FALL NEWSLETTER

Opening Panel: Jewish Life in Modern Islamic Contexts

Modernity is a term that was coined polemically in Western Europe as a way to contrast new thinking with classical modes. It has come to describe not only a period, but a fluid yet recognizable set of concepts. At the Katz Center's opening seminar, panelists Orit Bashkin, Heather Sharkey, Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet, and Benjamin Nathans reflected on the term and the ways that it functioned as a heuristic in analyzing the Jewish experience in modern Muslim-majority contexts.

Bookshelf

What to Read Now: A Roundup of Recent Fellow Publications

Incoming fellows have ambitious goals for the 2018–2019 academic year: researching, writing, collaborating, and more. As they get started, the Katz Center is taking a moment to celebrate the work they have already accomplished. Click to see a list of recent publications, embodying the breadth and depth of the questions that arise from scholarship on Jews and Jewish culture in the varied, rich, and complex contexts of the Islamic world.

New Issue of the

Jewish Quarterly Review (JQR 108.3)

JQR 108.3 is now available online and in print! It features a forum on the scholarship of Elliott Horowitz, coeditor of JQR until his passing last year, as well as contributions by an all-star group of scholars: Natalie Zemon Davis, Javier Castaño, Francesca Bregoli, and Stuart Schoffman.

Blog Roundup

Tobit's Dog

Jewish Quarterly Review coeditor Natalie B. Dohrmann explores the genre of the scholarly note by way of Israel Abrahams's pithy intervention in an early issue.

Matchmaking: Scholars & Artifacts

The 2017–2018 library web exhibit is now available and features items chosen by the year's fellows on the topic of "Nature Between Science and Religion: Jewish Culture and the Natural World." It is the twenty-third exhibit of its kind.

Want to see the full collection of web exhibits assembled by Katz Center fellows? Visit the Penn Libraries website for access to two decades' worth of digital scholarship connected to Center themes and research.

Community Programming

This year, the Katz Center is delving into Jewish life beyond Europe, America, and Israel, looking instead to North Africa, the Levant, the Arabian Peninsula, and Central and South Asia–all contexts with Muslim majorities and/or governments in the last few centuries. Our international cohort of fellows is exploring the complex relationships between Jews and their neighbors, whether Muslim or members of other minority groups.

Hear fellows speak around Philadelphia at events organized by community partners.

News

Introducing:

"What Do You Know?"

The Katz Center is trying out a new way of connecting scholars with learners: taking questions directly from online readers, and asking experts to respond. Think of it as a historical advice column–but instead of advice, you get answers to your questions about anything and everything related to this year's fellowship theme.

You can ask pretty much anything about the topic, big or small, basic or obscure. Each month we'll pose your questions to our resident scholars and publish their answers on our blog.

In Memoriam:

Dr. D. Walter Cohen

This past summer, the Katz Center lost a member of its board of overseers. A pillar of the Philadelphia community, Dr. D. Walter Cohen was also internationally renowned for his scientific and educational contributions. His exceptional commitment to education and intellectual vitality were undiminished to the end.

Center director Steve Weitzman reflects on Dr. Cohen's impact on the Katz Center on our blog.

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