Oxford Chabad creates new opportunity for high-level Jewish study in Oxford

Oxford Chabad creates new opportunity for high-level Jewish study in Oxford

Sunday, 26 July 2009

The Oxford University Chabad Society hosted its first conference in Jewish studies - Yom Limmud in Oxford on Sunday 26 July. The event was held at the David Slager Jewish Centre at 61 George Street, and included a range of lectures by leading rabbis and academics on Jewish law, mysticism, women in Judaism, the philosophy of religion, literature, medieval Jewish philosophy, and concluded with a ‘questions and answers’ session with a panel including Dr Naftali Loewenthal, Dr Israel Sandman and Rabbi Chaim Rapoport.

Rabbi Eli Brackman, director of the Oxford University Chabad Society, who initiated and chaired the conference, explained that “Oxford is a world-renowned place of scholarship at the highest level and we intend to explore how to utilise this to create an internationally recognised platform for the study of Jewish knowledge in an intellectually, stimulating manner, open and accessible to the general public.”

The lecture hall was full at the opening session at 10am with sessions continuing until 5-30pm. The sessions included a broad range of lectures punctuated by lunch and a fascinating tour of the medieval Jewish sites of Oxford, as well as an exclusive viewing of early printed Hebraica at St. John’s college library. At St. John’s College library, attendees were shown a special selection of rare artefacts by the college librarian, Dr Silke Schaeper. These items included an early 17th century copy of the Zohar, Abrabanel on forced Jewish converts to Christianity, as well as early selections of Maimonides’ laws on poverty.

The speakers included Rabbi Chaim Rapoport, who is an author, lecturer and Judaic scholar. He is a member of the UK’s Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks’ cabinet, where he holds the Jewish medical ethics portfolio. Rabbi Rapoport is a visiting professor at the Jewish Learning Exchange in London and Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School in New York. Rabbi Rapoport delivered a fascinating lecture on the ‘The dynamics of decision making in Jewish law’, in which he presented the problem of cosmetic surgery. Next, spoke Dr Naftali Loewenthal, on whether there is any need for the mystical tradition in Judaism. Dr Loewenthal is Lecturer in Jewish Spirituality at University College London and his upcoming book will be published with the title Hippy in the Mikveh.

In the afternoon session, Dani Rabinowitz, currently a DPhil candidate in philosophy at Oxford, presented a paper on ‘The Divine foreknowledge and human free will problem'. The seminar also included presentations by Prof. Ritchie Robertson FBA and Dr Israel Sandman. Prof. Robertson, who is Professor of German at the University of Oxford, and has published books on Kafka and Heine, spoke on the subject of German-Jewish literature between the wars.

Dr Sandman, who is a postdoctoral research fellow at University College London and currently part of a team working on the Arts and Humanities Research Council project ‘Medieval Hebrew Monographs on the Jewish Calendar’, delivered a very popular and interactive presentation entitled ‘Medieval Jewish philosophy: Creative encounter between scripture and Greek thought’.

Visitors to Yom Limmud came from cities as far as Slough, Bath, and London. There were around 50 attendees, including students and people of all ages. A children’s programme was also organized, which ran simultaneously. The day ended with a delicious buffet dinner at the David Slager centre.

Avraham Petrov, Dphil candidate in neuroscience at Oxford, commented “the conference was a real success and I heard several people asking whether there will be another one and when”. 

Eric Magazu, visiting summer school student from Massachusetts said, “The programme was excellent - I’ll recommend this idea to others”.

Local resident, David Hearn, complimented the lectures, particularly the one on Jewish mysticism, that they were energizing, passionate and the structure and illustration were excellent. Overall, a great day! We would like more of such programmes in the future.”

Peter Walters who travelled from Bath for the conference expressed his appreciation, “thank you very much for a very stimulating and useful day”.

The success of the conference was with the help of a special committee, consisting of students, faculty and local members of the Jewish community. They were instrumental in the planning and running of the conference and will take part in the planning of future conferences in the near future.

Rabbi Eli Brackman predicts that with the success of this conference and the planning of future such conferences, “we look forward to the beginning of a new era of Jewish study for Oxford Jewry and students and for the UK Jewish community as a whole.”