On Friday, October 19, 2018, the Brown University Library will host the Ungerleider Haggadot Symposium, drawing on material from the Dr. Steven Ungerleider Collection of Haggadot. Free and open to the public, the symposium will take place from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. in the Digital Scholarship Lab at the Rockefeller Library. A kosher reception will follow the discussion.
Whether artistically elegant or plainly made, the Passover haggadah encapsulates much more than the simple retelling of the Biblical story of Moses leading the Hebrew people out of Egypt to the Promised Land. In its inculcation of scholarly commentary and its embodiment of ritual performance, it has provided a “mirror to Jewish history” for generation upon generation of Jews, all within the context of familial life. In this symposium, moderated by Adam Teller, Brown University Professor of History and Judaic Studies, three renowned scholars of Judaism and material culture will discuss aspects of the haggadah and how it was shaped to respond to the varied needs of ritual life across time and the Jewish diaspora:
Jonathan Sarna, Joseph H. and Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History at Brandeis University
David Stern, Harry Starr Professor of Classical and Modern Jewish and Hebrew Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature and Director of the Center for Jewish Studies at Harvard University
Marc Epstein, Professor of Religion on the Mattie M. Paschall Davis and Norman H. Davis Chair at Vassar College
The Dr. Steven Ungerleider Collection of Haggadot was given to the Library by Dr. Steven Ungerleider, in memory of his...
