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The "Sefer" Center with the support of the Russian Jewish Congress and the Embassy of the State of Israel, held a Summer school on Jewish studies Judaism, Christianity, and Islam: The Unity of Diversityin Moscow from July 28 to August 1, 2024. The theme of dialogue among the three Abrahamic religions attracted many new participants. The school included 60 teachers, students, graduate students, and young researchers from Russia, Belarus, Israel, France, South Korea, and China. An additional 10 auditors participated online in the lectures. Within two parallel lecture streams, the school addressed the following issues: various dimensions of Islamic mysticism, particularly Sufism—its formation, changes in Sufi theory and practice, and political interpretations of Sufism; "cross-cutting" ideas among the three Abrahamic religions: their emergence, mechanisms of preservation and change; an analysis of the substantive content of Islam and its correlation with typologically similar realities and concepts in related Abrahamic religions; key socio-cultural features of the Eastern Christian tradition: the development of ethical teachings, the perception of ecological ideas in contemporary Orthodoxy, and the manifestation of Christian structural patterns in the ideology of the Soviet state; main thematic lines of Lurianic Kabbalah and their relationship to the context of contemporary philosophical thought from Hegel to Heidegger and Deleuze; Eastern Syrian mysticism and its Jewish context.
In addition to the main courses, participants had the opportunity to attend a plenary lecture by Prof. A. Kovelman "Empty Hostility and Brief Peace: The Children of Abraham in the Struggle for Heritage," and to visit three seminars: V. Rozov and M. Baranova's "The Power of Planets and the Mystery of the Four Elements," R. Ashkenazi's "Persian Literature in the Culture of Jews during the Safavid Dynasty," and Y. Regev's "Between the Numogram and the Tree of Life: Kabbalah in the Texts of the Cybernetic Culture Research Group."
During the school, a round table "Abrahamic Agreements" was held, featuring Mrs. Y. Rachinski-Spivakov (Minister Plenipotentiary, Deputy Head of the Israeli Embassy in Russia), Prof. Z. Khanin, M. Pelivert, E. Yakimova, and M. Vasilyev, where participants discussed the possibility of peaceful coexistence in the Middle East.
The evening program of the school was opened by a concert of Sephardic music performed by Anna Hofman's ensemble "Romancero Sefardí," which elicited enthusiastic responses from the participants. The cultural program of the school also included film screenings: S. Pakhomov presented and discussed the short film "The Boy" (dir. Y. Vinner, Israel, 2023), kindly provided by the Embassy of Israel. M. Alontsev presented the film "Grandfather Aziz" (2005, dir. Naser Khemir), which illustrated his course on Sufism. A. Zaitseva conducted an intellectual game titled "Three in One: Riddles of Three Monotheistic Religions in a One-Minute Debate Format," with six teams composed of students and faculty participating.
For the first time, the school featured a format for short self-presentations called "Gift to Class," which allowed students to get to know each other better, establish connections with colleagues, and discuss ideas for future collaborative projects.
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Participant reviews:
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Anna (Moscow): Thank you very much for the summer school and the opportunity to express myself! I haven't felt such a thirst for knowledge in a long time, and I haven't felt as comfortable and at peace as I did during the summer school! I don’t want to leave. I felt more confident in myself, met interesting people, and learned a lot of new things!
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Nikolai (Moscow): A well-structured intensive program, excellent choice of teachers and extracurricular activities, very friendly atmosphere. There was no pressure or toxicity from the organizers or teachers. The location is convenient — on one hand, it’s not far from Moscow, and on the other, it feels distant from it, with a calm environment around the campus. I would also highlight the theme of unity and connection; there is very little communication and wise dialogue, and the summer school shows that it can happen on different levels: personal, political, and confessional. I also liked the diversity of schools — there was space for texts, cinema, visual arts, politics (I mean the round table), music. The organization of the book "shop" from Hyperion was also very successful — I acquired books that I usually overlooked in everyday life. Here, the lively intellectual environment encourages trying and reading new things.
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Evgenia (Haifa): The impression is strong and profound. I need to live with everything I've heard and seen for a while so that it settles and becomes part of me.
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Vladimir (St. Petersburg): The Sefer School is a big and friendly family where it's pleasant to be. Throughout my stay at the school, I felt an incredible ease in communication and making new acquaintances. An atmosphere of kindness, fun, and humor prevailed.
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Amir (Moscow): A huge amount of positive emotions, a pleasant mental challenge, immersion in topics that interest me, and an increase in academic knowledge about religions and their interconnections.
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Anonymous: I am very happy to have learned what I did thanks to the lecture series and to have met wonderfully pleasant people who share my academic interests and views on life. I feel like I've found many new projects and opportunities. It's an amazing feeling of something opening up before you. For me, the summer school was also a bit of a challenge because I am a very anxious person who stresses out about interacting with new people, even though I love doing it. I feel like I passed this challenge well; moreover, the people I met and even became a bit closer to helped me realize some things about myself, about socialization, about the academic world. This is a very valuable experience, and I’m happy that I was able to gain it. I hope that next time I will be even more open and active, and perhaps even (oh horror) be able to ask questions to the lecturers.
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Evgeny (Moscow): The main impression is that you exist. Every time I come to the school is a joy. It’s always important for me to be among like-minded people who share my academic interests and passions, as well as being spiritually close. The Sefer schools always reflect these interests. The last few years have been quite turbulent both in terms of events and academically. I want to thank you for making Sefer a haven of stability and safety.
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Irina (St. Petersburg): My main impression of the school is its uniqueness and high quality of organization. The program was carefully thought out, and the presence of outstanding researcher-teachers in one place made the experience incredibly rich and valuable. The opportunity to engage in dialogue almost around the clock facilitated deep immersion in the discussed topics and active exchange of ideas. The organization of the school was top-notch. The program combined educational and cultural elements, while the cultural part was not reduced to mere entertainment. It represented intellectual leisure that brought aesthetic pleasure and facilitated reflection. The community of participants was open and conflict-free, creating ideal conditions for establishing new contacts and dialogues. The atmosphere of friendliness and mutual respect prevailed.
Photos in Sefer Telegram channel:
