Call for Papers: Spirituality and Performance

[SamWeiss <SamWeiss...>]

I am forwarding this to the list FYI.
Contact information is at the bottom of the email.
-S.W.
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Call for Papers

Spirituality and Performance On and Off the Stage
The Bimah and the Bine

On Sunday May 4th the Meyerhoff Center for Jewish Studies at the University 
of Maryland, College Park is hosting a conference on the relationships 
between what transpires on the stage of the synagogue (the bimah) and the 
Jewish theatrical stage (in Yiddish, bine).  In the late nineteenth century 
Jews began to write and perform plays in Eastern Europe which, by the early 
twentieth century, had become popular in England and America, attracting 
devoted audiences. During that same period many synagogues not only became 
more formal but, with the growth of Reform and Conservative Judaism, 
challenged and transformed traditional models of worship.

The conference is organized into three sessions, one focusing on the 
synagogue, another on the stage and concluding with a round table debate of 
the issues.

For the morning panel we ask for papers that look to changes in the 
synagogue. Presentations might address some of the following questions:

· Whether the synagogue became more formal as a result of the emergence of 
Jewish theater and Jewish attendance at formal performances?

· What were the consequences for congregational intimacy of a synagogue 
modeled on theatrical norms?

· How did artistic expression inside and outside the synagogue reflect 
cultural preferences of the time?

· Did the roles of cantors change as some became stars and operatic style 
performers?

For the afternoon session, which deals with the Jewish theater, we ask for 
papers that would address some of the following questions:

· How have synagogue rituals shaped the theater?

· In the early Yiddish theater many performers were former cantors, 
choirboys, or sons of cantors. Some of the plays and films even deal with a 
hero pulled between the duties of the hazan and stardom. What does this 
show about the Jewish stage and its relationship to the synagogue?

· Were there shifts in Yiddish or Jewish theater with respect to depictions 
of Jewish religious life?

Since member of synagogues today often look for alternative venues for 
worship, the round table discussion will deal not only with the past but 
also with today. The following are some overarching questions that might be 
appropriate in either panel and especially in the concluding discussions.

· How did Jewish ethnic and religious identity express itself through 
performance?

· To what extent did the preferences of congregants and audiences shape the 
action on stage?

· Did religiously estranged Jews find in the Yiddish theater a community 
and emotional outlet that might have formerly come from the synagogue?

· To what extent did performance meld tradition with modernity?

· How did considerations of high and low culture factor in the 
interrelationship between synagogue and theater?

· In the Soviet Union the Jewish theater was called Habimah at a time when 
religious observance was curtailed. This theater moved to Israel but kept 
the name. What, if anything, does this suggest? What about the significance 
of Habimah in modern Israel?

ABSTRACTS ARE DUE BY NOV. 15TH. PLEASE INCLUDE A BRIEF CV.
The University of Maryland is located just outside Washington D.C. We 
provide an honorarium for participants and travel expenses. For further 
information contact Miriam Isaacs.


Miriam Isaacs
Joseph and Rebecca Meyerhoff Center for Jewish Studies
University of Maryland, College Park,
0113 Woods Hall, College Park, MD. 20742-7415
Tel. 301 405.0264        Fax. 301 405.8232
email at misaacs (at) wam(dot)umd(dot)edu 

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