Obituary

Cathy was a meticulous scholar, as well as a kind and generous mentor I will always be grateful to her.
Sylvia Shorto

In Memoriam: Catherine Blanchard Asher (1946 – 2023)

I am not in touch with Murat's family, but I hope someone has forwarded these two lovely remembrances of him to them. I have sent them to Hasan Semerci, who many on this list will know. They had been friends since they worked together in the bazaar in 1968.
Time marches on for all of us.
Nancy Micklewright

H-Judaic is greatly saddened to learn of the passing of Dan Laor (1944-2023) , emeritus professor of Modern Hebrew Literature on the Schreiber Chair at Tel Aviv University, where he had also served as Dean of the Humanities Faculty.  Born in Jerusalem, Prof. Laor was educated at the Hebrew University and the University of California, Berkeley, where he wrote a Ph.D. under Robert Alter.  He joined TAU in 1979 and taught there until his  retirement.  Laor is best known for his magisterial, 900+ page biography of the Israeli Hebrew poet Nathan Alterman (2013).

It's hard for me to imagine the old center of Istanbul's Grand Bazaar without Murat Bilir. His tiny shop overflowed with platters and water jugs, bowls and rose water holders. He called them portable cultural treasures. Murat didn't just sell these fine objects, he told their stories. He pointed out tiny details you might have over looked. He never haggled over price but in reality each piece was a bargain, for it came with its history. It's been more than a dozen years since I first stopped at his doorway.

From: Amy Singer <singer.amy@gmail.com>

We have recieved news of the death of Cornell Fleischer.  The following was writte by Cornell’s long-time friend and colleague, Holly Shissler, with help from another friend and colleague, John Woods.

H-Judaic is deeply saddened to learn of the untimely passing of Professor Gad Barzilai (1958-2023), Professor of Law, Societies, and Justice at the University of Washington and Professor at Haifa University, where he served as Dean of the Faculty of Law and Vice-Provost.  He served as President of the Association for Israel Studies, 2011-2013.  The Wikipedia article on Prof. Barzilai provides the following biography:

Margaret's obituary is so well recollected!...
I share her encomium on Joanne's hard organizational work during all the years' journey from the Institute for Historical Study in California to the formation of the National Coalition for Independent Scholars, to H-Scholar, which has now networked independents internationally. Joanne knew the value of institutions, what they can do if built and maintained properly, on the basis of mutually-agreed principles and procedures, friendship, respect.