Questions on Jewish History

Proceedings of the Sixteenth Annual International Conference on Jewish Studies
Part 2 

From the Editorial Board

These three volumes comprise the Proceedings of the 16th Annual International
Jewish Study Conference (Moscow, February, 3–5, 2009)1 organized
by “Sefer” – the Moscow Center for University Teaching of Jewish Civilization,
with the assistance of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee,
the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress, the Dutch Jewish Humanitarian Fund,
as well as other sponsors who prefer to remain unnamed.

The conference program included 19 sections devoted to different areas
of Jewish Studies and Jewish education, as well as a Round Table where the
psychological aspects of Jewish themes on the internet were discussed.
It is hard to describe in a short foreword the richness of topics and diversity
of the conference, which are to some extent reflected in the proceedings,
so only some issues will be mentioned.

A special emphasis was put on Shalom-Aleichem’s 150th anniversary,
celebrated in 2009, and the section Yiddish literature was devoted to it.
The “philological” part of the program also included sections on Hebrew
Language: Study and Teaching, Literary and Cultural Contacts, although the
philological perspective at the conference was clearly inferior to the historical
one. As noted at the final meeting by Professor Cyril Aslanov (Hebrew University
of Jerusalem), that “imperialism of historians”, i.e. the predominance
of historical perspective, is typical of the world of Jewish Studies in general.
The session of the ethnological section was thematically related to nonashkenazi
Jewish ethnic groups and reflected the scientific interest of our late
Chair of the “Sefer” Academic Board, Rashid Muradovich Kaplanov (1949–
2007), who on January 18, 2009 would have turned 60 years old2. The session
was devoted to his memory, and was led by his students – Anatoly Vorobyev
and Maxim Zaveryaev. Among the participants there were young
scholars, whom R.M. Kaplanov at one time drew to the “Sefer” conferences.
The section devoted to “Jews in the modern world: collective identity
and historical memory” was dedicated to the memory of a talented sociologist
and activist for Jewish education, Zakhar Rokhlin (1979–2009).
The annually awarded Professor Eugene Wiener scholarship, established
by his widow, Dr. Anita Wiener to support research in the field of Jewish
Studies, was presented at the first plenary session to seven young conference
participants from Belarus, Russia and Ukraine.

The work of all the sections is partly reflected in the published conference
proceedings.

The first volume comprises presentations from the section Hebrew language:
the study and teaching, which gave an inspiring impulse to the further
development of the discipline.

The second volume includes papers on Biblical Studies, Inter-Confessional
Dialogue, Jewish Thought and Tradition, Jewish Literature, Art, National
Relations and National Identity, and Jewish Studies and Education:
History and Present, as well as a description of the journey to Jerusalem by
representatives of the Russian clergy in the middle of the XVII century.
The third volume includes articles of a historical nature, relating to the
sections: From the Jewish History in Eastern Europe and the Russian Empire;
From the History of Zionism and the State of Israel; From the Karaite
History; Jews in the USSR.

We hope that the three volumes of the proceedings of the 16th Conference
on Jewish Studies, reflecting the current state of research in the area,
will attract the reader’s attention and interest, and evidence the substantial
wealth and diversity of the reports submitted. It is our pleasant duty to thank
the partners and sponsors – “Joint”, DJHF, and the Avi Chai Foundation –
who have provided support for this edition.