Report on participation in the 15th World Congress of Jewish Studies and bibliographical research in Jerusalem
02. - 06.08.2009
In Summer 2009, from the 2nd to the 6th of August, the 15th World Congress of Jewish Studies was held at the Mount Scopus Campus of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The Congress is organized every four years by the World Union of Jewish studies. This year the conference hosted about 1500 presentations, mostly grouped in panels of three contributions, offered in five thematic divisions from Sunday to Thursday over the whole day (9 a.m. til 8 p.m.). There were also different conferences and meetings of academic associations and research groups on specific topics included in the frame of this conference. Additionally the organizing staff offered different musical events, workshops, screenings of rare-seen movies, guided tours and exhibitions throughout the week. Alltogether there were about 4000 people participating in the conference as presenters and audience. One special feature of this Jerusalem congress is the great interest of a non-academic, but learned and critical audience who are attending a lot of the presentations given.
The conference started on Sunday and was officially opened with a festive opening ceremony and a concert in the evening, accompanied by a delectable dinner-buffet in the garden of the campus.
My presentation was scheduled to the second day, on Monday morning. I took part I a panel called “The poetics of the Pre-Modern Hebrew Folktale” which belonged to the section of Folklore, Literature and Ethnography. The host of this panel was Prof. Jacob Elbaum, a renowned scholar of rabbinics and Jewish literature, with whom I had the opportunity to discuss my dissertation in summer 2008. The two preceding talks were held in Hebrew (the other English contributor was absent). Nogah Cohen touched upon the topic of identity and gender in the apocryphal Book of Judith. Rella Kushevsky discussed the cultural function of a late Midrash (Midrash on the Ten Commandements) and its discursive interplay with the Italian environment and especially with Boccaccio`s Decamerone.
My presentation had the title Ways of Wisdom and Narrative Critique in the Medieval Ben Sira and discussed the cultural implications of a masterpiece of rabbinic literature. Since the 11th century, the medieval tradition of Ben Sira (Toldot Ben Sira) has been transmitted in differing versions. Both of them, with a great stylistic variety and creativeness, develop a story of the Jewish Wunderkind Ben Sira, whose enormous though ethical indifferent knowledge and wisdom is tested by solving practical theological and moral difficulties. Within this story, we find a complex narrative critique on doubtful rabbinic hermeneutics and exegetical solutions. Both aspects are skilfully interwoven into the story about birth and life of Ben Sira. The story focuses on Ben Sira´s process of changing his value concepts. This process reflects on a higher level the task of choice between change, open-mindedness and preservation of Jewish identity. Thus, the two versions individually combine storytelling with a reconsideration of tradition and its impact on a lifestyle conducted by wisdom.
The goal of my presentation was to show how the medieval Ben Sira-story finds a balance between theoretical and practical wisdom, how the two versions refer to Wisdom Literature and how they can be read as a Jewish Bildungsroman. I gave special attention to the ideological und historical implications of the medieval Ben Sira and his apocryphal precursor in Sirach within their respective cultures and societies.
This invitation to the Congress was a first opportunity to present insights, gained while working on my M.A.-thesis, within an academic frame. I also appreciated the chance to share these thoughts with other scholars and to discuss it with experts in this area of research.
During the week I attended many interesting and inspiring presentations in various sections. Besides talks related to rabbinic literature I also heard presentations concerned with History of Jewish thought, Modern Hebrew literature, Jewish Mysticism and modern Israeli society and culture. The Conference provided a frame for meeting and discussing research questions with colleagues from all over the world. I had the opportunity to meet with my former teachers of Hebrew, rabbinics and Literature in Jerusalem, when some of them attended my lecture and gave me helpful remarks.
Before the Conference I have been already for some weeks in Jerusalem for archival research. Here I used the facilities in the National Library and the University Library of the Hebrew University. I completed biographical research by the help of some new publications or works exclusively available in these institutions. As always the atmosphere of intellectual exchange at the National Library contributed also to an interesting stay and provided encounters with scholars as well.