Medieval Jewish Controversy Conference

Image source: gallica.bnf.fr / BnF

Booking

Monday 21 June

Tuesday 22 June

Wednesday 23 June

Booking is done by day- if you plan to attend all three days, please book them all.

The conference will be held on Zoom. Please register on Eventbrite, the Zoom links will be sent before each day’s sessions.

About

This year’s IJS conference marks the 1100th anniversary of a famous controversy about the Jewish calendar that led the communities of the entire Near East and Egypt to celebrate Passover and the other festivals, through two full years, on different dates. This conference will investigate all kinds of controversies in medieval Jewish society: how medieval Jews argued, how their controversies were managed, how they sought to get them resolved. We will discuss sectarian, doctrinal, and halakhic controversies; private conflicts in daily life; and Jewish and Christian controversies. We will consider how communal authorities and non-Jewish rulers became involved in the resolution of controversies in all parts of medieval Jewry.

Programme

Monday 15:00 – 17:30

Session 1: Resolving Conflicts: Courts, Crown, and Other Institutions

15:00 Welcome and Introduction Sacha Stern, UCL
15:15 – 16:00 How to Handle Conflict as an Islamicate Jew Marina Rustow (Princeton University)
Break
16:30 – 17:00 Controversy, conflict and resolution: Royal involvement in Jewish disputes in the medieval Crown of Aragon Miri Fenton (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
17:00 – 17:30 Beseeching the Queen: Contextualizing Queenly Intervention in the “Talmud Trial” of Paris, 1240 Hannah Teddy Schachter (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

Tuesday 12:00 – 18:00

Session 2: Halakhic Controversy 

12:00 – 12:45 Food Fights: Controversies about Kosher Laws in Medieval Provence Pinchas Roth (Bar-Ilan University
12:45 – 13:30 A Controversy between Scholars: Utilizing Secondary Halakhic Texts to Decide the Law in 13th-century France Judah Galinsky (Bar-Ilan University
Break
13:45 – 14:30 The Controversy over Art in the Medieval Jewish Community of Cologne Effie Shoham (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev)
Break

Session 3: Sectarian and Doctrinal Controversy 

15:45 – 16:30 Karaite-Rabbanite conflicts over kindling fire on the Sabbath day Gregor Schwarb (SOAS University of London)
Break
16:45 – 17:30 Judah Hadassi as an Arbiter of Karaite Controversies Daniel J. Lasker (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev)
17:30 – 18:15 Moses Taku and Judah the Pious: The Controversy over Anthropomorphism in Germanic Lands during the 13th Century Ephraim Kanarfogel (Yeshiva University)

Wednesday 13:00 – 18:00

Session 4: Private Conflicts in Medieval Ashkenaz

ERC project: Beyond the Elite: Jewish Daily Life in Medieval Ashkenaz
13:00 – 13:20 Acknowledging Loans, Contesting Debt: Jewish-Christian Debt Litigation in 14th Century Frankfurt am Main Aviya Doron (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
13:20 – 13:40 - Living Together and Solving Problems Together: Everyday Controversy in Shared Urban Homes Albert Kohn (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
13:40 – 14:00 "Going Back Home"? Jewish-Christian Conflicts over Real Estate in 14th-century Paris Nureet Dermer (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
Break
14.15 – 14:45 Controversies and Scholarly Conventions: A Perspective from "Daily Life" Elisheva Baumgarten (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

14:45 - 15:20 Respondent (followed by discussion): Eve Krakowski (Princeton University)

Session 5: Jewish and Christian Controversies 

16:00 – 16:45 Elias of Nisibis and Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd of Antioch: 11th-century Eastern Christian perspectives on Jewish and Christian calendar controversies Sacha Stern (UCL)
16:45 – 17:30 The Disputation of Majorca (1286): Continuity and Change in the Jewish-Christian Controversy Alex Novikoff  (Kenyon College)
17:30 – 18:15 Concluding discussion