Simon-Dubnow-Institut für jüdische Geschichte und Kultur an der Universität Leipzig
Sunday, July 2
9:00 a.m. INTRODUCTION
Dan Diner, Leipzig / Jerusalem
9:30–10:45 a.m.
I. FRAMING THE QUESTION
Chair: Dan Diner
David Ruderman, Philadelphia
Why Periodization Matters
On Early Modern Jewish Culture and the Haskalah
Shmuel Feiner, Ramat Gan
Discovering the Jewish New World
Haskalah and Secularization in the 18th Century
11:15 a.m.–12:45 p.m.
II. SECULARIZATION – THEORIES AND TENDENCIES
Chair: Shmuel Feiner
Susanne Zepp, Leipzig
Literary Discourse and the Modernization of the Jews
The Case of Late Medieval Spain
Andrea Schatz, Princeton
Departing from Sinai
The Language of Secularization in the Controversies of the Early Haskalah
Todd Endelman, Ann Arbor
Theories of Secularization and the Transformation of the Jews
An Overview
2:30–4:30 p.m.
III. ITALY AND SEPHARDIC AMSTERDAM: ROOTS OF JEWISH MODERNITY
Chair: David Ruderman
Adam Shear, Pittsburgh
“The Italian and Berlin Haskalah” Revisited
Thinking about the Cultural Origins of Jewish Modernity
Francesca Bregoli, Philadelphia
Jewish Modernity and the Case of Italian Jewry
A Historiographical Survey
Adam Sutcliffe, London
Seventeenth-Century Sephardic Amsterdam
On the Originary Myths of Jewish Modernity
Yosef Kaplan, Jerusalem
Secularizing the Portuguese Jews
Integration and Orthodoxy in Early Modern Judaism
5:00–6:30 p.m.
IV. THE MODERNIZATION OF ASHKENAZI JEWRY:
LANGUAGE, TEXTUALITY AND PRINT CULTURE
Chair: Todd Endelman
Shlomo Berger, Amsterdam
Yiddish on the Borderline of Modernity
Language and Literature in Early Modern Ashkenazi Culture
Pawel Maciejko, Jerusalem
Print Culture and Jewish Religious Controversy
Two Debates of the 18th Century
Elchanan Reiner, Tel Aviv
Talmud and Hermeneutics
Changing Learning Patterns in 18th Century Traditional Jewry
Monday, July 3
9:00–10:30 a.m.
V. INDICATORS OF MODERNITY
Chair: Yosef Kaplan
Michael G. Müller, Halle
Roads Towards Modernity?
The 18th Century in Central and Eastern Europe
Israel Bartal, Jerusalem
On Periodization, Mysticism and Enlightenment
The Case of RaMHa"l
Yossi Chajes, Haifa
‘Entzauberung’ of the Jewish World?
Perceiving Magic in Early Modern Judaism
11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
VI. MYSTICISM AND MODERNITY
Chair: Israel Bartal
Ada Rapoport-Albert, London
Female Liberation in Frankist Doctrine
An Anonymous Manuscript from Prague c. 1800
Jacob Barnai, Haifa
A Turning Point in Jewish History?
On Sabbatianism and its Impact
Moshe Rosman, Ramat Gan
Jewish Modernization in Traditional Guise
The Case of Hasidism
2:00–3:30 p.m.
VII. DEFINING MODERNITY – THE CASE OF POLISH JEWRY
Chair: Michael G. Müller
Gershon Hundert, Montreal
Polish Jewry and Questions of “Modernity”
On the Periodization of Jewish History
Adam Teller, Haifa
On the Threshold of Modernity
Jewish Proposals to the Four Years' Sejm
Marcin Wodziński, Wrocław
'Civilized' or 'Modernized'?
Debating the Reform of Polish Jewry, 1788–1830
4:00–5:30 p.m.
VIII. MODERNIZING MATERIAL LIFEWORLDS
Chair: Ada Rapoport-Albert
Jonathan Karp, Binghamton
Kings of the Age?
Dating Jewish Modernity in Economic History
François Guesnet, Potsdam
Guides of the Perplexed
At the Sources of Modern Jewish Politics
Dirk Sadowski, Leipzig
Diligent Children with Proper Haircuts
Disciplining Discourses in the Haskalah
5:45–6:45 p.m.
CONCLUDING DISCUSSION
Chair: Dan Diner
Israel Bartal, Shmuel Feiner, David Ruderman
and conference participants