Newsletter: Center for Jewish Studies, U of Manchester, Seminars 2015-2016

JEWISH STUDIES research seminars

For an up-to-date programme of Jewish Studies related events under a variety of auspices at the University of Manchester, see the research seminars listed for 2015-16.

Thu 1 Oct 2015. George Brooke (Manchester), Aspects of Prophecy in the Dead Sea Scrolls. 2pm in Samuel Alexander Building A101 (Ehrhardt Seminar, CBS)

Tue 6 Oct 2015. Lauren Banko (Manchester), Fixed borders and flexible nationality: movement, transgression, and subversion of Palestinians in the Interwar Levant (MES research seminar)

Tue 13 Oct 2015. Katharina Keim (Manchester), TBA. 4pm in Christie Room, John Rylands Library on Deansgate. (JRRI research seminar)

Thu 29 Oct 2015. Katharina Keim (Manchester), Joshua in the Samaritan Traditions in the Gaster Collection. 2pm in Samuel Alexander Building A101 (Ehrhardt Seminar, CBS)

Tue 3 Nov 2015. Maria Cioată  (Manchester), Moses Gaster’s Romanian Bird and Beast Stories (1915) and Benjamin Williams  (King’s College London), Interpreting the Bible in the Ottoman Empire. 12pm in Christie Room, John Rylands Library on Deansgate. (JRRI research forum)

Thu 19 Nov 2015. Esther Gomez Sierra (Manchester), A Unique Time: Converso Intellectuals in XV Century Spain. 4pm in Samuel Alexander Building A113. (R&T research seminar)

Thu 19 Nov 2015. Stefania Silvestri (Manchester), The Medieval Hebrew Bible from Sepharad: Production and Patronage. 2pm in Samuel Alexander Building A101 (Ehrhardt Seminar, CBS)

Tue 8 Dec 2015. Stefania Silvestri (Manchester), TBA. 4pm in Christie Room, John Rylands Library on Deansgate. (JRRI research seminar)

Thu 10 Dec 2015. Mat Collins (Chester), Abandoning the Quest for the Historical Teacher: History and Ideology in the Qumran Dead Sea Scrolls. 2pm in Samuel Alexander Building A101 (Ehrhardt Seminar, CBS)

the ISRAEL STUDIES research seminar

As was the case in 2012, 2013 and 2014 the Centre’s seminar programme has an Israel Studies theme. Please note that the seminars will take place in the second semester on Thursdays at 4pm in room A113 in Samuel Alexander Building (Building 67 on the Campus Map, see directions). Our seminar programme is open to all (for free) and there is no need to book, but please see the University’s statement on events open to the public. Thu 18 Feb 2016. Roman Vater (Oxford), National alternatives to Zionism: the case of the Young Hebrews, 1939-1976 Thu 3 March 2016. Alan Craig (Leeds), EU-Israel relations: Sanctions by any other name? Thu 17 March 2016. Nir Arielli (Leeds), Israel’s international ‘Machal’ volunteers in the war of 1948: a comparative assessment of their contribution Thu 14 April 2016. Dominique Bourel (CNRS, Paris), From Kassa to Manchester and forward: Alexander Altmann and the Mendelssohn Forschung Thu 21 April 2016. Yohai Hakak (Brunel), Forbidden Love and Moral Panic: Jewish-Arab Couples in Contemporary Israel Thu 5 May 2016. David Novak (Toronto), Can Israel Be a Democratic Theocracy or a Theocratic Democracy?

other NEWS and EVENTS

New funding European regional hub for Jewish Studies. Following an open competition involving many of the leading centres of Jewish Studies in Europe, Manchester’s Centre for Jewish Studies has been awarded a very substantial grant for Jewish Studies activities by an anonymous European Jewish foundation for the period 2015-2018. In addition to enhancing the CJS’s activities, the funds are intended for the development of a Jewish Studies network in the north of the UK, working with both academics in the region and with the local Jewish community. More information to follow. Post-doctoral Fellow in Israel/Palestine Studies Postdoctoral Fellow in Israel/Palestine Studies. The Centre welcomes Dr Lauren Banko, who has been appointed to a research associate position in the Dept of Middle Eastern Studies for 2015-2018, funded by the Pears Foundation. Lauren will be researching the construction of Palestinian identity and citizenship during the Mandate Period. Further information. Conference, JRRI ‘The Other Within’: The Hebrew and Jewish Collections of the John Rylands Library. This is advance notice for the John Rylands Research Institute Conference 2016, which will take place 27–29 June 2016 at The John Rylands Library, Deansgate, Manchester. Further information. Middle Eastern Studies update Modern Hebrew. The Centre is delighted to announce that, in part because of external funding, the School has agreed to support the continuation of modern Hebrew language modules for years 1-3. While there are no plans to reinstate the withdrawn modern Hebrew degree programmes, the good news is that modern Hebrew should continue to be taught at Manchester, where it was first introduced in the 1930s. More information to follow. Research Associate for Hebrew Collection Dr Stefania Silvestri, John Rylands Research Institute. As a new member of the project led by Dr Renate Smithuis entitled ‘Catalogue of Codices, Scrolls, and Other Texts in Hebrew Script in the University of Manchester (John Rylands) Library’ Dr. Silvestri will be cataloguing the documents in Hebrew script within the Library’s wider collection, whilst developing access to and actively promoting research and learning activities based on these materials. Further information. New CJS fellow Ladino and klezmer. Richard Fay is a Lecturer in Education with research interests in the narratives of elderly Sephardim living in Bulgaria regarding the linguistic aspects of their life stories with special focus on Ladino. He also researches, teaches and performs klezmer and was the co-founder and co-director (with Ros Hawley) of the Michael Kahan Kapelye, the university’s own klezmer ensemble. Further information.