Conference on Jewish History and the History of Emotions (Early Modern and Modern Periods)
June 16 and 17, 2025
University of Cologne, Germany

Debating the question of language and the place of Hebrew in the modern synagogue at the rabbinical conference in Brunswick in 1844, the well-known reformer Abraham Geiger advocated for holding prayers in German: “All our deepest feelings and emotions,” he proclaimed, “our most sacred relationships, our most sublime thoughts find expression” in one’s mother tongue. One way to read Geiger’s words is as a pithy example of how social relations and ideas—or notions such as “assimilation” and “enlightenment”—are both expressed through and shaped by emotions. Emancipation and the challenges it created for modern Jews will thus look differently if understood as the emergence of a new emotional regime rather than, as was long the case, as a “contract,” in which Jews sacrificed, following the logic of something akin to a “rational choice” paradigm, a sense of self and autonomy in exchange for integration and acceptance.

If emotions are, in the words of literary critic Sianne Ngai, “unusually knotted or condensed ‘interpretations of predicaments,’” then a history of emotions may offer a new view not only of the history of enlightenment and emancipation, but of Jewish history more broadly. Our aim, therefore, is to bring together a group of scholars to explore how the history of emotions may open up fresh perspectives on early modern and modern Jewish history, what new questions it might raise, and how it might challenge established patterns of Jewish historical thinking. What can be gained, for example, if we think of Jews as an “emotional community,” to employ Barbara Rosenwein’s term, or if we consider early modern and modern Jewish discourses—whether in the religious, commercial, or political realms—as expressions of certain emotional regimes, or “emotives,” in the word of William Reddy?

The history of emotions has recently gained traction within Jewish history—witness Derek Penslar’s widely discussed book on Zionism as an emotional state—and the time seems right for taking stake of where the field stands, what potentials (and pitfalls) the approach of the history of emotions presents for Jewish history, and what future research directions might look like. For the purpose of this conference, we will focus on work related to the early modern and modern periods, and on historical research in particular, aware of the fact that other scholars have already done a great deal of work on emotions in ancient and rabbinic Judaism, not to mention the rich body of research on emotions within the field of literary studies.

Proposals could address topics including, but not limited to:
- Lachrymose and neo-lachrymose trends in Jewish history
- Periodization in Jewish history from the vantage point of emotions
- Jewish law and emotions
- The emotions of Emancipation
- Emotions in Jewish mysticism
- Jews within the economy: an emotional history
- Jewish women and Jewish men in light of the affective turn
- Communal identity, communal memory, and emotions

This international conference will be hosted at the Martin-Buber-Institute for Jewish Studies at the University of Cologne, Germany, in cooperation with the Center for Jewish Studies of the Graduate Center, CUNY. The conference will convene in Cologne on Monday and Tuesday, June 16 and 17, 2025. We anticipate the publication of an edited volume, featuring a revised and expanded version of papers presented at the conference.

Please submit a 250-300-word abstract and a short CV (3 pages max) to jewsandemotions@gmail.com by May 10.

We will cover local hotel accommodation and meals. Participants are expected to use their own research funds to cover travel expenses to and from Cologne. Additional support for travel expenses will be available for a limited number of graduate students and postdoctoral scholars, so please indicate when submitting your proposal if you require support for train or airfare.

Matthias Lehmann (University of Cologne)
Francesca Bregoli (Queens College and The Graduate Center, CUNY)