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Tuesday, June 18, 2019

The Fourteenth International Conference on Jewish Names

Academia (postfactum)

Abstract Booklet (English)


by Aaron Demsky

It is a pleasure to introduce the participants of the Fourteenth International Conference on Jewish Names. These biennial conferences have attracted both established senior scholars as well as independent as well as younger colleagues, who are beginning their academic careers. In addition to the Israeli scholars, our roster of lecturers includes those from Romania, Italy, Poland, Czechia, Croatia, Canada and the United States. In all, this year's conference has twenty speakers. The chronological framework discussed in these papers spans the total Jewish historic experience, from the biblical period until the present day. Several papers treat naming trends in modern Israel especially regarding communal, religious and national identity. Others research trends in the Jewish Diaspora. This year, we have two noted speakers - Dr. Avshalom Kor and Dr. Ruvik Rosenthal -- who will open and close this conference respectively. Each in his own way, has endeared the Hebrew language to the wider Israeli public. In so doing, they have made major contributions in understanding the Jewish name and contemporary naming patterns in modern Israel.

The Project for the Study of Jewish Names  founded twenty-eight years ago, is housed in the Israel and Golda Koschitzky Department of Jewish History and Contemporary Jewry at Bar-Ilan University. One of the goals of the project is the  publication of scholarly papers in English and in Hebrew. To date we have published the series These are the Names – Studies in Jewish Onomastics (Bar-Ilan University Press) volumes 1-5, and in cooperation with the University of Maryland Press and Penn State University Press we are publishing an onomastic series of different Jewish communities. The first volume which appeared in 2010 is Pleasant are Their Names – Jewish Names in the Sephardi Diaspora (ed. Aaron Demsky). A second volume, a monograph by Prof. Aharon Gaimani, Yemenite Jewish Names: A Cultural and Social History appeared last year. A third volume by Dr. Alex Avram,
Romanian Surnames in the Old Kingdom is in press. Indeed, onomastics has become a tool for historic research in understanding changing fashions, aesthetics and beliefs of world Jewry and for understanding the interaction of Jews with gentile cultures over the ages. 

We take pride in the fact that Jewish onomastics has become a recognized field of Jewish and Social studies. Its success is measured by the wide interest these conferences have for academics and laymen. 

We have inaugurated a data-base and chat list which we hope will bring together both scholar and interested lay person, at http://www.jewish-names.org/publications.html.

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