Tikvah

Group Leader: Allan Arkush

 

As Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi has observed, the Passover Haggadah has been reprinted “more often and in more places than any other Jewish classic.” In the decades since Yerushalmi wrote these words, new editions of the traditional Haggadah have continued to appear with great regularity. Outside of the Orthodox community, however, the standard Haggadah continues to give way to drastically abbreviated versions or volumes derived from the Haggadah but greatly altered to suit contemporary notions and sensibilities. At the same time that increasing numbers of Jews have been setting it aside, the traditional Haggadah has been the subject of intensified investigation by both academic researchers and rabbis and teachers who have sought to plumb its depths and preserve its integrity. Our working group will consider these people’s endeavors and reflect on the extent to which they may contribute to a renewal of interest in the age-old Haggadah among those who have become estranged from it.    

 

Allan Arkush, Professor of Judaic Studies and History at Binghamton University

Jay Berkovitz, Professor of Judaic and Near Eastern Studies, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Ronna Burger, Professor and Chair, Department of Philosophy, Sizeler Professor of Jewish Studies,
            Tulane University

Elliot Horowitz, Associate Professor of Jewish History, Bar-Ilan University

William Kristol, Editor, The Weekly Standard

Richard Ruderman, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of North Texas

Susan Shell, Boston College

 

First Meeting:

June 7th and June 8th, 2009.  Princeton University

Second Meeting:

   November 22nd and November 23rd, 2009.  Princeton University