Western Esotericism, Past and Present

The Sixth Annual Conference of the Israeli Network

for the Academic Study of Western Esotericism

2-3 June, Beit ha-student, 1st Floor, Room 107

Reception 10:00-10:30

Session I 10:30-11:30

Welcome & Opening Lecture: Yossi Chajes & Boaz Huss

1. Egil Asprem: Reassessing the 'Sociology of the Occult': The Role of Deviance and 'Rejected Knowledge' in

Socio-Historical Explanations of ‘Esotericism'

Session II 11:40-13:00

Chair: Yuval Harari

2. Ayelet Even Ezra: Dominicans and the Scientific Explanation of Demonic Illusions - Roland

3. Yossi Schwartz: Dominicans and the Scientific Explanation of Demonic Illusions - Albertus

Lunch 13:00-14:00

Session II 14:00-15:30

Chair: Maoz Kahana

4. Theodor Dunkelgrün: Critical Edition as Practical Kabbalah: the Biblia Hebraica Accuratissima (Amsterdam, 1666-67)

5. Raz Chen: Reforming Astrology in Early Modern Europe

Coffee Break 15:30-15:45

Special Session 15:45-16:45

“Beit Midrash: Reading Sefer Yezira” — Informal, introductory group study, facilitated by Josh Lauffer

Session III 16:45-18:30

Chair & Respondent: Yossi Schwartz

6. Ronit Meroz - Sefer Yezira as anti-Christian Polemic

DINNER 18:30-20:00 on the Deck

Friday 3 June

Chair: Jonatan Meir

8. Assaf Tamari: Safed as Periphery: Re-viewing the Innovative Nature of the Sixteenth-Century Renaissance in Safed

9. Elke Morlok: “Like Diamonds in the Sky”: Satanow on Light, Sefirotic Colors and the Occult

Coffee Break 10:30-10:45

Session V 10:45-12:15

Chair: Julie Chajes

10. Shinichi Yamamoto: Japanese Zionism: Sakai Shogun's Mystical Visions and Common Ancestry Theory

11. Andrea Gondos: The Representation of the Occult in a Post-Holocaust Hungarian Novel: Maria Szepes and The Red Lion

Thursday 2 June

Lunch-to-go!

Session IV 9:00-10:30

7. Tzahi Weiss - Sefer Yezira and early Islam: A Re-evaluation

Evening Entertainment

Kabbalistic Scroll (fragment), Courtesy of Gross Family Collection Trust