The Second World Congress Of Jewish Studies
The Second World Congress of Jewish Studies was held at the Givat Ram campus of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem from July 27 to August 4, 1957. This time, it was organized jointly by the Hebrew University and the Israel Ministry of Education and Culture, with the assistance of the Jewish Agency for Israel.
The opening session of the Congress was held in the Binyanei HaʾUmah Conference Centre in Jerusalem. The President of the State of Israel, Yitzhak Ben Zvi, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, and members of the cabinet attended the event. Opening addresses were given by the Prime Minister, as well as by Prof. Ben-Zion Dinur. President Ben-Zvi opened the Congress program proper with his lecture, “Research on the Jewish Communities of the Near and Middle East.”
Over three hundred and fifty scholars and guests from Israel, and nearly one hundred from abroad, attended the Second World Congress. Two hundred and thirty lectures were held—in Hebrew, Yiddish, English, French, Spanish, and German. The program was organized under the topics of Bible, Hebrew Language, History of the Jewish People, Talmud and Rabbinics, Jewish Thought (encompassing Kabbalah, philosophy, and religion), Hebrew Literature, Archaeology and Palestinography, Yiddish Language and Literature, Jewish Ethnic Groups and their Languages, and Demography of the Jewish People.
Fourteen special exhibitions were organized, among them results of recent excavations (Hazor, Caesarea, Masada, Beth Sheʾarim); the Dead-Sea Scrolls; historical documents from various archives and from the National Library; demography of the Jewish People; Jewish coins; rare books and manuscripts; and Yemenite arts and crafts.
The motives which guided the Conference organizers were described in the introduction to the Congress Report:
(1) The development of Jewish Studies resulted in the division and specialization of research. Nowadays it is rather difficult to keep abreast of progress in Jewish Studies in their entirety, particularly in those branches which are outside the individual scholar’s exclusive field of study. Yet the ever-increasing number of discoveries and their great and continuous influence on research methods in Jewish Studies require permanent bodies for the exchange of opinion among scholars of Jewish Studies, in all their ramifications.
(2) This progress made in Jewish Studies, and the abundance of new sources concerning the past, as well as the quest for new research methods and their organization in all fields of study—confronted scholars with great tasks, which demand organized planning of cooperation between individuals and institutions.
(3) The changes and transformations in the situation of the Jews during the last generation; their resettlement in their homeland and the beginning of the ingathering of the exiles; the Nazi catastrophe and the destruction of Jewish centres in Eastern Europe; the Jewish war of independence and rebirth of statehood; the revival of the Hebrew language and Hebrew science in Israel; and the shaping of a new Israel society—all these created in the homeland of Judaism a new “public climate” for Jewish Studies and their progress.
The organizers set the Congress four tasks:
(1) To turn the “Congress of Jewish Studies” into the principal institution for “spiritual contact” between students and scholars of Jewish Studies from all over the world.
(2) To establish a “World Union of Jewish Studies” to deal with the organization of the “World Congress of Jewish Studies” and its development into a permanent institution for the progress of Jewish Studies.
(3) To formulate guiding principles for the planning of scientific projects in the field of Jewish Studies, on a scale beyond the competence of individuals or single institutions; to find means and ways for cooperation and mutual assistance for the promotion of such projects and their execution.
(4) To promote close contact between scholars of Jewish Studies and the “cultural climate” of Israel.
During the Congress, the projects committee adopted the resolution to hold the World Congress of Jewish Studies every four years in Jerusalem. Another resolution dealt with the establishment of the World Union of Jewish Studies as a permanent body and the election of a Union Council of thirty-five members, the majority of whom were elected during the Congress.
Honorary Congress President: Mr. Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, President of the State of Israel.
Chairman of the Organizing Committee: Prof. Ben-Zion Dinur
Ministers and Ministry representatives who served on the organizing committee: Mr. Zalman Aranne, Minister of Education and Culture; Dr. Yosef Burg, Minister of Posts; Mr. Israel Bar-Yehuda, Minister of the Interior; Mr. Israel Barzilai, Minister of Health; Mr. Pinhas Rosen, Minister of Justice; and Dr. Moshe Avidor, Director General of the Ministry of Education and Culture.
Representatives of the Hebrew University on the organizing committee: Prof. Benjamin Mazar, President of the University; Prof. Naftali Herz Tur-Sinai, President of the Academy of the Hebrew Language; Prof. Gershom Scholem; Prof. Ephraim Elimelech Urbach, Director of the Institute of Jewish Studies at the University; Prof. Shelomo Dov Goitein, Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies at the University; Prof. Israel Halpern, Department of Jewish History; and Prof. Isac Leo Seeligmann, Department of Bible.
Representative of the Jewish Agency on the organizing committee: Mr. Zalman Shazar, Acting Chairman of the Jewish Agency.
Executive Committee: Dr. Shemaryahu Talmon, Congress Secretary; Prof. Ben-Zion Dinur; Prof. Ephraim Elimelech Urbach; and Dr. M. Ish-Shalom, Ministry of Education.
Two subcommittees planned the scientific projects and exhibitions associated with the Congress. The projects committee drew on additional University faculty; the exhibitions committee involved representatives from other cultural institutions as well, including the National and University Library, the Institute of Hebrew manuscripts, and Yad va-Shem.
The Second World Congress Of Jewish Studies
The Second World Congress of Jewish Studies was held at the Givat Ram campus of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem from July 27 to August 4, 1957. This time, it was organized jointly by the Hebrew University and the Israel Ministry of Education and Culture, with the assistance of the Jewish Agency for Israel.
The opening session of the Congress was held in the Binyanei HaʾUmah Conference Centre in Jerusalem. The President of the State of Israel, Yitzhak Ben Zvi, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, and members of the cabinet attended the event. Opening addresses were given by the Prime Minister, as well as by Prof. Ben-Zion Dinur. President Ben-Zvi opened the Congress program proper with his lecture, “Research on the Jewish Communities of the Near and Middle East.”
Over three hundred and fifty scholars and guests from Israel, and nearly one hundred from abroad, attended the Second World Congress. Two hundred and thirty lectures were held—in Hebrew, Yiddish, English, French, Spanish, and German. The program was organized under the topics of Bible, Hebrew Language, History of the Jewish People, Talmud and Rabbinics, Jewish Thought (encompassing Kabbalah, philosophy, and religion), Hebrew Literature, Archaeology and Palestinography, Yiddish Language and Literature, Jewish Ethnic Groups and their Languages, and Demography of the Jewish People.
Fourteen special exhibitions were organized, among them results of recent excavations (Hazor, Caesarea, Masada, Beth Sheʾarim); the Dead-Sea Scrolls; historical documents from various archives and from the National Library; demography of the Jewish People; Jewish coins; rare books and manuscripts; and Yemenite arts and crafts.
The motives which guided the Conference organizers were described in the introduction to the Congress Report:
(1) The development of Jewish Studies resulted in the division and specialization of research. Nowadays it is rather difficult to keep abreast of progress in Jewish Studies in their entirety, particularly in those branches which are outside the individual scholar’s exclusive field of study. Yet the ever-increasing number of discoveries and their great and continuous influence on research methods in Jewish Studies require permanent bodies for the exchange of opinion among scholars of Jewish Studies, in all their ramifications.
(2) This progress made in Jewish Studies, and the abundance of new sources concerning the past, as well as the quest for new research methods and their organization in all fields of study—confronted scholars with great tasks, which demand organized planning of cooperation between individuals and institutions.
(3) The changes and transformations in the situation of the Jews during the last generation; their resettlement in their homeland and the beginning of the ingathering of the exiles; the Nazi catastrophe and the destruction of Jewish centres in Eastern Europe; the Jewish war of independence and rebirth of statehood; the revival of the Hebrew language and Hebrew science in Israel; and the shaping of a new Israel society—all these created in the homeland of Judaism a new “public climate” for Jewish Studies and their progress.
The organizers set the Congress four tasks:
(1) To turn the “Congress of Jewish Studies” into the principal institution for “spiritual contact” between students and scholars of Jewish Studies from all over the world.
(2) To establish a “World Union of Jewish Studies” to deal with the organization of the “World Congress of Jewish Studies” and its development into a permanent institution for the progress of Jewish Studies.
(3) To formulate guiding principles for the planning of scientific projects in the field of Jewish Studies, on a scale beyond the competence of individuals or single institutions; to find means and ways for cooperation and mutual assistance for the promotion of such projects and their execution.
(4) To promote close contact between scholars of Jewish Studies and the “cultural climate” of Israel.
During the Congress, the projects committee adopted the resolution to hold the World Congress of Jewish Studies every four years in Jerusalem. Another resolution dealt with the establishment of the World Union of Jewish Studies as a permanent body and the election of a Union Council of thirty-five members, the majority of whom were elected during the Congress.
Honorary Congress President: Mr. Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, President of the State of Israel.
Chairman of the Organizing Committee: Prof. Ben-Zion Dinur
Ministers and Ministry representatives who served on the organizing committee: Mr. Zalman Aranne, Minister of Education and Culture; Dr. Yosef Burg, Minister of Posts; Mr. Israel Bar-Yehuda, Minister of the Interior; Mr. Israel Barzilai, Minister of Health; Mr. Pinhas Rosen, Minister of Justice; and Dr. Moshe Avidor, Director General of the Ministry of Education and Culture.
Representatives of the Hebrew University on the organizing committee: Prof. Benjamin Mazar, President of the University; Prof. Naftali Herz Tur-Sinai, President of the Academy of the Hebrew Language; Prof. Gershom Scholem; Prof. Ephraim Elimelech Urbach, Director of the Institute of Jewish Studies at the University; Prof. Shelomo Dov Goitein, Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies at the University; Prof. Israel Halpern, Department of Jewish History; and Prof. Isac Leo Seeligmann, Department of Bible.
Representative of the Jewish Agency on the organizing committee: Mr. Zalman Shazar, Acting Chairman of the Jewish Agency.
Executive Committee: Dr. Shemaryahu Talmon, Congress Secretary; Prof. Ben-Zion Dinur; Prof. Ephraim Elimelech Urbach; and Dr. M. Ish-Shalom, Ministry of Education.
Two subcommittees planned the scientific projects and exhibitions associated with the Congress. The projects committee drew on additional University faculty; the exhibitions committee involved representatives from other cultural institutions as well, including the National and University Library, the Institute of Hebrew manuscripts, and Yad va-Shem.