New publication
Jewish studies. CJS fellow Lindsey Taylor-Guthartz has published a paper in the European Journal of Jewish Studies titled, ‘“A Taste of the World to Come”: Time, Timelessness, and Community at Limmud Festival,".
New publication
Jewish studies. CJS fellow Rachel Lichtenstein has co-written a paper with Duncan Hay and Laura Vaughan titled, ‘Digital Mapping and Memory: Recollection and Mediation in Two Memory Maps of Anglo-Jewish History’, European Journal of Jewish Studies 19.1 (2025).
Jewish Chronicle Online Database
Jewish studies. The University of Manchester Library has acquires access to The Jewish Chronicle digitised archive for staff and students. The archives of Britain’s oldest weekly Jewish newspaper go back to 1841 and provide an extremely important window for historians of Anglo-Jewry. For details on how to access the collection using your university library account, contact kerry.mccall@manchester.ac.uk.
New publication
Jewish Studies. MA student Yehudis Fletcher has co-authored a chapter entitled 'Judaism: Our Revolt-ing Women: Bringing Women Together to Highlight Abuse in Jewish Communities Today' in Abuse in World Religions edited by Johanna Stiebert (Routledge, 2025), 7-23. Further information
BIAJS PhD ECR Seminar
British and Irish Association for Jewish Studies. The second BIAJS PGR/ECR seminar will take place on Thursday 29 May. Tim Spurrier (Bangor University) will present a paper titled, ‘“The Jewish Ladykillers” as Jewish Black Comedy: Yiddish Archetypes and Moral Irony in Postwar British Cinema’ and Michael Lipiner (Bangor University) will present a paper on Stanley Kubrick and the Holocaust. Each presentation will be followed by a Q&A, and all PhD and ECRs are welcome to attend the session. 5.30-6.30pm on Zoom. Join here.
Upcoming talk
Moshe Behar and Simon Podmore will discuss ‘Post-Holocaust Theologies of Peace and Justice: The Case of Israel and Palestine’. The event is organised by the Archbishop Desmond Tutu Centre for War and Peace Studies (Liverpool Hope University), Liverpool Cathedral, and Princes Road Synagogue. Thursday 8 May, 17:00-19:00 at the Princes Road Synagogue, Liverpool.
BIAJS PhD/ECR Seminar
British and Irish Association for Jewish Studies. The first BIAJS PhD/ECR seminar will take place on Thursday 1 May. The first speaker is Robert Costello (PhD University of Aberdeen) who will present the paper, ‘Reading the Songs of the Sage (4Q510 and 4Q511) as Nationalistic Hymns to Drive Away the Roman Gods Rather than Anti-Demonic Hymns’. All PhD students and ECRs are welcome to attend. The session will be followed by a Q&A on presenting to academic audiences and working on a PhD thesis. 5:30-6:30pm on Zoom. Join here.
Manchester Jewish Museum: Museum Evening Talks
Jewish Studies. Dr Tereza Ward (CJS) will give the next evening talk at the Manchester Jewish Museum titled, ‘“We are the Shaun Spadah boys!” Jewish Youth Culture in Interwar Manchester.’ Tereza’s presentation will be followed by a Q&A open to the audience and hosted by Sherry Ashworth. Thursday 24 April, 6-7:30pm at the Manchester Jewish Museum. Tickets and further information here.
Call for papers, PGR/ECR seminar series
British and Irish Association for Jewish Studies. BIAJS studentship holder Kerry McCall is organising an online seminar series for PhD and Early Career Researchers. The first three seminars will take place on Zoom on 1 May, 29 May, and 26 June from 5:30-6:30pm. All papers related to the field of Jewish Studies are welcome, and all PhD students and Early Career Researchers are welcome to attend the sessions. If you are interested in presenting, please send a short abstract (300 words max), along with a preference on which date you would like to present, to kerry.mccall@manchester.ac.uk by 11 April. Further information.
Studying Judaism Through Artefacts
Experiential learning. A selection of religious material objects in the archives of the John Rylands Research Institute and Library was presented to students on RELT71152 Jews among Christians and Muslims and RELT20572 Interpreting Religion. The study visit was led by CJS Fellows Prof Philip Alexander and Dr Katja Stuerzenhofecker in collaboration with curators at the John Rylands, Dr Zsófia Buda and Dr Tereza Ward. The objects highlighted global migrations and inter-religious encounters, aesthetic forms and ritual functions, what counts as religious, and the ethics of curatorial practices.
Autobiographical reading
Holocaust studies. Join us for Marianne Philip’s reading of her autobiographical account about her flight from Nazi Germany to Britain: This is My Life, My Voice (2018). The reading will be followed by a Q&A session, and presents a unique opportunity to speak to one of the last living Holocaust survivors. Wednesday 26 March, 10am-12pm. The reading will take place on campus, with venue information tbc. To register for the event, please contact Professor Cathy Gelbin.
Podcast, Spaces of Treblinka
Holocaust studies. The Centre for Jewish Studies and the Holocaust Centre North at the University of Huddersfield hosted an online book talk by Dr. Jacob Flaws (Kean University, New Jersey), which is now available to watch on YouTube. Dr. Flaws presented his recently published book, Spaces of Treblinka: Retracing a Death Camp (University of Nebraska Press, 2024). The event was chaired by Prof. Jean-Marc Dreyfus. Watch again.
Sherman Community Lecture 2025
Jewish studies. The annual Sherman Lecture returns on the 20th May 2025 in the stunning Reading Room at the John Rylands Research Institute and Library. Professor Philip Alexander FBA is Emeritus Professor of Postbiblical Jewish Literature at the University of Manchester, and a founder and former director of its Centre for Jewish Studies. Many of his scholarly interests overlap with those of Gaster, and since 1992 he has worked intensively on the Gaster Collection of manuscripts at the John Rylands Library – the largest single collection of its kind in the world. He will critically survey Gaster’s vast range of interests and activities, and assess his scholarly legacy and his place in Jewish history. Tickets here.
The Peake Lecture 2025
The Book of Hebrews. The Peake Lecture will be given at the Nazarene Theological College on Saturday 22 March by HRF Loveday Alexander and Emeritus Professor Philip Alexander. The title is "Sacrifice and Salvation: Reading Hebrews Today", and the event is scheduled to run from 9.30am-4.00pm. Drinks provided, but bring your own lunch. Register here.
Klezmer performance: Walter Carroll Lunchtime Concert Series
Yiddish music. Susi Evans (clarinet) and Szilvia Csaranko (accordion) perform old Yiddish melodies from a remarkable archive of manuscripts collected in Jewish villages in Ukraine between 1912 to 1914. Thursday 13 March, 1:10-1:55pm at the Cosmo Rodewald Concert Hall, Martin Harris Centre. Further information.
Manchester Jewish Museum: Museum Evening Talks
Jewish Studies. Professor Philip Alexander shares his journey from a non-Jewish Norther Irish Protestant background to becoming a leading figure in Jewish Studies. His talk will reflect on the challenges he faced in understanding Judaism, his efforts to establish Jewish Studies as a serious academic field in British universities, as well as some of the interesting people he met along the way. He will also explore how the Jewish community in Britain, and particularly Manchester, has changed over the years from his standpoint as an engaged and sympathetic outsider. Thursday 27 March 6-7.30pm at the Manchester Jewish Museum. Tickets and further information here.
Sephardi Modernities Seminar Series 2025
Jewish studies. Moshe Behar will give a lecture as part of the Sephardi Modernities Seminar Series titled, ‘Leftist Arabised Jews, Arab Nationalism and the Question of Individual and Collective Rights.’ Tuesday 11 February, 5:30pm on Zoom. Register here. Further information.
Faculty/School recognition for MA student
Jewish education. Congratulations to Yehudis Fletcher, MA Religions & Theology, who was the School's nominee for the Faculty’s Distinguished Achievement Award: Postgraduate Student of the Year. The criteria was that "the nominee should be an outstanding postgraduate student on a taught programme who has excelled in some significant manner." Yehudis was put forward by SALC for her charitable work and research relating to the place of secular education in the Charedi or so-called ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities. Among other things, her charitable foundation published an Education Policy Position paper 9 Sept 2024, supported by Baroness Estelle Morris and Baroness Tessa Blackstone, that has been taken up by the media, including the BBC and the Jewish Press, and is intended to influence the Government’s ‘Children’s Wellbeing Act’.
PhD studentship, AHRC
Jewish History. This AHRC-funded PhD studentship for a collaborative doctoral project with the Manchester Jewish Museum is entitled "Defying Disability in Victorian Jewish Manchester: The Diaries of David Isaacs and Social Marginality in a Minority Community.” The project will be supervised by Daniel Langton. It offers a unique opportunity for the doctoral student to both advance their research and archive skills and also work with a museum on public-facing initiatives. The deadline for complete applications is 13 February, 2025. For more information and contact details for any questions, please see further information.
Lecture, University of Copenhagen
Moshe Behar will give a lecture on ‘Settler Colonial Studies, Terminations of Colonialism, and Ethnonationalism’. 11 December 2024, 14:00 at the University of Copenhagen. Further information.