The Katz Center mourns the passing of Louise Strauss (March 31, 1960–February 27, 2024) who died after a long illness. A member of our board of advisors, Louise’s commitment to the Center, its collections, and to the field of Jewish studies was profound; in this she followed in the footsteps of her parents, Ione Apfelbaum Strauss, the former chair of the board of the Katz Center, and Hilary Strauss, also an avid Penn supporter. One of Louise’s last acts as a Katz Center board member was to endow the Center’s rare book room in memory of her parents.

JQR 113.4 is now available, online and in print. 

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JQR 113.3 is now available, online and in print. 

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Barry Wimpfheimer shows that the Mishnah stacks legal couplets like building blocks to produce ever-richer conceptual understandings and train the reader to mine it for such meaning.

There is just something about music. Everyone seems to understand its language, as rhythm and voice affect mind, body, and spirit at once. Music brings out a depth of human feeling that, let’s face it, is often tempered in academic contexts. But with the coming year at the Katz Center devoted to global musical cultures, we—and our audiences in and outside of the academy—will have the opportunity to enjoy Jewish musical expression to the fullest, with a robust lineup of online and in-person performances, interviews, and talks. 

The Jewish Culture and Contexts series is published by the University of Pennsylvania Press in association with the Katz Center. The series is co-edited by Steven Weitzman, Francesca Trivellato (Institute for Advanced Study), Shaul Magid (Dartmouth College), and Beth Berkowitz (Barnard College), and its goal is to deepen understanding of Jewish culture within the specific historical and geographic contexts in which it has developed. Broadly interdisciplinary, this series features monographs in all areas of Judaic studies.

JQR 113.2 is now available, online and in print. 

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Jonathan Kaplan’s research note suggests that tannaitic legends about Serah, the long-lived daughter of the patriarch Asher, derive from much earlier tradition, likely Second Temple–era in origin.

The Katz Center looks forward to a 2023–24 fellowship year devoted to the study of sound and music as a part of Jewish life, and we are delighted to announce the cohort of scholars who will join us for a year of research, conversation, and engagement with the Penn community and with the public.

Although it may seem like our staff brings a zealous, 24/7, laser-sharp focus to their work at the Katz Center, some (ok, all) have talents and interests that reach beyond our walls.

JQR 113.1 is now available, online* and in print. 

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