The dichotomy of ‘tradition’ and ‘modernity’ characterizes our image of Jewish history and culture to this day. The dualism of “land equals stagnation” and “city equals modernization” is a common scholarly pattern that needs to be questioned.
The relationship between city and countryside has mostly been seen as a one-way street and as an “either/or”, either city or country. This raises the question: is this dichotomy tenable in light of recent research on transformation processes? What happened in-between city and countryside and in movements that headed in both directions? How are categories like “city” and “countryside” complicated by connections and transfers of persons, texts, objects, ideas, and institutions?
This interdisciplinary international workshop focuses on the phenomenon of rural Jewries in their relationships to urban ones in modern times. The focus is on Central Europe (esp. the German-speaking lands) as well as Eastern Europe.