|
Time and date: 1pm on Wed 17 Sept.
Venue: A113 of the Arts Building
1 Reappointment of
Fellows: The current terms of a substantial number of Honorary
Research Fellows came to an end, clause 6 of the Constitution,
at the end of 02/03, and procedures have been initiated for
applications for renewal.
2. Teaching
Support: Dr Unterman had undertaken an additional course, which
the Centre supported. Support for other teaching, full-time
(Dr. Langton) and part-time (Dr Unterman and Dr. Kadish), was
provided from Faculty Teaching Replacement money, in relation
to Professor Alexander's current secondment as Associate Dean
(Research). An application to the JNF for support for a teaching
position in modern Israeli Studies (Literature, Politics and
Society), though promoted and supported by the Israel Embassy,
failed. A 2-year extension of Dr. Langton's current contract
was secured, underwritten in part by funds from the CJS, and
pending acceptance of a School "Investment Plan" under
which his post would be made permanent.
3. Student
Support: One Lionel Black bursary was taken up (by a Canadian
student), while the second (to a Kenyan student) was carried
forward. There was a slight drop in recruitment to the MA; a
new poster was produced to encourage interest. A three year
renewal and expansion of the bursary scheme to 5k p.a. was secured
from the Black family. It was agreed to reinstate a modest PhD
studentship, tied to applications for AHRB awards. A postgraduate
studentship worth over 30k over three years was advertised at
the end of the year, for a PhD in the Agunah Research Unit.
Notwithstanding the difficulties in funding, a review of the
current range of PhD students in Jewish Studies revealed an
increase to 32, representing a wide range of topics (for a list,
see www.mucjs.org/research.htm).
4. Research
grants: A revised major research bid was made to the AHRB in
relation to the nature of rabbinic legal rationality in the
Mishnah, in the light of a comparison with selected non-talmudic
legal texts (Prof. Alexander, Prof. Brooke, Prof. Jackson, Dr.
Samely). The Centre built on its success the previous year in
raising support for and implementing research activities:
a Pledges for the Agunah Research Unit now total 33.5k, and
a first PhD studentship has been advertised.
b Work continued on the Association of Jewish Refugees project,
with more oral history material becoming available, and applications
for further funding being prepared.
c Funding to match that of the Friedberg Genizah Project was
secured from the Edmund J. Safra Foundation, largely through
the good offices of Mr Joe Dwek, enabling the creation of a
three-year appointment of a cataloguer, who will commence work
in October 2003.
d Work on the project to provide a web site selecting, describing
and evaluating internet sources particularly valuable for use
by teachers at different levels in Jewish education, supported
by the Nathan Laski Trust, made substantial progress and completion
is envisaged in the course of this year.
e A grant of £500.00 was received from the Kessler Foundation
in support of cataloguing of the Centre Library.
f Dr Samely obtained a grant from the Leverhulme Trust to support
teaching replacement during a sabbatical year, in which he will
pursue research on basic features of rabbinic thought.
h Dr Kadish has been awarded £19,400 by the British Academy
in support of her "Survey of the Jewish Built Environment
Image Library"
5. Sherman
Lectures: Dr. Rosner was able to deliver his Sherman Lectures
on Jewish Bioethics, and attracted a substantial and enthusiastic
audience. He also gave a Community Lecture and a stimulating
feedback session in the context of Prof. Jackson's Jewish law
class. The lecturer in 2004 will be Professor Daniel Sperber
of Bar-Ilan University, on "The Modern Study of the Halakhah".
It is hoped to make an announcement regarding the 2005 lecturer
in 2005.
6. Research
Seminars and Guest Lectures: Seminars were given by Yaron Mattras
(Linguistics, Manchester), Cathy Gelbin (German, Manchester),
and Jonathan Milgram (London School of Jewish Studies). A fourth
seminar, by Prof. Fred Astren (San Francisco State University),
had to be cancelled because of the speaker's indisposition.
A guest lecture by Prof. Emmanuel Sivan, of the Hebrew University,
was given on "Islamic Conceptions of the Sanctity of Jerusalem".
7. Extra-mural
activities: Plans for a summer one-day seminar on the Chief
Rabbi's "Clash of Civilisations" essay, organised
along the same lines as the successful "Jewish Heritage
at the Rylands" day School of June 2002, were abandoned
when the Chief Rabbi proved unable to participate. Instead,
a series of rabbinics seminars studying his text, each led by
a Fellow of the Centre, is being organised for October-November
2003. A new feature of the Centre's programme in 02/03 was the
initiation of a series of lectures in conjunction with the Anglo-Israel
Archaeological Society. Two lectures were held during the year,
delivered by Sam Moorhead and Ehud Netzer. Courses on Russian
Jewry since 1801 and the Historical Roots of the Israeli State
and its Political Philosophy have been arranged for the coming
year, under the auspices of the Centre for Continuing Education.
8. Web site:
Statistics for "hits" on the Centre's web site (www.mucjs.org)
and its component pages were available only for the first half
of the year, but the indications are that the visibility of
the site continues to grow as other sites create links to it.
The most recent stats show it attracts about 21,000 page requests
per month (up from an average of 14,000 last year); it has been
accessed from around 40 countries. The most popular areas of
the site include the "Manchester and Zionism" exhibition
(2300 page requests per month), the surveys of Jewish and Holocaust
Studies in the UK (part of the BAJS pages, which the Centre
hosts), the CJS index of links pages (which bodes well for the
Laski Internet Resource website), and Sharman Kadish's Jewish
Heritage website (1130 page requests per month). The site fulfils
a valuable promotional role in relation to the Jewish Studies
courses, undergraduate and postgraduate, at Manchester. Recently
added features of the site include details of the Teltscher
Library Collection and a new page "Study in the UK"
which is designed to attract US and European visiting students
(around 120 webpage requests 120 per month).
9. Finances:
New sources of income remain urgently required. The success
of the Centre recently has been in relation to specific research
projects, but support for the continuing teaching infrastructure,
in the form of teaching fellowships and student bursaries, is
urgently required. The Centre survived for much of the past
year without secretarial assistance, the burden being carried
largely by Dr Langton and Professor Jackson with occasional
student help. Approaches for new sources of funding continue
to be made, though thus far without substantial success. It
is hoped this coming year to initiate a new Friends organisation,
and Mr. J. Ferster has kindly contributed £600.00 to the
initial publicity costs.
10. Reappointment
of Co-Directors: Professors Alexander and Jackson having come
to the end of their initial 5-year tenures, the Dean reappointed
them for a further three years, in accordance with clause 4
of the Constitution.
11. Library
Matters: As reported last year, a Centre library has been established,
based on a generous deposit of books by Mr Williams, and with
further material from other sources. Cataloguing has made progress,
thanks to the generosity of Joy Wolfe and more recently the
Kessler Foundation. The library complements the holdings of
the Rylands particularly in areas of modern Jewish history,
and will prove a valuable teaching resource. It is a reference
library, the books not being available for borrowing. It is
open for consultation when staffed (it is housed in the Centre's
office, which is also the office of Mr Williams).
The John Rylands Library completed the cataloguing of the Teltscher
Archive, recently acquired on long-term loan through the good
offices of the Centre. The collection ....; a list may be found
now at ....
12. "Project
Unity": Rapid progress was made in the course of 02/03
towards the merger of the Victoria University of Manchester
(our official title) and UMIST, into a new University of Manchester
as from October 2004. This involves the creation of new Faculties
and Schools within them. The Planning Committee of the CJS has
expressed concern that this may well result in the current Departments
of Religion and Theology (including Messrs. Alexander, Brooke,
Curtis, Jackson, Kadish, Langton, Unterman and Williams) and
Middle Eastern Studies (including Messrs. Healey, Garside and
Samely) finding themselves in separate Schools. The Planning
Committee passed the following resolution at its July 2003 meeting:
"The Planning Committee of the Centre for Jewish Studies,
conscious of its role in student recruitment, course development,
income generation and outreach, as well as its success in cross-departmental
research promotion, opposes any departmental reconfiguration
which would make collaboration between members in R&T and
MES more difficult, and favours a solution which would recognise
and facilitate the further development of Jewish Studies within
the University." The problem has not yet been resolved.
|
