Due to recent developments, the conference has been postponed to a future date.

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Due to recent developments, the conference has been postponed to a future date. ---

The Eleventh Annual Conference of the Society for Sephardic Studies
Sephardic Jews between Messianism and Modernity
October 9th-13th, 2023, İzmir

The conference is being organized in cooperation with the Sephardic Studies Research Institute of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, the Izmir Jewish Heritage Project and the Jewish Community Foundation of Izmir, the Quincentennial Museum of Turkish Jews, the Center for Sabbatean Sephardic Culture, the J.R Elyachar Center for Studies in Sepharadi Heritage, the Council of Sephardic and Oriental Communities – Jerusalem, and with the support of the Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, and Izmir Konak Municipality.

Academic Committee: Eliezer Papo, Haviva Pedaya, Jonatan Meir, Peter S. Lehnardt, Cengiz Sisman, Vuk Dautovic
The Society's Steering Committee: Eliezer Papo, Tamar Alexander, Yaron Ben-Nach, Ricardo Muñoz Sola, José Alberto Rodrigues da Silva Tavim
Organizing Committee: Eliezer Papo, Nesim Bencoya, Avishag Ben-Shalom, Baris Telimen

Conference Schedule

Portugal Synagogue
09:00-09:45 Registration
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09:45-10:30 Opening Ceremony
Words of welcome from
Nesim Bencoya, the Izmir Jewish Heritage Project
Avram Sevinti, the Jewish Community Foundation of Izmir
Silvyo Ovadia, the Quincentennial Museum of Turkish Jews
Avraham Shalom, the Council of Sephardic and Oriental Communities - Jerusalem
Baris Telimen, the Center for Sabbatean Sephardic Culture
Regina Boxer, patron of the Sephardic Studies Research Institute, Ben-Gurion University
Eliezer Papo, the Society for Sephardic Studies
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10:30-11:15 Session 1. Opening Keynote Speaker
Chairperson: Eliezer Papo
Jacob Barnai, University of Haifa
The Jewish Community of Izmir between the Seventeenth and Nineteenth Centuries
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11:15-11:45 Coffee Break
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11:45-12:45 Session 2. Sacred Topography of Izmir
Chairperson: Ricardo Muñoz Solla
Maoz Kahana, Tel-Aviv University
One Lock, One Axe: The Oral Life of One Shabbat in the Spanish-Portuguese Synagogue
Şakir Çakmak, Ege University and S. Burçak Çıkıkçı, independent researcher
Determination and Suggestions about the Restitution of the Orehim/Forasteros (Foreigners) Synagogue
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12:45-14:00 Lunch Break
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14:00-15:30 Session 3. Restoring Jewish Messianism
Chairperson: Jos Alberto Rodrigues da Silva Tavim
Peter Sh. Lehnardt, Ben-Gurion University
Ma’ase Yesurun: A New Kind of Sephardic Messianism as Depicted by R. Aaron HaKohen of Dubrovnik
Haviva Pedaya, Ben-Gurion University
The Binary Paradigm of Messianism from Sabbateanism to Zionism
Eliezer Papo, Ben-Gurion University
For Torah shall Emanate forth from Zemun and the Word of the Lord from Serbia: R. Yehudah Alkalay's Concept of Messiah/Theodor Herzl and His True Origins
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15:30-16:00 Coffee Break
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16:30-18:00 Session 4. The Jewish Community of Izmir: Language, Identity and Livelihood
Chairperson: Avraham Shalom
David M. Bunis, Hebrew University
The Language of Rabbi Avraham Palacci's Sefer We-Hoxiah Avraham
Rachel Saba Wolfe, Ben-Gurion University
What Language shall He Teach His Children? The Language Debate in Izmir's Judeo-Spanish Press as a Matter of Identity
Orly C. Meron, Bar-Ilan University
Jewish Entrepreneurship in Izmir: Sephardic Commercial Networks
Nesim Bencoya, project manager
Izmir Jewish Heritage Project
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18:00-18:45 Session 5. Closing Keynote
Speaker Chairperson: Avishag Ben Shalom
Dina Danon, Binghamton University
Rethinking Jewish Modernity: Class and Community in Ottoman Izmir
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18:45-20:00 Projection of the movie “Father Language”
by Rami Kimchi
(55 minutes) Followed by Discussion, Led by the Movie Director
09:00-13:00 Excursion: La Juderia de Izmir
Starting point: Havralar Meydanı / Synagogues Square
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13:00-14:30 Lunch Break
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Please note that there will be parallel sessions at Sinyora Synagogue and Etz Hayim Synagogue

Sinyora Synagogue
14:30-16:30 Session 6. Portraits
Chairperson: Efrat Lederfein-Gilboa
Jonathan Vardi, Hebrew University
The Ottoman Copyists of Andalusia's Golden Age: Modern Philology and Traditional Heritage
Talha Kaan Ünlü, Amasya University
An Effective Community: The Salonica
Jewish Communityin the Sixteenth Century and its External Relations, through the Notes of Samuelde Medina
Shai Srougo, University of Haifa
Traditional Ottoman Practices On the
Thessaloniki Waterfront: Jewish Stevedore Work Culture (1900-1920)
Dina Eliezer, independent researcher
Rescuing History: The Race ot Save Izmir's Priceless Rabbinic Library and its Jewish Heritage

Etz Hayim Synagogue
14:30-16:30 Session 7. Communities at Crossroads
Chairperson: Peter Sh. Lehnardt
Dotan Arad, Bar-Ilan University
Image, Self-Image, Reality: Attitudes of Sephardic Sages toward the Mustaribs
Ricardo Munoz Solla, Universidad de Salamance
Caminos mesiánicos a la utopía: el casod e los judeoconversos de Ubeda y Baeza
José Alberto Rodrigues da Silva Tavim, Universidade de Lisboa
Revisiting the Presence of Portuguese Jews in the Ottoman Empire. Some Notes
David Manrique, Ben-Gurion University
Between Theurgy and Education: Sabbatian LadinoTranslations of the Zohar
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16:30-17:00 Coffee Break
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Sinyora Synagogue
17:00-19:00 Session 8. The Jewish Community of Izmir: Characters and Edifices
Chairperson: Dina Danon
Marcos Silber, University of Haifa
Messianic Memories, Jewish Nationalism and the Izmir Setting: R. Hayyim Falachi meets Adam Mickiewicz
Miguel Ángel Espinosa Vilegas, University of Granada
Between Sefarad and Turkey: Tradition and Modernity in the Architecture of Izmir Jewry
Hatice Aysegül Demir, Nihan Bulut and Mine Hamamcioglu-Turan, Izmir Institute of Technology
The Remains of the Jewish Hospital in
Kemeralti and the Challenges Facing its Preservation
Doga Filiz Subagi, Yozgat Bozok University
Los judíos de Izmir a través de un nuevo libroconjunto: The Jewish Pearl of the Aegean: Izmir

Etz Hayim Synagogue
17:00-19:00 Session 9. Theater and Music
Chairperson: Pilar Romeu Ferré
Avishag Ben-Shalom, Ben-Gurion University
When Realism becomes Romanticization: Sexuality of Elderly Female Characters in Laura Papo Bohoreta's Social Plays
Donatella Melini, Pavia University
Arab Instruments, Jewish Luthiers, Christian Musicians: 'The Stories and Construction of Musical Instruments in Europe between the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Century
Judith Cohen, York University
Music in Portuguese Crypto-Jewish Life: A Quarter-Century of Change and Adaptation
Please note that there will be parallel sessions at Sinyora Synagogue and Etz Hayim Synagogue

Sinyora Synagogue
09:00-10:30
Session 10. Sabbatian Studies I
Chairperson: Baris Telimen
Moisés Orfali, Bar-Ilan University
Prayers and Liturgical Poems by R. Isaac Aboab da Fonseca and R. Solomon Oliveira in Honor ofSabbetay Sevi
Efrat Lederfein-Gilboa, Ben-Gurion University
From Constantinople to Reggio: Benjamin haCohen Vitalis Commentary on Lamentations
Maria José Cano Pérez, University of Granada
La figura de Sabbetay Sevi en al literatura creativa: El viaje de Baldassrede Amin Maalouf

Etz Hayim Synagogue
09:00-10:30
Session 11. The City of Izmir in Jewish Literature
Chairperson: Nesim Bencoya
Michal Moskovitz, Bar-Ilan University
The Sephardic Jews in Izmir as Reflected in the Novel Seniorita from Izmir by Michal Moskovitz
Jan Miklas-Frankowski, University of Gdansk
The Image of Smyrna in Olga Tokarczuk's The Books of Jacob
Susy Gruss, Bar-Ilan University
Esmirna - mi ciudad, mi comunidad, mi lugar
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10:30-11:00 Coffee Break
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Sinyora Synagogue
11:00-13:00 Session 12. Sabbatian Studies II Chairperson: Rami Kimchi
Noam Lefler, Tel-Aviv University Abraham Yaxini - Dreams and Destiny
Eliezer Baumgarten, Ben-Gurion University
Uri Safrai, Herzog College, Ben-Gurion University
Between R. Moses Zaccuto and R. Nathan of Gaza: Tiggunim, Zohar Commentary and Prayer Intentions
Gila Hadar, University of Haifa
The Sephardic Family in the Throes of Crisis: The Aftermath of the Mass Conversions to Islam following Sabbetay Sevi

Etz Hayim Synagogue
11:00-13:00
Session 13. Sephardic Networks Chairperson: Maoz Kahana
Susanne Marten-Finnis, Universities Bremen and Portsmouth
Zamosc. Understanding the Sephardic Network in Sixteenth Century Poland: A Geopolitical Approach
Benedetto Ligorio, Sapienza University of Rome
The Sephardic Silk Road Bridging Italy and Balkan Cities during the Renaissance
Yehonatan Elazar-Demota, University of Antwerp
The Talmud Torah Es Hayim School in Eighteenth Century Amsterdam: Private International Law between the Nação and Jews of the Ottoman Empire
Silvina Schammah Gesser, Bar-Ilan University
Converso Traits in the Spanish Baroque Period? Rereading the Eternal Image of Santa Teresa of Avila as a Pillar of "Hispanidad"
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13:00-14:30 Lunch Break
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Sinyora Synagogue
14:30-15:30 Session 14. Ottoman Sephardic Literature
Chairperson: Svetlana Smolcié Makuljevic
Iskra Dobreva, independent researcher
Lights and Shadows from the Life ofthe Bulgarian Jews: The Prose Work of the Sephardic Poetess Grazia Albohayre (1925-2018)
Gordana Todorié, the Gaon Center, BGU
Haim the Diegetic Mediator

Etz Hayim Synagogue
14:30-15:30 Session 15. Families and Ethno- Confessional Communities in Izmir
Chairperson: Nenad Makuljevic
Siren Bora and Yasin Ördemir, independent researchers
Izmir Jewry's Socio-Economic and Legal Problems and the Boundaries of the City's Jewish Quarter through the Prism of the Levi Familv Archives (1804-1906)
Yitzchak Kerem, independent researcher
Relations and Mutual Influences between Greek-Orthodox and Izmir Jewry from the Late 1800s to the First Half of the Twentieth Century
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15:30-16:00 Coffee Break
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Sinyora Synagogue
16:00-17:30 Session 16. Ottoman Sephardic Folk Culture
Chairperson: Vuk Dautovic
Sanja Trifunovié, University of Vienna
Jewish Performer, between Messianism and Modernism
Hanita Barbiro, Ben-Gurion University
The Question of Djoha's Ethno-Confessional Identity
Nazh Alimen, Birmingham City University
Jewish Women's Ferâces: Fashion in the Ottoman Public Sphere between the Seventeenth and Nineteenth Centuries
Etz Hayim Synagogue
16:00-17:30 Session 17. Sephardic Diasporas
Chairperson: Moisés Orfali
Isaac Amon, Jewish Heritage Alliance
An Extraordinary Age: The Sephardic Diaspora amid the Seventeenth Century
Javier Leibiusky, INALCO University, Paris and Goethe Universität, Frankfurt
Sephardic Immigration from the Ottoman Empire to Buenos Aires - the Story of an Invisible Community (1876-1930)
Damien Fabre, Bordeaux Montaigne University
The Re-Compositions of Sephardic Identity in the Columns of Le Judaisme Sepharadi (1932-1966, Paris, London)
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Venue: Sanathane
18:00 Karagöz and Hacivat: Traditional Ottoman Shadow Play
19:00 La ija i la madre, komo la unya i la karne: Romansas i kantigas de la tradision sefaradi
Judith Cohen & Tamar Ilana
Linet & Kamila Saul
Sinyora Synagogue
09:00-10:30 Session 18. Sephardica Balcanica
Chairperson: Gordana Todorié
Vuk Dautovic, University of Belgrade
The Sephardic Community of Belgrade in the Age of Historicism
Nenad Makuljevié, University of Belgrade
The Migrations and Remembrance Culture of Sephardim in the Ottoman Empire
Svetlana Smoldié Makuljevié, Belgrade Metropolitan University
The Image of Jews in the Ottoman Balkan Visual Culture

Etz Hayim Synagogoue
09:00-10:30 Session 19. Messianism, from the Generations that Composed the Zohar to Sabbateanism (in Hebrew)
Chairperson: Jonatan Meir
Ruth Kara-Ivanov, University of Haifa
Birth and Anti-Birth: Messianic Dreams of Kabbalists from the Thirteenth to the Twentieth Century 
Biti Roi, Hebrew University
Theories on Cain and Abel's Reincarnation from the Iberian Peninsula to Safed 
Elchanan Reiner, Tel-Aviv University R. Nehemia haKohen: A Jewish Prophet in Migdal Oz
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10:30–11:00 Coffee Break
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11:00-12:00 The Annual Meeting of the Society for Sephardic Studies
Sinyora Synagogue
Items on the agenda:
* Decisions regarding the Twelfth Annual Conference (2024)
* Election of a new Steering Committee member (to replace the late Tamar Alexander)
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12:00–13:00 Lunch Break
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13:15-19:15 Excursion to the Sardis Synagogue and the Temple of Artemis
08:00-15:00 Excursion to the Historic City of Ephesus