Biblical Studies. PhD student Sherry Ashworth was amongst those contributing to the EABS' Graduate Symposium in Prague,
with a paper entitled 'It's complicated: The relationship between Esther
and Mordecai in the Book of Esther, mediated by Charles Dickens' novel,
Bleak House' (30 March 2022). She reports: "At the very end of March I presented a paper at the European Association of Biblical Studies’ Graduate Symposium.
The Symposium is intended for PhD candidates who might not have presented before (like me!) and is a very supportive, while scholarly rigorous, event. It was fascinating to meet other biblical scholars from all over Europe, and as ever, I was impressed at how excellent everyone’s English is, and was keenly aware that many students were presenting in a second language. I was struck by the diversity of methodologies, given that the Bible is such a small text – it’s a bit like the Tardis in there!
The conference organisers took us for a tour of Jewish Prague, led by the Jewish Museum director. This is an emotionally gruelling experience, as the devastation caused by the Holocaust is very immediate and tends to drown out the other aspects of Jewish history, such as the ancient cemetery with the grave of the Maharal of Prague, AKA Rabbi Loew, the inventor of the legend of the Golem. The tour ended with a visit to the beautiful Spanish Synagogue, which is used by the progressive Jewish community of Prague, and so plays host to bat mitzvahs, thus looking toward an egalitarian Jewish future in the city."
