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A cooperation between the Simon Dubnow Institute, Leipzig, and the Unit of Judaic Studies/Munich Research Centre of Jewish Arabic Cultures at the University of Munich
We are pleased to announce an international conference exploring the impact of Muslim rule on Jewish literature, with a particular focus on religious texts—including translations of the Bible, commentaries, and philosophical and legal writings. The conference will examine how Jewish authors responded—textually, linguistically, and theologically—to the Islamic environment in which they lived, and how Islamic models of thought, language, and literary form left their imprint on Jewish religious expression.
Workshop Program
Venues: Raum M110, Main Building, University of Munich, Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1, 80539 Munich
Seidlvilla, Nicolaiplatz 1B, 80802 Munich
April 14 – Venue: Raum M110
18:15-18:30 Opening: Jan Gerber, Ronny Vollandt
18:30-19:30 Keynote Lecture: Reuven Firestone. Hinting What May Not Be Declared and Inferring What May Not Be Said: Decoding Jewish Anti-Muslim Polemics Written under Muslim Rule
19:30-20:00 Reception
April 15 – Venue: Seidlvilla
09:00-09:30 Registration
09:30-11:00 NEGOTIATING INTERRELIGIOSITY
Chair: Gregor Schwarb
Jasper Bernhofer Elements of Arabic Psychology and Philosophy of Mind in Samaritan-Arabic Polemics against Judaism
Haitham Ismaeil An 18th-Century Samaritan Theological Defense Against the Accusation of Worshipping the Golden Calf
Kübra Güneş Maimonides on Treatment of Non-Jews in the Context of the Commandments of Kings and Wars and Its Roots in Islamic Tradition
11:00-11:30 Coffee Break
11:30-12:30 IDENTITY AS REFLECTED IN LITERATURE
Chair: Hanna Trauer
Ariane Sadjed. Judeo-Persian and the Hebrew “Revival”: Religious Canonization in the Writings of Haim Moreh
Ravza Aydın. The Defence of the Other: Perceptions of Identity and Homeland in Avram Galante’s Article “Why I Defend Islam?”
12:30-13:30 Lunch
13:30-15:00 CONCEPTUAL ENGAGEMENTS
Chair: Ali Langroudi
Mohammad Golshan (Göttingen). Rethinking the Concept of Qadīm: Reading Burhān-i Ḥudūth and Qidam in Two Judeo-Persian Keter Malkuth Commentaries
Dan Shapira. I Firk 143: One of the Oldest Qipčaq Texts (Composed after 1340, Copied after 1470s) from the Islamicate and Persianate World
Roza Ashkenazi. Religious Terms and Jewish Personal Sacral Names in Judeo-Persian Literature and Judeo-Persian Transliterations of Classic Persian Poetry
18:15-19:15 Keynote Lecture; Venue: Raum M110; Julia Rubanovich. Epic Voices: Medieval Judeo-Persian Biblical Poetry in Context
April 16 – Venue: Seidlvilla
10:00-11:00 LITERARY ADOPTIONS I
Chair: Avner Ofrath
Shlomo Zuckier. ‘Oral Torah’ between Late Talmudic and Early Islamic Discourse
Gavin McDowell (Paris). Sefer ha-Yashar: A Persianate Tales of the Prophets
11:00-11:30 Coffee Break
11:30-13:00 LITERARY ADOPTIONS II
Chair: Ronny Vollandt
Joshua Krug. Voluntary Conversion and Identity Formation in the Medieval Islamic World: Maimonides’ “Letter to Ovadiah the Convert” in Context
Şeyma Benli. Two Jewish Brothers, Two Separate Translations: A Comparative Study of the First Ottoman Turkish Renditions of the Psalms
13:00-14:00 Lunch
