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AbstractIn this paper, building upon ethnographic fieldwork conducted among members of one initiative of Jewish-Muslim dialogue in the UK, I discuss how my interlocutors thematize the temporal dimension of anti-minority discrimination and perceive remaining historical material heritage associated with it. Using the example of problematic artifacts pertaining to mediaeval Lincoln, such as the so-called “shrine of Little Hugh,” I discuss how in engaging the memory of traumatic past events in Jewish history activists of inter-faith dialogue reflect on their current conditions of minoritization and attempt a projection of their communities’ lives in the UK in the future. I also borrow insight from the presentist theoretical framework in anthropology of time to highlight the impact my interlocutors’ life histories have had on the way they relate to and conceptualize their own and other minoritized groups’ histories and imagine their personal and collective futures based on their experiences in the present. I suggest that in these reflections, narratives of positive historical trajectories in the minority experience sit alongside an anticipation of multiple possible futures, some inflected with anxiety about a repetition of difficult pasts, others imbued with a vision connecting the past, present and future of minoritized communities into a common presence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Cultural Poetics / KulturPoetik: Zeitschrift für Kulturgeschichtliche Literaturwissenschaft is the property of Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co. KG and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In the French Haute-Savoie there is still today a building that is deeply linked to the history of the Italian Republic, which not only testifies to its roots and values, but also represents a paradigm of childhood tragedies in the twentieth century. It is a holiday camp in Saint-Cergues Les Voirons (now converted into private apartments) which was built by the Italian “fuorusciti” for the children of the emigrated compatriots. The creation of this holiday camp was considered one of the most successful undertakings of international anti-fascism. After its opening in 1933, the holiday home was used for a few years by Italian emigrants’ children as well as a refuge for well-known anti-fascists; then it was adapted to the new needs of assistance to the most fragile and difficult children imposed by international circumstances. Five years after its opening, the building was in fact used as a holiday camp for Spanish refugee children from the civil war and, after the outbreak of the Second World War, it became a place to welcome children of any nationality, victims of the conflict and finally a home-refuge for young Jews fleeing deportation. This building, built in a typical alpine style, was most dissimilar from the fascist monumental architectural models. Built just a few kilometres from Geneva, it was much more than just a building: it was a real challenge against an autarchic regime that was increasingly turned in on itself, even in its educational models.

The research aims to: determine the meaning of symbols and symbolism both linguistically and terminologically, understand the value of symbols among Jews, clarify the meanings of numbers and their significance for Jews, highlight the exaggeration of Jews in their reliance on interpretation to explain the ambiguities in the altered texts, open the door for many researchers and scholars to explore topics related to comparative religions, and enrich the library of theology and comparative religion, which focuses on aspects of Jewish studies and their history. Research Methodology: the inductive method and the deductive method. Jews rely on symbolism to understand their sacred texts, and through this, rabbis integrate this religion, opening the door widely to the alterations that have affected this religion. Among the most prominent findings of the research: A symbol linguistically is a gesture or indication using the eyes, eyebrows, lips, and mouth. The definitions of a symbol have varied according to the science or art in which the term is used. A symbol is a sign that refers to a meaning that exists independently, representing it and replacing it. A symbol in the Old Testament is an expression or indication of what will happen in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses Israel Zangwill's play The Melting Pot (1908) and Horace M. Kallen's essay 'Democracy versus the Melting Pot' (1915) as two different visions of future Jewish inclusion. Zangwill's play and Kallen's response reflect social changes at the time, and both visions consider Jewish history exemplary for the world-to-come. Both show how conceptions of Jewishness were turned into universalist teleologies, but of different kinds. Zangwill's play opened in Washington at the height of immigration, urbanisation and social change, and it swiftly exemplified a vision of the American nation in the making, emphasising concepts of amalgamation more than old historical identities. In opposition, Kallen's response in 1915 emphasised historical identities and rejected the metal melting metaphors, replacing them with a Darwin-inspired spontaneous 'symphony'. Zangwill and Kallen both imagined the future world as profoundly shaped by Jewishness, albeit with different consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immigration, particularly forced immigration, has a profound impact on every aspect of immigrants' lives. One such aspect is their religious convictions and practices. Nowadays, Migration Studies is a major academic field that produces many books and articles each year. This article examines the impact of forced immigration on the daily practices and internal relationships between leaders and followers of a specific religious group—Hassidism, in one particular period—the early second half of the 20th century. It does so by examining how two Hassidic leaders, the Satmar Rebbe in America and the Viznitzer Rebbe in Israel, established their communities after the Holocaust. This is one of only a few academic studies that explore post-Holocaust Hassidism, with a specific focus on the effects of forced immigration on its development. Throughout Jewish history, large-scale immigration and the inevitable need to adapt to new political, religious, and cultural circumstances had a profound influence on the way Jews conducted their religious affairs. This article explores how the uprooting of Hassidism from Eastern Europe after the Holocaust and its transplantation in countries that were new to them prompted Hassidic leaders who wanted to reestablish their communities to adopt a new set of leadership priorities. The result was that despite bearing the same title, Hassidic communities that were established after the Holocaust were very different from those that operated in Europe previously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the longest established non‐Christian minority group in the UK, the history of Jewish archives in this country has a particular significance. Following the readmission of the Jews to England in the 1650s, Jewish created archives exist, though through communal neglect and the blitz they are uneven in coverage until the later eighteenth century. Only by the end of the nineteenth century were conscious efforts made by British Jewry to preserve its own heritage. Our chapter focuses on the formal efforts post‐1945 to locate, collect and preserve Jewish archives from slow and uncertain beginnings to the situation in the first decades of the 20 first century when there are major collections of Jewish archives in the University of Southampton and the London Metropolitan Archives, successful local and regional initiatives, as well as projects enabling a more inclusive Jewish archive such as that of the Liberal Synagogue's Rainbow Jews to document and record the LGBTQ+ experience. It concludes that Jewish archive preservation in the UK is a story more of success than failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Urban History Review / Revue d'Histoire Urbaine is the property of University of Toronto Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article examines the Jewish imagination of the Carpathians in 20thcentury literature. Non-Jewish observers who discovered the Carpathians at this time typically saw the Jews as an alien symbol of urban civilization that disturbed the authenticity of mountain life. The article analyzes essays from various Jewish intellectuals, whose aim was to rediscover the Carpathians as a Jewish space through the figure of the Hasidic leader Baal Shem Tov, who lived in the area during the 18th century. By connecting his life with the mountain landscape, they created a Jewish figure embedded in nature and not alienated from it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article suggests a re-periodisation of the transit camps in which hundreds of thousands of immigrants were housed in Israel's first three decades. It anchors the meaning of these temporal housing spaces – known as Ma'abarot – and rebuts the perception of their temporality, presenting new data about institutional policies regarding these allegedly temporary living spaces and the everyday reality of their inhabitants. It suggests a re-periodisation that includes not only the initial handling of the massive Jewish immigration wave during the 'Mass Aliyah' (1948–51) but also the longer-term settling of the immigrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Hebrew Manuscripts Catalogue of the National Library of Israel holds a wealth of information about Jewish history, literature, and culture. However, its complex structure and limited accessibility have resulted in underutilized data. This study aims to harness new digital approaches to unlock the potential of this valuable resource. Specifically, we focus on 275 Yemenite Jewish manuscripts related to 'sciences' to explore complex relationships within the data. We began by consolidating metadata from the Hebrew Manuscripts Catalogue, often found scattered within the 'notes' field of the records. We supplemented this data with information from linked open data (LOD) entities as well as previous research. This comprehensive approach reveals details about copyists, authors, and owners, even identifying lesser-known figures. Our methodology involved using Nodegoat for data management and visualization. This platform allowed us to create a comprehensive data model for manuscript provenance and explore relationships between objects, transactions, persons, and organizations, along with geographical data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay stages an encounter between Michel Foucault and Franz Rosenzweig by juxtaposing their parallel observations on the continuity between history and war. While Foucault analyzes the strategies organizing seventeenth-century historical writing about the Norman conquest of England and the Frankish invasion of Gaul, Rosenzweig opposes the warlike progress of Christian history to the eternal peace of Jewish time. Through this comparison, the essay reevaluates the terms governing well-known debates about Jewish history and Jewish memory. It asks what role the concept of "war" has played in the emergence of modern Jewish historicism and the so-called Jewish return to history. The essay concludes by submitting the Israelite conquest of Canaan as a supplement to Foucault's examples and as a critical index of the bellicose grammar underwriting the representation of Jewish history as a field of struggle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The end of the Second World War and the Allied occupation of Iran came with a relaxation of censorship laws in the country. This in turn permitted the revival of an active Jewish press after a lull of almost two decades. One of the main publications of this period, 'Alam-e Yahud (The Jewish world), frequently translated prose and literary texts for the benefit of its readers, including a great deal of Hebrew poetry. Translations were designed to encourage a global Jewish, literary, and political modernity (on both a Zionist and domestic Iranian plane) and to promote a participation within these projects by the periodical's readers.This essay analyses these literary translations and adaptations, demonstrating Iranian Jewish writers' active engagement with Hebrew literary works, shifting and molding them for their own context and ideals. It begins with an examination of the periodical's wider translation project and its function as a political and cultural bridge during a period of change. It moves on to examine the "foreignness" of authors including Haim Nahman Bialik, and Bialik's normative cachet as an Ashkenazi/European and later Palestine-based writer. The essay proceeds to analyze other Hebrew-language contemporaries as spurs for linguistic and national renewal in both Hebrew and Persian, and concludes by reading original popular and belletristic poetry in Persian by Iranian Jews published in the periodical as a signifier of distinctiveness away from these sometimes-Eurocentric translated models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Jewish past has always represented a distinct chapter in Morocco's history; an embodiment of a historic component of Moroccan society. 'Tinghir – Jerusalem: Les Echoes du Mellah' (2013): a documentary by Moroccan director Kamal Hachkar, excavates history through places and testimonies of Jews who left Morocco towards 'Israel' and Muslims still living in Tinghir in an attempt to investigate the factors that shaped Moroccan Jews' migration. Going back and forth diverse oral narrations about lived experiences, Moroccan Muslims and Jews recall their memories of good neighbourliness and coexistence during the 1950s and 1960s before the exodus. Memories clash and a new generation that did not witness anything about the history of Jews in Morocco except the Jewish cemetery; emerges, and although the perceptions regarding the Jews' departure diverge, the common feelings of belonging, intense nostalgia and diaspora of the soul appears to be shared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Recording History: Jews, Muslims, and Music across Twentieth-century North Africa" by Christopher Silver is a comprehensive exploration of the musical culture and recording industry in Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. The book highlights the role of music in fostering Jewish-Muslim coexistence and shaping national identities in North Africa. Silver's research is based on a wide range of sources, including phonograph records, radio broadcasts, memoirs, and personal interviews. The book challenges conventional narratives of division and conflict between Jews and Muslims, emphasizing the creative collaboration and cultural exchange that music facilitated. Overall, "Recording History" provides a nuanced and compelling account of the musical history of North Africa. [Extracted from the article]

The proposed article is devoted to improving the classification of literature on Jewish studies kept in the collections of both the V. I. Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine and other scientific libraries. Ukraine inherited from the former USSR a significant number of collections of literature in the area of Jewish studies, which include, in particular, the collection of the Department of Jewish Studies at the Institute of Manuscripts in Vernadsky Library. The issue of systematization, classification and cataloguing of the Judaic literature still remains not fully resolved. This state of affairs can be illustrated by looking at the classification of the languages of the respective texts. In particular, the Universal Decimal Classification (UDC), widely used in modern Ukraine, indicates the following classification possibilities for the Hebrew language within Class 8 of the Classification: 811.4 Afroasiatic, Nilo-Saharan, Congo-Kordofanian, Khoisan languages 811.41 Afroasiatic languages 811.411 Semitic languages 811.411.16 Hebrew 811.411.16'02 Biblical Hebrew 811.411.16'03 Mishnaic 811.411.16'04 Rabbinical 811.411.16'08 Modern Hebrew. The potential of this classification is quite limited and it uses concepts borrowed from different branches of linguistics. For example, not all variants of the Hebrew language can be correctly classified as Jewish languages. On the other hand, many Jewish languages are non-Semitic and should be classified within their respective language families. It is not our intention to classify the Jewish languages on the basis of purely linguistic para�-meters; the main goal of our study is to unambiguously relate a particular language and therefore the study, to the context of Jewish studies regardless of how correct and consistent the used classification system is for a particular sphere or knowledge. This allows us to conclude that the Ukrainian version of the UDC has sufficient potential for classifying research in the field of Jewish studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines studies on Jewish resistance in Israeli historiography on the Shoah. Through the analysis of various contributions, conference proceedings, articles and monographs, the article aims to reconstruct an essential historiographical profile of the concept of amidah, identifying some of the most relevant declinations and critical issues that have emerged in Israeli historiography. Particular importance is given to the Yad Vashem Conference held in Jerusalem in 1968 which began the tradition of studies analyzed.

A set of rediscovered revolutionary posters by the Reprint Collective (which was presented as part of Documenta fifteen) in Brussels provided an incredibly moving window into times past. Notwithstanding how the events addressed by those political artefacts now lie in the historical past, the revolutionary reverberations of the posters remain something to treasure. They bring to life political causes that underline the importance of radical solidarity and activist alliances. To understand why such artefacts were banned, we need to recognise the role of contemporary racism – the projection of the figure of a Palestine-radical left-Muslim subject that encompasses everything the liberal mainstream supposedly is not. This article argues that the New Anti-Semitism is a merely ideological manifestation that has no contribution to make toward the struggle against antisemitism. The posters remind us that 1) the struggle against antisemitism cannot be separated from the struggle against Islamophobia, but also that 2) the erasure of a particular Jewish and Left revolutionary subjectivity is intrinsic to the workings of hegemonic forces that maintain contemporary politics. Going against the account in which antisemitism has conventionally been framed, this article aims to come to terms with the erasure of a left epistemology that had emerged from the region in the 1970s. Moroccan revolutionary Abraham Serfaty is an example of how the erasure of the radical history of Arab and Jewish progressives was no coincidence. Reversing this erasure not only helps in understanding progressive Jewish interventions in liberation politics but also that the flattening of complex histories and Arab, Left, and Jewish subjectivities is in fact a prerequisite for Zionism. Arab Jews do not fit neatly within a pro-Israel ideological framework that itself systematically feeds off anti-Arab racism. This article furthermore reflects on New Anti-Semitism as a key political instrument and as a powerful moralistic force that muzzles the expression of political context and social ambiguity. The notion 'Arab Anti-Semitism' arose against the backdrop of Israeli state terror and regional warfare. This article also provides insights into important intellectual interventions of the left between the 1960s and the 1980s. In combination with the rise of counter-revolutionary forces and major anti-left crackdowns, this emancipatory approach building on a critique of imperialism and capitalism, and solidarity politics based on progressive universal values, was undermined. Finally, coming to terms with the erasure of a left epistemology that had emerged from the region and recovering this very legacy serve as an antidote against historical amnesia. This spirit of a progressive universalism – as, for instance, illustrated in Mahmoud Darwish's rejection of the opportunistic dictum 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' on the grounds that one can readily speak of a 'world's enemy' – is born from the belief that our ethical and moral constellations carry universal value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dissent over what merits preservation and constitutes progress undergirds Alexandria Archaeology's establishment. This program is rooted in mid-20th-century urban renewal. In demolishing several blocks and removing people of color and poor whites from the city's downtown, officials hoped to reinvent this area as a haven for white, middle-class residents and tourists drawn to Alexandria by its historic character. During demolition, a group of concerned citizens noted that bulldozers were removing archaeological resources as well as "blight" in the name of progress. They established an archaeology program dedicated to mitigating these effects. These early archaeological projects privileged some histories, however, focusing on 18th-century, elite, white history instead of on the diverse 19th-century community that had once existed on the blocks. These archaeological collections provide insight into the dissonance of historical interpretation. This article explores how new analyses of older collections give voice to some of these lesser-known histories [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In October 2017, Vienna's Leopoldstadt community succeeded in reinstalling a Hebrew street sign in a public space of the second district. This achievement became possible in large part due to the efforts of an active online community that encouraged many people to share their wish to have visible signs of the former historic Jewish quarter in the present urban space. Through vigorous Facebook and other social media activities, the interest that the group generated put pressure on the city, leading to the support of an art project. The placement of the Hebrew street sign marked a hybrid way of constructing Jewish urban spaces. The dialogue between virtual and physical spaces added new layers to the historic Jewish quarter of Vienna; this way of relational space making is, I wish to argue, paradigmatic for today's Europe as it witnesses the heyday of Holocaust tourism and klezmer revivals. In this article, I investigate this space-making process in Jewish public history in present Vienna and examine how the virtual community frames the way urban Jewish spaces are constructed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the transformative impact of the Documentation of Jewish Records Worldwide (DoJR) project, launched in 2017, on Jewish genealogy. Jewish genealogy, deeply rooted in centuries of tradition and cultural significance, transcends mere ancestral tracing, embodying a comprehensive exploration of Jewish history and heritage. The DoJR project represents a monumental shift in this field, aiming to compile a comprehensive, freely accessible online catalog, JCat, of every existing document of every Jew who ever lived. This endeavor reshapes our approach to Jewish genealogy and profoundly deepens our understanding of Jewish history. This article delves into the historical context of Jewish genealogy, tracing its evolution from ancient times through various challenges, including the Holocaust's devastating impact on Jewish genealogical records. It highlights the pioneering efforts in the field and the modern advancements that have facilitated the growth of Jewish genealogy, including DNA testing and digital technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tracing the ancestral roots of Polish Jews before the introduction of metrical data in 1808 represents a unique and complex challenge for genealogists and historians alike. Indeed, limited official records, shifting geopolitical boundaries, and the absence of standardized documentation practices characterize that early era. Sometimes, however, genealogical sources and records unique to Jews, based on religious daily life and traditions, have subsisted. When available, they open unforeseen avenues into identifiable family histories for which no other record, or personal memories, are available. In other cases, less well-known archival records unexpectedly emerge to elucidate a perplexing genealogical problem. The present article deals with two such instances with a similar starting point, namely, the apparent impossibility of merging two family clusters with the same surname in a given town. The first case deals with two separate KUMEC clusters in the small Polish town of Konskie. Research of this specific case, using limited official records, leads to the discovery of a single-family line dating back to the early 1600s, by means of complementary metrical and rabbinical data. The second case deals with two distinct KRELL clusters in the city of Warsaw, which, after 25 years of extensive but unsuccessful research, finally leads to merging into a cohesive KRELL ancestral line dating back to the early 1700s, by means of a less exploited source of archival records. The present study puts forward guiding principles for searches back to pre-1808 Jewish family history. As such, it should be useful to researchers encountering similar roadblocks in the quest for their Jewish ancestors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Documentary Hypothesis proposed by Julius Wellhausen has sparked discussions for over a century. The core of this debate revolves around the perspective through which the creation of the Torah should be viewed. Previous studies have often neglected the focus on "people". The Torah was created by individuals and was profoundly influenced by the era in which they lived. In this specific study, instead of concentrating on the texts or historical background, we should focus on the "authors" or "redactors", exploring how they processed and created the texts under the influence of their times. In Jewish history, the destruction of the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom played a crucial role in the creation of the Torah. After the fall of the Northern Kingdom, the Deuteronomists, reflecting on historical lessons, formulated a set of legal norms for theology and society, which established theological standards for further interpreting and writing ancient Jewish history. Following the destruction of the Southern Kingdom, Diaspora group and Returnees, centered on reflecting on their catastrophes and responding to contemporary crises, further created and integrated texts of ancestral traditions and the Promised Land, embedding the historical memory of ancestors-land for the Jewish people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article highlights the often overlooked history of the Jewish community in North Wales and the recent efforts to study and preserve their heritage. Academic works, exhibitions, guided walks, and mapping projects have been undertaken to raise awareness and understanding of Welsh-Jewish history. Bangor University is working to digitize Welsh Jewish heritage and create a comprehensive database of archival resources. Three new books have been published that provide valuable insights into the Welsh Jewish experience, including the experiences of Jewish refugees during World War II. These publications contribute to the growing study of Jewish history in Wales and lay the groundwork for future research. [Extracted from the article]

The article focuses on the significance of advertisements in historical Jewish press as a window into everyday life and major themes of Jewish history, including nationalism, social and economic situations, and cultural choices. It discusses three readings of advertisements which contribute to understanding various aspects of Jewish history, encompassing consumer identity, occultism, and the economic, cultural, and religious history of Jews in different contexts.

This essay focuses on Jewish practical kabbalistic books of recipes that were produced in early modern East-Central Europe. These handwritten sources document the Jewish engagement with practical forms of expertise, which were informed by the theoretical foundations of kabbalistic knowledge. Through two case studies, the article highlights Jewish vernacular ideas about nature and matter, and the techniques used to transform these ideas into practical things during the early modern period. It also explores the phenomenon of recording these ideas and methods in the form of practical kabbalistic books of recipes, which serve as a prime example of practical episteme. In so doing, the article sheds light on the significance of kabbalistic theosophy and practical kabbalistic traditions, particularly those developed in East-Central Europe, in the broader history of Western European knowledge production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Specula is the property of SPECULA UCV and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article reports on two books about German-Jewish history: "Germany from a Jewish Perspective" by Shulamit Volkov and "Antisemitism: A German History" by Peter Longerich. Both books discuss the history of German Jews and their connection to German history. It is emphasized that antisemitism can be found not only in right-wing circles but also in the political left and among climate activists. The books offer a differentiated view of the history of Jew-hatred and show how the perception of German Jews was influenced by epochal upheavals. Longerich's diagnosis that antisemitism is "among us and seemingly ineradicable" remains a sad reality. [Extracted from the article]

This article discusses Tzvi Avni's Second Piano Sonata, Epitaph, a sonic commentary on one of the inner tales in Rabbi Nachman's "The Seven Beggars". Written between 1974 and 1979, Epitaph not only marks the composer's act of translation (from words into music and from a textual tale into a wordless and semantically unmarked piano sonata) but also his very turn to ethnographic sources that defied their negative function in a national territorial culture that vilified otherness while separating art from ethnography. Avni's turn to Rabbi Nachman was part of a bigger shift that saw composers' dialectical returns to Jewish histories and cultures that were previously repressed from a national culture which dehistoricized the Diaspora to the point of rendering the times and cultures of diasporic Jews a single temporality—ahistorical, contextless, and outside the teleological time of Zionism. With the (re)introduction of diasporic temporalities, non-redemptive poetics became an affordance in the music of Avni or Andre Hajdu (who is also discussed here) while steadily muting the territorial tropes that constituted Hebrew culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article seeks to clarify the methodology of Jewish legal history and illustrate how the historical examination of Jewish law serves as a valuable tool to discern the distinctive character of the early modern period. Principal elements of the analysis are the role of Jewish law in communal governance, its relationship to civil legislation, and its responsiveness to social and economic challenges. Communal autonomy, a hallmark of the early modern Jewish community and its self-governing institutions, had well-established roots in the medieval period, but it was only in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, in the post-Westphalia (1648) era, that its distinctive legislative and judicial features were fully developed and widely adopted. The participation of rabbinic authorities in communal government and their consultative role alongside lay governing officials was of particular importance. As unofficial jurisconsultants, they provided guidance on matters of legislation, when a legal ambiguity required clarification, or when litigation involving the community was pending. Poskim (halakhic decisors) were asked to review and, in some instances, interpret communal bylaws. Important new trends in legal decision-making in areas of dispute resolution and judicial discretion and the devising of legal remedies to ease social or economic difficulties provides valuable illustrations of responsiveness to social and economic change. Legal activism is especially notable in areas of law relating to the rights of women regarding inheritance and marital property. Despite lay hegemony in community affairs, religion continued to be a potent force in civil government and legislation, and there was a far greater degree of cooperation between the lay and rabbinic authorities than has been previously assumed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rabbi Yehoshua Heschel Rabinowitz (1860–1938) was one of the first Hasidic rebbes of stature to come to America. An Orthodox Jewish leader and author with uncommon historical consciousness, he strove to revitalize religion as an existentially vital facet of being. Keenly attuned to the complexities of moments of transition, he reflected on his own experience of migration. His response to modernity differs from that of most traditionalist communal leaders of his day—both those who stayed in Europe and those who came to America. In the New World, now in his sixties, his understanding of Jewish history and the ongoing transformation of modern Jewish society and self continued to evolve as contemporary challenges demanded new responses. His life and works— written in Hebrew in a strikingly modern idiom—add important dimensions to the story of Hasidic migration, resettlement, and spiritual revival during a volatile historical era. Retracing his long path from Ukraine to New York, from the “valley of slaughter” to the goldene medina, through close readings of ego-documents and other resources that have received little attention to date, this paper considers his importance as a Hasidic figure worthy of note [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Ethiopian Jews of the Beta Israel community are unique in the annals of Jewish history. The community maintained its Jewish identity and devotedly upheld observance of the mitzvot, even in the face of grave physical and spiritual difficulties and unrelenting attempts to persuade them to abandon their religion. Yet, their traditions diverge significantly from the accepted Rabbinic halakhic tradition that is the norm in Israel. This paper examines Yom Kippur observances and describes key differences between the Beta Israel tradition, which reflects the centrality of atonement, and the Rabbinic tradition, which reflects the centrality of repentance. These distinctions stand as manifestations of a set of profound differences within the very consciousness that animates the two traditions. Discussion, using the works of thinkers like Rabbis Joseph B. Soloveitchik, his disciple, Prof. Rabbi David Hartman, and Ethiopian sages, will focus on the more theocentric Beta Israel tradition, in which individuals are perceived, and perceive themselves, as a part of a collective, in contrast to the Rabbinic tradition, which places a greater emphasis on the agency of the individual and human reason. We will highlight the difference between the concepts of "repentance" and "atonement" that are at the root of the two communities' theologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How important is atheism for Jewish history and Jews for the history of atheism? Modern Jewish histories have tended to focus on Jewish secularization rather than atheism, and historical surveys of atheism in the West have tended to neglect the Jewish experience which is subsumed in the Judeo-Christian tradition. It is possible to make the case that the secularization narrative privileges social change over Jewish intellectual engagement with non-belief, and that just as Jewish and Christian conceptions of theism differ, so do their atheisms. Jewish historical attitudes towards atheism are complicated and have shifted over time. Here, skeptical tendencies, that is, attitudes and ideas that would be associated later with atheism, will be considered alongside claims about atheism per se. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the largely overlooked mass conversion of Jews in Spain during the late 1300s and early 1400s, shedding light on a significant but lesser-known event in Jewish history. Topics include the historical context of the mass conversion, the factors leading to it, and the aftermath, including the impact on Jewish communities and the complex identities of the converted Jews, known as conversos.

Our discussion of the Algerian Jewish community's Jewish education during the French period (1830–1939) sheds light on the community's multiplicity of identities viewed through the prism of the Spanish diaspora and French colonialism and sociology. Algerian Jewry's multiple identities during the French period originate in the community's education, both general and Jewish. The Jewish education in Algeria fueled loyalty to one's Jewish identity and heritage and partially knit together the fissures that materialized in Jewish society ever more forcefully in this era of change. This article proposes a new methodological and historiographical approach based upon the examination of diverse sources—from communal and colonial sources to rabbinic, consular, and scholarly ones—using them to present a complete and multidimensional historical picture. Recognizing the many identities adopted by Algerian Jews during the French period is indispensable to conducting balanced and quality research into Algerian Jewry's history. The complexity of Algerian Jews' identity during the French period was the source of its richness and amplitude and a point of contention in the historiographical research of Algerian Jewish history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, a distorted definition of antisemitism that conflates anti-Jewish prejudice with criticism of Israel has increasingly been adopted in U.S. state and federal legislation. The intended effect of such legislation is to silence activists, students, teachers, and workers who speak out against Israeli apartheid and for Palestinian freedom. This article takes a historical approach to disentangle actual antisemitism from legitimate critiques of a nation-state both by analyzing actual antisemitism as intimately linked to ableism and white supremacy and through examining the long history of Jewish resistance to Zionism. Understanding that legislation conflating antisemitism with criticism of Israel is part of an effort to silence teaching about Palestine is illustrative for making sense of broader attacks on decolonial, anti-racist, and gender and sexuality-affirming education. Refusing the conflation of anti-Zionism with antisemitism is critical to promoting antioppressive education and resisting the present attack on the policing of permissible knowledge in schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Previous research regarding the culture and history of the Jewish community in Lublin in the interwar period only to a small extent covered issues related to the nurseries for Jewish children. Since little archival documentary material is available, texts published in Lublin's Yiddish press in the 1920s and 1930s serve as a valuable source. The article discusses particular aspects regarding the nursery run by the Zionist Association of Jewish Women which had its headquarters at 41 Krawiecka Street, in the middle of the Podzamcze Jewish district of Lublin. Analyzing articles written by Bela Dobrzyńska, a local Zionist activist who was also a co-founder of the nursery, as well as other texts, the author discusses issues regarding educational work carried out by this institution. A broader in-terpretative and comparative context for the analysis is provided by press articles regarding the orphanage for Jewish children at 11 Grodzka Street run by the Jewish community, as well as by studies on pedagogical ideas developed in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the events of October 7th, 2023 in Israel, which had a significant impact on Jewish history. It discusses the violence and death that occurred on that day, as well as the failure of the state to protect its citizens. The article also examines the responses to the attack and the criticisms of Israel that emerged, highlighting the complexity of the relationship between criticism of Israel and antisemitism. It raises questions about language, knowledge, and the need for clarity moving forward. The article concludes by emphasizing the importance of recognizing the ambivalence and complexity of Jewish history and the establishment of Israel in order to challenge simplistic categorizations. [Extracted from the article]

This paper brings Jewish American bistog to bear upon the analysis of three major milestones in tbe development of corporate law's.#duciary dutiesjurisprudence: Meinhard v. Salmon (M K 1928), Bayer v. Beran (N K 19441 and Revlon, Inc. v. MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings, Inc. (Del. 1986). Bringing to the fore the background of the Jewish litigants and the Jewish lawyers wbo represented them, I use Meinhard, Bayer, and Rev\on to explore changing cultural attitudes toward Jewish Americans' participation in corporate America (as investors, managers, or their legal representatives). I argue that these cases demonstrate bow our ideas about tbe appropriate purpose of corporations and the duties of those wbo manage tbem, at least in part, were shaped by tbejudiciary's commitment to combating tbe coyporate elite's exclusionag practices. Viewed through the lenses of Jewish bistoty, Meinhard, a case addressing the duties of a manager toward bis co-adventurer, tells tbe story of first-generation Jewish Americans using business and investment to assimilate into New York society. Tben-Cbidjudge Benjamin Cardozo, wbo wrote tbe majority opinion, offers a scatbing rebuttal of the manager's willingness to forsake bis compatriot for tbe sake of proft. Bayer, explicating tbe standard of review applicable in cases involving tbe directors' duty of loyalty, becomes a narrative about bow tbe midcentug New York courts attempted to support first- and second-generation Jewish American entrepreneurs seeking to become members of the managerial class. I argue tbat Justice Bernard Sbientag, who wrote tbe opinion, sought to balance boosting entrepreneurial freedom with assurances to individual shareholders, wbo were typically invested for steady income and wbo bad little control over tbe afairs of their companies, tbat their investments would yield profit. Finally, Revlon, a case tbat symbolizes tbe end of managerialism and the triumph of the shareholder wealth maximization norm, becomes a narrative about second- and third-generation Jewish Americans On tbis case Ronald Perelman. Michael Milken, and Joseph Flom) who turned to tbe stock market to claim a place for themselves among the corporate elite. Tbe wave of hostile takeovers seeking to unseat the corporate establishment tbat these newcomers helped bring about drove tbe Delaware Supreme Court to overhaul directors' fiducia, y duties jurisprudence. Taken together, these cases demonstrate the role litigation bas played in facilitating the integration of lewish entrepreneurs into the ranks of the corporate elite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines antisemitism in Türkiye within the framework of the new media landscape. The objective of this study is twofold: firstly, to investigate antisemitic discourses on Twitter within the cultural and political context in contemporary Türkiye and, secondly, to scrutinize the role of Twitter in this context. The study centers on the tweets and replies of five Turkish-Jewish writers that were collected between 5 November 2021 and 30 January 2022, a period coinciding with the airing of the Netflix original series The Club, during which antisemitic discourses intensified. Finally, this study posits that despite a favorable portrayal of Jewish individuals in the series, the discourse surrounding the historical and political incidents targeting minorities, mainly Jews, that were depicted in the series gave rise to antisemitism. This was expressed on Twitter largely through rhetoric that reinforces the marginalization of the Jewish community in Türkiye. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Primo Levi and Giorgio Bassani represent two of the most prominent Jewish voices of the Italian modern literary tradition, recognized both nationally and internationally. Their literary portrayals of Jewish life and of the tragic experience of the Shoah have undoubtedly marked a new era in the representation of Jewish Italians. Little critical attention, however, has been paid to other Jewish Italian writers from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This essay aims to provide a first mapping of nineteenth-century Jewish Italian writers, while arguing the importance of studying Italy's Shoah narratives within the context of not only Fascism, but also of nineteenth-century Jewish history and the literature produced during the complex process of Jewish integration in post-unification Italy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article traces the meanings and uses of the Hebrew concept mal'akhei ḥabalah [angels of destruction], a common designation for monsters that has been mentioned in Jewish texts for over two millennia. Thus far, scholars have considered mal'akhei ḥabalah only in isolated contexts. In contrast, we examine these monsters' long history, which provided Jews with familiar horror images and figures to visualize and embody experienced and anticipated fears and threats. We argue that Jewish references to them were intended to horrify in order to deter people from sin and to express God's might and authority, thus maintaining religious and communal order in Jewish societies. At the same time, mal'akhei ḥabalah were used to articulate the crises that threatened and challenged the existing social and political order. Although mal'akhei ḥabalah developed within religious interpretations, by the modern era they expanded their applications and relevance for various avenues of Jewish life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Or le-'et 'erev was the most popular missionary pamphlet printed by the Pietist Institutum Judaicum et Muhammedicum in Halle (Saale). This Yiddish booklet garnered much attention among Jews and Christians alike, and it was translated into several languages, including Dutch. One Dutch translation was penned by a Jewish convert who later reverted to Judaism and faced various accusations relating to his translation. This article focuses on that Dutch translation and the largely unknown personality of its author. The translation and its accompanying paratexts are compared with another eighteenth-century Dutch translation of the same pamphlet, thus shedding light on the translation techniques used, as well as the nature of the work and its intended audience. The translator's multiple identities appear in a diverse corpus of documents under several aliases. In his largely unknown Hebrew apologia, Or le-'et boker , which demonstrates a profound knowledge of Judaism as well as remarkable literary skills, he rewrote the story of his reconversion as a tale of repentance and redemption. Despite the idiosyncrasy of this fascinating life story, which transitions between Christianity and Judaism, the translator should be viewed as belonging to a larger group of less-known eighteenth-century Jewish authors and reformers. The members of this group sought to improve piety and religious education among their coreligionists and shared eighteenth-century Christian pietist notions of religiosity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through a close reading of the opening pages of Occidental Eschatology , this paper analyzes how Jacob Taubes relied on Martin Heidegger's philosophy to understand the nature of eschatology. Taubes implemented Heidegger's notions of truth, error, and history from his seminal essay "On the Essence of Truth," (mis)interpreting the essay by ascribing an eschatological meaning to it. This surprisingly allowed him to find in Heidegger a model to come to terms with the Jewish experience of history. In order to fully understand this untimely use of Heidegger's work, the paper turns its attention to the correspondence of Jacob Taubes with his first wife, Susan Taubes. The conclusion asks to what extent Jacob Taubes's uncritical use of Heidegger's thinking plays into the latter's notorious antisemitism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]