Katz Center Special Events

• Meet incoming 2013-2014 fellows, on the fall's theme Constructing Borders and Crossing Boundaries: Social, Cultural, and Religious Change in Early Modern Jewish History
• The call for applications is now posted for the 2014-2015 fellowship year, New Perspectives on the Origins, Context, and Diffusion of the Academic Study of Judaism

The Katz Center and Hebrew University of Jerusalem 2013 Summer School for Graduate Students: Jewish Learning through the Ages

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Katz Center are delighted to announce the 2013 summer school in Judaic studies for students pursuing doctorates in all fields of Judaic studies. The summer school is held alternately in Jerusalem and Philadelphia, and was launched in Israel at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Jerusalem in 2012. The 2013 session will be based in Philadelphia (JULY 16-25, 2013) at the Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. It will meet in Philadelphia for six days before moving to New York City for three days and include intense learning in seminar settings, special programs and lectures, and visits to historical and cultural sites.

We Bid Farewell to the 13th Century

It was sad last week to end a wonderful year on Institutionalization, Innovation, and Conflict in 13th-Century Judaism and see the 2012-2013 fellows head back to their home institutions one by one.  It was a productive fellowship marked by interdisciplinary dialogue and incredible learning. The end of year conference was a success; fellows Elisheva Baumgarten, Ruth Mazo Karras, and Katelyn Mesler will edit a volume that will pull together essays developed over the course of the year.

Jews, Friars, and Beguines: Narrating the History of Thirteenth-Century Europe

University of Notre Dame Professor John Van Engen delivered the 16th annual Joseph and Rebecca Meyerhoff lecture on Thursday April 25, 2013, titled "Jews, Friars, and Beguines: Narrating the History of Thirteenth-Century Europe"

Patterns of Relations: Jews, Christians, and Muslims in the Thirteenth-Century — 19th Annual Gruss Colloquium in Judaic Studies, April 29–30, 2013

The 19th Annual Gruss Colloquium in Judaic Studies Patterns of Relations: Jews, Christians, and Muslims in the Thirteenth-Century was held April 29–30, 2013 at the University of Pennsylvania. For an overview of the event details, speakers, and locations, please view the event program, or click here to download the printable version.

The Katz Center in the News

Click here for Heather A. Davis's Penn Current profile of the Center: "Rare Finds at Katz Center" (April 18, 2013).

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New collaboration with the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington D.C 

Folger Institute Spring Symposium 2014:  Jewish Books in Christian Europe

In collaboration with the Katz Center, the Folger Institute will host a spring symposium on the impact of western European print culture on the issues of social, cultural, and religious change in early modern Europe that are the focus of our 2013-14 fellowship program (Constructing Borders and Crossing Boundaries: Social, Cultural and Religious Change in Early Modern Jewish History). Folger holdings will help determine case studies for discussion. Further details will be available on this website in the fall.

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We are thrilled to announce that three past fellows have just won the 2013 Israel Prize: Yosef Kaplan was honored in the category of the study of the history of Israel, Chava Turniansky of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem won the prize for the study of Jewish languages and literature, and Yoram Bilu was honored in the field of sociology and anthropology. In the ceremony on Independence day (April 16, 2013), Israel's Education Minister Shai Piron said: “Society is measured by the importance of its intellectuals and leaders.” We could not agree more. Mazal tov to all three!

Recent acquisition by the Katz Center Library: A 19th-century Livorno Haggadah

The Katz Center library is pleased to announce the acquisition in July of 2011 of a rare Passover Haggadah: Hagadah shel pesah’ im ha-pitaron be-lashon sefaradi printed in Livorno in 1837 by Jacob Tubiana.

This lavishly illustrated Seder hagadah was printed in Livorno, a port city on the western coast of Tuscany, by Jacob Tubiana in 1837.  What marks this edition as special is not only its scarcity but the fact that it bears witness to the emerging position and leading role Livorno would play during the 19th and early 20th centuries as the chief supplier of Hebrew, Ladino and Judeo-Arabic printings to the Jewish communities of the Ottoman Empire.  By the middle of the 19th century, Livorno had risen to become the fifth largest center of Hebrew printing in the world and one of the largest exporters of Ladino editions.   While the Livornese Hebrew printers developed their own formats, they freely borrowed from earlier imprints both in terms of typography and illustrations.  The Hebrew type used by Tubiana, for example, is said to have been produced in the style of “Amsterdam [Hebrew] letters,” renowned for their beauty and distinctiveness.   The illustrations are reproduced from the Judeo-Spanish (Ladino) version printed in Venice 1629.  Among the borrowed illustrations are the thirteen-panel stages of the Seder, the ten-panel depiction of the ten plagues, and one of Pharaoh bathing in the blood of Israelite infants to cure himself of leprosy--all originally in Venetian editions.  In this way a 19th century Livornese Hebrew printer gave new life to a Sephardic printing tradition begun in 17th century Venice that had for all intents and purposes ceased to exist by the end of the 18th century.

Purchased from London rare books dealer Samuel Gedge with the generous support of Gilbert Matthews, W,'70.

Image: Seen here are panels depicting the search for and burning of hametz.