new electronic publications (210)
Willard McCarty (MCCARTY@VM.EPAS.UTORONTO.CA)
Wed, 8 Feb 89 23:33:01 EST
Humanist Mailing List, Vol. 2, No. 575. Wednesday, 8 Feb 1989.
(1) Date: Tue, 7 Feb 89 23:42 EST (23 lines)
From: <AHRENS@HARTFORD.BITNET>
Subject: SF Lovers Discussion List
(2) Date: Wed, 8 Feb 1989 20:51 IST (43 lines)
From: Yechiel Greenbaum <WWRMK@HUJIVM1>
Subject: Judaic Studies
(3) Date: Wed, 8 Feb 1989 20:57 IST (120 lines)
From: Yechiel Greenbaum <WWRMK@HUJIVM1>
Subject: Judaic Studies, 1
(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 7 Feb 89 23:42 EST
From: <AHRENS@HARTFORD.BITNET>
Subject: SF Lovers Discussion List
Connie Crosby mentions an ArpaNet list titled "SF-Lovers." This list
is distributed weekly in digest form. It is wide-ranging, with entries
on film and TV SF, and includes a wealth of useful information on
SF literature. Interested HUMANISTS can subscribe by sending the
following:
SEND LISTSERV@RUTVM1 Sub sf-lovers Your_name
Messages to the list itself go to SFLOVERS@RUTGERS.EDU
--John Ahrens
------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Make no mistake: the opinions expressed above are mine. |
------------------------------------------------------------------------
| John Ahrens | Snail: Department of Philosophy |
| BITNET: AHRENS@HARTFORD | University of Hartford |
| PHONE: 203-243-4074 | West Hartford, CT 06117 |
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------47----
Date: Wed, 8 Feb 1989 20:51 IST
From: Yechiel Greenbaum <WWRMK@HUJIVM1>
Subject: Judaic Studies
1 Feb 89 JUDAIC STUDIES 26 Shevat 49 BS"D
This is the inaugural edition of a weekly newsletter, which we hope will
expand into a into a bulletin board. The main idea is communication. Who's
doing what and how can they be contacted? Does anyone have information rel-
evant to my work and have I knowledge that can guide anyone else? Comput-
ers allow quick, efficient gathering of information which can be accessed
and responded to at leisure. We also hope to be a source of information on
computer applications in Judaic Studies, such as hebrew word processing and
textual analysis.
The Chovos HaLevavos emphasized the importance of thankfulness. We wish
to thank all of the following people for their part in creating this letter:
1) Avrum Goodblatt, our mentor, whose constant encouragement seems
to have finally gotten things off the ground.
2) Dr. Emanuel Tov, with whose help we have an account at Hebrew U
from which to begin operations.
3) Dr. Kuzriel Meir, who has assisted both in computers and in
Judaic Studies.
You may have been wondering who's been writing all this. Well may you
wonder, since, impartial as he may try to be, an editor almost inevitably
brings his own views into what he edits. My name is Yechiel Greenbaum. I
am an observant Jew. I am interested in Judaica bibliography & reference,
generally, and in what may be broadly defined as methodology of learning,
specifically. I'd prefer to err on the side of being accurate and tho-
rough.
Please send the electronic address of anyone who might be interested in
receiving this letter. More important, please send your ideas of what you
would like to see: questions you want answered; areas you'd like discussed;
good ideas that you are working on (or that you wish someone else would
save you the trouble of working on).
Our electronic address is WWRMK at HUJIVM1. My mailing address is 5
Beit Shearim St., Kiryat Moshe, Jerusalem, ISRAEL. My phone is 02-536105
NEXT WEEK - Topology: Where Judaics Are Studied
Further Acknowledgements
(3) --------------------------------------------------------------123---
Date: Wed, 8 Feb 1989 20:57 IST
From: Yechiel Greenbaum <WWRMK@HUJIVM1>
[Here is the first issue of JUDAIC STUDIES, the announcement for which
appears in the previous note. Anyone wishing to receive further
issues should communicate with Dr. Greenbaum directly. --W.M.]
8 Feb 89 JUDAIC STUDIES 3 AdarI 49 BS"D
TOPOLOGY: Where Judaics Are Studied
This overview will begin presenting sources of information which can
help locate places involved in the study of Judaica. It will cover the
essentials of academic Judaic Studies (hereafter JS) and offer a number of
not-strictly-academic settings as future subjects of investigation. Among
the reasons for this research is the need to accumulate a mailing list for
this newsletter. Eventually, with the permission of those involved, the
whole list can be posted, including e-addresses, telephone numbers, hours,
directions, specialties and so on. Many of the leads to the information
given here were graciously supplied by Libby Kahane, the ever-helpful head
of the Bibliographic Reference Room at the National Library.
There are three basic lists of JS locations:
1) The World Union of Jewish Studies sells a mailing list which,
I am told, contains about six thousand entries. They can be
contacted at Hebrew U, Givat Ram, Jerusalem 91904. (Here I
shall pause to insert a note about American & Israeli address
confusion. American- Five digit zip codes, even with the word
"Israel" written after them, occasionally bounce up & down the
west coast until someone notices. It is therefore sometimes
better to omit the zip. Israeli- Everyone knows that the WUJS
is located in Binyan Mazer... there is a yellow sign pointing
around the side of the building which says "Binyan Mazer". The
building itself is only marked "The Institute for Advanced
Studies". It is the first of the rectangular buildings to the
right of the grass campus as one enters Givat Ram- or #3 on the
map ahead. The office is two levels above ground, thru the
door in the rear left corner, on the right- Room 209B.) The
office is open Sun thru Thurs 9-1. The phone number is
526-910.
2) The International Center for University Teaching of Jewish
Civilization publishes surveys of schools which teach JS. They
are located in the free-standing building as one enters the
Hebrew U complex opposite the Van Leer Institute (46 Jabotinsky
on the corner of Molcho, entrance around back). They are open
Sun thru Thurs 8:30-1. The phone numbers are 633-005 and
699-032. Mrs. Florinda Goldberg gave me both time and liter-
ature, and sold me a new survey of european JS (excluding the
British Isles) done in 1988 by Doris Bensimon, called "The
Teaching of Jewish Civilization at European Universities". It
is available from the Center, POB 4234, Jerusalem 91042. A
world survey came out in 1985- Verbit, Martin F., Ed., "World
Register of University Studies of Jewish Civilization". It is
available from the Center, and from Markus Wiener Publishing,
Inc., 2901 Broadway Suite 107, NY, NY 10025 (212-678-7138).
3) B'nai B'rith Hillel Foundation publishes "Jewish Life on
Campus". (The information in a recent issue was conveniently
tabulated on pp.403-418 of Ivan L. Tillem's "The 1987-88 Jewish
Almanac".) The Foundation's address is 1640 Rhode Island Ave.,
N.W., Washington, DC 20036.
A combined count of the "World Register" and "Jewish Life" produces the
following figures:
Graduate Level Total
Departments of JS 14 31
Programs in JS 40 103
JS are taught on a graduate level at 87 institutions. The european survey
by Bensimon adds that there are now 27 schools which offer a "broadly based
course in JS" (p23). In the US & Canada, there are 28 schools which offer
doctoral degrees, 12 more which offer masters, and approximately 63 others
which offer undergraduate degrees. Yet other schools offer large numbers
of JS courses. Many universities join forces with each other, or with
other institutions, in order to make programs available. Others establish
Chairs of JS, or grant certificates. I was especially intrigued by the
yearly 4 week "Spring Seminar on Jewish Medical Ethics" held at Texas
Medical Center - Baylor and U.T. ("Jewish Life").
Of course, these numbers represent widely disparate course offerings
and programs of study, which would best be grouped by level of instruction,
scope, size, and, most important, areas of emphasis (the Center publi-
cations take steps in this direction). They also do not include studies
done in
1) Jewish History and Civilization (in Israeli, Holocaust and
other institutions),
2) Hebrew Language (from the Academy of the Hebrew Language to
the many approaches taken to hebrew and it's creoles),
3) Bibliography (by both libraries and collectors of Hebraic and
Judaic books and art),
4) Biblical Studies (by secularists and the adherents of three
major religions),
5) Rabbinics (at religious and secular educational institutions
and publishing houses),
and 6) Genealogies (an umbrella group of jewish organizations exists,
and separate records such as US Immigration and the Mormon
church),
to recite an off-the-cuff, far-from-complete list.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS- Advice and material aid has been offered by Infotec
Software (4/33 Herzl Ave., Jerusalem), particularly by my good friend D'n
Russler. Eitan Hurwitz of the Computer Center at Hebrew U Mount Scopus has
taken an interest in the project. I want to thank Dr. Moshe Idel, Ruth
Wahaba, and also the staff of the Computer Center for their quick and
efficient handling of an un-named crisis last week.
IDEAS- Dr. Robert Kraft stated explicitly an idea that I learned from Avi
Feldblum implicitly; don't confine the letter to a regular production
schedule. Essentially, I agree that results should be published when they
are ready. They should not have to wait for publishing dates nor should
they be distorted to meet deadlines (the word "deadlines" tempts me to
speculative etymology). What we really want, eventually, is a Bulletin
Board. I started this letter as a weekly with the idea of giving the
reader a sense of security (so many things do not continue beyond the first
issue), as well as an impetus to submit ideas as soon as possible, in order
that the letter achieve the broadest possible scope.
NEXT TIME- LISTS