Dr. Naomi Feuchtwanger-Sarig

Project Coordinator
Dr. Naomi Feuchtwanger-Sarig
Jewish Art and Visual Culture Research Project
Goldstein-Goren Diaspora Research Center
Assistant Professor
Department of Art History
The Yolanda and David Katz Faculty of the Arts
Academic Studies
1976 B.A.: Jewish History, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva (magna
cum laude)
1979 Complementary courses in Art History, The Hebrew University of
Jerusalem
1983 M.A.: Art History, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (magna cum laude)
Thesis: “Late Sixth Century Metal Ampullae from Jerusalem”,
submitted to Prof. Bezalel Narkiss
2000 Ph.D.: Art History, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Dissertation: “Torah Binders from Denmark”, submitted to Prof. Bezalel
Narkiss
2005/6 Post-Doctorate: Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, University of Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia (U.S.A.): Ella Darivoff Fellowship for the 2005-2006
Academic Year: “The Jewish Book: Material Texts and Comparative
Contexts”
Current Professional Activities
2007-present Project Coordinator: Jewish Art and Visual Culture Research Project, The
Goldstein-Goren Diaspora Research Center, Tel Aviv University

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2007-present Department of Art History, The Yolanda and David Katz Faculty of the
Arts, Tel Aviv University
Previous Academic Employment in Israel
1977-1979 Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion, Jerusalem
1977-1979 Department of Jewish History, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer
Sheva
1984-1987 Department of Art History, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
1988-1992 Martin Buber Institute for Adult Education, The Hebrew University of
Jerusalem
1992-2005 Department of Jewish Art, Interdepartmental Division of Judaic Studies,
Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan
1998-2005 Department of Art History: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the
Central College for Teachers’ Training, Tel-Aviv
2004-2005 Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, Jerusalem
2004-2005 Department of History, Lander Institute for Jewish Studies (formerly
Touro College), Jerusalem
Visiting Faculty Abroad
1999 University of Copenhagen (Denmark), Carsten Niebuhr Institute
1999 University of Lund (Sweden), Faculty of Theology
2000 Jewish University, St. Petersburg (Russia), on behalf of the Center for Jewish
Art, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem
Keynote and Guest Lectures
1999 Gerhard Mercator-Universität Gesamthochschule Duisburg (Germany),
Fachbereich 1: Philosophie: Religionswissenschaft – Gesellschaftswissenschaften,
Fach: Jüdische Studien (Guest lecture): “Between the Pen and the Paintbrush:
Illuminated Hebrew Manuscripts in Dialogue”
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1999 Universität zu Köln (Germany), Kulturwissenschaftliches Forschungs-Kolleg
“Medien und kulturelle Kommunikation” (Guest lecture): “The Art of the Hebrew
Book”
1999 Annual Conference of the Scandinavian Association for Jewish Studies,
Stockholm (Sweden) (Keynote speaker): “Childbirth Rites in Ashkenaz: Denmark
as a Case-Study”
2000 Stern College for Women, Yeshiva University, New York (U.S.A.) (Guest
lecture): “Ashkenazi Wedding Customs in the Middle Ages and Early Modern
Period”
2002 Cleveland State University (Ohio U.S.A.), College of Arts and Sciences (Guest
Speaker, on the occasion of the publication of For Every Thing a Season:
Proceedings of the Symposium on Jewish Ritual Art): “The Uniqueness of the
Danish Torah Binders”
2004 University of Lund (Sweden), Faculty of Theology (Guest lecture): “Jewish Art as
a Historical Source”
2006 Haverford College (Pennsylvania, U.S.A.), Department of Religious Studies
(Guest lecture): “A Jewish-Christian Dialogue Viewed Through an Art-Historical
Prism: Bernard Picart as an Historian of Dutch Jewry”
2006 Princeton University (New Jersey, U.S.A.), Program in Judaic Studies (Guest
lecture): “Image, History and the Hebrew Book”
2007 Koblenz Universität (Germany), Institut für Kunstwissenschaft (Guest lecture):
“Einblick in die Bibel. Bilder zur Bibel und das Bilderverbot in der jüdischen
Kunst”
2007 Katholische Akademie Trier (Germany) (Guest lecutre, within the framework of
the exhibition Constantine the Great): “Religiöse Koexistenz an den Ufern von
Euphrat und Tigris: Eine kunsthistorische Betrachtung am Beispiel der
Sakralbauten in Dura Europos”
2007 Jüdisches Museum München, Von Bayern nach Eretz Israel – Auf den Spuren
jüdischer Volkskunst (Inaugural lecture on the opening of the exhibition by the
same name, 10.7.2007): “Mein Herz ist im Osten, meine Seele ist im Westen: Das
Leben eines jüdisch-bayrisch-israelischen Sammlers jüdischer Kunst”
Appointed Projects and Visiting Scholar Abroad
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1993 Dansk Kunstindustri Museum (Museum of Decorative Art), Copenhagen
(Denmark): Study of the corpus of Danish Torah Binders
2001-2004 Joods Historisch Museum (Jewish Historical Museum), Amsterdam (The
Netherlands): Typology of Dutch Jewish Art
2002 The Jewish Museum, New York (U.S.A.): Study of the collection of Torah
Binders
2005-2006 Jüdisches Museum Frankfurt (Jewish Museum), Frankfurt am Main
(Germany): Catalogue of Jewish ceremonial objects
2006-2007 Assistant Editor: Jewish Art and Visual Culture Section, Center for Online
Museological Expertise
Judaic Studies (COJS), New York
1976-1977 Assistant Curator, Judaica Department: The Israel Museum,
Jerusalem
1987 Exhibition Curator. “Books on Jerusalem”: The 13th International
Book Fair, Jerusalem
1988 Exhibition Curator, “Sie werden lernen von deinen Worten”:
Herzog August-Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel (Germany)
1988 Exhibition Curator, “Jüdische Scherenschnitte von Archie Granot”:
Braunschweigisches Landesmuseum, Braunschweig (Germany)
(Co-Curator: Wilfried Knauer)
1990-1992 Curator and Administrative Director: The U. Nahon Museum of
Italian Jewish Art, Jerusalem
1994, 1997, 2001 Member, Exhibition Committee, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan
Fields of Research
Interrelations Between Art, Material Culture, and Custom (Minhag)
Interrelations Between Jewish and Christian Art
The Illustrated Hebrew (and Yiddish) Book: Manuscripts and Printed Books
Art, Culture and Custom of the Jews in the Germanic Lands
Art, Culture and Custom of the Jews in the Netherlands
Art, Culture and Custom of the Jews in Italy
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Sephardim and Ashkenazim in Europe
History of Jewish Museology
Synagogue Architecture
The Rebirth of Jewish Art in Eretz-Israel
Jewish Responses to Enlightenment and Emancipation
Academic Lectures and Papers in Conferences
1980
1981
1981
1983
1983
1985
1986
1986
1987
1987
1988
1988
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Society for Jewish Art, Jerusalem, 12 th Annual Conference: “The Sephardi
Synagogue in the Netherlands, England and the Americas”
Society for Jewish Art, Jerusalem, 13 th Annual Conference: “The Development of
the Illustrations in Printed Haggadot”
Yad Yizhak Ben-Zvi, Jerusalem: The Metalcraft of Oriental Jews: “A Unique
Yemenite Niello Bracelet”
Society for Jewish Art, Jerusalem, 15 th Annual Conference: “Jerusalem Above my
Chief Joy: 19 th Century Mementos from Jerusalem”
Yad Yizhak Ben-Zvi, Jerusalem: Eretz Israel in the Byzantine Period: “Pilgrims’
Metal Ampullae from Jerusalem: A Chapter in Christian Pilgrimage”
World Union of Jewish Studies, Jerusalem, 9 th World Congress of Jewish
Studies: “Interrelations Between the Jewish and Christian Marriage in Medieval
Ashkenaz”
Yad Yizhak Ben-Zvi, Jerusalem: King David – Figure and Symbol: “The Image of
King David in Jewish Art”
Society for Jewish Art, Jerusalem, 18 th Annual Conference: “Crowns for the
Virgin and the Bride”
Society for Jewish Art, Jerusalem, 19 th Annual Conference: “Vision and Reality in
Jerusalem of Fischach”
Herzog August-Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel (Germany): Changing Forms of Visual
Poetry: “Micrography: Scribal Art in Hebrew Manuscripts”
Society for Jewish Art, Jerusalem, 20 th Annual Conference: “General and Local
Minhag”
Center for Jewish Art, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Second
International Seminar on Jewish Art: “Originality and Plagiarism in the Printed
Book”.
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1989
1989
1991
1992
1993
1994
1994
1995
1996
1996
1997
1998
1998
1998
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World Union of Jewish Studies, Jerusalem, 10 th World Congress of Jewish
Studies: “The Zodiac Signs and the Labors of the Months in the Minhagim of
Venice, 1593”
The Israel Museum, Jerusalem: 25 th Memorial Anniversary of Dr. Heinrich
Feuchtwanger: “Jewish Art in Franconia: The Painted Sukkah from Fischach”
Oxford University (United Kingdom), Oxford Centre for Postgraduate Hebrew
Studies, International Conference on Yiddish Language and Literature: “Minhagim
Illustrations – Sacred and Secular”
Society for Jewish Art, Jerusalem, 25 th Annual Conference: “The Tradition of the
Torah Binders”
Holy Land: International Congress for Folklore and Culture, Nazareth: “The
Torah Binder: A Re-Evaluation”.
Society for Jewish Art, Jerusalem, 27 th Annual Conference: Ecology and
Environmental Protection in Jewish and Israeli Art: “Back to Life: Jewish Genizot
from Germany”
European Association for Jewish Studies, 5 th Congress, Copenhagen (Denmark):
“Torah Binders from Denmark: Preliminary Report”.
Institute of Jewish Art, Department of Interdisciplinary Jewish Studies, Bar-
Ilan University, Ramat-Gan: 1 st Conference on Jewish Art: “Minhag within a
Minhag: Torah Binders from Denmark”
Institute of Jewish Art, Department of Interdisciplinary Jewish Studies, Bar-
Ilan University, Ramat-Gan: 2 nd Conference on Jewish Art: “Crowns on David’s
Head”
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, International Conference in Honor of
Bezalel Narkiss’ 70 th Birthday: “King David, One Harp and Three and Four
Crowns”
Institute of Jewish Art, Department of Interdisciplinary Jewish Studies, Bar-
Ilan University, Ramat-Gan: 3 rd Conference on Jewish Art: “Messiah Between
‘Shefokh’ and Rebuilt Jerusalem”
Emunah College, Jerusalem: The Annual Conference on the Design of the Hebrew
Letter: “Hebrew Micrography as Art”
European Association for Jewish Studies, 6 th Congress, Toledo (Spain): “Seating
Elijah the Prophet and the Godfather at the Circumcision”.
The 17th Inter-University Conference on Jewish Folklore in Israel: One
Hundred Years of Studies of Jewish Folklore: Nationalism, Ethnicity, Pluralism:
“High Art, Folk Art and Decorative Art: Reflections Towards a New Definition”
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1988
1998
1999
1999
1999
2000
2000
2000
2000
2000
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Association for Jewish Studies, 30 th Annual Conference, Boston (U.S.A.):
“The Jewish Woman and Her Minhagim”
The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Jewish Life in Ashkenaz: A Collector’s
Perspective. An Homage to Dr. Heinrich Feuchtwanger on the 100 th Anniversary of
his Birth: “The Angel of the Covenant: Elijah’s Chair and Customs of Circumcision
Among Ashkenazi Jews”
Menasseh ben Israel Institute for Jewish Social and Cultural Studies and the
Joods Historisch Museum, Amsterdam (The Netherlands), (Re)Presenting Dutch
Jewish Ceremonial Art: “Linking the Past to the Future: A Centenary of
Documenting Jewish Art”
Hochschule für Jüdische Studien in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Internationalen
Wissenschaftsforum der Universität Heidelberg, Heidelberg (Germany),
Internationales Symposion: Schöpferische Momente des Europäischen Judentums
16.-18. Jahrhundert: “How Italian are the Venice Minhagim of 1593?”
Center for Jewish Art, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mordechai Narkiss
Annual Memorial Lecture and Prize Award: “Tradition and National Identity in
Danish Torah Binders”
Tel-Aviv University, The Annual Conference of the Forum for Women’s Studies:
Women and Society in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance: “Interpreting the
Images of Women in Sefer haMinhagim”
Society for Jewish Art, Jerusalem, 32 nd Annual Conference: “Appeasing the
Demons in Commemoration of the Destruction of the Temple”
The Open University, Institute for History, Philosophy and Judaism: Reality,
Image and Imagination: The Middle Ages in Art, Scholarship and Film: “Crowns for
Virgins and for Brides – Images in Medieval Art”
Cleveland State University, Cleveland (Ohio, U.S.A.): International Symposium
on Jewish Ritual Art (in conjunction with the exhibition For Everything a Season:
Jewish Ritual Art in Cleveland): “Danish Torah Binders: Traditionalism and
Uniqueness”
Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, The Faculty of Jewish Studies, Department of
Jewish History, International Conference, dedicated to Prof. Eric Zimmer: Rule and
Rite in Ashkenaz: “The Godfather and Elijah the Prophet: The Chairs for
Circumcision in Ashkenaz”
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2001
2001
2001
2002
2002
2002
2003
2003
2004
2005
2005
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Tel-Aviv University, The Yolanda and David Katz Faculty of the Arts: Faculty
Conference: Art and Craftsmanship – Affinity and Boundaries: “Academic Artists,
Manuscript Illuminators and Workshops for Folk-Art: Jewish Art in Denmark as a
Test-Case”
University of Leeds, Leeds (U.K.): International Medieval Congress: “Educating
the Lay? Children and Women in Sefer haMinhagim from Venice”
World Union of Jewish Studies, Jerusalem, 13 th World Congress of Jewish
Studies: “May he Grow to the Torah: A Rite of Passage Depicted on Cloth”
Institute of Jewish Art, Department of Interdisciplinary Jewish Studies, Bar-
Ilan University, Ramat-Gan: The 4 th Conference on Jewish Art: Painting the
Words: The Verbal and the Visual in Jewish Art: “In Word and Image: Interrelations
Between Reality, Literature and Visual Art”
European Association for Jewish Studies, 7 th Congress, Amsterdam (The
Netherlands): Jewish Studies and the European Academic World: “Bernard Picart:
Text, Image and Material Culture”
Lehrstuhr für Jiddistik, Universität Trier & Lehrstuhl für Jiddische Kultur,
Sprache und Literatur, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf (Germany): V.
Symposium für Jiddische Studien in Deutschland: “Gender im Sefer haMinhagim
(Venedig 1593 und 1601) – zum Verhältnis von Text und Bild”
Tel-Aviv University, The Yolanda and David Katz Faculty of the Arts: Motar
Conference: The Journey and its Representations in the Arts: “A Journey in Black
Onto Death: Rite and Ritual Among the Spanish and Portuguese Communities”
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Dinur Center for the History of the
Jewish People, Center for the History of Dutch Jewry: The Tenth International
Symposium on the History of the Jews in the Netherlands: Colloquium for the Study
of Dutch Jewry: “Mourning in Black: Funerary Customs of the Portuguese Jews”
Society for Jewish Art, Jerusalem, 36 th Annual Conference: The Jew and the
Other: “The Engravings of Bernard Picart as a Mirror of Jewish Life in Amsterdam
in the 18 th Century”
First International Conference of the SIEF Working Group, in association with
the University of Malta Junior College, Msida (Malta): The Ritual Year: “The
Sabbath in a Jewish Home in Germany in the Early Modern Period”
Institute of Jewish Art, Department of Interdisciplinary Jewish Studies, Bar-
Ilan University, Ramat-Gan: Colloquium marking the inauguration of Ars Judaica,
The Michael J. Floersheim Memorial for Jewish Art: “A Key to the Sabbath: Rite
and Ritual of the Jews in Southern Germany in the Late 16 th Century”
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2005
2006
2007
2007
2007
2008
2008
2008
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Association for Jewish Studies, 37 th Annual Conference, Washington, D.C.
(U.S.A), “‘Behold, to Us a Child is Born’: Late-Sixteenth-Century Depictions of
Childbirth Rituals in Southern Germany (Nürnberg, Germanisches
Nationalmuseum, Bibliothek, 8 0 Hs. 7058)”
Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
(U.S.A), Twelfth Annual Gruss Colloquium in Judaic Studies: The Jewish Book:
Material Texts & Comparative Contexts: “Image, Custom and Text in the Passover
Haggadah: A Trialogue”
Lander Institute for Jewish Research, Jerusalem: “Mifgashim” Colloquium:
“‘Handnote’: History and Development of the Torah Pointer”
Hochschule für jüdische Studien in collaboration with the Internationales
Wissenschaftsforum, Heidelberg (Germany): Jüdische Sammler und ihr Beitrag
zur abendländischen Kultur der Neuzeit (Patronage and Collecting, a Tribute to
Western Culture. Jewish Patronage and Modernism, “From Munich to Jerusalem:
Dr. Heinrich Feuchtwanger’s Salvation, Vision and Passion of Jewish Art”
Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Deutsche Forschung Gemeinschaft
and the Historisch-kulturwissenschaftlichen Forschungszentrum, Mainz
(Germany), Genizat Germania: “Images Tell a Tale: Artwork in Service of
Context”
Tel Aviv University, Goldstein-Goren Diaspora Research Center, Jewish Art in
Context: The Role and Meaning of Artifacts and Visual Images: “Perils of Birth: A
Study of Folk Belief in Ashkenaz in the Early Modern Period”
The 27 th Inter-University Conference on Jewish Folklore in Israel: Passages –
New Observations: 75 Years Anniversary of the Immigration of Raphael Patai to
Jerusalem: “The Fish that Replaces the Hare: Parents’ Blessing of their Offspring in
Jewish Art of the Early Modern Period”
University of Bucharest, Faculty of Letters, The Goldstein-Goren Center for
Hebrew Studies, The Second “Goldstein Goren Conference”: The Language of
Jewish Culture: Between Hebrew and the Vernacular: “From Mnemonic Hebrew to
Medieval German in Late Medieval and Early Modern Illuminated Manuscripts”
Professional Honors, Awards and Fellowships
1974 Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva: Prize for Academic
Excellence
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1977 Center for Jewish Art, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem: Mordechai
Narkiss Memorial Prize for Jewish Art
1980 The Hebrew University of Jerusalem: Misgav Yerushalayim Prize for the
Research of Oriental Jewry: Research Prize
1985-1986 Center for Jewish Art, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem: Doctoral
Students’ Research Scholarship
1987 Herzog August-Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel (Germany): Research Grant
1987-1990 Friedrich Naumann-Stiftung, Berlin (Germany): Research Grant
1988-1989 Robert and Clarice Smith Foundation, The Hebrew University of
Jerusalem: Doctoral Students’ Research Scholarship
1991-1992 Franz Rosenzweig Research Center for German Jewish Literature and
Cultural History, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem: Doctoral
Students’ Research Grant
1992 The Hebrew University of Jerusalem: Doctoral Students’ Travel Grant
1993 Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, New York (U.S.A.):
Scholarship
1993 The Danish Ministry of Culture and the Israeli Ministry of Foreign
Affairs: Research Grant
1999 Josef & Régine Nachemsohn Foundation, Copenhagen (Denmark):
Research Grant
1999 Center for Jewish Art, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem: Mordechai
Narkiss Memorial Prize for Jewish Art
2001 Jüdisches Museum, Berlin (Germany): Invitation to the Inauguration
(Guest of the German Federal Republic)
2004 Dansk Jodisk Museum, Copenhagen (Denmark): Invitation to the
Inauguration (Guest of the Dansk Jodisk Museum, the Mosaiske
Troessumfund, and the Dansk Kunstinudustri Museum, Copenhagen)
2005/6 Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, University of Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia (U.S.A.): Ella Darivoff Fellowship for the 2005-2006
Academic Year, “The Jewish Book: Material Texts and Comparative
Contexts”
Language Proficiencies
Mother Tongue: Hebrew
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Fluent: English, German
Reading Ability: French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, Yiddish
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Membership in Professional Associations
AJS: Association for Jewish Studies
EAJS: European Association for Jewish Studies
ICOM: International Council of Museums
SIEF: Société Internationale d'Ethnologie et de Folklore
World Union of Jewish Studies
The Israeli Historical Society
Society for Jewish Art
Coordination of Conferences and Administrative Expertise
1985 Center for Jewish Art, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem: The First
International Seminar on Jewish Art: Coordinator
1995 Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Department of Jewish Art: First
Conference on Jewish Art: Academic Coordinator
1996 Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Department of Jewish Art: Second
Conference on Jewish Art: Academic Coordinator
1997 Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Department of Jewish Art: Third
Conference on Jewish Art: Academic Coordinator
2001 Society for Jewish Art, Jerusalem: The 32 nd Annual Conference of the
Society for Jewish Art, Jerusalem, “Music in Jewish Art”: Academic
Coordinator
2002 Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Department of Jewish Art: Fourth
Conference on Jewish Art: Academic Coordinator
2007/8 Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Jewish Art and Visual Culture Research
Project, The Goldstein-Goren Diaspora Research Center: International
Conference “Jewish Art in Context: The Role and Meaning of Artifacts and
Visual Images”: Academic and Administrative Coordinator
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