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IMC 2019: Sessions

Session 1021: Jewish Craftspeople and Their Material Evidence, I: Writing, Illuminating, and Binding Books

Wednesday 3 July 2019, 09.00-10.30

Organiser:Maria Stürzebecher, Kulturdirektion, Landeshauptstadt Erfurt
Moderator/Chair:Julie Harris, Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies, Chicago
Paper 1021-aThe Leather Cut-Book Binding Technique and Meir Jaffe
(Language: English)
Ilana Tahan, British Library, London
Index terms: Hebrew and Jewish Studies, Manuscripts and Palaeography
Paper 1021-bFrom Material to Sound: The Craft of Storytelling in the Medieval Haggadah
(Language: English)
Zvi Orgad, Department of Jewish Art, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan
Index terms: Hebrew and Jewish Studies, Liturgy, Manuscripts and Palaeography
Paper 1021-cThe Work of a Scribe as a Craft and the Materials Used
(Language: English)
Mark Farnadi-Jerusálmi, École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE), Université de Recherche Paris Sciences et Lettres / Jewish Theological Seminary, University of Jewish Studies, Budapest
Index terms: Hebrew and Jewish Studies, Liturgy, Manuscripts and Palaeography
Abstract

Recent research showed there is more evidence for Jewish craftspeople in medieval Europe than previous studies assumed. Jews worked in different professions - not only within their community - and hence with a wide range of materials: ritual pure parchment was needed to create Torah scrolls and codices for the synagogue service, shofarot were made by ram's horns and goldsmiths handled precious materials like gold, silver or pearls. The sessions will focus on this wide range of topics from an interdisciplinary approach and discuss questions about legal conditions, ritual requirements and interactions with the Christian environment.