Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies

Last updated
Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies
Yarnton Manor east.JPG
Yarnton Manor, the former location of the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies
Location
Walton Street, Oxford,England
Information
Founded1972
FounderDavid Patterson
President Judith Olszowy-Schlanger
Website http://www.ochjs.ac.uk/

The Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies (OCHJS) is a recognised independent centre of the University of Oxford, England. Its research fellows teach on a variety of undergraduate and master's degrees in Oriental studies, and it publishes the Journal of Jewish Studies.

Contents

History and case statement

The centre was founded in 1972 by Dr David Patterson to help restore Jewish Studies in Europe in the aftermath of the Holocaust. [1] Currently it is based in the Clarendon Institute, Walton Street, Oxford, OX1 2HG, having relocated from Yarnton Manor in 2014. It is a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee incorporated in England, under English law. [2] Today, it is the leading academic Jewish studies centre in Europe.[ citation needed ] Its Fellows and Lecturers provide courses in Hebrew and Jewish studies for undergraduates and postgraduates up to doctoral level in many faculties within the University of Oxford. The centre also promotes Jewish studies based on the Bodleian Library's Hebrew and Jewish collections by supporting research, by development projects, and by shared staffing with the centre's Leopold Muller Memorial Library.

Leopold Muller Memorial Library

Muller Library collections Milenamanor6.jpg
Muller Library collections

The centre's library is named the Leopold Muller Memorial Library. It is housed in the basement of the Clarendon Institute. It comprises one of the best collections of books and periodicals in Jewish Studies in Europe and serves as a resource for scholars, students and visiting fellows of the centre. The core of the Library consists of several rare collections and archives; among those one finds a large collection of materials donated by Rabbi Louis Jacobs, [3] Loewe Pamphlets Collection [4] from Herbert Loewe and his elder son, the library of Jacob H. Coppenhagen [5] (1913–1997), Kressel Archive, [6] Foyle-Montefiore Collection [7] (which incorporates the library of Leopold Zunz), Lipson-Shandel and Moses Montefiore Archives [8] of rare documentation regarding life and activities of Sir Moses Montefiore, one of the largest collections of Yizkor Books in Europe – it counts over 800 memorial volumes for communities destroyed in the Holocaust, [9] and the Archive of Rabbi Hugo Gryn. [10] Among the Library's most recent enterprises are the Digital Haskalah Library project [11] and the Raphael Loewe Archives Digital Exhibition. [12]

Notable academics

List of presidents

Emeritus governors

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solomon Schechter</span> Moldavian-born rabbi and scholar (1847–1915)

Solomon Schechter was a Moldavian-born British-American rabbi, academic scholar and educator, most famous for his roles as founder and President of the United Synagogue of America, President of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and architect of American Conservative Judaism.

<i>Haskalah</i> 1770s–1880s Jewish intellectual movement

The Haskalah, often termed the Jewish Enlightenment, was an intellectual movement among the Jews of Central and Eastern Europe, with a certain influence on those in Western Europe and the Muslim world. It arose as a defined ideological worldview during the 1770s, and its last stage ended around 1881, with the rise of Jewish emancipation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yiddish Book Center</span> Cultural institution in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States

The Yiddish Book Center Yiddish: ייִדישער ביכער־צענטער, romanized: Yidisher Bikher-Tsenter, located on the campus of Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States, is a cultural institution dedicated to the preservation of books in the Yiddish language, as well as the culture and history those books represent. It is one of ten western Massachusetts museums constituting the Museums10 consortium.

Bernard Wasserstein is a British and American historian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jonathan Sacks, Baron Sacks</span> British Orthodox rabbi, philosopher, theologian, author, and politician (1948–2020)

Jonathan Henry Sacks, Baron Sacks was an English Orthodox rabbi, philosopher, theologian, and author. Sacks served as the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth from 1991 to 2013. As the spiritual head of the United Synagogue, the largest synagogue body in the United Kingdom, he was the Chief Rabbi of those Orthodox synagogues but was not recognized as the religious authority for the Haredi Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations or for the progressive movements such as Masorti, Reform, and Liberal Judaism. As Chief Rabbi, he formally carried the title of Av Beit Din (head) of the London Beth Din. At the time of his death, he was the Emeritus Chief Rabbi.

Jewish studies is an academic discipline centered on the study of Jews and Judaism. Jewish studies is interdisciplinary and combines aspects of history, Middle Eastern studies, Asian studies, Oriental studies, religious studies, archeology, sociology, languages, political science, area studies, women's studies, and ethnic studies. Jewish studies as a distinct field is mainly present at colleges and universities in North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claude Montefiore</span> British Jewish religious leader and scholar (1858–1938)

Claude Joseph Goldsmid Montefiore, also Goldsmid–Montefiore or just Goldsmid Montefiore (1858–1938) was the intellectual founder of Anglo-Liberal Judaism and the founding president of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, a scholar of the Hebrew Bible, rabbinic literature and New Testament. He was a significant figure in the contexts of modern Jewish religious thought, Jewish-Christian relations, and Anglo-Jewish socio-politics, and educator. Montefiore was President of the Anglo-Jewish Association and an influential anti-Zionist leader, who co-founded the anti-Zionist League of British Jews in 1917.

The Jewish Public Library or JPL is a public library in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, founded in 1914. The library contains the largest circulating collection of Judaica in North America. The JPL has close to 4000 members, and receives 700 to 800 visitors weekly. A constituent agency of Federation CJA, the Jewish Public Library is independent of the Montreal Public Libraries Network and instead receives its funding from the city's Jewish community, membership fees, donations and endowments.

The London School of Jewish Studies is a London-based organisation providing adult educational courses and teacher training to the wider Jewish community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hugo Gryn</span> Czechoslovak-born British Reform rabbi and broadcaster

Hugo Gabriel Gryn was a British Reform rabbi, a national broadcaster and a leading voice in interfaith dialogue.

Mekitze Nirdamim is a literary society dedicated to the retrieval, preservation, and publication of medieval Hebrew texts. It was first established at Lyck, Prussia in 1861, and is now based out of Jerusalem, Israel.

Oleh Kozerod is a political scientist and history researcher. He came from a Polish aristocratic family Kosyrod de Pyser coat of arms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bodleian Libraries</span> Group of research libraries at the University of Oxford

The Bodleian Libraries are a collection of 28 libraries that serve the University of Oxford in England, including the Bodleian Library itself, as well as many other central and faculty libraries. As of the 2021-2022 report year, the libraries collectively hold 13.5 million printed items, as well as numerous other objects and artefacts.

Herbert Martin James Loewe (1882–1940) was a noted scholar of Semitic languages and Jewish culture. His grandfather, Louis Loewe (1809–1880), had been Sir Moses Montefiore's secretary and the first Principal of the Judith Lady Montefiore College at Ramsgate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yizkor books</span>

Yizkor books are memorial books commemorating a Jewish community destroyed during the Holocaust. The books are published by former residents or landsmanshaft societies as remembrances of homes, people and ways of life lost during World War II. Yizkor books usually focus on a town but may include sections on neighboring smaller communities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louis Loewe</span>

Louis Loewe was a Silesian linguist. He served as principal and director of Judith Theological College for twenty years; he was a member of the Royal Asiatic Society, Numismatic Society and of the Asiatic Society of Paris.

The Clarendon Institute is a building in Walton Street, central Oxford, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacob Eichenbaum</span>

Jacob Moiseyovych Eichenbaum, born Jacob Gelber, was a Galician Jewish maskil, educator, poet and mathematician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nina Salaman</span> British Jewish poet, translator, and social activist

Pauline Ruth "Nina" Salaman was a British Jewish poet, translator, and social activist. Besides her original poetry, she is best known for her English translations of medieval Hebrew verse—especially of the poems of Judah Halevi—which she began publishing at the age of 16.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eliezer Isaac Schapira</span> Jewish Polish publisher and writer (1835–1915)

Eliezer Isaac Schapira was a Jewish Polish writer, translator, and publisher.

References

  1. "Our vision and mission statement". Ochjs.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 17 July 2013. Retrieved 29 August 2012.
  2. "Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, registered charity no. 309720". Charity Commission for England and Wales.
  3. "Louis Jacobs Collection – Leopold Muller Memorial Library". Ochjs.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 31 March 2015. Retrieved 3 January 2012.
  4. "Loewe Pamphlets – Leopold Muller Memorial Library". Ochjs.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 15 March 2012. Retrieved 3 January 2012.
  5. "Coppenhagen Library – Leopold Muller Memorial Library". Ochjs.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 31 March 2015. Retrieved 3 January 2012.
  6. "Kressel Archive – Leopold Muller Memorial Library". Ochjs.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 15 March 2012. Retrieved 3 January 2012.
  7. "Foyle-Montefiore Library – Leopold Muller Memorial Library". Ochjs.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 15 March 2012. Retrieved 3 January 2012.
  8. "Montefioriana – Leopold Muller Memorial Library". Ochjs.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 15 March 2012. Retrieved 3 January 2012.
  9. "Yizkor Books Collection – Leopold Muller Memorial Library". Ochjs.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 15 March 2012. Retrieved 3 January 2012.
  10. "About the Hugo Gryn Archive – Leopold Muller Memorial Library". Ochjs.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 15 March 2012. Retrieved 3 January 2012.
  11. "Digital Haskalah – Leopold Muller Memorial Library". Ochjs.ac.uk. Retrieved 3 January 2012.
  12. "Raphael Loewe Archives Digital Exhibition". Ochjs.ac.uk. Retrieved 29 August 2012.
  13. Alexander, Philip (20 January 2006). "David Patterson". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 September 2018.
  14. "Philip Alexander". Manchester University. Retrieved 16 November 2016.
  15. "Bernard Wasserstein". Chicago University. Retrieved 16 November 2016.
  16. "Board of Governors, Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies". ochjs.ac.uk. Retrieved 16 November 2016.
  17. "New President David Ariel joins the Centre" (PDF). ochjs.ac.uk. Retrieved 26 September 2018.