The Hungary-Israel Research Forum in Jewish Studies is a joint initiative by Bar-Ilan University and OR-ZSE to foster academic collaborations among scholars of various disciplines in the humanities and social sciences, and to advance research on Central European Jewish communities. The Forum’s inaugural conference will take place on May 12–14 at OR-ZSE in Budapest.

 

CONFERENCE PROGRAM

May 12 (Monday)

Location: Rumbach Synagogue, Rumbach Sebestyén utca 13.

17:00 – 17:30 Greetings
Chair: Henriett Kiss (director of the Rumbach Synagogue)

• Dr. Gábor Balázs, OR-ZSE, acting rector
• Dr. Isaac Hershkowitz, Bar-Ilan University, Department of Jewish Philosophy
• Rabbi Dr. Róbert Frölich, chief rabbi of Hungary, OR-ZSE
• Mr. Moran Birman, deputy chief of mission at the Embassy of the State of Israel to Hungary

17:30 – 19:00 Opening panel: New Perspectives on Hungarian Jewish History
Chair: Zsuzsanna Toronyi (Hungarian Jewish Museum and Archives – OR-ZSE)

• Barak S. Cohen (Bar-Ilan University, Talmud): Rabbi Prof. Wilhelm Bacher’s Contribution to Modern Talmudic Research
• Szonja Ráhel Komoróczy (OR-ZSE): Belz and Munkács in the Yiddish Press
• Leore Sachs-Shmueli (Bar-Ilan University, Jewish Philosophy): New Directions in the Study of Hungarian Hasidism

19:00 – Reception and dinner

 

May 13 (Tuesday)

Location: Jewish Theological Seminary – University of Jewish Studies (OR-ZSE), Scheiber Sándor utca 2.

9:30 –11:00 Digital Tools in Research and Judaic Studies
Chair: Barak S. Cohen

• Isaac Hershkowitz (Bar-Ilan University, Jewish Philosophy): Creating Reincarnation Networks – Munkatsch Kabbalistic Perspectives
• Gila Prebor (Bar-Ilan University, Data Science): Making the Invisible Visible: From Digital Images to Searchable Hebrew Manuscript Text
• Kata Vörös (OR-ZSE): Discourses about Jews in Vector Space: An Analysis of Hungarian Parliamentary Rhetoric Using Word2Vec

11:00 – 11:30 Coffee Break

11:30 – 13:00 Cultural Encounters and Crossroads
Chair: Leore Sachs-Shmueli

• András Kiss (OR-ZSE): A Curious Outcome of the Tiszaeszlár Blood Libel: Rabbi Isaac Lichtenstein’s Turn to the Gospel
• Peter Lanchidi (ELTE): The Masonic Mizrach: A New Genre at the Crossroads of Freemasonry and Judaism
• Balázs Berkovits (Comper Center, Haifa University – OR-ZSE): Jews and the ‘White’ Label

13:00 – 14:00 Lunch

14:00 – 14:30 The Hidden Treasures of the Library of the Rabbinical Seminary – tour of the library with Balázs Tamási (director of the library, OR-ZSE)

14:30 – 16:00 Material Heritage
Chair: Lívia Ledniczky, Merkaz Hebrew and Israeli Cultural Center

• István Balogh (OR-ZSE): 18th Century Jewish Tombstones in Hungary
• Alon Schab (Bar-Ilan University, Musicology): Historically Informed Performance and the Early Meshorerim Tradition
• Dóra Pataricza (Åbo Akademi University, Finland – OR-ZSE): Threads of Scandal: The Sternberg Affair and the Synagogue textiles of Szeged

16:15 – 17:45 Jewish Narratives and Contemporary Frames
Chair: Szonja Ráhel Komoróczy

• Andrea Gondos (University of Rochester): Demonic Encounters at the Crossroads of History: The Life, Poetry, and Scholarship of Isaiah Tishby (Sándor Schwartz) – online
• Zsuzsanna Toronyi (Hungarian Jewish Museum and Archives – OR-ZSE): Museology as Commentary
• Ráhel Surányi (ELTE)  – Márton Gerő (HUN-REN Centre for Social Sciences): October 7 and its Aftermath – Narratives of the Hungarian Jewish Community

 

May 13 (Tuesday) – PhD Students’ Conference (OR-ZSE and SZTE, the University of Szeged)

Location: Jewish Theological Seminary – University of Jewish Studies (OR-ZSE), Scheiber Sándor utca 2.

09:30 – 11:00 English section:
Chair: Alexandra Okanovic 

• Zoltán Bödör (OR-ZSE): Hollow Man with Heart – Ambiguity and Interpretive Challenges in Job 11,12
• Ágnes Erdős (OR-ZSE): A Galician in Tokaj: How the Jews of 18th-century Central Europe Came to Trade in Non-Kosher Wine
• Ádám Zeitler (OR-ZSE): Historical Foundations and Philosophical Dimensions of Pluralism in Jewish Education

11:00 – 11:30 Coffee Break

11:30 – 13:00 Identitás és történeti önértelmezés
Szekcióelnök: Mihalics János

• Okanovic Alexandra (SZTE): Az önarckép és a tekintet Merleau-Ponty A szem és a lélek című írásában
• Kis Miklós (SZTE): A személyes azonosság kérdése és az utilitarizmus
• Bán Péter (SZTE): Az identitás eldologiasodó tendenciája

13:00 – 14:00 Lunch

14:00 – 14:30 The Hidden Treasures of the Library of the Rabbinical Seminary – tour of the library with Balázs Tamási (director of the library, OR-ZSE)

14:30 – 16:30 Zsidó identitás, antijudaizmus és kulturális reprezentációk
Szekcióelnök: Zeitler Ádám

• Király Kinga Júlia (OR-ZSE): A belső ellenség kiszervezése – Az Erzsébet-kori rasszializáció és antijudaizmus toposzai Shakespeare A velencei kalmár című dark comedy-jében
• Barta Péter (OR-ZSE): Néhány megjegyzés Peter Serrarius kapcsolati hálójához
• Figus-Illinyi Rita (SZTE): A hit egzisztenciális szerkezete rezilienciaelméleti megközelítésben: Martin Buber emuna-pistis értelmezésének pszichológiai implikációi
• Mihalics János (SZTE): A történelem mint filozófiai és teológiai probléma

16:30 – 16:45 Break

16:45 – 18:15 (Online)
Chair: Zoltán Bödör

• Analia Bortz  (OR-ZSE): Biblical Theology – YHWH, inter and intratextuality
• Yosef Kleiner  (OR-ZSE): Modern Conceptualisations and Ancient Texts: Methodological Boundaries in Reading Ancient Texts with Modern Eyes

 

May 14 (Wednesday) 

Location: Jewish Theological Seminary – University of Jewish Studies (OR-ZSE), Scheiber Sándor utca 2.

9:00 – 10:00 Revisiting Wissenschaft des Judentums
Chair: Isaac Hershkowitz 

• Peter Trawny (University of Wuppertal): What is ‘Jewish Studies’ for a Non-Jew?
• Michael Chighel (Ashkenazium): A Theory of Ashkenaz

10:30: Field Trip to Szeged