On Thursday, almost a hundred people came together at the university - although they were all invited to the same event, they had different reasons to celebrate:
There were the family members who were proud of the graduate's successful graduation. Families and friends of the university, curious about the new rector. University students, excited about the event as a whole and the socializing afterwards. Academics, eagerly awaiting the lecture by Dr. Brämer(Modern Rabbinical Education, Notes on the 19th, 20th and 21st Centuries), and last but not least, friends of former Rector Professor Arnold, who made a brief appearance, but also referred to his actual farewell next December. Prof. Barbara Traub, Chairwoman of the Board of Trustees and member of the Presidium of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, gave the first words of welcome, while Prof. Michael Schmitt, Chairman of the Friends of the School of Jewish Studies, concluded the official program with the award ceremony.
Dean of Studies Prof. Johannes Becke presented the graduates with their certificates and read out the titles of their theses.
The evening was filmed (up to the award ceremony) and can be found on our YouTube channel.
Graduates, award winners and titles of the theses
A. F. (doctorate under Prof. Hanna Liss): Neither 'Small' nor 'Midrash' - 'Medieval Hebrew Bible Narratives' as a counter-draft to the idea of the 'Small Medieval Midrashim'
L. C. (M.A. Jewish Civilizations under Prof. Johannes Heil): Cultural Memory in a Suitcase: Travelling Antakya Jewry through Personal Stories and Heritage
N. B. (M.A. Jewish Civilizations under Dr. Louise Hecht): Interpreting the Destruction of the First Temple: Exploring the Influence of Personal Context on Historical Narrative
S. T. (M.A. Jewish Studies - History of Jewish Cultures under Prof. Roland Gruschka): Jane Austen's Bath and Sholom Aleichem's Marienbad
M. S. (doctorate under Prof. Hanna Liss): The Masoretic Commentary of R. Yaʿaqov ben ʾAsher (Baʿal ha-Turim) in its relation to the Ashkenazic Masora tradition
[M. S. receives (together with H. Z. T. (ex aequo)) this year's dissertation prize of the Fachverband für Jüdische Studien und Jüdische Theologie (Arnold-Goldberg-Preis), which was awarded on October 27 as part of the 50th anniversary celebration in Frankfurt]
F. R. (M.A. Jewish Civilizations under Prof. Roland Gruschka): The Defeat of the Organized Zionist Movement in the Soviet Union in the First Half of the 1930s: A Study of the United Merkaz of Zionist Organizations in the USSR
N. B. (M.A. Jewish Civilizations under Prof. Roland Gruschka): Jewish Child Migration of the 20th Century in the Narrative of Latin American Women Writers: Ruth Behar and Isabel Allende
D. L. (M.A. Jewish Studies under Dr. Louise Hecht): Taqqanot as a mirror of Jewish self-governance? Religious educational practice as a sphere of autonomy in 17th and 18th century Moravia between ideal and reality - Circle of Friends Prize for the best M.A. degree
E. H. (B.A. Jewish Studies under Dr. Hildegard Fruebis): Graphic novels narrate the Holocaust. Memory in images - a comparative examination of the representability of the Holocaust in the medium of comics using the example of Joe Kubert's The Golem (1946), Art Spiegelman's MAUS I and II (1986; 1991) and Barbara Yelin's Emmie Arbel
The Color of Memory (2023) - Circle of Friends Award for the best B.A. degree
I. C. C. (B.A. Jewish Studies and Community Practice under Prof. Ronen Reichman): The Reception of Akedat Yitzchak in Midrash Literature
