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Judaic Studies Newsletter
Spring 2006 | No. 2
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Prof. Nehama Aschkenasy Speaks on 'Eve's Journey' and on 'In the Footsteps of Job: Women Challenging God in Judaic Literature'
 "Women in Judaism" was the topic of the UCF Judaic Studies Distinguished Lecturers Series this Spring semester, which took place on January 30 and 31, 2006.
Prof. Nehama Aschkenasy of the University of Connecticut presented a lecture on "Eve's Journey: Feminine Images in Hebraic Literary Tradition" on Monday, January 30, 2006, at 7:30 P.M. in the Student Union. A second lecture, "In the Footsteps of Job: Women Challenging God in Judaic Literature," was presented on Tuesday, January 31, 2006, at 10:30 A.M. in the Student Union.
A scholar in comparative literature, Judaic Studies, and Women Studies, Dr. Aschkenasy has taught and written in the areas of English literature, biblical literature, biblical influences on world literature, contemporary Israeli writings, and women in biblical and Judaic civilization.
She has published three books, the groundbreaking, Eve's Journey: Feminine Images in Hebraic Literary Tradition (1986, 1994), winner of the Present Tense Literary Award; and Woman at the Window: Biblical Tales of Oppression and Escape (1998), and Biblical Patterns in Modern Literature (1984). She recently guest-edited a dedicated volume of the AJS Review (2004), titled The Bible's Presence in Contemporary Hebrew Literature and Culture, with invited articles from senior scholars in the field, to which she also contributed a methodological introduction and an article.
Dr. Aschkenasy is Professor of Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies at the University of Connecticut and founding Director of the Center for Judaic and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Connecticut, Stamford. She holds degrees from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem in Judaic Studies and English and a Ph.D. in English and Comparative Literature from New York University. She has served for sixteen years as Associate Editor for the AJS Review, the scholarly publication of the national and international Association for Jewish Studies.
These lectures were sponsored by the Judaic Studies Program at UCF, with the cooperation of Women Studies, the Women's Research Center, and Central Florida Hillel. They were funded by grants from Friends of Judaic Studies.
Prof. Pelli Publishes Three Scholarly Books
UCF Judaic Studies director, Prof. Moshe Pelli, has published three scholarly books on Hebrew Enlightenment. It was the culmination of several years of research in rare book collections at research libraries throughout the world. Previously, Prof. Pelli published seven other books on the Hebrew Enlightenment and on Hebrew Culture in America.
 In Search of Genre: Hebrew Enlightenment and Modernity is an innovative study of the beginning of modernity in Hebrew and Jewish letters, which reflected the emerging changes in Jewish society toward the end of the 18th century in Germany.
The author traces these changes to the activities and articulations of young intellectual Hebraists, known as Maskilim (enlighteners), who adopted the ideas and ideals of European Enlightenment ideology, incorporating them into their revised and updated concept of Judaism, and actively aspiring to apply them to Jewish society. These writers undertook a new and daring mission: to revitalize the Jewish people by reviving the Hebrew language and Jewish culture. As part of their program they established a modern center for Hebrew language and literature in Germany and a literary movement known as Haskalah (Enlightenment).
Thus, they began to disseminate 'modern' Hebrew and Jewish literature, promoting new and revised Jewish culture. Their activities were expressed in several new and adopted literary genres. This was indeed a cultural revolution which incorporated the new and the old, the modern and the traditional.
The author identifies and analyzes for the first time in Hebrew criticism the use of new and revised genres, styles and literary conventions, thus offering new criteria for a revised assessment of modern Hebrew literature. His study argues that these new and renewed literary genres mark the transition from traditional Hebrew letters to modern Hebrew literature. Modernity in Hebrew letters is thus defined as the endeavor to emulate the contemporary European literatures and their prevailing aesthetics and poetics. The study explores various criteria for Hebrew modernism exemplified by attempts to redefine Judaism, revise Judaic values, present new perception of Jewish history, calendar and times, and by the search for happiness and the disregard for the religious precepts.
 The Age of Haskalah is a seminal study of the beginnings of the Haskalah in Germany in the last quarter of the 18th century. The Haskalah was a literary and cultural movement that reshaped and reformed Judaism and the Jews in accordance with the needs of modern times, i.e., the European Enlightenment. Leaders of the movement were known as Maskilim and included the poet and grammarian, Naphtali Herz Wessely; the physician, Mordechai Gumpel Schnaber; the writer, Isaac Satanow; the rabbi, Saul Berlin; and the editor and writer Isaac Euchel. With detailed textual and historical evidence, author Moshe Pelli examines the backdrop of the Hebrew Enlightenment and the impact of the European Deism on the pundits of Haskalah. He further probes into early intimations of religious reform, the methodology of reform seen in the first reform temple controversy of 1818, and the attitude of the Maskilim toward the Talmud and the revival of the Hebrew language.
In this new edition of The Age of Haskalah, originally published in 1979, the author includes addenda that update the chapters and bibliography.
 Bikurei Ha'itim the 'First Fruits' of Haskalah is An Annotated Index to Bikurei Ha'itim, the Hebrew Journal of the Haskalah in Galicia, that was published in Vienna from 1820 to 1831. It contains a monograph which examines the transition of Haskalah from Germany to Austria and to Galicia following the demise of the first Hebrew periodical, Hame'asef, and explores the literary contribution of the Galician Haskalah.
Applying computer programming prepared for his indexing and monographs of Hebrew periodicals projects, Pelli produced an updated, sophisticated bibliographical tool and comprehensive monographs in his two books on the journal Bikurei Ha'itim.
The background to the launching of the Bikurei Ha'itim is being examined in the book, such as the phenomena of the German-Jewish periodicals (Sulamith, 1809; Jedidja, 1817), the calendars and the almanacs published by Joseph Perl (1814 1816), and the Hebrew periodical in Holland (Bikurei To'elet, 1820) - which affected the planning of Bikurei Ha'itim as a literary almanac.
The books may be ordered at the UCF bookstore by calling 407-823-2665, customer service. Assistance may be gotten by calling Jeff Golub at 407-823-5129.
News and Upcoming Events From UCF Hillel
Another fun-filled and busy month has past at Central Florida Hillel. Jewish Greek Life hosted its kick off event, "Jewish Greek Life Bar Mitzvah." The event took place at Friendly Confines in Waterford Lakes. Students attended a bar and the mitzvah was to bring an uninvolved Jewish student to the event. Exactly 88 students were in attendance and they had a great time. Getting the Jewish Greek leaders active in Jewish Greek life has been very successful.
This semester engagement programs have been added and changed in order to attract and meet new students where they are. Taxi Tuesdays will hopefully enable our JCSC Fellow to meet those individuals, especially freshmen who live in the residence halls and don't have a car. Hillel will be offering free rides to Super Target, Wal-Mart, and Publix. In addition, Natura Thursdays will attract upper classmen. Natura is an extremely popular café in the UCF area.
Hillel@UCF is one of 20 student groups that are co-sponsoring a Darfur Awareness Week for campus. Speakers, events, and materials will help spread information about the ethnic cleansing that is happening. Funds for the program are from Hillel International Grants, Student Government, and other organizations. Torah on Tap is starting in February. Rabbi Chizever from Temple Israel will meet students at the on-campus sportsbar to talk about Torah and Jewish issues; Hillel will provide appetizers and students will purchase beverages.
Hillel@UCF's Tu B'Shvat event will be a fair of many environmentally friendly student groups. This will also be a follow-up event for our successful iNEGEV campaign.
Knights for Israel will be holding their annual Israel Awareness Week in March coinciding with the Israel elections. The students will be finalizing the events this week.
For information on Hillel@UCF, contact Joshua Katz at 407-362-3317, or email info@centralfloridahillel.com.
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