Bible glossaries as hidden cultural carriers. judeo-French cultural exchange in the High Middle Ages

Funding by and establishment at the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities / Academies' Program

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Bible glossaries as hidden carriers of culture | Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities

The project focuses on Hebrew-French glossaries, which are being edited (for the most part for the first time) and historically and philologically processed and contextualized because they are exceptional witnesses to a simultaneously developing (Jewish and Christian) French (Bible) reading culture in Western Europe between the 12th and 14th centuries. The glossaries form basic texts for research into the interrelations between Jewish intellectual history and the non-Jewish environment as well as the lexical interferences between Jewish and Christian vernacular cultures. The French glosses are written in Hebrew throughout and comprise about 1/4 of the Old French vocabulary known today.

From the outset, the philological work will be integrated into a digital working environment that uses the BIMA 2.0 database, which has been in productive use in the Corpus Masoreticum project since 2018 and is continuously being further developed. BIMA 2.0 ensures the editorial indexing and long-term archiving of all Hebrew-French material and provides tools that guarantee the sustainable management, processing, presentation and visualization of the project results. A data export interface via RDF/OntoLex ensures that the interoperability of the lexicographically relevant edition data is guaranteed as 'linked open data' with the resources of DEAFél(Dictionnaire étymologique de l'ancien français électronique), which are still available, and that DEAFél is therefore also used for further research. The field of Digital Humanities also makes an independent research contribution to the differentiation of a digital corpus linguistics of Judeo-French text cultures of the Middle Ages. The digital results will be supplemented by online and print publications that will provide new transdisciplinary academic impetus for Jewish studies, Romance studies, Jewish and Christian theology and medieval (knowledge) history as a whole.

Paris BNF hébr. 302 Creative Commons CC-BY-SA 4.0 — Paris BNF hébr. 302 Creative Commons CC-BY-SA 4.0

Paris BNF hébr. 302 edit Creative Commons CC-BY-SA 4.0 — Paris BNF hébr. 302 edit Creative Commons CC-BY-SA 4.0

Events

All Events

HfJS Heidelberg

WorkshopOn-siteGerman

14 November 2025 10:30 - 17:00 UTC+01:00

Interdisciplinary workshop organized by the Forum for the Comparison of Legal Discourses of Religions (RdR)

ZDJ

Israel and Middle Eastern StudiesOn-siteGerman

16 - 19 November 2025 13:00 - 14:00 UTC+01:00

Four-day seminar in Frankfurt (Central Council of Jews, ELES, HfJS Heidelberg, JSUD)

[Übersetzen nach: English] Medienkompetenz

KI (Perplexity)/ Simon Schöfer

History of the Jewish peopleOn-siteGerman

17 November 2025 15:00 - 18:30 UTC+01:00

"Of echo chambers and extremism: How young people deal with the Middle East conflict digitally" - Invitation to the project's kick-off event

Past events

Graduation Ceremony 2025: Honoring Akademic Achievement, Hope and Community

3 November 2025 Special Dates Press

Numerous guests, students and lecturers gathered on October 30, 2025 for the festive graduation ceremony of the Heidelberg University of Jewish Studies. After a welcome address by Rector Dr. Andreas Brämer and words of welcome from Prof. Barbara Traub and Martha Fiedelak, who spoke on behalf of the student representatives, the keynote speech by Dr. Yael Sela ("Universalism from the Margins. Modern Jewish Thought and the Search for Shared Humanity") set the tone for the festive atmosphere.

A special highlight was the musical contribution by Anni Joy Shanks, who gave a moving impulse of hope with "Zaad Echad Zaad": the song impressively conveys that in difficult times it is often important to move forward step by step and never lose hope.

as part of the award ceremony, two theses were honored with the Friends' Prize:

The best Master's thesis "Hungary as a role model? Israel's potential for illiberal democracy" analyzes the extent to which Israel's political development is based on Hungarian models and what implications this has for democracy and society.
The best bachelor's thesis "The Dual Representation of the Moroccan Jewish Experience: Social Realities and Cinematic Narratives in Moroccan and Israeli Contexts" takes a differentiated look at how Moroccan Jewry is represented socially and cinematically in both Morocco and Israel

After the award ceremony and the presentation of the certificates by Prof. Dr. Johannes Becke and Prof. Dr. Michael Schmitt, the evening came to a convivial close with a reception in the canteen.

This year's graduation ceremony impressively demonstrated how academic excellence, personal stories and shared values of hope and solidarity shape the university's profile.

(More photos to follow)