Part of the Frankel Institute for Advanced Judaic Studies theme year on “Sacralization and Secularization,” the “Secular among the Nations” symposium brings scholars from around the United States and Israel to the University of Michigan to explore the interplay between the secular and the sacred within the Jewish tradition and among different faith groups. Our explorations will be grounded in intellectual history, biblical studies, and approaches to politics and society.

Schedule:

8:30 - 9:00 AM Welcome & Introductions:
Jeffrey Veidlinger, University of Michigan
Scott Spector, University of Michigan

9:00 - 10:00 AM KEYNOTE: “The Secularization and Sacralization of Judaism in Political and
Religious Zionism”
Leora Batnitzky, Princeton University

10:00 – 11:30 AM Unreadable Scriptures in Late Antique Judaism(s)
Chair & Discussant: Ellen Muehlberger, University of Michigan

Joint Presentation By:
Eva Mroczek, University of California, Davis
Rebecca Wollenberg, University of Michigan

11:30 – 11:45 AM BREAK

11:45 AM - 1:15 PM Scripture, Law, and Enlightenment
Chair & Discussant: Howard Brick, University of Michigan

Steven Nadler, University of Wisconsin-Madison
“Spinoza on the Divinity of Scripture”

Shaul Magid, Indiana University
“The Road from Religious Law (halakha) to the Secular: Constructing the
Autonomous Self in the Musar Tradition and its Discontents”

1:15 - 2:30 PM LUNCH BREAK

2:30 - 4:00 PM Judaism Sacred and Secular in Modern East-Central Europe
Chair & Discussant: Ben Paloff, University of Michigan

Genevieve Zubrzycki, University of Michigan
“Resurrecting the Jew: Sacralization of Jewishness, Secularization
of Polishness”

Howard Lupovitch, Wayne State University
“Siddur under the Christmas Tree: Neolog Jews—Assimilated or Secular?”

4:00 – 4:10 PM BREAK

4:10 - 5:30 PM KEYNOTE: “‘Our Army is Crumbling!’ Jewish Secularization at the
Thresholds of the 20th Century”
Shmuel Feiner, Bar Ilan University

Photo courtesy of The Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, MS. Kenn. 1,
fol. 90a