The Jewish Book in a Christian World 25-27 June 2008 University of Antwerp / Museum Plantin-Moretus/Prentenkabinet Conference in English In cooperation with the University Centre Saint-Ignatius Antwerp (UCSIA) and the Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania “The Jewish Book in a Christian World” attempts to understand the remarkable transformation and dissemination of Jewish learning through the agency of the printing press in early modern Europe. Because of the wide circulation of printed Jewish books, especially those in Hebrew and Yiddish, the modes of Jewish education were radically altered for Jews throughout the European continent. Hebrew books first printed in Venice by Christian printers were sold throughout the Diaspora and opened a dialogue between different Jewish sub-communities. The mobility of Jewish books, book dealers and printers created a trans-regional Jewish culture. The printing of Hebrew books also stimulated a readership of learned Christians who sought to understand more deeply the Jewish exegesis of the Old Testament as well as the corpus of rabbinic and kabalistic writing. Jewish books were avidly collected and studied by Jewish and Christian readers alike in this age of enhanced Jewish literacy and Christian Hebraism. All of these trends affected Jewish and Christian culture in Antwerp and the Low Countries in particular. This revolution in learning was stimulated by an Antwerp printer named Daniel Bomberg who set up his famous print shop in Venice. After Bomberg, Christophe Plantin became the most outstanding Christian printer of Hebrew books in Northern Europe. His eight volume Antwerp Polyglot Bible was a collaborative effort of some of the most important scholars of the Bible in the 16th century and clearly was recognized as a masterpiece of scholarship, typography, and illustration. This conference and the exhibit at the Plantin-Moretus Museum celebrates the outstanding achievements of Plantin and his contemporaries who were pioneers in the academic study of ancient Judaism and Christianity. The conference underscores the unique place of Antwerp as a site where the common roots of Judaism and Christianity were explored and probed; and where mutual respect for the other was practiced through the study of the sacred scriptures of each religion. The examination of the Jewish book in a Christian world underscores the deep and enduring legacy of tolerance and admiration which Bomberg, Plantin, and their colleagues demonstrated to the Judaic legacy in their devotion to this learned craft. Remembering this remarkable moment of Antwerp's past might hopefully inspire all people, irrespective of their background, in building a common future together. Conference Program WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 17:00, City Hall KEYNOTE LECTURE Anthony Grafton - Princeton University The Jewish Book in a Christian World THURSDAY, JUNE 26, Museum Plantin-Moretus/Print Room & University of Antwerp SESSION I: THE PRINTING OF THE HEBREW BIBLE AND JUDAICA IN ANTWERP AND THE LOW COUNTRIES Museum Plantin-Moretus/Print Room 9:00-10:30 Bruce Nielsen - Jewish Theological Seminary, New York Daniel van Bomberghen, A Man of Two Worlds Theo Dunkelgrün - University of Chicago From Antwerp to Leiden: the translatio studii of Hebrew scholarship in the Low Countries 10:30-11:00 Coffee Break 11:00-12:00 Amnon Raz Krakotzkin - Ben Gurion University of the Negev Benito Arias Montano: Hebraism, Expurgation and the Centralization of the State 12:00-14:30 Lunch Break SESSION II: CHRISTIAN PUBLISHERS AND READERS OF HEBREW LITERATURE University of Antwerp 14:30-16:00 August den Hollander - University of Amsterdam Christian Hebraism and Early Printed Lay Bibles Piet Van Boxel - Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies Robert Bellarmine Reads Rashi 16:00-16:30 Coffee Break 16:30-18:00 Joanna Weinberg - Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies The Fortuna of Azariah de’ Rossi’s Light of the Eyes among Christian Hebraists Joseph Hacker - The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Hugh Broughton and the Jewish Scholars of Istanbul of the early 17th Century EVENING LECTURE, 20:00 University of Antwerp David Ruderman - Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, University of Pennsylvania The People and the Book: The Invention of Print and the Transformation of Jewish Culture FRIDAY, JUNE 27, University of Antwerp SESSION III: THE IMPACT OF PRINT ON JEWISH CULTURE 9:00-11:00 Elhanan Reiner - Tel Aviv University From the Venice Press to the Ashkenazi Book Shelf: A Debate on the Study of the Bible in Poznan in 1559 Shlomo Berger - University of Amsterdam The Yiddish Book in Early Modern Europe: Between Internal Jewish Traditions and the Christian World Moshe Idel - The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Printing the Unprintable: What Books of Kabbalah Were Printed in 16th Century Italy and Why 11:00-11:30 Coffee Break 11:30-12:30 Concluding panel of participants and summation Registration Participation is free of charge, including coffee and tea. Registration is obligatory. Please register online, via e-mail or phone: ijs@ua.ac.be - +32 (0)3 275 52 43 Tentoonstelling "Hebraica Veritas: Sprak God Hebreeuws?" 16 mei tot en met 17 augustus 2008 Museum Plantin-Moretus/Prentenkabinet Tentoonstelling rond de joods-christelijke dialoog in de 16de eeuw aan de hand van handschriften, oude drukken, grafische en picturale artefacten Inlichtingen: Museum Plantin-Moretus/Prentenkabinet Vrijdagmarkt 22-23 2000 Antwerpen +32 (0)3 221 14 50 museum.plantin.moretus@stad.antwerpen.be www.museumplantinmoretus.be