Elchanan
Reiner
Research Topic
Shrine and Pilgrimage in Historical and Anthropological Perspectives: The Cult of Rabbi Shimon Bar-Yohai
Changing Attitudes toward Knowledge in Eastern European Jewry of the Early Modern Period; Popular Religion and Holy Shrines in the Land of Israel during the Middle Ages
Between Manuscript and Printed Book: Scholarly Culture in the Ashkenazi Culture in the Early Modern Period
Bio
Elchanan Reiner is Professor of Jewish History at Tel Aviv University. His research focuses on the cultural history of Ashkenazi, especially Eastern European Jewry in the Early Modern Period. He is particularly interested in the beginning of the printed culture in the Ashkenazi milieu, the history of the Hebrew book and the history of the Early Modern Yeshivot and scholarship ("Lamdanut"). His article “No Jew should learn anything but the Talmud alone': Dispute over Books and Forbidden Books in 16th Century Ashkenaz” appeared in 2011. This year at the center, Reiner will continue his research on the emergence of the printed book in Ashkenazi society in the early modern period.
