Pre-High Holidays Seminar in Jewish Studies - Yom Limmud: Exploring the Jewish High Holidays through philosophy, history, tradition, liturgy/Piyyutim, mysticism and manuscripts.
Programme:

13:00 Buffet lunch

14:00 Rabbi Eli Brackman (Oxford University Chabad Society)
Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) as a day of celebration in the Oxford manuscript of 16th c. Venetian Rabbi Elijah Menachem Chalfan MS Opp. 722

14:20 Professor Karl E Grözinger, Between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur: Kafka‘s Novel the Trial and More
Karl E Grözinger is Professor of Jewish and Religious Studies at the Universität Potsdam. From 1985 to 1994 Professor of Jewish Studies in Frankfurt a.M. and from 1989 to 1991 in Lund, Sweden, from 1994 to 2007 Professor of Religious Studies and Jewish Studies at the Universität Potsdam and Head of the Institute of Jewish Studies. He is Affiliated Professor at the University of Haifa, and Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Studies, Hebrew University Jerusalem.

14:40 Moshe Tzvi Wieder, The liturgy “Oseh HaShalom” (The One who makes the peace): Origins of a Custom
Moshe Tzvi Wieder lives in Israel and is author of ‘The Siddur from Its Sources’ which combs through the history of the Jewish prayer book and evolution, offering intimate access to the source material that is the basis for the modern Jewish prayer book.

15:00 Dr Ros Abramsky, The worm in the apple
Ros Abramsky is an Oxford researcher who studied Crystallography at Birkbeck, where she taught Science Communication, as well as at Imperial College. She completed her PhD in Information Science from Loughborough University.

15:20 Dr Naftali Lowenthal (University College London), Yom Kippur – Pure Delight! Reflections on a Chassidic Mystical Teaching
Naftali Loewenthal is Associate Professor (Teaching) at the Dept of Hebrew and Jewish Studies, UCL. He is author of Communicating the Infinite: the Emergence of the Habad School (Chicago, 1990) and Hasidism beyond Modernity, Studies in Habad Thought and History (Littmann Library).

15:40 Dr Israel Sandman, The Lubavitcher Rebbe interprets Rabbi Shneur Zalman’s parable of the King in the Field
Dr Israel Sandman researches Hebrew manuscripts and premodern Jewish thought. Currently, he is at UCL, cataloguing and researching the Correspondence of Hakham Moses Gaster, Chief Rabbi of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews’ Congregation one century ago.

16:00 Professor Paul Franks, Mesilat Yesharim (Path of the Just) by R. Moshe Chaim ‎Luzzatto and its Foundations
Paul Franks is Professor of Philosophy and Judaic Studies at Yale University. He is the co-translator of Franz Rosenzweig: Philosophical and Theological Writings (Hackett, 2000), and the author of All or Nothing: Systematicity, Transcendental Arguments, and Skepticism (Harvard, 2005) as well as many articles on post-Kantian philosophy and Jewish philosophy. He is currently writing a book on the contribution of Jewish philosophy and kabbalah to modern European philosophy.

16:20 Rabbi Menashe Shapiro, The liturgical Piyyut “Hashem Melech, Hashem Moloch, Bonim, v’Avodim” – The Names and Our Relationships With The Divine
R Menashe Shapiro studied Economics at the University of Oxford, and earned his rabbinic ordination and a Master’s in Talmudic Law at Yeshivas Ohr Somayach – Tanenbaum College, where he also taught Talmud, Jewish Law, and ethics, before attending a two year program in advanced, practical Jewish Law under the tutelage of leading rabbinic judges R. Akiva Dershowitz and R. Asher Weiss. Rabbi Shapiro now attends the Georgetown University Law Center.

16:40 Professor Meir Buzaglo, Repentance: A Philosophical Excursion Around Jewish Sources
Meir Buzaglo is a lecturer in the Department of Philosophy at the Hebrew University. His research areas include the philosophy of logic, metaphysics, and Jewish thought. Meir’s philosophy is attentive to the challenges of Israeli society, and he is also a founder and chairman of the Tikun movement. As a trustee of the Avi Chai Foundation and the son of Rabbi David Buzaglo, he has played an active role in reviving the heritage of piyyut (Jewish liturgical poetry). Last year, Meir received the President’s Medal for his contribution to Israeli thought.

Participants may attend all or any art of the programme.

RSVP for lunch and for handout texts in advance: mailto:info@oxfordchabad.org

Join Zoom Meeting
us02web.zoom.us/j/89091128367?pwd=M0lLrbjytbhCCvX03XeYSbOFv3N2dm.1
Meeting ID: 890 9112 8367 / Passcode: 076968

All are welcome!
Date: 22 September 2024, 14:00 (Sunday, -2nd week, Michaelmas 2024)
Venue: Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George St, Oxford OX1 2BQ
Speakers: Rabbi Eli Brackman (Oxford University Chabad Society), Professor Karl E Grözinger (Universität Potsdam), Moshe Tzvi Wieder (Author), Dr Ros Abramsky (Oxford), Dr Naftali Lowenthal (UCL), Dr Israel Sandman (UCL), Professor Paul Franks (Yale), Rabbi Menashe Shapiro (Georgetown University Law Center), Professor Meir Buzaglo (Hebrew University)
Part of: Oxford Chabad Society
Booking required?: Not required
Audience: Members of the University only
Editor: Belinda Clark