Dal Events

TALK: Muslim and Jew: A Love Story

Sun, 26 Oct 2025 20:30:00 GMT

Muslim and Jew: A Love Story

Jews and Muslims share rich traditions of love poetry; in intense, often erotic language, poets and lovers have expressed desire and longing for other humans and even God. These traditions did not emerge separately, but in intimate dialogue over centuries of cultural exchange. In this talk, two scholar-practitioners of Judaism and Islam will illuminate each tradition's profound expressions of the love divine. Join us as we tell a shared Jewish-Muslim love story - that we hope will inspire renewed relationships today.

Sunday, October 26, 5:30 pm

Speakers

Prof. Syed Adnan Hussain
Chair, Department of Religious Studies
St. Mary’s University

Prof. Eva Mroczek
Simon and Riva Spatz Chair in Jewish Studies
��ɫֱ��

TALK: Chaya Halberstam

Tue, 04 Nov 2025 21:30:00 GMT

"Jewish Legal Thought: Beyond the Rule of Law"

Please join us for a lecture by Dr. Chaya Halberstam, Professor of Hebrew Bible and Judaism, Department of Religious Studies, King’s University College at the University of Western Ontario.

Location: Classics Library, room 1184, Marion McCain Building, ��ɫֱ��.

ARTIST IN RESIDENCE: Noam Sienna

Mon, 17 Nov 2025 13:00:00 GMT

Scholar/Artist-in-Residence, Centre for Jewish Studies

November 17-21, 2025

Dr. Noam Sienna is a scribe, calligrapher, print artist, and scholar of Jewish book culture.

He is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Toronto, researching Jewish book cultures in the medieval and early modern Islamic worlds. His first monograph, Jewish Books in North Africa: Between the Early Modern and Modern Worlds, was published earlier this year. He is currently working on a socio-bibliographic study of the first Hebrew press in the Ottoman Empire. He is also a practicing book artist whose work brings together historical and contemporary expressions of Jewish visual and textual culture, focusing on reviving and preserving traditions of Hebrew calligraphy and Jewish letterpress printing.

Monday, Nov. 17
7:00 – 8:30 pm
Hands-on workshop: Introduction to Hebrew Calligraphy

Shaar Shalom Congregation
1981 Oxford St, Halifax

Learn about the development of Hebrew letter forms and try your hand at Hebrew calligraphy with an expert guide. Materials will be provided. Please RSVP at jewish.studies@dal.ca.

Tuesday, Nov. 18
11:30 am - 1:00 pm
Academic lecture: ‘Printed in Ishmael’s Realm’: The Theology of Jewish Printing in Ottoman Constantinople

Classics Library, Marion McCain Building 1184
6135 University Ave, Halifax

Lunch will be served

Within two years of the Expulsion from Spain, a family of Sephardi exiles in Ottoman Constantinople had established a printing press, which produced the first book known to have been printed with moveable type in the Islamic world: the Arba’a Turim (Istanbul, 1493). The Ibn Nahmias family and their collaborators continued to print books for the following four decades, creating an invaluable window into the experience of Sephardi Jewish life in the Ottoman Empire in the first half of the sixteenth century. In this presentation, Dr. Sienna explores the work of the Ibn Nahmias press in Constantinople, surveying not only the content of the books they produced, but also the significance of their physical and visual forms, as windows into the connections and transformations of Mediterranean Sephardi communities between the Iberian peninsula, Italy, North Africa, and the Ottoman Empire. Focusing on the role of printing in the religious and social transformations of the early modern world, this presentation will offer a glimpse into the unique atmosphere of an early modern Jewish print house in the Islamic world.

5:00-7:00 pm

Reception: The Third Century of Hebrew at King’s and ��ɫֱ��
The HMCS King’s Wardroom
6350 Coburg Rd, Halifax

Join ��ɫֱ�� faculty and special guest Dr. Noam Sienna for drinks, kosher appetizers, and door prizes to celebrate the third century of instruction in Classical Hebrew – and to envision its future. We will announce new scholarships, celebrate our students’ achievements with Dr. Christopher Grundke, hear from faculty experts about the importance and fascination of this language, and give away original Hebrew-themed art!

Please RSVP at jewish.studies@dal.ca.

Wednesday, Nov. 19
11:35 am -12:25 pm
Hands-on workshop: Introduction to Hebrew Calligraphy
Classics Library, Marion McCain Building 1184
6135 University Ave, Halifax

Learn about the development of Hebrew letter forms and try your hand at Hebrew calligraphy with an expert guide. Materials will be provided, but space is limited. Please RSVP at jewish.studies@dal.ca.

Friday, Nov. 21
10:00-11:30 am
Hands-on workshop: Hebrew letterpress printing demonstration

NSCAD, Former Art Bar, 1873 Granville Street, Halifax

Learn about historical Hebrew letterpress printing from one of the world’s only expert practitioners of this craft, and bring home your own poster printed in Hebrew and English movable type. Open to the public.

TALK: Noam Sienna

Tue, 18 Nov 2025 15:30:00 GMT

“Printed in Ishmael’s Realm: Technology and Theology in an Ottoman Jewish Press”

Please join us for a lecture given by Dr. Noam Sienna (University of Toronto). The event will take place in the Department of Classics Library, rm. 1184, Marian McCain Arts and Social Sciences Building.

Poster text:

In this presentation, Dr. Sienna explores the work of the Ibn Nahmias press in Constantinople, surveying not only the content of the books they produced, but also the significance of their physical and visual forms, as windows into the connections and transformations of Mediterranean Sephardi communities between the Iberian peninsula, Italy, North Africa, and the Ottoman Empire. Focusing on the role of printing in the religious and social transformations of the early modern world, this presentation will offer a glimpse into the unique atmosphere of an early modern Jewish print house in the Islamic world.

PANEL: The Third Century of Hebrew at King’s and ��ɫֱ��

Tue, 18 Nov 2025 21:00:00 GMT

Did you know that Biblical Hebrew has been taught here since the 19th century – and is still going strong in the Department of Classics?

Join us for drinks and appetizers to celebrate the Third Century of Hebrew at King’s and Dal!

The HMCS King’s Wardroom
6350 Coburg Rd, Halifax
Tuesday, November 18, 2025
5:00-7:00 pm

Celebrate new scholarships for students of Hebrew with Dr. Christopher Grundke. Hear from faculty experts on the ancient origins of Hebrew, the Dead Sea Scrolls, Jewish mysticism, and Hebrew poetry. Win door prizes: art, cards, and books!

Special guest: Dr. Noam Sienna, Scholar/Artist-in-Residence, trained scribe, calligraphy artist, scholar of Hebrew books, one of the world’s only experts on historical Hebrew printing, and the author of A Rainbow Thread: An Anthology of Queer Jewish Texts from the 1^st Century to 1969.

Faculty, staff, students, and members of the community are warmly invited! Please RSVP at this link or by emailing jewish.studies@dal.ca.

TALK: Jamie Moshin

Tue, 25 Nov 2025 16:30:00 GMT

"'The reason I am who I am is my dick' (Lil Dicky): Scripting and Rescripting the Racialized Jewish Body"

Join us for a talk by Jamie Moshin (Instructor of Contemporary Studies, University of King’s College)