The exhibition, which was unveiled at an open house on April 16 in the O’Hare Special Collections Library, will run through the end of May. A second open house will be held on May 7 at 6 p.m.

Teter has been growing Fordham’s collection of Hebrew texts for some time now, and the Haggadot (plural of Haggadah) reflect an overall curatorial vision of mixing the common household texts with high-quality facsimiles of The Barcelona Haggadah and from the Rothschild Miscellany, donated by longtime library patron James Leach, M.D. As in years past, the Maxwell House Coffee Haggadah, a common sight in many a middle-class Jewish home, sits near rare 18th-century versions.

The exhibit was co-curated with Rose Hill seniors Emma Fingleton and Zowie Kemery, both Jewish studies minors, and sophomore Margaret Keiley. The project began at the start of the semester in early February. The students met with Teter to see and, more importantly, handle the texts.

“It’s not behind a glass plane; it’s right in front of you and you can touch it,” Fingleton said of one of the texts at the time.

Indeed, as Fingleton and Keiley grazed their hands across the paper, they remarked on the impressions left behind by an 18th-century letterpress.

“People actually use these objects, it’s very different from reading it online on a PDF,” said Keiley.

This year’s exhibition differs from the 2016 show, which expanded on Jewish-Christian relations. Instead, this show takes visitors on a world tour through nations and time. There were plenty of texts to choose from. The collection includes Haggadot from Egypt, Ethiopia, Sweden, Germany, and Holland. There is a vegetarian-focused Haggadah called The Liberated Lamb. There are Haggadot that were distributed at displacement camps just after World War II. And there are two from the same publisher that seem exactly the same except for one detail on the title page: One was printed in Palestine in 1948, just before the State of Israel was created; the other was printed in the exact same geographical place in 1953, when it was Israel.

“It’s a global story told in different languages, but the same culture,” said Teter.

Some of the pages come alive with past use. In particular, there are the pages with wine stains, which represent a moment during the Seder when the plagues are mentioned and “you put a finger in the glass of wine and sprinkle it on the text,” said Teter. It was a particularly moving gesture to the students.

“It all resonates in ways that remind me of archeology. It brings you to their perspective, even if it’s something as simple as a wine stain,” said Fingleton. “I feel more open towards the value these things have. It really impacts your view.”

These are the critical questions at the core of five upcoming events: A joint conference between faculty from Fordham and Ben-Gurion University and the four-part In Dialogue Series on Polish-Jewish relations, hosted by Fordham, Columbia University, and the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research.

The faculty conference will take place from October 7 to 8 on the Lincoln Center campus. Fordham and Ben-Gurion scholars from Israel will present “Appropriation in (and of) the Premodern World,” in which they’ll address how people from different cultures and religious communities appropriated each other’s ideas, texts, legal practices, spaces, art, and material culture.

“Because we wanted to be inclusive with interreligious encounters and exchanges, we came up with this idea of appropriation: how different cultures use and appropriate different sites, texts, or traditions, and make it their own,” said Magda Teter, a Fordham history professor and the Shvidler Chair in Judaic Studies.

The four-part series will examine Polish-Jewish relations from the 15th century to the modern age. Discussion topics include the Jews’ belonging and exclusion throughout history, nationalism and antisemitism in the aftermath of World I, and how perceptions from the past have changed over time. The series will culminate with a full-day symposium on the post-WWII era at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research.

“Jews have always been a minority group, living scattered for centuries,” said Teter. “So this certainly raises some of the larger questions of rootedness, belonging, of who belongs to what story, how history is told, and the ramifications for social inclusion and exclusion.”

Related to the series is a conversation between Teter and David Stromberg—a writer, translator, and literary scholar based in Jerusalem, and one of the inaugural Fordham-New York Public Library Research Fellows in Jewish Studies.

The events obviously hold appeal for scholars interested in European, Jewish, and Polish history, said Teter. But even for those who are oblivious to Polish or Jewish history, the discussions may still be quite relevant.

“We are living in an era where we’re witnessing the questions of how American history is told,” said Teter. “Who belongs to the rubric of American history? Who is an American? Who is not American? In that way, there might be some parallels.”

All events are free, but registration is strongly encouraged.

“Appropriation in and of the Premodern World: The First Annual Conference of Fordham and Ben-Gurion Universities”: October 7-8 at McMahon Hall

“In Dialogue” on Polish-Jewish Relations:

Part I: The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the period of the partitions. October 4, 2018, 6 p.m. at Fordham Law School

Part II: Polish-Jewish relations of the interwar period. November 15, 2018, 6 p.m. at Fordham University, Lincoln Center

Part III: Polish-Jewish relations during WWII. February 21, 2019, 6 p.m. Location TBD

Part IV: Full-day symposium on the post-WWII era. May 5, 2019 at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research

The program will seek to understand Jewish history and culture within the larger framework of Jews’ interaction with other religions, particularly among Jews and Christians. It will further strengthen Fordham’s commitment to the Jewish studies program, which came into its own after Eugene Shvilder made a generous gift to establish a named chair in 2013.

Magda Teter, PhD, the Shvidler Chair in Judaic Studies and professor of history, described the new minor as “very robust.”

“’There are more than 10 members of the faculty who can cover all areas of Jewish history from antiquity to modern United States, Israel, and Europe,” said Teter.

Stephen Freedman, PhD, provost of the University, said what makes Fordham distinct among Jewish studies programs in New York City is “that we are a Jesuit institution.”

“Studying Jewish culture and Jewish themes is a way for all of us to understand our own traditions,” said Freedman. “In these explorations of differences you bring out the value and the similarities, and by exploring them you respect them.”

“There is so much shared tradition and an amazing amount of overlap.”

 In another unique arrangement, all of the University’s Jewish studies students will have free access to the Jewish Museum of New York and the Museum of Jewish Heritage—A Living Memorial to the Holocaust. Many of the museums’ exhibitions and programs will be woven into the coursework, said Teter.

“We are honored to establish a partnership with Fordham and are excited about potential collaborative projects,” said Elizabeth Edelstein, director of education at the Museum of Jewish Heritage.

In addition to the new minor, Teter said that the Jewish studies program has received two grants from the American Academy for Jewish Research, where she was inducted as a fellow. The grants will support two collaborative projects between Fordham faculty and faculty from other New York City institutions.

One grant will support a working group, titled “Interdisciplinary Approaches to Jewish Orthodoxies, Society and Culture,” and will be led by Ayala Fader, PhD, associate professor of anthropology, and Isaac Bleaman, a doctoral candidate at New York University. The group is geared toward research on contemporary Jewish Orthodoxies, with an emphasis on North America, said Teter. The second grant will go toward an early modern workshop that will focus on working with primary sources via an interactive seminar format. Both groups will meet regularly at Fordham in the 2016-2017 academic year.

A series of public lectures on Jewish themes will be announced at summer’s end that will bring leading scholars from around the globe to campus.

“When we develop a minor such as this, it’s a first step to something broader and much more programmatic,” said Freedman. “Students will be able build out from these relationships, beyond the University and beyond New York.”

Shvidler, a trained mathematician, a noted winemaker, an oil executive, and international philanthropist, was awarded the degree in light of his support of Jewish centers of learning around the world, and his significant gift to establish the Shvidler Chair in Judaic Studies at Fordham.

(L. to R.) Joseph M. McShane, SJ, president of Fordham University; James P. Flaherty, FCRH ’69, member of the Board of Trustees; Zara Shvidler; Eugene Shvidler; Rabbi Berel Lazar, chief rabbi of Russia; and Stephen Freedman, PhD, provost of the University.