Jewish Groups Research Articles

The ‘oldest dated document of the Cairo Genizah’ (Halper 331): The Seleucid era and sectarian Jewish calendars

AbstractHalper 331 is the fragment of a codex that has been styled the ‘oldest dated document of the Cairo Genizah’. It preserves the opening of a Jewish legal document dated to the year 1182 (Seleucid era), which appears to have been copied into this codex, probably as a formulary, not long after this date, in the late 9th century. In this article, the text of this fragment, in Aramaic and Hebrew, is edited, and its identification as the beginning of a marriage contract (ketubbah) is evaluated. Its Egyptian provenance is questioned, partly because the earliest evidence for the introduction of the Seleucid era by Jews in Egypt dates from the mid-10th century. The article surveys the history of Jewish dating methods in early medieval Egypt and the Near East, in an attempt to clarify this question. The specific date of the document deviates from the rabbinic calendar, but agrees with that of the contemporary Jewish Near Eastern sectarian groups of Abū ʿImrān al-Tiflīsī and Ismāʿīl al-ʿUkbarī; this document could thus uniquely attest one of these sectarian Jewish calendars.

The Problem of Pétain: The State Politics of Difficult Reputations

How do governments commemorate salient national figures with contested reputations? The case of Marshal Philippe Pétain, whose fame followed World War I (WWI), but was later stigmatized for having led the Nazi-affiliated Vichy regime during World War II (WWII), suggests that political leaders consider the interests of competing groups. In the case of Pétain, these include veterans’ organizations, Jewish heritage groups, leftists, and, eventually, the rightist National Front. State leaders attempt to reconcile these pressures in the hope of avoiding politically damaging conflicts. Successful commemorations reinforce the legitimacy of the State as the guardian of symbolic compatibility between visions of history and morality. Recognizing memorialization as political process, we describe how Presidents of France attempt to distinguish an honorable Pétain from a dishonorable one. We describe four strategies by which states address difficult reputations: erasing, selecting, reconciling, and differentiating. Competing groups may create ambiguous meanings, attacking the State, while keeping distant from those with difficult reputations.

Between diversity and hegemony: Transformations of kinship and gender relations in Upper Yemen, seventh- to thirteenth-century CE

ABSTRACT The present analysis explores for the first time main changes in gender and kinship relations of Upper Yemen between the seventh and the thirteenth century CE. An initial section outlines main continuities throughout this period. The article's three main sections then investigate, first, transformations of kinship terminologies after the seventh and eighth century. Second, changes in reckoning genealogies, as well as descent and inheritance rules are scrutinized for the early tenth century. Third, structural changes in marriages patterns are outlined for periods before and after the thirteenth century. These investigations are carried out for the region's rural tribal majorities. Moreover, they also include a substantial consideration of the region's main social and demographic minorities. They were elite groups of Persian and more importantly, of West Arabian Muslim origins. In addition, important Jewish, Christian and slave groups of socially subaltern status are taken into account. These analyses conclude with the insight that elite groups eventually succeeded in establishing their fragile regimes, assisted by genealogical discourses and scriptural conventions. Meanwhile, the socially subordinate minority groups came under increasing pressures of concubinate, conversion, and demographic constraints. For the agricultural tribal majorities of the region, these developments amounted to a continuous interplay between an enduring diversity of kinship and gender relations, and a gradual growth of hegemonic influences.

Patterns of exclusion of ethno-religious minorities: The ethno-religious hierarchy across European countries and social categories within these countries

In this contribution, we set out to rigorously test previous theoretical propositions that people tend to have consensual and cumulative rankings of exclusion of ethnic and religious outgroups, often referred to as ‘ethnic hierarchies’ constituting a shared and particular pattern of ranking different outgroups, preferably excluded from possible social interaction. Crucial questions are (1) to what extent are European natives’ levels of exclusion of Muslim, Jewish and Gypsy minority groups consensually and, moreover, hierarchically ranked? (2) to what extent is this pattern of exclusion comparable across representative samples of European countries and (3) to what extent is it comparable across relevant social categories within these countries? We take advantage of high quality cross-national European data asking representative samples of respondents whether they would not allow particular ethno-religious groups into their country, analyzed with probabilistic scalogram analysis. We found convincingly strong empirical evidence for the consensual and cumulative ranking of exclusion of typical ethno-religious outgroups: most Europeans wish to allow no Gypsies to come into their country, followed by Muslims and finally Jews as the least excluded ethno-religious outgroup. This rank order of outgroups’ exclusionism was found in 18 out of 20 different European countries. Notwithstanding differences in the level of exclusion across countries, citizens within these countries rank order these ethno-religious groups in a similar, comparable and cumulative way. Moreover, we presented evidence that this cumulative rank order is present within many different social categories within these countries. Our contribution may be one of the first to rigorously test heavily cited theoretical propositions on social and polemic representations.

Time, Power, and Religion

Abstract The main argument of this paper is that the sacred time and space of the nation has displaced the meaning of sacredness of the religious sites, and legitimized the national community. By comparing the Temple Mount and Ayodhya disputes, the paper exposes the tensions between two polarities, sacred/profane and religious/political, which helps explain the influence of national identities on the contested sacredness of religious sites. The competition over the Temple Mount is nested within a “thicker” context of conflicting political claims over Jerusalem and national territory between Jewish groups on one hand and between Jews and Muslims on the other. The Ayodhya disagreement is related to the political tensions between the dominant and the minority religions, which have turned the religious dispute over a holy site into a debate on the sacredness of the national community.

The «Khazar myth» as perceived by the Eurasians and L.N. Gumilyov

A problem of continuity has always been a topical subject in Eurasian historiography and the name of L.N. Gumilyov appeard in this context most often. Some researchers recognized the ideological connection between the concept and Gumilyov, while the others rejected continuity and divided them: Russian philosophy of the early 20th century and Soviet scientism of the middle of 20th century. One of the plots is usually used to compare the ideas of the Eurasians and L.N. Gumilyov it is an assessment of the role of the Khazar Kaganate in the history of the Eastern Slavs. Moreover, it was reviewed by the Eurasians and L.N. Gumilyov. G.V. Vernadsky presented the history of Eurasia as a consistent set of attempts to create a unified state. Khazaria existed in the era of disintegration in the context of the state-forming process in Eurasia, based on the principle of rhythm. According to L.N. Gumilyov, the Khazars were colonized by representatives of the Persian and Byzantine branches of the Jewish people. The mix of the Khazar and Jewish ethnic groups was weighed down by the national traditions, which became the determining aspect of their different destinies. The Khazar Kaganate established political power in the Volga Bulgaria and Kievan Rus, had benefited from the intermediary trade between Europe and China, and only Svyatoslavs campaign became a closure of existence of this ethnic chimera. It can be said that the methodological approach of the Eurasians and L.N. Gumilyov to the problem of Khazaria was fundamentally different and the only unifying factor was that these events were unfolding in the space of Russia-Eurasia.

Health Service Utilization Patterns Among Adults With Congenital Heart Disease: A Population-Based Study.

BackgroundSeveral studies have examined hospitalizations among patients with adult congenital heart disease (ACHD). Few investigated other services or utilization patterns. Our aim was to study service utilization patterns and predictors among patients with ACHD.Methods and ResultsWe identified 11 653 patients with ACHD aged ≥18 years (median, 47 years), through electronic records of 2 large Israeli healthcare providers (2007–2011). The association between patient, disease, and sociogeographic characteristics and healthcare resource utilization were modeled as recurrent events accounting for the competing death risk. Patients with ACHD had high healthcare utilization rates compared with the general population. The highest standardized service utilization ratios (SSRs) were found among patients with complex congenital heart disease including primary care visits (SSR, 1.53; 95% CI, 1.47–1.58), cardiology outpatient visits (SSR, 5.17; 95% CI, 4.69–5.64), hospitalizations (SSR, 6.68; 95% CI, 5.82–7.54), and days in hospital (SSR, 15.37; 95% CI, 14.61–16.12). Adjusted resource utilization hazard increased with increasing lesion complexity. Hazard ratios (HRs) for complex versus simple disease were: primary care (HR, 1.14; 95% CI, 1.06–1.23); cardiology outpatient visits (HR, 1.40; 95% CI, 1.24–1.59); emergency department visits (HR, 1.19; 95% CI, 1.02–1.39); and hospitalizations (HR, 1.75; 95% CI, 1.49–2.05). Effects attenuated with age for cardiology outpatient visits and hospitalizations and increased for emergency department visits. Female sex, geographic periphery, and ethnic minority were associated with more primary care visits, and female sex (HR versus men, 0.89 [95% CI, 0.84–0.94]) and periphery (HR, 0.72 [95% CI, 0.58–0.90] for very peripheral versus very central) were associated with fewer cardiology visits. Arab minority patients also had high hospitalization rates compared with the majority group of Jewish or other patients.ConclusionsHealthcare utilization rates were high among patients with ACHD. Female sex, geographic periphery, and ethnicity were associated with less optimal service utilization patterns. Further research should examine strategies to optimize service utilization in these groups.

Federation Day at the World of Tomorrow

Abstract Ninety years ago, the Federation of Polish Jews in America hosted their national convention and world congress in the New York City area. In this article, we will discuss some of what transpired at these events. Set at a tumultuous crossroads in world history, the Federation rallied Jewish groups throughout the United States and the world in humanitarian support for a war-torn Polish nation. The national convention and world congress were also set to have their own respective satellite sessions at the New York World’s Fair of 1939 and 1940. These satellite sessions are noteworthy in that they mark a Jewish presence at the Fair which extended beyond the Jewish Palestine Pavilion. They also mark a uniquely Polish presence, extending beyond Poland’s own Pavilion at the Fair.

Polacos in Argentina: Polish Jews, Interwar Migration, and the Emergence of Transatlantic Jewish Culture by Mariusz Kałczewiak

Reviewed by: Polacos in Argentina: Polish Jews, Interwar Migration, and the Emergence of Transatlantic Jewish Culture by Mariusz Kałczewiak Amy Kerner (bio) Polacos in Argentina: Polish Jews, Interwar Migration, and the Emergence of Transatlantic Jewish Culture. By Mariusz Kałczewiak. Tuscaloosa: The University of Alabama Press, 2020. 301 pp. The establishment of the Second Polish Republic in 1918 was a turning point for Jewish immigrants in Argentina and a climactic moment in Mariusz Kałczewiak's new monograph, Polacos in Argentina: Polish Jews, Interwar Migration, and the Emergence of Transatlantic Jewish Culture. This book belongs to a growing body of scholarship on interwar Polish-Jewish cultural contacts with Argentina. Based on research in Yiddish, Spanish, and Polish, and particularly on transnational Yiddish-language press reports and travelogues, the book argues that interwar migration gave rise to a category of "subethnic" Polish-Jewish belonging—the world of the Polacos—which depended on the existence of transnational ties between Jews in Poland and Argentina. The Poylisher Farband, a Jewish immigrant homeland association formed in Buenos Aires in 1916, exemplifies the allegiance to and identification with Poland among Jewish immigrants in Argentina captured by the book's title. The Farband aspired to represent all Polish Jews in Argentina. Its members cultivated an image of Jewish Argentine middle-class respectability, spearheaded communication with Poland's ambassador to Argentina, and protested antisemitism in Poland. To be a "Good Polish Jew" meant participating in its social and philanthropic projects. The author argues that the Farband was also an "ethnic training room" for immigrants to learn about Argentine cultural practices, such as picnicking in popular middle-class destinations like the forests of the Olivos neighborhood (143). Its members were influential and active in other Jewish Argentine institutions, especially ones that aimed to reinvigorate Yiddish-language culture in Argentina, including the Yiddish Scientific Institute, the secular Yiddish school network, and the post-WWII publishing project Dos Poylishe Yidntum [Polish Jewry], which contributed to the legacy of "Polish Jewry" as an entity. The concept of "subethnic identity" would benefit from a clear definition (10). While the framing of the book emphasizes Poland as a center of global Yiddish culture, not all characters in the book were Polish-speaking, had lived in Poland, or self-identified as "Polish Jews." As the author argues, Polacos were united not by Poland only, but by a constellation of concerns: "the independence of Poland, there-centered Zionism [Bundism], and Yiddish-centered nationalism" (11). This definition of shared concerns is at once broader and less nationally-determined than the proposition that a "Polish Jewish subethnicity" emerged in Argentina (14). Pinie Wald, for example, was a committed internationalist [End Page 299] who came to Argentina in 1906 and never joined the Farband (146). For Katz, Buenos Aires existed in relation to at least three other Yiddish centers: New York, Moscow, and Warsaw. Jacobo Botoshansky was a "citizen of the Yiddishland" who placed activism for the Yiddish language above Polish-Jewishness (83). While the fate of Poland and of the Jews living there mattered deeply to many Jewish immigrants in Argentina, the author may overstate the importance of Poland's political boundaries to the self-conceptions of Polish Jews beyond the Farband, especially considering the relatively more expansive global geographies of Yiddishism and Jewish diaspora nationalism in the 1920s and 1930s. Polacos also encompasses the cultural choices that awaited new immigrants who "made America" to Argentina. The "new Polish immigrants" or "argentiner yidn [Argentine Jews]" of the 1920s and 1930s saw themselves as Jews and Yiddish speakers foremost, and their "Argentineness was a specific cultural idiosyncrasy of their Jewishness" (111). They composed essays, stories, and poems in Yiddish depicting urban life in Buenos Aires, idealism and disillusionment, tango music and mate, a traditional Argentine drink, and poverty in the conventillos (tenements). They lived alongside "israelitas argentinos" [Jewish Argentines] who, having arrived decades earlier or been born in Argentina, expressed their Jewishness in Spanish, joined ethnic Jewish clubs like the Sociedad Hebraica, or the Liga Israelita pro-Argentina (a Jewish group that opposed immigration), participated in parliamentary politics, and translated Yiddish literature into Spanish. An original and important contribution to the history of one of the lesser...

Before the New Antisemitism: Arab Critics of Zionism and American Jewish Politics, 1917-1974

Before the New Antisemitism:Arab Critics of Zionism and American Jewish Politics, 1917-1974 Geoffery P. Levin1 (bio) On June 5, 1937, WNYC radio aired a town-hall event organized in New York by an Arab American group, the Arab National League (ANL). It opened with ANL President Dr. Fuad Shatara reading a cable from the Mufti of Jerusalem, Amin al-Husseini, congratulating the guest of honor, poet Ameen Rihani, and continued with several speeches critical of Zionism.2 Almost immediately, the ANL and WNYC came under attack by New York City Alderman Samson Inselbuch, who charged them with spreading antisemitism.3 WNYC and the ANL, however, soon found defense from the highest echelons of American Jewish leadership—B'nai B'rith Vice President Louis Fabricant, American Jewish Committee (AJC) official Sol Stroock, Orthodox leader Rabbi Herbert Goldstein, the National Council of Jewish Women, and most notably, Rabbi Stephen Wise. Defending WNYC, Wise, a leading Zionist who headed the American Jewish Congress (AJCongress) and the World Jewish Congress (WJC), wrote that "absurdly enough, it has been charged with anti-Semitism—as if Arabs and Jews alike were not Semites."4 The episode says much about American Jewish perceptions of Arabs, anti-Zionism, and antisemitism. It reveals that the trend of viewing Arab opposition to Zionism as antisemitic has a long history in the United States, predating Israel's creation. Yet it also shows that America's most prominent Jewish organizations did not perceive early Arab critics of Zionism as inherently antisemitic. On the contrary, American Jewish [End Page 103] leaders vigorously pushed back against labeling Arab critics of Zionism as antisemites, a characterization which Wise, arguably the most influential American Zionist of the era, considered absurd. The response of American Jewish groups to the 1937 controversy may come as a surprise given that in recent decades, some of these same organizations have argued that anti-Zionism is inherently antisemitic and at times have specifically emphasized "Arab" and "Muslim" forms of antisemitism.5 In seeking to understand the origins of this rhetoric, scholars have focused on the emergence of the term "the new anti-Semitism" in the 1970s. Daniel Schroeter writes that in the aftermath of the 1967 war, advocates for Israel "alarmed at what they saw as growing sympathy for the Arabs and Palestinians began to use the term 'new anti-Semitism,' which they understood as antisemitism either expressed or disguised as anti-Zionism." Central to the "new anti-Semitism," Schroeter continues, "was Arab hostility to Israel and the Jews ('Arab anti-Semitism'), as well as Western support for the Arabs and Palestinians."6 The 1974 book The New Anti-Semitism by Anti-Defamation League (ADL) leaders Arnold Forster and Benjamin Epstein gave a name to the concept.7 "Islamic anti-Semitism" soon became part of the "new anti-Semitism" discourse as Islamism ascended in Middle Eastern politics.8 Some began portraying Muslims' opposition to Zionism as part of a long history of anti-Jewish feelings within Islam dating back to the medieval era, drawing from what Mark Cohen has termed the "neo-lachrymose conception of Jewish-Arab history," a revisionist narrative that emphasized the mistreatment of Jews in Islamic lands. According to Cohen and Schroeter, this "neo-lachrymose conception" had been developed in part to rebut [End Page 104] Arab advocates' claims that Zionism had ruined an otherwise idyllic history of Jewish-Muslim relations.9 Yet while the 1970s marked the creation of the term "the new anti-Semitism," the first crucial shift in American Jewish discourse on the connection between Arabs, anti-Zionism, and antisemitism came much earlier, not long after the WNYC controversy. Throughout the interwar period (1918-1941), American Jewish organizations generally downplayed Arab discontent with Jews and Zionism, preferring not to categorize it as antisemitism. But even when these same organizations began vocally condemning Arab anti-Zionist advocates in the 1940s and 1950s, they did so without characterizing their anti-Zionism as inherently antisemitic. Instead, these Jewish groups called attention to collaboration between Arab anti-Zionists and non-Arab domestic antisemitic groups, critiquing Arab advocates not for their Middle East agenda but for their alleged threat to Jews in the United States. Only after...

Материалы И. М. Пульнера по этнографии грузинских евреев в архиве Российского этнографического музея. 1926-1929 гг.

The article introduces one of the documentary sources on the history and ethnography of the Georgian Jews stored in the archive of the Russian Ethnographic Museum – field materials collected by I. M. Pulner in his expeditions to Georgia in 1926, 1928, and 1929. The introductory part of the article provides a brief summary of the main stages of his professional activity, wherein his study of the Georgian Jews ethnography dates back to his student years. The expeditions he carried out at that time were the first experience of purposeful ethnographic study of this Jewish ethnic group. Pulner's field materials accrue special scientific value as they contain real facts and people’s statements, as well as ethnographer’s direct observations, which give a fairly objective idea of everyday culture and socio-economic conditions of the Georgian Jews in the second half of the 1920s. The documents of the archive include expedition journal and report, as well as separate notes on various areas of Georgian Jewish culture. Most notes date from Pulner’s first trip to Kutaisi; in the following two years, he mostly visited villages where the Georgian Jews lived, but the archive of the Museum contains only several his recordings of weather wisdom, culinary recipes, and song lyrics written down in these trips. The article chiefly analyses Pulner’s Kutaisi materials. Drawing on them, methods and peculiarities of his ethnographic work among the local Jews are revealed; areas in which he collected his data are described; certain information is cited concerning occupation, material situation, organization of religious life, specificity of religious rituals performed in synagogue, Sabbath celebration, state of Jewish education following the closure of Jewish schools during the Soviet era, attitude to the ideas of Zionism among the youth, relations (including matrimony) between the mountain Jews, Ashkenazi, and Georgians Jews, traditional dwelling and its decoration, festive and everyday food, clothing, folk sayings, wedding ceremonial rites, etc. Among all occupations, Pulner underscored trade, which remained the main occupation of the Jews of Kutaisi, although it fell into decay under the Soviet rule, forcing Jews to master new professions of porters and water sellers, which were considered lowly occupations in Georgia. Talking about the synagogue, he drew attention to the fact that among the Georgian Jews it was not just a place for performing religious rites, but also the center of the Jewish quarter residents’ social life; he noted the leading role of cantor in synagogue service and detailed its procedure. There are interesting materials about relationship between the Georgian Jews and the Jews of other ethnic groups (mountain, Ashkenazi) demonstrating their distancing, as well as materials on their close cooperation with the Georgians in everyday life. Information on material culture is brief and concerns mainly clothing worn by men and women. Of the wedding rituals, Pulner managed to record only matchmaking rites. He did not succeed in continuing a full-scale study the eorgian Jews, and those materials he collected during his student expeditions remain rare evidence of the Georgian Jews in the Soviet era.

ТЕРИТОРІАЛЬНА ОРГАНІЗАЦІЯ МУЗЕЇВ ЯК ОБ`ЄКТІВ ЕТНОКУЛЬТУРНОГО ПОТЕНЦІАЛУ ЧЕРНІВЕЦЬКОЇ ОБЛАСТІ

Goal of the article: Conduct research on the territorial organization of museums of different levels and types in the communities of Chernivtsi oblast as important objects of ethnocultural potential of the region. Identify the distribution of museums by different classification criteria and trace their importance for the development of certain types of tourism. Research methodology. To obtain information, various sources of information were first studied, namely: literary, official Internet portals of communities and districts of Chernivtsi Oblast State Administration and Chernivtsi Oblast Council. At the next stage, a fairly detailed database was formed, which reflects the types of museums according to all the classification features presented in the work, as well as their ethnicity. This allowed to establish the contribution of each ethnic group in the formation of ethnocultural potential of the region, which allows us to talk about cooperation with neighboring countries in the framework of ethnocultural interaction. Results of the research. Chernivtsi oblast is a striking example of ethnocontact and polyethnic region, in which Ukrainians, Romanians, Moldovans, Jews, Russians, Poles, Armenians and other ethnic groups created and continue to create their cultural heritage. Ukrainians in the region own 152 museums, Romanians – 12, Moldovans – 14, Russians – 1. Also, separate exhibitions are dedicated to the Jewish, Polish, German, Armenian and other ethnic groups. Of course, such differences in the ethnicity of museums, as an important component of ethnocultural development of the region, are of great practical and scientific importance. The scientific novelty lies in the development of a detailed classification of museums and their typology, as well as in identifying the place of museums in the ethnocultural development of the polyethnic region. These studies should be conducted in other regions of our country. The practical significance of the obtained results lies in the possibility of finding investments to increase the tourist attractiveness of both individual administrative units and the region as a whole. Museums also play an important role in shaping the ethnic, historical, ethnocultural, national-patriotic and other perceptions of the territory and identity of their people.

The “Ethno-Political Pendulum” and its Manifestations in the Politics of Stalinist Antisemitism in the USSR

In the article, the author uses the metaphor of the "pendulum" to explore the state antisemitism of the Stalinist period as a model of Soviet national policy, whose direction was subject to constant and radical changes by virtue of the unprecedented opportunities for subjectivism and political arbitrariness in public administration. The author tests his hypothesis that such antisemitism was rather an instrument of political technology, utilized towards different ethnic communities and political personalities than a manifestation of xenophobia towards the established ethnicity (to the Jews).The author explains the essence of the concept of an ethnopolitical pendulum. He consistently reveals major historical phases of the Stalinist regime’ attitude and its policy towards Jews: from a broadly neutral and even positive attitude before the Second World War to the gradually hidden increase in negative attitudes and discrimination during the Great Patriotic War and the increasingly frank and open antisemitic stance after the war. This resulted in brutal repression against prominent representatives of the Jewish ethnic group in all spheres of public life (army, industry, science, art). However, within the framework of this trend, the ethnic pendulum, guided by the logic of political expediency, kept on working, sometimes making return motions towards curbing the antisemitic steps of the authorities.

Response

Response Pamela S. Nadell (bio) I thank Doron S. Ben-Atar, Jonathan Judaken, Sharon Musher, Shari Rabin, and Kenneth Stern for thoughtfully reflecting on my congressional testimony on the proposed Anti-Semitism Awareness Act. I certainly never anticipated that what Doron Ben-Atar has called my "fifteen minutes of fame" would extend into the pages of this historic journal, where, for a decade, I edited the book reviews. One day, when a future historian updates Jeffrey Gurock's terrific history of this journal, my words and those of these respondents will be taken into account, whereas my testimony has already faded into obscurity in the millions of pages of the Congressional Record.1 Four of the respondents join me in opposing the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act; one abstains. This small sample of colleagues adds their names to the long list of those sharing my opposition to the bill whom I consulted before agreeing to testify. I wrote my testimony early in November 2017. As Sharon Musher has pointed out, and I agree, antisemitism, as well as "other forms of hate, including racism and Islamophobia, [have] been growing both on our campuses and in our broader society." Were I to testify today after Pittsburgh and Poway—the cities already metonyms in the Jewish world for the murders at the Tree of Life Synagogue (October 27, 2018) and Chabad of Poway (April 27, 2019)—I would have noted the tragedies and emphasized the dangers of online proliferation of white supremacy spreading communities of hate.2 Shari Rabin's historical lens deepens our understanding of the phenomenon of "anti-semitism awareness acts." A recent book substantiates her speculation that far more rabbis than Jewish studies scholars have ever appeared before Congress.3 She reminds us of the legal bases of discrimination against Jews, African Americans, and other minorities. [End Page 231] Quoting Ibram X. Kendi, who succeeded Elie Wiesel as Boston University's Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities, she reiterates that education cannot obliterate racist ideas because what has driven them are racist policies. This leads to Jonathan Judaken's brilliant assessment of the politics of anti-antisemitism at the core of the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act. I appreciate Judaken's critique of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's definition of antisemitism, whose lead author was Kenneth Stern. Since testifying, I have joined colleagues around the country, including Michael Brenner, Paola Tartakoff, and Britt Tevis, in developing new courses on antisemitism. When we teach, we scrutinize multiple definitions of the term, and I include Judaken's scholarship.4 Nevertheless, I presumed that the busy members of Congress, who flitted in and out of that three-hour long hearing, are little interested in semantics and scholarly debates. But Judaken has raised a very important issue, which I did not address, about the shifting conceptions of the term "racism" and how they have led to "the exclusion of Jews from the struggle against racism." Just this academic year (2020–2021) while in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, my American University colleagues Michael Brenner, Lauren Strauss, and I organized the virtual lecture series, "Antisemitism since the Holocaust: America, Israel, and Europe."5 When I asked our campus Antiracist and Research Policy Center to co-sponsor the series, my request was politely declined. Disturbingly, educating about antisemitism, even if such education cannot eradicate it, is not seen as anti-racist work. I appreciate Kenneth Stern's bringing me into this conversation, even if Doron Ben-Atar suggests that I was a puppet doing "his bidding." Stern's recent book, The Conflict over the Conflict: The Israel/Palestine Campus Debate, provides the fullest account I have seen of this history.6 Jewish advocacy groups sitting at the Judiciary Committee's hearing table, like the Simon Wiesenthal Center, would learn much by reading it. But mostly I am grateful because we never know what conversation, event, or chance encounter will spark an idea. While I had long taught [End Page 232] about antisemitism, it was primarily through the lens of the Holocaust. Now, looking back, I see that entering into the fray over the AntiSemitism Awareness Act at the same time that I was finishing...

РОЗВИТОК КУСТАРНИХ ПРОМИСЛІВ СЕРЕД ЄВРЕЙСЬКОГО НАСЕЛЕННЯ КИЇВЩИНИ НАПРИКІНЦІ 1920-Х – НА ПОЧАТКУ 1930-Х РР.

The article examines the position of Jewish artisans in the Kyiv region in the late 1920s, a period when the Soviet government's course on the industrialization accelerated the collapse of the NEP policy. Authors revealed activities of the Kyiv ORT Committee, which sought to find a place for this group of Jews in the new plans of the Soviet government. The Perspective Plan for the Development of Handicrafts among the Jewis Population of Kyiv Region for 1929-1933 is analyzed as well as discussions that arose in the process of its preparing. The main factors that motivated the adoption of this plan and its indicators are identified. It is concluded that the purpose of its adoption was an attempt to create favorable conditions for the economic integration of the Jewish population into Soviet society and to reduce the severity of social problems, especially unemployment. Quantitative parameters of this plan are considered. The contribution of ORT to the economic support of Jewish artisans of Kyiv region, particularly purchase and transfer of equipment from abroad, which contributed to the development of a number of crafts in the Soviet Ukraine are clarified. Little-known statistics on the number and types of equipment that the organization supplied to artisans of Kyiv region are given. The difficulties faced by Jewish entrepreneurs during this period and the factors taken into account in planning the development of various crafts are reproduced. They are following: shortage of many row materials, the emergence of the Soviet factory industry, which competed with Jewish handicraftsmen, competition in the circle of Jews handicraftsmen. Authors identify consumer goods that were in short supply in the Kyiv region in the late 1920s. Little-known documents on the activities of the Kyiv ORT Committee is put into circulation.

Other Writings/Traditions

Other Writings/Traditions Thomas Hieke, Christopher T. Begg, and Fred W. Guyette Thomas Hieke Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz Christopher T. Begg Catholic University of America Fred W. Guyette Erskine College and Seminary 2475. [Seductive Biblical Women in Rabbinic Perspective] Yuval Blankovsky, "Verführung um des Himmels willen: Verführerische biblische Frauen aus Sicht der Rabbinen," Rabbinische Literatur, 263-78 [see #2537]. B. elaborates on a hitherto unnoticed pattern of interpretation in rabbinic literature that praises non-Jewish women and criticizes men. Secondly, B. tries to explain the reason for the emergence of this pattern: Why should the rabbis praise non-Jewish women? B. presents some examples from the Midrash Bereshit Rabbah (Judah and Tamar; Tamar and the wife of Potiphar: both do what they do "for heaven's sake"; Lot and his daughters). Next, B. interprets the sugia in b. Hor. 10b dealing with Lot and his daughters, Tamar vs. Zimri (Num 25:14), and Jael and Sisera. These two works have different reasons for praising the seductive women. In Bereshit Rabbah, the rabbis ascribe seduction to biblical women for the sake of heaven, in order to convey the patriarchal message that sexual intercourse is appropriate for the purpose of procreation and that gentile women desire Jewish men because they recognize their cultural superiority. The Talmud, on the other hand, shows a concern with situating the concept of sin for heaven's sake, as suggested by the biblical Jael story, in the context of Levirate marriage. Therefore, the sugia also mentions Lot's daughters and Tamar, but not Ruth, because, according to rabbinical understanding, Ruth did not commit any sexual sin. The above women use their sexuality for the benefit of the Jewish group, and this pattern exemplifies the rabbinic idea that sins committed with good intentions are legitimate to some degree.—T.H. Google Scholar 2476. [Bibliography of Jewish Intertestamental and Early Rabbinic Literature] David W. Chapman and Andreas J. Kostenberger, "Jewish Intertestamental and Early Rabbinic Literature: An Annotated Bibliographical Resource Updated Again (Part 1)," JETS 63 (3, 2020) 559-60. This publication builds on the authors' initial bibliography for the corpora cited in their title that appeared in JETS 43 (2000) 577-618 and was itself updated in JETS 55 (2012) 235-72, 457-88. As they note in their opening remarks concerning the present contribution (p. 560): "Part 2 of this annotated bibliography is due to appear in the next issue. The structure of these two articles is Part 1: 1. General Reference Tools; 2. OT Versions; 3. Apocrypha; and 4. Pseudepigrapha; Part 2: 5. Dead Sea Scrolls; 6. Individual Authors (Philo, Josephus, Pseudo-Philo, Fragmentary Works); 7. Rabbinic Literature; and 8. Other Early Works from the Rabbinic Period."—C.T.B. Google Scholar 2477. [Priestly Violence; Zeal for Yhwh; Genesis 34; Test. Lev. 5–7] Enric Cortès, "Del sacerdoci gratuït a la violència del 'zel per YHWH'. De la Torà a la literatura intertestamentària: TestLev 5–7 [From Gratuitous Priesthood to Violence Committed Out of 'Zeal for Yhwh': From the Torah to Intertestamental Literature: Test. Lev. 5-7]," RCT 45 (1, 2020) 9-39. My article aims to discern how priestly election in ancient Israel came to be regarded in the Pentateuch and subsequently in extrabiblical testamentary literature as something [End Page 911] due to the Levites or priests who engaged in acts of violence in the name of zeal for God that resulted in their being awarded the priesthood. In this connection, I review the essay of J. Kugel in HTR 85 (1, 1992) 1-34 on the role of Levi as a priest in Test. Lev. 5–7 vis-àvis the presentation of the Levi figure in Genesis 34. My article, I believe, offers a better understanding of the related issue of circumcision, especially as this features in Jubilees, Philo, and the Book of Judith. My article also pays special attention to the midrashic elaboration of Test. Lev. 5–7 [Adapted from published abstract—C.T.B.] Google Scholar 2478. [Epistle of Barnabas 4; Hesiod, Works and Days 106–201] Kylie Crabbe, "The Generation of Iron and the Final...

“Who is a Fascist?” Jews, Nazis and Stalinist Anti-Fascism

The struggle against global fascism constituted a central thrust of Soviet and Comintern policy throughout the Stalin Revolution and the early 1930s. Yet even as Soviet leaders and policy makers railed against Nazi and Fascist enemies abroad, contemporaneous anti-fascist discourses produced within the Soviet Union revealed highly contradictory and ambivalent depictions of internal enemies who supposedly aligned themselves with the global fascist movement. This article focuses upon one of the most controversial manifestations of Soviet anti-fascist politics through an analysis of visual and rhetorical depictions of alleged Jewish fascists in Soviet Yiddish and Russian publications from Moscow and Minsk during the 1930s. It examines how depictions of alleged Jewish fascist collaborators, produced largely by Jewish actors in Yiddish public discourses during the 1930s, served to reinscribe “traditional” and non-Bolshevik Jewish groups – including religious Jews, Zionists, and capitalist class enemies – as intractable existential political enemies. As depictions of alleged Jewish fascist collaborators migrated to the Russian press during the Great Terror, they focused with increasing singularity on the alleged fascist collaboration of Jewish Bolsheviks and, above all, Trotskyists. Increasingly bestial and demonic in representation, such images not only highlighted the alleged political unreliability of Jews across the political spectrum, but also served to depict Jewish enemies as being intrinsically, inherently, and biologically outside of the acceptable Soviet body politic.

Images and Representations of the Rudnytskyi Family: The Case of Ukrainians in Galicia Between the Wars

Caricature journals in the interwar period had a special genre niche, giving the masses, through funny cartoons, a simplified understanding of internal and external political processes. Zyz and Komar were the largest Ukrainian satirical humor journals in interwar Galicia. They mainly covered the internal political life in the Second Polish Republic and international relationships. These journals are primarily intended for people from the countryside, and the editors and owners of these journals used anti-Semitism for the political mobilization of the rural population. I use elements of Serge Moscovici’s theory of social representations to track these processes. A key aspect here is how the image of the Rudnytskyi family was shaped on the pages of these journals. The family was of mixed Ukrainian-Jewish origins, and its members became prominent figures in various spheres of Ukrainian social and political life in interwar Galician Ukrainian socjety (in politics, literature, music, and the women’s movement). The behavior of the Rudnytskyi family was explained to the readers through their Jewish origins. Zyz and Komar both created an image of the Rudnytskyis as an integral Jewish group occupying different spheres of Ukrainian life. The study of visual caricature images thus enables us to explore the channels of the formation and spread of anti-Semitic images of Jews and the use of the image of “the Jew” in the Galician Ukrainian society in interwar Poland.

The Tradition of the 364-Day Calendar versus the Calendar Polemic in Second Temple Judaism

The article presents the major hypotheses concerning the emergence of the 364-day calendar within Judaism and the related calendrical controversy, which presumably caused the separation of a certain group of Jews, known to us as the Qumran Community, from the temple cult in Jerusalem. It is not known whether the 364-day calendar tradition is older than that of the Astronomical Book, or whether the adoption of this tradition was accompanied by conflicts. The Qumran texts do not provide unequivocal evidence for any calendrical polemics. The only witness to these polemics is The Book of Jubilees, copies of which were found in the Qumran library. However, the Qumran Community itself did not share the radical line of The Book of Jubilees, which condemns reliance on the moon in time-keeping. The 364-day calendar is presumed to have been a distinctive feature of the Qumran Community, which however did not arouse any controversies within Second Temple Judaism.

‘Somehow Getting Their Own Back on Hitler’: British Antifascism and the Holocaust, 1960–1967

Abstract This article considers the extent to which the Holocaust galvanized British antifascism in the 1960s. It explores whether the genocide surfaced in Jewish antifascists’ motivations and rhetoric but goes beyond this to assess the Holocaust’s political capital in wider antifascism and anti-racism. The article considers whether political coalitions were negotiated around Holocaust memory, for example, by analysing whether Jewish antifascism intersected with the black and Asian communities of Smethwick and Southall respectively who were targeted by the far right in 1964. Using archival materials and newly-collected oral histories, the article surveys organisations including the Jewish Board of Deputies, the 62 Group, Yellow Star Movement and Searchlight newspaper. It will argue that the Holocaust played a more important role in 1960s’antifascism than has been recognised. Jewish groups fragmented around the lessons of the genocide for their antifascism. The Holocaust influenced race relations legislation and became a metonym for extreme racist violence.