Category Archives: News

Moshe Yagur, Crossing the Line: Jewish Identity in Medieval Egypt (Jerusalem: Shazar, 2025), is winner of the “Am ve’Olam” Book Prize of the Israeli Historical Society.

This book examines the question of Jewish identity in and around Egypt in the Middle Ages based on an analysis of cases where community boundaries were crossed by means of conversion. The book discusses many cases of Jews who converted to other religions, mainly to Islam, and of non-Jewish enslaved men and women who were owned by Jewish masters and mistresses, whose manumission was in fact their conversion, thus giving them an entry ticket into the Jewish community in which they lived.

In-Italja: Interrelation in Italian Jewry Atlas

We are pleased to announce the launch of the digital Atlas In-italja. This ambitious platform is the outcome of two and a half years of intensive collaboration among historians, art historians, and scholars of Jewish studies from the Universities of Rome Sapienza, Pisa, Bologna, and Milan. In-italja is an innovative digital humanities project that documents, illustrates, and dynamically narrates the history of Jewish mobility in Italy, as well as the complex interrelations between Jews and Christians from the Middle Ages to 1938.

At its core lies a rich and extensive corpus: the Atlas catalogues and describes more than 20,000 items, including archival documents, books, and images, making it a substantial new resource for research and teaching. The project adopts a spatial approach that moves across multiple fields (political, economic, and cultural history, as well as gender and family history) offering a multilayered and, we hope, genuinely innovative perspective on the history of Jewish communities in the Italian peninsula and the wider Mediterranean.

All data are available in Linked Open Data (LOD) format. The platform features intuitive search functions (by place, chronological span, and names), along with a series of thematic pathways designed to guide users through key topics and connections. The Atlas is further enriched by two accompanying podcasts (in Italian), which expand its narrative and interpretive reach. We warmly invite colleagues, researchers, and all those interested to explore In-italja and to share their feedback.

News on the Medieval Synagogue in Rothenburg ob der Tauber

Following the discovery of the medieval synagogue foundations in Rothenburg in the summer of 2025 (which was also reported here), a non-invasive ground survey was conducted, revealing the full layout of the synagogue, including the frauschul.

Clicke here for the newest press release (in German) by the Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Monuments.

© Grafik: Roland Linck (BLfD), Drohnenfoto: Stadt Rothenburg.

 

Postdoctoral Researcher for DFG Project “Edition and Material Investigation of the ‘Cambridge Codex’ T-S 10 K 22”

The DFG-funded research project “Edition and Material Investigation of the ‘Cambridge Codex’ T-S 10 K 22”, jointly led by Dr. Jan Hon (FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg) and Dr. Uri Zvi Shachar (Tel Aviv University), aims to produce a new critical edition (both print and digital) as well as a philological and material analysis of the oldest manuscript collection of Yiddish texts.

They are looking for a postdoctoral researcher with expertise in Medieval Jewish Studies in the German branch of the project, based in Erlangen, for three years (until 31. 3. 2029).

Application deadline: 20.03.2026

CfP for the “Sommerakademie” of the Institute for Jewish History in Austria: “Von Samson, Superwoman und Krusty, dem Clown – Jüdische Bilder-Geschichten seit dem Mittelalter” (in German)

The Institute for Jewish History in Austria, St. Pölten, invites for paper proposals for its “Somerakademie” on the topic “Von Samson, Superwoman und Krusty, dem Clown – Jüdische Bilder-Geschichten seit dem Mittelalter”, which will be held in Vienna from July 8-10, 2026. The conference aims to explore Jewish pictorial histories from medieval book illumination, illuminated Esther scrolls, copperplate engravings, and picture books to the comics, animated films, and graphic novels of the 20th and 21st centuries. Proposals are welcome in German or English.

Submission Deadline for Paper Proposals: December 12, 2025