The atrocities that occurred on October 7, 2023, have proven to be part of a much larger chain of traumatic, globe-shaking events that are still unfolding, and it will take years to unpack their significance and consequences. At the same time, the effort to make sense of their impact is already underway. This forum, convened by Rebecca Kobrin, shares preliminary reflections on October 7 as a historical turning point by five Jewish studies scholars:

JQR 114.3 is now available, online and in print. 

In this issue:

Elyashiv Cherlow brings new light to the provenance of a passage of the Jerusalem Talmud based on newly identified Cairo Geniza manuscript fragments.

In an essay published in 2018—before Covid and the disasters that have followed in the years since—literary scholars Elana Gomel and Vered Karti Shemtov pinpointed a theme in contemporary Israeli literature that they referred to as “limbotopia.” A utopia is a fictional society where people flourish. A dystopia is a society suffering under oppression and injustice.

As I think readers of this blog are likely to know, the horrifying attack of October 7 and the war that followed have loomed over the entire semester at Penn. The events in the Middle East have brought shock, grief, and trauma to the university as well as outbursts of prejudice and hatred, suspicion, misunderstanding, feelings of isolation and marginalization, and—as the world knows—institutional turmoil.

The integration of Jews into the university is one of the great success stories of modern American culture and Jewish life. Penn was at the forefront of this success story, with the first Jewish Students’ Association formed here in 1924. But recent events at Penn and at other campuses have led to accusations that the university has been too tolerant of antisemitism and become less welcoming to Jews.