News of Paul Hamburg’s passing is sad indeed. We first crossed paths at AJL conferences, probably back in the 1990s (when they were still called “conventions”), and we became close colleagues when he joined the library staff at UC-Berkeley in 2002 as its Judaica librarian. He was an ideal fit for the thriving academic and library milieus that he joined in Berkeley. Paul made his presence felt there early on; he unleashed his “inner impresario” by organizing literary evenings that took place in Doe Library’s fabulous Morrison Room. (I fondly remember one that was devoted to the Yiddish poet Abraham Sutzkever.)
Fred Isaac has mentioned the 2005 AJL Conference, which he and Paul co-chaired. The stars aligned beautifully, which is not to say that there wasn’t a lot of hard work involved — and “a cast of thousands” — in organizing that conference. Paul was justifiably proud of his engagement with the UC-Berkeley’s Jewish Studies community, as evidenced by his heartfelt introduction to the keynote address by the Hebrew literary scholar and translator Robert Alter at the 2005 conference. Paul and I remained in close contact over the years right up to his retirement. He made his mark in Berkeley, both professionally and personally, and will be greatly missed by all who knew him. יהי זכרו ברוך! Zachary Zachary M. Baker zba...@stanford.edu<mailto:zba...@stanford.edu> zekhar...@gmail.com<mailto:zekhar...@gmail.com>
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