"Sanctuary"

Melbourne Holocaust Museum
16-17 February 2025

Conference committee: Dr Anna Hirsh, Dr Breann Fallon, Dr Simon Holloway – Melbourne Holocaust Museum and Dr Donna-Lee Frieze – Deakin University

The Talmud declared that every synagogue would be a sanctuary in miniature (a miqdash me’at), and Jews throughout the ages have sought comfort and repose in a variety of communal institutions. The concept of finding, maintaining and losing sanctuary is deeply embedded in the Hebrew Bible. From the expulsion from the Garden of Eden through to the destruction of the Temple, sanctuaries have become the subject of yearning, and attempts at creating sanctuaries have been as much a part of the tradition as are attempts at recreating sanctuaries destroyed.  

Sanctuaries are complex entities: they provide shelter from forces without and they also need to be continually protected and defended from within. Jews are saved (or not saved) by sanctuaries to the same degree that sanctuaries are saved (or not saved) by Jews. At the end of the 19th century, Asher Zvi Ginsberg – writing as “Ahad Ha’am” – noted this conundrum with his reflection on the Sabbath as a sanctuary, which has protected Jews to a greater degree than it was itself protected by them. 

Ultimately, Jewish communities of Europe were destroyed, together with their institutions, and the surviving remnant sought sanctuary elsewhere. Jewish communities in MENA and elsewhere were also fragmented. While some Jews found what they were looking for in Australia, so too did former war criminals. The paradox that lies at the heart of sanctuary is that it can denote a safe haven for multiple groups simultaneously, some of whom might have conflicting interests or seek similar notions regarding protection and safety.  

The Jewish experience has been one of finding and losing sanctuaries in equal measure. We welcome papers that will address the complexities of sanctuary, be it in space or in time, religious, cultural, and secular and also historical sanctuaries and fictitious sanctuaries in art, music, literature, theatre and dance. What are the ways in which these sanctuaries manifest themselves? How might they be present in their absence? And how has their nature informed Jewish culture and identity? 

The conference fees are for the academic program on the 16th and 17th of February 2025 (Sunday and Monday), and include AAJS annual membership. In-person attendance includes catering.