Join us for the inaugural lecture by the Simon and Riva Spatz Chair in Jewish Studies, Eva Mroczek, PhD, titled The Myth of the Lost Torah.

The decline or loss of a once-powerful tradition is a common modern complaint. But surprisingly, the idea that the Torah – Jewish Scripture – keeps getting lost or destroyed has been a key theme in Jewish thought for many centuries. In ancient and medieval texts, the Torah is bound up with loss, whether by fire, flood, or political disaster. What does it mean for Jewish tradition that sacred texts are so often described as missing, drowned, or burned? And what do Jewish tales of the lost Torah have to say about how to live in the midst of loss and catastrophe today?

About the speaker

Dr. Eva Mroczek is the incoming Simon and Riva Spatz Chair in Jewish Studies at Dalhousie University, an appointment she will take up in July 2024 in the Department of Classics and its Program in Religious Studies. Dr. Mroczek is currently the Director of the Jewish Studies Program at the University of California, Davis. Her research stands at the intersection of early Jewish literary cultures and Book History. Her first book, The Literary Imagination in Jewish Antiquity (Oxford UP 2016), won the 2017 De Long Book History Prize, the 2017 Manfred Lautenschlaeger Prize for Theological Promise, and was a finalist for the 2018 Association of Jewish Studies Jordan Schnitzer Book Prize.

The Spatz Chair in Jewish Studies

The Spatz Chair in Jewish Studies is a Research Chair established to bring a distinguished scholar to Halifax to share their expertise with students and faculty at Dalhousie University, with the closely-affiliated University of King’s College, and with members of the broader Halifax community; to lead new initiatives in the field of Jewish Studies at Dalhousie and beyond; and to foster excellence in research, teaching, and outreach in the field of Jewish Studies. Dr. Eva Mroczek will be the first Spatz Chair since the position became an ongoing, tenured appointment.