The Real Lives of Jews in the Traditional World

Dr. David Kraemer
By :  David C. Kraemer Joseph J. and Dora Abbell Librarian and Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics Posted On Nov 23, 2020

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The Real Lives of Jews in the Traditional World: Surprises from the Special Collections of the JTS Library

Many of us know the “official version” of the lives of Jews through the ages, according to which Jews were pious and thoroughly immersed in Jewish life—a life apart. But many of the rare materials in the JTS Library offer a different picture, according to which Jews lived in the world with their neighbors, experiencing life first as human beings and then as Jews. Dr. David Kraemer shares evidence from the Library’s great collections, surprising and even shocking you with a corrective to commonly repeated historical “truths.”

This program was hosted by Adath Israel, Merion Station, PA.