Jewish Festival Research Articles

Geneviève Zubrzycki. Resurrecting the Jew: Nationalism, Philosemitism, and Poland’s Jewish Revival. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2022

Geneviève Zubrzycki, a distinguished comparative-historical and cultural sociologist who studies national identity, religion, and collective memory, has written a fascinating and insightful book, based on a decade of participant observation and interviews in multiple Polish cities and towns, about an astonishing Jewish revival in Poland since the early 2000s. This revival takes various forms: the organizing of Jewish festivals in cities and towns throughout Poland since the mid-2000s, the “popularity of klezmer music,” the “proliferation of Judaica bookstores and Jewish-style restaurants,” the creation of “new museums, memorials, and memory spaces,” the development of “Jewish and Holocaust studies programs in universities,” the publication of books and articles on Jewish topics, and even a “modest but steady number of conversions to Judaism” (p. 8). Text in English

The Education of Children and Youth in the Seventeenth Century Amsterdam’s Western Sephardi Community

This article is a study of how the Amsterdam Sephardi congregation organized its educational system starting in the early 1600s. On 25 May 1616, the two existing congregations at the time, Bet Jacob [House of Jacob] and Neve Salom [Dwellings of Peace], founded the “Hebra Kedosa Talmud Torah” [Holy Confraternity Talmud Torah], an institution that was to fund the education of male children and youth. On that day, the lay congregational leaders elected two interim officers to organize the festivities two days later on Shavuot, the Jewish festival traditionally associated with the initiation of children in the study of the Torah. The newly formed school educated male children as young as five years old and consisted of six grades, starting with the teaching of the Hebrew alphabet, and ending with the Talmud. In 1637, the congregation founded the “Ets Haim” [Tree of Life] confraternity to provide stipends to older, deserving, and talented students, so that they remained in school. A third stage took place in 1639 when the three congregations united into one under the name “Kahal Kadosh Talmud Torah,” and the merged school consisted of seven grades. The author argues that this educational system was a blending of attributes from the Jewish medieval tradition and the Iberian Jesuit system which emphasized the character formation of its students that the lay founders of the Sephardi congregation had experienced while they were living as conversos in Spain or Portugal.

Exploring Potential Relationships Between the Fabula of LXXJudith and Hellenistic Theatre

It is well known that LXXJudith displays an innate suitability for theatrical interpretation or re-enactment. Previous research findings have revealed that the Greek language of LXXJudith, by default, prompts an urgency for immediate and dramatic action and strongly suggests the influence of orality. In this regard, Wills has gone so far as to suggest that some aspect of LXXJudith might have once been performed at dinners or during Jewish festivals. It is in this speculative spirit that this paper explores the text of chapter 13 from LXXJudith to determine why it is so suitable for dramatic re-interpretation as a stage production or visually entertaining (albeit didactic) re-enactment. Here, the authors cautiously consider the possibility that important key events in LXXJudith 13 may have been informed by a Hellenistic Jewish stage play/theatrical performance or was written as a consequence of observing Greek theatre for its final structure. The authors make deliberate use of key aspects of Storey and Allan’s performance criticism theories and accordingly attempt to recreate elements of a hypothetical performance of chapter 13, based solely on the Greek text, in order to determine the most likely meaning that would have been conveyed to a Hellenistic Jewish audience. Consequently, a reconstruction of possible conditions on stage plus the effects of the accompanying dialogue are hypothesised. The authors do not claim that there is any undisputed evidence that LXXJudith was ever staged as a theatrical performance in the Hellenistic period. However, from the standpoint of performance criticism they conclude that indeed, there are various elements present in the Greek text that would have made it easy to perform in a theatrical context.

Breaking Down the Narrative Regarding "Jews": Judeans in Judea and Egypt in Hellenistic and Roman Times

Abstract: This article focuses on the Hellenistic period, when Jews had a homeland, that is, a territory in which they formed the majority population group and possessed their own state institutions. Consequently, it is claimed, their history cannot be apprehended through paradigms, such as "antisemitism," devised for later periods of time, when Jews formed a minority bereft of a homeland. Moreover, statehood also impacted the collective self-perception, and hence the agency, of Jewish population groups who lived as minorities outside Judea, in particular in Egypt. To illustrate this twofold claim, two case studies are discussed: the so-called religious persecution carried out by Seleucid King Antiochus IV in the mid to late 160s BCE, and commemorated in the Jewish festival of Hanukkah; and the distorted versions of the Exodus story composed by Egyptian authors, which are often seen as the first anti-Judaic texts ever written.

Breaking Down the Narrative Regarding "Jews": Judeans in Judea and Egypt in Hellenistic and Roman Times

Abstract: This article focuses on the Hellenistic period, when Jews had a homeland, that is, a territory in which they formed the majority population group and possessed their own state institutions. Consequently, it is claimed, their history cannot be apprehended through paradigms, such as "antisemitism," devised for later periods of time, when Jews formed a minority bereft of a homeland. Moreover, statehood also impacted the collective self-perception, and hence the agency, of Jewish population groups who lived as minorities outside Judea, in particular in Egypt. To illustrate this twofold claim, two case studies are discussed: the so-called religious persecution carried out by Seleucid King Antiochus IV in the mid to late 160s BCE, and commemorated in the Jewish festival of Hanukkah; and the distorted versions of the Exodus story composed by Egyptian authors, which are often seen as the first anti-Judaic texts ever written.

Terrifying Memory: An Interview with Carey Perloff

Terrifying Memory: An Interview with Carey Perloff

Jesus and violence during Tabernacles: Wit, mercy, and accountability in John 7–8

John 7–8 narrates Jesus’s dialogues with his opponents and the crowds during the annual Jewish festival of Tabernacles. Through this sensory backdrop, Jesus makes exceptional claims both for himself and for how God’s people should respond (e.g., 8:12). Across John’s narration of Jesus’s public ministry, Jesus challenges mainstream closedness by opening covenantal relationship with God to all those who can respond accordingly to what God as Father is doing in this world through Jesus who is Christ and Son. Such confrontation peaks in John 7–8 through a particularly violent interaction between Jesus’s radical acceptance and the resulting discontent in those who prefer the status quo. At the heart of this conflagration, the intrusive encounter between Jesus and the woman ensnared by the Pharisees (7:53–8:11) models a call for mercy and unity in community amid conflict. Despite the textual instability of its foundation, this passage must be given its due as an alternative of mercy to the violence that surrounds it in the final form of John’s Gospel. The presence of this passage in John’s canonical narrative presents a powerful antidote to the chaotic violence that surrounds it.

Review: Urban Religious Events: Public Spirituality in Contested Spaces, edited by Paul Bramadat, Mar Griera, Marian Burchardt, and Julia Martínez-Ariño

Review: <i>Urban Religious Events: Public Spirituality in Contested Spaces</i>, edited by Paul Bramadat, Mar Griera, Marian Burchardt, and Julia Martínez-Ariño

Performing the Jewish Temporary House: Reflections on an Art-Research Project on Contemporary Sukkot

The article discusses two projects involving the construction of two contemporary sukkot. These are the temporary shelters the Israelites erected in the desert during their wanderings (Exodus 33:6) and have ever since construct- ed to fulfill the commandment of dwelling in sukkot during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot to commemorate the exodus from Egypt. The Eternal Sukkah, a project developed in Jerusalem by the Sala-manca Group in collaboration with Itamar Mendes-Flohr and Yeshayahu Rabinowitz, is discussed in its historical, political, and cultural context. It deals with the relations between the Jewish festival of Sukkot, Bedouin architecture, and Israeli ethnopolitics, as expressed in this project, describes the transformation of the Bedouin hut into a Jewish sukkah, and examines the symbolic aspects arising from the politics and poetics of its display in the former Jerusalem Leprosarium and at the Israel Museum. The discussion outlines an unexpected output related to that transformation: the parallel development of an eco-tourism initiative carried out by the Bedouin community. This initiative led to a traditional Bedouin tent becoming an ethnographic object exhibited inside a Bedouin shack built in the exact place of the purchased hut. The second project discussed in this article is the Deller Sukkah replica, carried out by Sala-manca in collaboration with Ktura Manor and Nir Yahalom. This is an unauthorized replica of the Deller Sukkah (d. 1840, Bavaria) from the Judaica collection of the Israel Museum. The discussion deals with the wandering and smuggling of symbolic homes, the status of a “doubled” object as a new original, the performative transformation of the structure’s identity, the transformation of the structure’s status, and its market and cultural values. Both projects are treated not only as material reconstructions of the past but also as critical testimony of the present.

Memory, the City, and the Legacy of World War II in East Central Europe: The Ghosts of Others

Memory, the City, and the Legacy of World War II in East Central Europe: The Ghosts of Others

Let the Nations Sing Hallelujah: The Influence of the Egyptian Hallel on the Citation of Psalm 117 OG in Mark 12:10–11

Abstract Mark 12:10–11 cites Ps 117:22–23 OG (118:22–23 MT) to conclude the parable of the tenants, which frames the gospel's second half. The citation from one of the most frequently cited psalms in the New Testament reinforces the parable's interpretation and thus plays an important role in the Markan narrative. Many interpreters conclude that the citation's impact on the parable comes only from the citation's self-contained imagery or, at most, the imagery's function in a psalm praising God for vindicating God's servant. In contrast, I contend that the psalm's place in the Egyptian Hallel, a collection that played an important liturgical function at multiple Jewish festivals, contributes to how early Christ-followers could have construed the psalm and thus understood its use in Mark. Specifically, I argue that, if the portrait of the nations in the Hallel, especially in Ps 116 OG, shapes how one understands Ps 117, then the citation of Ps 117 in Mark serves to confirm an interpretation of the “others” to whom the vineyard is given as a mixed community of gentiles who have forsaken their idolatry, along with the faithful from Israel, united by their response to Jesus.

Images of the Feast in Antioch: Reflections about Dionysus’ Mosaics in Domestic Settings

In the Roman Empire, Antioch, the metropolis of Syria Coele, stood out as a vibrant cultural centre and stage of many artistic, sports and religious events, including its own Olympic Games. The Kalends of January, the Calliopea and the Maiuma were special highlights, not to mention the Christian and Jewish festivals. Antioch was filled with celebrations. The key attribute of the Antiochean people was precisely its festive ethos and fondness for singing, dancing and displays of joy and cheerfulness, both in public and domestic sites. The city was considered to be under the direct influence of Dionysus, whose cult was one of the most ancient and noteworthy religious institutions in the city. This paper analyses some mosaics depicting Dionysus in domestic settings at Antioch and its environs, especially in its connection with the symposion.

“And all who joined them”: A faithful Christian reading of Esther in a post-Shoah world

Esther is, first and foremost, a narrative written by and for the Jewish people, a story the Jewish people have told to and about themselves for centuries. Esther is also a story Christians have frequently interpreted out of context. Christians can avoid culturally appropriating this narrative for their own purposes by committing to situate the story of Esther and the Jewish people in its original context, firmly in the center of any interpretation of the text. Modern readers find their place in the narrative in Esth 9:26-28, among “all who joined” the Jews in observing, remembering, and commemorating the events of the book of Esther, celebrated in the Jewish festival of Purim.

SARS-CoV-2 Seroprevalence and Symptom Onset in Culturally Linked Orthodox Jewish Communities Across Multiple Regions in the United States

Data on severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) seroprevalence in the United States are still emerging. To elucidate SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence and symptom onset in a culturally linked community across 5 states in the United States. This cross-sectional study included adults (aged ≥18 years) recruited from the orthodox Jewish community across 5 states (California, Connecticut, Michigan, New Jersey, and New York) in 3 geographically distinct areas of the United States between May 13 and July 6, 2020. Participants completed an online survey and underwent SARS-CoV-2 antibody testing. Seroprevalence and date of symptom onset of SARS-CoV-2. Overall, 9507 adults (mean [SD] age, 39.6 [15.0] years; 3777 [39.7%] women) completed the SARS-CoV-2 survey, of whom 6665 (70.1%) had immunoglobin G anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody levels assessed. A high seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies was observed across all communities, with the highest proportion of positive testing observed in New Jersey (1080 of 3323 [32.5%]) and New York (671 of 2196 [30.6%]). Most individuals with a positive SARS-CoV-2 immunoglobin G antibody test reported a date of symptom-onset between March 9 and March 31, 2020 (California: 135 of 154 [87.7%]; Connecticut: 32 of 34 [94.1%]; Michigan: 44 of 50 [88.0%]; New Jersey: 964 of 1168 [82.5%]; New York: 571 of 677 [84.3%]). This start date was coincident with the Jewish festival of Purim, celebrated March 9 to 10, 2020, with extensive intracommunity spread in the weeks following (mean and mode of peak symptom onset, March 20, 2020), occurring in the absence of strong general and culture-specific public health directives. This cross-sectional study of orthodox Jewish adults across the US found that socioculturally bound communities experienced early parallel outbreaks in discrete locations, notably prior to substantive medical and governmental directives. Further research should clarify optimal national, local, community-based, and government policies to prevent outbreaks in social and cultural communities that traditionally gather for holidays, assemblies, and festivals.

On al-Maqrīzī’s Description of Jewish Festivals in al-Khabar

The Muslim scholar Taqī al-Dīn Aḥmad b. ʿAlī al-Maqrīzī (1364–1442 CE) discussed Jewish festivals several times in his works, including once in al-Khabar ʿan al-Bashar fī Ansāb al-ʿArab wa-Nasab Sayyid al-Bashar. In this source, in which he describes seven (actually eight) Jewish festivals, it is clear that he relied on Aḥmad b. ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Nuwayrī (1272–1332 CE). However, there are several significant differences between al-Maqrīzī’s account and al-Nuwayrī’s that this article will examine.

A history of Christian pilgrimage

ABSTRACT This paper outlines the History of Christian Pilgrimage from Old Testament to modern times. It argues that the idea of pilgrimage is rooted in ancient Jewish festivals, and is to be found in the New Testament also. It argues that in sub-Apostolic times the graves of Christian martyrs were venerated and this continued and grew through the Middle Ages up until the Reformation. Shrines, and therefore pilgrimages to them, were largely suppressed at the Reformation but were revived in the nineteenth century. This revival is explored and the place of pilgrimage as a contemporary Christian practice is examined.

World Religion Day

Sunday the 20th of January is World Religion Day, which was established to encourage interfaith understanding and mutual tolerance. The following activities explore the Jewish festival of Tu B'Shevat.

Exhibiting Jewish Culture in Postwar Britain: Glasgow's 1951 Festival of Jewish Arts

The Festival of Jewish Arts in Glasgow was the first and largest Jewish festival in Britain, conceived as a response to, and timed to coincide with, the Festival of Britain in 1951. Held at Glasgow’s McLellan Galleries on Sauchiehall Street from 4-25 February 1951, the event showcased works from over fifty internationally renowned Jewish artists, antiquities dating back from the 13th century, musical performances, films, lectures, a book display and a run of sell-out performances of S. An-sky’s, The Dybbuk. In this essay, I offer the first sustained account of the festival by bringing together available documentation and analysing the “performance of display” and perspectives on Jewish culture the festival offered. As this essay argues, when looking at the material and tangible elements of the festival alongside the social and cultural ideals of its organisers, one can discern a complex negotiation between the historical place and space of the festival, the concerns of the community, and the tensions between minority and mainstream Scottish and British culture. The Festival of Jewish Arts thus provides a rare window through which to view a Jewish community grappling with issues of loss and reconstructing identity in the aftermath of Nazi atrocities while at the same time trying to transcend the perception of their Otherness and respond to British anxieties about Jewish refugees and the founding of the State of Israel.

Al-waṭwāṭ’s description of Jewish festivals – Probing the sources of his knowledge

The Egyptian historian Jamāl al-Dīn Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm b. Yaḥyā.al-Kutubī, known as al-Waṭ- wāṭ (1235 – 1318 CE), in his Mabāhij al-Fikar wa-Manāhij al-ʿIbar, describes seven Jewish festivals. This paper references these descriptions and attempts to trace their provenance. It is found that many of his descriptions are sourced to two earlier Muslim scholars. Some apparent analogies and allusions, however, are found between al-Waṭwāṭ’s accounts and a broad array of Jewish sources.

Holidays in the home: Chanukah

Chanukah is probably one of the best-known Jewish festivals, as it normally falls close to Christmas. The dates of Chanukah and Christmas might well be associated, because they both fall in December. The early Christian Church chose 25 December to celebrate Christmas, taking over the birthday of the Greek god Zeus.