bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Ambivalence and Identity in Russian Jewish Cinema
Authors: Gershenson Olga
Published: February 2021

This chapter offers close readings of films that enact conflicting attitudes towards Jews by Russians, contextualizing dilemmas of Jewish identity in post-perestroika Russia. Historically, the representation of Jews in Soviet national cinema has been a litmus test for the Jewish position in Russian culture. Jews have been variously, and paradoxically, stereotyped: they could simultaneously symbolize backwardness or progressiveness; they could stand for emasculated weakness or virile leadership; they could be seen, in short, as heroes or anti-heroes. For scholars of contemporary Jewish cultures, film therefore provides eloquent material for research on identities and their construction and reconstruction. Indeed, cinema is a potent medium in which identities are produced. Rather than being a ‘second-order mirror held up to reflect what already exists’, it is ‘a form of representation which is able to constitute us as new kinds of subjects, and thereby enable us to discover places from which to speak’. Moreover, because of their profound influence on society and culture, films constitute a source of the visual memory transmitted to future generations.
The Delicatessen as an Icon of Secular Jewishness
Authors: Merwin Ted
Published: February 2021

This chapter focuses on the Jewish delicatessen, a recognizable symbol of American Jewish culture. Today, the deli has become so identified with Jews that it has become a symbol for Jewish life in general. Jews and delis are inextricably linked in the American popular imagination. Moreover, Jewish food lies at the heart of contemporary ‘secular’ Jewish identity. Drawing on historical research, images, and representations of the deli in pop culture, as well as postmodern theory, the chapter demonstrates the functional relations between the deli as a central ritual space of secular Jewishness and the ways in which deli food is both commodified and nostalgicized to make the deli a Jewish cultural signpost. Indeed, this symbolic role is increasing as actual delis close, at least in the New York area, where they once were a central feature of the urban landscape and a crucial repository of Jewish culture.
The Domestication of Urban Jewish Space and the North-West London Eruv
Authors: Cousineau Jennifer
Published: February 2021

This chapter looks at how space is domesticated inside and outside the house for Jewish purposes. It considers the consequences of constructing an eruv in London and the controversies that this engendered. Structurally, the eruv (technically, eruv ḥatserot, meaning ‘a mingling of courtyards’) is an urban space whose disparate areas are regarded halakhically as forming a single unit by virtue of the contiguity of its boundaries. Here, the chapter examines the experience of the structure as built, rather than discussing the detail of its planning and construction. Furthermore, it focuses on ordinary Jews rather than on the Jewish leadership, and on women's lives rather than men's. Of methodological interest here is the investigation of space objectively and subjectively by inviting participants to draw cognitive maps of their public and domestic spaces.
Reimagining Home, Rethinking Sukkah: Rabbinic Discourse and its Contemporary Implications
Authors: Lehman Marjorie
Published: February 2021

This chapter re-examines assumptions about the gendered meaning of the sukkah. It points out that this ritual structure, linked to the home but apart from it, forced negotiation between the spheres of the ritual and the domestic. The chapter looks at historic sources to reconstruct the process by which the rabbis dictated the gendering of the sukkah that persists to the present. It looks in detail at the male rabbinic figure Rabbi Yohanan ben Hahorani and at the female figures Shammai's daughter-in-law and Queen Helene in their sukkahs. They are observed as character types used by the rabbis for rhetorical purposes to express elements of their own anxiety about the rabbinic home and all that it represents. In this regard, just as the rabbis ‘think with’ the sukkah in order to think about home, they also ‘think with’ the gendered body that occupies home. Each of these three figures disrupts the expected social relations of husband–wife, mother–son, and rabbi–disciple within the spaces of different sukkah structures, and points to aspects of rabbinic identity-formation.
The Co-Construction of Europe as a Jewish Home
Authors: Schlör Joachim
Published: February 2021

This chapter reflects on the author's experience in Europe where, he reports, the revival of Jewish culture is engineered by non-Jews as well as Jews, and the author ponders the meaning of this co-construction. It draws on the ideas and notions of Henri Lefèbvre, Diana Pinto, Ruth Ellen Gruber, David Biale, and some others. Here, ‘Jewish space’ becomes a point of focus as a co-constructed field of cultural and political activity. This space is examined within the context of the post-World War II period — with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the breakdown of communism, with the peaceful manner in which these events had taken place, with the possibility of a peace accord in the Middle East, and with the beginning of a substantial immigration of Jews from the former Soviet Union into Europe and especially Germany. This period heralded a new era for Europe, in which Jewish life and culture could take part. Not only would there be a heightened awareness of the Jewish contribution to European culture, but also a common endeavour to foster democracy and freedom in the post-communist countries of central and eastern Europe.
Introduction
Authors: Lasker Daniel J.
Published: February 2021

This introductory chapter provides an overview of the historical relationship between Judaism and Christianity, which had not been peaceful. Through the ages, Christian thinkers had made Judaism the object of attack, hoping to convince Jews to abandon their ancestral faith. From the earliest days of the new religion, when Christianity was just emerging from Judaism, Christians sought to demonstrate to Jews that Jesus was the expected messiah and that the doctrines he taught were true. Many Jews did not remain passive in the face of the Christian challenge to their religion. Talmudic and midrashic literature offers evidence that Jews were aware of the story of Jesus as related in the Gospels and basic Christian doctrines, against which they argued. In a later period, Jewish thinkers in Muslim countries polemicized against Christianity. This book therefore studies the Jewish philosophical polemic against Christianity in the Middle Ages. In combating the doctrines of Christianity, Jewish polemicists employed a variety of types of argumentation to strengthen their own beliefs. These arguments may be divided into three distinct categories: exegetical arguments, historical arguments, and rational arguments.
Virgin Birth
Authors: Lasker Daniel J.
Published: February 2021

This chapter explores Jewish philosophical arguments against the Christian doctrine of virgin conception. The Christian dogma of virgin birth teaches that Mary, the mother of Jesus, remained a virgin her entire life, before (ante partum), during (in partu), and after (post partum) the birth of her son. The doctrine was not attacked per se; the possibility that a woman might conceive with her virginity intact, though by means of normal fertilization, is an occurrence which is conceded in the Talmud. Nevertheless, the Jewish polemicists rejected the notion that God could become incarnate by impregnating a virgin and fathering an offspring who was, according to Christian doctrine, God Himself. Hence, the Jewish thinkers rarely offered arguments against the doctrine of Mary's virginity ante partum without reference to incarnation. The denial of incarnation was sufficient justification for rejection of the doctrine of Mary's virgin conception of Jesus. In addition, the Jewish polemicists were cognizant of the fact that the doctrine of virgin birth in partu raised a number of philosophical questions. In their critique of this Christian belief, they argued (1) that the impossibility of the interpenetrability of bodies precluded virgin birth, and (2) that the various images of virgin birth cited by the Christians were not convincing.
Jewish Women in Enlightenment Berlin
Authors: Naimark-Goldberg Natalie
Published: February 2021

The encounter of Jews with the Enlightenment has so far been considered almost entirely from a masculine perspective. In shifting the focus to a group of educated Jewish women in Berlin, this book makes an important contribution to German-Jewish history as well as to gender studies. The study of these women's letters, literary activities, and social life reveals them as cultivated members of the European public. Their correspondence allowed them not only to demonstrate their intellectual talents but also to widen their horizons and acquire knowledge — a key concern of women seeking empowerment. The descriptions of their involvement in the public sphere, a key feature of Enlightenment culture, offer important new insights: social gatherings in their homes served the purpose of intellectual advancement, while the newly fashionable spas gave them the opportunity to expand their contacts with men as well as with other women, and with non-Jews as well as Jews, right across Europe. As avid readers and critical writers, these women reflected the secular world view that was then beginning to spread among Jews. Imbued with enlightened ideas and values and a new feminine awareness, they began to seek independence and freedom, to the extent of challenging the institution of marriage and traditional family frameworks. A final chapter discusses the relationship of the women to Judaism and to religion in general, including their attitude to conversion to Christianity — the route that so many ultimately took.
Jewish Women and the Reading Public
Authors: Naimark-Goldberg Natalie
Published: February 2021

This chapter examines the role of reading in the lives of enlightened Jewish women. A salient feature emerging from the personal testimonies left by the enlightened Jewish women discussed in this book is the prominent place of reading in their lives. These women had at their disposal not only the indispensable skill of literacy, shared by the ever-growing reading public across Europe, but also — thanks to the relative financial comfort which allowed most of these women to delegate housework to others — the necessary spare time to use it, and in most cases no children of their own to make additional demands on their time and attention. Thus, they were able to make reading a primary activity to which they dedicated a significant amount of time and effort. An illustrative account of real craving for books — unthinkable in earlier centuries, especially among women — may be found in Henriette Herz's memoirs. Ultimately, reading served as a source of knowledge no less than as a means of entertainment, and simultaneously fulfilled an important social function, being a prerequisite for social interaction in the modern world, the basis for cultured conversation, and a recurrent theme in learned correspondence.
Between Acculturation and Conversion
Authors: Naimark-Goldberg Natalie
Published: February 2021

This chapter describes the relationship of the enlightened Jewish women to Judaism and to religion in general, including their attitude to conversion to Christianity. One of the most significant features of the act of conversion in the case of these Jewish women is the fact that, for them, it came in most cases at a relatively advanced age, despite the fact that their close involvement with German society and culture had started years before, in their teens or early twenties. All these women, then, spent many years distancing themselves in practice from the traditional Jewish way of life, blurring the borders that separated the Jewish and Christian worlds. During those years, they usually lived as non-observant Jews, who gradually abandoned Jewish practices but nevertheless remained affiliated to the Jewish people. As such, despite the indisputable importance of religious conversion, in most cases, the act itself did not mark a decisive point of departure in either the social life or the world-view of these women. The act of conversion constituted not a sudden leap from one world to another so much as one more step in a continuing process of acculturation in German society and alienation from the Jewish world.
Transplanting the Heart Back East
Authors: Cohen Judah M.
Published: February 2021

This chapter ponders the cultural significance of performances of American Jewish music and musical artists in contemporary European Jewish communities. It explains how performances of liturgical and secular music expressing a European Jewish heritage could nourish the ongoing 'liberal Jewish renaissance' in Germany, such as the appearances of the Reform cantor Rebecca Garfein in Berlin in the late 1990s. It also mentions the 'Klezmaniacs' in Poland and Ukraine in 2000 that awoke enthusiasm among Jewish youth and resentment among their non-Jewish neighbours. The chapter demonstrates how performers were both ambassadors and pilgrims of American Jewish culture. It discusses the twentieth-century American Jewry that used sound to build bridges and facilitated a transnational Jewish exchange.
Maimonides on Metaphysical Knowledge
Authors: Davidson Herbert A.
Published: February 2021

This chapter explores Maimonides' views on metaphysics. Maimonides considered apodictic demonstration (burhān) to be the surest tool the human intellect has for acquiring knowledge, since no one but the ignorant would think of rejecting a demonstration. At the same time, he acknowledges that some issues are not amenable to demonstration and consequently remain in dispute; issues of the sort, in his view, are absent from mathematics, present to a small extent in physics, and numerous in metaphysics. The chapter thus examines what is known about Alfarabi's lost commentary on the Nicomachean Ethics, Ibn Bājja's views on metaphysical knowledge, and the passages cited from the Moreh nevukhim. Then it offers evidence for Maimonides' assertion that the human intellect can have the active intellect as a direct object of thought and conjoin with it. To conclude, the chapter attempts to reconstruct the process whereby man can, in Maimonides' view, acquire knowledge of incorporeal substances.
Maimonides the Rationalist
Authors: Davidson Herbert A.
Published: February 2021

This chapter explores Maimonides' rationalism. It shows that Maimonides did not view human reason as all-powerful. Human reason, in his judgement, is capable of acquiring broad scientific knowledge of the sublunar world and a lesser level of knowledge concerning the celestial region. Maimonides' rationalism sends out tendrils in a number of directions: it governs his exegesis of Scripture and of the non-legal — aggadic — side of rabbinic thought, creates hurdles that he has to negotiate in treating the halakhic — legal — side, leads him to a reconstruction of the early history of mankind, and shapes his conception of the highest form of human worship and human life. The chapter thus explores those subjects.
Introduction
Authors: Harel Yaron
Published: February 2021

This chapter talks about how the Syrian Jewish community as one sector of the variegated Ottoman mosaic experienced the changes sweeping the empire. It looks at the eighteenth-century exposure of Aleppine Jews to western influences. It also notes how the eighteenth century in the Ottoman Empire can be identified as a transitional phase containing traditional and new elements, which eventually gave way to more thoroughgoing westernization and modernization in the nineteenth century. The chapter discusses how Albert Hourani's characterization of the eighteenth-century Ottoman Empire that transitions in both the internal and external balance of power. It analyses the European–Ottoman relationship that had been grounded in military and diplomatic equality.
The Raʿaya and the Machinery of the Ottoman State
Authors: Harel Yaron
Published: February 2021

ISLAMIC doctrine mandated that no dhimmi could exercise authority over a Muslim. One consequence of this was resistance to the incorporation of infidels—collectively known as the raʿaya—in the administrative machinery of the Muslim state. As in other areas, local requirements dictated the extent to which this principle was implemented or ignored; nonetheless, it was enshrined in state law. In this respect, the Ottoman reforms represented fundamental and sweeping political changes for the empire’s non-Muslim subjects. They established, for the first time ever in a Muslim state, official equality for all subjects without regard to religion. This required Muslims not only to make legal concessions, but also to forgo the doctrine of Muslim social superiority, which had dictated the discriminatory attitude towards, and lower status of, the non-Muslim minorities....
‘Ships of Fire’
Authors: Harel Yaron
Published: February 2021

This chapter recounts how Western influences began to penetrate the Middle East in the early eighteenth century. It discusses European ideas that infiltrated the East, which were transmitted by Muslim travellers and diplomats in Europe and by western visitors to the East. It also mentions Egyptian rule that brought the official inauguration of the first foreign consulates in Syria, whose presence fostered contacts between representatives of European Christian powers and the local Damascus population. The chapter reviews the direct link between British Jewry's pre-eminent role on behalf of Middle Eastern Jewry until 1860. It discusses the alliance activity in Syria that had a direct impact on the changed attitude of the French consulates in Damascus and Aleppo towards Jewish residents.
‘The Princes of Israel’
Authors: Harel Yaron
Published: February 2021

The preceding chapter considered the political and religious motivation for activity on behalf of Syrian Jews by the representatives of European states, the British in particular. A significant factor in this engagement was the activity of the Jewish leadership, initially in Britain and later also in France. There is a direct link between British Jewry’s pre-eminent role on behalf of Middle Eastern Jewry until 1860 and Britain’s part in protecting the Jews in Syria. Similarly, the beginning of Alliance activity in Syria—which increased interest among the French Jewish communities in their co-religionists there—had a direct impact on the changed attitude of the French consulates in Damascus and Aleppo towards those cities’ Jewish residents....
Introduction
Authors: Goldstein David
Published: February 2021

This introductory chapter provides an overview of Spanish Hebrew poetry. The revival of Hebrew poetry was a direct consequence of two factors: the residence of the Jews in Muslim lands, and the Jews’ reappraisal of the Hebrew Bible. The Jews of Spain followed their Arabic masters in much of their poetic subject-matter, but they often transmuted it into specifically Jewish material. One encounters often their awareness of the passing of time, of the futility of life, and of the precious quality of the immortal soul. And, above all, one experiences with them their search for the knowledge of God, their sense of dependence on him as the Creator of the world, their consciousness of the relationship between God and the Jewish people, their desire to serve him with all their being, their remorse at their own iniquity, and their torment and their bewilderment at the sufferings of their people. The Spanish period not only saw the efflorescence for the first time since the ‘song of Songs’ of secular Hebrew poetry. It also provided for the first time the framework for the professional Jewish poet.
Isaac Ibn Kalpon
Authors: Goldstein David
Published: February 2021

This chapter focuses on the poetry of Isaac Ibn Kalpon. Isaac came from a North African Jewish family and was born in the middle of the tenth century. He lived a while in Cordoba and spent a great deal of his life wandering from one city to another. His poems are full of complaints against his patrons and contemporaries. However, he had a firm friend in his considerably younger contemporary, Samuel ha-Nagid. The chapter then presents Isaac’s poem A Present of Cheese. The poem talks about a ‘dearest friend’ who gifted the poet ‘a portion of cheese’ At the end, the poet asks ‘And what’s the good of cheese, when I am dry with thirst?’ Isaac died some time after 1020.
Moses Ibn Ezra
Authors: Goldstein David
Published: February 2021

This chapter studies the poetry of Moses Ibn Ezra. Moses was born not later than 1055 and was one of four distinguished brothers from Granada. There is no record of what became of him during the persecution of the Jews in Granada in 1066, but it may have been at this time that he went to Lucena to study under Isaac ibn Gi’at. At all events, one finds him in Granada again when the Jewish community was re-established there, and he gathered round him a circle of scholars and poets, both Jewish and non-Jewish, among whom was the young Judah ha-Levi. His early poetic achievement in Granada received great acclaim. Moses died between 1135 and 1140, and he spent his last years in Christian Spain, longing for the physical and intellectual environment of his birthplace. In addition to his poetical work, Moses ibn Ezra wrote a comprehensive treatise on poetry, and a philosophical work, called ‘The Bed of Spices’
Abraham Ibn Ezra
Authors: Goldstein David
Published: February 2021

This chapter examines the poetry of Abraham Ibn Ezra. Abraham ben Meir Ibn Ezra was born in Tudela. His birth may be dated in 1092, and it is possible that he met Judah ha-Levi in Southern Spain some time before they both left that country in 1140. Abraham Ibn Ezra did not set out for Palestine, but journeyed first to Rome. Subsequently, one sees him in Lucca, Pisa, Mantua, Béziers, Narbonne, Bordeaux, Angers, Rouen, and London. In all these places, he endeavoured to bring the culture of the Spanish Jews to those living in Italy, France, and England, and it is primarily due to him that schools of poetry began to flourish in Italy and Provence, which took the Spanish achievement as their model. He was a master of many skills — a mathematician, astronomer, grammarian, and philosopher, as well as a fine expounder of the Biblical text. In contradistinction to many contemporary Jewish thinkers, he was a firm believer in astrology. Ultimately, his humour and satire bring a new note into the poetry of the Spanish school of Hebrew poets. This must be seen against the background of his religious humility before the Creator, which is expressed in some of his finest work.
A Note on the Translations
Authors: Goldstein David
Published: February 2021

THE POETS REPRESENTED IN THIS VOLUME are considered here first and foremost as poets Whatever their philosophical standpoint, whatever the vicissitudes of their life-stories, and their political or spiritual significance, they are abused if their work is not presented as poetry. This therefore has been my first aim, and it is on this basis that I offer these translations to the public. If I have written bad poetry then I have done the poets a grave injustice....
‘Tradunt Hebraei’
Authors: Salvesen Alison
Published: February 2021

This chapter describes the pedagogical streams and tributaries that preserved fragmentary but precious Jewish teachings in the various corpora of the Church Fathers. It explains the assorted sub-surface channels and teachers that use the narrative materials of the Jews, such as the iudaicae fabulae, and exegetical points that redirected to St. Jerome. Jerome is best known for what came to be called the Vulgate rendering of the books of the Jewish canon of the Old Testament. His own term for his version was the Iuxta Hebraeos, the version according to the Hebrews. This chapter also discusses a large number of lengthy letters, homilies, onomasticon, various anti-heretical works, and a series of commentaries written by Jerome that Christians consider to be the prophetic books of the Old Testament.
Piyut and Midrash
Authors: Fishbane Michael
Published: February 2021

This chapter covers the phenomenon of piyut, which is one of the comprehensive designations of Jewish liturgical poetry and an archaeology of rabbinic tradition. The piyut's major classical and early post-classical creativity spans the fifth to eleventh centuries that originated in the Land of Israel and spread east and west. It mentions the work of Michel Foucault, ‘L'Archéologie du savoir’ and its methodological reflections on the complex relationships between the ‘things said’ in culture and the way their selection or re-combination organizes knowledge from a vast fund of data or the so-called cultural archive. The chapter uses Foucault's insights to clear some paths of approach to piyut. It also focuses on some of the ruptures and transformations of biblical and midrashic literature in the creation of liturgical epics in classical and early medieval piyut.
The Pendulum of Exegetical Methodology
Authors: Japhet Sara
Published: February 2021

This chapter investigates two exegetical methodologies: peshat and derash. In the first half of the tenth century, a new exegetical methodology broke into the world of Jewish learning, a methodology commonly defined as peshat or peshuto shel mikra. This methodology was first applied to the interpretation of Scripture in the eastern Jewish communities under the rule of Islam, but it soon spread to all the centres of Jewish learning: Spain, Ashkenaz (northern France and Germany), Provence, Italy, Byzantium, and their branches. After dominating the field of biblical exegesis for several centuries, the power of peshat methodology began to wane, until it almost disappeared from the world of Jewish learning. The exegetical methodology that dominated the field of biblical interpretation prior to the appearance of peshat methodology was that designated as derash or midrash, which are, more precisely, umbrella terms for a variety of interpretative strategies. The most important feature of this methodology is its extremely liberal approach to the biblical text, with the waiving of almost any boundary.
Midrashic Texts and Methods in Tosafist Torah Commentaries
Authors: Kanarfogel Ephraim
Published: February 2021

This chapter evaluates midrashic texts and methods in Tosafist Torah commentaries. The relationship between biblical and talmudic studies in medieval Ashkenaz is rather complex, and a number of trenchant questions remain. From all that is known about the Tosafists, and as E. E. Urbach's thorough treatment of their extensive literary corpus serves to demonstrate, talmudic and halakhic studies were at the core of the tosafist enterprise. Although the Talmud obviously cites and interprets myriad biblical verses for both halakhic and aggadic purposes and Tosafot passages include a fair amount of biblical interpretation in the course of their discussions and deliberations, the talmudocentric orientation of the Tosafists remains paramount throughout. As the leading rabbinic scholars in northern Europe during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the Tosafists cite a wide range of midrashic collections and perspectives in their talmudic comments. Indeed, the standard Tosafot on the Babylonian Talmud question and analyse talmudic sugyot (literary units) not only on the basis of halakhic and aggadic midrashim that were considered to be contemporary with the Talmud, but also in light of other midrashim whose origins and milieux are later and less clear.
The Ingathering of Midrash Rabbah
Authors: Williams Benjamin
Published: February 2021

This chapter addresses the Midrash Rabbah. When Midrash Rabbah was first printed in the sixteenth century, ten midrashim of diverse chronological and geographical provenance were gathered together for the first time. Although these midrashim had circulated individually and in various combinations long before, there are no extant manuscripts of ‘Midrash Rabbah’ as a tenfold ‘anthology of midrashim’ on the Pentateuch and the Five Megillot. Rather, this composite volume was the product of two intense waves of publication of books of Midrash and aggadah that took place in the sixteenth century. These found focus first in Constantinople and then in Venice. The midrashim of Midrash Rabbah were published in both these cities, and were later reprinted in Kraków and Salonica.
Midrash in Medieval and Early Modern Sermons
Authors: Saperstein Marc
Published: February 2021

This chapter explores Midrash in medieval and early modern sermons. It uses the word ‘Midrash’ loosely to refer not just to statements in collections known as Midrash, but to the full corpus of aggadic statements from rabbinic literature, including the Talmud, hooked to a biblical verse. Despite the impressive work of scholars who have continued to mine this literature for evidence of the sermons delivered during the classical rabbinic period, it is doubtful that the classical rabbinic texts have preserved a single direct and complete record of a sermon actually delivered. The chapter focuses on specific examples of sermons by three medieval or early modern preachers: Jacob Anatoli, from thirteenth-century southern France; Shem Tov ibn Shem Tov, from late fifteenth-century Spain; and Saul Levi Morteira, from seventeenth-century Amsterdam. Since, unlike technical treatises on philosophy or rabbinic law, the sermon is intended for the entire community of Jews, who would hear it in their vernacular language within the context of public worship, it provided an important medium for disseminating the non-legal component of rabbinic literature to those who would rarely have encountered it in formal Jewish study.
The Great Inquiry, 1823–1824
Authors: Wodziński Marcin
Published: February 2021

This chapter outlines the most important episode in the political history of Hasidism in central Poland, the government investigation conducted in the years 1823 and 1824. It clarifies how the investigation showed that Hasidism could potentially become an important element in the government's more general political program for the Jewish population. Once state officials began to connect Hasidism to the broader issue of the Jewish Question, their interest in the movement greatly increased. The chapter also discusses the investigation of 1823–4 that was more significantly influenced by the Enlightenment approach to the reform of Jewish society than earlier investigations had been. A major factor was the active participation of Staszic, who constantly returned to the continuing debate on the Jewish Question.
The Hasidim Strike Back: The Development of Hasidic Political Involvement
Authors: Wodziński Marcin
Published: February 2021

This chapter is devoted in its entirety to an analysis of hasidic political activity as a reaction to the policies directed at Hasidim. It describes the actions of Rabbi Isaac of Warka, the best-known hasidic political activist in nineteenth-century Poland, as a case study for the direct and indirect hasidic involvement in elite politics. The chapter focuses on the nature and mechanisms of hasidic political activism and how little is known of how that activism was perceived within the hasidic world. It identifies the technical characteristics of hasidic political activism and its relationship with the forms of Jewish political involvement in the pre-modern Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. This chapter also outlines how much modern hasidic politics were inherited from earlier forms of shtadlanut and other traditional Jewish politics, as well as how it adapted to modern circumstances.
Jewish Pupils’ Perspectives on Religious Education and the Expectations of a Religious Community
Authors: Müller Christine
Published: February 2021

This chapter presents a case study of the Jewish High School in Berlin — the only Jewish secondary school in contemporary Germany. The focus is on the re-establishment of this school in 1993 and the associated hopes of the religious community, on the one hand, and the religious self-understanding and expectations of the pupils regarding religious education, on the other hand. The chapter begins by setting out current developments in the Jewish educational system in Germany and the hopes that Jewish parents and religious communities have of it. It then gives an account of the re-establishment of the Berlin Jewish High School and its Jewish profile. Next, the chapter presents quantitative data that provide an insight into the religious self-understanding of the young Jews in the school. The analysis focuses on the similarities and differences between young Jewish people from German and Soviet backgrounds. Afterward, a qualitative analysis of the expectations and desires of the pupils in relation to their religious education is provided. Finally, the chapter discusses what, realistically, might be the outcomes of an approach to Jewish religious education that embraces a student community so diverse in religious, cultural, and social terms.
Teacher Perspectives on Behaviour Problems
Authors: Goldberg Scott J. , Krohn Binyamin , Turetsky Michael
Published: February 2021

This chapter reports two studies concerning the role community plays in defining appropriate and inappropriate or antisocial behaviour. The first examines office referrals in a multilingual, multicultural school to determine the extent to which community affiliation influences the point at which a behaviour is considered inappropriate and should be referred to the office. The second study builds on the results of the first by asking teachers from a variety of multilingual and multicultural schools to give specific examples of normal, at-risk, and rebellious behaviours. The combined results of these studies shed light on some of the challenges presented by the cultural and linguistic heterogeneity of Jewish schools. They also suggest positive approaches to managing such issues.
Shabbatonim as Experiential Education in the North American Community Day High School
Authors: Kress Jeffrey S. , Reimer Joseph
Published: February 2021

This chapter focuses on the most common intensive experiential opportunity the new communal and Conservative Jewish day high schools in North America offer — the Shabbaton. The Shabbaton is a retreat focusing on the communal celebration of the sabbath. These Shabbatonim are a distinctive form of experiential Jewish education. Yet despite their widespread implementation and the growth of experiential educational efforts in day schools, they have been given little attention in the educational literature. To address this lack, the chapter draws on experiences in training school-based experiential educators in order to discuss the educational goals of these Shabbaton programmes, the principles of running a successful programme, and the challenges faced by the experiential educators who are charged with planning and implementing these programmes.
The New Messianism: Passing Phenomenon or Turning Point in the History of Judaism?
Authors: Berger David
Published: February 2021

This chapter examines a version of Rambam's twelfth principle of Judaism, which states: ‘I believe with complete faith in the coming of the Messiah, and even though he may tarry I await him each day, hoping that he will come’. This version has served as a source of faith and consolation for generations of Jews, and, in Christian countries, as a central affirmation of resistance to belief in the messiahship of Jesus. However, the past year has witnessed a profound transformation in the understanding of this principle by a major movement located well within the parameters of Orthodox Judaism. This may be a passing phenomenon, but it may also mark a significant moment in the history of the Jewish religion. The more convinced Jews are that it is the former, the more likely it is to become the latter. The chapter then looks at the messianists in Lubavitch, or Chabad, hasidism who continued to affirm the messiahship of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, after the summer of 1994.
The Second Coming: A Rejoinder
Authors: Berger David
Published: February 2021

This chapter investigates the argument that whoever the Messiah might be, once he begins his messianic activities, there is no dispute as to the certainty that he sees the process to its completion without an intervening death, burial, and resurrection. Jews have written numerous works through the ages describing the career of the Messiah. But nowhere does Messiah son of David appear on the eschatological stage only to die and be buried before the end of the final act. The notion that this option existed but was not mentioned in any of the texts whose fundamental purpose was to describe the unfolding of the messianic age defies reason. Since the essence of Lubavitch messianism rests on the claim that the Rebbe had begun the process of redemption and would soon return to complete it, there can be no question that one is dealing with a belief utterly rejected by every generation of Jews before the summer of 1994. Are there sources which make this rejection explicit? Aside from Rambam, Jews repeatedly and vigorously rejected such a belief precisely where one would expect them to do so—in confrontations with representatives of a dominant faith which was partly defined by that very belief.
Revisiting the Second Coming
Authors: Berger David
Published: February 2021

This chapter focuses on the response of Lubavitch rabbi and academic Jacob Immanuel Schochet to an essay by Rabbi Chaim Dov Keller. Rabbi Schochet maintains that Judaism has no objection to the belief that the Messiah will appear on ‘the eschatological stage’ and die before completing his mission. According to him, one may embrace this scenario as perfectly consistent with normative Judaism even though no Jewish source ever envisages it, many clearly reject it, and the abandonment of faith in deceased messianic figures throughout history rested on this rejection. It is presumably Rabbi Schochet's understanding that when Jews argued against the messiahship of Jesus on the grounds that he did not effect a true redemption, they meant to demonstrate only that he was not already the Messiah in actu. Whatever other reasons they had for rejecting his status as ultimate redeemer, they did not intend this argument to rule out the possibility that he could still turn out to be the Messiah. Beyond its inconsistency with numerous sources, this position is further complicated by the critically important fact that most, if not all, Lubavitch messianists do believe that to a very significant degree the redemption has already been realized.
The Spectre of Idolatry
Authors: Berger David
Published: February 2021

This chapter addresses a sentence which appeared in an Israeli publication that moved the discussion of idolatry to centre stage. In Orthodox Jewish circles, there is a widespread genre of leaflets or booklets ranging from one to six or so pages containing discussions connected to the weekly Torah reading, or parashah. After Sukkot, the annual reading cycle resumes with the beginning of Genesis (Bereshit). In that week's issue of Siḥat hage'ulah (‘Discourse on Redemption’, October 11, 1996), a four-page messianist parashah booklet, the standard formula declaring the Rebbe's messiahship appeared in a modified form. One of the regular features of Siḥat hage'ulah is a story of a miracle effected by the deceased Rebbe. In the account published in the Bereshit issue, a beneficiary of the miracle bursts out into thankful praise, declaring, ‘May our Master, Teacher and Creator (bore'enu) the King Messiah live for ever’. The relevant section was reproduced in a religious newspaper called Yom hashishi and caused a flurry of discussion in Israel, with a number of Lubavitch rabbis expressing dismay.
From Margin to Mainstream: The Consolidation and Expansion of the Messianist Beachhead
Authors: Berger David
Published: February 2021

This chapter highlights the importance of the Chabad community and the nature of its messianic profile. The success of Lubavitch outreach is not surprising at all. Its adherents combine deep commitment with an obligation to devote a few years to missionary work. Lubavitch hasidim display no less commitment, and the best of them become missionaries not for two or three years but for the remainder of their lives. Since their target is not the entire world but the Jewish community alone, their impact is swift and abiding. What, then, is the messianic profile of this highly significant movement? The factions within provide dramatically contradictory information to outsiders, so that messianists claim that virtually everyone believes, even if some oppose public affirmations, while the non-messianist leadership contends that the believers are a very small number of mostly marginal hasidim of relatively recent vintage who know how to make noise and intimidate.
Epitaph
Authors: Berger David
Published: February 2021

This epitaph argues that the classical messianic faith of Judaism is dying. Most Orthodox Jews may still adhere to it, but their willingness to grant full rabbinical, institutional, educational, and ritual recognition to people who proclaim the messiahship of a dead rabbi conveys the inescapable message that such a proclamation does not contradict an essential Jewish belief. Mainstream Orthodoxy now appoints heads of rabbinical courts, teachers, and principals who conclude their prayers on the Day of Atonement with the twin affirmations, ‘The Lord is God! May our Master, Teacher, and Rabbi, the King Messiah, live for ever!’ By extending this recognition, Orthodox Jewry has repealed a defining element not only of the messianic faith but of the Jewish religion itself. However, there is still hope that Judaism's criteria for identifying the Messiah can still be rescued from the brink of extinction.
Introduction
Authors: Harel Yaron
Published: February 2021

This introductory chapter provides an overview of the rabbinate, particularly the chief rabbis, in the Jewish communities of the Ottoman Empire. There is a widely held conception that, throughout history, the rabbi was the ultimate Jewish leader and, in the absence of counterbalancing community institutions, had the final word in all matters. For Jews within the Ottoman Empire, the right to appoint their rabbis was part of the autonomy they enjoyed, an aspect of the community's life with which the imperial authorities were not involved. However, the creation in 1835 by the Ottoman authorities of the institution of ḥakham bashi transformed the chief rabbi from the senior religious figure within Jewish society into its senior government official. With this change, the long arm of the government began to reach into Jewish communal affairs, and as a result Jewish autonomy gradually weakened. From this point on, the chief rabbi's relationship with the rulers became the most important aspect of his position. This tendency was strengthened throughout the period of the Ottoman reforms (1839–76), during which security, protection, and equality before the law were promised to members of all religions.
Sadkah Houssin’s Struggle for Control over the Baghdad Community
Authors: Harel Yaron
Published: February 2021

This chapter discusses the struggle between the nasi (president) of the Jewish community of Baghdad — a figure of the old order who joined with the local Torah scholars in order to create a united front — and Rabbi Sadkah Houssin, who was sent from Aleppo to serve as rabbi of the Baghdad community, where he attempted to extend his authority at the expense of the nasi and the other Torah scholars. In Baghdad, the chief rabbi headed the communal rabbinic court; however, his activity was generally overshadowed by the figure of the nasi. The fact that Rabbi Houssin came from Aleppo, a community with a totally different tradition of leadership, inevitably led to conflicts with the nasi of the Baghdad community. R. Houssin introduced various Aleppo customs to Baghdad and strengthened the ties with his own community of origin, leading the nasi to feel that his own status was under threat. The chapter then looks at how the gradual recovery of the circle of rabbinic sages in Baghdad, combined with the renewed stability of the institution of nasi under the leadership of Yitshak Gabbai, prepared the ground for a movement to reverse the changes in community governance made by Rabbi Houssin.
The Appointment and Deposition of Rabbi Yitshak Abulafia
Authors: Harel Yaron
Published: February 2021

This chapter describes the events that led to the removal of Rabbi Yitshak Abulafia not long after he finally overcame the obstacles to his appointment to the office of ḥakham bashi. Rabbi Abulafia's relations with the government were excellent, as were his relations with the leaders of the Christian and Muslim communities. Nevertheless, the rabbi still had to negotiate a path among various groups both within and outside the community. These groups included, on the one hand, the supporters of the Alliance Israélite Universelle (AIU) in Damascus and, on the other hand, some of the more zealous Torah scholars. The chapter then looks at Rabbi Abulafia's tenure in relation to the activity of the Alliance and to the issue of modern education, as this manifested itself with the renewal of the society's activity in Damascus in 1880. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the internal dynamic of religious zealotry in Damascus eventually led to confrontation between the zealots and the established religious leadership — the ḥakham bashi. The relations of Jews with Christians, which had fluctuated during the years since the 1840 Damascus blood libel, reached a new nadir in the early 1890s, expressed in the renewal of the blood libel. Rabbi Abulafia's way of dealing with this problem attracted sharp criticism from his opponents, leading even to acts of violence and calls for his removal from office.
The Appointment and Removal of Rabbi Solomon Eli’ezer Mercado Alfandari in Damascus
Authors: Harel Yaron
Published: February 2021

This chapter assesses the appointment and removal of Rabbi Solomon Eli'ezer Mercado Alfandari as ḥakham bashi in Damascus. At the end of October of 1894, Rabbi Alfandari arrived in Damascus, where the community had great hopes of him. But, great as the hopes were, so were the disappointments. Just two weeks after Rabbi Alfandari's arrival in Damascus, complaints were already beginning to be heard regarding his shortcomings and his comprehensive lack of ability in modern community administration. He was not fluent in Arabic, the language of the country, in which most of the community's business was conducted, both internally and between itself and its immediate environment. Nor did he have proper command of Turkish, the language of the senior government officials. Thus from the outset there was a gulf between himself and the community on the one hand, and between himself and the local officials on the other hand. Members of the community were also troubled by the considerable expense involved in the appointment of Rabbi Alfandari. The Damascus community might nevertheless have borne the cost had it not been for the fact that Rabbi Alfandari became embroiled in arguments and disputes with nearly all the groups around him, both within and outside the community. The opposition to Rabbi Alfandari was of course led by Rabbi Yitshak Abulafia.