Early Modern Musar

We cordially invite you to join our EAJS Distinguished Panel "New Approaches in the Study of Musar" at the 12th EAJS Congress "Branching Out: Diversity of Jewish Studies" at Goethe-University in Frankfurt Main.

Monday, July 17, 16:30–18.30

Chair: Agata Paluch, FU Berlin

"Between Middot and Sefirot: Positive Psychology in Moshe Cordovero’s Tomer Devorah"
(Patrick B. Koch, University of Hamburg)

"Musar as Emotion Machine: Psychagogy in Shevet Musar"
(Ilaria Briata. University of Hamburg)

"Angels and Demons in Early Modern Musar Literature"
(Isaac Hershkowitz, Bar Ilan University)

"Books of Morality and Awe: The Curriculum of Hasidism"
(Leore Sachs-Shmueli, Bar Ilan University)

EAJS Conference 2023 We cordially invite you to join our EAJS Distinguished Panel "New Approaches in the Study of Musar" at the 12th EAJS Congress "Branching Out: Diversity of Jewish Studies" at Goethe-University in Frankfurt Main.

Quote of the month

A Tsaddik [a righteous, pious person] can become one of his own will. Not so an evil man, who cannot become one by himself—whoever is evil learns this from the deeds of another. This […] is what Nitai the Arbelite hinted at when saying “Keep away from an evil neighbor and do not associate with the wicked” (Avot 1:7) […] meaning […] keep away from an evil neighbor even though you are sure that you will not learn from his actions, for then the evil one is alone.

Pinḥas Barukh ben Pelatiyah Monselice, Tif’eret Baḥurim

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Quote of the Month

The most powerful source of help in attaining the lofty level of loving God is feeling intense awe and dread of Him, a fear that pervades your fulfilling of His commandments. If you always think that His watchful eye is fixed on the inner recesses of your mind, that He is aware of your thoughts, whether hidden or revealed, and that He follows the dictates of your conscience; if you dwell on His subtle direction present in every move you make, His lovingkindness to you, His hidden knowledge of your past and future, and His constant effort to bring you close to Him, you will not be able to resists the flow of love that will invade you, and you will surrender yourself to Him with total confidence.

(Elijah de Vidas, Resh*t Ḥokhmah, Gate of Love)

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Mus|ar|t Program | Artist-in-Residence: Yonatan K***a

Project
During my residency at ZK/U I will work on multi-lingual poetry performance entitled “The Tish,” which will explore the world and words of the giants of Jewish musar. Tish in Yiddish means literally “the table.” In Hasidic traditions, the tish refers to the community’s meeting around a festive table—for study, meals, and music—especially on Shabbat nights.
In my project for Mus|ar|t, I am very excited to be working on a series of live poetry performances—in Hebrew, English, Yiddish, and Arabic. Each performance will feature a creative dialogue between local and foreign musicians, cantors, poets and rappers, interweaving the ancient musar texts with new rhymes, rhythms and groove.
I will use the tish-format to integrate poetry, prayer, piyyut and music, exploring creatively the impact that musar literature can have on language, thought, and community. This experiment will also enhance my creative research into the way rap, hip-hop and spoken-word poetry can serve as conduits of prayer and ritual, echoing traditional forms of poetry created in and by spiritual communities—in the Jewish tradition and around the globe.

Bio
Yonatan K***a is a multi-lingual poet, rapper, playwright, and teacher. He is one of the pioneers of spoken-word poetry in Israel. K***a has published three award-winning collections of poetry and several original plays for theater. His latest solo performance “Kum, Yonah!” is a spoken-word rendition of the Biblical story of Jonah the Prophet to the reality of modern-day Israel. K***a is also member of several musical projects that combine rap and hip-hop with traditional Jewish music. He publishes and performs spoken-word poetry in Hebrew, Arabic and English at festivals and competitions throughout Israel and abroad. His poetry has been translated into Arabic, English, Turkish, Ukrainian, and Greek.
K***a teaches poetry and spoken-word in diverse communities, institutions and Batey-Midrash in Israel and abroad.He lives and works in Kiryat-Tivon, Israel, and he is married to Talila and father of Emanuel-Yaakov and Elisha-Yehuda.

https://www.zku-berlin.org/fellows/670/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DZgvk6wjn4

יונתן קונדה (עם יהונתן נחשוני) - אוֹ מַיְי גוֹד | Yonatan K***a - Oh My God הופעות: "המזקקה", ירושלים - 7.1.22"הידית", פרדס-חנה, 28.1.22פייסבוק: יונתן קונדה Yonatan K***a يونتان كونداאינסטגרם: K***aYonatanאֲנַחְנוּ רוֹצִים לְהַרְגִּי...

Save the date | 23.03.2023 ZK/U - Zentrum für Kunst und Urbanistik

Yonatan K***a, artist-in-residence of the Mus|ar|t program, will present his project at the upcoming OpenHaus at the Zentrum für Kunst und Urbanistik (ZK/U) in Berlin.

Info > https://www.zku-berlin.org/timeline/openhaus-march-2023/
https://www.musar.uni-hamburg.de/news/openhaus-3.html

OPENHAUS MARCH 2023 - ZK/U Berlin ZK/U Berlin Event archive

We cordially invite you to the workshop "Mus|ar|t — Art Meets Scholarship," which will be held between March 28-29, 2023 at the Institute for Jewish Philosophy and Religion at the University of Hamburg and the University of Fine Arts (HfbK) in Hamburg.

The workshop marks the conclusion of Mus|ar|t, an interdisciplinary programme of artistic residencies intended to facilitate the transfer of knowledge through contemporary arts. During the workshop, the five artists-in-residence and one writer-in-residence will present the projects they have been working on between October 2022 and March 2023, and discuss them with the audience.
We are particularly pleased to host Vanessa Paloma Elbaz (University of Cambridge) as a keynote speaker, who will deliver a lecture on “Sense & Sensibility: Ibn Gabirol, Arama and al Harizi’s Musar as a Technology for Creative & Sensorial Burgeoning."

Info > https://www.musar.uni-hamburg.de/news/musart-workshop.html
Program >https://www.musar.uni-hamburg.de/dokumente/program-web-musart.pdf

Quote of the Month

Everything that is written in the sayings of the elders—rebukes on transgressions, castigations and hard sufferings, snow and thorns, series of fasts, and tortures—are only remembered for those who have no labor in the Torah. But the person whose virtuosity is Torah, and who is familiar with the wisdom and awe of the Lord, will [act according to] the following regulation: he will not weaken and will not cancel his study, but once a week he will distance himself from [his] fellow men. He will be alone with his Creator, and his thoughts will connect to Him, as if he would already stand before Him on Judgement Day. He will gently talk to God, blessed be He, such as a servant [talks] to his master or a son [talks] to his father.

El‘azar Azikri, Sefer Ḥaredim

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Quote of the Month

When the blessed Holy One delights in a person’s soul, deriving pleasures from her, He strikes the body so that the soul can dominate. For as long as the soul corresponds with body, soul cannot prevail; but once the body is broken, soul becomes dominant.

Zohar I:140b

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Mus|ar|t Program | Artist-in-Residence: Tamar Nissim

Project
Moralistic literature (musar) written by religious Jewish women between the seventeenth and the nineteenth centuries is unique: it connects the experiences of their everyday life with their spiritual world. The relationship between the religious establishment and the individual perspective is therefore reflected in the way of how these texts were written and published, as well as in their contents.
Women who wrote moral books raised their voices in a world dominated by hegemonic masculinity. They wrote about their family histories, their life circumstances, about traditional genres of Jewish religious culture (such as Midrashim), while referring to moral agendas as spiritual wills for their families.
My project will expand my ongoing research on alternative narratives by looking at musar literature written by women at the beginning of the modern era. The method of investigation that I will apply constitutes in a combination of historical, archival, and visual research. The linguistic and historical exploration of musar texts written by women will serve as a foundation to create an installation and a performative video art.
The question “What do you really think?” posed by the feminist, ethicist, and psychologist Carol Gilligan in her study of feminist morality, will be the starting point for my research on the different ways women internalized the male gaze and how they perceived their individual moral and spiritual roles in life.

Bio
Tamar Nissim (b.1962, Israel) Interdisciplinary artist based in Tel Aviv. A member of the collective Gallery for Photography, Indie. She is the recipient of the Israeli Minister of Culture's Prize 2019.
Nissim's work is guided by archival research, that traces the influence of historic events on women and children, and transforming the research into performance, video, and photography. In her work Nissim raises questions about identity, confronts women and children’s unspoken narratives, amplify the voices of women in historical periods and reflect contemporary debates.
Nissim exhibits in solo and group exhibitions in museums, galleries, and nonprofit institutions: Kniznick Gallery-HBI, Waltham, USA (2022); Brunei Gallery, London (2022), Indie-Collective Gallery, ISL,(2015, 2018, 2021); Museum Bat Yam, Israel (2012, 2017); HaMiskan, Ein Harod. ISL (2017); Kaunas Biennial, Lithuania (2013); tamta mART- Berlin, Germany; Houg-Gah Museum- Taipei, Singapore; (2012); Guimaraes Biennial, Portugal (2012); act. Participated in video screens and film festivals: The Competition for Video and Experimental Film: Jerusalem Film Festival, ISL (2011); The Jerusalem film festival, ISL (2021); Loop –Barcelona, Spain (2013); Video-city Basel, Switzerland, (2020).
Graduated The Advanced Artist Program and M. Ed in Art Education, Hamidrasha, ISL (2012): Graduated BA with Honor in Textile Design, Shankar college 1987; Honored the scholarship of Artist-Teacher prize (2010-2012); Honorable mention at the Guimaraes Triennial, Portugal (2012). Ha’Pais Council for the Culture and Arts grant (2019,2022); Rabinovich Foundation grants (2011, 2013, 2015, 2021).
Participated in residency programs in: Arad Artists Residency, ISL (2021), The Greenhouse of the Haifa Museum, residency, ISL (2022).

Mus|ar|t Program | Artist-in-Residence: Estee Ellis

Project
For my Mus|ar|t project, I will engage in a daily study and comics journaling practice with Mesillat Yesharim, an 18th century foundational musar text by Rabbi Moshe Ḥayyim Luzzatto. Using ink and digital technologies as tools, I will embrace the conventions of graphic novel memoirs and document my background research, study sessions, and reflections as a highly personalized account of musar study. My project will explore themes of narrative structure and metaphor, while also examining tensions between verbal and visual representations of Jewish texts and belief systems. The resulting artifact will illustrate the incorporation of ethical texts into lived experiences, and provide a commentary on the dynamics of Jewish learning itself.

Bio
Estee Ellis is a Philadelphia-based artist whose primary medium is comics. In the tradition of graphic novel memoirs, her work incorporates images and text to share personal reflections, with content often centering on Jewish learning experiences. Estee’s Dvar Torah comics participate in existing modes of Torah discourse and scholarship, while simultaneously presenting unconventional formats for engagement, and reframing expectations for which kinds of stories are appropriate for the medium of comics.

Save the date | 26.01.2023 ZK/U - Zentrum für Kunst und Urbanistik

The second cohort of artists-in-residence of the Mus|ar|t program, Tamar Nissim and Estee Ellis, will be presenting their work at the upcoming OpenHaus at the Zentrum für Kunst und Urbanistik (ZK/U) in Berlin.

More info > https://www.zku-berlin.org/timeline/openhaus-january-2023/
https://www.musar.uni-hamburg.de/news/openhaus-2.html

OPENHAUS JANUARY 2023 - ZK/U Berlin ZK/U Berlin Event archive

Quote of the Month

The MaHaRal of Prague created a golem, and this was a great wonder. But how much more wonderful is it to transform a corporeal human being into a mensh.

Israel Salanter, quoted in Sefer ha-Me'orot ha-Gedolim

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