IMC 2026: Sessions

Session 1605: Shifting Animal Meanings, I: A Journey with the Jewish Animal

Thursday 9 July 2026, 11:15-12:45

Sponsor:	Medieval Animal Data-Network (MAD)
Organisers:	Gerhard Jaritz, Department of Historical Studies, Central European University, Budapest/Wien Kaila Yankelevich, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Bristol
Moderator/Chair:	Gerhard Jaritz, Department of Historical Studies, Central European University, Budapest/Wien
Paper 1605-a	Extinct Species, Future Species, and Defining Animals in Medieval Kabbalah (Language: English) Jonnie Schnytzer, Multidisciplinary Center for Jewish Studies, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan Index terms: Hebrew and Jewish Studies, Philosophy
Paper 1605-b	Zoharic Beasts of Redemption: The Birthing Doe, the Writhing Serpent, and the Descent into the Mountains of Darkness (Language: English) Rachel Verliebter, Maayan Center for Ethics, Philosophy & Sustainability, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan / Institut für die Geschichte der deutschen Juden, Universität Hamburg Index terms: Gender Studies, Hebrew and Jewish Studies, Philosophy
Paper 1605-c	Sacred Companions in Transit: Animals as Moral Guides across Spiritual Landscapes in S. Y. Agnon's Fiction (Language: English) Dan Misheiker, Department of Literature & Children's literature, Levinsky-Wingate Academic College, Tel Aviv Index terms: Hebrew and Jewish Studies, Language and Literature - Comparative, Philosophy
Abstract	Medieval history teems with animals, creatures both mundane and fantastic. None of these species are fixed. They 'travel': between geographies, minds, professions, cultures, and temporalities. Between these varied contexts, a given animal’s (imagined) appearance, behaviour, and meaning often differs. This panel seeks to assess these processes of differing and shed light on how these forms of movement render the idea of what it means to be a particular kind of animal flexible. How did different cultures make meaning with (or about) particular animals? And how did animals themselves move - physically, imaginatively, and temporally - across the medieval world?