Center for Advanced Judaic Studies

University of Pennsylvania

Twelfth Annual

Gruss Colloquium in Judaic Studies

THE JEWISH BOOK: MATERIAL TEXTS AND COMPARATIVE CONTEXTS (pdf link)

MONDAY, MAY 1

Logan Hall, Terrace Room, University of Pennsylvania, 249 S. 36th St.

11:15 am Greetings

David Ruderman

Director, Center for Advanced Judaic Studies

Joseph Farrell

Associate Dean for Arts and Letters

11:30 am The Author

Chair: Vera Moreen, CAJS

Cedric Cohen Skalli, Tel-Aviv University/CAJS

Authorship in the Age of Early Jewish Print: The 16th-Century Printed Editions and Manuscripts of Isaac Abravanel

Chava Turniansky, Hebrew University/CAJS

Leyb ben Oyzer’s The Story of Shabbetai Zevi: The Intention of an Author and Its Realization

Menahem Blondheim, Hebrew University/CAJS

“Submerged Scholars”: Three Hebrew Author-Printers in New York at the Turn of the 19th Century

Respondent: Israel Bartal, Hebrew University

1:30 pm Lunch Break

3:00 pm The Censor

Chair: Ann Moyer, University of Pennsylvania

Malachi Beit-Arie, Hebrew University/CAJS and

Nurit Pasternak, Hebrew University

Secular State Censorship in 15th-Century Florence: The Expurgation of Hebrew Manuscripts by Officials of Lorenzo il Magnifico

Joseph Hacker, Hebrew University/CAJS

16th-Century Jewish Censorship in Italy

Piet van Boxel, Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies/CAJS

A Christian Version of the Talmud: Censorship of the Jewish Book under Pope Gregory XIII

Federica Francesconi, University of Haifa/CAJS

Culture, Reading and Censorship of Modenese Jewry in the 16th and 17th Centuries

Respondents: Amnon Raz-Krakotzkin, Ben-Gurion University/CAJS

Peter Stallybrass, University of Pennsylvania

6:30 pm Dinner (by invitation)

Center for Advanced Judaic Studies

420 Walnut Street

TUESDAY, MAY 2

Logan Hall, Terrace Room, 249 S. 36th St.

9:30 am The Printer

Chair: Stefanie Siegmund, University of Michigan/CAJS

Michela Andreatta, University of Venice

Hebrew Devotional Typography in 17th Century Italy: Prayer Books Printed for the Shomerim la-Boker Societies

Shlomo Berger, University of Amsterdam/CAJS

The Ever-Evolving Tradition of Yiddish Book Production in Early Modern Europe

Francesca Bregoli, University of Pennsylvania/CAJS

The Business of Printing in Livorno in the Late 18th Century

Respondent: Arthur Kiron, University of Pennsylvania

11:30 am Lunch Break

1:00 pm The Jewish Reader

Chair: Talya Fishman, University of Pennsylvania

Jean Baumgarten, Ecole des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales/CAJS

Writing and Reading Ethical-Mystical Texts in Yiddish (17th-18th Centuries)

Moshe Rosman, Bar-Ilan University/CAJS

Who Read Hebrew Books in Early Modern Ashkenaz?

Iris Parush, Ben-Gurion University/CAJS

Reading and Writing As a Male Rite of Passage in 19th-Century

Eastern-European Jewish Society

Respondent: Benjamin Nathans, University of Pennsylvania

3:00 pm Coffee

3:30 pm The Christian Reader

Chair: Margo Todd, University of Pennsylvania

Joanna Weinberg, University of Oxford, Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies/CAJS

The Crucifixion of Jesus According to the Jews: Isaac Casaubon's Reconstruction

Jason Rosenblatt, Georgetown University

On John Selden’s Books

Scott Mandelbrote, Cambridge University

Jewish Books and Christian Readers in Late 17th-Century Cambridge: The Case of Isaac Newton

Respondent: Anthony Grafton, Princeton University/CAJS

6:00 pm Dinner & Evening Program (by invitation)

Bodek Lounge, Houston Hall, 3417 Spruce Street

Piet Van Boxel, Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies/CAJS

Confessions of a Judaic Librarian

WEDNESDAY, MAY 3

Logan Hall, Terrace Room, 249 S. 36th St.

9:00 am The Material Text and Jewish Cultural History

Chair: Evelyn Cohen, Jewish Theological Seminary/CAJS

Naomi Feuchtwanger-Sarig, CAJS

Image, Custom and Text in the Passover Haggadah

Adam Shear, University of Pittsburgh/CAJS

Reading the Kuzari: Text and Book

Joel Hecker, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College/CAJS

The Magic of the Book: Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh in the Modern World

Respondent: David Stern, University of Pennsylvania/CAJS

11:00 am Coffee

11:45 am Concluding Session

Chair: David Ruderman, University of Pennsylvania/CAJS

Anthony Grafton, Princeton University/CAJS

Joseph Hacker, Hebrew University/CAJS

Moshe Rosman, Bar Ilan University/CAJS

Joanna Weinberg, University of Oxford, Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies/CAJS

1:15pm Concluding Luncheon (by invitation)

Houston Hall, Hall of Flags

University of Pennsylvania, 3417 Spruce St.