Please consider submitting a proposal to our panel, Jewishness and Animals at the Kalamazoo 53rd International Congress on Medieval Studies (2018)!
Description
Traditionally, animals in fables hold up a mirror to the human audience of these tales. These animals are employed to explore what it really means to be human, what qualities are desirable and what dangers failures and vanities may create. Texts such as the 12th century Hebrew collection by the Jewish philosopher Berechiah ben Natronai ha-Nakdan show that Jews did not just consume these tales, but actively reproduced stories about anthropomorphic animals in order to grasp the human condition. And not just in fables; one of the first Yiddish “bestsellers,” the Bove Bukh (approx. 1500) puts a doglike figure at the center of the story, displaying essential features and skills that a hero and a loyal friend should possess. This panel explores how animals are used in discourses about Jewishness. We want to explore the specifics in which animals have been employed within a Jewish context. Often, the first image that comes to mind when discussing animals in context of Jewishness is the anti-Jewish “Judensau.” This image of Jews suckling a pig, was widespread in the Middle Ages and even found in churches. Yet, this panel wants to go beyond this non-Jewish discourse and rather explore the multitude of ways in which animals are employed in Jewish literature and culture in order to examine what it means to be human.
Jewishness and Animals (1) Contact: Annegret Oehme Univ. of Washington Dept. of Germanics, 360 Denny Hall, Box 353130 Seattle, WA 98195-3130 Email: oehme@uw.edu
Or, you can email me at vallesm@msu.edu.
Description
English: Illustration of Exodus in the Birds’ Head Haggadah. The fleeing Jews are depicted with birds’ heads, while Pharao and most of the pursuing Egyptians have blank circles with or without eyes as heads; two of them, however, have bird’s heads.
Date circa 1300
Source Seforim
Author Menahem Parchment