Moshe Behar on Reshet Bet

Moshe Behar on Israeli Radio Reshet Bet. On Wednesday 26 June at around 7:30pm UK time, Moshe Behar was interviewed in Hebrew by the well known feminist broadcaster Ms Keren Noybach about his new book Modern Middle Eastern Jewish Thought on the daily Israeli radio programme "Seder Yom". Listen again: mp3 or wav.

Jeremy Rosen on the Agunah Project

Reflections on the Agunah Project. Orthodox Rabbi and commentator Jeremy Rosen has blogged on the Agunah problem and the contribution of the Centre's Agunah Project, led by former co-director Bernard Jackson. "The Jewish Law Association has just published the proceedings of the Fordham Conference of 2012. There the noble, brave, and persistent Professor Bernard Jackson, one of the unsung moral heroes of our halachic age, presented the summation of years of serious academic [research] by the Agunah Research Unit of the University of Manchester. With little fanfare, he and his team explored every aspect and possible halachic solutions to the problem and offered answers... In my opinion, it is a scandal and a desecration of God’s Name that two years later nothing has changed... I am deeply depressed that Professor Jackson and his team have received neither the kudos nor the reaction they deserve." Further information.

Leon Yudkin

The Centre notes with sadness the passing of Dr. Leon Yudkin (1939-2013) in London 8 June 2013. Dr. Yudkin was for many years until 1996 a lecturer in Modern Hebrew Literature in the Department of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Manchester. He will be missed by his former colleagues, Prof. Emeritus Philip Alexander FBA, Ms Sophie Garside, Prof. John Healey FBA, Prof. Alex Samely, Alan Williams and others. He was author of a number of standard works on modern Hebrew literature including Isaac Lamdan: A Study in Twentieth Century Hebrew Poetry (1971), Escape into Siege: A Survey of Israeli Literature Today (1974), Jewish Writing and Identity in the Twentieth Century  (1982), 1948 and After: Aspects of Israeli Fiction (1984), On the Poetry of Uri Zvi Greenberg (in Hebrew, 1987), Else Lasker-Schüler: A Study in German Jewish Literature (1991), Beyond Sequence: Current Israeli Fiction and its Context (1992), A Home Within: Varieties of Jewish Expression in Modern Fiction (1996), Public Crisis and Literary Response: The Adjustment of Modern Jewish Literature (2001), and Israel, the Vision of A State and Its Literature (2006).

Philip Alexander Student Prize 2013

Undergraduate student prize in Jewish Studies. The Philip Alexander Prize for Undergraduate Jewish Studies is awarded annually to the student with 'the highest grade in a Jewish Studies-related module or dissertation' at the University of Manchester. For 2013 a prize of £100 each was awarded to the joint winners: Daniel Walker for a dissertation entitled 'Henry VIII and the Rabbis: What Role Did Italian Rabbis Play in Henry VIII's Great Matter and What Does This Imply for Jewish-Christian Relationships in the Period?' (supervised by Renate Smithuis) and Leo Mercer for a dissertation entitled 'Is a Nonfoundationalist Jewish Philosophy Possible? The Reparative Theology of Tamar Ross and Peter Ochs as Case-Study' (supervised by Alex Samely). The award of the Bernard Jackson Prize for the best MA dissertation will be made in November 2013. Further information.

Bles Student Prizes 2013

Undergraduate student prizes in Hebrew Studies. The Bles Hebrew Prizes are awarded annually for 'the encouragement of Hebrew studies' at the University of Manchester. For 2013 a prize of £200 was awarded to Miruna Belea for her performance on the course unit Hebrew level 2, and prizes of £200 each were awarded to Miriam Saffer and Imogen Pickup for their performances on the course unit Hebrew level 3. These course units are taught by Sophie Garside and Malka Hodgson. Further information.