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Julia R. Lieberman, Ph.D.

Professor of Spanish and International Studies
Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures


Courses Taught

Repairing the World: Social Justice through the Lenses of the Jewish Tradition (English); Spanish Mysticism and Its Muslim and Jewish Predecessors (Spanish); Israeli Culture (English); Introduction to Hispanic Literature (Spanish); Sixteenth-Seventeenth Century Spanish Prose (Spanish); Spanish Jewry (Spanish); Spanish Written Communication (Spanish); Don Quixote (Spanish)

Education

Ph.D., Yale University, 1989
M.Phil, Yale University, 1987

Practice Areas

https://sites.google.com/a/slu.edu/lieberjr/courses-taught

Publications and Media Placements

Media

https://www.slu.edu/news/2020/april/lieberman-fulbright-scholar.php

Books


Charity in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Traditions, ed. Julia R. Lieberman and Michal Jan Rozbicki (Lanham, M.D.: Lexington Books, 2017).

Sephardi Family Life in the Early Modern Diaspora, ed. Julia R. Lieberman (Brandeis University Press, 2011).

Los estudios sefardíes para estudiantes de español, ed. Julia R. Lieberman (Asheville, N.C.: Pegasus Press, 2008).

El teatro alegórico religioso de Miguel (Daniel Leví) de Barrios (Newark, Delaware: Juan de la Cuesta-Hispanic Monographs, 1996

Essays

Few Wealthy and Many Poor: The London Sephardi Community in the Eighteenth-Century,” in Ler-História, 74 (2019): 41-61.

“Daily Life in Ottoman Jerusalem in the 1630s Through the Eyes of an International Worldly merchant,” in Jubilee Volume in Honor of Michael Studemund-Halévy, Vol. 1, ed. Harm den Boer et al (Barcelona: Tirocinio, 2018): 298-312.

"The Founding of the London Bet Holim Hospital in 1748 and the Secularization of 'Sedaca' in the Spanish and Portuguese Jewish Community in the Eighteenth Century," in Jewish Historical Studies: Transactions of the Jewish Historical Society of England, volume 49 (2018): 106-143.

"New Practices of Sedaca: Charity in London's Spanish and Portuguese Jewish Community during the 18th century," in Charity in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Traditions, ed. Julia R Lieberman and Michal Jan Rozbicki (Lanham, MD, 2017): 105-130.

“Adolescence and the Period of Apprenticeship among the Western Sephardim in the Seventeenth Century,” in El Prezente 4. Studies in Sephardic Culture. Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel (December 2010): 11-23.

“Recordando España y Portugal desde el exilio: Sermones sefardíes, 1629-1724,” in España: ¿Laberinto de exilios?, ed. Sandra Barriales-Bouche (Newark, Delaware: Juan de la Cuesta-Hispanic Monographs, 2005): 61-75.

“Mystical Metaphors in Sermons by Samuel Yahya,” in Aus den Quellen. Beitrage zur deutsch-judischen Geschichte. Festschrift für Ina Lorenz, ed. Andreas Bramer, Stephanie Schuler-Springorum, Michael Studemund-Halévy (Hamburg: Christians 2005): 121-129.

“Reconstructing the Past: How the Portuguese Jews Read Biblical Narratives,” in Proceedings of the 12th British Conference on Judeo-Spanish Studies (2001): Sephardic Language, Literature and History. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2004: 101-108.

“Sermons and the Construct of a Jewish Identity: The Hamburg Sephardic Community in the 1620s,” in Jewish Studies Quarterly, vol. 10 (2003): 49-72.


Encyclopedia Entry

“Western Migration Routes of Sephardi Jews.” Encyclopedia of the Jewish Diaspora. Origins, Experiences, and Cultures, vol. 1, ed. M. Avrum Ehrlich (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC Clio, 2009), 361-364.

Conference Papers

(Forthcoming) "Daily Life in Ottoman Jerusalem in the 1630s Through the Eyes of an International Wordly Merchant." Paper to be delivered at the International Conference: Objects of Desire: Sefardic Manuscripts from Hamburg, University of Hamburg, Germany, 12-13 February 2018

(Forthcoming) "From 'Men of the Nation' to 'those professing the Portuguese Jewish Religion': The London Shaar a Shamaim congregation in the Eighteenth Century." Paper to be presented at the "Workshop on Jewish Plurality: The Past and the Present of the Iberian Matrix." School of Arts and Humanities, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal, 21-22th June 2018.

"From Portuguese New Christian to New Jew in Jerusalem: The Last Years of Alfonso Enriques (alias David Senior)." Paper delivered at the 17th-World Congress of Jewish Studies, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, August 6-10, 2017

"A 'College Town' Embroiled in Ethnic Turmoil: Field Observations in Jerusalem 2015-2016. Paper delivered at the Association for Israel Studies - 33nd Annual Conference. Schusterman Center for Israel Studies Brandeis University, Waltham, MA June 12-14, 2017

"Letters from Jerusalem: The Daily Life of a 17th Century Portuguese Immigrant." Special Lecture delivered at Southern Connecticut State University Judaic Studies Program, New Haven, CT, March 6, 2017

"Jerusalem as a City of Many Faiths." Middle East Studies Annual Fall Faculty Lecture, Saint Louis University, on November 2, 2016

“From Iberia to London: The Bevis Marks Congregation in the Eighteenth Century.” Invited presentation delivered at Hispania Judaica, Center for the Study of Iberian Jewry at the Mandel Institute of Jewish Studies, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, February 22, 2016

“New Practices of Sedaca: Charity in London’s Spanish and Portuguese Jewish Community during the Eighteenth Century.” Paper delivered at the conference on Charity in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Traditions, Saint Louis University Center for Intercultural Studies, Saint Louis, MO, March 26-27, 2015

“Medieval Spain in Today’s World: A Panel Discussion on Cultural Exchanges between Muslims, Jews, and Christians.” Miami Theater Center, Miami, Floridad, May 6-7, 2014

“The Founding and Pedagogy of the Ets Haim (Tree of Life) Yesiba.” Paper delivered at the 46th Annual Conference of the Association for Jewish Studies, at the Hilton Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland, December 14-16, 2014

Charitable and Benevolent Institutions at the London Saar aSamaim Sephardi Community in the 18th Century.” Paper delivered at the 26th Annual Klutznick-Harris Symposium on Wealth and Poverty in the Jewish Tradition, Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska, October 27-28, 2013

“The London Saar aSamaim Community in the eighteenth Century and Its Poor.” Paper delivered at the 16th World Congress of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem, Israel, August 2013“

“Assisting the ‘industrious’ poor in the London Saar aSamaim Community in the Eighteenth Century. Paper delivered at the Association for Jewish Studies 44th Annual Conference, December 2012, Chicago, Illinois

“Israel Studies in a Jesuit University.” Paper presented as part of the panel “Teaching Israel Studies on the Periphery,” at the Annual Conference of the Association for Israel Studies,” Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, June 13-15, 2011

“Jewish Daily Life in Jerusalem in the 1630s.” Paper presented at “The 16th British Conference on Judeo-Spanish Studies,” Queen Mary University of London, UK, July 13-15-2010

"Sephardic Family Life After 1492: Between Christianity, Islam and Judaism." Paper delivered to the Study Group on Cross-Cultural History, Department of History, Saint Louis University, February 19, 2010 (by invitation)

“Entering the Guild of Commandment Observers: the Bar Mitzvah Celebration in Western Sephardi Communities in the Early Modern Period.” Paper delivered at the Association for Jewish Studies 41st Annual Conference, Los Angeles, CA, December 20-22, 2009

“Adolescence and the Period of Apprenticeship among the Western Sephardim in the 17th Century.” Paper delivered at the 15th World Congress of Jewish Studies, Jerusalem, Israel, August 2-6, 2009

“Sephardi Studies across the Curriculum.” Paper delivered at the Symposium on Jewish Spain,” Washington University in Saint Louis, February 27, 2009 (by invitation)

Book Reviews

“Sephardic Jews in America. A Diasporic History, by Aviva Ben-Ur. New York, NY, New York University Press, 2009.” In Shofar. An interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies, 31 (2012): 208-210.

“Joseph Pérez, History of a Tragedy. The Expulsion of the Jews from Spain, trans. Lysa Hockroth. Urbana/Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2007.” In Bulletin of Spanish Studies, 87 (2010): 254-255.

Honors and Awards

Teaching Award

Spring 2013, recipient of the 2013 Helen I. Mandeville Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching in the Humanities at Saint Louis University

Mentoring Awards

Finalist to the 2017 Undergraduate Mentoring Award of the College of Arts & Sciences

Finalist to the 2017 Graduate Mentoring Award of the College of Arts & Sciences

External Grants

September 30, 2015, March 30, 2016, Visiting Researcher, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, A Diaspora in Transition, Cultural and Religious Changes in Western Sephardi Communities in the Early Modern Period

April 19, 2015 invited to the workshop “The Teaching of Israel Though the Arts and Culture,” Brandeis University Schusterman Center for Israel studies,” Waltham, MA

May 7, 2014, invited to the “Panel Discussion: Medieval Spain in Today’s World,” Miami Theater Center, Coral Gables, Florida

April 27-28, 2014, Invited to the workshop “The Shoah in Israeli Culture, Memory and Politics,” Brandeis University Schusterman Center for Israel Studies,” Waltham, MA

October 27-28, 2013, invited to deliver the paper, “Charitable and Benevolent Institutions at the London Saar aSamaim Sephardi Community in the 18th Century”  at the 26th Annual Klutznick-Harris Symposium on Wealth and Poverty in the Jewish Tradition, Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska

February 17-18, 2013, Invited to the workshop “Zionism in the Twenty-First Century: Contemporary Perspectives from and about Israel,” Brandeis University Schusterman Center for Israel Studies, Waltham, MA

June 12-19, 2011, “Short-term Scholar-in-Residence at Hadassah Brandeis Institute,” Waltham, MA

Spring 2009, Grant from the American Library Association and Next Book to host for the second time the program “Let’s Talk About It: Jewish Literature”

Scholar-in-Residence at the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute, Waltham, MA, January-May 2008

Fall 2007, Grant from the American Library Association and Next Book to host the program “Let’s Talk About It: Jewish Literature.”  The program was hosted by Dr. Patricia Gregory, Librarian at Saint Louis University (Director of the Program) and Julia R. Lieberman (Project Scholar)

Summer 2006: Fellow at the Brandeis University Institute for Israeli Studies, in Waltham, MA, June 21-July 5, and Israel, July 6-July 14

Internal Grants

Summer 2017, Saint Louis University Mellon Faculty Development Grant” to participate at the 17th World Congress of Jewish Studies, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem Israel, August 6 to 10

Summer 2015, “Saint Louis University Mellon Faculty Development Grant” to do research at the London Metropolitan Archives, London UK

Summer 2014, “Saint Louis University Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies Grant” to do research at the Newberry Library in Chicago IL

Summer 2010, “Saint Louis University Mellon Development Fund” to do research in London, UK Spanish and Portuguese Sephardic Congregation


Professional Organizations and Associations

  • Member of the Association for Jewish Studies

  • Member of the Sephardi/Mizrahi Studies Caucus

  • Member of the Modern Language Association of America

  • Fellow at the Institute for Israel Studies, Brandeis University Schusterman Center