Scientific Organizing Committee:

• Prof. Dr. Liliana Ruth Feierstein ( HU Berlin)
• Prof. Dr. Galili Shahar ( Tel Aviv University)

Background:

Abraham, the biblical/Quranic protagonist and his Sons, Ishmael und Isaac, are associated with mighty tales of sacrifice and rescue. The binding (aqedah/aqīdah) of Abraham’s sons is a major notion in the Jewish and Muslim traditions, yet it already a well-known subject of literary, philosophical, and artistic interventions. Different versions of the tales – adaptations, additions and corrections – are found in the Talmud, in Midrash (Rabba and Tanchuma) and (in the) Tafsīr, in liturgical poetry (both of Ashkenaz and of Andalusian origins), in modern literature (Søren Kierkegaard, Franz Kafka, Samuel Joseph Agnon, Ghassan Kanafani) and in contemporary theory (Erich Auerbach/Edward Said, Jacques Derrida, Emmanuel Levinas), all of which aiming to save the sons. These writings address the dialectics of sacrifice and salvation, the concept of tradition (masoret/taqlid), ethical judgment, the issues of divine violence and human justice, while discussing the narrations of the aqedah, often associated with gender criticism.

The workshop seeks to introduce and to discuss anew major texts from the biblical and Quranic sources, via Midrash and Tafsīr, to contemporary literary compositions, addressing the bindings of Abraham’s sons as a method of learning and of being-together (chavrutha). The framework of the workshop is comparative, dealing with both Jewish and Muslim sources, Hebrew and Arabic scriptures and texts, while reflecting European and German(-Jewish) perspectives of the aqedah/aqīdah (the binding/sacrifice of the sons, the act of belief).The workshop rephrases the question of saving Abraham’s sons, while exploring how could study itself, efforts of re-interpretations, conversation and dialogical forms of learning create an ethical intervention, a and a renewal of Jewish-Arab scholarship. The workshop will host senior and young researchers from Israel and Germany, scholars of Jewish studies, Islam, Hebrew and Arabic literature, to engage together these tasks of research.
The workshop is planned to include two major parts – the first one on Genealogies (on sacrifice and rescue in Jewish and Muslim traditions), the second one on Interventions (contemporary literary and theoretical perspectives of the aqedah/aqīdah), addressing writings on prophesy, sacrifice, and ethical judgment.

The workshop’s method is based on (short, selective) readings of primal sources and discussions led by senior and young scholars. Every session is designed around a major topic, addressing the dialectic of sacrifice and methods of rescue.