Klezmer accompaniment

Klezmorim of Manchester have played an accompaniment to a short film about life on Bury New Road as seen through the eyes of ten women from the Jewish women's group, Alevai.  Further information. 

Klemperer Online database

The University Library has purchased access to the Klemperer Online: Tagebücher 1918-1959 database, offering the complete and unabridged diaries of Victor Klemper, which are among the most important sources of 20th century German history.  The German texts feature an extensive commentary and contain over a third more material than the print editions, which were bestsellers at the time of publication.  Further information.

Klezmer performance

Klezmorim of Manchester.  Richard Fay's Klezmorim will perform at the Klezmer Evening at Hallé at St. Michael's.  7pm - 9pm, Monday 14 November 2022.  Further Information.

Sherman Community Lecture 2022

Jewish Studies.  Rabba Dr Lindsey Taylor-Guthartz (University of Manchester) will give the next Sherman Community Lecture entitled "The Jewel in the Crown of Anglo-Jewry? A History of Limmud".  Thursday 6 December 2022 8pm (via Zoom). Further information.

PGR and Postdoc group, JHSE

Jewish Studies.  The Jewish Historical Society of England have set up a Jewish history and Jewish studies PGR/Postdoc group, offering a peer group with events including discussions with authors of new history books, reading groups and methodological workshops.  PGRs and Postdocs interested in joining the group should email Sophie Wilson (sophie.wilson@qmul.ac.uk).     

Klezmer, Manchester Culture Awards

Jewish and Irish Music.   ‘Amid the Mirk Over the Irk: When Irish Meets Klezmer’ is an imagined musical meeting of two of Manchester’s longest-established and prominent immigrant communities: the Irish and the Jewish.  The film of the overture (co-produced by Richard Fay) is a finalist in the ‘Made in Manchester’ category of the Manchester Culture Awards. The awards ceremony will take place on 24 November 2022.  Watch the film on YouTube.  Further information. 

Panel, British Library

Holocaust Libraries. Professor Dreyfus will participate in a panel conversation with experts from Lithuania and the Head of the Bodleian Library Oxford about the history of libraries, lives and narratives in European cityscapes of the Holocaust. The in-person event is hosted by the British Library on 11 October 2022. Further information

Biblical Hebrew Reading Group

Biblical and Jewish Studies.  Phillip Alexander will lead a reading group to provide students at BA, MA or PhD levels who have done some Hebrew with the opportunity to advance their knowledge.  The first meeting will be on Monday 3rd October at 11am on Zoom, with an initial focus on Ruth.

Podcast, The Poet of Whitechapel

Yiddish Poetry. Podcast presented by Rachel Lichtenstein now available on Mixcloud.  'A programme about the extraordinary life and work of the Yiddish poet Avram Nachum Stencl who went from an ultra-Orthodox Hasidic community in southern Poland to the bohemian cafés of pre-war Berlin before finally escaping Nazi Germany to arrive in Whitechapel, the heart of the Jewish East End. He soon became London’s foremost Yiddish poet, founding the literary journal 'Loshn un Lebn' and the weekly 'Friends of Yiddish' meetings at Toynbee Hall with its lively mixture of poetry, politics, literature and song, all part of his mission to keep the Yiddish language alive.' Further information.

Committee, BIAJS

Helping to shape Jewish studies in the UK. Alex Samely, Co-Director of the Centre for Jewish Studies, was recently elected as a member of the committee of the British and Irish Association for Jewish Studies (BIAJS) His term will extend until 2027. He joins in this new role his Manchester/Lund colleague Dr Katharina Keim, who is the committee's representative for Post-Graduate and Early Career Research.

Online essay, WritersMosaic project

Jewish Multiculturalism. CJS honorary research fellow Dr Rachel Lichtenstein (MMU) has contributed towards the Royal Literary Fund's WritersMosaic project, in a special edition titled 'Jewish Multiculturalism'. Her essay and recording tell the story of activist Beatty Orwell, the oldest surviving witness to the Battle of Cable Street. To read and listen online, see further information.

Conference paper, CBL

Dead Sea Scrolls. Prof George Brooke will speak in Leuven at The Colloquium Biblivum Lovaniense on 'Performing Scripture in the Scrolls from Qumran and in the New Testament.'  3 August 2022.  Further information.

Funding, Screen & Talk Jewish Studies

Holocaust Studies. Congratulations to Cathy Gelbin and Katja Stuerzenhofecker who have been awarded £740 of funding by the Manchester Jean Monet Centre of Excellence towards the Holocaust Memorial Day 2023 event series Jews, Gay People and the Holocaust. This will comprise of a public film series, an expert panel discussion, and a Jewish community workshop. Further details will be published in due course.

Student Prize, BIAJS

Jewish studies. Congratulations to third-year student Andras Schweiczer (BA Theological Studies in Philosophy & Ethics) who has been awarded the British and Irish Association for Jewish Studies (BIAJS) Student Prize for a dissertation entitled 'Red, White, and Green: Three Aspects of the Debates on Zionism between 1897 and 1917' (supervisor: Alex Samely).

Screen & Talk, Film discussion

Film Studies. Cathy Gelbin and Katja Stuerzenhofecker co-organized the online streaming and panel discussion of The Brasch Family (Germany 2018) on 13 June 2022. A recording of the discussion with the film’s director and international experts is now available. Watch on YouTube.

Podcast, Sherman Lecture 2021

Jewish Studies. The 2021 Sherman Community Lecture by Prof George Brooke (University of Manchester) is now available to view online. The lecture entitled "Questioning Qumran: Judaism and the Dead Sea Scrolls" was on 9 Dec 2021. Further information.

Conference paper, British Sociological Association

Jewish Studies. Katja Stuerzenhofecker will give a paper entitled "Traditional prayers, returning voices: Orthodox Jewish women and girls' singing in a public ritual under COVID-19" at the SocRel annual conference for which the theme is disruption, crisis and continuity in religion. 4-6 July 2022. Further information.

Screen and Talk

Jewish Studies. The Centre for Jewish Studies and the Department of Drama at Manchester University are pleased to announce that the next Screen & Talk event will be the streaming of ‘The Brasch Family’. Annekatrin Hendel’s documentary depicts three generations of the Braschs, a Jewish family whose first generation returned from exile from National Socialism to settle in East Germany. Whereas the first generation were ardent supporters of the German Democratic Republic, their three sons Thomas, Peter and Klaus – all of them artists – developed into critics of the system. Through interviews with surviving relatives, loved ones and friends, the film paints a social, political and cultural history of the GDR through the canvas of a family saga. The film will be available on the UKJF streaming platform from 9-13 June 2022. It is followed by an online live discussion panel on 13 June, 18.00 BST (British Summer Time). Register for the panel discussion in advance here. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. Further information.

Public Lecture, Oxford University

Jewish Studies. Philip Alexander will give a lecture to celebrate the launch of the book The Mishnaic Moment: Jewish Law among Jews and Christians in Early Modern Europe (2022). Exeter College, Oxford. 23 June 2022. Further information.

Launch of Rylands Jewish Manuscripts online catalogue and digital exhibition

Rylands Jewish Manuscripts online catalogue and digital exhibition. Join us at the John Rylands Research Institute and Library to celebrate the launch of the online catalogue and digital exhibition of the Library’s manuscripts in Hebrew script, signifying the culmination of a project which began in 1992. The John Rylands Research Institute and Library conserves one of the world’s treasured collections of Hebrew and Jewish manuscripts, archives and printed books. This rich and diverse collection draws a picture of Jewish life and its many aspects. Featuring Hebrew script in many languages – Hebrew, Aramaic, Judeo-Arabic, Judeo-Persian, Judeo-Spanish, Judeo-Provencal, Judeo-German, and Judeo-Turkish, the texts spring from all over the Jewish world – Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, India, and even China. They range from magnificent illuminated Passover Haggadot to the only known manuscript copy of a 17th-18th century Purim play from southern France, composed in the local vernacular. 27 Jun 2022, 14:00 BST at The John Rylands Research Institute and Library. Free event, booking required through Eventbrite.