This conference studies the diverse images of shared heroes across the Abrahamic traditions. It explores and compares the invention and reinvention of the heroes over time and space within their specific cultural contexts in the late Middle Ages and the early modern times. Considering the different roles and functions certain heroes have filled in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam indeed reveals how different societies and cultures communicate, consciously and unconsciously, and how they interact.

To RSVP (required), please contact Kerren Marcus, knm2121@columbia.edu.

For more information, please visit http://iijs.columbia.edu.

Organized by Micha Perry (Yale University) and Rebekka Voß (Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität). Co-sponsored by the Columbia University Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies & the Program in Judaic Studies at Yale University with support from the Columbia University Institute for Religion, Culture, and Public Life.

Schedule and Panels:

Monday, November 15th:
Presidential Room 2 & 3

10:00–10:15
Greetings & Opening Remarks
Jeremy Dauber (Columbia University)

10:15–12:15
I. Who Is a Hero?
“The Indispensability of Theories for Understanding Heroism”
Robert A. Segal (University of Aberdeen)
“‘Qâla al-Samaw’al ibn ?Âdiyâ al-yahûdiyy:.. (The Jew, Al-Samaw’al Son-of-????Âdiyâ Said:…)’:
Conscientiousness and Fidelity as Heroic Qualities in Arab Traditions (The Jewish Example)”
Hasan El-Shamy (Indiana University)
Chair & Response: Dan Ben-Amos (University of Pennsylvania)

12:15-1:30 Lunch

1:30–3:30
II. Biblical Heroes
“Korah: The Heretic as Hero”
David Biale (UC Davis)
“The Sexuality of Noah and Its Modern Oblivion”
Benjamin Braude (Boston College)
Chair: Micha Perry (Yale University)

3:30–4:00 Coffee Break

4:00–6:00
III. Legendary Heroes
“Alexander the Great in Literary and Religious Texts and Contexts, from Antiquity through Early
Modernity”
Andrew Gow (University of Alberta)
“Titus Vespasian as Founder of the Jewish Diaspora: A Medieval Shared Myth in Southern France”
Micha Perry (Yale University)
Chair: Rebekka Voß (Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität)

Tuesday, November 16th:
Garden Room 1

9:00–10:00
IV. Holy Men
“‘In Black and White, in Christian and Jew’: Sufis of al-Andalus on the Question of Religious
Difference“
Lourdes Maria Alvarez (The Catholic University of America)
Chair: Jonathan Schorsch (Columbia University)

10:00–10:30 Coffee Break

10:30–12:30
V. Saints
“‘The Lord was with them, and they were not found out’: Jews, Shrines, and the Veneration of Saints in Medieval Ashkenaz”
Lucia Raspe (Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität)
“The Rise of the Jewish Saint: The Mediterranean Early Modern Context”
Roni Weinstein (Minerva Institute, Tel-Aviv University)
Chair: Ephraim Shoham-Steiner (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev)

12:30–1:30 Lunch

2:00–4:00
VI. Historical Heroes
“Crusade and Church Reform: Charles V. as Messianic Hero”
Rebekka Voß (Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität)
“Saint and Counter-Saint: Catholic Triumphalism and Jewish Resistance in Baroque Prague’s Abeles
Affair”
Rachel Greenblatt (Harvard University)
Chair: Elisheva Carlebach (Columbia University)

4:00–4:30
Coffee Break

4:30–6:30
VII. New Heroes
“‘Panim be-fanim…mitokh ha-esh’: Forging the Many Faces of Moses Hayyim Luzzatto”
David Sclar (CUNY Graduate Center)
“The Genius as Hero of Modern Jewry”
Eliyahu Stern (Yale University)
Chair: Jeremy Dauber (Columbia University)

6:30–7:00
Concluding Discussion