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Institute of Jewish Studies
www.ucl.ac.uk/institute-jewish-studies
IJS AUTUMN 2020 ONLINE LECTURE SERIES
In honour of Professor Ada Rapoport-Albert
Co-sponsored by the Department of Russian and Slavic Studies, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Thursday, November 19th
5pm (UK time) / 7pm (Israel time)
Alexander Kulik
Locating Hebrew Rusia:
A Problem of Medieval Hebrew Nomenclature for Old Rus’
The study of Jewish presence in early Eastern Europe has been severely hindered by the ambiguity of medieval nomenclature for Old Rus'. Some scholars even went so far as to deny any connection between the medieval Hebrew term Rusi(’)a(h) (in its graphic variations) and the principalities of Rus’. The present lecture examines this term and others denoting Old Rus' in medieval Jewish tradition and traces their historical development. This helps to resolve a cardinal problem of attribution for the earliest sources attesting to a Jewish presence in Eastern Europe, but also reconstructs the history of an important Hebrew ethno-toponym. The lecture takes account of historical contexts, exegetic traditions, and political and confessional perceptions of Old Rus' on the part of medieval Jews from diverse communities spread across Europe and the Middle East.
Alexander Kulik is Associate Professor, Chair of the Department of Russian and Slavic Studies, and Grinberg Chair in Russian Stud-
ies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He has authored four books: Retroverting Slavonic Pseudepigrapha (two editions, 2004
and 2005), 3 Baruch: Greek-Slavonic Apocalypse of Baruch (2009), Biblical Pseudepigrapha in Slavonic Tradition (Oxford UP,
2016; with S. Minov), and Jews in Old Rus’: A Documentary History (Harvard UP for HURI, forthcoming) and edited seven vol-
umes, among them the collected volume History of the Jews in Russia: From Antiquity to Early Modern Period in the bilingual
series with Zalman Shazar Center (2010) and Gesharim (2010) and the Guide to Early Jewish Texts and Traditions in Christian
Transmission (editor-in-chief, with G. Boccaccini, L. DiTommaso, D. Hamidovic, and M. Stone; Oxford UP, 2019). He has founded
and headed the Brill book series Studia Judaeoslavica.
PRE-REGISTRATION FOR THIS LECTURE IS REQUIRED:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/125544002491
Those who have registered will receive a Zoom link shortly before the lecture