On Sunday, May 10 at 7 pm ET via Zoom, you’re invited to join us for How to Put out Wildfires with Challah: Jewish Firefighting Magic in Early-Modern Ashkenaz, an in-depth conversation with Dr. Yosef Rosen about uncovering lost, magical Jewish approaches to confronting climate catastrophe.
 
Our age is not the first time Jews have confronted environmental catastrophe. During the climatic instability of the Little Ice Age, early modern European towns were repeatedly devastated by wildfire. Frankfurt alone burned three times in a single decade, between 1711 and 1720. In response to this surge of urban fires—roughly between 1550 and 1730—Ashkenazi Jews came to occupy an unexpected public role. Christian townspeople and municipal authorities increasingly sought out Jews to perform kabbalistic fire-extinguishing rituals that centered on inscribed loaves of challah.
 
Drawing on Jewish magical manuals, Christian eyewitness accounts, and municipal records, this talk aims to reconstruct a largely forgotten history of Jewish firefighting magic in early modern Ashkenaz. It suggests that these rituals were part of a shared ritual ecology in which Jews and Christians drew from a cosmological commons full of traditions about magical bread, uncontrollable fire, and esoteric divine names.

Though live attendance is encouraged, this event will be recorded, so you can rewatch it at a later time if you cannot attend live. For financial assistance, please contact liviah@beitkohenet.org.

Cost: Sliding scale of $18–$36. Please choose the amount that aligns with your means.