Hebrew Colloqium, Prague

Manchester as a European pioneer. Sophie Garside represented the University at the Nachmanides Forum at the Prague Centre for Jewish Studies, Charles University, 22-24 September 2019. The Forum was concerned with mainly modern Hebrew (but also biblical and post-biblical Hebrew) and was the first of its kind taking place under the auspices of the European Association for Jewish Studies. Hebrew instructors from 13 European countries took part in it; all in all there were 25 participants including PhD students. It was attended by Elisabeth Hollender, EAJS President, and, in the concluding session, by HE Daniel Meron, Ambassador of the State of Israel in the Czech Republic. Sophie Garside's panel focused on the pros and cons of distance learning based primarily on the Manchester experience of teaching Hebrew, which is uniquely advanced in Europe. As a pioneering model, it generated considerable interest and requests for consultancy.