Jews as Citizens of the World with Dr. David Kraemer

Jews as Citizens of the World with Dr. David Kraemer

Wednesday, November 19, 2025
6:00 p.m.
Grolier Club 
47 E 60th St.
New York, NY 10022

Join Professor David Kraemer for a special lecture on our Library exhibition, Jewish Worlds Illuminated: A Treasury of Hebrew Manuscripts from The JTS Library. Professor David Kraemer will explore what the books produced by Jewish communities through the ages teach us about their experiences in various diasporas. 

Jews have lived in homes around the world from antiquity to the present. What do the books they produced and what they said in those books teach us about the Jewish diaspora experience? in this lecture, David Kraemer will consider the evidence preserved in the JTS library’s treasures, on display, as well as testimonies from Jews in their various homes. The picture that emerges is a far richer, more affirmative one than we might guess. 

David Kraemer is Joseph J. and Dora Abbell Librarian at The Jewish Theological Seminary, where he also serves as professor of Talmud and Rabbinics. His most recent book is Embracing Exile: The Case for Jewish Diaspora (Oxford, 2025). 

Jewish Worlds Illuminated features 100 manuscripts and books offering a world tour of Jewish literary creativity across many centuries and thousands of miles. The exhibition explores the diversity of cultures in the lands in which Jews resided, including Egypt, the Ottoman Empire, Yemen, Iraq and Iran, Italy, France, Spain, and Germany.

Learn more about the exhibition.