Jewish Holidays Research Articles

Teaching Jewish Holidays in Early Childhood Education in Israel: Critical Feminist Pedagogy Perspective

Teaching Jewish Holidays in Early Childhood Education in Israel: Critical Feminist Pedagogy Perspective

Does pain take holidays? Non-attendance rates at a hospital-based pain clinic are elevated during the Jewish high-holidays

BackgroundPatient non-attendance is an expensive and persistent problem worldwide with rates between 5–39% reported in the literature. The objective of the study was to assess whether there is a higher incidence of non-attendance in a hospital-based pain clinic during the period of the Jewish High Holidays (Rosh-Hashanah to Sukkot) and whether this is further compounded by other factors, such as demographic characteristics and previous visits to the clinic.MethodsRecords were taken from the Lowenstein Rehabilitation Hospital appointment scheduling system. Data was gathered from two time-periods: High-Holidays and Control for each year, over a total of 6 years 2008–2013. Non-attendance was analyzed by period, by age, by gender and by previous visits to the clinic.ResultsIn the entire population studied (666 distinct records), the non-attendance rate was higher during the High-Holidays as compared to the Control period (32 vs. 24.1%; p = 0.030). Non-attendance rates were significantly higher during the Holidays among repeating patients (28.6 vs. 14.8%; p = 0.002) and among women (34.6 vs. 20.7%; p = 0.004).DiscussionOur data suggest that non-attendance is elevated during the High-Holidays in specific groups of patients, namely, repeating patients and women. Despite no direct inquiry into the reasons for non-attendance, we speculate that the elevated well-being and familial support during the holidays contribute to the patients’ ability to cope with persistent pain and possibly directly reduce the amount of pain, leading to patients missing their pain clinic appointments.ConclusionOur results, provided they can be corroborated by larger-scale studies, can assist in scheduling policy adjustments such as avoidance of appointments during the High-holidays for specific patient populations and more rigorous reminder efforts during these times of the year that may lead to reduction in overall non-attendance rates in the pain clinic. Further, our data provide an impetus for further studies of non-attendance patterns among pain clinic patients, in order to acquire a better understanding of the reasons for non-attendance and develop strategies to reduce it and thus contribute to the continuous improvement of the Israeli health systems as well as others worldwide.

Update on Conflict and Diplomacy

This update summarizes bilateral, multilateral, regional, and international events affecting the Palestinians and the future of the peace process. It covers the quarter beginning on 16 August and ending on 15 November 2016. The surge of violence that escalated during the Jewish High Holidays in 9/2015 continued to subside this quarter. This year's holidays passed without major incidents. While the Palestinian Authority and Israeli government reached deals on electricity and postal service, neither altered their positions on a return to final-status negotiations, despite ongoing initiatives from the international community. The Palestinian leadership advanced initiatives in international institutions, including the United Nations Security Council. The recently reshuffled Israeli govt. instituted a new carrot-and-stick policy for administering the occupied Palestinian territories while struggling with internal differences over Amona, an illegal Israeli settlement outpost, as well as with the settlement enterprise itself. Donald Trump was elected president of the United States, ushering in a Republican-dominated U.S. government that portends significant changes to the U.S. position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Jewish Entrepreneurship in Salonica, 1912–1940: An Ethnic Economy in Transition by Orly Meron, and: Οι Eβραίοι της Θεσσαλονίκης 1856–1919: Μια ιδι-αίτερη κοινότητα [The Jews of Thessaloniki, 1856–1919: A unique community] by Rena Molho (Pένα Μόλχο), and: Tο Ολοκαύτωμα των Eλλήνων Eβραίων: Μελέτες ιστορίας και μνή-μης [The Holocaust of the Greek Jews: Studies in history and memory] by Rena Molho (Pέ

Reviewed by: Jewish Entrepreneurship in Salonica, 1912–1940: An Ethnic Economy in Transition by Orly Meron, and: Οι Eβραίοι της Θεσσαλονίκης 1856–1919: Μια ιδι-αίτερη κοινότητα [The Jews of Thessaloniki, 1856–1919: A unique community] by Rena Molho (Pένα Μόλχο), and: Tο Ολοκαύτωμα των Eλλήνων Eβραίων: Μελέτες ιστορίας και μνή-μης [The Holocaust of the Greek Jews: Studies in history and memory] by Rena Molho (Pένα Μόλχο) Andrew Apostolou (bio) Orly Meron, Jewish Entrepreneurship in Salonica, 1912–1940: An Ethnic Economy in Transition. Brighton: Sussex Academic Press. 2011. Pp. 434. 42 tables, 9 appendixes, and 6 figures. Cloth $125. Rena Molho (Pένα Μόλχο), Οι Eβραίοι της Θεσσαλονίκης 1856–1919: Μια ιδι-αίτερη κοινότητα [The Jews of Thessaloniki, 1856–1919: A unique community]. Reprint. Athens: Pataki. 2014. Pp. 333. Paper €15.62. Rena Molho (Pένα Μόλχο), Tο Ολοκαύτωμα των Eλλήνων Eβραίων: Μελέτες ιστορίας και μνή-μης [The Holocaust of the Greek Jews: Studies in history and memory]. Athens: Pataki. 2014. Pp. 236. Paper €13.94. The central question in the history of Greek Jews is whether they are part of the country and its heritage or historical flotsam that arrived on Greece's shores. Until recently, historians ignored Greek Jews and treated the Holocaust in Greece as of little concern to Greek history. Although popular and official opinion in Greece rejects the notion that the Jews are truly Greek, the books under review are part of a growing literature that incorporates the Jews into Greek history. The focus of this research is Salonika (Thessaloniki). For most of its modern history, the city had a distinctly Jewish character derived from the longstanding presence of Jews from the Iberian Peninsula. Public life in Salonika, for example, ran on a Jewish calendar, with economic activity largely suspended during Jewish holidays; Judeo-Spanish was in fact the main language. In October 1912, Greek troops captured this Jewish majority city and its Orthodox Christian hinterland. The resulting tension between the Greek government, which was unsure of its grip on Salonika and Macedonia, and the Salonika Jews is a theme of these three books. An important aspect of the political struggle for Salonika was anti-Semitism among the Greek Christians, an issue that both Orly Meron and Rena Molho confront directly but which many historians have avoided. Meron's book is an original and exhaustive examination of how Jewish enterprises responded to the upheavals that began in 1912. The Balkan Wars and World War I interrupted the dramatic economic and industrial growth that had begun in Salonika during the late Ottoman era. The flourishing Jewish economy lost its markets and faced hostility from the Greek government and from sectors of the Greek Christian population. Salonika went from being the second most important port in the Ottoman Empire to being the second most important port in Greece after Piraeus. Salonika's Jewish-dominated [End Page 593] economy lost markets to the north and east because, among other reasons, firms were unable to collect from debtors who were now on the other side of new international borders. Although the presence of the Allied armies during World War I (including this author's great-grandfather) provided a temporary respite, Greek rule, according to Meron, restructured the Jewish economy. The Greek government reneged on its promise to allow the Jews to work on Sunday so that they could close on Saturday and observe the Sabbath. Many Jews turned to self-employment in order to avoid unemployment. The Jewish economy became less comprehensive, encompassing fewer activities. Meron uses bank records to argue that Christians ousted Jews from the tobacco business, for example. Similarly, Jews became less involved in energy and public utilities, such as electricity, gas, water, and petrol, as well as in construction because official connections were required. Jews also left subsectors of the economy that were under Christian control: Christian-owned firms took control of the grain and flour industry, and Jews sold their brewing interests. Meron deliberately focuses on the Jewish-dominated sectors of the economy because, she argues, previous work has hidden the impact of Greek state discrimination on them. She provides approximately 100 pages of information on Jewish firms and analyses of economic sectors and subsectors according to ethnicity. She has examined bank records to discover important details about Jewish enterprises. Although the Jewish economy became more concentrated, Jews kept control over significant activities. Jewish firms remained the...

Introduction: Jewish American Material Culture

Introduction:Jewish American Material Culture Laura A. Leibman (bio) A family of six sits around a table ready to start a festive meal. Bubbe and Zayde are there. The cloth is white, the plates are blue, and the family has prepared perfectly formed latkes and challah to start the meal. A silver Hanukiah with candles ablaze stands close—but not too close—to the carefully wrapped gifts. With kippot on their heads, Zayde holds a siddur and Abba a Kiddush cup. A young boy dances in his chair, clasping a dreidel. Bubbe holds a gift. Ima flits between the festivities and the kitchen, spoon in hand. Music plays in the background, and the family's dog waits poised by the refrigerator. This family might seem like many other Jewish families across America during the festival of Hanukkah, if not for the fact that the family members are so incredibly short and set in their ways. In fact, all of the family members are disturbingly puny—barely two inches tall, to be exact—and they are made of a hard, molded plastic. In an attempt to avoid choking hazards to the children who will play with them, they are bonded to their accessories. Even if you wanted to free Ima from her role as chef, you couldn't, as the spoon follows her wherever she goes. You may have met this family before: they are the "Little People Hanukkah Play Set" made by Fisher Price in an attempt to diversify the company's holiday offerings and capture a Jewish market in the first decade of the twenty-first century.1 Apparently, the play set was not a commercial success: for the last few years, all of the Fisher Price holiday-themed "Little People" have been observing Christian or solidly American holidays, such as Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, and the Fourth of July. Jewish "Little People" live on only on eBay, in collectors' shops, and on amazon.com at collector's prices. Jewish "Little People" may embody a host of stereotypes, but they aren't cheap. As a type of material culture made explicitly for Jews and depicting Jews performing rites of Judaism as an embodied religion, the Jewish "Little People" set represents the various ways in which American Jewish identity is performed through things. In this special issue of American Jewish History on material culture, the authors explore the ways in which a wide range of everyday objects can enhance our understanding of American Jewish culture and religion. In this introduction to [End Page 115] this special issue, Jewish "Little People" serve as a concrete example of what might be called "material Judaism"—that is, the use of objects of everyday life in Judaism and to create Jewish identity. By exploring things made and used for and by American Jews, scholars in this issue look at how religion is embedded in culture and how a cultural sense of Jewishness has often come to replace a text-centered understanding of Jewish identity. The "Little People Hanukkah Play Set" exemplifies the variety of ways in which objects can embody what it means to be Jewish in American life. In the Fisher Price set, Jewishness is what one wears, eats, plays, and does as much as what one reads. The boy in the set learns about Hanukkah by playing dreidel, but real Jewish children also learn about Judaism by playing with the Fisher Price set and enacting Jewish holidays in their play. Even the plastic siddur is non-textual. As Pierre Bourdieu would eagerly note, Zayde's book reminds us that all books are physical objects read in material contexts. If it is "with the body that people read the 'book' from which they learn their vision of the world,"2 this family's understanding of Judaism is controlled by and channeled through the molded plastic body of Zayde—or, as one eBay seller eloquently calls him, "Fisher Price Little People JEWISH HANUKKAH GRANDPA MAN TORAH BOOK FOR HOLIDAY." Just as we might want to know who wrote a will or a novel, the context in which objects are created adds to our sense of their social function. Knowing who gave Zayde the only book...

Wyzwania akulturacji. Na przykładzie Stunden der Andacht Fanny Neudy

The aim of the article is to present one of the works of Fanny Neuda – the Jewish writer living in the second half of the nineteenth century in Moravia and Vienna. Her work - Stunden der Andacht was the first prayer book for Jewish women written in German by a woman, which was published several times, mostly with the Gothic fonts, but partly also with Yiddish and Hebrew letters. Renouncement from prayers in Hebrew or Yiddish resulted, that authoress had to face the challenges of process of linguistic acculturation: not only choose (and change) the language and alphabet, but also translations of words not spoken openly in Jewish tradition (e.g. the name of God), or multimeanings Hebrew words. She preserved also the Hebrew names and dates of Jewish holidays. That illustrate the linguistic and religious diversity of German-speaking Jews. In addition, the prayers confirm the complex identity of Jews and the progress of liturgical reform and transformations of religious customs.

Fear in Istanbul, Relief in Prague

Fear in Istanbul, Relief in Prague

Jewish holidays and their associated medical risks.

Religiosity is inherent in human cultures. Being different in many aspects, all have rules regarding appropriate behavior and rituals. Celebrations of social events and of holidays prevail in all major religions. These include code of dress, prayers, special food and activities which may have negative health implications. The Jewish religion is 'blessed' with an abundance of holidays each with its unique health implications. In this paper we provide an outline of the character of these festivals and possible medical repercussions on those celebrating them. Observant members of the Jewish religion and teams treating this population should be knowledgeable of potentially associated risks. Pre-holiday periods should be specifically targeted for educational and preventive activity in order diminish injury or morbidity.

Sam and Charlie (and Sam Too) Return! by Leslie Kimmelman (review)

Reviewed by: Sam and Charlie (and Sam Too) Return! by Leslie Kimmelman Jeannette Hulick Kimmelman, Leslie. Sam and Charlie (and Sam Too) Return!; illus. by William Owl. Whitman, 2014. 39p. ISBN 978-0-8075-7215-3 $13.99 R Gr. 1-3. Neighbors and pals Sam (boy) and Charlie (girl) are back for more fun in this title, along with Charlie’s little sister, Sam Too. Several Jewish holidays—Passover, Hanukkah, and Tu B’Shevat—are quietly included as the background for three of the stories, while the other two focus on snow shoveling and playing in a treehouse. The three kids are likable individuals, and Kimmelman’s simple prose carries a gentle humor. The large font and short sentences combine with a lengthier text and occasionally challenging vocabulary to make this a useful last stop for kids just getting ready to move into beginning chapter books. Owl’s lively color illustrations in slightly smoky, complex hues bring the characters’ features and personalities to the forefront; freckle-faced Sam Too, for example, perpetually wears her carroty hair in two long braids and is clearly attached to her bear-head hat, while Charlie’s darker reddish-brown curls are constantly going every which way. Fans of the first book will definitely want to check in with the trio here, and Jewish readers will likely to again find the casual treatment of the families’ faith refreshing. [End Page 461] Copyright © 2014 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

The Intersection of Gender and Religious Language in Ruth Kluger's <em>Still Alive</em>

This article analyzes the dimensions of religious discourse in Ruth Kluger’s memoir, Still Alive: A Holocaust Girlhood Remembered (2001). Specifically, I focus on how Kluger’s religious language intersects with her conceptualizations of gender and the Holocaust. First, I examine Kluger’s childhood memories, including her references to biblical intertexts and her charged recollection of Jewish holidays. I then move on to analyze Kluger’s reflections on the issue of free will, often couched in “theological” terms, which appear in the latter part of her memoir dealing with her experience in the camps. I argue that both dimensions of Kluger’s religious language are intertwined with her memory of gender as part of her lived experience, as well as her ongoing construction of gender as an analytic category. Both dimensions occasionally overlap in Kluger’s narrative, revealing important ramifications for the debate about feminist engagement with the Holocaust. In this regard, I attend particularly to Kluger’s occasional construction of gendered essentialisms in her remembered confrontations with evil and authoritarianism.

Shalom Sesame : Using Media to Promote Jewish Education and Identity

A family survey, ethnographic study, and quasi-experimental study investigated Shalom Sesame's potential to enhance understanding of Jewish culture and identity among preschool families. Preschoolers demonstrated significant learning, recognizing that people who looked different could be Jewish, and in knowledge about Hebrew words, Jewish holidays, and things they would see in Israel. Learning also extended beyond the screen, via spontaneous family discussions/activities, and an increased desire to celebrate holidays or visit Israel. The videos held particular value for interfaith families and those outside established Jewish communities. Parents valued Shalom Sesame for helping children connect to the broader Jewish community, deepening their own connection, and educating non-Jewish relatives and friends.

Community Reparations to Transform Community Desolation

Community Reparations to Transform Community Desolation

Scholarship and Worldliness: The Life and Work of Fritz Bamberger

In one of his most important scholarly writings, on the intellectual stature of the German-Jewish philosopher of the eighteenth century, Moses Mendelssohn, Fritz Bamberger marvelled at Mendelssohn's extraordinary embodiment of Judaism, philosophy, and humanity all within a single personality.1 My intent in this essay is to show, against the background of his times in Germany and America, just how the significant Jewish scholar Fritz Bamberger was likewise able to put together these elements in a fruitful, highly diverse career. It is a task not previously undertaken, a lacuna that has been waiting to be filled.2 Fritz Bamberger was born on 7 January 1902 in Frankfurt am Main, and grew up in the small town of Gelsenkirchen near Essen, where his father owned furniture stores. His parents were Liberal Jews, who visited the local synagogue occasionally and observed Jewish holidays. During the First World War the young Bamberger assisted...

L'Chaim: Jewish holidays and stock market returns

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of Jewish holidays on US stock market returns.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use event study and regression methodology to determine abnormal returns on Jewish holidays and windowed periods surrounding the day. In order to seclude the results to Jewish holidays, the authors control for several other known events that impact stock market returns. To substantiate claims of abnormal returns, the authors also use the Fama‐French four‐factor model to seek alpha and evidence returns on Jewish holidays.FindingsThis study shows, during the 1990‐2009 period, an increase in average daily returns 32 times greater on nine Jewish holidays than on the other trading days of the year. The demeanor of the specific Jewish holidays also influences stock market returns, as the market returns increase (decrease) on the joyous (solemn) Jewish holidays. Also, individual investors, rather than institutional investors, are a greater catalyst for the increased returns.Originality/valuePrevious research details increased stock market returns on US holidays and several other events. However, no definable research exists on stock market returns on Jewish holidays. The findings in this paper are valuable to investors who event‐trade, and are also valuable to investors and behavioral‐finance researchers who seek to understand how demeanor and moods may impact buying/selling decisions.

Risks and Opportunities of Faith and Culture: The Case of Abused Jewish Women

Intimate partner abusers often focus on physical violence, but abuse may also include exploiting a partner’s faith or subculture. Alternatively, faith or subculture may be a source of strength and support for victims. We explored this by analyzing case files from a Jewish domestic violence services agency. Jewish identity conditions women’s experiences with intimate partner abuse through the use of Judaism as a “tool” for abuse, the role of Jewish holidays and observances, and the role of the Jewish community. While partners of abused Jewish women often perverted the laws and traditions of Judaism to control their partners and the reaction of the larger community varied, being part of an integrated cultural and religious community offered support for some women.

“Strangers in the new homeland?” Gendered citizenship among non-Jewish immigrant women in Israel

As part of the recent wave of immigration from the former Soviet Union (FSU), about 300,000 non-Jews came to Israel as spouses of Jews or partly-Jewish offspring of ethnically-mixed families. The purpose of this article is to examine the experiences of non-Jewish women, wives of Jewish husbands, who came to Israel after 1990 under the Law of Return. The study is based on the qualitative analysis of 20 semi-structured in-depth interviews with these immigrant women, aiming to explore their perceptions of religious practices, Jewish holidays, conversion (giyur), and their political views — in order to understand their constructions of Israeli citizenship. The issues of citizenship and loyalty to the Jewish state are resolved by Russian immigrant women in a variety of ways. Some women (a small minority) opt for ethno-national citizenship through religious conversion — giyur, typically for the children's sake. Others prefer to become part of Israeli society through experiences connected to the military service of their children and grandchildren, which can be seen as a version of republican citizenship. For most women in this study, the process of getting closer to the Israeli society and its traditions often occurred via embracing local culinary customs and specific holiday foods. In any case, the gender roles as wives and mothers appeared to be central in our informants' understanding of Israeli citizenship. The adoption of political views of Israeli Right and militant anti-Arab discourse also served as a venue for their ‘nationalization’ through republicanism.

Zionist Awareness of the Jewish Past: Inventing Tradition or Renewing the Ethnic Past?

AbstractSince the 1980s, the question of how nations are formed has been the topic of historiographic debate: is it correct to define nation‐building in terms of inventing traditions, or is the ethnic‐symbolic viewpoint more useful in understanding the process of development of the nation‐state? This debate is also reflected in research on Jewish nationalism. In this article, I will examine this issue in relation to the Zionist movement, focusing on several clear examples of forging the nation and nation‐building: 1) the change in configuration of traditional Jewish holidays; 2) ceremonies and Zionist holidays on kibbutzim; 3) the status of the Bible in the Zionist movement; and 4) Jewish history and Zionist historiography. These examples indicate that the process of nation‐building reveals a strong ethnic‐cultural link to the Jewish past. I will argue that modern political explanations such as inventing tradition do not offer a full explanation of the phenomenon of Jewish nationalism. In order to arrive at a comprehensive understanding of the success of Zionism in consolidating around it a group willing to commit such a high level of personal sacrifice over time, we must give consideration to cultural‐ethnic continuity as well as the feeling of commitment and sanctity that Jewish nationalism offered to its believers, both religious and secular.

Kampuchéa by Patrick Deville

that Samuel must face every day. As Wolf becomes progressively crueler in his treatment, Samuel finally rebels and liberates himself from this psychological captivity. Much of the novel also describes the hero’s personal life beyond his daily torment at the office. He is a charming and good-looking homosexual, and the reader is made privy to several episodes in his love life. We also learn a great deal about Samuel’s Jewish heritage, through numerous references to Jewish holidays and themes. Samuel is looking for a Messiah, and his sufferings at the hands of Wolf are described as a kind of Calvary. Two of the other protagonists are homosexual friends of Samuel’s, and they too suffer victimization in various ways. His sometime partner Arsène Bazarov, a former television actor, is pursued by the police and the tax office because of crimes committed by someone who stole his identity. Arsène is subjected to interrogations reminiscent of the Nazi and Stalinist regimes and suffers a nervous breakdown. Finally exonerated, he flees to his native Auvergne to find a refuge with his mother and salvage what is left of his sanity. The other gay friend is a new acquaintance from Canada named Freddy Comfort, whose company has transferred him to its Paris branch. Freddy is a philosopher of optimism whose aim is to promote goodwill among all people, from co-workers to the whole universe , through the power of joy, kindness, and positive thinking. He has given his doctrine a graphic representation in a ‘tree of well-being,’ in which one rises to higher levels of stress-free fulfillment. He constantly preaches to everyone he meets to ‘go with the flow.’ Unfortunately, most people think Freddy is crazy, including his French colleagues, and he too becomes a victim of persecution. Despite his credo, he is almost driven to suicide in desperation. Ester, the fourth protagonist, is a married woman with children but currently separated from her husband, a screenwriter who now stalks her. She comes to the aid of her friends, like Samuel, but must also turn to them when her own situation becomes unbearable . She too seeks refuge in escape, running away to Sweden where she finds solace in a lesbian relationship with Anna, Wolf’s sister. Her choice of Sweden as a last resort is appropriate, since several incidents in the novel are compared, either by the characters or the narrator, to similar occurrences in Ingmar Bergman’s films. Multiple references to other filmmakers and literary masters demonstrate that the author and his creations are well-read and avid cinema-goers. University of Denver James P. Gilroy DEVILLE, PATRICK. Kampuchéa. Paris: Seuil, 2011. ISBN 978-2-02-099207-7. Pp. 259. 20 a. Deville’s latest book takes its place next to Pura vida (2004) and Equatoria (2009) in what looks, for the moment at least, like a trilogy. The author calls Kampuchéa a novel, an appellation that is provocative in view of the fact that there is very little fiction here—if indeed there is any at all. Focusing upon Cambodia, roughly from Henri Mouhot’s “discovery” of the temples of Angkor Wat in 1860 to the present time, Deville offers a meditation on history, geography, politics, culture, and the way those categories necessarily overlap in a place which has always found itself precariously situated “entre l’enclume et le marteau” (187). The event that draws Deville there is the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, and especially the trial of Kang Kek Iew, or “Duch,” the first of five former Khmer Rouge leaders 412 FRENCH REVIEW 86.2 to be indicted, and who would be convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to thirty-five years in prison in July 2010. That trial provides Deville with his principal narrative thread, around which he weaves an impressive variety of other stories. That of the French Mekong Expedition in 1866–68, lead by Ernest Doudart de Lagrée and Francis Garnier, for instance; or that of Vann Nath, who survived the Khmer Rouge camps by painting portraits of Pol Pot; or that of Marie-Charles David de Mayréna, who declared himself King of Sedang in 1888; or...

Greek Influence on the Composition of 2 Maccabees

AbstractThis paper is comprised of three parts. First, I compare festival motifs in 1 and 2 Maccabees to demonstrate that unlike 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees is holiday-centered and that it seems to equate holiday observance with religious piety. Because the abridger and audience of 2 Maccabees are familiar with the festival-centered Greek calendar, the observance of Jewish holidays is offered as an alternative to Hellenism. Second, I examine why prayer plays a more significant role in 2 Maccabees than 1 Maccabees. Although the prominence of prayer in 2 Maccabees might suggest a borrowing from biblical precedent, prayer passages in 2 Maccabees are more likely influenced by Greek drama and the genre of mimos. Finally, I attempt to demonstrate that, unlike 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees is temple-centered but not Judea-centered. This stems from the authors’ and audience’s unfamiliarity with the land of Israel but appreciation of temple-centralized worship. I conclude that 2 Maccabees is not necessarily intended as a refutation of the “Hasmonean propagandist’s” 1 Maccabees, but is a retelling of Hasmonean history which emphasizes religious themes familiar to a diasporan audience.

Photo Essay

Photo Essay Manzer Foroohar Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 1. Wall in Bethlehem: I was in Palestine for research in March and April of 2008. I was based in Bethlehem but had to go to East Jerusalem often for my research. Bethlehem is a suburb of Jerusalem (about six miles away), but the trip could take about one hour. You can only go to Jerusalem with “proper” identification papers, which most of Bethlehemites don’t have. To get to Jerusalem, you have to take a taxi from the center of Bethlehem and go to the wall. (above picture) [End Page 861] Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 2. Check point crossing in Bethlehem: Then you have to walk through several fenced corridors (above) before getting to the gate. [End Page 862] Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 3. Wall in Bethlehem: Another section of Bethlehem wall and watch tower. [End Page 863] Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 4. Wall in Bethlehem: Bethlehem kids walking and playing next to the wall. [End Page 864] Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 5. Wall in Bethlehem: The wall has been built in the middle of the street in front of this house and goes around the back to cut the backyard. Now a part of the family’s backyard is on the other side of the wall. [End Page 865] Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 6. Bypass road in the suburb of Jerusalem: It divides a Palestinian town. Since Palestinians don’t have access to the road and are not allowed to travel on the road, they have to go under the road or take the dirt road to travel from one side of their town to the other. [End Page 866] Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 7. Checkpoint: A Palestinian ambulance waits behind an Israeli checkpoint in the West Bank. Many Palestinians have died behind the checkpoints, due to delays and/or the lack of a permit to cross the checkpoint to go to hospital. [End Page 867] Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 8. The wall from the Israeli side: In contrast to the Palestinian side of the wall, which is very close to and visible from Palestinian houses, schools and businesses, the Israeli side of the wall is not close to settlers’ houses or bypass roads in the West Bank. It is built in a way which is not clearly visible from the road, or in some cases it is painted with murals, such as the above picture. [End Page 868] Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 9. Qalandiya: This is the beginning of the wall and the watch tower separating East Jerusalem from Ramallah. The distance between the two cities is a few miles, but it could take more than two hours to get from one to the other, and that is only if you have “proper” papers. The overwhelming majority of Palestinians living in Ramallah haven’t been able to travel to Jerusalem for years. Many families have been separated by the wall with no prospect of visiting one another. [End Page 869] Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 10. Qalandiya: Palestinians paint on the wall and write messages about the situation. [End Page 870] Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 11. Qalandiya: This painting on the wall demonstrates the Palestinian dream of breaking down the wall. [End Page 871] Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 12. Wall (fence) and gate in Jayyus: In rural areas, the wall takes the form of an electronic fence which separates Palestinian farmers from their farm land. Every several miles the fence has a gate which is opened a few hours each day to let Palestinians go to their farms. The gates are usually closed for Jewish holidays and when there is any sign of political unrest. Sometimes the gates remain closed for weeks, preventing Palestinians from working on their farm land. [End Page 872] Copyright © 2010 The American Studies Association