The Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies is among the organizers of “An End to Anti-Semitism!”—a week-long conference in Vienna, Austria that will discuss and seek ways to combat anti-Semitism on a global scale.
NYU’s Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies is among the organizers of “An End to Anti-Semitism!”—a week-long conference in Vienna, Austria that will discuss and seek ways to combat anti-Semitism on a global scale.
The event, hosted by the University of Vienna from Feb. 18 through Feb. 22, will include French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy as well as Alexander Van der Bellen, the federal president of the Republic of Austria, Moshe Kantor, president of the European Jewish Congress, and Michael Häupl, the mayor of Vienna.
Conference organizers will develop a catalogue of policies and practices geared to effectively fight against and prevent anti-Semitism around the globe, then distribute it to politicians, religious dignitaries, journalists, legal professionals, and other decision makers.
Organized by Lawrence Schiffman, a professor in NYU’s Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies, along with the University of Vienna, the European Jewish Congress, and Tel Aviv University, the conference will draw 150 speakers from the U.S. and Canada, Israel and Latin America, Australia and Europe—with NYU faculty Robert Chazan and Gennady Estraikh among them.
Also among those addressing the conference are: Katharina von Schnurbein (European Coordinator on Combating Anti-Semitism); Nathan Sharansky (Chairman of the Jewish Agency); Andrew Baker (American Jewish Committee and Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe); Irwin Cotler (former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada), Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa (Apostolic Administrator of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem); Imam Hassen Chalgoumi (President of the Conférence des Imams de France); Rabbi Abraham Skorka (Rector of the Seminario Rabínico Latinoamericano); and Bishop Michael Bünker (Bishop of the Protestant-Lutheran Church in Austria).
With backing from NYU’s Global Research Initiative, “An End to Anti-Semitism!” will be composed of 16 panels to address the history of anti-Semitism, from antiquity to modern times, and analyze its manifestations in Christianity and Islam from a variety of scholarly perspectives, such as psychology, sociology, pedagogy and media studies.
Journalists wishing to register for the conference and to arrange interviews with its speakers should contact Milli Segal at info@millisegal.at.