Interpretation of the month of Elul

Remember what Amalek did to you... how he met you on the road and struck your stragglers, all the weak ones behind you..

"You went on your way and had no reason to suspect an enemy attack. His attack was completely unprovoked, was driven by pure joy in man-slaughter, or by an inkling of the danger that began to threaten his principle of sword power from the principle of pure humanity and loyalty to duty that entered history with you ... So it was the weakest of the weak, who could not follow even a slow movement, whom he attacked. Thus, it was not weakness that invited him to pity and sparing, but to crude, mocking maltreatment"

Samson Raphael Hirsch on Deut 25:17f.

The Chair of Bible and Jewish Bible Interpretation is the only one of its kind in Germany that deals with the text, tradition, exegetical reception and modern interpretation of the Hebrew Bible from antiquity to modern times in teaching and research. The field of research into biblical history and literature alone covers a historical framework of more than 1000 years. If one adds to this the sources for Jewish biblical interpretation in the Middle Ages and modern times as well as the Masorah as a link between the (Masoretic) biblical text and its interpretation, this subject ideally covers more than 2500 years, which need to be surveyed in literary-specific questions of detail as well as in increasingly interdisciplinary questions and research approaches. With the exception of a few sources on Jewish biblical interpretation in the 19th and 20th centuries, all the key sources are written in Hebrew and Aramaic.

The Heidelberg Chair focuses on the one hand on Masoretic Bible text and manuscript research (9th-13th centuries), and on the other hand on sources for Jewish Bible interpretation from the first half of the 10th to the second half of the 13th century, as well as on the 19th and 20th centuries.

Ekaterina Gotsiridze

Learning Materials

Main research areas

Only the so-called Masora from Eretz Israel, i.e. the Masoretic hypertext with vocalization, accentuation and the addition of various annotations, allows the ancient consonantal text (Qumran) to become a medieval Masoretic text. The aim of the research at the chair is the first study of the Western European (Ashkenazic) Masora tradition between the 11th and 15th centuries, which differs from the Oriental Masora philologically and in its external appearance as a masora figurata. It also deals with the process of inculturation of the masora and the Hebrew Bible text into the Christian environment (architecture; book art).

The Heidelberg Chair focuses in particular on the interpretative tradition of the medieval northern French school of exegetes, i.e. the exegetical commentaries of R. Shelomo Yitzchaqi (RaShY) and his school, R. Avraham Ibn Ezra, the members of the Qimchi family and R. Moshe ben Nachman ('RaMBaN = Nachmanides'). In addition, the surviving Hebrew-French Bible glossaries, especially from the 13th century, are also dealt with. These Bible glossaries, which reproduce the vernacular glosses in Hebrew graphics, are exceptional witnesses not only for exegetical and cultural-historical Judaic research, but also for morphological, phonological and lexical research into Old French between the 11th and 13th centuries. They form fundamental texts for research into the interrelations between Jewish intellectual history and the non-Jewish environment.

The biblical interpretation of the representatives of the so-called science of Judaism in Germany and Eastern Europe is being researched primarily with regard to its influence on modern Judaism and its understanding of religion and culture.

Courses

The courses are regularly linked back to the main areas of research.

The entire spectrum of the subject - from the biblical traditions to the latest interpretative literature - is covered and dealt with in teaching on the Bachelor's and Master's degree courses.

In cooperation with the Abraham Berliner Center , workshops and lectures are regularly held with international guest scholars.

Teaching

Summer semester 2025

basic course Mechina: Introduction to the Hebrew Bible

Leader: Prof. Dr. Hanna Liss

Wednesday, 9.15-10.45 a.m., S 3

Advanced seminar / exercise: Understanding? Alienate? Expand? Biblical texts and motifs in modern German-language literature

Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Andrea Albrecht / Prof. Dr. Hanna Liss

Wednesday, 11.15-12.45, S 4

Research Colloquium Bible and Jewish Bible Interpretation

Chair: Prof. Dr. Hanna Liss

Thursday, 9.15-10.45 a.m., S 3

Registration: Those who would like to participate alongside the doctoral and master's students of the chair are requested to register in person: hanna.liss@hfjs.eu.

Proseminar / Exercise: Betrayal, Infidelity, Deceit: Tracing a Concept

Lecturer: David Bindrim PhD & Yona-Dvir Shalem M.A.

Tuesday, 11.15-12.45 (start on 22.04.), Bet Midrash

Research projects at a glance

Masorah Rearranged: Eight Masoretic Lists in MS London Oriental 2091, fol. 335vcorpus masoreticum working papers 6 (2023).

Corpus Masoreticum

Project description

Paris Arsenal 5956

Bible Glossaries

Project description

Berlin_SPK_Fragment_zum_Hohelied_Public_Domain_1.0

Biblia Rabbinica

Project description

Events

All Events

HfJS Heidelberg

Bible and Jewish Biblical InterpretationOn-siteEnglish

23 - 24 October 2025 17:00 - 18:00 UTC+02:00

Symposium celebrating the book launch

Past Events

Change of rector in Bavarian

8 August 2025 Press Review

Although the change of rector from Prof. Dr. Werner Arnold to Dr. Andreas Brämer already took place last year, it is remarkable that it was also reported on two pages in the magazine Jüdisches Leben in Bayern in April, which has now been published online.

Click here for the article and the greeting from the President of the Central Council, Dr. Josef Schuster (pdf)

The magazine, which Benno Reicher has been journalistically responsible for since 2012, is published three times a year: for the Jewish New Year Rosh Hashanah in September, Hanukkah in December and Passover in April. It can certainly be seen as the successor to the Bayerische Israelitische Gemeindezeitung.

This in turn was first published in Munich on February 27, 1925 as a newsletter of the Jewish Community of Munich and the Association of Bavarian Jewish Communities, with a circulation of 4,500 copies.
Under the editors Ludwig Feuchtwanger and Eugen Schmidt, the liberal paper developed into a nationally respected voice of Jewish life. It combined articles on tradition and religious customs with articles on culture, society and current affairs. It was supplemented by reports from the synagogue communities, official notices, family news and advertisements.
In December 1937, the Nazi regime banned the newspaper.

Today, Jüdisches Leben in Bayern continues this tradition: The free, advertising-free association magazine of the State Association of Jewish Communities in Bavaria is aimed at members of the Jewish communities in Bavaria - and at an interested public far beyond.

Thankfully, the Goethe University in Frankfurt has archived all issues of the Bayerische Israelitische Gemeindezeitung. These include the penultimate issue from July 1, 1937, which describes a day in Israel: "Vom Leben der Arbeit in Eretz Israel". Click here for the complete issue (pdf)

A certain Dr. Willy Cohn from Breslau writes about a day in Kibbutz Giv'at Brenner, named after Josef Chaim Brenner, who was murdered by Arab civilians during the riots in Jaffa in 1921. Cohn, who alongside Klemperer is considered the most important chronicler of Nazi crimes, was deported with his family and murdered in Lithuania in 1941.