News and Information

News and Information News and Information Conferences Western Jewish Studies Association Conference 189 The Fourth Annual Western Jewish Studies Association conference will be held March 29-31, 1998 at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles. The topic of the conference will be "Exile/Diaspora/Homeland in the 50th Year of the State of Israel." Papers are invited in the following areas of interest: literature, performing and visual arts, rabbinics, philosophy, history, cultural studies, Sephardic studies, Yiddish, pedagogy, women's studies, gay and lesbian studies, Holocaust studies, medical ethics, biblical studies, mysticism, ethics, theology, mass media, Zionism, Israel, and political science. Send a one-page abstract (original and two copies) and a briefbiography to: Attn. WJSA, Miriyam Glazer/Aryeh Cohen, Co-Chairs, University of Judaism, 15600 Mulholland Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90077-1599. University of Nebraska at Omaha The University ofNebraska at Omaha has issued a call for presenters to participate in an international conference to be held April 23-25, 1998. "The Legacy of the Holocaust: Its Meaning in Today's World" is an interdisciplinary conference addressing issues that the Holocaust has raised for the post-war world from all perspectives including religious, social, economic, ethical, pedagogical, psychological, political, and cultural. Participants in the conference are invited to respond to issues by presenting papers, panels, films, photo and art exhibits, performances, and other interactive formats. Keynote speakers will be Rabbi Charles H. Rosenzveig, founder and executive vice president of the Holocaust Memorial Center in Michigan, and David S. Wyman, Josiah DuBois Professor of History, Emeritus, from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. To receive further information, e-mail to holocaust@ccs.unomaha.edu or check the conference web page at www.unomaha.edu/-ccswww/ccs5k.htrnl. International Medieval Congress The Centre for Jewish Studies in conjunction with IMC 1998 is planning a session at the International Medieval Congress, to be held in Leeds, UK, July 13-16, 1998, on Jewish settlements in Medieval Europe. In particular, speakers are sought who want to 190 SHOFAR Winter 1998 Vol. 16, No.2 contribute on the topographical, architectural, and social aspects of Jewish urban and nonurban spaces. Issues to be considered might include reconsiderations of Jewish settlements in the light ofrecent archaeological and other evidence; the questions ofthe origin/prehistory ofghettos; art historical approaches to Jewish settlements; the position ofwomen in medieval synagogues; the space of Jewish settlement as an expression of social organization and relationship to the non-Jewish society; and memory and forgetting ofJewish settlements after expulsions. Please send papers and inquiries to: Dr. Eva Frojmovic, Centre for Jewish Studies, University ofLeeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK; phone: 0113-233-5197; fax: 0113-245-1977; e-mail: ; web page: . Biblical Translation Conference The Joseph and Rebecca Meyerhoff Center for Jewish Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park, is hosting a conference on biblical translation on Sunday, April 26, 1998. Papers are invited on topics relating to the translation of the Hebrew Bible in ancient, medieval, or modem times as a process seen within its historical, social, and cultural context. Possible topic areas include biblical translation as it affects, or is affected by, literary or other approaches to the Bible, ideology, doctrine, use within a religious community, popular perceptions of the Bible, publishers' concerns, ethical issues, and the like. Proceedings will be published in the Center's series, "Studies and Texts in Jewish History and Culture." Please mail, e-mail, or fax one-page abstracts to Dr. F. W. Knobloch, Meyerhoff Center for Jewish Studies, 0113 Woods Hall, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742-7415; e-mail: ; fax: 301-405-8232. European Association for Jewish Studies The next congress of the European Association for Jewish Studies will take place in Toledo, Spain, in July 1998. The sessions of the congress will be held from Sunday evening, 19 July, until Thursday evening, 23 July. The opening session will take place in the Transito Synagogue on Sunday, 19 July, at 7:00 p.m. The general theme of the five plenary lectures will be Jewish Studies at the Tum of the Nineteenth Century. The congress sections are: Bible, biblical versions, and exegesis; early rabbinics; Hebrew and Jewish languages; ancient Jewish history; medieval Jewish...