Ori Kinberg

Hebrew Literature Subject:  The Poems of Niv Sefatayyim by Joseph Zark and his Circle: Hebrew Literary Culture in 15th Century Italy

Supervisor:  Dr. Jonathan Vardi 

Abstract:  During the 15th century, while Europe is swept by the Renaissance, numerous Jews of various ‎origins immigrate to Italy. Hebrew writers from Ashkenaz, Provence and Spain, alongside their ‎coreligionists of the local Italian communities, combine trends and traditions, composing a ‎literature that merges the religious and the secular, the old and the contemporary, the ‎imported and the local. ‎
My research begins with "Niv Sefataim (“Fruit of the Lips”), a collection of over 120 poems ‎written by Yosef Zark, an immigrant from Spain, and his circle of associates in northern Italy. ‎Through the network of relationships and exchanges reflected in this collection, I examine the ‎history and poetics of 15th-century Hebrew poetry in Italy.‎

Bio A graduate student in the department of Hebrew literature. I have studied my B.A. and M.A. in Jerusalem, first in Hebrew literature and Philosophy, later specializing in Medieval literature. I work mainly on Hebrew poetry written in Medieval and Renaissance Italy, and maintains an interest in analytic theories of literature and the philosophy of imagination.

President Stipend 2021/22

MA Alumni 2019/20