Yiddish @ Sydney

Just in case you've been under a rock, or are one of those who refuse to participate in "low culture", the Coen brothers (No Country for Old Men) will write and direct the film adaptation of Michael Chabon's murder mystery, The Yiddish Policemen's Union for Columbia Pictures.

What? You haven't read it yet? Seriously? Well, then, I bet you haven't read his Pulitzer Prize winning The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay either.

By the way, it is not an "anti-Zionist" book as purported in the Iranian (yes, Iran) press. Alternate Universe (AU for aca/fans), yes, but not anti-Zionist.

First Heidelberg International Conference in Modern Yiddish Studies
Yiddish Poets and the Soviet Union, 1917-1948
Hochschule für Jüdische Studien, 1-3 December 2008

The Hochschule für Jüdische Studien Heidelberg, in cooperation with the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, has pleasure in announcing the first of a proposed biennial conference in the field of Modern Yiddish
literature to be held in Heidelberg, 1-3 December 2008. The theme of this year’s inaugural conference — “Yiddish Poets and the Soviet Union, 1917-1948” — aims to be as inclusive and wide-ranging as possible.

The mapping of Yiddish-Russian Jewish literature in revolutionary and post-revolutionary Russia/Soviet Union demands re-evaluation in the light of recent historical research. Integrally part of this reassessment is the work
of those Yiddish poets in the Diaspora who had strong ideological ties with the Soviet Union. Their poetry reflected a Utopian belief in the world’s first socialist state which was also committed to supporting and promoting
Yiddish language and culture. Until ideological pressures under Stalin prevented it, Soviet Yiddish poets also interacted with their Yiddish peers abroad as well as with Russian/Soviet poets. The history of theses cross-
cultural relationships has yet to be written. These complex and often neglected interactions are an essential part of the literary history of modern Yiddish poetry.

Papers are therefore invited that examine Yiddish poetry in its varied and multifaceted experimental years, its modernistic approaches and reworking of aesthetic influences and modes, its debts to Russian/Ukrainian and, more
generally, to modern European poetry and prose, its themes and their elaboration in a time of upheaval, change and destruction. The theoretical foundation of Yiddish poetry in this period, as it appears in writings by
both Yiddish poets and literary critics, is equally important and invites closer research, as does the role and predicament of Yiddish poets in Soviet society.

A volume of selected and peer-reviewed papers which will include an updated biographical and bibliographical section will be published by the Hochschule für Jüdische Studien.Those interested in participating should submit a brief abstract of their papers (200 words) by 31 May 2008. Once the proposals have been received, further details will be sent to participants.
Papers can be delivered in English, Yiddish and German.

Daniela Mantovan
Conference Convenor
daniela.mantovan@hfjs.uni-heidelberg.de

INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP AND CONFERENCE

16-17 November 2008
New York City

Organized by the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies, New York University. Supported by The Blavatnik Family Foundation, Corinne P. and Maurice R. Greenberg Foundation, and The Starr Foundation

On November 16-17, 2008, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies and New York University's Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies are organizing an international
scholarly conference on Soviet Jewish Soldiers, Jewish Resistance, and Jews in the USSR during the Holocaust. This conference will take place in New York City at NYU's Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies.

Masses of rich material have become available since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, providing new insight into previously under-researched aspects of the Holocaust on Soviet territory. This joint conference will examine the Soviet Jewish experience during World War II and the Holocaust, including but not limited to: Soviet Jewish soldiers at home and abroad; representations of Jewish soldiers in press, literature, and films; contextual issues such as German, Axis, and Soviet policies and attitudes during the Holocaust; Soviet Jewish combatants in the struggle against Fascism; camps and ghettos in the Soviet Union; Soviet Jewish life and culture; collaboration as a Soviet and post-Soviet issue; and the Soviet Shoah and the evolution of Soviet Jewish consciousness.

Proposals are welcome from scholars in all relevant academic disciplines, including advanced graduate students. Applicants interested in presenting a paper should be currently researching or completing projects related to the above or to other themes that shed new light on an under-studied aspect of the Soviet Jewish experience during World War II. Successful candidates will be required to submit a copy of their presentation six weeks in advance of the conference, for circulation among all conference participants.

For applicants whose papers are accepted, the conference organizers will fund conference-related travel and lodging expenses.

The conference will be conducted in English.

If you would like to propose a paper for this conference, please send a cover letter, your curriculum vitae, and a one-page abstract of your proposed paper to: Dr. Suzanne Brown-Fleming, Senior Program Officer, Center
for Advanced Holocaust Studies, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20024-2126.

For queries, contact (202) 314-7802.

Application materials may also be emailed to
sbrown-fleming@ushmm.org or faxed to the attention of Dr. Brown-Fleming at 202-479-9726.

The deadline for receipt of proposals is 15 March 2008. Participants will be selected and notified no later than 15 April 2008.

Visit the website at http://www.ushmm.org/research/center

22-24 September 2008 in Duesseldorf

The XIth Symposium for Yiddish Studies in Germany will be held 22-24 September 2008 at the Heinrich Heine University Duesseldorf. This annual Symposium is organized alternately by the Yiddish programs at the universities of Trier and Duesseldorf and is intended to offer scholars the possibility to present their research, exchange ideas and put forward questions for discussion.

You are invited to submit abstracts for 20 min. papers until April 1, 2008.
Presentations can be held in Yiddish or German.

We have decided not to devote the symposium to a single topic in order not to exclude any of the fields of research within Yiddish Studies. Interdisciplinary papers with a connection to Yiddish Studies are welcome.

The symposium is open to all those interested in Yiddish Studies. A participation fee of 10 € is to be paid at the symposium itself. We ask participants to register in advance at the address below.

We are happy to answer question by mail, fax or e-mail.

Simon Neuberg (Professor of Yiddish Studies, University of Trier)
Marion Aptroot (Professor of Yiddish Studies, University of Duesseldorf)

Correspondence address:
Abteilung fuer Jiddische Kultur, Sprache und Literatur
Institut fuer Juedische Studien
Heinrich-Heine-Universitaet Duesseldorf
Universitaetsstr. 1
40225 Duesseldorf
Email: jiddisch@phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de
www.phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de/jiddisch

Come and meet with the historians, linguists and folklorists at the Vilnius Yiddish Institute – where Yiddish and other Jewish topics are being taught as part of the curriculum of Vilnius University, Lithuania’s premier center of higher learning. Travel to beautiful Riga and Kaunas, historic shtetls and the forests and fields between. The tour includes expert speakers and intimate, in-depth meetings and discussion with members of the Jewish Communities of Lithuania and Latvia, as well as prominent governmental leaders.

Vilne -- Yoneshik -- Zhager -- Riga -- Dvinsk -- Kovne -- Vilne
June 22 - July 2, 2008
Price per person: $ 2899
Single supplement: $670

Complete schedule is at the Momentum Tours' site

The Center for Jewish History recently completed a pilot project to digitize and make freely accessible online 40 Yiddish and Hebrew children's books, many of which are richly illustrated, from the
collections of two of the Center's Partners: The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, and the Yeshiva University Museum.

The collection, which is still growing rapidly and also includes books from other CJH partners, can be found online at: Children's Books Pilot Project

The books were digitized and made available by the Gruss Lipper Digital Laboratory, the Center's state-of-the-art in-house digital collections-building facility. In addition to making the children's books available through CJH Digital Collections, the books were also uploaded to the International Children's Digital Library (www.icdlbooks.org), thereby making them even more widely accessible to current and future generations.

The Children's Books Pilot Project at the Center for Jewish History was supported in part by funds from the Metropolitan New York Library Council (METRO) through the New York State Regional Bibliographic
Databases Program. Thanks to the success of this METRO-funded pilot project, the Center has since received a generous gift from the Morris and Alma Schapiro Fund to digitize a further 50 children's books.

Belofsky Fellowships in Holocaust Studies The University of Texas at
Dallas

The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) welcomes applications from exceptionally well-qualified holders of the Bachelor's or Master's degree for appointment as Belofsky Graduate Fellows in UTD's School of Arts and Humanities. Application from students pursuing the study of the Holocaust or modern Jewish culture or comparative perspectives on the American and European Jewish experience are particularly welcomed.

The School of Arts and Humanities offers Ph.D. degrees in Aesthetic Studies, History of Ideas, and Literary Studies, with each of them emphasizing interdisciplinary study and research. The Holocaust Studies Program In the School of Arts and Humanities spans of a multi-faceted curriculum, and is augmented and supported by the Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies, the Leah and Paul Lewis Chair in Holocaust Studies, the Burton C. Einspruch Holocaust Lecture Series, and the Arnold A. Jaffe Holocaust Book Collection. Belofsky Fellows will have the
opportunity to pursue doctoral studies under the supervision of Dr. Zsuzsanna Ozsvath or Dr. Nils Roemer.

Belofsky Fellows receive 12-month stipends of $20,000 along with complete remission of all UTD tuition and fees for up to five years, subject to satisfactory progress toward the Ph.D. degree. Fellows have no assigned teaching responsibilities or other work assignments, but may petition to teach classes in the latter years of their graduate study.

Applications should comprise a cover letter explaining your intentions, a CV, a sample of your writing, and two recommendation letters. Applications should be mailed to:
Debbie Pfister
The University of Texas at Dallas
Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies
800 W. Campbell Rd.,
Richardson, TX 75080-3021
972-883-2100
holocauststudies@utdallas.edu

Visit the website at http://www.utdallas.edu/holocaust

Miriam Isaacs (Univerisiy of Maryland, USA) is offering a 3 week study abroad course (upper level) for undergraduates, (3 credits) from May 25-June 13th in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. We will be based in Prague. Interested parties contact the Study Abroad Office, see following website for application information and costs:

U Maryland Study Abroad

The deadline is soon so if you are interested apply in the next couple of weeks.

Miriam Isaacs
Jewish Studies -- Yiddish Language and Culture
University of Maryland

The National Library of Israel, David and Fela Shapell Family Digitization Project is please to announce the opening to the public of a digitized version of the Frankfurt Memorbuch, one of the most important sources of genealogical data on German Jewry.

The Frankfurt Memorbuch is a massive 1073 page manuscript documenting the deaths of important members of the Jewish community of Frankfurt am Main, one of the most important communities of Germany Jewry, over
a period of almost 300 years (1628-1907).

The notations are generally in the form of the yizkor prayer "May God remember the soul of ..." followed by biographical data, much of which is a description of the piety and good qualities of the deceased.

The site includes page and chronological indexes (the entries in the manuscript itself are often not in exact chronological order) as well as an essay on the Memorbuch in both Hebrew and English by the late Cecil Roth (first published in 1965 and presented here with permission of the Cecil Roth Trust).

The digitized manuscript is presented in the DjVu format (plug-in required) which provides high quality, magnifiable images compressed into relatively small files for easy downloading. In order to view these images it is necessary to download and install (once) the free DjVu viewer program.

To access the Memorbuch:

Memorbuch -- English site
or
Memorbuch -- Hebrew site