Jewish Literature Research Articles

Biblical apocrypha and the in-betweenness of maskilic translation

ABSTRACT In recent years, the role of translation in the Jewish Enlightenment (Haskalah) has become the focus of increasing scholarly attention. Often, the maskilic engagement with translation is viewed as an unambiguous route to modernity and to modern Jewish literature. But while the maskilim’s utilization of translation as a means for cultural innovation is now almost a truism among literary historians, their hesitations surrounding the importation of foreign works into the Hebrew literary sphere have been largely overlooked. This article discusses the translation of biblical apocrypha in the early Haskalah. It argues that the tangential position of translation in general, and the translation of biblical apocrypha in particular, posited this literary activity as an especially productive platform for unpacking concerns surrounding the means, forms, and languages of interreligious dialogue. For the maskilim, translation was not merely a device for literary and cultural modernization, so much as it was a way of reflecting on the promise and perils of modernity.

Gehenna Reexamined: Annihilation and Final Punishment in Intertestamental Jewish Thought

Intertestamental Jewish writings often vaguely yet sometimes specifically address the nature and duration of final punishment of the ‘wicked.’ What constituted the ‘wicked’ in the extrabiblical Jewish literature—similarly to the Hebrew Bible—was consistently defined as those who broke God’s moral law intentionally and persistently. For these wrath-appointed persons, their final judgement lay in the commonly recognized and dreaded place (or state) of punishment called Gehenna. This paper will argue that upon examination of intertestamental Jewish writings there is considerable support for the view of Gehenna judgment as a terminable period of suffering leading to complete destruction (annihilation) of the wicked. The approach of this paper will be to analyze intertestamental Jewish writings and the teachings of Jesus in relation to the Gehenna. While the views on death and judgement in the afterlife were as varied in the intertestamental period as they are today, the intertestamental authors’ use language which depicts the final judgment as something which may at times be interpreted as analogous with the traditional—more accurately “Hellenistic”—Christian view of hell, or at times prevents resurrection of the wicked entirely (Maccabees), or majoritively as a punishment which ends in a fiery conflagration spawning an eternal consequence of destruction in its most non-figurative and complete sense.

Another ‘I Have Come’ Saying from Ancient Judaism: A Note on De Sampsone 13

This article adds a further, early example of the ‘I have come’ + purpose formula, as used frequently in early Jewish literature by angelic visitors to earth. This case and other instances already known are relevant to the question of whether pre-existence christology is implied in the parallel statements of Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels.

The Lesson of Things: Halina Grynberg and the Post-Shoah Jewish Literature in Brazil

The Lesson of Things: Halina Grynberg and the Post-Shoah Jewish Literature in Brazil

Rethinking the Origins and Textual History of Ancient Jewish Literature: A Review of Recent Works by Emanuel Tov, James Nati, and Nathan Mastnjak

Abstract This essay discusses the current state of research on the origins and textual history of early Jewish literature in light of three recently published books. On the one hand, the current practice of textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible, well presented in the standard handbook of the topic, is anchored in relatively traditional views on the origins of biblical books. On the other hand, two studies challenge current ideas about the ontology and materiality of ancient Jewish literature. An analysis of the Serekh ha-Yahad scrolls reveals that usual models of textual growth cannot account for the entirety of the intricate textual history of certain compositions. A material-historical perspective suggests that, before the Hellenistic period, literary works existed in the form of collections of scrolls, which has potentially profound implications for understanding how these collections became books. Whether conservative or innovative in outlook, these books show that theory and practice are inextricably linked in the field of textual criticism.

‘Linguistic compatriots’: on the relationship between Tajik and Judeo-Tajik language and literature

ABSTRACT This paper follows the traces of Tajik and Judeo-Tajik literature in the early Soviet period and compares some prominent works and biographies of Tajik and Bukharan Jewish writers. In the 1920s and 1930s, national literatures were heavily supported by the Party and the state and used as vehicles for propagating the new ideology, creating Soviet nationalities (the Tajiks) and national minorities (the Bukharan Jews). For a period that lasted about ten years, parallels and mutual influences within an emerging scene of Tajik and Bukharan Jewish literature are well documented. While this laboratory of Soviet nation-building continued with the Tajiks, the Judeo-Tajik project was stopped in the late 1930s. From then until the end of the Soviet period, Bukharan Jewish writers, artists, and intellectuals contributed to mainstream Tajik culture.

A Handbook of Sephardic Sagas, Ashkenazi Tales, and Iberian Rhythms: Exploring Jewish Literatures in Spanish and Portuguese in the Classroom

A Handbook of Sephardic Sagas, Ashkenazi Tales, and Iberian Rhythms: Exploring Jewish Literatures in Spanish and Portuguese in the Classroom

From Zurishaddai to Menachem Mendel: The Shlemiel’s Journey from Ancient to Modern Israel

Abstract This essay explores the evolution and resilience of the shlemiel, a central figure in two millennia of Jewish culture. Rooted in biblical narratives, the shlemiel transitions eventually into a symbol of Yiddish and Eastern European diasporic life, embodying both comedic and tragic elements. Tracing his journey through cultural history, from German to Yiddish and modern Hebrew and American literature, theater, and film, the essay delves into the complexities of his character, rooted in folklore and revolving around mistaken identity. Themes of gender and sexuality, along with interpretative acrobatics add layers of ambiguity and complexity, shaping the shlemiel’s narrative in various literary and cultural contexts. Through a detailed analysis of works by authors ranging from Heinrich Heine through Sholem Aleichem, Franz Kafka, Saul Bellow, Philip Roth, to Sammy Gronemann, the essay demonstrates the shlemiel’s versatility and enduring presence in Jewish comedy. Moreover, it examines his role as both a pariah and an agent for social change, reflecting on his significance in different cultural landscapes, as he lands eventually in America and Palestine/Israel in the 20th century. By exploring adaptations and interpretations across time and place, this essay highlights the shlemiel’s resilience amidst shifting societal norms across the globe, offering insights into the enduring relevance of this iconic figure in Jewish literature and culture.

From Zurishaddai to Menachem Mendel: The Shlemiel’s Journey from Ancient to Modern Israel

Abstract This essay explores the evolution and resilience of the shlemiel, a central figure in two millennia of Jewish culture. Rooted in biblical narratives, the shlemiel transitions eventually into a symbol of Yiddish and Eastern European diasporic life, embodying both comedic and tragic elements. Tracing his journey through cultural history, from German to Yiddish and modern Hebrew and American literature, theater, and film, the essay delves into the complexities of his character, rooted in folklore and revolving around mistaken identity. Themes of gender and sexuality, along with interpretative acrobatics add layers of ambiguity and complexity, shaping the shlemiel’s narrative in various literary and cultural contexts. Through a detailed analysis of works by authors ranging from Heinrich Heine through Sholem Aleichem, Franz Kafka, Saul Bellow, Philip Roth, to Sammy Gronemann, the essay demonstrates the shlemiel’s versatility and enduring presence in Jewish comedy. Moreover, it examines his role as both a pariah and an agent for social change, reflecting on his significance in different cultural landscapes, as he lands eventually in America and Palestine/Israel in the 20th century. By exploring adaptations and interpretations across time and place, this essay highlights the shlemiel’s resilience amidst shifting societal norms across the globe, offering insights into the enduring relevance of this iconic figure in Jewish literature and culture.

Practicing Safe Sects: Apostasy and Apotropaism in the Damascus Document and Paul

Previous scholarship on 1 Corinthians 5.1–5 has primarily used parallels from the Greek Magical Papyri (PGM) and curse formulae (defixiones) to understand Paul’s instructions about delivering a sexually immoral man over to Satan. This paper diverges from such an approach, instead looking at apotropaism in Second Temple Jewish literature and a parallel found in the Damascus Document that concerns a man excommunicated from the community due to sin done while in a state of spirit-possession. Obedience is often viewed in Second Temple Judaism as a method for repelling evil spirits and Paul seems to adopt a similar view. Additionally, the author(s) of the Damascus Document differentiate(s) between states of disobedience and apostasy. While apostasy incurs the death penalty, disobedience to Sabbath observance results in excommunication with the hope of remediation back into the community. Paul too seems to accept this dichotomy between apostasy and disobedience, but remediation is not possible for the sexually immoral man. Rather, his death serves to protect the spirit of the community from moral degradation and the ongoing threat of hostile spiritual forces.

Forms of Exile in Jewish Literature and Thought: Twentieth-Century Central Europe and Migration to America by Bronislava Volková (review)

Forms of Exile in Jewish Literature and Thought: Twentieth-Century Central Europe and Migration to America by Bronislava Volková (review)

Jewish Literary Eros: Between Poetry and Prose in the Medieval Mediterranean by Isabelle Levy (review)

Jewish Literary Eros: Between Poetry and Prose in the Medieval Mediterranean by Isabelle Levy (review)

Jesus as the personification of God’s wisdom in Matthew

This article investigates the attribute of God’s wisdom in Matthew’s Gospel as personified in the ministry of his Son, Jesus. This Gospel identifies Jesus as ‘Immanuel’. He is ‘God with us’. The focus falls on several statements exhibiting wisdom motifs that are either uttered by or ascribed to Jesus. These statements are quite puzzling and continue to evoke scholarly discussion. The central theoretical argument of this article is that these statements cannot be fully understood without considering the echoes of the Jewish context exhibited in them. The objective of his investigation is to demonstrate how the recognition of similarities between the statements in Matthew and in Jewish literature contribute towards the understanding of wisdom statements in the Matthean Gospel. This article therefore begins by identifying key wisdom motifs within Jewish tradition, followed by an investigation of wisdom sayings in Matthew. Parallels in Luke are considered to sharpen peculiarities of Matthew’s narration. From this investigation it became clear that the ministry of Jesus in Matthew is met with similar reactions as that of Wisdom in Jewish literature. The article accentuates a significant dimension of Matthew’s Christology. Matthew vindicates Jesus against his opponents and justifies Jesus’ acceptance within the Matthean community. For this community, he is not only recognised as wise teacher, but even the one who reveals and personifies wisdom. As ‘Immanuel’, he presents the attribute of God’s wisdom.Contribution: This article contributes to the ongoing scholarly discussion of several puzzling and seemingly obscure statements echoing wisdom motifs, either attributed to or uttered by Jesus.

Marginalised within a minority: Jews with disabilities in the Jewish press of the Kingdom of Poland (1860s-1914).

This article is the first scholarly research focusing exclusively on the history of Jews with disabilities in the Kingdom of Poland from the 1860s to 1914. It analyses sources drawn from the Jewish press in Yiddish, Polish, and Hebrew. Areas of investigation include the hierarchy of attitudes towards different categories of individuals with disabilities, spiritual perspectives on disability, and the portrayal of disabilities within Jewish literature. The study places particular emphasis on the Jewish deaf community, given the proliferation of available source material. Drawing on the broad conceptual framework of disability studies, the authors examine the phenomenon of medicalisation, tracing its influence on Jewish public discourse over the latter half of the nineteenth century and the early decades of the twentieth.

The Lord of History in Cynthia Ozick’s “Ruth”

Abstract Cynthia Ozick has published widely on the categorization and definition of Jewish literature. This article reexamines her definition in “Toward a New Yiddish” in light of Ozick’s essay “Ruth,” published first in Congregation: Contemporary Writers Read the Jewish Bible (1987) and later in her essay collection Metaphor & Memory (1989). In “Ruth,” Ozick’s enigmatic definition of Jewish literature as carrying “the echo of the voice of the Lord of History” can be read as a transtemporal or Talmudic relationship with contradiction and paradox. Utilizing the Jewish approaches to time described in Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi’s Zakhor (1982) and Lynn Kaye’s Time in the Babylonian Talmud: Natural and Imagined Times in Jewish Law and Narrative (2018), this article examines how Ozick’s elliptical writing style underscores the Talmudic character of her writing. Moreover, “Ruth” exemplifies Ozick’s destabilization of linear time as she adopts the role of a modern-day rabbi who reinterprets ancient texts and illustrates how future readers might do the same.

Jewish Mysticism as a Form of Feminism in Early 20th Century Hungarian Jewish Literature: Anna Lesznai’s Response to Otto Weininger

This article examines Anna Lesznai’s radical imagining of sex and its use for transcendental purposes that heavily rely on Jewish mystical ideas intertwined with Otto Weininger's theory of gender binarism. In her gender theory—part of feminist discourse at the turn of the twentieth century—Lesznai describes female love, using religious language and ideas from Jewish mysticism, especially those resembling Hassidic concepts, and ultimately compares sexual union to yihud- unio mystica with God. Working within the patriarchal understanding of the biological definition of gender and of the concept of "female difference," Lesznai’s feminism rooted in the belief that certain personality traits and skills are inherently gendered, but she reverses the hierarchy by placing women in the position of power, thus turning Jewish mysticism and Weininger’s gender philosophy on its head.

Entangled Identities and the History of Spaces in Twenty-First-Century Jewish Literature from Germany and Poland

Entangled Identities and the History of Spaces in Twenty-First-Century Jewish Literature from Germany and Poland

Национальный мир глазами ребёнка в прозе И.Э. Бабеля

Attempts to reproduce the lost world of national tradition arose in the works of many authors of the first third of the 20 century as a consequence of the collapse of traditional culture, a process typologically similar for both Russian and Jewish civilizations. The desire to recreate the world of the past is also one of the characteristic features of I.E. Babel's prose. Having described the collapse of the national world in “Red Cavalry”, I.E. Babel reconstructs it not only in “Odessa Stories”, but also in an unfinished cycle of short stories about childhood. The main character and, concurrently, “the narrator” of this book is a child. However, the connection between him and the adult narrator is not as strong as in the autobiographical prose of most I.E. Babel’s contemporaries (representatives of both Russian and Jewish literature). The adult narrator doesn’t dream of escaping the reality, he has no desire to return to prerevolutionary Odessa; on the contrary, he dreams of growing up as soon as possible and gaining strength sufficient to prevent the collapse of the national world, to repel the rioters, even at the cost of his own life. The ideal in the prose of I.E. Babel is not the past, but the future, in which his hero will get stronger and be able to create a “brave new world”, “The International of good people”.

Ghettos, Shtetls and Projective Spaces. Diasporic Discourses in Jewish-Romanian Interwar Literature

The aim of this paper is to investigate the interconnections between diasporic discourse, spatiality, and Jewish literature within an analysis of a certain movement from Interwar Jewish-Romanian literature, the so- called literature of the ghetto, represented by authors such as I. Peltz, Ury Benador and Ion Călugăru. Depicting the lives of Romanian Jews in shtetls or marginal neighbourhoods, this literary discourse features a close relationship between spatiality and identity at its core. Alongside the space of the ghetto, multiple topoi (such as America, Palestine, or Russia) appear in these writings. I call these projective spaces as they are included in the novels through the longing of the narrators, for which different political affinities play a key role, or by means of fragmented stories that, often altered, echo through the ghettos.

Portrait of the Algerian Jew as a Berber: Old and New Narratives of Belonging in Postcolonial Algerian Jewish Literature

Abstract: This article analyzes a motif in post-1962 Algerian Jewish literature: a Berber Jewish imaginary, i.e., the fascination with an ancient, legendary Berber Jewish shared history as the symbolic foundation upon which many Algerian-born Jewish authors base their sense of belonging to their native land. Through the affective, symbolic, and poetic structures of these narratives of origins and memory, and their multilayered historical legacies, I argue that this Berber Jewish imaginary testifies to the power of literature to access an entangled, multiethnic, transcultural, transnational belonging upended by French imperialism and to unearth forgotten histories of Algeria and Algerianness. Yet it also unveils the lingering paradox of postcolonial Algerian Jewish identity. Abstract: Cet article analyse un motif de la littérature juive algérienne d'après 1962 : l'imaginaire juif berbère, c'est-à-dire, la fascination pour une histoire commune juive berbère ancienne et légendaire en tant que fondement symbolique sur lequel de nombreux auteurs juifs nés en Algérie fondent leur sentiment d'appartenance à leur terre natale. À travers les structures affectives, symboliques et poétiques de ces récits d'origines et de mémoire, et leurs héritages historiques à plusieurs niveaux, je soutiens que cet imaginaire juif berbère témoigne du pouvoir de la littérature d'accéder à une appartenance enchevêtrée, multiethnique, transculturelle et transnationale bouleversée par l'impérialisme français et de déterrer des histoires oubliées de l'Algérie et de l'algérianité. Mais il dévoile également le paradoxe persistant de l'identité juive algérienne postcoloniale.