Modern Perspectives

2019 ◽  
pp. 33-56
Author(s):  
Robert Chazan
Keyword(s):  
Jewish History ◽  
Jewish People ◽  
Human History ◽  
Extreme Element

This chapter suggests that despite the removal of God from human history, which radically altered the understanding of the mechanism that propelled Jewish history, assessments of Jewish historical fate as unfailingly painful survived intact. Observers continued to project the Jews as an endlessly afflicted people and to highlight forced Jewish displacement as the most extreme element in the relentless tragedy of the Jewish people. The ongoing emphasis on Jewish suffering and hurtful demographic dislocation combined with the removal of God and divine causation from the historical arena sparked a search for new causative explanations for the long-established and widely shared views of the tribulations of the previous two millennia of Jewish history. These new explanations revised but at the same time reinforced the still regnant conviction that Jews have suffered incessantly since the onset of their purported third exile.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jill Hicks-Keeton
Keyword(s):  
Jewish History ◽  
Jewish People ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
A Minor ◽  
Joseph And Aseneth ◽  
Literary Phenomenon ◽  
Minor Character

The Introduction claims that the ancient romance Joseph and Aseneth moves a minor character in Genesis from obscurity to renown, weaving a new story whose main purpose was to intervene in ancient Jewish debates surrounding gentile access to Israel’s God. Aseneth’s story is a tale of the heroine’s transformation from exclusion to inclusion. It is simultaneously a transformative tale. For Second Temple-period thinkers, the epic of the Jewish people recounted in scriptural texts was a story that invited interpretation, interruption, and even intervention. Joseph and Aseneth participates in a broader literary phenomenon in Jewish antiquity wherein authors took up figures from Israel’s mythic past and crafted new stories as a means of explaining their own present and of envisioning collective futures. By incorporating a gentile woman and magnifying Aseneth’s role in Jewish history, Joseph and Aseneth changes the story. Aseneth’s ultimate inclusion makes possible the inclusion of others originally excluded.

scholarly journals The Controversy Surrounding the 2008 Good Friday Prayer in Europe: The Discussion and its Theological Implications

2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans Hermann Henrix
Keyword(s):  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Jewish History ◽  
Jewish People ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Negative Experiences ◽  
Political Dialogue ◽  
Public Discussion ◽  
The Public ◽  
Good Friday ◽  
Friday Prayer

The Good Friday prayer “for the Jews” that was promulgated on February 4, 2008 triggered significant controversy. This article reviews how this controversy expressed itself in European countries in various ways and with differing intensity. It was eventually resolved at the level of political dialogue. Cardinal Kasper’s important commentary on the prayer, publicly approved by Secretary of State Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone, calmed the public discussion. But this did not resolve the theological questions raised by the prayer, the focus of the second half of the article. When in today’s Church, the words of prayers that are in accord with Scripture call to mind negative experiences in the Christian-Jewish history, can they be used as the Church’s prayer? Can the two Good Friday prayers for the Jews co-exist, that of the 1970 missal and that of 2008? The fundamental theological problem raised by the two different prayers is not the issue of mission, but rather the question of salvation. How does one resolve the tension between the fact that God’s covenant with the Jewish people has not been revoked and the universal salvific significance of Jesus Christ? Is it possible to create a Christian-Jewish bridge by referring to Jesus Christ? These questions remain unresolved, but theologians are now addressing them.

Fr. Tadeusz Sroka. Dziennik izraelski czyli religijny wymiar ludzkiego losu (An Israeli diary, or the religious dimension of man's fate). Warsaw: Spokania. 1985.

2004 ◽  
pp. 411-415
Author(s):  
Stanisław Krajewski
Keyword(s):  
Capital Punishment ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Jewish History ◽  
Jewish People ◽  
Human Condition ◽  
Religious Dimension ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Political Events ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
The World

This chapter looks at Fr. Tadeusz Sroka's An Israeli Diary, or the Religious Dimension of Man's Fate (1985). An Israeli Diary takes the form of excerpts from a diary written in the years 1970–71. Each entry opens with press news about political events in the Middle East, followed by pondering over the Bible or the fate of the Jewish people. There are hardly any data concerning contemporary Israel, except a few facts showing Arab intransigence and the hopeless situation of Israel ‘in human terms’. The author says very little about Jewish history and nothing about Judaism; the Talmud is not mentioned, even in places where it could have been useful, for example in reflecting on capital punishment. The author's perspective is metaphysical; he assumes that the election of Israel is eternal. This, incidentally, is the official standpoint of the Catholic Church today, confirmed more than once by John Paul II. As a result, Israel is seen as the centre of the world. Next, the fate of the Jews reveals the ultimate perspectives of the human condition: on one pole the Holocaust, on the other the re-creation of the state by visionaries, in defiance of reason. Israel is a sign for the world, and today's secular Israel is an appropriate sign for the contemporary materialistic world.

Between Others and Brothers

2014 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 585-588
Author(s):  
Michelle U. Campos
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Education System ◽  
Jewish History ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Jewish People ◽  
The West ◽  
The Arts ◽  
History Of ◽  
Identity Based

Some fifteen years ago, the Israel Museum exhibition “To the East: Orientalism in the Arts in Israel” featured a photograph by the Israeli artist Meir Gal entitled “Nine Out of Four Hundred: The West and the Rest.” At the center of the photograph was Gal, holding the nine pages that dealt with the history of Jews in the Middle East in a textbook of Jewish history used in Israel's education system. As Gal viscerally argued, “these books helped establish a consciousness that the history of the Jewish people took place in Eastern Europe and that Mizrahim have no history worthy of remembering.” More damningly, he wrote that “the advent of Zionism and the establishment of the Israeli State drove a wedge between Mizrahim and their origins, and replaced their Jewish-Arab identity with a new Israeli identity based on European ideals as well as hatred of the Arab world.”

Furcht vor Vernichtung und der ewige Bund: Das Buch Ester im Judentum und in jüdischer Theologie

2010 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
pp. 339-355
Author(s):  
Isaac Kalimi
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Jewish History ◽  
Jewish People ◽  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Historical Reality ◽  
Jewish Diaspora ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Biblical Sources ◽  
Theological Message

AbstractAlthough for some reasons the book of Esther is missing from among the biblical manuscripts of the Dead Sea Scrolls, it has a unique place in Judaism and Jewish theology and thought. A large number of exegetes, ballads, poems, essays, arts, etc. have been composed on it, in all times and places, alongside the Jewish history and culture. Esther expresses one of the worst fears of the Jewish people: fear for complete annihilation, which is also well documented in the Hebrew Bible as well as in some extra-biblical sources (e.g., "Israel Stele", Moabite Stone). Esther replies to that fear, and forwards the theological message that God never leaves Israel. He is the faithful God "who maintains covenant loyalty with those who love him and keep his commandments". Yet, the historical reality of the Jewish Diaspora shows differently. The article discusses, therefore, also this theology, history and us, as post-Sho'ah readers of Esther.

scholarly journals Rebuilding the community and the church post-COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pieter Verster
Keyword(s):  
Jewish History ◽  
Jewish People ◽  
Community Life ◽  
Life And Death ◽  
The People ◽  
Fig Tree ◽  
The Temple ◽  
The Church

The catastrophic destructions of the Temple in Jewish history led to different reactions. Although they left a serious mark on all of Israel’s future endeavours and the prophets warned the people of the coming disasters, they also proclaimed hope, even after the destruction. Some Jews reacted to it by forming close-knit communities and their commitment to the Torah. It remained a serious challenge to their faith and community life. They carefully studied the prophets to understand the implications of the destructions of the temples. Christians explained that Jesus had to be honoured as Lord after the destruction of the Temple. In the Gospels, Jesus foretold the terrible situation of the demise of the Temple and that his body would be the new Temple. New life is possible in Him and in the coming of the Kingdom. Some exegetes link the cursing of the fig tree by Jesus to the destruction of the temple, but others see it as a general warning to the Jewish people to honour God. It is also very important that the resurrection of Jesus is regarded as the rebuilding of the new temple in his body. After the COVID-19 pandemic, believers as servants of the Lord have to build up the church and empower the community again. This should be done in respect of Jesus the crucified and resurrected Lord. The church has a huge task in this regard, not only by proclaiming Jesus as our only comfort in life and death, but also in the commitment to the building up of the community post-Covid-19. This should be accomplished by humbling and fully following Jesus.

Polish History through the Eyes of Three Jewish Popular Historians

1998 ◽  
pp. 312-318
Author(s):  
Jerzy Tomaszewski
Keyword(s):  
Large Volume ◽  
Jewish History ◽  
Early Period ◽  
Jewish People ◽  
Tenth Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
Jewish Thought ◽  
Modern Jewish History ◽  
History Of

This chapter provides a comparison of Howard Sachar's book The Course of Modern Jewish History, which was first published in 1958, with two other general works on Jewish history. One is a large volume entitled A History of the Jewish People, edited by Haim Hillel Ben-Sasson, which was first published in Hebrew in 1969. The other is Robert M. Seltzer's Jewish People, Jewish Thought, which is more limited in size and scope and intended for a broad audience. The chapter considers only topics relating to Polish history, not those concerned with exclusively internal Jewish problems or the history of other nations. Nor will there be any general assessment of Sachar's book. Although Ben-Sasson's and Seltzer's works cover Jewish history from ancient to modern times, the story of the Jews in Poland is a relatively recent chapter in this history: it dates only from the creation of the Polish state in the tenth century. Both authors mention the early period of Polish history only briefly, beginning their real narratives of Polish Jewry with the detailed analysis of privileges granted to Jews by Polish kings in the thirteenth century.

Not Quite Exile, Not Quite Home

2021 ◽  
pp. 216-229
Author(s):  
Jane S. Gerber
Keyword(s):  
Social Integration ◽  
Jewish History ◽  
Jewish People ◽  
Biblical Exegesis ◽  
Hebrew Poetry ◽  
History Of ◽  
Cultural Traits ◽  
High Level

“Sepharad” was more than simply the Hebrew name for Iberia. Through much of Jewish history it denoted a set of Jewish cultural traits that included a high level of cultural and social integration, a sense of Jewish aristocracy and noble lineage, and unmatched creativity in Hebrew poetry, philosophy, science, mystical thought, rabbinic codification, and biblical exegesis. Spanish Jews lived under both Muslim and Christian rule, sometimes in harmony and mutual enrichment, but often under oppressive conditions of discrimination, forced conversion, and Inquisition. Their history of co-existence (convivencia) included uprootings as well as cultural flowering. The expulsion of 1492 did not spell the end of their deep bonds with Spain. Instead, Sephardim remained one of the main branches of the Jewish people.

scholarly journals Historical Museums in Israel: Semiotics of Culture

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (01) ◽  
pp. 43
Author(s):  
Gabriel Mayer
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Jewish History ◽  
New York Times ◽  
Jewish People ◽  
The State ◽  
Historical Museums ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
Biblical History ◽  
Museum Culture ◽  
State Of Israel

<p>Tiny by physical size, the State of Israel retains some of the world’s most important cultural treasures, along with many other great cultural institutions. Archeological treasures have yielded much information as far as biblical history and have been well adapted to a Zionist narrative by both the Jewish press and international news organizations, such as the New York Times whose archives are replete with reports of Jewish history being dug up by the Jewish people. Once the State of Israel gained independence in 1948, the course was set for the development of historical museums whose discourse would reflect the most significant events in Jewish history, most especially the Holocaust and the state of constant warfare that continues to imbue the cultural consciousness of its citizens. In this paper we outline, through categorization, the various historical museums, which are currently operating. Furthermore, this article hopes to shed some light upon the cultural sensibilities conveyed through these institutions. This paper is about Israeli culture, mythology, and collective needs, as formed by and informed through a variety of historical museums. The working assumption is that in a historical museum culture is partially formed and at the same time the culture is influencing the contents and narratives on display inside the museum. It should be clear from the start that the discussion is held about Israeli museums as viewed by a Jewish population and created by and for Jews. Notwithstanding the multifaceted collective of Israeli society, this work is confined to and circumscribed by this demarcation. In the following sections, I intend to provide an explanation for this viewpoint from a historical perspective and also provide a framework of what constitutes a historical museum and justify the methodology of its employ. This will be followed by a discussion of the main categorical types of historical museums present in Israel, and finally a detailed accounting of specific museums.</p>

scholarly journals Gustav Meyrink’s 'Golem' and Leo Perutz’s 'Nachts unter der steinernen Brücke': A literary expression of the Jewish experience during the twentieth century

SURG Journal ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 40-45
Author(s):  
Caitlin Vito
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Jewish History ◽  
Jewish People ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Literary Interpretation ◽  
Literary Expression ◽  
Anti Semitism ◽  
Jewish Experience ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
Authority Figures

Gustav Meyrink’s novel Der Golem [The Golem], published in 1915, and Leo Perutz’s 1953 novel Nachts unter der steinernen Brücke [By Night under the Stone Bridge] communicate the authors’ image of the Jewish experience and treatment during the period of the twentieth century. Uncanny and fantastical elements are used throughout both texts to help portray the Jewish condition. Meyrink conveys the animosity between nationalistic Jews and middle-class assimilated Jews and highlights the rising anti-Semitism among Gentiles by associating Jews with the decay and corruption of modernity. At the same time, however, Jews are also depicted as a model of higher spirituality. Nachts unter der steinernen Brücke places the Holocaust within the greater context of Jewish history and conveys Perutz’s assessment that the tragedy of the Holocaust is one in a series of devastating events which have plagued the Jewish people. Moreover, the text casts doubt on the benevolence of Jewish and non-Jewish authority figures and even the mercifulness of God. The doubt raised in the novel regarding central Jewish beliefs mirrors the Jewish experience of disorientation and confusion following the horrors of the Holocaust. Perutz also conveys the need for Jewish history to be passed down to future generations as it is their past which helps form their Jewish identity. Keywords: Der Golem [The Golem] (Meyrink, Gustav); Nachts unter der steinernen Brücke [By Night under the Stone Bridge] (Perutz, Leo); Jewish experience (portrayal of); twentieth century; uncanny and fantastical literature; literary interpretation

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