World Jewish News

Tenth annual international interdisciplinary conference on Judaic studies ("Safer").

To: Euro-Asian Jewish Congress
EAJC President Alexander Mashkevich
EAJC Secretary General Mikhail Chlenov
EAJC General Council Chairman Joseph Zisels

Dear Sirs,
On behalf of the Jewish scientific community - researches of the Jewish Civilization, teachers, students, post-graduate students of Jewish universities and university departments from the CIS and Baltic states - let us express our deep gratitude for the EAJC assistance in conducting one of the main projects of the Center for Scientists and Teachers of Judaic Studies in "Safer" universities - the 10th Annual International interdisciplinary Conference on Judaic studies, held in Moscow, January 28-30, 2003.
This jubilee conference, long regarded as a traditional demonstration of scientific progress in studying the Jewish civilization by the scientific bodies of countries of the former USSR, provoked the interest of not only the Jewish public: more than 500 scientist, university teachers, Jewish education representatives, post-graduate students and students major in Jewish Studies, as well as guest from the CIS (Russia, Ukraine, Byelorussia, Moldova, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan), the Baltic states (Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia), Europe (the UK, Germany, Poland, Romania), Israel, and the USA participated in the conference.
Besides the "Safer" center, the Jewish University of Jerusalem participated in organizing the conference. Along with the EAJC, the event was co-sponsored by the "Joint" American Jewish Joint Allotting Committee, the Jewish Agency in Russia, the Hanadiv Charitable Fund, and several private donors form the USA. In view of the mentioned above, we especially estimate the EAJC's participation, for the EAJC was the sole "local", and not "foreign" sponsor and thus has demonstrated its genuine interest in the development of Jewish science and university education in the countries of the region.
The conference agenda was an extensive one and included the following sections:
The world's principal Judaic schools, the religious trends in Judaism of the New and Newest times, semitology, Bible studies, the Hellenic Jewish literature, the Rabbi Jewish literature, the Jewish Idea and literature from the Middle Ages till the early New times, the Jewish history from the Middle Ages till the early New times; Jewish philosophy of the Newest times, the Khazar and Middle Age Judaic antiquities, the ethnology of the Jews of the Crimea, the Caucasus, and Central Asia, the Archeology and History of the Jews of Central and Eastern Europe, the History of the Jews in the Russian Empire, regional investigations - the History of Jewish communities, Judeo -Christian contacts, Xenophobia- Anti-Semitism, the History of the Jews of the USSR, the Holocaust: the research and teaching, the State of Israel: the past and the present, the Jewish national self-consciousness