Historians of the Jews and the Making of Plague Memory

This is the second conversation between professor Joshua Teplitsky and professor Magda Teter on disease and plagues in Jewish history and memory. During this installment Teplitsky and Teter will discuss the role historians have played in shaping public memory of the plagues. They will examine the role premodern chroniclers played in defining “facts” and the way modern historians have approached the topic from the earliest days of modern historiography in the nineteenth century to more recent works.

Joshua Teplitsky, Ph.D., teaches Jewish history at SUNY Stony Brook. He is the author of Prince of the Press: How One Collector Built History’s Most Enduring and Remarkable Jewish Library, which was a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award. He is also the author of dozens of articles in academic journals and popular venues. Teplitsky received many prestigious fellowships. He is currently a Harry Starr Fellow at Harvard University, working on a book about Jews and plagues in premodern Europe.

Magda Teter, Ph.D., is a professor of history and the Shvidler Chair in Judaic Studies at Fordham University. She is the author of Blood Libel: On the Trail of an Antisemitic Myth, Sinners on Trial: Jews and Sacrilege After the Reformation, and Jews and Heretics in Catholic Poland. She has published numerous articles in English, Hebrew, Italian, and Polish. Her research has been supported by the John Simon Guggenheim and Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundations,the Yad Ha-Nadiv Foundation, Harvard University, and the NYPL’s Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers, among others.

All Fordham events in Jewish Studies are free.

The Zoom link will be sent 1-2 days prior to the event to all registered participants.