EAJS Conference Grant Programme 2022/23
Report
Twelfth European Association for Jewish Studies Congress
“Branching Out: Diversity of Jewish Studies”
Goethe University Frankfurt, 16-20 July 2023
The twelfth congress of the European Association for Jewish Studies was organized by the department for Jewish Studies at Goethe University Frankfurt under the title “Branching Out: Diversity of Jewish Studies”. Returning to the tree metaphor used in the title of the eleventh EAJS congress at Krakow (Searching for the Roots of Jewish Tradition), the congress aimed to discuss the continuing growth of Jewish Studies on various levels. It invited scholars to engage with the ever-growing number of topics to be researched within the wider field of Jewish Studies, the multidisciplinarity of the field, and the wide variety of institutions in which Jewish Studies are being taught and researched. Bringing together scholars who would not meet in events catering to single disciplines or topics, it aimed to build bridges within Jewish Studies and thereby strengthen the field at a time when the humanities are often called to defend themselves within the university and in public discourse.
Choosing diversity as the topic for the Frankfurt congress also related to the Jewish history in Frankfurt, which was not only the first Jewish community in Germany from which a separate congregation split off, but was also the location of the “Paulskirche” parliament which was the first German parliament that had regular Jewish members. Today too, there is a plethora of actors in Jewish life, culture and academic studies in Frankfurt, including, inter alia, the Jewish community, the Jewish Museum, the Jewish Academy, a Jewish adult education centre, the Judaica collection at the University library, and at least three departments in Goethe University, which cooperate in various constellations in order to research and educate on topics in Jewish Studies that range from medieval and early modern Ashkenaz to Martin Buber and Bertha Pappenheim.
More than 700 scholars of Jewish Studies from more than 30 countries, including most European ones, attended the congress on 16-20 July 2023 in Frankfurt to discuss a wealth of topics. The anonymous reviewers of the 22 sections had accepted papers that were sorted into 188 sessions:
- The Bible and its Reception (14 papers in 5 sessions)
- Ancient Judaism / Archaeology (22 papers in 7 sessions)
- Rabbinic Literature and its Reception (29 papers in 8 sessions)
- Medieval Hebrew Literature (33 papers in 9 sessions)
- Modern Hebrew Literature (11 papers in 4 sessions)
- Hebrew and Jewish Languages (21 papers in 7 sessions)
- Medieval Judaism (69 papers in 19 sessions)
- Early Modern Judaism (40 papers in 12 sessions)
- Modern Judaism (72 papers in 21 sessions)
- Shoah and Antisemitism (17 papers in 6 sessions)
- Regional and National Judaism (56 papers in 16 sessions)
- Jewish Thought (44 papers in 14 sessions)
- Jewish Liturgy and Ritual (7 papers 2 sessions)
- Jewish Mysticism and Magic (23 papers in 6 sessions)
- Manuscript Studies, History of the Jewish Book (47 papers in 16 sessions)
- Libraries, Archives, Information Management (7 papers in 2 sessions)
- Jewish Museums and Collections (9 papers in 3 sessions)
- Jewish Art (21 papers in 7 sessions)
- Jewish Performing Arts: Music, Theatre, Film (9 papers in 3 sessions)
- Diversity / Gender / Identity (22 papers in 6 sessions)
- Talking about Jewish Studies (14 papers in 4 sessions)
- Digital Jewish Studies (8 papers in 5 sessions)
Approximately half of the papers were presented in sessions pre-organized by the participants who had selected the topic and speakers. Pre-organized sessions were required to embrace the topic of diversity by bringing together scholars of different gender, location or academic experience, resulting in many fascinating discussions between early-career and senior scholars, scholars from different institutions and different countries. In some cases, more than one session was submitted together, creating strings of sessions or even “mini-conferences” within the Congress. Among those were six sessions on South-East European Jewish Studies, five sessions of the Medieval Hebrew Poetry Colloquium, and four sessions on Medieval Jewish Moneylending. In other cases, it was possible to schedule coherent series of sessions in ways that allowed participants to attend a maximum of lectures in their field of interest.
The congress included – in addition to the presentations by the participants – two keynote lectures, a concert, a lunch presentation of the European Journal of Jewish Studies, a lunch presentation on the then-current protests concerning the judicial overhaul in Israel, and a forum for emerging scholars (EAJS Emerge). The Digital Forum of the EAJS offered three workshops for text-oriented digital tools that took place before the opening of the congress and each morning before the sessions of the congress.
The congress took place on the Westend Campus of Goethe University. While opening and keynote lecture were held at the building of the Faculty of Languages, Cultures and Arts, the sessions were held in in the Seminarhaus, with a few sessions taking place at the Jewish Museum. Sessions with participants from Ukraine had to include presentations via Zoom, since several colleagues had not been able or allowed to leave the country.
During the four main days of the congress, the venue was at all times teeming with discussions, sharing of ideas, and lively encounters that crossed geographical, epochal, and thematic borders. Participants enjoyed the possibility to (finally) meet each other (again) in Europe, to hear about new and ongoing research, discuss joint interests, catch up on new developments, or to simply talk over a cup of coffee.
At the opening on 16 July, after greetings from inter alia the president of the hosting Goethe University, Enrico Schleiff, and the Minister of Science of the state of Hesse Angela Dorn, Judith Olszowy-Schlanger presented finds from the Cairo Genizah under the heading “The People of Many Books. The Birth and Spread of Jewish Bibliophily in the Middle Ages.” Participants obviously had not followed the advice of a medieval collector of books and medical doctor that she quoted, who warned against excessive reading. Instead, they presented during the following four days on every possible approach to Jewish history, culture, and religion, from archaeology to sociology, everybody who was or might have been Jewish, from Herod to Harpo Marx, a treasure of Jewish books, from the Bible to modern biographies, new interpretations of known texts and events, new finds that enhance our understanding of Jewish lives in past and present, and even more questions and attempts to answer them.
On 19 July, a second keynote lecture was presented as a humorous as well as profound dialogue about the past and present between Richard Cohen and David Ruderman, titled “Writing and Teaching Jewish History for a Half-Century”. The two senior scholars discussed 50 years of both scholarship and teaching, including their own personal ways into Jewish history, the role of Jewish and Zionist identity, changes over the decades in the topics studied, and the structures in which scholars work. They infected the audience with their passion and their commitment to Jewish Studies, to communicate, and to support emerging scholars.
An important feature of the Congress was the inclusion of doctoral students and early career researchers. Students paid a reduced congress fee, which also allowed for a large number of German students of Jewish Studies to attend the congress as listeners. Approximately a hundred doctoral students presented papers in the regular sessions, alongside papers by established scholars. Additionally, the EAJS Emerge Forum offered the opportunity to present shorter papers for doctoral students at the beginning of their projects (17 presentations in four sessions) with feedback by a large number of senior scholars. Three workshops – on academic publishing, writing for popular audiences, and the research opportunities at the National Library of Israel – addressed some of the special concerns of early career researchers. The National Library of Israel also sponsored a reception for doctoral students on 18 July; the department of Jewish Studies Frankfurt sponsored a lunch for all PhD students attending the congress on 17 July.
On 19 July, a well-attended lunch meeting was sponsored by the European Journal of Jewish Studies in order to introduce the new editorial team and its plans to develop the journal further.
As a last-minute addition to the programme, some of the organizers of the protests against the judicial reform in Israel presented their positions and were available for questions during the lunch-break on 18 July. The audience in the packed-full largest room of the congress appreciated the possibility to hear from Avital Davidovich-Eshed, David Rotman, and Ephraim Shoham-Steiner about their involvement with the protests and the attempt to bring together people who differ greatly in their opinions about other topics in joined protest against the judicial reform.
A small exhibition at the venue included a few treasures of the Judaica Collections of the University Library, a more extensive exhibition was made available online (link). Participants of the congress also had the opportunity to visit many of the city’s museums, thanks to the donation of free museum tickets by the Frankfurt tourist office and the inclusion of a 5-day pass for public transportation in the conference bag. The Judaica Collection of the University Library offered a free guided tour of some of their treasures on 17 July; a special free curators’ guided tour to the temporary exhibition of the Jewish Museum was available on 18 July; free guided tours to the Bible Museum on 18 July showed both the permanent exhibition and the special exhibition on the Samaritans.
On 18 July in the evening, professors M. Schmalz (piano) and S. Müller-Hornbach (violoncello) gave a concert with music by B. Sekles, T. W. Adorno, and M. Weinberg, showcasing Jewish composers of modern classical music as yet another side of the multifaceted Jewish culture that was celebrated at the congress.
Several major European publishers active in the field of Jewish Studies exhibited their books and offered special deals to the participants of the congress.
The congress was financially supported by Goethe University Frankfurt, the Deutsche Forschungsgesellschaft, the Speyer’sche Hochschulstiftung, an EAJS Conference Grant, the Freunde und Förderer der Goethe Universität, and the Gesellschaft zur Förderung judaistischer Studien in Frankfurt am Main e.V. The EAJS Congress Grant was used to offer grants to 25 participants from countries with below-average median income and doctoral students, who paid a reduced congress fee and received free accommodation. Additionally, the congress organizers had asked participants for donations to support scholars from Ukraine. The generosity of the congress participants paid for full grants, including congress fee, travel, and accommodation costs for those Ukrainian scholars who were able to attend in person. Unfortunately, this was not the case for the male Ukrainian scholars, who could only present online. The full sum of donations, € 4,166, was more than the final costs for the full grants, with the remainder to be donated to the Ukrainian Association of Jewish Studies in order to support Jewish Studies in Ukraine.
The small team in charge of administration of the congress (Elisabeth Hollender, Annelies Kuyt, Maximilian Holfelder, Franziska Pabst, Mark Gondelman, and Erec Lützkendorf) relied on the scientific input by more than 40 colleagues from many German and European universities who reviewed abstracts, constructed panels, suggested chairpersons and discussed scheduling. During the congress, they were supported by a team of more than 20 students of Jewish Studies from Frankfurt, most of them volunteers, directed by Franziska Pabst. Their services contributed greatly to the friendly and open atmosphere during the congress, in turn they enjoyed the opportunity to meet Jewish Studies scholars from all over the world, speaking about a wide and diverse array of topics.