EAJS Administrator

Two Part-Time Research and Teaching Associate Positions. Institute of Judaic Studies. Goethe University Frankfurt. To begin October 2022. Deadline for applications: 30 June 2022.

13 May 2022 by EAJS Administrator

The Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt am Main is one of the largest universities in Germany with around 48,000 students and with about 5,000 employees. Founded in 1914 by Frankfurt citizens and since 2008 once again proud of its foundation status Goethe University possesses a high degree of autonomy, modernity and professional diversity. As a comprehensive university, the Goethe University offers a total of 16 departments on five campuses and more than 100 degree programs along with an outstanding research reputation.

The Institute of Judaic Studies at Goethe University Frankfurt invites applications for two part-time positions:

Research and Teaching Associate (Wissenschaftliche*r Mitarbeiter*in)

(E13 TV-G-U 50% and 75%-part-time)

to begin October 2022. The employment duration is for three years, with the possibility of extension for another 2 years. The salary grade is based on the job characteristics of the collective agreement applicable to Goethe University (TV-G-U).

Responsibilities: Successful candidates will be expected to: pursue an individual research project (dissertation or postdoc project/Habilitation) and actively contribute to collaborative research and teaching at the Institute of Judaic Studies, including: independent teaching of BA and/or MA classes; technical and editorial support for publications; as well as participation in conference organization and fund raising. Successful candidates will be enrolled at the Institute of Judaic Studies.

Requirements: The position is open at the Ph.D. and postdoc level. Requirements are: Completed university degree (M.A., M.Phil. or Ph.D.) in Jewish Studies or – pending demonstration of expertise in Jewish Studies – a related discipline. Excellent command of Hebrew (in all stages of its historical development). The regular teaching language in the program of Judaic Studies is German, commitment to reaching a level of fluency in German that permits full participation in all activities of the department is expected. Initially, courses may be taught in English.

The 50% position will be filled in the area of early modern and/or modern Jewish history; language proficiency in Yiddish desired.
The 75% position will be filled in the area of medieval Judaism and/or rabbinic studies; text-based methodological approaches to the study of Jewish culture are preferred; language proficiency in Aramaic desired.

The Institute of Judaic Studies focuses on intra-Jewish and Jewish-Christian cultural transfer in pre-modern Europe (especially Ashkenaz); related interest and research activity is an advantage.

The Goethe University is committed to a policy of providing equal employment opportunities for both men and women alike, and therefore encourages particularly women to apply for the position/s offered. Individuals with severe disability will be prioritized in case of equal qualification.

Applications including CV, transcripts, short description of scholarly interests and proposed research project as well as a writing sample of at least 10 pages (e.g. MA thesis chapter, dissertation chapter, published article, conference presentation), must be submitted by June 30, 2022 via email to Prof. Rebekka Voß (voss@em.uni-frankfurt.de) and Prof. Elisabeth Hollender (hollender@em-uni-frankfurt.de).

Russian Invasion of Ukraine

6 April 2022 by EAJS Administrator

EAJS Statement

The European Association for Jewish Studies condemns Russia’s unprecedented and barbaric aggression against Ukraine. We express solidarity with Ukraine, with its democratically-elected government and with its people. We honour those Russian citizens who oppose this war. We know that many of our cooperation partners in the Russian Federation are not in agreement with their regime, and, once military operations are over, we will consider it our mission to reach out and rebuild trust across borders.

All Ukrainian academics and university students are in our thoughts and prayers. This is a critical moment for the whole civilized world and we call on all the members of our Association to consider helping Ukraine by any means that are available to them – we must not delay.

We have received messages from colleagues and students in Ukraine with whom we have worked in the past who now are defending their home and their families against the Russian aggression. We stand with them in solidarity.

Link for Message from Ukrainian Association for Jewish Studies (UAJS): https://uajs.org.ua/en/news/help-ukraine-its-struggle-freedom-uajs-statement

Temporary Membership Waiver for Scholars Based in Ukraine (Deadline: 31 July 2022)

The invasion of Ukraine by Russia has led to significant hardship across Ukrainian society. In order to support Jewish Studies scholars based in Ukraine, and where possible to help them to continue their teaching and research, the EAJS has decided to waive the membership fees for the next three years for existing EAJS Full Members who are paid up until at least 31 December 2021 and who are based in Ukraine. Existing EAJS Student Members based in Ukraine who have now finished their PhDs will also be entitled to this waiver if they contact the EAJS by 31 July 2022 to request to become Full Members. Existing EAJS Full Members based in Ukraine whose membership has been in arrears since 31 December 2020 or earlier will also be entitled to a discount, with all their membership arrears being waived and their membership paid up until 31 December 2023, if they contact the EAJS by 31 July 2022. Jewish Studies scholars based in Ukraine who are not currently members of the EAJS, but who already hold a PhD and are members of the Ukrainian Association for Jewish Studies, who apply for Full Membership of the EAJS by 31 July 2022, and whose membership application is successful, will also be entitled to a three-year membership waiver. PhD students in the field of Jewish Studies who are based in Ukraine are encouraged to apply for EAJS Student Membership which is free for the duration of their PhD. Ukrainian Jewish Studies scholars who have left Ukraine since the war began may also be entitled to a membership fee waiver depending on their circumstances. For more information, please contact the EAJS Administrator before the deadline of 31 July 2022.

Resources for Scholars in Danger (for Ukraine and elsewhere)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VPvwMzaScGbAG5sBMhFoS8RC3zZy0JbsxVK35NTuGI4/edit (Resource List for Scholars in Danger)

https://www.cara.ngo/what-we-do/a-lifeline-to-academics-at-risk/ukraine-crisis (Council for At-Risk Academics – CARA)

https://www.aseees.org/news-events/aseees-news-feed/aseees-initiatives-support-displaced-scholars-and-students-ukraine (ASEEES Initiatives to Support Displaced Scholars)

[ANNOUNCEMENT ORIGINALLY POSTED 28 FEBRUARY 2022]

Digital Humanities Showcase Report: Dutch Elite Jews, the Dutch Biography Portal and Nodegoat

5 April 2022 by EAJS Administrator

Digital Humanities Showcase Report

Dutch Elite Jews, the Dutch Biography Portal and Nodegoat

The Dutch Biography Portal or BioPort, hosted by the Huygens Institute in Amsterdam, Netherlands, holds biographies from over 25 biographical dictionaries and datasets. Together, they contain information on more than 80,500 deceased prominent figures with a connection to the Netherlands or its former colonies. Among them are hundreds of Jews.

The Dutch Biography Portal homepage. Left: Jewish entrepreneur and politician Aron van Dam (1881-1942).

Although biographies collected by the Jewish Cultural Quarter used to be incorporated in BioPort (unfortunately, the current urls are dead), and the Jewish Biographical Dictionary will hopefully be a part of it in the near future, BioPort, in essence, is not the obvious source for looking at Jewish history. However, for my PhD project , in which I research how Jewish members of the Dutch elite seized novel opportunities and dealt with challenges with regard to integration between 1870 and 1940, the ‘prominence’ of Jews in BioPort makes them a suitable proxy for Dutch elite Jews during this period.

To be able to analyse the lives of around 730 individuals born between 1850 and 1920 in a systematic way, I use humanities tool Nodegoat, developed by LAB1100. Nodegoat is an online, free, object-oriented database tool that allows researchers to build their own data model and filter, visualise, and analyse information through networks, time and space. The tool has an accessible interface and very useful features that keep on being updated, such as a GIS-functionality and the possibility to download data in CSV, JSON, XML or ODT formats. LAB1100 offers excellent introductory workshops for Nodegoat, and a paid version of the tool is available for larger research teams in need of regular support. Its popularity is steadily increasing, and whereas Nodegoat is particularly appropriate for network analysis, I would also like to emphasise its efficiency in serving as a digital repository for large quantities of data – on people, but also on other entities (‘objects’ in Nodegoat), such as manuscripts, buildings or organisations.

Nodegoat serves as a modern sort of card index, enabling me to flip easily through my data and sort information quickly and accurately. In doing so, it is possible to see at a glance which (sometimes unexpected) topics deserve further inquiry. This is also very useful for my three case studies: Jewish women in the women’s movement, Jews in the Dutch East Indies and Jewish country house owners (in close collaboration with the Jewish Country Houses project). These case studies concern around 30 ‘BioPort people’ and their families each. With Nodegoat, I am able to discern patterns in the lives of large and diverse groups, without losing sight of these people as individual actors.

Visualisation in Nodegoat of Zionist organisations (red nodes) and their BioPort members (blue nodes).

Manually building a database involves having control over all devised dimensions and variables, and requires researchers to be as specific as possible in what they want to know. In my view, Nodegoat is well suited for qualitative studies that include quantitative elements, like my own project. Not only does the tool provide a worthwhile means to store, filter, analyse and visualise data, at the same time it offers possibilities to verify scholarly notions, in this case about Jewish social mobility and integration, in a fresh way.

Sietske van der Veen, PhD candidate at the Huygens Institute and Utrecht University

EAJS Digital Jour Fixe

4 April 2022 by EAJS Administrator

EAJS Digital Jour Fixe

The Digital Forum of the EAJS invites all interested to participate in the “EAJS Digtal jour fixe” taking place monthly or bimonthly on Fridays 10-11h30 CET / 9-10h30 BT via zoom. These meetings will be dedicated to the presentation of a tool or method and its wider implications and purposes for projects in Jewish Studies.

1) Oleksii Chebotarov, “Jews on the Move: Digital Mapping Approaches to the History of Jewish Migration.” 27 May 2022, 10-11h30 CET

Please sign up here to receive a zoom link.

The Digital Forum of the EAJS

International conference. “Returning Galician Jews from Oblivion: 100th Anniversary of Jakub Honigsman”. Lviv, Ukraine (6-7 December 2022). Deadline for submissions: 31 May 2022

3 April 2022 by EAJS Administrator

International conference

Returning Galician Jews from Oblivion:
100th Anniversary of Jakub Honigsman

December 6–7, 2022, Lviv, Ukraine

Organizer: Ukrainian Association for Jewish Studies

The Ukrainian Association for Jewish Studies invites proposals for presentations at an international conference dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Jakub Honigsman (1922–2008).

The well-known historian and economist Jakub Honigsman (his 100th anniversary will be celebrated on December 29, 2022) returned from oblivion an integral part of the Galicia region’s history — its Jewish community. The scholar was born in Lublin and obtained a traditional religious education. In 1939, he found himself in Soviet Belarus and enrolled at The Mahiliou Pedagogical Institute. Honigsman was evacuated as a student and thus rescued from the Holocaust, and later mobilized to a “labor column.” Demobilized in 1944, he resumed his studies at the University of Kyiv. In the late 1940s, Honigsman served as a librarian and an archivist in Lviv. Due to the antisemitism of the late Stalinist regime and to the imposed policy of silence on Jewish history in the Khrushchov period, the young scholar could not openly work on Jewish topics. Honigsman, however, found a solution. He wrote a dissertation on the development of the Galician petroleum industry in the 19th century. Jewish entrepreneurs played the key role in this process.

During the following decades Jakub Honigsman served as an economist and simultaneously wrote works on Galician Jews’ history that were “not for publication.” After the collapse of Soviet censorship during Perestroika, he started to publish articles on Jewish history in Poland and a little later in Ukraine. Since 1991, his works on Jewish topics were printed as individual books. In the 1990s, the history of the Holocaust in Western Ukraine become a focus of Honigsman’s research interests.

The organizers aim to discuss various aspects of Jakub Honigsman’s academic and public activity, i.e. his research on economic history and Holocaust Studies, as well as his participation in Jewish NGOs created in the late 1980s. Proposals for papers on topics related to the history of Galician Jewry in the 19th and 20th centuries (especially in Lviv) and on the Holocaust in Galicia are also welcome.

Working languages: English, Ukrainian, and Polish.

Conference participants will be able to submit their presentations as articles to the peer-reviewed journal Judaica Ukrainica for publication in 2023.

Deadline for submissions is May 31, 2022.

Notification of acceptance to be mailed by July 1, 2022.

The organizers will cover accommodations and meals for participants.

Організатори забезпечать учасників конференції проживанням і харчуванням.

The registration form can be found at https://bit.ly/UAJS_conference_2022_en.

Link for submitting your proposal.

For other questions, please contact the Organizing Committee at conference@uajs.org.ua.