2022 Lectures (II) & 2023

THE ABSORPTION OF JEWS INTO LATE MEDIEVAL ITALY, Dr. Kathy Aron-Beller. This lecture took place on June 29th 2022.

At the time of the Roman Empire, and in the first ten centuries of the Middle Ages, that is approximately until 1350, almost all Italian Jews lived in the southern part of the peninsula (Rome, and southern Italy and Sicily). But 200 years later, around 1550, Jewish settlements were all in central and northern Italy, besides Rome. I would like to follow this immigration of Jews by looking at their absorption into the dynamic duchies and republics of Northern Italy such as Milan, Florence and Venice. What motivated Jews to move to these areas in the late medieval period and why did the Italians accept them? How should we define their experience here? The circumstances provide a possible key to the extraordinary capacity demonstrated by these states to tolerate and protect their Jews, refusing to expel them as other European kingdoms did during this turbulent period. Our study will include a visit to these important places as well as reflecting what it was that kept Roman Jews in Rome.

Originally from London, Katherine Aron-Beller is lecturer of Jewish History in the Rothberg International School of the Hebrew University and at Tel Aviv University. Her areas of expertise are medieval Jewish history, early modern Jewish-Christian relations, the early modern Inquisition and Anti-Semitism. In 2007-8 she was a Visiting Assistant Professor at the George Washington University in Washington DC. At present she is a Visiting Scholar of the Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and Racism. She is the author of Jews on Trial: The Papal Inquisition in Modena 1598-1638 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2011), the co-editor of The Roman Inquisition: Centre versus Peripheries (Leiden: Brill, 2018) and many other articles on the Catholic Inquisition, anti-semitism and the Jews of Italy. She is now finishing a book called "Christian Images and Jewish Desecrators: The History of an Allegation," 400-1700." Dr.Aron-Beller has been a scholar in residence on many trips with Jewish Historical Seminars including trips to Spain, Portugal, England, Sicily and Italy.

EGYPT, BIBLE, ISRAELITES AND JEWS, Jacob Shoshan. This lecture took place on July 17, 2022.

Egypt, Bible, Israelites, and Jews: Join us and our tour guide Jacob Shoshan, as we travel in time and sail along the mighty Nile River, tracing Jewish History in the Eastern Sahara Desert. Discover 3,800 years of the unique relationships between 2 civilizations that have shaped the world as we know it today.

Jacob Shoshan was born in Jerusalem and is a licensed tour guide in Israel as well as a teacher and lecturer for The Tour Guide Colleges in Israel. He is also a Senior Tour Director and Lecturer for the Geographical Society, Israel. Jacob has visited 98 countries and led tours in 65 countries on all six continents and is fluent in 15 languages. He presents in-depth discussions on Jewish history, philosophy and culture and is deeply involved in Holocaust education.

THE JEWS OF SWEDEN, Jane Kempinsky. This lecture took place on Aug 2, 2022.

Let's visit Sweden – the country of IKEA, Nobel prize, 95.000 lakes and the first ice hotel in the world. Today Sweden is a home to some 20.000 Jews. It makes Swedish Jewish Community one of the largest in Europe. Jane Kempinsky invites you to visit three cities - breathtaking Stockholm, impressive Goteborg and industrial Malmo. The virtual tour will include: Stories of the first Jews who settled in Sweden in the 18th century;Visits to the beautiful old and modern Synagogues; Discussion of the role that Sweden played in saving European Jews during the WWII; A controversial story of German gold and its consequences in the modern Swedish life; New challenges that Jewish Community faces in Sweden.

Jane Kempinski is a tour guide from St.Petersburg, Russia who has been giving tours for about 15 years already and is absolutely in love with her city and her job. She is Jewish, born and raised in Leningrad and then St.Petersburg. Her family has been living in St. Petersburg since the early 1920’s originating from the Pale of Settlement – Ukraine, Belorussia and Poland. Jane started specific Jewish Heritage tours of St.Petersburg and about 12 years ago started incorporating and interconnecting Russian and Jewish history and culture. Her idea is to show St.Petersburg from the Jewish prospective, giving one a taste of what it is to be a Jew living in Russia.

THE JEWS OF MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN CATALONIA, Dr. Kathy Aron-Beller. This lecture took place Dec 13, 2023.

Geographically, politically and culturally Catalonia was a medieval crossroads: between Christianity and Islam, between France and Spain, and between the united Crown of Aragon, and the independent principalities and counties that were joined under the Crown. In thirteenth century Catalonia, important Jewish communities existed in the major cities of Barcelona, Gerona, Vic and Lérida as well as smaller towns such as Tarragona, Montblanch, Villafranca, Besalú, Cervera, and Tortosa. This lecture will highlight the centrality of Catalan Jewry in medieval Jewish culture, the direction, the controversies, the daily life and the very rich literary works of Jewish culture that radiated from this small area of Spain.

DECENT AND MODEST JEWISH BRIDES - THE CUSTOMS AND ART OF THE KETUBBOT FROM THE ISLAND OF CORFU (GREECE), Prof. Shalom Sabar. This lecture took place on Dec 27, 2022.

The vibrant Jewish community residing on the captivating Greek island of Corfu in the early modern period was largely composed of two congregations: Romaniotes and Sephardim. The former, descendants of the old Jewish community in Europe from Roman times, preserved the ancient Romaniote (Byzantine) rite, known also as Minhag Korfu, while the Sephardi community was originally established by Jews who arrived from south Italy (Apulia) early on and later also north Italian Jews, exiles from the Iberian Peninsula, Marranos, and some Ashkenazim. The mixture of traditions is best reflected in the colorful and attractive ketubbot created on the Island. Talmudic and medieval traditions known from Eretz Israel and Egypt are joined together with Italian and other European customs. Strong contacts with the community of Venice, which ruled the island for several centuries, influenced the local Jewish art and led to the decoration of some of the most attractive and sophisticated ketubbot that are known to us today.

Shalom Sabar is a Professor Emeritus of the Dept of Art History and Jewish Folklore of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Shalom has been our amazing scholar in residence on many of our tours throughout many years. Shalom has introduced us all to the wonderful culture, art and folklore of so many Jewish communities throughout the world. His wonderful enthusiasm has rubbed off on everyone who listens to him!

FROM PORTUGAL TO THE NETHERLANDS: QUEEN ESTHER AND PURIM AMONG THE PORTUGUESE COMMUNITY OF AMSTERDAM, Prof. Shalom Sabar. This lecture took place March 1, 2023

Forced to convert to Christianity in 1497, the once prosperous Jewish community of Portugal started to lead new degrading ways of life as "New Christians" (Cristãos Novos). In their inner religion and culture, as it developed in the following centuries, some components of some of the Jewish rituals and holidays were secretly preserved at great risk. Among these, an unusual place was given to Purim, an apparently minor holiday, and its heroine, Queen Esther. In the lecture, we will examine how Purim gained such a special status and what Esther's role was in this development. This situation was intensified by the opportunity given to the Portuguese Jews to immigrate to the Netherlands during its "Golden Age" in the 17th century, where they were permitted to return to their Judaism freely. In the community that was established in the capital city of Amsterdam, magnificent Purim balls were celebrated in an elegant manner, and the artistic genre of elaborately illustrating the Esther scroll flourished. The illustrations in the scrolls amazingly correspond with the Esther story in Dutch art of the time, including that of Rembrandt; at the same time, they reflect the lives and ideologies of the Portuguese Jewish elite of Amsterdam's Golden Age.

Shalom Sabar is a Professor Emeritus of the Dept of Art History and Jewish Folklore of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Shalom has been our amazing scholar in residence on many of our tours throughout many years including our recent tour to Catalonia. Shalom has introduced us all to the wonderful culture, art and folklore of so many Jewish communities throughout the world. His wonderful enthusiasm has rubbed off on everyone who listens to him!

IT USED TO BE CALLED CZECHOSLOVAKIA, Jacob Shoshan. This lecture took place on Wed, March 22, 2023

Join Jacob on a virtual tour to two exciting destinations - Slovakia and Czechia - with a fascinating Jewish History. See a beautiful country side, fantastic edifices and beautiful synagogues. Hear about centuries of cultural and religious achievements - as well as the tragic events which befell those ancient Jewish communities during the dark years of the Holocaust.

Jacob Shoshan was born in Jerusalem. He is a licensed tour guide in Israel as well as a teacher and lecturer for The Tour Guide Colleges in Israel. He is also a Senior Tour Director and Lecturer for the Geographical Society, Israel. Jacob has visited 98 countries and led tours in 65 countries on all six continents and is fluent in 15 languages. He presents in-depth discussions on Jewish history, philosophy and culture and is deeply involved in Holocaust education. Jacob was our tour guide on our recent tour to Egypt.

THE WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING, Richard Rinberg. This lecture took place on April 17, 2023.

It is now 80 years after the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising – an act of Jewish resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto in German-occupied Poland during World War II. Jews suffered severe oppression in all of the 1,140 ghettos under German occupation; the Warsaw Ghetto was the largest in population size (450,000 people) and one of the most crowded (8-10 people per room). But worse was to come. In 1942, between Tisha B'Av and Yom Kippur, in less than 60 days, almost 300,000 Warsaw Ghetto Jews were deported to death camps. Most Warsaw residents did not believe that such a thing could happen in a city that was the capital of Jewish Europe. In early 1943, some young Jews decided to fight back… even though most had no military training. Heroically, they held out for almost a month, against the strongest army in Europe.

Richard Rinberg is an authorized guide at the Yad Vashem Holocaust History Museum and was born and raised in London, U.K. He studied Mathematics at University College, London, graduating with honors and is a Life Member of The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. His business career in the City of London included being elected an Underwriting Member at Lloyd's of London Insurance Market and a Member of the London Diamond Bourse. After retiring and making Aliyah with his wife and four children in 1996, he became President and then Chief Executive Officer of an Oil & Gas Exploration Company publicly traded on NASDAQ with offices in both Dallas, Texas and Israel. After retiring from business (a second time), he spends his time guiding at Yad Vashem and studying, researching and collecting Judaica and Jewish Art. His current project is, together with Professor Chaim Tawil, writing a book on the Akkadian background of the Hebrew Biblical text.

COUNTS, CARDINALS AND CATALOGUERS: THE REMARKABLE STORY OF THE HEBREW MANUSCRIPTS IN THE VATICAN LIBRARY, Prof. Gary Rendsburg. This lecture took place on Tues, June 13th.

Since its founding in 1475, the Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana – or more simply: the Vatican Library – has included an important collection of Hebrew manuscripts. Today, the number of Hebrew documents surpasses 800, with so many of them of outstanding quality and with great significance. Star attractions include: the Sifra manuscript dated to the 9th century (MS Vat. ebr. 66), making it perhaps the oldest extant Hebrew codex; and the Targum Neofiti manuscript (MS Neofiti 1), the only known copy of this particular Aramaic translation of the Torah, written by a Jewish scribe and dedicated to Cardinal Bishop Giles of Viterbo c. 1500. Our speaker, Prof. Gary Rendsburg, has worked at the Vatican Library on several occasions, including earlier this year, while serving as visiting professor at the Pontifical Biblical Institute. Please join us as he presents the remarkable story of the Vatican Hebrew manuscripts, how they entered the collection, why they are so important, how the catalogue was produced, and how they are freely available on the internet today.

Gary A. Rendsburg serves as the Blanche and Irving Laurie Professor of Jewish History at Rutgers University. His teaching and research focus on ‘all things ancient Israel’ – primarily language and literature, though also history and archaeology. His secondary interests include the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Hebrew manuscript tradition, and Jewish life in the Middle Ages. Prof. Rendsburg is the author of seven books and about 180 articles. His most recent book is How the Bible Is Written (Hendrickson, 2019), with particular attention to the use of language to create literature. In addition, he has produced two programs for the Great Courses program, one on ‘The Book of Genesis’ and one on ‘The Dead Sea Scrolls’. During his career, Prof. Rendsburg has served as visiting professor or visiting researcher at the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, the University of Sydney, Hebrew University, Bar-Ilan University, UCLA, the Getty Villa, the University of Pennsylvania, and most recently and most pertinently to the present lecture at the Pontifical Biblical Institute (Rome) (February-March 2023).

JEWS IN THE ART AND LIFE OF PABLO PICASSO, Jane Kempinsky. This lecture took place on Nov 8, 2023.

Our wonderful tour guide and lecturer, Jane Kempinsky is returning to give another Zoom lecture but this time on Pablo Picasso, the genius of the 20th century. Picasso was the painter who shook and changed the world and who never stopped, never froze in one style or genre. It took Jane a long time to love and appreciate his works and would like to now share her passion and admiration with you. No one can explain Picasso in just 45 minutes so Jane has chosen a specific subject which will let us look at the art and life of Picasso from the Jewish perspective. She will show you the images of Jews who surrounded Picasso - his friends, his art dealers and will discuss the role Jews played in Picasso's artistic life. But the most important - we will see the unique power of Pablo Picasso's brush.

Jane Kempinski is a former official St.Petersburg tour guide (she also guided a few of our tours to Russia). She is Jewish, born and raised in Leningrad and then St.Petersburg. Her family has been living in St. Petersburg since the early 1920’s originating from the Pale of Settlement – Ukraine, Belorussia and Poland. Jane made aliyah to Israel with her husband and daughter a number of years ago and since May 2020 she has been giving online tours and lectures dedicated to the history and heritage of Jews in diaspora - Eastern Europe, Caucasus, Northern Europe.

HEBREW WRITING IN EUROPEAN ART: FROM PSEUDOSCRIPT AND ANTISEMITIC TO ACCURATE AND PHILOSEMITIC, Prof. Shalom Sabar. This lecture took place on Nov 15, 2023

During our travels and visits to Europe's many fine museums, we are often surprised to encounter Hebraic inscriptions staring out from Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque works of art. This is a most perplexing phenomenon, as obviously neither the artists nor their intended audiences were versed in the Hebrew language. Indeed, the representation of Hebrew in European art is often not accurate, exhibiting a wide variety of scripts, ranging from meaningless and abstract shapes to carefully selected and authentic texts. The development of this phenomenon opens an unexpected window to multi-faceted historical, theological, and cultural insights and, most interestingly, surprising evidence regarding the relationships and contacts with contemporary Jews and converts who consulted the artists. Moreover, the works show that some artists even visited Jewish homes or attended Jewish rituals in their attempts to be authentic. Thus, while Hebrew symbolized for Christendom the despised Jewish faith and the humiliated Jews living in the midst of the towns where the works were produced, it was already given great importance by the early Church Fathers as the language of the Old Testament, the ancient Israelites, the Bible, and the Holy Land.

THE RIVETING STORY OF A SPY WITH THE PRE-INDEPENDENCE ZIONIST INTELLIGENCE UNIT, “THE ARAB SECTION,” Jacob Shoshan. This lecture took place on Nov 29, 2023

The Hagana, the Palmach, the IDF and the Mosad: A fascinating story of the life of one humble Israeli, Isaac Shoshan told by his son, Jacob Shoshan.

Our lecturer will be Jacob Shoshan. Born in Jerusalem, he is a licensed tour guide in Israel as well as a teacher and lecturer for The Tour Guide Colleges in Israel. He is also a Senior Tour Director and Lecturer for the Geographical Society, Israel. Jacob has visited 98 countries and led tours in 65 countries on all six continents and is fluent in 15 languages. He presents in-depth discussions on Jewish history, philosophy and culture and is deeply involved in Holocaust education.

NO MIRACLE BEFELL US / NO CRUSE OF OIL FOUND BY US – ART AND IDEOLOGY IN THE HANUKKAH LAMP FROM DIASPORA TO ERETZ ISRAEL AND THE STATE OF ISRAEL, Prof. Shalom Sabar. This lecture took place on Dec 5, 2023

The Talmudic rabbis emphasized the "miracle of the cruse of oil" as the primary source and reason for lighting the Hanukkah lamp while neglecting the heroic deeds of the Maccabees. Over the centuries, the Hanukkah lamp became a primary Judaic artistic object with innovative and meaningful designs in the various communities of the Diaspora, West, and East. The Hanukkah lamp developed differently in the land of Israel. The Jews of the "Old Yishuv" maintained some of the traditions of the communities of their origin, producing distinctively Sephardi vs. Ashkenazi lamps. The emerging Zionist Movement, however, with its concept of the "New Jew," embraced the heroism of the Maccabees and transformed the image of the Hanukkah lamp dramatically. These tendencies led to the creation of daring and innovative designs in the land of Israel, culminating in the stunning lamps created in the first decades of the State of Israel. Most of the examples from the land of Israel that will be featured in the lecture are taken from the private collection of Shalom in Jerusalem.

MAIMONIDES AND HIS MANUSCRIPTS, Prof. Gary Rendsburg. This lecture took place on Dec 19th.

Moses Maimonides (1135‒1204) is not only the greatest luminary in the Jewish scholarly tradition, he is the single major figure for whom we have the most autograph manuscripts. Most remarkably, his Commentary on the Mishna is preserved in a copy written by the author himself! Moreover, the manuscript includes diagrams of the Temple, the Menorah, and other objects, also created by the author. The oldest manuscript of Maimonides’s Mishneh Torah (Code of Jewish Law) also was produced in the author’s lifetime, though this time by a professional scribe, to which the great scholar affixed his signature, affirming the scribe’s work as a true copy. And then there is the Moreh Nebukhim (Guide for the Perplexed), preserved in a beautifully illuminated manuscript produced in Barcelona in 1348, though once again we are able to trace the manuscript tradition back to the author, in light of the draft pages which emerged from the Cairo Geniza. The result is a stunning narrative, as we return to the very days of the great scholar in 12th-century Cairo, in order to observe the mind of Maimonides at work.

Gary A. Rendsburg serves as the Blanche and Irving Laurie Professor of Jewish History at Rutgers University. His teaching and research focus on ‘all things ancient Israel’ – primarily language and literature, though also history and archaeology. His secondary interests include the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Hebrew manuscript tradition, and Jewish life in the Middle Ages. Prof. Rendsburg is the author of seven books and about 200 articles. His most recent book is How the Bible Is Written (Hendrickson, 2019), with particular attention to the use of language to create literature. In addition, he has produced two programs for the Great Courses program, one on ‘The Book of Genesis’ and one on ‘The Dead Sea Scrolls’. During his career, Prof. Rendsburg has served as visiting professor or visiting researcher at the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, the University of Sydney, Hebrew University, Bar-Ilan University, UCLA, the Getty Villa, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Pontifical Biblical Institute (Rome).

THE ELUSIVE JEWS OF GREECE: A HISTORICAL SURVEY, Dr. Kathy Aron-Beller. This lecture took place Jan 9, 2024

Having just returned in September from lecturing on her first JHS tour of Greece, Dr. Kathy Aron-Beller would like to share with you her impressions, thoughts and experiences about the Jews of medieval and early modern Greece. Today modern Greek Jewry is a minor, if not insignificant community in the Diaspora, numbering approximately 5000 persons, most of them citizens of Greece, speaking Greek and in one way or another influenced by their Greek identity. Yet Greek-Jewish relations – now over three millennia in duration present the oldest continuous inter-ethnic relationship in history. Jewish history in Greece is as much a counter history, a history of what might - should - have been as it is of what was.

It was in the early Hellenistic period that Jews first reached Greece as entrepreneurs, tempted with the possibilities of trade, military activity and other opportunities as the author of 1 Maccabees writes in Chapter 1 verse 11. These Jews of antiquity established themselves quickly into communities which resembled each other closely with similar institutions that united them. Eventually they would be called Romaniot Jews – a term deriving from what the Venetian conquerors of parts of Greece named the Eastern Roman Empire - Rhomania – (Empire of the Romans). This then entered into Hebrew. These Jews were thus on Greek soil well before the arrival of the Sephardi immigrants from Spain, Portugal and parts of Italy (Apulia, Sardinia and Sicily) in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. Romaniot Jews lived mainly in the western parts of Greece. Yet once the Sephardim arrived, they settled in and around Salonica, thereby turning the city into the most important port city in the Ottoman Empire after the capital – Constantinople. These Sephardim were innovative and radical and from the sixteenth century, constituted the majority of the city’s population. One of the newcomers was the false messiah Shabbetai Zevi and it is his movement, and then his conversion to Islam that is still associated with a building of this fascinating city. During our hour together, we will see many important Jewish historical sites, which I hope will reveal much more about our Greek Jews.

MORITZ DANIEL OPPENHEIM, ‘THE FIRST JEWISH PAINTER’ – OLD-NEW VISIONS OF JEWISH LIFE AND RITUALS IN EMPANCIPATED GERMANY, Prof. Shalom Sabar. This lecture took place on Jan 24, 2024

Considered the "First Jewish Painter'' of the modern era, Moritz Daniel Oppenheim, whose life spanned most of the nineteenth century (1800-1882), witnessed the dramatic changes in the history of German Jewry during the period of Jewish Emancipation. He was born in the small city of Hanau (near Frankfurt) during the restrictions of the Ghetto period. When he died 82 years later, he naively believed Jews could be fully integrated into German society without losing their Jewish identity. Oppenheim was the first Jewish artist who "made it'' in the German artistic scene without agreeing to convert to Christianity and actually became more and more observant as his career soared. His art and the fantastic series of oil paintings entitled "Scenes from Old Jewish Family Life” nostalgically depict Jewish rituals and family life while making clear statements on the merits of old-time Jewish traditions, their dignity and beauty, vis-à-vis the cultural allegiance of German Jewry and, in his eyes, its significant contribution to German society.

E M LILIEN – THE FIRST ZIONIST ARTIST, Richard Rinberg. This lecture took place on Feb 6, 2024

Ephraim Moses Lilien (1874 –1925), born in Galicia, was a very talented art nouveau illustrator and printmaker; he was noted for his art on Jewish themes and his influence on the Bezalel school art movement. As a young man, he became a passionate Zionist, attended some of the early Zionist Conferences and is often called the first Zionist artist. In 1901, at the Fifth Zionist Congress, together with Martin Buber, he organized an exhibition of “Jewish Art” – the first of its type. Later, he became a member of a committee that established the Bezalel Art School in Jerusalem and became one of its first teachers. In 1902, he was one of the founders of Jüdische Verlag, the first Jewish-Zionist publisher in Western Europe. In 1905, he made his first trip to Jerusalem for the inauguration of Bezalel and, for a few months, lived and taught there. Living in Berlin, he traveled to Ottoman Palestine several times between 1906 and 1918. With good reason, he is now considered one of the most significant Jewish artists of the modern era. This presentation will look at a good number of his alluring works, some of which revolutionized the Jewish World of his time.

Richard Rinberg is an authorized guide at the Yad Vashem Holocaust History Museum and was born and raised in London, U.K. He studied Mathematics at University College, London, graduating with honors and is a Life Member of The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. His business career in the City of London included being elected an Underwriting Member at Lloyd's of London Insurance Market and a Member of the London Diamond Bourse. After retiring and making Aliyah with his wife and four children in 1996, he became President and then Chief Executive Officer of an Oil & Gas Exploration Company publicly traded on NASDAQ with offices in both Dallas, Texas and Israel. After retiring from business (a second time), he spends his time guiding at Yad Vashem and studying, researching and collecting Judaica and Jewish Art. His current project is, together with Professor Haim Tawil, writing a series of books on the Akkadian background of the Hebrew Biblical text. The first volume, “Let There Be Light. GENESIS. The Simple Meaning of the Text” was published by Gefen Publishing in 2023.

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF JEWISH FOLK ART IN ROMANIA, Prof. Ilia Rodov. This lecture took place on Feb 20, 2024

The exploration of traditional Jewish art in Romania presents an intriguing opportunity to delve into a part of the rich tapestry of Jewish heritage that has yet to be fully examined. While in Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, and Lithuania the richly decorated synagogues with picturesque murals were almost completely destroyed, post-Holocaust Romania remained a reservation of this art. In the late 1960s, when art historian Zussia Efron embarked on exploring Ashkenazic synagogue art, Romania was the only country within the Soviet block where an Israeli citizen had opportunity to travel. His travels in Romanian Moldavia resulted in a substantial and highly important collection of images and memories.

Today these resources and my own expeditions enable us to delve into the forgotten customs and captivating realm of artistic expression by Jewish folk artists. One of those was Menachem Mendel Grinberg, who decorated almost forty synagogues Romanian synagogues during the late 19th and early 20th century. Grinberg's paintings depicted biblical subjects, sacred places in the Land of Israel, as well as genuine Romanian and romantically exotic landscapes. Romanian Jewish painters ingeniously used postcards, maps and photographs to depict far-off places in Israel, while never having physically visited them.

Prof. Ilia Rodov serves as the Head of the Department of Jewish Art and holds the Samson Feldman Chair for the History and Culture of East-European Jewry at Bar-Ilan University. He is also the editor of Ars Judaica: Bar Ilan Journal of Jewish Art and co-editor of Jews, Judaism, and the Arts book series (Brill). His publications explore Jewish visual culture and synagogue art, focusing on the history, patronage, meanings, function and perceptions of paintings, sculptures, architectural decoration, and furniture design.

THE JEWISH MERCHANTS OF VENICE IN EARLY MODERN EUROPE, Dr. Kathy Aron-Beller. This lecture took place on May 28, 2024

From the late sixteenth century, baptised Jews from Portugal - called conversos, New Christians, Marranos or perhaps Ponentines – were returning with impunity to the Jewish faith and doing so, not perhaps with the open encouragement of princes and republics in Northern Italy, but certainly with their tacit acceptance. Christian rulers and governments began to sanction the entrance of forced Sephardi converts, and as long as they gave no cause for scandal and contributed to the common weal, they were allowed to revert to Judaism. These people and their descendants, often skilled, talented, and entrepreneurial, were desirable guests for princes ambitious to promote economic development. They were able to obtain protection by settling in Northern Italian states which were not under Spanish rule. Michael Heyd uses the helpful term - “double conversion” to describe this category of convert and confirms that this was a frequent phenomenon especially for young Iberian conversos who returned to the faith of their forefathers after reaching a more tolerant society, such as that of North Italy, France or the Netherlands. Our lecture will uncover the personal stories of some of these Iberian merchants and what their life was like in the ghetto of Venice in the early modern period.

DID QUEEN ELIZABETH KNOW HEBREW?: The Fascination with All Things Hebrew in Tudor England, Prof. Gary Rendsburg. This lecture took place on June 10, 2024

The motto of the Protestant Reformation – sola scriptura (Scripture only) – meant a return to Old Testament roots, including the study of the Hebrew language. On the continent, German scholars in particular turned to their Jewish neighbors to absorb as much knowledge as they could. But what about England, where there were no Jews? They had been expelled in 1290 by Edward I, and would not return until 1655 under Oliver Cromwell.

And yet, the divines of the English Reformation were even more obsessed (in a good way) with the Hebrew language. Henry VIII established the positions of Regius Professor of Hebrew at both Oxford and Cambridge; Thomas Bodley, who founded that great repository of knowledge in Oxford, the Bodleian Library, was a first-rate Hebraist and collector of Hebrew manuscripts; and even Queen Elizabeth seems to have learned Hebrew, to the extent that Oxford dons composed poems in her honour in advance of her celebrated visit to the city in 1566 (two of which survive). How and why did all this happen and how did any of these people learn Hebrew, with no Jewish neighbors to consult?

Gary A. Rendsburg serves as the Blanche and Irving Laurie Professor of Jewish History at Rutgers University. His teaching and research focus on ‘all things ancient Israel’ – primarily language and literature, though also history and archaeology. His secondary interests include the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Hebrew manuscript tradition, and Jewish life in the Middle Ages. Prof. Rendsburg is the author of seven books and about 200 articles. His most recent book is How the Bible Is Written (Hendrickson, 2019), with particular attention to the use of language to create literature. In addition, he has produced two programs for the Great Courses program, one on ‘The Book of Genesis’ and one on ‘The Dead Sea Scrolls’. During his career, Prof. Rendsburg has served as visiting professor or visiting researcher at the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, the University of Sydney, Hebrew University, Bar-Ilan University, UCLA, the Getty Villa, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Pontifical Biblical Institute (Rome).

FROM BARI WILL COME FORTH THE TORAH AND THE WORD G-D FROM OTRANTO: JEWS IN PUGLIA, A BIMILLENARY PRESENCE, Prof. Fabrizio Lelli. This lecture took place on Sep 3, 2024.

The bimillenary history of Judaism in Puglia is a distillation of thousands of stories of Mediterranean Judaisms – fragments that across the millennia collectively comprise a powerful identity. Here are stories of wandering, of links sustained across great distances by faith in ancient traditions; and stories of commercial and cultural exchange across the length and breadth of the Mediterranean, where Jews have always played a mediating role. Jews seem to have settled in Puglia in the first century CE. According to tradition, after the destruction of the Second Temple of Jerusalem in the year 70, Titus sent to Rome the members of the most outstanding priestly families of Jerusalem and some of them settled in the area around Brindisi, the main Roman port on the Adriatic Sea. In our talk we will virtually visit the most relevant Jewish sites of the region and will travel in history, exploring the traces of a thriving Jewish presence that was uprooted in the 16th century, following the Spanish decrees of expulsion, and was revived in the 19th century and especially in the mid-20th century, when several Transit Camps were opened in the Adriatic region to host the Shoah survivors after WWII. The same seaports that received thousands of refugees from ancient Judea became the starting points for the post-war refugees who yearned to create a modern Jewish State in the Land of Israel.

THE STORY OF THERESIENSTADT (TEREZIN), A UNIQUE GHETTO, given by Richard Rinberg. This lecture took place on Jan 7, 2025.

Late in 1941 the Nazis established a ghetto in Theresienstadt (Terezin), a garrison town in Northwestern Czechoslovakia, where they interned the Jews of Bohemia and Moravia, elderly Jews and persons of “special merit” in the Reich, and several thousand Jews from the Netherlands and Denmark.

Although in practice the ghetto, run by the SS, served as a transit camp for Jews en route to extermination camps, it was also presented as a “model Jewish settlement” for propaganda purposes. Despite severe congestion, food shortages and compulsory labor, the extensive educational and cultural activities in the ghetto reflected the prisoners’ will to live and their need for distraction from their plight.

In June 2024, Jewish Historical Seminars visited the Czech Republic, also known as Czechia (and historically known as Bohemia). The trip included a visit to the town of Theresienstadt, a site that is almost completely intact and contains memorials and museums. Using modern and archival photos, and art created by the prisoners, this presentation tells the story of this unique ghetto, the remarkable cultural life that developed during its existence and the messages of community, faith and courage that the prisoners passed down to us as a result of their actions during such a terrible time.

Richard Rinberg is an authorized guide at the Yad Vashem Holocaust History Museum and was born and raised in London, U.K. He studied Mathematics at University College, London, graduating with honors and is a Life Member of The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. His business career in the City of London included being elected an Underwriting Member at Lloyd's of London Insurance Market and a Member of the London Diamond Bourse. After retiring and making Aliyah with his wife and four children in 1996, he became President and then Chief Executive Officer of an Oil & Gas Exploration Company publicly traded on NASDAQ with offices in both Dallas, Texas and Israel. After retiring from business (a second time), he spends his time guiding at Yad Vashem and studying, researching and collecting Judaica and Jewish Art. His current project is, together with Professor Haim Tawil, writing a series of books on the Akkadian background of the Hebrew Biblical text. The first volume, “Let There Be Light. GENESIS. The Simple Meaning of the Text” was published by Gefen Publishing in 2023.

To register: USD 12 via PayPal.me/JHSeminars and contact: JHS@JewishHistoricalSeminars.com

One is able to register (USD 12) and view a recording of a past lecture for a number of days.