Living side by side…
In 2001, Polish-American historian Jan T. Gross published a controversial monograph entitled Neighbours in which he described the destruction of the Jewish community in the Polish city of Jedwabne at the hands of the local Polish population.
Harvey E. Goldberg
The term neighbour became synonymous with the suffering of the Jews at the hands of the non-Jewish locals. Relations between Jews and non-Jews throughout history are often depicted as full of prejudice, mistrust, violence, pogroms and murder.
Authors often debate the impossibility of a beneficial multicultural and multiethnic coexistence between the Jewish and non-Jewish locals. They also conjecture that it was this impossibility of coexistence that ultimately led to the collapse of the European Jewish world in the twentieth century, but also to the subsequent complicated establishment of the Jews in other parts of the world. However, looking at the history of the Jewish people all over the world, we also need to consider the benefits of the coexistence between the Jews and other people. The moments of crisis were often followed by centuries of peaceful coexistence, where interactions between communities led to political, cultural and spiritual developments and improvements. The Jews and their neighbours maintained close relations, influenced each other and created bonds that beneficially shaped the lives of both communities throughout the centuries.
Since antiquity the Jews have lived side by side with other peoples. With the geographic dispersion of the Jews after the destruction of the Second Temple and their gradual settlement in Europe, Asia, Africa and later in the “New World”, the interactions between the Jews and other communities invariably increased. This year’s conference convenes international scholars from Australia, New Zealand, Europe, USA, Turkey, and Israel, who are involved in academic research of Jewish/non-Jewish relations throughout the centuries. We offer a multifaceted perspective on the lives of the Jews and their rich interactions with their neighbours all over the world.
The keynote address will be delivered by Professor Harvey E. Goldberg from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem (From an Israeli Moshav to Archives and Manuscripts: Moving Back-and-Forth in Jewish Studies). Professor Goldberg’s research concerns Jews in the Middle East, ethnic and religious identities in Israeli society, and the overlap between Anthropology and Jewish Studies. He is the author of Jewish Life in Muslim Libya: Rivals and Relatives and Jewish Passages: Cycles of Jewish Life, and has edited Sephardi and Middle Eastern Jewries and The Life of Judaism.
Other distinguished presenters include Professor Suzanne Rutland (University of Sydney), Professor Noah Aminoah (Tel Aviv University, Israel), Professor Oscar Lansen (University of North Carolina-Charlotte, USA), Professor Karl E. Baughman (Stephen F. Austin State University, Texas, United States), Professor Andrew Markus (Monash University) and Dr Simone Gigliotti (Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand).
Visit www.aajs.org.au for the registration form (pre-registration is recommended) and complete programme. Delegates can register for one or two days, or a single session.
Doesn’t anyone pick-up giving right of way to the patronising element of others in the statement midway in paragraph three?
“However, looking at the history of the Jewsish people all over the world, we also need to consider the benefits of co-existance between the Jews and other people. The moments of crisis were often followed by centuries of peaceful co-existance, where interactions between communities led to political, cultural and spiritual developments and improvements”.
The problem is people have a very short memory in the time of crisis and we/you don’t owe anyone anything as equal members of the universe.