*Yiddish Series* Jean Baumgarten, Jewish Mysticism in 17th-18th Century Ashkenazi Culture: Translation of the Zohar and Mystical Prayers in Old Yiddish
When and Where
Speakers
Description
Israel and Sala Disenhouse Memorial Lecture
Jean Baumgarten (Centre de Recherches Historiques, Paris)
Jewish Mysticism in 17th-18th Century Ashkenazi Culture: Translation of the Zohar and Mystical Prayers in Old Yiddish
Old Yiddish texts produced during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries contain numerous references to Kabbalah. To demonstrate the religious transformations reflected in the vernacularization of Kabbalistic knowledge within the Ashkenazi culture, we will study the translations into Old Yiddish of the Zohar (Frankfurt, 1711) as well as the collections of prayers, the Tikkunim, connected to mystical rituals.
This lecture is part of the Himel Family Yiddish Lecture Series, co-sponsored by the Al and Malka Green Fund in Yiddish Studies.
Jean Baumgarten is emeritus Directeur de recherche at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS). His primary research areas of interest are : Old Yiddish literature ; popular Jewish literature, religion and culture ; the cultural history of the Ashkenazi Jewry (Middle Ages - 18th century), history of the Yiddish book and Hasidism. Latest book published : Des coutumes qui font vivre : le Sefer ha-Minghagim (Venise 1593), transl. and ed. by J. Baumgarten, Paris, Eclat, 2022.