Cymbalista Jewish Heritage Center, Tel Aviv University
17:00-19:00 Opening Session
Chair: Simha Goldin
Greetings
Micaela Goren Monti (The Cukier, Goldstein-Goren Foundation)
Olivier Tourny (Centre de Recherche Français à Jérusalem)
Hannah Naveh (Dean of the Yolanda and David Katz Faculty of the Arts, Tel Aviv University)
Eyal Zisser (Dean of the Lester and Sally Entin Faculty of Humanities, Tel Aviv University)
Keynote Address
Moshe Idel (Hebrew University, Jerusalem): The Mystical Background of the Custom of Some Gestures in the Qedushah
Musical Interlude: Eitz Chaim Choir
Exhibition of Mapot of Belfort, France
Monday, May 14
Drachlis Hall, Gilman 496, Tel Aviv University
08:30-10:30 Minhag, Halacha, and Law
Chair:
Jeremy Cohen
Hila Ben-Eliyahu (Hebrew University, Jerusalem): Conflict of Laws and the 16th century Minhagim
Ira Bedzow and Michael Broyde (Emory University, Atlanta): The Role of Custom in the Jurisprudence of the Mishna Berura
Amir Mashiach (University Center of Samaria, Ariel): Anthropocentric Halakhic
Rulings and their Influence on the Minhag: Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach as a Case Study
Joseph Isaac Lifshitz (Shalem Center, Jerusalem): What is Bad in Bad Custom?
10:30-11:00 Break
David Shyovitz (Northwestern University, Evanston): Narrative, Theology, and Minhag: The Case of Kaddish Yatom
David M. Feuchtwanger (Hebrew University, Jerusalem): Reflections on the Political Philosophy Behind the Custom
11:00-13:30 Piyyut and Liturgy: Minhag in the Synagogue
Chair:
Tova Be'eri
Ariel Zinder (Hebrew University, Jerusalem): The Ma'amadot of Elul – Between Piyyut, Minhag and Halacha Sara Offenberg (Ben-Gurion University, Beer Sheva): Law and Order of Work:
Text, Image and Practice in the Seder Avodah in the London Miscellany
Annette Weber (Hochschule für Jüdische Studien, Heidelberg): The Ritual of Yizkor in Ashkenazic Synagogues since the Middle Ages
Eli Gurfinkel (Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan): Practices of Expressing the Thirteen Principles of Faith as Theological Decrees
Boaz Huss (Ben-Gurion University, Beer Sheva): "Even if one does not know what he says": On the History and Cultural Significance of the Ritualistic Reading of the Zohar
13:30-15:00 Break
15:00-17:30 Dissemination of Minhag Through Books and Images
Chair:
Naomi Feuchtwanger-Sarig
Marc Michael Epstein (Vassar College, Poughkeepsie): Visual Culture Made Manifest: From Depiction to Performance
Lucia Raspe (Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt): How Italian are the Yiddish Minhagim of 1589?: A Reassessment
Jean Baumgarten (CNRS, EHESS, Paris): The Sefer Minhagim (Venice 1593) and its Diffusion in the Ashkenazi World
Avriel Bar-Levav (Open University, Raanana): Customs of Death in Books and in Reality
Efraiym Yaacov (Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan): The Influence of the Printed Book on Yemenite Customs
17:30-18:00 Break
18:00-20:30 The Community and Creation of Minhag
Chair:
Eric Zimmer
Ephraim Kanarfogel (Yeshiva University, New York): "Fulfilling all Views" as a Means of Establishing Custom and Practice in the Writings of R. Meir of Rothenburg
Evelyn Cohen (Columbia University, New York): The Ritual Observance of Women as Seen in Illuminated Hebrew Manuscripts from Renaissance Italy
Michal Ben Ya'akov (Efrata College, Jerusalem): Widows in a Traditional Jewish Society: Tensions and Challenges
Hannah Mayne (University of Florida): The Influence of Feminism on Halachic Practice: A Visual Exploration of Women who have Chosen to Perform the Ritual Practice of Talit and Tefilin
13:30-15:00 Break
15:00-17:00 Objects and Custom
Chair:
William Gross
Orit Shamir and Naama Sukenik (Israel Antiquities Authority, Jerusalem): Qumran Textiles and the Garments of Qumran's Inhabitants Compared to the Jewish Society Around Them
Ephraim Nissan (University of London): Jewish Customs and the Festive Calendar in Relation to Baghdadi Vernacular Housing
Ariella Amar (Center for Jewish Art, Hebrew University): Living in Secret: Veiled Objects and Customs of the Jews of Mashhad
Felicia Waldman (University of Bucharest): Tombstone Art in Romanian Moldova and Bukovina
17:00-17:30 Break
17:30-19:30 Zohar, Kabbalah, Hassidism, and Mysticism
Chair:
Ron Margolin
Lihi Habas (Hebrew University, Jerusalem): The Use of Amulets in the Jewish Community of Late Antiquity in the Land of Israel: A Glass Pendant from the Hecht Collection as a Test Case
Morris Faierstein (Independent scholar, Rockville): The Zohar in the Brantshpigl (1596): The Influence of the Zohar on Early Modern Popular Jewish Customs and Practices
Gadi Sagiv (Hebrew University, Jerusalem): Hok LeIsrael and Eastern European Hasidim
Shaul Regev (Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan): Customs Renewed by R. Yosef Haim (Ben Ish Hai) in Iraq: Halacha and Kabbala
Wednesday, May 16
Centre de recherche Français à Jérusalem (3 Shimshon St., Jerusalem)
10:00-12:30 Life Cycle Events
Chair:
Shalom Sabar
Noa Sophie Kohler (Ben-Gurion University, Beer Sheva): Music as a Sign of Change: Joyful Occasions and Early Modern German Jews
Tali Berner (Tel Aviv University): Children and Life Cycle Rituals in Early Modern Ashkenaz
Ephraim Shoham (Ben-Gurion University, Beer Sheva): The Life and Death of Kidor: Exploring the Rite of Circumcising a Mamzer in Medieval and Early Modern Europe
Ya'acov Sarig (Open University, Raanana): Demons in the Yemenite Life Cycle: Folk Beliefs and Customs of Avoidance
Svetlana Amosova (European University, St. Petersburg): "A Child is Born": Notes on Jewish Birthing Traditions in Ukraine of the 20th Century
12:30-14:00 Break
14:00-16:00 Mourning Customs
Chair:
Shmuel Glick
Michael Avioz (Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan): Funerary Rites as Reflected in Josephus' Jewish Antiquities
Michal Ephratt (University of Haifa): "Minute of Silence": A Conceptual Model of an Israeli Ritual
Allan Amanik (New York University): "Because it is a Comfort...that He Should Rest with His Fathers": Family Burial and the Restructuring of New York's Jewish Communal Order, 1850-1859
Amy Weiss (New York University): To Plant Is To Remember: American Jewish Tree Planting Campaigns for Holocaust Memorials
16:30-17:30 Visit to the Wolfson Museum of Jewish Art, Hechal Shlomo
Hechal Shlomo (58 King George St., Jerusalem)
17:30-19:30 The Scope of Minhag: Orthodox, Conservative, Reform –
Roundtable Discussion
Congregation Moreshet Yisrael (4 Agron St. ,Jerusalem)
Moderator:
Aviad HaCohen
Musical Interlude: Ahuva Tamar Batz
David Golinkin (Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies)
Michael Meyer (Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion, Cincinnati)
