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Newsletter 12
December 2007
www.sosteje.org (President- Shalva Weil)
Florence international conference October 7-10, 2007
The conference took place at COMUNITA' EBRAICA DI
FIRENCE, and was the most wonderful conferences we
have ever had. It was coordinated locally by
Lionella Viterbo, the daughter-in-law of Adv. Carlo
Alberto Viterbo, who photographed the Jews of
Ethiopia in the 1930's, and whose original
photographs were displayed in a special exhibition
during the conference.
The conference opened with short speeches by Dr.
Shalva Weil, President, SOSTEJE, Dr. Renzo Gattegna,
President, UCEI (Union of the Jewish Community in
Italy, Ms. Daniela Misul, President of the Community
of Florence, Rav Joseph Levi, Rabbi of the
Community, Prof. Ida Zatelli, Dept. of Hebrew
Studies, Florence University, Prof. Ephraim Isaac,
Institute of Semitic Studies, Princeton, USA and
Chair, SOSTEJE Academic Committee. The opening was
followed by a dinner hosted by the Florence Jewish
community on Sunday October 7 and included a tour of
the Synagogue and Jewish Museum. The community
received us with open arms and the meetings took
place on the campus of the Florence synagogue.
There were over 30 lectures and two films, all of
excellent and high standard. We were given a guided
city tour of Jewish Florence by a local architect.
At the conference, SOSTEJE issued a bibliography of
scientific works prepared by Dr. Lisa Anteby-Yemini.
New Committees:
At the General meeting, the new international
committee was elected as is recorded on the page
above.
The new Israeli committee was elected as follows:
Shalva Weil-Chairperson
Michael Glatzer-Secretary
Sharon Shalom-Treasurer
Michael Corinaldi-Legal advisor
Anita Nudelman-External affairs
Shlomo Akale-Israeli events
Malka Shabtay-Liason with Ethiopian organizations
Ron Atar-Liason with Dahan Center, Bar-Ilan
University
Simha Getahon-Student representative
Aron Cohen-Honorary member; publications
representative
Scholarships for students:
Five M.A. or Ph.D. students were allocated
scholarships, $500 each, who presented their works
at the Florence conference:
• Nurit Barkan (Tel Aviv University)
• Ravit Cohen (Hebrew University)
• Belaynish Mekonnen (Bar-Ilan University)
• Shula Molla (Hebrew University)
• Sharon Shalom (Bar-Ilan University)
They greatly added to the conference proceedings,
and contributed interesting papers.
Publication of papers:
We are intending to publish the conference
proceedings in two (or even three) books: one on the
history of Ethiopian Jews in English, and the
other(s) on contemporary Israeli issues, in either
English or in Hebrew. It is up to you whether you
submit in Hebrew or English, but only one will be
accepted for publication. We hope to publish with
academic and commercial publishers, but can only
commit ourselves once we have given in a full draft
book.
We therefore request all delegates to the conference
(and the few whose papers were accepted and at the
last minute, were unable to attend) to send in
copies of their papers as Word files in 12 font,
double spaced, between 5,000-8,000 words. All papers
in English have to be edited professionally before
submitting. An academic committee will be set up to
decide on the merits of the submissions. Please
submit according to Humanities guidelines for the
historical book i.e. with footnotes in consecutive
numbers and references in footnotes, and according
to Social Science guidelines for the contemporary
books i.e. with name and year of publication in text
and bibliography at end. The last deadline for
submission is 15 March 2008.
Please inform me at yonata05@gmail.com immediately
of your intention to submit and include a bio of up
to 5 lines. Further information re guidelines may be
given, if necessary.
In accordance with the decision of the international
committee in Florence, papers for publication from
the Addis Abeba 2004conference should also be
submitted to Amakaletch Teferi teferibel@yahoo.com
(with a copy to yonata05@gmail.com)
Viterbo Exhibition:
In the years 1936-37, soon after the Italian
conquest of Abyssinia, Carlo Alberto Viterbo, a
Florentine lawyer and journalist and a fervent
Zionist, was sent to Ethiopia by the Union of the
Italian Jewish Communities to get in touch with the
local Jewish population.
In Addis Ababa, where he remained for some months
with the purpose of establishing a Jewish community,
he was welcomed by Tamrat Emmanuel, the director of
the local Jewish school. The two had become good
friends when young Tamrat had been a student in the
Rabbinic College of Florence directed by Rabbi
Margulies.
Viterbo and Tamrat then left for Gondar, on a long
and tiring journey which lasted for some months in
the area round Lake Tana.
An exhibition showing the original pictures taken
during that journey were displayed for the first
time in full at the SOSTEJE Florence conference.
SOSTEJE now plans to display the exhibition in
Israel. More details in the next newsletter!
Next International Conference:
SOSTEJE is co-sponsoring another international
conference on Ethiopian Jewry: Identity, Heritage,
History and Society
with
The Aharon and Rachel Dahan Center for Culture,
Society and Education
in the Sephardic Heritage at Bar-Ilan University to
take place on Monday-Tuesday, 21-22 Iyar 5768 (26-27
May, 2008)
Conference topics:
• History of the Jewish Community of Ethiopia
• Zionism and Aliya The Absorption of Ethiopian Jews
in Israel: Successes and Challenges
• Tradition and Customs
• Education and Culture
• Society and Health
• Women and Family
• Literature, Art, Religious Poetry and Music
• The Jews of Ethiopia in the Cinema, the Theater
and the Media
• Ethiopian Jews: Judaism, Christianity and Islam
• Leaders and Leadership
• Communal Life in Ethiopia and Ties with other
Jewish Communities
• Ethiopian-Israeli Relations
You are invited to submit proposals for lecture
topics, accompanied by an abstract of no longer than
one page.
Final date for submission of proposals is Monday, 22
Tevet 5768 (December 31, 2007).
If you wish to propose a topic not included above,
please feel free to do so, and we will consider
including it.
Proposals should be sent to the following address:
The Dahan Center for Culture, Society and Education
in the Sephardic Heritage
Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan 52900, E-mail:
dahan.center@mail.biu.ac.il
Papers presented at the Conference will subsequently
be published in a volume of proceedings, following
academic review where required.
.
Conference Academic Committee:
Dr. Yehudit Ronen (Chair), Bar-Ilan University
Prof. Haggai Erlich, Open University
Dr. Shalva Weil, Hebrew University
Prof. Zemira Mevarech, Bar-Ilan University
Dr. Shimon Ohayon, Director, Dahan Center
===============
Conference Submission Form:
I would like to participate in the conference
entitled Ethiopian Jewry:
Identity, Heritage, History and Society
and hereby submit my proposal.
Proposed Topic:
Name of Speaker:
Academic Institution:
Department:
Contact Telephone:
Home:
Work:
Cell:
Address:
Attached herewith a one-page abstract of my proposed
paper.
Sincerely,
Signature
Date
Membership dues:
Membership dues are paid biennially, and are still
due for 2007-8. They entitle members to participate
in the Israeli AGM, and to receive reduced
conference fees, and bibliographies on Ethiopian
Jewry. The dues are $50 for 2 years, and $30 for
students, or the shekel equivalent. Please send your
money by mail to: SOSTEJE c /o Dr. Shalva Weil,
Research Institute for Innovation in Education,
Hebrew University, Mt. Scopus, Jerusalem 91905,
Israel. Please make out your cheques in Hebrew to
העמותה למדעי יהדות אתיופיה or in English or transfer
money to SOSTEJE (Society for the Study of Ethiopian
Jewry) c/o Investec, Bank 26, Branch no. 202, swift
code no. IGBTILIT ATTN. Jerusalem (jerusalem@investec.co.il)-
stating clearly your address (for receipt), tel.
no., interest in Ethiopian Jewry, last degree, and
institutional affiliation, and informing me at the
above address. Since we gave out all our money
collected from membership dues to student stipends,
we are urgently in need of some money to update our
website.
List of Recent Publications on Ethiopian Jews:
Books
Weil, Shalva (Ed.) Second Edition 2007. (1st edition
1997). Ethiopian Jews in the Limelight, Jerusalem:
Hebrew University, Research Institute for Innovation
in Education.
Scientific Articles in Journals
Amnon Boehm, 2007."Immigrant Participation in
Decision-Making Processes at the Local Level: A
Comparison of Immigrants and Veterans in Israel",
International Migration 45 (4): 135–173.
Cicurel, Inbal and Sharaby. Rachel, 2007. "Women in
the Menstruation Huts -Variations in Preserving
Purification Customs among Ethiopian Immigrants",
Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, 23 (2):
69-84
Isaac, Ephraim, 2005."The Question of Jewish
Identity & Ethiopian Jewish Origins”, Midstream,
vol. LI/5.
Olivier Tourny, 2007. « Anthologie de la liturgie
des juifs éthiopiens », Bulletin du Centre de
recherche français de Jérusalem, 11, automne 2002,
[En ligne], mis en ligne le 13 novembre 2007. URL :
http://bcrfj.revues.org/document792.html.
Chapter in Books
Isaac, Ephraim, 2006. “The Exalted Enoch and the
Archangel Michael in the Bible & Other Jewish
Literature including the Scrolls, and Ethiopic
Literature” (vol. II, The Bible and the Dead Sea
Scrolls, The Princeton Symposium on the Dead Sea
Scrolls, J. H. Charlesworth (Ed.), Baylor University
Press,
Dissertation
Cohen, Ravit, 2007 Waiting on their Way, MA thesis
submitted to the Dept of Sociology and Social
Anthropology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
(108pp.)
Kindly send all references and a copy of published
articles for the next newsletter to Ruby Newman:
rnewman@YorkU.CA |
