Summer School of Jewish Studies

Call for Applications: “Schismatics, Heretics, and Religious Crisis - Frankism and the Turbulent 18th Century in East Central European Jewry.”
Summer Program in Jewish Studies

11-21 August 2022,
Palacký University Olomouc, Czech Republic

The Kurt and Ursula Schubert Center for Jewish Studies (CJS), Faculty of Arts of the Palacký University Olomouc, in association with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, invites applications for a ten-day Summer School program in Olomouc, Czech Republic. The summer program, supported by the European Association for Jewish Studies (EAJS), is intended primarily for graduate and undergraduate students of Jewish Studies and related study programs. It will offer an intensive course on 18th-century Jewish and comparative religious history, in particular about Sabbatean heterodoxies (for 6 ECTS credits). The program will be taught by internationally renowned scholars and it includes on-site learning as well as academic field trips to historical Jewish sites in Moravia. See the detailed program below.

The program will run from Thursday August 11 to Sunday August 21, 2022.

The summer school program:

• consists of instruction sessions in the morning and early afternoon, and cultural and social events in the afternoon and evening
• includes 35 instruction units (1 instruction unit = 45 minutes) + reading assignments= 6 ECTS credits Europe
• instruction includes: lectures, seminars, practical teaching during the field trips
• cultural program includes: guided tours in Olomouc and vicinity, excursions and trips to Jewish historical sites in the Czech Republic, cultural events in Olomouc and neighborhood
• organizers are ready to help interested participants with their research in libraries and archives and with making contact with experts at Palacký University Olomouc, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, or other institutions.

Language of Instruction: English

• accommodation (in university dormitories)
• lunches (10 days; vegetarian option available, but the program cannot accommodate further dietary requests)
• travel within the borders of Czech Republic
• study materials

• travel from abroad to the Czech Republic (there are direct bus and train connections to Olomouc from Prague, Vienna, Krakow and other big cities in Europe)
• travel insurance
• food (besides lunch)

Applicants should send a short statement of interest (up to 500 words) including why they would like to take part in this program and a one-page CV to the Kurt and Ursula Schubert Center for Jewish Studies, at ivana.cahova@upol.cz by Sunday May 1, 2022. 

Organizing committee at the Kurt and Ursula Schubert Center for Jewish Studies will select the successful applicants who will be informed by email by Sunday May 15, 2022.

Queries should be addressed to ivana.cahova@upol.cz

Dr. Avishai Bar-Asher (Department of Jewish Thought, Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
Messianism, Redemption and Soteriology: from Medieval Kabbalah to Early Modern Jewish Mysticism

Dr. Hadar Feldman Samet (Department of Jewish History, Tel Aviv University, Mandel-Scholion Center, Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
Cultural Crossings and Communal Confines: Sabbatianism in its Muslim Contexts, 17^th-19^th centuries

Doc. Martin Elbel (Department of History, Faculty of Arts, Palacký University Olomouc)
Heresy and Witchcraft in 17th and 18th Century Moravia

Prof. Eli Lederhendler (Department of Jewish History and Contemporary Jewry, Hebrew University of Jerusalem) 
Jewish History and Society in the 18th Century

Dr. Pawel Maciejko (Department of History, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore)
"There is no one that does good, no, not one":
Moravia as a hotbed of Jewish heresy in the 18th century

Doc. Pavel Sládek (Prague Center for Jewish Studies, Faculty of Arts, Charles University Prague)
Was There a Crisis of Rabbinic Authority in The Early Modern Period?

Dr. Daniel Soukup (Kurt and Ursula Schubert Center for Jewish Studies, Faculty of Arts, Palacký University Olomouc)
Jewish Conversions to Catholicism in 17th and 18th Century Moravia and Bohemia

Doc. Tamás Visi (Kurt and Ursula Schubert Center for Jewish Studies, Faculty of Arts, Palacký University Olomouc)
Kabbalah and Popular Religion in Early Modern Moravia

Dr. Ivana Cahová – coordinator (Head of Kurt and Ursula Schubert Center for Jewish Studies, Faculty of Arts, Palacký University Olomouc)

Dr. Marie Crhová – coordinator (Kurt and Ursula Schubert Center for Jewish Studies, Faculty of Arts, Palacký University Olomouc)

Mgr. Eva Kalousová – coordinator (Kurt and Ursula Schubert Center for Jewish Studies, Faculty of Arts, Palacký University Olomouc)

Palacký University Olomouc is the second oldest university in the Czech Republic and one of the oldest in Central Europe. Drawing on a more than 400-year tradition of higher education it is nowadays a renowned center for teaching and research. Olomouc is the capital of the region of Central Moravia and is one of the oldest cities in the Czech Republic. The city dates back to the ninth century, when it was a power center of the Great Moravian Kingdom, the oldest Slavonic state. The Holy Trinity Column on the town square is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Today Olomouc has above 100,000 inhabitants and is the second largest urban historic preservation area after Prague. Its long history makes it one of the most beautiful cities in the Czech Republic. The leading traveler guide Lonely Planet has ranked Olomouc for two years in a row among the top ten European destinations, claiming that: “Olomouc is one of the Czech Republic's most under-rated destinations, with a great nightlife scene and a mini-Prague feel.” Dozens of parks, cafes, mysterious nooks, theatres, diverse music clubs and varied sports centers will all be at your fingertips. There are cities you visit and the memories go away within a few weeks. There are several destinations where you'd like to go back again. And then there are places that you fall for immediately that will not let you go. Olomouc is one of these places, a city that captivates with its unique atmosphere.

This Summer School is supported by the European Association for Jewish Studies (EAJS).