism today, these findings include the unveiling of new evidence of effective contemporary antiracism strategies, along with suggestive parallels from the past.

These findings are to be communicated via an open access peer-reviewed publication edited by Monica Gonzalez-Correa, MONITOR, EUI, Michael Berkowitz, University College London, and James Renton, Edge Hill University.

The partnership between MONITOR and the ICR has been formalised, and their ongoing events and publications continue to examine antisemitism in the context of other racisms over the longue durée. Their next conference will be on ‘Centring Race in History’, and a webinar series on antiracism in the 2020’s after George Floyd. MONITOR and the ICR will also discuss future collaborations with the ZfA.

Papers and Discussion

The conference was opened by Professor George Talbot, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Edge Hill University.

Medieval Hate

The first panel began with media innovation and antisemitism in medieval Europe. It was chaired by Professor Uffa Jensen, an historian from one of the organising institutions, Technische Universität Berlin, and expert on visual antisemitism. Dr Marcia Kupfer, an art historian based in Washington DC and author of a Yale University Press monograph on the Hereford map, opened proceedings.

Kupfer argued that medieval Christianity’s adoption of the medium of the parchment codex led to it becoming a significant element in the projection of supersessionist theology—of Christianity as Judaism’s replacement. In medieval art, the object of the codex was presented as the glorious encasement of Christ’s teaching, in opposition to the scroll, the embodiment of Judaism as a backward religion. Kupfer went on to discuss the depiction of the Jew in carnival culture, of antisemitism as popular entertainment, rather than theological argument, focused on the controversy over the Aalst carnival.

Medievalist, Dr Lindsay Kaplan, from Georgetown University followed. Kaplan’s paper drew on her new monograph on racism in medieval Europe, and focused specifically on the medium of illuminations in psalters, manuscripts of psalms, which were the most widely read and circulated books of the Bible in the Middle Ages. Kaplan argued that there were marked shifts in these psalters from the 11^th century, through to the 13^th century, in which Jews became the central protagonists in the killing of Christ. In addition, dark Muslims emerge as the partners of the Jews, as anti-Islam and anti-Judaism become racialised in this imagery.

In the discussion that followed the panel, Professor Kitty Millet, San Francisco State University, noted the evolution of the Aalst carnival, and even more extreme antisemitism in the past with the depiction of gestapo guards and Zyklon B. A particular focus of the discussion then centred on racialisation in medieval Europe, and the relationship between figures of the Muslim and the Jew.

Keynote: “Eyes and Ears, Heart and Soul: Anti-Jewish Resentment and the Media: A historical perspective.”

Professor Stefanie Schüler-Springorum, Director of the ZfA, delivered the first keynote of the conference. The Director of the Pears Institute for the Study of Antisemitism, Professor David Feldman, presided over the session.

Schüler-Springorum gave a sweeping lecture that provided an essential link between the medieval session, and the modern/postmodern papers that followed. A highly original contribution, the lecture explored the different senses (seeing, hearing, tasting, and smelling) through which anti-Judaism was conveyed via the media revolutions of modernity (the printing press, sermons, radio, the poster and the postcard, mass theatrical events). Schüler-Springorum argued that joy and amusement were critical emotional features of modern antisemitism.

With regard to the change inaugurated by the printing press and the circulation of books, Schüler-Springorum presented the case that early modern Spain was the originator of defining concepts in the history of antisemitism: Jewish and Muslim racial difference, and the Jewish conspiracy. Whereas most scholarship has pointed to Iberia as a case apart, the presentation contended that books from this part of Europe travelled into central Europe and the new world, and had a profound impact on humanism, the reformation and counter-reformation.

Another critical element of the lecture was the emphasis on participation in mass theatrical events. These range from the auto da fe in Iberia to carnival, football matches, and the web. Schüler-Springorum showed how spectacles themselves pass into different media in history: Francesco Rizzi paintings, Lopez de V songs, Shakespeare plays, to name but a few examples.

As one would expect, lively discussion followed, raising points including early modern “racism” (Kaplan); philology versus biology as the root of race, and the Iberia moment as a strong but not initiating point in antisemitism history (Feldman).

Modern/Postmodern Transitions and Continuities

The next panel shifted our attention to ‘Modern/Postmodern Transitions and Continuities’. It began with Dr James Smith (Royal Holloway, University of London), whose paper, ‘From Trope to Meme’, addressed the UK debate over Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party. He argued that we need to consider the nature of digital media and changes in knowledge, and how they interact with the very quick growth of an explicitly democratic mass political movement (over half a million members). Smith pointed to the theoretical importance of conceptualising digital media as a technology of desire, and a post-modern technology, as well as how old debates among the liberal left around antisemitism are projected onto faceless masses.

Expanding on a key theme in this conversation—the conspiracy theory— Dr Martina L. Weisz (Hebrew University) discussed its contemporary history in the Spanish daily press, especially El País, El Mundo and ABC. Weisz argued that the Jewish conspiracy theory has remained prevalent in print and online in this media from the 1990s to the present. Her starting point was the controversy over the publication by Penguin in English of the book, How They Rule the World, by Pedro Baños, a text that, significantly, was not deemed to be problematic in Spain.

Keeping with the same theme of conspiracy, but shifting to the context of the United States, Dr Victoria Woeste analysed the history of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Her presentation traced the unfolding impact of conspiratorial antisemitism from the early twentieth century in print media, and its legacies in the question of news in the era of Donald Trump. Her presentation compared Henry Ford, who was pivotal in the dissemination of the Protocols in the US, with Trump.

Keynote: “Deplatforming: Following Extremists to Telegram and Alternative Social Media.”

The second day of the conference started with a keynote by the world-leading digital media specialist, Professor Richard Rogers, from the University of Amsterdam. This talk took the conference into the question of how we can respond effectively to online antisemitism. Rogers explored the broad question of whether deplatforming—removing individuals from platforms including Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook—is a successful strategy. His analysis drew upon intensive digital research that he undertook with a group at the University of Bologna. They found that deplatforming did indeed reduce the reach of formerly high-profile extremists, that it reduced their income streams, and had a positive effect on the mainstream platforms that excluded them. Even though they can migrate to other platforms such as Telegram, far-right/alt-right new media celebrities end up with much smaller audiences and exposure.

In the discussion that followed, Dr Aaron Winter (University of East London), pointed out that we must look at the complex political context of prominent individuals, and not just the technical digital side, as they can stride across a ‘liberal Islamophobia’ as well as fringe alt-right fascism. Dr Ben Gidley (Birkbeck) followed with a discussion about deplatforming, the role of software as an intermediary, and the older political strategy of ‘No Platforming’. Rogers concluded by pointing to the contemporary challenges of effective digital research due to restrictions placed on accessing data by platforms such as Facebook.

Far right/alt right

Dr Ariel Koch (Tel Aviv University) kicked off the panel with an examination of the global activism undertaken by the extremist online group, the ‘Atomwaffen Division’. Koch outlined the eclectic ideological influences evinced by the group, from Hindu eschatology to jihadism. The official website is only found on the dark web, and Koch discussed its ideological make-up, with its aim of ‘white jihad’. Whereas those involved would have inhabited a markedly fringe political space years ago, they now have a transnational reach across the darker side of the web.

The theme of mainstreaming was then taken up further by Dr Aaron Winter (UEL) in his presentation concerning the alt-right. Winter discussed older attempts by, for example, the KKK to enter the mainstream, and early use of the internet. But he pointed to two fundamental shifts that have enabled the far-right to become normalised: 9/11, and the Presidency of Barack Obama. The result is ‘Trumpism’, which binds a diverse movement that incorporates liberal Islamophobia and anti-Black racism.

In the panel discussion, Weisz pointed to the resonance between the ideology of the online right and the eschatology of settler Zionism.

Identities

The next panel dealt with identities. It delved further into the transnational development of online far-right hate, and the relationship between the online and off-line political worlds that this politics inhabits. Professor Kitty Millet (San Francisco State) focused on Polish nationalism, with the relationship between the political crowd of street protest, the football stadium and football culture, and the recruitment/growth of far-right groups. Millet showed how the ideas and political languages being developed and enunciated in this political space are having transnational impacts around the globe, including the United States, with antisemitism and the figure of the Jewish enemy as a binding force. Critically, the digital space functions as the infrastructure for this transnational political activism.

Birgitte P. Haanshuus (Oslo) followed, and spoke about her research on the political left and online antisemitic hate speech in Norway. Her research focuses on the official Facebook pages of organisations that include the Red Party (Rødt), Palestine Committee, BDS Norway, Radikal Portal. Each of these left-wing groups hold either a pro-Palestinian and/or anti-Israel perspective. Using content analysis and interviews, Haanshuus has found that antisemitism is rarely an issue on these pages. Her interest, however, lies in how potential antisemitic content is moderated, given that those running the organisations are aware of its potential— in other words, how is online hate policed in the virtual space, depending on the conceptions of those in a position of authority.

Matthias Becker (Haifa University) also explored the virtual space of hate speech, focused on the UK in relation to Brexit. His talk discussed British news websites and Facebook, and considered whether exclusionary speech has become mainstream concerning Jews, along with Muslims and European immigrants. The focus on the seeping of hate into mainstream discourse dovetailed with several other contributions to the conference, as did the relational approach of exploring antisemitism with other racisms. In addition, Becker made a significant argument in regard to methodology: the importance of combining quantitative digital analysis with qualitative analysis. This point echoed Winter’s argument about the significance of attending to the political context of any digital change.

Antiracism

The penultimate panel addressed how we can respond effectively against antisemitism. Following the keynote by Richard Rogers, this session brought historical insights from print-media antiracism into dialogue with the latest digital research on what works in social media. Dr Patrick Soulsby (Edge Hill, ICR) analysed comparatively two prominent publications in France and the UK in the 1980’s and 1990’s: Le Droit de Vivre, published by the Ligue internationale contre le racisme et l’antisémitisme (LICRA), founded in 1927, and Searchlight magazine, founded in 1975. Even though these publications did not collaborate, their approaches had significant similarities. Both adapted over time in dynamic response to changes in antisemitism and the far-right, and represented an engagement between antiracism and anti-antisemitism. Perhaps most importantly they provided a successful model of intelligence gathering on far-right political activity, which was absolutely crucial for informing antiracists. Searchlight, in particular, possessed a national network that was able to gather real-time information on developments as they happened, enabling effective activism across the country.

From these models of a print-media response to antisemitism, the panel moved into the digital realm with the research of Dr Sefa Ozalp and his colleagues at the HateLab at Cardiff University. Ozalp presented new work that analysed Twitter in the UK for one year from October 2015. Using computational criminology methodology, the team used a machine learning classifier, identifying almost 3 million tweets. The project measured the impact, the digital lifecycle, of antisemitic tweets, as well as countervailing material from those against anti-Jewish online social media. A very important finding was that antisemitic tweets had a smaller and more short-lived influence than those producing anti-racist messages. In short, the recommendation is that widespread organic responses that challenge antisemitism work.

Reflections on Media History and Antisemitism

The final panel gathered several scholars from the conference to reflect on the key themes discussed. The panel began with the Deputy-Director of the ZfA, Professor Uffa Jensen. Jensen praised the multi-disciplinary discussions of the conference, and was particularly struck by the ways in which contributors contextualised antisemitism (and anti-antisemitism) in relation to other racisms. He also pointed to the significance of gender as a field for further investigation, specifically questions around masculinity, and deplatforming as a potential antisemitic trope. Professor David Feldman, Director of the Pears Institute for the Study of Antisemitism (Birkbeck, University of London) followed by arguing that we need to consider the history of print news (including fake news), and printed books for us to get to grips with contemporary social media. Feldman stated that Benedict Anderson’s notion of ‘imagined communities’ has become such a part of our vocabulary that the content of his work has been largely forgotten: specifically his focus on ‘print capitalism’ and genre (romance novels vs. chronicles).

Professor Kitty Millet built on this point in regard to Anderson on Immanuel Kant and aesthetic judgement. Relating back to the keynote by Schüler-Springorum, Millet argued that our senses (faculties) change with shifting media, with, for example, Burke, on smell, which he connected to being a British subject. Millet concluded with a note of optimism: the conference has shown that effective anti-antisemitism is possible. The panel concluded with interventions from Marcia Kupfer and Lindsey Kaplan. Kupfer discussed the historical dynamic evolution of antisemitism across media, and pointed to the shifting contexts of racisms. The significance of emotions was again underscored. Kaplan made the case for locating antisemitism in its shifting wider contexts of other racisms. This was an ongoing thread throughout the conference with regard to both antisemitism and anti-antisemitism, which began with Kupfer and Kaplan’s opening panel.

Public Engagement

Webinar

Before the opening of the conference, the two keynote speakers and Professor Uffa Jensen, Deputy-Director of the ZfA, and expert on the history of visual antisemitism, delivered a webinar for civil society organisations. The aim was to communicate key research findings in a condensed fashion for groups working in the field to combat antisemitism. Delegates from Jewish community and antiracism organisations participated.

Research Briefing

Based on the conference, organising partner, MONITOR, published a research briefing for civil society organisations and policy communities, a concise summary of the original insights and policy recommendations of the event. The briefing was published in issue 6 of MONITOR, and is available online for free. It can be consulted here: http://monitoracism.eu/monitor-policy-paper/

Event programme

5 November 2019

09.00-12.00 Webinar for Media, Community, and Antiracism professionals

Chair: Professor James Renton, Edge Hill University.

Professor Stefanie Schüler-Springorum, Technische Universität Berlin.

Professor Uffa Jensen, Technische Universität Berlin.

Professor Richard Rogers, University of Amsterdam.

Conference

13.00-13.15 Welcome

13.15-14.15 Medieval Hatred

Chair: Professor Uffa Jensen, Technische Universität Berlin.

From Codex to Carnival, Medium as Part of the Anti-Jewish Message.

Dr Marcia Kupfer, Washington D.C.

Creating Racial Hatred in Medieval Psalter Illuminations.

Dr Lindsay Kaplan, Georgetown University.

14.15-14.30 Break

14.30-16.00 KEYNOTE

Chair: Professor David Feldman, Pears Institute for the Study of Antisemitism.

Antisemitism and the Media: A Historical Overview.

Professor Stefanie Schüler-Springorum, Technische Universität Berlin.

16.00-16.15 Coffee

16.15-17.45 Modern/Postmodern Transitions & Continuities

Chair: Professor Bryan Cheyette, University of Reading.

From Trope to Meme.

Dr James Smith, Royal Holloway, University of London.

Jewish Conspiracy and the Daily Press in Spain.

Dr Martina L. Weisz, Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism, Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Fake News— From the Protocols to the Presidential Election of 2016.

Professor Victoria Woeste, Chicago.

6 November 2019

09.00 Coffee & pastries

09.30-11.00 KEYNOTE

Chair: Monica Gonzalez-Correa, ICR & MONITOR Global Intelligence on Racism, European University Institute.

Deplatforming: Following the extremists to an alternative social media ecosystem

Professor Richard Rogers, University of Amsterdam

11.00-11.30 Coffee

11.30- 12.30 Far-Right/Alt-Right

Chair: Dr Stephen Ashe, ICR & University of Manchester.

Online Hate: From the Far-Right to the ‘Alt-Right’, and from the Margins to the Mainstream.

Dr Aaron Winter, ICR & University of East London.

Nazism, Satanism and Jihadism: Inside the Bizarre Online World of Atomwaffen Division’s Network of Hate and Rage.

Dr Ariel Koch, Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Tel Aviv University.

12.30-13.30 Lunch

13.30-15.00 Identities

Chair: Professor Shirli Gilbert, University College London.

Social Media, Hate and Identification.

Professor Kitty Millet, San Francisco State University.

What is (on the) left? Boundaries and content moderation of antisemitic hate speech online.

Birgitte P. Haanshuus, Norwegian Center for Holocaust and Minority Studies/University of Oslo.

‘I voted Leave! So, why are you still here?’ Antisemitic hate speech on British websites in the context of Brexit.

Dr. Matthias J. Becker,Center for Research on Antisemitism, Technical University Berlin/Weiss-Livnat Center and Department of Communication, University of Haifa.

15.00-15.30 Coffee

15.30-16.30 Antiracism

Chair: Dr Ben Gidley, ICR & Birkbeck.

‘A Resurrected Evil’: Challenging Antisemitism in Antiracist Media, c. 1980-2000.

Dr Patrick Soulsby, ICR, Edge Hill University.

Antisemitism on Twitter: Collective efficacy and the role of community organisations in challenging online hate speech.

Dr Sefa Ozalp, HateLab, Cardiff University.

16.40- 17.30 Reflections on Media History and Antisemitism

Chair: Professor James Renton, Edge Hill University.

Professor David Feldman, Birkbeck.

Dr Lindsay Kaplan, Georgetown University.

Dr Marcia Kupfer, Washington D.C.

Professor Uffa Jensen, Technische Universität Berlin.

Professor Kitty Millet, San Francisco State University.

Conference Acknowledgements

With special thanks to the ZfA in Berlin and the Department of English, History and Creative Writing at Edge Hill University for additional funding; Ruth Carr, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, at Edge Hill for administrative support; the Edge Hill conference team; our conference chairs, Dr Stephen Ashe, Professor David Feldman, Dr Ben Gidley, and Professor Shirli Gilbert; and our student helpers, Ivy Capehart, Helen Meakin, Thomas Ottley, and Alicia Sims.

Conference Steering Committee

Monica Gonzalez-Correa (MONITOR), Stephen Ashe, Jenny Barrett, Ben Gidley, James Renton (ICR).