Leor Jacobi from Bar-Ilan-University in Israel is the first scholar who received a ReIReS Transnational Access Scholarship at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU).

Leor Jacobi arrived on March 13 at the Jewish Library to carry out his study on the Day of Atonement liturgical rite of the medieval Jewish community of Mainz. He will examine manuscript fragments extracted from German bookbindings and old prayer books.

On his first day he was welcomed by the Vice President for Learning and Teaching at JGU Professor Stephan Jolie, Prof. Dr. Andreas Lehnardt, Chair of Judaic Studies at JGU, Prof. Dr. Claus Arnold and Alexandra Nusser M.A., both department of Catholic Theology at JGU Mainz and ReIReS.

Leor Jacobi about his study:

“The Day of Atonement liturgical rite of the medieval Jewish community of Mainz is obscure. Discussed by medieval sages, no manuscripts are extant and it was never published. Two new discoveries shed light: 1) a 15th century Yom Kippur Mahzor was copied from an ancient manuscript of the Mainz rite and preserves a Palestinian textual variant from the Cairo Geniza; 2) parts migrated, known as the rite of Schwaben and Switzerland from the 18th cent. onward. The study will explore evidence of the Mainz rite in manuscript fragments extracted from German bookbindings and old prayer books.”

Picture, left to right: Claus Arnold, Alexandra Nusser, Stephan Jolie, Leor Jacobi, Andreas Lehnardt. Foto: Peter Pulkowski.