The JEWTACT Database: Redefining the Jewish Archive

Currently in its final stages of development, the Online Database of Jewish Translation and Cultural Transfer in Early Modern Europe (JEWTACT) exposes the vast and complex corpora of Jewish translation in early modern Europe. It enlists works in Jewish languages, which were produced throughout Europe between 1450 and 1830. Expanding the geographical and linguistic limits of similar projects of European significance, the JEWTACT database connects sources written in Latin and the European vernaculars with their translations into Jewish languages. It thus revisits the insularity of Jewish texts, which used to frame the study of Jewish literary works, but also helps to diversify our understanding of European literature and translation more generally. Written by two of the database’s editors, this essay reflects on the historiographical vision that shapes the database, discuss its aims and objectives, as well as the challenges that the project has faced, and those which it has revealed.