Dear Safranim,
Please note the new Hebrew publication by Prof. Tamar Kadari about Julius Theodor (1849-1923), one of the leading experts of the aggadic literature, entitled Minhah Li-Yehudah: Julius Theodor and the Redaction of the Aggadic Midrashim of the Land of Israel. It includes an annotated and updated translation of Julius Theodor's "Zur Composition der agadischen Homilien" by Hanan Birenzweig. The book is a joint publication of The Midrash Project of the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies and the Leo Baeck Institute, Jerusalem (Jerusalem 2017) and my be purchased through the JTS Press bookstore website (Schocken, Jerusalem). http://www.schocken-jts.org.il/english/bookstore/prodview.asp?idproduct=405 Prof. Kadari writes: Julius Theodor (1849-1923) is one of the leading experts of the aggadic literature. His major work, a scientific edition of Bereshit Rabbah (completed by Chanoch Albeck), is a foundation of Jewish studies research. His important articles deal with key topics still relevant to Midrashic research even today. Theodors' diverse research activity did not take place within the walls of academia. He wrote the majority of his scholarly studies in his home in the small town of Bojanowo, located in the Prussian province of Posen, where he served as rabbi for thirty-one years. From his home, he corresponded closely with various researchers but left no disciples to perpetuate his legacy and work after his death. These facts may explain why so little was known about Julius Theodor before I began writing this book. Aside from an article by Akiva Posner, a short entry in the Jewish Encyclopedia and in Encyclopaedia Judaica, in addition to some concise biographical information that appears in lists of the rabbis of the German Reich, virtually nothing has been written about this leading, significant scholar. The absence of information about his life is also connected to the bitter fate of his small family which suffered great hardships during the era between the two world wars. As far as I was able to verify, probably no direct descendants of Julius Theodor are alive today, so that all the knowledge pertaining to this great scholar has nearly been erased. Even Theodor's photograph seemed to have disappeared from the pages of history; it did not appear among the photographs of the students of the Breslau Rabbinical Seminary, nor in the few entries and information regarding his town Bojanowo. Only with great effort was I able to obtain it. The information in this chapter was collected and pieced together from small, scattered pieces of information gathered with the gracious assistance of scholars worldwide, through searches in archives, letters that survived, journals and information from the web. May this book be a memorial to this great scholar, his family and the small Jewish community of Bojanowo. Tamar Kadari is a senior lecturer at the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies, where she serves as the head of the Midrash and Aggadah program. She received her PhD in Midrashic literature from Hebrew University and was a fellow at the Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. In 2009 Dr. Kadari received a grant from the Israeli Science Foundation (ISF) to head a research group preparing a critical edition of Song of Songs Rabbah. Her research interests include biblical women in the eyes of the rabbis, esthetics and beauty in rabbinic literature and literary readings of midrash. Dr. Kadari is a sculptor whose work has been exhibited in galleries in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Thanks, Arthur -- Arthur Kiron, Ph.D. Schottenstein-Jesselson Curator of Judaica Collections Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books, and Manuscripts University of Pennsylvania Libraries 3420 Walnut Street Philadelphia, PA 19104-6206 T. (215) 573-7431 F. (215) 898-0559 Monday, Tuesday, Thursday http://www.library.upenn.edu/collections/judaica/ Library at the Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies 420 Walnut Street Philadelphia, PA 19106 T. (215) 746-1290 F. (215) 238-1540 Wednesday and Friday http://www.library.upenn.edu/cajs/
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