Oren
Cohen Roman

University of Haifa
Thomas and Elissa Ellant Katz Fellow

Research Topic

Jews Singing the News: The Performance of Older Yiddish “Historical” Songs

Bio

Oren Cohen Roman is faculty in the Department of Jewish History at the University of Haifa. He researches Yiddish literature from its medieval beginnings up to the twentieth century, as well as the cultural history of Ashkenazi Jews. He is particularly interested in the relationship between text and music and the aural aspect of reading. His current research focuses on sung texts in older Yiddish such as news ballads known as “historical songs” and epic poetry on biblical themes.

Selected publications

“From Thieves to Martyrs: The Story of Two Jews from Early Modern Moravia,” Jewish History (forthcoming).  

Joshua and Judges in Yiddish Verse: Four Early Modern Epics. An Annotated Edition (De Gruyter, 2022). 

Fellowship

2023-2024

This year is 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.