Kennicott Bible online

The "Crossing Borders: Hebrew Manuscripts as the Meeting Place of Cultures" exhibit, now in New York, features the Kennicott Bible, “the most lavishly illuminated Hebrew Bible” to survive from medieval Spain. It was completed in 1476, less than 20 years before the expulsion of the Jews, and is so elaborate it almost undermines itself, a sacred text more enticing for its decoration and its encyclopedic embrace of Islamic, Christian and folk styles than for its content. Its entire text has been scanned and put online by the Jewish Museum; each of its pages can also be examined at the exhibition on a sequence of mounted iPads. http://www.kennicottbible.org/

Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies

Modern Medicine and Jewish Life In Late Ottoman Salonica

Temple Beth El's Senior Connections presents:

'Modern Medicine and Jewish Life 

In Late Ottoman Salonica (1850-1912)'

A lecture by Paula Daccarett, PhD

Healthcare is currently a front and center issue in the United States. Likewise, it was at the heart of many Jewish debates in late Ottoman Salonica, an important port city with a majority Jewish (Sephardic) population. Scientific medicine in the 19th century impacted Salonican Jews in myriad ways, from consumer culture to the emergence of medical doctors as civic leaders. More important, Jewish society sought to transform communal healthcare in light of scientific advances but faced daunting social challenges in the process. What were the possibilities and limits of medicine at the time? Could the traditional Bikkur Holim satisfy these modern needs? Why did it take some 20 years to build a Jewish hospital? Was there such a thing as medical insurance? Who supported community healthcare reform? These questions offer interesting and unexpected insights into the life of a vibrant Jewish society a century ago. 

This talk with include images.

Paula Daccarett was the Jim Joseph Fellow in the Jewish Studies Program at UCSC 2010-2012. She earned a BA in Political Science at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and a PhD in Jewish History at Brandeis University. She is currently working on a book manuscript that explores the political socialization and institutional growth of Salonican Jewry in the late Ottoman period.

When: Monday, October 22nd

1:30 - 2 pm: Nosh and Schmooze

2 - 3:30 pm: Featured Presentation

Where: Temple Beth El's Library

3055 Porter Gulch Road, Aptos, CA 95003

As always, our programs are free and open to the public. 

Donations to Senior Connections are greatly appreciated!

DigiBaeck Launch

On October 16, Leo Baeck Institute will celebrate the launch of DigiBaeck (www.lbi.org/digibaeck) - a comprehensive digital version of its collections. DigiBaeck includes 3.5 million pages of material that ranges from personal papers and photographs of luminaries like Albert Einstein and Moses Mendelssohn to letters, diaries, recipes, and other ephemera chronicling the lives of everyday German-speaking Jews over five centuries.

Keynote speakers Brewster Kahle and Nicholas Felton, and a panel moderated by New York Times science reporter Claudia Dreifus will discuss the implications and possibilities of putting this wealth of source materials online.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012, 9:30 AM - 12:00 PM EST (GMT-04:00)
Center for Jewish History
15 West 16th St.
New York, NY 10011

This event is free and open to the public and will also be streamed live at www.lbi.org/digibaeck
RSVP to (212) 744-6400 or digibaeck@lbi.org
More info: http://www.lbi.org/events/digibaeck-launch/