Yeshiva University Center for Israel Studies

Yeshiva University reflects the longstanding relationship between Yeshiva University and the land and State of Israel .¹ The Center nurtures excellence in interdisciplinary scholarship and the teaching of Israel throughout history and across disciplines, with a keen focus upon the modern state.² It supports research, conferences, publications, museum exhibitions, public programs and educational opportunities that enhance awareness and study of Israel in all of its complexities. In our short history, we have already become a national and an international forum for engagement of the political, social, scientific, economic, historical, religious and cultural significance of Israel in the world community. Steven Fine , PhD, Professor of Jewish History, is the Director of the Center for Israel Studies at Yeshiva University.³ Jess Olson Assistant Professor of Jewish History, is Associate Director of the CIS Conferences and Symposia International conferences and symposia that bring together renowned scholars with YU faculty and students are the core of Center for Israel Studies' activities. VIP reception at the Indian consulate, associated exhibition on the Jews of India at YU Museum. Zionism on the Jewish Street: Geography and Nationalism at the Turn of the 20th Century . Organizers: Steven Fine (Jewish History), Aaron Koller (Bible). Torah and Science Conference . Hosted at the YU Israel campus, 2010. Exhibitions Exhibitions are another way of bringing YU scholarship to a wide audience. The CIS has co-sponsored a wide array of Yeshiva University Museum exhibitions and is involved in outside projects at major New York institutions: Publications The CIS is dedicated to disseminating the knowledge cultivated by our affiliated faculty, conferences and programming Steven Fine, ed, The Temple of Jerusalem: From Moses to the Messiah, Studies in Honor of Louis H. Articles were edited by a team of YC, Stern and Revel students. Steven Fine and Shai Secunda eds. Jess Olson, ed., Zionism on the Jewish Street, Geography and Nationalism at the Turn of the 20th Century. The Museum of Biblical Art (MOBIA), New York, NY. Curators: Rhoda Seidenberg (YU Museum), Steven Fine (Jewish History). In conjunction with CIS conference, Israel and India: A Relationship Comes of Age. The Arch of Titus in Rome commemorates the Emperor Titus’ victory in the Jewish War (66-73 CE). This iconic monument contains bas reliefs of Titus’ triumphal procession through Rome, including a depiction of the seven-branched menorah from the Jerusalem Temple. Long significant for Christian art, this menorah is the symbol of modern Israel. Like the other reliefs on the Arch, the original colors of the menorah relief are no longer visible. New conservation techniques have been successfully recovered traces of the original colors on ancient monuments. We will apply these to the study of the Arch: Noninvasive UV-VIS Absorption Spectrometry will be employed to it for the first time to capture traces of pigments on the relief, and 3D scanning will be used for the first time to capture the geometric detail of the relief. We hope to create the first reconstruction of the polychromy of the relief using the new digital tools for painting and displaying 3D models. The results may transform our understanding of the Arch of Titus, especially the menorah panel, whose original coloration is unknown. Significance Recent scholarship has focused on the significance of polychromy in classical art and architecture. This will be the first study to restore the color on a monument from the Flavian period. This project also has the potential to give us our first glimpse of the colors used to decorate the sacred vessels of the Jerusalem Temple. Given the importance of the Arch of Titus as a Flavian Roman monument and of Temple and its menorah in Judaism and Christianity, our project may transform the way we visualize and conceptualize Roman state architecture as well as the central monument of ancient Judaism, the Jerusalem Temple. The final results of the project will be made available at no cost on the project’s Web site and in a printed scholarly publication, and will also be presented at a scholarly conference. The findings will also be integrated into the 3D digital model of the Arch in Rome Reborn: A Digital Model of Ancient Rome. Participants An international team of art historians, conservators and historians will be assembled to study the reliefs of the Arch of Titus in all of their complexity. A technology team headed by co-director Bernard Frischer will focus on the technical retrieval of evidence of polychromy, scanning of the reliefs and 3D digital modeling of the Arch. A team led by co-director Peter Schertz will focus on the Roman context of the Arch, including the topographical, artistic and political issues that naturally arise in any study of the monument. Director Steven Fine will oversee the entire project and lead a team dedicated to the interpretation of the Arch within Jewish and Christian contexts, from antiquity to the present. Schiffman, Yeshiva University William Stenhouse, Yeshiva University Faculty Working Groups Faculty Working Groups bring together faculty in a wide range of disciplines to serve as think tanks and to create community, leading to publication projects, academic and public programming. These groups, drawn together across our campuses, are increasingly taking the lead in the development of CIS programming. Current active groups include: History of Zionism in Israel Chair: Jess Olson (Jewish History). The Nathan And Solomon Birnbaum Family Archive Ronald Zwieg, NYU, The Palestinian Refugee Issue in American-Israeli Relations till 1967 Derek Penselar, University of Toronto, The Jewish Origins of the Israeli Army International Conference: Zionism on the Jewish Street: Geography and Nationalism at the Turn of the 20th Century. The Hebrew Alphabet in Jewish and Israeli Art. Science in Israel Chair: Carl Feit (Biology). Hosted at the YUI campus, 2010.⁴