3de Contactdag Joodse Studies over de Lage Landen Universiteit Antwerpen, 11/5/2010 The Institute of Jewish Studies organizes for the third time an interdisciplinary conference concerning Jewish Studies on the Low Countries at the University of Antwerp. The purpose of the conference is to facilitate contacts between researchers working within this area of study. We especially encourage young researchers to participate in the workshop. We also hope for contributions from more established researchers, in order to establish a positive exchange between different research generations. Presentations may include works in progress. We welcome all themes and disciplines within Jewish Studies concerning the Low Countries. The conference language is English, participation is free of charge. Conference Program 8:30 Registration and Coffee 9:00 Welcome & Opening Remarks 9:10 Session I: The Sephardic Diaspora in Early Modern History Chair: Evelyne Oliel-Grausz - Université de Paris I, Sorbonne Daniel Strum – The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Flemish Insurers and Jewish Policyholders: the Information Asymmetry Problem in Business Relationships beyond Religious and Ethnic Affiliations Jessica Roitman - Birkbeck College, University of London The Embarrassment of Poverty: 'Native' Jewish Responses to 'Foreign' Immigration in Comparative Perspective, Amsterdam and London in the Eighteenth Century Tirtsah Levie Bernfeld - Independent Scholar, Amsterdam Sephardi Widows in Early Modern Amsterdam Michael Hoberman - Fitchburg State College / 2010 Fulbright Scholar at Utrecht University New-England Is Seldom Wholly without Them: Boston’s Frazon Brothers and the Limits of Puritan Zeal 10:45 Coffee Break 11:15 Session II: Artistic Representations of Jewish Life and Death Chair: Karin Hofmeester - Universiteit Antwerpen / IISG Amsterdam Kent Coupé - Reed College of Portland Oregon Laura Leibman - Reed College of Portland Oregon Cities of the Dead: Architectural Motifs and Burial Practices in Curaçao’s Religious and Ethnic Communities Saskia Coenen Snyder - University of South Carolina Holywell Street vs Jodenbreestraat: Jewish Spaces in the Aesthetic Imagination in Nineteenth-Century London and Amsterdam Barbara Dickschen - Université Libre de Bruxelles / Fondation de la Mémoire Contemporaine Arno Stern (1888-1949): The Itinerary of a Jewish Artist in Pre-War Belgium 12:30 Lunch Break 13:30 Session III: Social and Economic Aspects of Modern Jewish Life: Migration, Family Formation and Assimilation, Entrepreneurship and Bourgeois Life-Styles Chair: Veerle Vanden Daelen - Universiteit Antwerpen Fransje de Jong - Universiteit Utrecht Jewish Entrepreneurs in the Dutch Film Business, 1910-1940 Lien Vloeberghs - Universiteit Antwerpen The Passage of Eastern and Central European Jewish Immigrants through Antwerp between 1920 and 1939. A Jewish Story about the Journey to the New World Huibert Schijf - Universiteit van Amsterdam Jewish Bourgeoisie in Amsterdam, 1796-1914 Peter Tammes- Universiteit Leiden Frans van Poppel- NIDI Differentials in Marital Fertility among Jewish Families in Amsterdam, 1880-1940 15:30 Coffee Break 16:00 Session IV: Post-War Jewish Migrations and Identities Chair: Jacques Déom - Université Libre de Bruxelles The Illegal Immigration to Palestine of Jewish Refugees from Belgium 1945-1948 Bart Wallet - Universiteit van Amsterdam / Katholieke Universiteit Leuven The Vaad Hahatzala and the Reconstruction of Orthodoxy in the Netherlands, 1945-1950 Arnaud Bozzini - Université Libre de Bruxelles Identity (Re)construction and Political Engagement. Jewish Activists and the Communist Party of Belgium (1944-1956) 17:00 Break 17:10 Session V: Religion and the Ethics of Disability and Disease Chair: Mylène Botbol-Baum - Université Catholique de Louvain-la-Neuve Carolina Valdebenito - Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Gila Schnitzer - Vrije Universiteit Brussel / CGG VAGGA-Jeugdzorg Religious Influences on the Jewish Conceptualization of Disability Goedele Baeke - Katholieke Universiteit Leuven “We are (not) the master of our body”. Religion and Ethics at the End of Life. Attitudes of Elderly Jewish Women in Antwerp towards Treatment Decisions in Advanced Disease 18:10 Closing Remarks