Fifth EAJS Congress, Copenhagen, 14th-18th August 1994

Jewish Studies in a New Europe

The fifth EAJS congress in Copenhagen, 14-18 August 1994, was organized under the heading Jewish Studies in a New Europe.

The response to the calls for participation and for papers was very encouraging. By June 1994 about 150 scholars had announced their presence and 113 persons forwarded their abstracts for lectures within the following academic categories:

Literature (17)

History (17)

Philosophy and Mysticism (15)

Bible and Exegesis (14)

Rabbinics (9)

Languages (4)

Social Studies (13)

Art (15)

Libraries-Archives-Museums (9)

In four plenary sessions papers were presented by Professor Joseph Yahalom, Professor Malachi Beit-Ari, Professor Nehemia Levtzion and Professor Joseph Dan.

Twenty countries were represented: Austria, Canada, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, Hungary. Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK, the Ukraine, the USA and Denmark.

The congress committee, Hanne Trautner-Kromann, Egon Keck, Karen-Lisa Goldschmidt Salamon, Edna Basud Thorsen and Ulf Haxen, had started the fundraising campaign by mid-1992 and by March 1994 they reached a satisfactory amount enabling the committee to pay the costs for invited guest speakers and subsidizing student participants.

Among the contributing foundations and institutions were the Ministry for Cultural Affairs, the Danish Research Council for the Humanities, the Royal Funds (Queen Margarethe II’s and Price Henrik’s Fond and King Frederik IX’s and Queen Ingrid’s Fond), the Jewish Community and several private donors. The Chief Justice David Foundation donated a substantial amount for the publication of the congress proceedings.

A supporting and honorary committee was elected in which ambassadors from Israel, Poland and the USA, the Mayor of Frederiksberg and the Minister of Education, Scandinavian academics and cultural notables from Denmark participated.

The opening of the congress took place at the Frederiksberg Town Council Hall with the Mayor, John Winther, as host of the evening at a grand reception. The speakers at the opening were the Israeli Ambassador to Denmark, Nathan Meron, Mayor John Winther and Ulf Haxen. The opening lecture was given by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz. Benyamin Bilsky conducted a musical recital with the 35-girl Rosh Ha‘ayin Mandolin Orchestra.

The Royal Library granted free accommodation for the exhibition of Hebrew manuscripts and the Director hosted a reception on the occasion of the presentation of The Jewish Art Index Vol. V, The Copenhagen Illuminated Hebrew Manuscripts. The Copenhagen Business School gave free accommodation for the conducting of the five-day congress business.

Included in the programme was a tour to Nordsjælland (Northern Sealand) to the small fishing villages from where the Danish Jewish refugees were rescued by Danish fishermen and taken to Sweden during the Second World War, and the Gilleleje Church where a group of Danish Jews hiding there were captured by the Nazis in 1943. The congress delegates also made a stop at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. In the evening, after the excursion, a reception was held in The Jewish Department of The Royal Library at its temporary domicile in Amaliegade 38.

On the final day of the congress a well-attended general meeting took place during which a new executive committee was elected, and Professor Angel Sáenz-Badillos (Madrid) appointed President. It was decided that the venue of the next EAJS congress should be in Spain in 1998. It was further decided to establish a closer co-operation between EAJS and the International Center for the University Teaching of Jewish Civilization (Jerusalem).

Finally, two declarations were discussed and passed by the assembly: (1) the future organization of and future strategies for EAJS, and (2) a declaration in which the general assembly dissociated itself from the lecture entitled The Commandment Concerning Amalek read by Professor Tryggve Kronholm (Uppsala) at the Copenhagen congress.

Ulf Haxen

Fourth EAJS Congress, Troyes, 8th-13th July 1990

Commentary, Interpretation, Translation

The fourth Congress of the EAJS was held at the Congress Centre, Troyes, from 8 to 13 July 1990, on the general theme of Commentary, Interpretation, Translation. Informally it has become known as the “The Rashi Congress”. The formal opening of the Congress, under the auspices of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, was on Friday 6th July at the Institut de France. The opening address to the Congress was delivered by Gerard Nahon on “Rashi et son temps.” One hundred seminar papers were presented within fourteen different subject areas. The subject areas were:

1. Literature of the Greco-Roman Period

2. Septuagint

3. Targum and Midrash

4. Piyyut

5. Rashi and his Work

6. Jewish Mysticism of the Early Middle Ages

7. Medieval Jewish Philosophy and Mysticism

8. Historical and Cultural Environment

9. History of the Jews of France in the Middle Ages

10. History and Thought of the Jews of Spain

11. History and Thought of the Jews of Italy

12. Jewish Thought in Germany (German, Yiddish, Hebrew)

13. Judaism in Arabic

14. Jewish Museums of Europe.

Third EAJS Congress, Berlin, 26th-31st July 1987

The Interpretation of Scripture in Judaism

Around one hundred and fifty participants from eleven countries gathered in Berlin between 26th and 31st July for the Third Congress of the EAJS. This, the largest and longest Congress of the Association to date, was organized by Professor Peter Schäfer of Berlin, ably assisted by Dr. Margarete Schulter. Professor Arnold Goldberg of Frankfurt presided.

The structure of the congress followed the pattern of the earlier congresses, and offered a series of plenary sessions interspersed with short papers running in parallel sections. The plenary papers, delivered by G. Vermes (Oxford), I. Marcus (New York), A. van der Heide (Leiden), A. Saenz-Badillos (Barcelona), M. Brocke (Duisberg) and M. Hengel (Tübingen), all centred on the broad theme of the interpretation of Scripture in Judaism – a theme which reflected the major interest of Professor Goldberg whose presidential address was entitled Die Schrift der rabbinischen Schriftausleger. In all, just over one hundred papers were read over the six days. The participants were welcomed to Berlin by representatives of the municipality, of the Freie Universität and of the local Jewish community. Extra-curricular activities included a tour of the city and an evening concert of baroque music. Most participants used the free time to visit the museums and art galleries, and to see the sights, some even venturing on day trips into East Berlin.

The Third Congress was more than a successful conference where scholars in the field of Jewish studies met in pleasant surroundings to exchange ideas and to report on their research. It is hard not to see it in retrospect as a symbolic event. The venue was Schloss Glienicke, in the Wannsee suburb of Berlin, hard up against the Wall and right beside the Glienicke Bridge where Scharansky and others have crossed from the East to the West.

It was almost certainly the first major Jewish international conference on Jewish Studies to be held in Germany for fifty years. Each will doubtless read his or her own meaning into the symbolism. Once thing is clear: the venue, the size of the conference, and the efficiency of its organization were a tribute to the re-emergence of Jewish Studies in Germany in the post-Holocaust era.

Second EAJS Congress, Oxford, 22nd-26th July 1984

Methodology in Jewish Studies

The second congress of the EAJS was held at Hertford College, Oxford, from 22 to 26 July 1984, on the general theme of Methodology in Jewish Studies. The main speakers were Professor F.G.B. Billar (Oxford), Professor Arnold Goldberg (Frankfurt), Professor L. Díez Merino (Barcelona), Professor Yosef Dan (Jerusalem), Dr F.W. Zimmermann (Oxford) and Dr Gabrielle Sed-Rajna (Paris). These presentations were supplemented by a number of seminar-workshops.

A full report is not available.

First EAJS Congress, Oxford, 18th-21st July 1982

The European Association for Jewish Studies (EAJS), founded in May 1981, held its first Congress at Hertford College, Oxford, from 18th to 21st July 1982, under the presidency of Geza Vermes. Approximately one hundred scholars attended from Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Israel, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States of America. They were welcomed on behalf of the University of Oxford by the Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Lord Blake, Provost of the Queen’s College.

In addition to the presidential address, full-length papers were read by Martin Hengel (Tübingen, Paolo Sacchi (Turin), Bernhard Blumenkranz (Paris), and Uirel Tal (Tel Aviv). Alexander Scheiber (Budapest) was unable to be present, but the text of his scheduled lecture was distributed to members.

The following delivered short papers: Mireille Hadas-Lebel (Paris), Tessa Rajak (Reading), Martin Goodman (Birmingham), Paul Fenton (Cambridge), Norman Solomon (London), Stefan Reif (Cambridge), Steven Uran (Paris), Carol Iancu (Montpellier), Mathias Delcor (Paris), Yochanan Thorion (Marburg), Talia Thorion (Marburg), Ulf Haxen (Copenhagen), Angel Sáenz-Badillos (Granada), Zvi Malachi (Tel Aviv), J. Wesselius (Amsterdam), Richard White (Oxford), Symeon Lash (Newcastle-upon-Tyne), Philip Alexander (Manchester), Peter Schäfer (Cologne), P.W. van der Horst (Utrecht), George Mandel (Oxford), Glenda Abramson (Oxford), Janine Strauss (Nancy), Anders Hultgård (Uppsala), Otto Betz (Tübingen), Harry Gaylord (Groningen), Peter Hayman (Edinburgh), Albert van der Heide (Leiden), Luc Dequeker (Leuven), Steve Zipperstein (Oxford), K.E. Grözinger (Frankfurt am Main) and Jacob Taubes (Berlin).

Reports on institutional and individual research projects were presented by Arnold Goldberg (Frankfurt am Main), Simon Lauer (Luzern), David Patterson (Oxford), Stefan Reif (Cambridge), Gabrielle Sed-Rajna (Paris), Frowald Hüttenmeister (Tübingen), Gottfried Reeg (Tübingen) and Ulf Haxen (Copenhagen).