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The Resistible Rise of Antisemitism
The Resistible Rise of Antisemitism
Exemplary Cases from Russia, Ukraine, and Poland
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Anti-Semitism emerged in the late nineteenth century as a political movement that swept the masses. It presented a worldview in which a cohesive tribe called "the Jews" conspired to rule the earth by controlling international capital markets, trade, and money lending, while at the same time working to destroy—through revolutionary plots—the very capitalist system it supposedly controlled. It is easy to draw a straight line from this paranoid thinking at the turn of the century to the murderous delusions of fascism in the twentieth century. But, argues Laura Engelstein, the line was not straight. Anti-Semitism as a political weapon had its opponents, even in Eastern Europe, where its consequences were particularly terrible. Jewish leaders who joined forces in various countries and in cooperation with non-Jewish public figures worked for the rights of Jews and in firm opposition to persecution and acts of violence against Jews. In Tsarist and Soviet Russia, as well as in Poland and Ukraine – regions notorious in the West as centers of hatred for Jews – there were also those who saw anti-Semitism as a harmful burden on society and their movement. In the introduction to the book, Engelstein describes the different ways in which Jews were treated through the ways in which one Jew, Maurice Greenfeld, the author's grandfather, dealt with the upheavals of World War I, the Russian Revolution, and the civil war that followed, including the expressions of hostility and sympathy he encountered throughout his life. In the following chapters, she reveals the – sometimes surprising – positions of Russian liberals such as Prince Sergei Urusov, Ukrainian leader Symon Petliura, and Polish émigré in Paris Andrzej Bobkowski. The chapters on the inevitable rise of anti-Semitism thus examine the complex reasons why leaders and intellectuals renounced pogroms and incitement against the Jewish population. Engelstein added a short introduction to the Hebrew edition of the book.
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Either Jewish or Democratic
Either Jewish or Democratic
The Military Government and the Political Discourse in Israel (1948–1966)
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The Military Government was established during the war and operated within the army, but it promoted political and ideological objectives. In July 1948, David Ben Gurion established it as body intended to govern the Palestinians who remained in Israel. Its main objectives were threefold: to facilitate the transfer of Palestinian land into Jewish hands; to exclude Palestinians from the labor market and prevent them from organizing on a national basis. The Military Government promoted these objectives through a bureaucratic mechanism that prevented the Palestinians citizens of Israel from leaving their place of residence without the governor's approval. The supporters of the Military Government were well aware of the fact that its existence makes Israel a non-democratic state. They supported its existence because they believed it was necessary to maintain Israel's Jewish character. The Military Government was controversial in the political system in Israel, but the intensity of the opposition to its existence was sometimes contingent on the partisan and ideological interests of the opponents, both from the left and the right. The book describes the factors that shaped the political system's relationship with the Military Government and traces the changing strength of the debate surrounding it. The book seeks, among other things, to answer the question of whether Prime Minister Levi Eshkol's decision to abolish the Military Government in December 1966 was due to the struggle of the opponents or rather from the recognition that the Military Government had fulfilled its objectives.
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Setting Tables
Setting Tables
Eating, Social Boundaries and Intercultural Transfers
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Setting Tables: Eating, Social Boundaries, and Intercultural Transfers is a first-of-its-kind collection of Hebrew articles exploring commensality and various practices associated with shared eating, whether with acquaintances or strangers. This volume examines how meals—though routine—function as significant normative anchors in different societies and historical periods, delineating hierarchies within and between social groups and cultural categories. Shared eating can occur in everyday settings or in political and ceremonial contexts. Participants may adhere to contemporary etiquette, engage in discussions, remain silent, focus solely on the meal, or manage social impressions. Regardless of time or place, shared eating consistently signifies both divisions and connections, shaping and reflecting intricate social identities. The volume offers a range of case studies, from Assyrian royal banquets through the Roman world, to Jewish and Arabic sources from the Islamic world and addresses current issues like municipal conflicts over falafel vendors in Mandatory Tel Aviv, sustainable consumption at weddings and the rise of personalized microbial diets. It investigates the characteristics of this complex social interaction and reveals the connections between the material aspects of meals and their cultural meanings.
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Neighbors, Neighborhoods, Neighborliness
Neighbors, Neighborhoods, Neighborliness
Urban Life in Mandate Palestine
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Neighbors, Neighborhoods, Neighborliness explores the development of urban neighborhoods established during the British Mandate and their pivotal role in shaping the Yishuv and Jewish society in Palestine. Combining “history from above”—planning and legislation—with “history from below”—the everyday experiences of residents—the book shows how neighborhoods emerged not only through planning policies but also through private initiatives and grassroots community efforts. It examines interactions among residents—immigrants, workers, housewives, and entrepreneurs—and between neighborhoods and institutions, from local committees to the Mandate government. The study highlights how processes of modernity intersected with questions of gender and nationalism, tracing the relationships among diverse social groups: women and men, children and adults, immigrants and native-born Jews, Jews from Europe and MENA countries, and Jews and Arabs. Through its analysis of construction patterns, social dynamics, and communal relationships, the book traces the emergence of “neighborhood citizenship”—a sense of belonging rooted in everyday life that shaped both urban development and the broader social fabric. Neighbors, Neighborhoods, Neighborliness is not only a history of places but of people and communities. It offers new insights into the social cohesion of the Yishuv and uncovers the origins of the social divisions that continue to shape Israeli society today.
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In Two Worlds
In Two Worlds
Zalman Shazar: Biography
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The eighty-four years of Zalman Shazer, the third president of the State of Israel (1889-1974), encompass the great drama of Jewish life from the end of the nineteenth century to the second half of the twentieth century: the growth of the national and cultural movement in Eastern Europe and the Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel, and the establishment of the state and the struggle for its security and beauty. Along Shazer's journey he encountered famous figures such as Berel Katznelson, David Ben-Gurion, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, and his three great loves: Rachel Katznelson, Rachel the poet and Golda Meir. Who was this man? A Hasid who disguised himself as a secularist or a secularist who became a Chabad Hasid? A romantic who met a beautiful goose herder and did not forget her for the rest of his life or a husband who distanced himself from his wife and loved to stay away from home? A deep researcher of the Sabbatarian movement or a politician? Since the founding of the state until the end of his life, Shazar acted as a public figure in the State of Israel, and at the end of his public career he became its number one citizen, its third president. The biography In Two Worlds unfolds the story of his life and discusses the internal tensions and his struggles - between religion and tradition and secularism, between politics and research, between the Diaspora and the Land of Israel, and between the women he loved. Together, these created a unique and fascinating character.
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Sabbatian Songs of Faith
Sabbatian Songs of Faith
Ritual, Community, and Interreligious Encounters in the Late Ottoman Empire
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Sabbatian Songs of Faith: Ritual, Community, and Interreligious Encounters in the Late Ottoman Empire unveils the hidden world of the Ma’aminim—followers of the 17th-century Jewish messianic figure, Sabbatai Tzvi. After Tzvi’s dramatic conversion to Islam in 1666, many of his followers returned to mainstream Judaism. However, a dedicated group followed in his footsteps, converted to Islam, and established a new path, blending Sabbatian, Jewish, and Islamic elements within a distinct Ottoman-Sephardi cultural framework. For centuries, the Ma’aminim maintained secrecy, forming distinct communities (known as the Dönme) and playing a multifaceted role in Jewish and Ottoman histories. This book sheds new light on their social life and esoteric traditions through a comprehensive, interdisciplinary analysis of previously mostly unexamined mystical manuscripts in Ladino, Hebrew, and Ottoman Turkish. It explores their sacred songs, radical theology, rituals, folklore, and musical practices as reflections of communal reality and developments. By placing the Ma’aminim within a broader historical and cross-cultural perspective, Sabbatian Songs of Faith offers fresh insights into religious transformation, intercommunal exchanges, and the interplay between faith, ritual, and popular culture in the late Ottoman world and beyond.
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Ma'arag
Ma'arag
The Israel Annual of Psychoanalysis
12
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MA‘ARAG: The Israel Annual of Psychoanalysis is a democratic, refereed annual publication, evaluated and edited by academicians, intellectuals in related fields, and clinicians. The journal, dedicated to research in psychoanalytic theory, practice and criticism, is the fruit of the initiative and cooperation of the Sigmund Freud Center for the Study and Research in Psychoanalysis of the Hebrew University, the Israeli Association for Self Psychology and the Study of Subjectivity, Israel Society for Analytical Psychology, Israel Psychoanalytic Society, Clinical Division of the Israel Psychological Association, Israel Institute for Group Analysis, Israel Institute of Jungian Psychology, The Sigmund Freud Chair of Psychoanalysis of the Department of Psychology, The Hebrew University, Tel-Aviv Institute for Contemporary Psychoanalysis, The Winnicott Center in Israel and the New Israeli Jungian Association. From this issue: Dana Amir | “ALL LANGUAGES OVERLAP OR SPILL INTO EACH OTHER”: ON REVENGE, PARDON AND FORGIVENESS Raanan Kulka | SELFOBJECT PSYCHOLOGY: ETHICS OF TRANSFORMATION Anat Tzur Mahalel | THE EDGE OF BREAKDOWN: SIGMUND FREUD AND WALTER BENJAMIN ON HISTORY AND REMEMBRANCE Naomi Govreen | MIRROR, MIRROR ON THE WALL: A LITERARY AND PSYCHOANALYTICAL INVESTIGATION OF THE FEMALE SUBJECTIVE EXPERIENCE IN MIDLIFE – SNOW WHITE’S MOTHER AS A CASE STUDY Anat Baram | WAKING UP FROM A DAYDREAM: REFLECTIONS ON CLINICAL WORK WITH PATHOLOGICAL DAYDREAMING Itzhak Benyamini | THE MOSES COMPLEX: FROM THE EMERGENCY CONDITION OF EUROPEAN JEWRY IN FREUD’S TIME TO THE INSCRIPTION OF THE REAL OF LACAN Orna Reuven | “BENEATH THE DESPAIR AND BEHIND THE LONELINESS WE ARE BOTH STILL HERE”: ANALYSIS OF A PERVERSION Chana Ullman | WITNESSING AND ITS IMPLICATIONS IN PERSONAL AND COLLECTIVE MEMORY
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Le marché des biens symboliques
Le marché des biens symboliques
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The economy of symbolic goods is at the heart of Pierre Bourdieu's sociology. In Le marché des biens symboliques , published in 1971, Bourdieu lays the foundation for his theory of the conditions of production and distribution of cultural products. This text is of crucial importance for understanding his later writings on artistic fields and cultural practices. Against the illusion that artworks are independent from social conditions, Bourdieu reminds us that these are the results of a production process that involves not only the individual artist or writer, but a whole system of intermediaries (galleries, publishers, etc.) and institutions of consecration (criticism, prizes, academies, etc.). However, in contrast to the Marxist approach, which reduces works to a "reflection" of class relations, Bourdieu argues that the fields of cultural production enjoy relative autonomy. In this text, Bourdieu constructs the concept of the field for the first time systematically, using Max Weber's concept of legitimacy and his sociology of religion: the symbolic value of cultural works is based on trust and the accumulation of symbolic capital. Bourdieu also combines the concept of the field here for the first time with other concepts that he was developing then - "reproduction," "symbolic violence," "habitus." Drawing on art historians and on examples from empirical research he was conducting, the text also proposes a socio-historical study of the conditions for the emergence of the fields of art and literature as relatively autonomous worlds.
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Iyyun 74
Iyyun 74
The Jerusalem Journal of Philosophy
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Iyyun was established in 1945 as a Hebrew philosophical periodical by Martin Buber, S. H. Bergman and Julius Guttmann and is published by the S. H. Bergman Center for Philosophical Studies of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Iyyun has been rebranded, and as part of this renewal a number of thematic issues are published, aiming to advance contemporary philosophical discourse, primarily in Hebrew, to indicate new paths of thought and lines of original research, and to build bridges between academia and the broader public.‍ Iyyun seeks to give expression to a wide spectrum of writers, and is committed to cultural and ideological pluralism, scholarly excellence, high quality writing, and vitality of thought. This in the belief that philosophical thought has a formative role in local culture, and could be influential in shaping the sociopolitical sphere. The articles in this volume: On the Possibility of Universal Love | Sharon Krishek The Creative Force of Desire in Classical Indian Thought | Nir Feinberg Modality and the Limits of Sense in Spinoza’s Metaphysics | Yogev Zusman A Kantian Approach to Aesthetic Methodology: 'Manner' instead of 'Method' | Moran Godess-Riccitelli Finding One’s Way in Language in Wittgenstein’s Later Thought | Oren Roz Film and the Flow of Life: Toward the Non-Human | Orna Raviv Naïveté and Liberation in the Philosophy of Education: A Conversation with Zeev Degani | Ori Rotlevy Review Probing the Discontents of Identity On Jacob Golomb’s Identity and Its Discontents | Warren Zev Harvey Notes on Contributors
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Israeli Drama on Television
Israeli Drama on Television
From the Beginning to the Multi-Channel Era 1968-1998
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Since the early 2000s, Israeli television drama has become a highly sought-after product in the global TV market. Israel is indeed an intense and dynamic place that offers drama creators a wealth of diverse and compelling stories. In 1971, three years after the establishment of Israeli television, the first drama series in Hebrew Hedva and Shlomik aired—still in black and white—based on the literary novel by Aharon Megged (1953). The evolution of television drama in Israeli television from its inception has not been thoroughly documented until now. This book aims to fill that gap and provide readers with tools for watching, interpreting, and understanding television series in general, and Israeli ones in particular . The story of Israeli television drama in this book is set within broad socio-political and cultural contexts. Drama consistently engages with reality and responds to it in various ways, even if not always overtly. It also addresses the foundational myths of Israeli identity—sometimes reinforcing them, other times questioning or subverting them. Like other popular cultures, it often fulfills desires or offers imagined solutions to the contradictions underlying these myths . Through the prism of Israeli television drama, this book reveals a self-portrait of the people and society—both as they were and as they might've like to be seen .
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The Shekhinah Speaks from a Cardinal's Mouth
The Shekhinah Speaks from a Cardinal's Mouth
"Scechina" by Giles of Viterbo, A Hebrew Translation from the Latin, Vol. 1
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The treatise Scechina is a manifesto of Renaissance Christian-Kabbalistic messianism. The author, Cardinal Egidio da Viterbo (1469-1532), was a preeminent Christian Kabbalist, both in terms of his position within the ecclesiastical hierarchy and in what concerns the depth and breadth of his acquaintance with Hebrew sources. The treatise was composed in exquisite Renaissance Latin and is hereby rendered for the first time into a modern language. The text articulates the voice of the Jewish Shekinah herself, expounding in first person and with profound insight the doctrine of Kabbalah, fervently calling for the completion of the final stage of universal redemption. This redemption commences with the discovery of distant lands and foreign cultures, and its protagonist is Emperor Charles V, whose motto - plus ultra [further beyond] - refers to surpassing the Strait of Gibraltar and medieval knowledge (the Emperor and Pope Clement VII are among the book's addressees). While this redemption is Christian in nature, it emphasizes integration and synthesis with Greek and Roman wisdom, and particularly Judaism. Despite sharp condemnations of Jews for their non-acceptance of Jesus, Egidio's Shekinah lavishes love upon them, especially the Kabbalists, whom she refers to as "my Arameans" and considers as latent Christians. This even extends to support for Solomon Molkho, the Jewish messiah who apostatized from Christianity. Such an attitude towards Judaism did not survive in the Catholic Church in the generation following Egidio, the era of the Counter-Reformation. The translation is richly annotated by the translators, providing extensive commentary and explication. Furthermore, the volume is prefaced by comprehensive introductory chapters authored by Judith Weiss, elucidating the life, intellectual contributions, and literary corpus of Egidio da Viterbo.
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Biblical and Talmudic Medicine
Biblical and Talmudic Medicine
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The book Biblisch- talmudische Medizin , first published in Berlin, in 1911, is a unique life's bringing together a comprehensive knowledge in medicine, Jewish and general sources. The various chapters include a broad review of the world of medicine in the Bible and the Talmud in light of Jewish law, a detailed description of the biological organs, diseases of body and mind, deformities, gynecological and sexual. There are chapters on legal medicine, preventative medicine, health cures and dietetics. The material is also based on in-depth study of Bible, Mishnah, Talmudic and Rabbinic literature, Midrash, the External Books, the works of Joseph Ben Matityahu, the New Testament, as well as ancient and modern legal literature, Likewise illuminating sources from Greek and Latin literature, western medical literature, referencing hundreds of publications from the eighteen and nineteen hundreds were used. The writer Dr. Julius Preuss (1861-1913) was born in a small town in Prussia, in which his parents' house was the only Jewish family. He studied medicine in Berlin and was close to the orthodox Jewish community, where he acquired much of his extensive knowledge in Judaism. Over the years Preuss published over thirty articles on medicine and Judaism in various scientific journals, all the while maintaining a medical practice in the town of his birth and afterward in Berlin. He passed away two years after publishing his book in German, based on his articles. Preuss' book was translated into English by Dr. Fred Rosner (Biblical and Talmudic Medicine) and was published in the United State in 1978. At a conference on Jewish and medical law, which took place in Jerusalem in 1998, the book was quoted and it was indicated that a translation into Hebrew was sorely needed. The translator into Hebrew, Uri Wurzburger, remained loyal to the original German, at the same time expanding the quoted references appearing in the book and adding modern interpretations.
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And Before Honor – Humility
And Before Honor – Humility
The Ideal of Humility in the Moral Language of the Sages
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And before Honor – Humility investigates the moral-spiritual ideal of humility in rabbinic literature, a topic which has until now not been the subject of critical inquiry. Four sugyot (topics of discussion) stand at the center of the inquiry: haughtiness of spirit and lowliness of spirit, the humility of the Holy One blessed is He, humility and irascibility, and the ineluctable tension between the honor of Torah and human dignity. Shmuel Lewis presents a theoretical framework and interpretive approach that fit the unique nature of rabbinic literature and uncover a philosophical layer of thought in texts that have been considered until now merely didactic. His readings tack between close textual investigation and broad conceptual analysis in search of the mutual relations between social conceptions and world pictures. By means of comparison with parallel mutual relations in ancient Greek thought the connections between social conceptions, world pictures and moral ideals comes into view in both moral languages – the biblical-rabbinic and the Greek. The cosmological aspect is approached in the context of the biblical world picture as developed by the Sages in contrast to the Greek kosmos, the social aspect in the context of the beit midrash of the Sages and their relations with people outside their own enclave. The study makes frequent use of anthropological research and applies philosophical methods of social science. This multifaceted approach allows for an overarching view that uncovers surprising meanings in the sources and presents them with a conceptual depth that invites dialogue with parallel discussions in western philosophical discourse.
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Armenian Manuscripts of the David and Jemima Jeselsohn Collection
Armenian Manuscripts of the David and Jemima Jeselsohn Collection
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Armenian Manuscripts of the David and Jemima Jeselsohn Collection is devoted to the five Armenian codices in the Jeselsohn collection in Zurich. Of great importance for Armenian studies and the history of art more generally, they represent various literary types, including biblical, hagiographic, homiletic, and liturgical texts. They also reflect an array of visual and artisanal traditions, connected to artistic centres in the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, Constantinople, and New Julfa, and span a period of over 300 years. A newly identified Sargis Picak manuscript is of exceptional importance for the study of medieval Armenian art, for its images, for Sargis’ colophons, and for a a hitherto unstudied ivory plaque of the Transfiguration. A Ritual of 1586 holds particular importance for scholars of the Armenian liturgy and its development in sixteenth-century Jerusalem. Also presented is a beautiful parchment leaf of the opening of the Gospel of John, studied and published previously by Michael and Nira Stone, and likely originating from a Bible produced in seventeenth-century New Julfa. Two Gospel Books complete this study: one from New Julfa, dated to 1695, and another likely produced in late seventeenth or early eighteenth-century Constantinople. This book was initiated and supported by David Jeselsohn, avid and longtime collector of archaeological artifacts, manuscripts, and Judaica. It was written jointly by Michael Stone and Christina Maranci. Maranci is an art historian and Stone is a specialist in Armenian philology, palaeography and codicology. Maranci bears primary responsibility for research on the miniatures – their art-historical analysis and iconography as well as their attribution, date, and context. Stone contributed the textual, codicological and palaeographical research, including translation of the colophons from the Classical Armenian (Grabar) into English, and catalogued the contents of all five manuscripts.
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The Halakhah as an Event
The Halakhah as an Event
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The Halakha is not just a body of literature; it is also a cultural event. It follows then that the philosophy of Halakha must address the happening of the Halakha. Surprisingly, till now philosophers of Halakha have not addressed this dimension of the event or the happening of the Halakha. The articles in this book are an attempt at facing this challenge. But this is not simple because herein lies a paradox. If the event or the happening is something that lies outside the confines of what is captured in the written word, the effort to write about it is one that must take us on a fascinating journey between what is possible and what perhaps is not. What is the nature of the Halakha as an event? What is the knowledge contained in this dimension of the Halakha that defies conceptualization in the written word? How does the insight that the Halakha is principally an event dramatically affect the philosophy of the Halakha? As we have said, philosophers of the Halakha have not addressed this question before and the authors in this collection – scholars and researchers from a wide range of fields – are all facing it for the first time bringing to it a wide range of tools from fields as varied as philosophy, Jewish thought, performance, cinema, group dynamics, cognition, gender studies and more. Together they offer us a new discourse and framework for conceptualizing the philosophy of the Halakha.
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Ma'arag
Ma'arag
The Israel Annual of Psychoanalysis
9
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MA‘ARAG: The Israel Annual of Psychoanalysis is a democratic, refereed annual publication, evaluated and edited by academicians, intellectuals in related fields, and clinicians. The journal, dedicated to research in psychoanalytic theory, practice and criticism, is the fruit of the initiative and cooperation of the Sigmund Freud Center for the Study and Research in Psychoanalysis of the Hebrew University, the Israeli Association for Self Psychology and the Study of Subjectivity, Israel Society for Analytical Psychology, Israel Psychoanalytic Society, Clinical Division of the Israel Psychological Association, Israel Institute for Group Analysis, Israel Institute of Jungian Psychology, The Sigmund Freud Chair of Psychoanalysis of the Department of Psychology, The Hebrew University, Tel-Aviv Institute for Contemporary Psychoanalysis, The Winnicott Center in Israel and the New Israeli Jungian Association. Few articles in this issue: Merav Roth | FROM “FUNES THE MEMORIOUS” TO FORGETFUL AGNES: ON DEAD REMEMBERED MEMORIES AND THE ALIVE FORGOTTEN Emmanuel Amrami | ON SEXUALITY IN PSYCHOANALYSIS: TWO PHASES, THREE FACES, AND A BRIEF GLANCE TOWARD LOVE Anat Tzur-Mahalel | “WRITING LIKE A DOG DIGGING A HOLE; A RAT DIGGING ITS BURROW:” NARRATIVES OF SEPARATION THROUGH THE PERSPECTIVE OF FREUD’S PATIENTS Rakefet Efrat (Levkovich) Holzer | “YOUR ENDLESS UNRETURN”: MELANCHOLY AND ABYSMAL DOUBLE NEGATION Ayelet Naeh | THE SELF THAT IS NOT ONE: ON THE REFLECTIVE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE SELF AND AWARENESS THROUGH A KABBALISTIC PERSPECTIVE
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The Political Environment of Policy Making in Israel
The Political Environment of Policy Making in Israel
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Is the role of professional policy analysts and advisers simply to send their recommendations to political leaders? The authors of this book have a different outlook. Of course, in a democracy policy making is the responsibility of elected leaders, and therefore “politics” is a necessity of policy making. Indeed, “politics” has received a bad name in many countries, including Israel, due to unfulfilled expectations as well as the behavior of politicians. In this book the use of the term “politics” is completely neutral, based on familiarity with the difficult task that is placed upon the shoulders of dedicated politicians. At the same time, this book proposes that there is no need for policy analysts to transform themselves into politicians, or to see themselves as a sort of “political assistant” to elected leaders. On the contrary, because the fence that differentiates between the two domains of politics and policy analysis is not clearly marked, it is important to recognize the overlapping areas as well as those areas that remain clearly separate. A good understanding of these demarcations is necessary for the professional formation and implementation of policy, and for the strengthening of democracy. This book is intended for those who work in the separate but overlapping fields of policy analysis and policy implementation, as well as for those interested in improving processes of policy change in Israel. The book reviews skills for analyzing the political environment which impact upon the formation of public policy and upon the identification of common areas of agreement that balance between professional recommendations and legitimate political constraints. The ultimate goal of this book is to provide analysis and training so that recommendations for creative policy solutions will not simply remain on paper. The chapters of this book are based on selected case studies about policy making Israel. Learning through the case method is widespread in leading universities in the study of law, business, medicine, and, more recently, in public policy as well. This approach provides an opportunity to learn from the experience of others – real-world successes and failures alike – in order to avoid repeating the same mistakes, and to search for alternate solutions. The book is based on cases developed for the interactive teaching of graduate students at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Ben Gurion University.
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Tiqqun Olam (Repairing the World)
Tiqqun Olam (Repairing the World)
Babylonian Talmud Tractate Gittin chapter 4
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The Babylonian Talmud is the Jewish composition of greatest scope, and its influence on Jewish life is decisive. Jewish sages have devoted more time and energy to its study and halakhic interpretation than to any other book, including the Bible, to the extent that "talmud Torah," Torah study, is mainly perceived as the study of the Babylonian Talmud. Its academic study, in contrast, is still in its initial stages. Critical editions, with the text based on the best manuscripts and an exhaustive and thorough critical commentary, have been published of only a few of the thirty-seven tractates of the Babylonian Talmud. Central questions pertaining to the manner of the formulation of the Talmud, its redaction, and its transmission are still unresolved. This is different from the state of research of other Rabbinic works, the study of which has taken significant strides in recent decades. Critical, balanced, and cautious interpretation of talmudic sugyot (discursive units) will likely illustrate the treasures to be revealed by a scholarly reading of the Babylonian Talmud: illuminating new facets of which traditional study is unaware; the consistent presentation of its meticulous literary fashioning, its contentual depth, and the creative force embodied in this corpus. All these find expression even in sugyot that seem tenuous and bothersome to the traditional student. Tiqqun Olam (Repairing the World) seeks to advance the research of the Babylonian Talmud with an annotated edition of the fourth chapter of Tractate Gittin, which contains various regulations that were enacted "for tiqqun olam." This chapter was chosen for the wide variety of its topics and the redactive methods employed, and for the benefit to be gained from their critical analysis. The widespread study of this chapter in high schools and yeshivot also influences its selection, in the hope it will aid both students and scholars in highlighting his difficulties and in exposing the overt and covert trends of the Amoraim and the redactors of the sugyot. The first chapter of this book examines the meanings of the term "tiqqun olam" in the Mishnah and the Tosefta, along with the structure of the tannaitic units containing regulations "for the repairing of the world" in these two tannaitic works. The main body of the book contains a systematic discussion of these mishnayot and sugyot, using philological-historical methodology, alongside the literary analysis, which has not been sufficiently developed in talmudic research to now. The talmudic text is divided into forty-nine sugyot. For each the book offers a new text based on MS. Firkovich 187, a list of parallels, a selection of textual variants and discussion of their originality, and a commentary. The commentary includes a detailed explanation of the sugyot and an analysis of their strata. A unique attempt is made to glean from within the traces of the difficulties within the sugyot and the dissonance they exhibit the aims of the redactors, who frequently formulated new laws, while devoting sophisticated literary effort in order to mask these innovations, and to impart to the sugyah a harmonious composition. In this book, much effort was invested to reveal the plain meaning of the Talmud, employing the tools of scholarly research - which, for various reasons, are not integrated into the widespread study of the Talmud today. The book undertakes to open a window to the academic world and its methodology, to enable Talmud students to come to know the world of Babylonian Talmud scholarship that is both demanding and profound, but also intriguing, while offering new insights.
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Levinas's Jewish Thought
Levinas's Jewish Thought
Between Jerusalem and Athens
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This book situates Levinas in the pantheon of modern Jewish thinkers, discussing a number of themes that frequently occur in Jewish thought. The author presents Levinas’s oeuvre, which comprises two parts - his Jewish, “confessional” writings and his philosophical, “professional” writings - as a unity. The question of the exact relationship between these two types of writings is a lively discussion in present day scholarship. How does Levinas perceive the relationship between revelation and philosophy, the biblical address and the logos, the Saying and the said, faith and reason? There is a long oppositional tradition which contrasts Athens with Jerusalem, yet Levinas does not take part in such an antithetical tradition. Without reconciling or harmonizing, he belongs to the philosophical tradition as well as to the Jewish tradition. This double allegiance explains the presence of philosophical terms and themes in his Jewish thought and the presence of Jewish words and ideas in his metaphysics. Levinas is presented by the author as a frequent traveler between Athens and Jerusalem and as a great translator from “Hebrew” to “Greek.” However, the relationship between “Hebrew” and “Greek” in Levinas’s writings is not one of prototext and phenotext or of subtext and text, but rather one of a primordial inspirational word and the conceptual discourse. In an inclusive reading, Meir shows that the acquaintance with Levinas’s Jewish writings is helpful in understanding his subtle philosophical analyses and a necessary condition for the understanding of the whole Levinas.
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The Journals of the Haskalah In Mid-Nineteenth Century
The Journals of the Haskalah In Mid-Nineteenth Century
Hehalutz (1852-1889); Bikurim (1864-1865)
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This is the fifth book in the series of monographs and annotated indices on periodicals of the Haskalah. It covers two major Hebrew periodicals Hehalutz (1852–1889) and Bikurim (1864–1865), and addresses major developments in the history of the Hebrew Haskalah in mid-century: the emergence of radical Haskalah in Galicia which found its mouthpiece in Hehalutz, and the contribution of its prolific editor, Joshua Heschel Schorr, who published 13 volumes of his journal. Bikurim, published in two volumes, was edited by Naphtali Keller, and represented the moderate Haskalah and Hochmat Israel (the scholarly study of Judaism). The Indices to the two journals published in this book are cross-referenced, annotated, Alphabetized, and author-and-subject listed. They cover all articles, essays, and scholarly studies on a variety of topics in Jewish Studies, such as Biblical and Talmudic criticism and commentary, questions regarding the Halachah (the religious code), and studies on the Hebrew language, Jewish history, and Jewish education. They also cite newly discovered medieval Hebrew manuscripts, their critique and studies of their authors. Also included are various genres in belles lettres: poems, stories, satires, biographies, and miscellaneous writings such as editorial comments and announcements. All these subjects are discussed and analyzed in the monographs of the two journals. Now, upon their publication, the annotated indices should serve as a reliable reference tool for viewing and reviewing the major topics and issues that occupied the minds of the editors and the writers of these journals in Galicia and elsewhere in Europe in mid-19th century. Readers may now examine the scope and the character of the material published in these journals. Likewise, it is now convenient to assess the contribution of participating scholars, authors, and poets, to the Haskalah literature, and to explore their stand on various scholarly or Haskalah-related matters.
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Economics, Land and Nationalism
Economics, Land and Nationalism
Issues in Economic History and Political Economy in the Mandate Era and the State of Israel
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Translation:
The articles compiled in this volume are studies by Jacob (Kobi) Metzer, which examine economic and political-economy issues in the Mandate era and the State of Israel. Most of the studies were originally published in scholarly journals and collected volumes in English. Their revision and publication in Hebrew under one volume is aimed at making them more accessible to the Israeli readership. The book consists of nine chapters, grouped into three parts. The first part includes four chapters that present the main socio-economic attributes of the Arab and Jewish populations during the Mandate period and examine them in broad comparative frameworks. The three chapters of the second part take up ethno-national aspects of land and settlement in Mandatory Palestine and Israel, and analyze them in comparative perspective. The third part deals with patterns of immigration and employment of Jews as individuals. It contains two chapters. One documents the socio-demographic profile of the immigrants to Palestine in the first decade of the British Mandate, and compares it with the international migration of the time. The other chapter examines comparatively the patterns of Jewish self-employment in the Diaspora and in Mandatory Palestine and Israel, from the early twentieth century onward.
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A Convert’s Tale
A Convert’s Tale
Art, Crime, and Jewish Apostasy in Renaissance Italy
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Edited by:
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In 1491 the renowned goldsmith Salomone da Sesso converted to Catholicism. Born to a Jewish family in Florence, Salomone later settled in Ferrara, where he was regarded as a virtuoso artist. But rumors circulated about Salomone’s behavior, scandalizing the Mantuan Jewish community, who turned him over to the civil authorities. Salomone was condemned to death for sodomy but agreed to renounce Judaism to save his life. He was baptized, taking the name Ercole “de’ Fedeli” (“One of the Faithful”). Drawing on newly discovered archival sources, Tamar Herzig traces the dramatic story of his life, half a century before ecclesiastical authorities made Jewish conversion a priority of the Catholic Church. The book explores the Jewish world in which Salomone was raised; the glittering objects he crafted, and their status as courtly hallmarks; and Ercole’s relations with his wealthy patrons. Herzig also examines the response of Jewish communities and Christian authorities to allegations of sexual crimes, and attitudes toward homosexual acts among Christians and Jews. In Salomone/Ercole’s story we see how precarious life was for converts from Judaism, and how contested was the meaning of conversion for both the apostates’ former coreligionists and those tasked with welcoming them to their new faith.
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Italia
Italia
23
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This series has regretfully been discontinued. Editor's farewell letter. This issue unfolds the fascinating story of the Jewish-Italian historian Gedaliah Ibn Yahya, author of Chain of Tradition and his rich family history, the unique praying tradition of the 18th century Jewish community of Viadana and more. Periodical for the research of the history, culture, and literature of Italy’s Jews. Whoever deals with Jewish thought and humanities knows well how important and influential the Italian Jews were and still are in this wide range of fields. The Italian Jews have been passing on their creative thought and knowledge for generations, in the Hebrew and Italian languages, maintaining a firm methodical tradition which the Italia periodical is researching. The periodical emphasizes the importance of studying the language, literature, culture and history of Italy and Italian Jews. Italian Jews had a strong presence in the European culture from the 13th century and to this day. Documents, manuscripts and many books reveal many remarkable authors and thinkers, Jews and others that had strong ties with the rather small ethnicity of Italian Jews. Even though there are many renowned studies on the contributions of Italian Jews to the cultural making of the Italian nation, there is still a need for a centralized publication of these past and new studies. Italia is an important focal point for an academic discussion on the culture, literature, history and language of Italian Jews as well as a place where one can weigh the conclusions of these studies and place goals for future research in these exciting fields. Italia – Studi e Ricerche sulla cultura e sulla letteratura degli Ebrei d'Italia Studi e Ricerche Sulla Storia, la Cultura e la Letteratura Degli Ebrei d’Italia Dario Burgaretta Sicilia conservata a Messina Alessandro Guetta universale : forme del pensiero ebraico in Italia tra ‘500 e ‘700 ITALIA è la Rivista di letteratura e cultura, di filologia e linguistica, di storia e d 'arte sull' Ebraismo italiano, pubblicata dalla Casa Editrice Magnes, dell'Università ebraica di Gerusalemme. Agli esperti di studi ebraici post-biblici e di studi umanistici, filosofici e storici in genere accade di imbattarsi in una fitta rete di interessi scientifici in cui gli ebrei italiani compaiono, ora in modo preponderante ora marginalmente e di scorcio. La presenza costante dell' Ebraismo italiano nel panorama culturale europeo ha le sue origine lontano nel tempo. Ed è quasi una norma che manoscritti, editiones principes, libri antichi e moderni abbiano avuto e continuino ad avere attinenza, in maniera diretta o indiretta, col piccolo nucleo ebraico della penisola. La Rivista Italia vuole essere il luogo di incontro per studiosi ed esperti interessati a pubblicare ricerche originali che trattino ed esplorino le ancora molte 'terre incognite' dell'ebraismo italiano, in tutti i momenti della sua storia. Italia si propone di ampliare il suo raggio di influenza e il suo ruolo guida nella ricerca scientifica sull'Ebraismo italiano in Israele e nel mondo. La Rivista esce una volta all'anno con articoli in ebraico, italiano, inglese e francese. È possibile ordinare i numeri arretrati della Rivista Italia (20 volumi pubblicati) presso la Mangnes University Press di Gerusalemme.
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Jerusalem Studies in Jewish Thought
Jerusalem Studies in Jewish Thought
Hekhalot Zutarti
Supplement 1
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Hekhalot Zutarti or 'Lesser Hekhalot' is one of the fragmentary mystical documents of the various texts comprising the Hekhalot literature and indeed has long been considered one of the earlier examples. The first reference to this text which until now has never been completely published, is found in the tenth century 'Responsum' of Rav Hai Gaon, the head of a Babylonian academy, citing the well known Talmudic fragment of the Treatise Hagigah relating to the dangers of mystical practice . Hai Gaon has written: "There are two myshnayot that the Tanaim are teaching in that matter and they are called Hekhalot Rabbati and Hekhalot Zutarti and that is well known. About these contemplations said the Tana, "four entered the orchard" it is also explained in that Baraita, Rabbi Akiva spoke to them "When you come to the place of the pure marble plates then do not say: Water, Water'. In Hekhalot Zutarti it is said: the entrance of the sixth palace looks like thousands and ten thousands of waves of water but there is not one drop of water only an air of splendor from the pure marble paving stones with an appearance like unto water". Except for this quote relating to the gate of the sixth palace which gives us our only textual touchpoint as to the indentity of the text, we possess no further positive evidence as to its contents, its beginning or its end, its character or its form. In the principal manuscripts of the Hekhalot Literature we do not find a text entitled Hekhalot Zutarti. The true identity of the text should be questioned since its existance is based on such slender evidence. A. Jellinek was the first to suggest that certain fragments of Oxford manuscript 1531 is Hekhalot Zutarti. This identification together with its parallels in other manuscripts, has been accepted in a l l subsequent research. The survey of the manuscripts containing the Hekhalot tracts does not verify this arbitrary assumption since the passages containing Hekhalot Zutarti, according to Jellinekfs suggestion , do not present a continuous composition or a textual unit but rather a conglomeration of somewhat related bits and pieces . In the Hekhalot Zutarti as identified by Jellinek there are several different strata of Merkaba tradition unrelated as to author, chronological date of writting , and of form. We find about ten non successive passages a l l beginning with the words ״Rabbi Akiva spoke:" There is no continuous plot to bind these fragments as a whole and further in the Hekhalot literature we find many other and similar paragraphs which are also attributed to Rabbi Akiva. There are other portions of Hekhaloth Zutarti which can be found in some texts comprising the Hekhalot literature such as: "Shiur Quoma", Sar Torah", "Metatron", "Ezekiel's Chariot" and the long lists of secret names of the Deity and his wardens. The editorial considerations, therefore , for including each particular passage in Hekhalot Zutarti are not readily appearent and the compilation of these fragments in to a structural whole must seriously be questioned. This author sees them as most probably representing various mystical traditions from different circles of Yordi Merkava, copied in a haphazard manner with no attempt to attain textual unity . Hekhalot Zutarti should not be considered as an unfolding narrative or book but rather different forms of literature which grew from a nucleus of idea , situation , or perhaps a true mystical experience and to which has been grafted, with the passing o f time, other similiar traditions and new material. If these passages must be seen- as a unit, then their nucleus must be the well known archtypical mystical experience of Rabbi Akiva - the four who entered the orchard - since their uniqueness is obviously founded on the visionary experience. However, it is doubtful that at any time these parts were truly compiled together in a more coherent manner than we now possess. It has been accepted in previous research that Hekhalot Zutarti is the oldest text of this literature , however, no philological analysis has ever been attempted to prove this the thesis.Taking into consideration the nonhomogeneous character o f the text as described above, no generalization as to the antiquity of the text as a whole should be made. Several negative generalizations can be infered , to wit: Hekhalot Zutarti does not reflect a specific time or historical occurance; it is lacking any eschatological orientation or apocalyptical characterizations as found in other texts of Hekhalot literature; and, it is lacking any literary framework binding its various parts. Perhaps the only true connecting link , excepting the central position of Rabbi Akiva, is the importance stressed on the mystical meaning inherent in the secret and sacred names of the Deity. This critical edition of Hekhalot Zutarti is based on the Jewish Theological Seminary manuscript 8128 and the different variations as found in the other major manuscripts, it also contains the abridged contents and detailed notes, and includes an introduction dealing with the various aspects and problems as outlined in this summary.
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Until Elijah Comes
Until Elijah Comes
The Portrayal of Elijah the Prophet in Tannaitic Literature
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Elijah the Prophet is a remarkably impressive figure whose life is full of dramatic moments: the decree to stop the rain, the fierce tension with King Ahab and Queen Jezebel, the war on idolatry which had its climax on Mount Carmel with the killing of the prophets of Baal, God’s revelation at Horeb, the ascent to heaven in a chariot of fire, etc. These episodes sparked the imagination of readers and commentators, thinkers and artists, who continued to study the figure of Elijah throughout the generations. The book Until Elijah Comes: The Portrayal of Elijah the Prophet in Tannaitic Literature is an examination of Elijah’s multi-faceted character as reflected in Tannaitic sources, the earliest stratum of rabbinic literature. Adiel Kadari presents an in-depth analysis of the major issues related to Elijah the Prophet in the intellectual world of the sages, such as the principles and limits of halakhic discourse, messianism and eschatology, religious and political zealotry, the phenomenon of prophecy and the question of its persistence in the post-biblical era, and the relationship to history, religious piety and asceticism. The analysis of Elijah in this volume is rooted in philological studies concerning the origin and transmission of the text, and branches out to an examination of ideological aspects and worldviews. The synthesis of various approaches employed in the study of rabbinic literature yields a rich and variegated discourse. The book’s various chapters reveal the tremendous importance of Elijah in the eyes of the sages, as well as the exegetical and ideological struggles over the shaping of his image.
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Sifre on Numbers: An Annotated Edition
Sifre on Numbers: An Annotated Edition
Volume 4
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Sifre is a Tannaitic midrash on the book of Numbers, and is rightfully considered to be one of the fundamental assets of our ancient literature. Its previous edition was published about hundred years ago by R. Hayyim Shaul Horovitz. Since then, additional manuscripts have been discovered of Sifre, its first commentators, and medieval collections and midrashim that cite it. This was accompanied by the significant development of the methodological conceptions of the study of the Rabbinic literature, and of the ways to publish critical editions of this literature. All these factors justify the publication of a new scientific edition of this midrash . The text of the new edition, that is based on MS. Vatican 32, includes many versions that differ from the earlier version, and that occasionally shed new light on the exegeses and halakhot of the Sifre. It is accompanied by the scholarly apparatus that lists and explains all of the edition's changes from the version of MS. Vatican. The number of direct and indirect textual witnesses presented in the "Textual Variants" section of the new edition is twice, and at times even triple, the number of textual witnesses that were available to Horowitz. In the detailed commentary on the expositions in Sifre, I made considerable use of all the Sifre commentators who preceded me, and who made a decisive contribution to the literal explanation of the midrash's exegeses and the clarification of their meaning. Thanks, however, to the diverse textual witnesses available to me and the great progress made in recent generations in the study of the language and teachings of the Tannaim, I believe that I have succeeded in recreating the original version of many expositions, in giving them a new and straightforward explanation, and in advancing the research of their redaction . The edition is intended, first and foremost, for the scholars, in Israel and throughout the world, who are engaged in the research of all aspects of the Rabbinic literature. Additionally, the new edition will likely aid the community of Torah scholars who teach and study in yeshivot, and the educated public at large. The first half of the work, comprising the portions of Naso and Beha'alotekha, was published by Magnes Press in 2011. Contents Part I: The Edition Volume 1 Preface Symbols of the textual witnesses of Sifre on Numbers List of symbols in the edition Introduction Editing rules for the text and the accompanying scholarly apparatus Textual variants Parallels passages in Talmudic literature The commentary Edition of Sifre on Numbers, portions of Naso and Beha'alotekha (the base text, and below it: 1. Scholarly notes to the base text; 2. Talmudic parallels; 3. Textual variants) Volume 2 Preface Edition of Sifre on Numbers, portions of Shelach till Masei (the base text, and below it: 1. Scholarly notes to the base text; 2. Talmudic parallels; 3. Textual variants) Part II Commentary on Sifre, Piska‛ot 1-58 (portion of Naso) Part III Commentary on Sifre, Piska‛ot 59-106 (portion of Beha'alotekha) Part IV Commentary on Sifre, Piska‛ot 107-161 (portions of Shelach – Masei ) List of abbreviations of the primary sources and the scholarly literature Indices
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Past Issues and Their Current Revivals
Past Issues and Their Current Revivals
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Almost all of the articles in this collection were published between 1971 and 2010, but they have been updated to 2015, following the re-emergence of old controversies. The parties to the controversies include secular Jews, modern Orthodox-nationalist Jews, Orthodox Jews, and extreme-Orthodox (Haredi) Jews. In the Introduction, some controversies among the Pharisees, the forerunners of the Sages, and the adducees are discussed. The Sadducees held ancient, mostly literal, interpretations of the Hebrew Bible and of the oral traditions, whereas the Pharisees offered new interpretations in order to meet the needs of their day. The religious problems were raised in Israel after 1967, when large numbers of Russian immigrants entered the country, since many of them were not Halachically Jewish. The Chief Rabbinate could not cope with their numbers because of the lengthy conversion procedure. The solution offered here is to permit civil marriage, that will also facilitate swifter conversion procedures. In the articles, “Sharing the Burden,’’ and “The Torah is his Art,” the demand of the Haredi community that yeshiva (religious academy) students should be exempt from army service and from working in order to support their families is refuted. The article proves that this demand absolutely negates the position of the Sages. In “Sharing the Burden,” and in “Ze’ev Jabotinsky and Socialism,”the preferable economic and political regime in Israel is discussed. The alternatives were: a free and competitive Capitalistic market system, or a Socialistic / Communistic one. The author expresses support for the free, open market. The article, “The Sabbatical Year” (Shemittah), during which the fields must be left fallow, points out that this agricultural regulation was designed to prevent the impoverishment of the soil. For the same reason, it was also practiced by the Romans. Today, however, other means of preventing this exist, and therefore it is no longer necessary. The formal permission to sell crops of the seventh year issued by Chief Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook improved the condition of the farmers during that year, but the position of Rabbi Yehudah Ha-Nasi (the Patriarch) should be adopted instead; the interdiction of the working of the soil in the seventh year should be cancelled absolutely. The article, “Women are Light-Minded,. ” analyzes the condition and position of women in Israel, and compares them with the attitude towards women in ancient Greece and Rome. The article on “The Deserted Wife (Agunah; Who Cannot Remarry)” discusses divorce and the condition of a wife deserted by her husband in the ancient and modern worlds. It seems, unfortunately, that the interpretation of the Sages still prevails today. The discussion of “The Transfer of Land to Gentiles” clarifies the halachic aspects of this issue, and rejects the interpretation of Orthodox and Ḥaredi rabbis that is summarized in the saying, “The saving of life takes precedence over the [retention of the] land.” The article, “The Rebellions,” argues that one must examine the political and military situation in the world at the time of the Sages before defining his attitude towards the Jews who rebelled against Rome. In the article on “Vegetarianism,” the error of the Sages in understanding the words of the Torah concerning the diet of Adam, the first man, is discussed. The Sages thought that Adam was a vegetarian. This misinterpretation serves the adherents of vegetarianism today. Apart from stressing the moral aspect of killing animals in order to eat their flesh, the vegetarians claim that vegetarianism is healthy, and that it can supply food for an increasing world population, whereas the raising and consumption of animals cannot. The collection’s last article, “Paul and the Jewish-Christian Dialogue,” analyzes the expressions that the New Testament attributes to Paul, and their apologetic interpretation by Christian scholars. The author concludes that there is no place for a Jewish-Christian dialogue as long as the Christians embrace the anti-Jewish arguments of Paul.
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Studies in Jewish Education
Studies in Jewish Education
Speaking in the plural - The Challenge of Pluralism for Jewish Education
14
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The use of the term “pluralism” has become widespread in the context of Jewish education. The articles in this volume are a contribution to our understanding as researchers and educators, and to the development of a language which can deepen educational and research discourse. The volume seeks to mark out some of the educational dilemmas, possible educational aims as well as some of the costs and benefits that arise from the encounter between Jewish education and pluralism. A number of articles contain reflections on the idea of pluralism, making conceptual distinctions between pluralism and related themes such as tolerance and relativism. Articles in the philosophical section of the book propose a basis for the connection (or opposition) between Jewish education and pluralism. The book’s next main section – one that focuses on theory and pedagogy - proposes educational theories concerned with pluralism and discusses their pedagogical potential. It also includes the reflections of practitioners whose work, in a variety of educational settings, is animated by a commitment to pluralism and, at the same time, is challenged by it. The last section of the book brings together empirical studies that describe and analyze the practices of pluralistic Jewish education. Bringing together these studies, which represent a wide range of disciplines and approaches, brings into focus the multiple ways of describing and analyzing the expression of, and responses to, pluralism in Jewish education in Israel and abroad .
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Self-Remaking
Self-Remaking
New Perspectives on Setting Out and Self-Direction
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Translation:
Moshe Caspi is the founder of the first Experimental School in Jerusalem and of the Chofen Institute for Open Experimental Education at the David Yellin Academic College of Education, Jerusalem. He was among the first to draw up the guiding principles for experimental education in Israel. Caspi teaches a different way of learning. He envisions a process where the student - the Self-Remaker - opens up to personal change, and moves along this path with curiosity, love of learning, creativity and humor. In order to do so, Caspi explains how to combine the refreshing and innovative vision of the child with adult qualities such as discipline and control. In this way, the Self-Remaker can achieve a greater degree of independence, and a whole new level in applying and implementing his ideas in all areas of human activity. The work of Self-Remaking can be carried out within a group framework or on an individual basis. This book offers practical suggestions which can be applied within learning frameworks, for individuals or groups, in order to enrich the learning encounter, and to change the way the student (and the facilitator) perceives the world. The reader is invited to investigate professional and personal wishes and preferences, and to develop a unique "User's Manual," a handbook which will accompany him throughout his life's journey. The material is explained with Professor Caspi's characteristic blend of insight and humor. The book presents elements of Caspi's teaching which have been published in the past in his many books in Hebrew, together with newer ideas developed by the author more recently. Self-Remaking reflects Caspi's entire life's work in this field. The wisdom of children is demonstrated through examples presented in the final section of the book, translated from Moshe Caspi's work: Children’s Wisdom - Cosmic Starlight: - from the gray world of adults to the magical journey of the child, published in Hebrew by Mofet in 2013.
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The Journals of the Haskalah 1820 to 1845
The Journals of the Haskalah 1820 to 1845
Monographs and Annotated Indices To Eight Hebrew Periodicals In Holland, Galicia and Lithuania
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The Journals of the Haskalah from 1820 to 1845 includes monographs and annotated indices to eight Hebrew periodicals in Holland, Galicia, Germany and Lithuania, published in the first half of the nineteenth century. The monographs analyze the phenomena of the Hebrew Haskalah press, addressing major developments in the history of the Haskalah, such as the emergence of ‘Hochmat Israel’ (The scholarly study of Judaism) in Hebrew, and the emerging centers of Haskalah in Holland, Galicia, and Lithuania. The monographs study the journals and their editors, contributing authors, and the subject matters included in them, and examine their scholarly and literary output. Some of the luminary scholars of the Haskalah contributed to these journals: Shmuel David Luzzatto, Shlomo Yehuda Rapoport, Nachman Krochmal, and Marcus Jost, as well as authors and poets, such as Yitzhak Erter, Shmuel Mulder, Meir Halevi Letteris and Adam Hacohen Lebenson. ‘Hevrat To’elet’ (To’elet Society), established in 1815, published three of the journals: Bikurei To’elet (First Fruits of To’elet, 1820), Pri To’elet (Fruit of To’elet, 1825), both edited by Shmuel Mulder, and Bikurei Hashanah (First Fruits of the Year, 1844), edited by Gabriel Pollak. in 1823/4, the author and editor Meir Halevi Letteris issued the journal Hatzfirah (Dawn). In the early 1840s, two scholars of the German school of the Study of Judaism, Marcus Jost and Michael Creizenach, launched a Hebrew monthly publication in Frankfurt titled Zion (1841–1842). In 1842 and 1844, two Vilna Maskilim, Shmuel Yoseph Fünn and Eliezer Lipman Horowitz, published the journal Pirhei Tzafon (The Northern Flowers). In 1844, Mendel Stern published one issue of Sefer Bikurei Ha’itim (The Book of The First Fruits of the Times), and a year later, in 1845/6, Yitzhak Shmuel Reggio and Israel Busch issued a one-time periodical titled Bikurei Ha’itim Hahadashim (The New First Fruits of the Times). This book is the fourth volume in the series of monographs and annotated indices of Hebrew Haskalah periodicals. It follows the publication of the monographs and annotated indices on Kerem Hemed, titled Kerem Hemed: ‘Hochmat Israel’ [The Scholarly Study of Judaism] As the ‘New Yavneh,’ the Hebrew Journal of the Haskalah in Galicia and Italy (1833–1856), in 2009, and previously on Bikurei Ha’itim, titled Bikurei Ha’itim – Bikurei Hahaskalah [The First Fruits of Haskalah], the Hebrew Journal of the Haskalah in Galicia (in 2005), and the publication of Hame’asef Index and monograph – Sha’ar Lahaskalah [The Gate to Haskalah]: An Annotated Index to Hame’asef, the First Hebrew Periodical (1783–1811), in 2000, by Magnes Press. The annotated indices should serve as a reliable reference tool for viewing and reviewing the major topics and issues that occupied the minds of the editors and the writers of these journals. Readers may now examine the scope and the character of the material published in these eight journals. Likewise, it is now convenient to assess the contribution of participating scholars, authors, and poets, to the Haskalah literature, and to explore their ideological stand on various scholarly or Haskalah-related matters. Association of Jewish Libraries’ Judaica Bibliography Award 2014
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Either Jewish or Democratic
Either Jewish or Democratic
The Military Government and the Political Discourse in Israel (1948–1966)
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The Military Government was established during the war and operated within the army, but it promoted political and ideological objectives. In July 1948, David Ben Gurion established it as body intended to govern the Palestinians who remained in Israel. Its main objectives were threefold: to facilitate the transfer of Palestinian land into Jewish hands; to exclude Palestinians from the labor market and prevent them from organizing on a national basis. The Military Government promoted these objectives through a bureaucratic mechanism that prevented the Palestinians citizens of Israel from leaving their place of residence without the governor's approval. The supporters of the Military Government were well aware of the fact that its existence makes Israel a non-democratic state. They supported its existence because they believed it was necessary to maintain Israel's Jewish character. The Military Government was controversial in the political system in Israel, but the intensity of the opposition to its existence was sometimes contingent on the partisan and ideological interests of the opponents, both from the left and the right. The book describes the factors that shaped the political system's relationship with the Military Government and traces the changing strength of the debate surrounding it. The book seeks, among other things, to answer the question of whether Prime Minister Levi Eshkol's decision to abolish the Military Government in December 1966 was due to the struggle of the opponents or rather from the recognition that the Military Government had fulfilled its objectives.
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The Parable of the Three Rings and the Idea of Religious Toleration in Premodern European Culture
The Parable of the Three Rings and the Idea of Religious Toleration in Premodern European Culture
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This study of the Parable of the Three Rings is the first full account in Hebrew of the history and the literary and allegorical origins of the parable, as well as of its reception from the early Middle Ages to the Early Modern period. The study provides evidence for the non-Western origins of the parable, which are known mostly through its Western European renderings in Lessing's Nathan the Wise and Boccaccio's Decameron . In some of its versions, the parable contains the idea of religious relativism. This idea was often accommodated in its particular cultural and religious surroundings, but at other times negated and altered to suit the preferences of the other narrators and audiences. Whether the original, relativist, possibly tolerant, message were upheld or not – makes the history of the parable more intriguing to modern readers. The study of the parable tracks the religious idea -- presented in various allegorical forms -- back to its Muslim origins. It also reveals the Eastern origins of the parable's literary framework. The discussion follows the evolution of the parable and its entrance into Catholic Europe, analyzing it contextually and with reference to prevalent contemporary religious ideas among Muslims, Jews, and Christians between the eighth and the sixteenth centuries . A Hebrew translation of Avishai Margalit's “The Ring: On Religious Pluralism” provides a logical-philosophical perspective on the idea of religious pluralism .
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Korot
Korot
Embryology in Jewish and Ancient Middle Eastern Sources
23
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The present volume 23 of Korot has as main topics, first, embryology in Jewish and ancient Middle Eastern sources, and second, medicine in the Holocaust. The section on embryology consists of six articles, four of which were presented in a symposium entitled “On Fetuses, Infants and everything in-between through the Ages,” which was held at the Van Leer Institute on March 30, 2015. The meeting was sponsored by the Israel Society for the History of Medicine and by Korot, and organized by Dr. Israela Nili. Three of the papers concentrate on ancient Mesopotamia: Dr. Couto-Ferreira describes embryological data in Akkadian and Sumerian texts, Prof. Klein expounds embryological issues in the omen literature, and Prof. Fleishman discusses some of the legal aspects of parenthood. Prof. Cohen analyzes the influence of Septuagint translation in the debate concerning abortion. Two additional papers deal with later Hellenistic sources: Prof. Kottek and Dr. Paavilainen discuss the contribution of Philo the Alexandrian and Prof. van der Horst examines Hellenistic Christian sources, respectively. The section on the Holocaust includes three studies. Dr. van den Ende’s paper describes the ethical dilemmas faced by the Jewish doctors in Holland during the Nazi occupation. It was first presented in the workshop of the 15th Nahariya Conference on Medicine and the Holocaust (May 6, 2015), convened by Prof. Shaul Shasha. Dr. Schwoch deals with the same issue from the point of view of the Jewish Krankenbehandler in Germany. Dr. Offer’s bibliographical review, the first part of which has been published in Korot, volume 22, describes the development of academic research in Jewish medicine in the Holocaust from the third decade after the Holocaust until the first decade of the 21st century. The rest of the articles presented in this volume concentrate on the life and work of several Jewish physicians, the only exception being Prof. Nissan’s paper on hybrid animals in Jewish sources. Prof. McDonald analyzes the story of the Jewish personal physician of Charles the Bald, accused by later authors of having poisoned the king. Prof. Gath discusses a similar topic: Jan III Sobieski and his Jewish physician, who was later blamed for having caused his death. Dr. Nevins casts new light on the mystery of Vesalius’ Jewish friend and adviser in Hebrew medical terms. Prof. Shḥori-Rubin’s work on Dr. Fanny Lvova continues her series of articles on Jewish pioneer women doctors. Dr. Paavilainen describes Isaac Israeli’s way of diagnosing the complex symptoms of consumption. Prof. Freudenthal summarizes the different pressures affecting medieval Jewish physicians and explains on the basis of a contemporary source why science did not thrive among the Jewish scholars of Provence. The volume is, as usual, bilingual (12 articles in English, 4 in Hebrew), with contributions from Spain, Holland, Germany, Britain, USA, France, and of course Israel.
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