Jewish Studies Research Articles

Who Gets to Talk When “WE” Talk about Israel: An Intersectional Meditation on Inclusivity

Abstract Occasioned by a recent article by Jill Jacobs criticizing the underrepresentation of women in American Jewish debate about Israel and by a recently implemented policy by the Association for Jewish Studies (AJS) requiring gender diversity on panels at the association’s annual conference, this article explores the space where knowledge production, rhetorics of inclusivity, and disciplinary organization intersect: Despite its policies of inclusion, is the AJS able to avoid exercising a Jewish supremacy in its Israel/Palestine-oriented knowledge practices?

Rediscovering the shtetl in the late Soviet period: the Leningrad Jewish Independent Movement of the 1980s and the re-establishment of Jewish studies

ABSTRACT Beginning in the early 1980s, Leningrad-based Jewish intellectuals began to explore the settlements of the former Pale of Settlement in search of their ethnic and religious identity. Starting in 1982, Ilya Dvorkin, a physicist by training, together with a few friends, undertook several such shtetl expeditions to the Belarusian and Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republics. They visited the hometowns of their ancestors and explored important sites of Hasidism. Based on interviews and extensive archival material, this article investigates Jewish encounters with the abandoned material heritage of the shtetl and confrontations with the immaterial narratives of the past.

Knowing which Way to Turn: Orienting Congregational Jewish Education in Europe

ABSTRACT Much research on part-time Jewish educational programs has focused on curricular content and pedagogy. Yet classrooms involve diverse exchanges about curricular subjects as well as those that appear little related to Jewish studies; both are motivated by assumptions about which things count as Jewish matters of concern and appropriate orientations to those things. Drawing on ongoing ethnographic fieldwork, this article proposes bringing a semiotic ideological lens to quotidian interactions as means to get at the “tacit curriculum” and aims of part-time schools, to better grasp what draws families to these schools, and to recognize the nuanced learning happening therein.

Archived Jewishness: material practices of diaspora in Danzy Senna’s Caucasia

ABSTRACT Both Black and Jewish studies theorize archival memory, as well as archival gaps and silences, in regard to slavery and the Holocaust, respectively. Yet, these modes of theorizing the archiving have not been put into conversation. This article examines Danzy Senna’s 1998 novel Caucasia as a staging ground for a dialogue between archival theory in Black and Jewish studies. In considering archival imagery and themes in the novel, I argue that collecting, rearranging, and reassembling physical objects is Birdie’s primary way of negotiating not only her Blackness but also her imagined Jewishness as a way beyond racial performance.

A Tribute to Professor Leon Yudkin (1939–2013)

Abstract This is a tribute to the Jewish literary critic Professor Leon Yudkin, who died in 2013. He was a prolific writer: the author of more than a dozen works and editor and co-editor of another five books. The range of his interests was prodigious, from individual writers like Shmuel Agnon, Joseph Roth and Else Lasker-Schüler to the Prague Circle, French feminist writers, German Expressionism and, above all, a series of authoritative surveys of Hebrew, Yiddish and Israeli literature. Much of this article focuses on his last book, posthumously published, Fiction Derailed: Form for the Modern (2020), an exploration of the modern novel. His greatest legacy was as a pioneer, someone who opened up the study of Jewish and especially Hebrew and Yiddish literature in the academy.

New Directions in Hispanic Jewish Studies: Early Modern Jewish and Conversa Women

ABSTRACT Increasing recognition of the integral role that religious and ethnic “others”—Jews and Muslims—played in the development of Iberian culture has become more integrated into the study of Spanish Empire, with an eye toward the converso experience in the colonial world as well. A much less developed line of inquiry relates to the experiences of those at the margins of sixteenth-century society, especially Jewish and conversa women, who were navigating unprecedented circumstances as refugees and New Christians. The disintegration of early modern women’s personal, familial, and communal foundations often left them in the most vulnerable positions; widows, who were not protected by the confines of marriage, experienced poverty and Inquisitorial accusations more often than others. Both Jewish and Spanish legal records feature a disproportionate number of cases related to the status of widows in a tumultuous society; some of the most compelling sources are Inquisition records that document the accounts of judaizing widows on trial. These new directions at the intersection of Jewish and Hispanic studies start broader conversations about Spanish Empire that include marginalized voices and exclude notions of imperial homogeneity.

A Picture Is Worth 1,000 Words: A Reflection on Art-Based Assignments for the Study of Traditional Jewish Texts

ABSTRACT As instructors of Jewish Studies struggle to find ways for their students to be more engaged in their learning, it is worthwhile for educators to consider whether art-based assignments are effective at reaching this goal. This article examines what students gain when their study of a biblical chapter is paired with the generation of an art product on that chapter. The study evaluates a pictorial summary assignment to retell the narrative and a dramatic production assignment to analyze the messages of a biblical chapter. The findings suggest that art-based assignments help students read Jewish texts more closely and make more personal connections to them more so than when no pictorial component is included with verbal-based assignments.

How Do We Talk to Each Other About Zionism in Jewish Studies? What Happened to Critical Engagement?

How Do We Talk to Each Other About Zionism in Jewish Studies? What Happened to Critical Engagement?

The development of comparative Jewish hermeneutics of the Gospel of Matthew

The article examines the historical development of comparative Jewish hermeneutic studies of the Gospel of Matthew starting with the 17th century. The research pays special attention to the stages of formation, to obstacles and their overcoming, and to the nature of the development of comparative works. It introduces a comparison of two parallel traditions in these studies — Christian and Jewish. The main methodological approaches of Christian and Jewish scholars come from historical criticism and philology. They transcend religious boundaries and bring academicism to comparative studies. However, later historical criticism leads to a delay in the development of comparative Jewish studies due to the problems of anachronism, since rabbinic literature originates several hundred years after the New Testament, and therefore is not suitable for synchronous comparison. Another obstacle to the development of comparative analysis poses the philological principle of only one textual meaning. Jewish hermeneutics presupposes many meanings of the sacred text, which contradicts the principle of a single meaning. A revolutionary breakthrough in comparative Jewish hermeneutics occurs in the middle of the 20th century, thanks to the use of a literary approach that is not bound by the strict rules of historical criticism and the philological principle of a single meaning. Renee Bloch suggests the use of Rabbinic literature for the study of Christian and intertestamental literature, and even of the Bible itself, even though such a comparison is anachronistic. The cultural approach helps to see the uniqueness of the cultural contribution of the exegete and to overcome religious obstacles to comparative research. The article suggests a comparative Jewish hermeneutics of the Christmas story of the Gospel of Matthew.

Preserving Jewish Identity Without Returning to the Ghetto: A Case Study of the École Maïmonide, France's First Jewish Secondary School, 1935–2022

ABSTRACT: This article analyzes the history of France's first Jewish secondary school: the École Maïmonide, from its founding in Paris in 1935 to the present day. With close to 1,500 pupils today, it has become one of France's largest Jewish schools. Born out of a fear that exclusive reliance on secular French public education could lead to the inexorable erosion of Jewish religious practice and culture in France, the École Maïmonide was designed to provide French Jews with a Jewish alternative to the State's lycées, where pupils could follow a solid Jewish studies program alongside a high-quality general studies syllabus. While such a project implied a degree of separation from mainstream French society, the École Maïmonide's founders remained committed to public education for the majority of Jewish youth and the full integration of their pupils into French society. Analyzing the ways in which these aspirations materialized in the school's day-to-day organization and how the balance between them evolved throughout its history, this case study seeks to further our understanding of the history of Jewish education in France as well as the evolution of the discourse on identity preservation within the French Jewish community.

Examples of conceptualisation of morality in emerging Christianity

Against the background of current interdisciplinary discussions in philosophical and theological ethics and discourses on morality, this interdisciplinary essay explored the conceptualisation of morality in emerging Christianity. It illustrated how the early Sayings Source Q and the Gospel according to Mark recollect Jesus of Nazareth’s reception of the Jewish Torah. Then it sketched how Paul’s understanding of God’s and Christ’s compassion serves as guide to integrate basic notions from Hellenistic ethic in his moral exhortation.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: Taking cognisance of modern discussions on ethics and morality, the essay placed Early Christian morality within the context of the Law (Jewish Studies) and highlighted Christian reception of virtues in the Graeco-Roman world as studied by ancient philosophy. In conceptualising morality, emerging Christianity borrowed cardinal moral guidelines from its social environment. This foundational procedure studied by the History of the Early Church (within its Jewish and Graeco-Roman context) can serve as a model for Systematic Theology and Ethics to guide contemporary Christianity in their adaptation of moral principles from their cultural environment.

THE COLONIAL PROJECT OF THE EMPIRE: THE ROMANOV STATE AND ITS JEWISH SUBJECTS

Abstract
 Introduction. The rethinking of the imperial heritage in Ukraine has once again become relevant in light of the current Russian-Ukrainian war. Jewish studies are one of the areas of humanitarian knowledge that this process has embraced. The "Jewish question" formulated by the imperial establishment in the "long XIXth century" is considered as one of the colonial projects of the Russian Empire. The research aim is to present this project in its main characteristics, to compare its development with the context of socio-economic, cultural and political changes in society. An important aspect of the study is also to enlighten changes in historiography, paying attention to the authors who covered the relationship between the imperial authorities and Jewish subjects. The new approach of the study is the proposed methodological, the use of postcolonial theory and subaltern studies in the research of the Jewish population of the Russian Empire. The approach allows to outline the peculiarities of imperial policy in the Ukrainian lands, the south of the empire, and to emphasize the subjectivity of the Jewish population in its relations with the authorities. Conclusions. Nevertheless, it was a colonial project which ideology, practices, and language can be described as orientalist. In the "long XIXth century," two periods have been distinguished within the dialog between the empire and the Jews. For the first period, despite the empire's regional diversity, the assimilation of the Jewish population was declared. The ideological foundation for its practices was the traditional Judeophobia, supported by the Orthodox Church. In the second stage, a democratization of society and the emergence of civil institutions pushed the bureaucracy to a project of emancipation aimed at the Jews of the empire. At the same time, the political stage of nation-building processes in the south of the empire and the spread of modern anti-Semitism were contradictory factors on the path of Jewish emancipation.

Centrum Badań Żydowskich Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego otrzymało imię Filipa Friedmana

Centrum Badań Żydowskich Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego otrzymało imię Filipa Friedmana

„Einsam und unterwegs“. Wurzellosigkeit im Werk Paul Celans

It is in rootlessness that philosophers like Adorno, Said and Flusser discover a human dignity, a possibility to negotiate and restore or invent the violated identity in the form of a new one. Based on these considerations, the paper regards the paradigm of rootlessness in relation to the metaphors of aerial or flying roots, which are historically and literarily connected with the Jewish concept of fate. Thus, the present article proposes the rootlessness-paradigm beyond the findings of Jewish studies as a structure of thought, forma mentis and approach to the thematic complex of migration – nomadism – displacement and applies it to selected texts by Paul Celan. In this way, new applications of this research paradigm will be stressed; at the same time my contribution aims to complement previous scientific approaches to Celan's work.

Einleitung: Das Fremde im Eigenen – das Eigene im Fremden. Jüdisches biographisches Schreiben über Andere

Abstract In terms of historiographical potential and literary value, depictions of the lives of others are considered inferior to autobiographies. One finds autobiographies, which promise to provide exclusive insights into the historical inner worlds, epistemically more revealing. While their study has become a very important part of Jewish Studies, investigations into the life stories of others represent a notable research gap. This issue takes this remarkable bias in the perception of the two genres within Jewish Studies as its starting point. The contributions gathered here interrogate historical examples of biographical narrative with the aim of unlocking its historiographical potentials and thus highlighting the relevance of biographical writing for the study of Jewish cultures.

In Pursuit of Campus-Wide Data Literacy: A Guide to Developing a Statistics Course for Students in Nonquantitative Fields

Data literacy for students in nonquantitative fields is important as statistics become the grammar of research and how the world’s decisions are made. Statistics courses are typically offered by mathematics or statistics departments or by social and natural sciences such as economics, political science, psychology, and biology. Here we discuss how to construct a statistics course for students in nonquantitative fields, with a goal of integrating statistical material with students’ substantive interests, using student-focused teaching methods and technology to increase student involvement. We demonstrate this kind of hybrid course with the example of an introductory applied statistics class, taught at both the University of Toronto’s Anne Tanenbaum Center for Jewish Studies and the United States Naval Academy.

The “efforts of ours were not in vain”: an interview with M.A. Chlenov

In an interview to S.S. Alymov, the ethnographer and historian M.A. Chlenov, honorary vice-president of the World Jewish Congress, talks about his biography, academic career and work at the Institute of Ethnography in the 1960s-90s. He reflects on his fieldwork in Indonesia and the Russian North, as well as his research among the Nenets and Inuit, and discusses his work in the areas of kinship studies, Inuit studies, and Jewish studies, further recounting the story about the discovery of the Whale Alley archaeological site. The interview conveys important information about the Jewish movement in the USSR, the relationship between scholars and authorities, the life at the Institute of Ethnography and in Soviet academia generally.

The Other Dual Curriculum: Jewish Community High School Students’ Reflections on What Counts as “Jewish” Learning

ABSTRACT Research on Jewish day schools has long focused on the challenges they face in managing the tension between the “Jewish” and “general” components of their “dual curriculum.” Interviews with 34 graduating seniors of a private, community Jewish high school found that students experienced another dual curriculum within the school’s approach to Jewish Studies. This other dual curriculum points to the central tension of liberal Jewish education, which is caught between two approaches: one that is fundamentally discursive, deliberative, and inquiry based and one that is essentially instructional and normative.

From Digitization and Images to Text and Content: Transkribus as a Case Study

ABSTRACTThis poster explores the potential of using technological tools, specifically the Transkribus platform, for the transcription of Hebrew manuscripts. The digitization of historical resources has made them accessible, but the textual content of the scanned images remains inaccessible. Transkribus, an AI‐powered platform, offers tools for text recognition, transcription, and search of historical documents. The poster discusses the process of automatic text recognition (ATR) and the challenges it faces, particularly in handling handwritten texts and Hebrew letters. It provides an overview of the Transkribus platform, its functionalities, and the training process for creating transcription models. The author presents a case study of transcribing a 15th‐century Sephardic semi‐cursive Hebrew manuscript using the Transkribus platform and evaluates the performance of different models. The poster concludes by discussing the implications and possibilities of using Transkribus for automatic transcription of historical Hebrew manuscripts. While the results show promising improvements in accuracy, further challenges and solutions are also discussed. Overall, Transkribus offers significant potential for the study and transcription of Hebrew manuscripts, revolutionizing the field of Jewish studies and historical research.

Tracing social connections in the Victorian Jewish Writers Project

AbstractIn March 2022, we launched the Victorian Jewish Writers Project (VJWP), a digital collection of texts written by nineteenth‐century British Jews accompanied by short articles on significant authors, places, and events of the Anglo‐Jewish world. When we began building the collection in 2021, our conceptual framework was clear: Victorian Jewry is underrepresented both in Jewish Studies and Victorian Studies, so we would create a resource to supply primary texts and some analytical information to anyone interested. Despite our familiarity with archive theory, we considered our role in the project as little more than what Latour calls intermediaries, or “mere informants.” Yet, the process of digitizing and publicizing a canon, particularly a canon tied to a cultural heritage, is an inherently social act, and in this article we will explore the modes of social engagement inherent in creating and maintaining digital archives. In particular, we make use of Latour’s actor‐network theory to understand the relationships forged by archives in digital spaces.