Professor Alex Averbuch’s new article in AJS Review explores how 18th-century Jewish communities in present-day Belarus used richly ornamented Hebrew odes, embroidered with gold and precious stones, to petition Catherine II for imperial favor, legal safeguards, and communal autonomy. For the first time, one of these ceremonial odes—its original copy discovered by Averbuch in the archives—is presented to the public. He traces two of the odes to Naphtali Herz Wessely, with Moses Mendelssohn as translator, revealing a remarkable blend of poetics, politics, and Enlightenment diplomacy.
Read the full article here.
