The Kabbalistic Alphabet of Libeskind: The Motif of Letter-shaped Windows in the Design of the Jewish Museum in Berlin

Ikonotheka ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 7-40
Author(s):  
Artur Kamczycki
Keyword(s):  
Jewish Tradition ◽  
Visual Metaphor ◽  
Jewish Mysticism ◽  
Entire Structure ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
New Meanings ◽  
Tikkun Olam ◽  
The World ◽  
Daniel Libeskind ◽  
Jewish Museum

The present article attempts to analyse and interpret the structure of windows in the Jewish Museum in Berlin, designed by Daniel Libeskind and constructed in 1989–1999. Elongated, narrow, irregular window openings arranged at different angles like a tangle of cuts and grooves span the entire structure and resemble Hebrew letters and the kabbalistic notion of the “scattered alphabet”, which functions in Jewish tradition as a visual metaphor. The assumption of such a perspective of interpretation, based on the visual form of the building which was, in its principle, meant to partially refer to the Holocaust, leads to the hypothesis that the chosen motifs of letter-shaped windows (the scattered alphabet) is connected to the kabbalistic postulate of the “repair of the world”, known in Jewish tradition as tikkun olam. The characteristic chaotic arrangement of the window openings is not, as it might be assumed, simply a symbol of the civilisational “fragmentation” resulting from the Holocaust. On the contrary, the design manifestly embodies the nostalgia for the mythical (and messianic) times of harmony, order and regularity, as well as the longing for clear structure and symbiosis. This manifests in the kabbalistic interpretation of the motif of letter-windows understood as a mystical (or even theurgical) element of restoration. Concentration, contemplation, perception and consideration of the forms and shapes of the letters is a notion known from the Kabbalah; in this case architectural references to Jewish mysticism are more than just a strategy for interpretation, but a declarative assumption made by the architect himself. Libeskind’s design in Berlin, therefore, involves the matter of language as the elementary material and instrument of salvation, while the context of the Kabbalah ought to be regarded as a certain symptom or a specific modality shaping new meanings manifested by the work of art that this museum undoubtedly is.

Sacrifice in Jewish Tradition

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
David L. Weddle
Keyword(s):  
Jewish People ◽  
Jewish Tradition ◽  
God's Will ◽  
Redemptive Suffering ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
Tikkun Olam ◽  
The World ◽  
The One ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Temple

After Roman destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70CE, Jewish tradition reimagined animal sacrifices as devotional acts, such as prayer, fasting, and study of Torah, as well as giving up individual desires to fulfil God’s will. Rabbis interpreted the story of Abraham’s binding Isaac for sacrifice (the Akedah) as the model of absolute obedience to divine commands (mitzvoth) and as the basis for the election of the Jewish people to bear witness to the one God. Their commentary, however, included the horrified reaction of Sarah’s scream to the news of Abraham’s act, ending in her death, indicating dissent from sacrifice as religious ideal. Rabbinic tradition transferred the site of sacrifice from temple to synagogue in rituals of High Holy Days, to the family table in Passover and Sabbath rituals, and to the individual will in submission to Torah. In the mystical teaching of Kabbalah, God sacrifices to create the world and Jews are called to sacrifice to redeem the world (tikkun olam). Such vocation of redemptive suffering was called into question by the Holocaust, and some contemporary Israeli poets refer to the Akedah in expressing misgivings about calls to sacrifice in defense of Israel.

scholarly journals Libeskind’s Museum in Berlin as a toppled tower

2015 ◽  
pp. 325-352
Author(s):  
Artur Kamczycki
Keyword(s):  
The Holocaust ◽  
Daniel Libeskind ◽  
Jewish Museum

In the article the author will attempt to interpret the architectural structure of the Jewish Museum in Berlin, designed in 1989 by Daniel Libeskind. The context of deliberations presented here will rely on a broadly understood idea of tower, an entity identical with the Judaic as well as Christian vision of the Heavenly Jerusalem. However, the key to the metaphor is the assumption that the structure symbolizes a toppled tower, which in its turn is a meaningful analogy to the concepts derived from the issues of the Holocaust.

scholarly journals Bernard Malamud Revisited: Portrait of the Post-Holocaust Jewish Hero in the Fixer

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 34
Author(s):  
Sajjad Mahboobi
Keyword(s):  
Jewish Tradition ◽  
Wall Street ◽  
Postwar America ◽  
Bernard Malamud ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
The World ◽  
Primary Focus

The primary focus of this article is concept of Jewish heroism in Bernard Malamud’s most celebrated novel, The Fixer (1966). In light of a truth-oriented historicist approach, my underlying argument is that Malamud’s protagonists are Jewish heroes who befit the post-Holocaust era. They are not schlemiels, unlike what many critics believe, and have three main missions: first, to remind the world of the suffering the Jews have endured throughout history, especially during the alleged Holocaust; second, to revive the qualities of Jewishness and Jewish tradition that no longer existed among the younger Jewish generation of the postwar America; and third, to help the Jews free themselves from their victim mentality, intensified after the Holocaust, through heroic acts of resistance and acceptance of responsibility toward their people. These protagonists neither share America’s postwar upheavals, nor resemble the least to the affluent Wall Street Jew financers. They are typical post-Holocaust Jewish heroes.

scholarly journals Arquitectura, dispositivo de experiencia memorial. *** Architecture: a drive of memorial experience .

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marilda Azulay Tapiero
Keyword(s):  
Present Communication ◽  
History Museum ◽  
Historical Significance ◽  
Holocaust Memorial ◽  
Peter Eisenman ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
Daniel Libeskind ◽  
Yad Vashem ◽  
Jewish Museum

La arquitectura puede introducirnos en la experiencia de la memoria; memoria como reflexión, y arquitectura como dispositivo para la experiencia memorial a la vez que contenedor de la información. Cada objeto es definido en un proceso en el que considerar diversos actores, sus voluntades, opciones y experiencias. Es el caso de las obras que aborda este trabajo, en las que evidenciar e interrogarnos sobre el gesto arquitectónico, la memoria evocada y su interpretación social. Obras que han alcanzado notoriedad por diferentes motivos: como la Sala del Recuerdo, de Arieh Elhanani, Arieh Sharon y Benjamin Idelson (1961) en Yad Vashem, Jerusalén; por su significado científico e histórico, como el Museo de Historia del Holocausto, también en Yad Vashem, de Moshé Safdie (2005); por su relevancia cultural o arquitectónica, como el Museo Judío (Ampliación del Museo de Berlín con el Departamento del Museo Judío) de Daniel Libeskind en Berlín (1999); e incluso por la controversia que han suscitado, como el Monumento en Memoria de los Judíos Asesinados de Europa, también en Berlín, conocido como el Monumento del Holocausto, de Peter Eisenman (2004).***Architecture can introduce us to the experience of memory; memory as reflection, and architecture as a drive for the experience of remembering as well as a container of information. Each object is de ned in a process in which different actors, their wills, options and experiences, are taken into account. This is the case of the artworks addressed by the present communication, in which we reveal and ask ourselves about the architectural gesture, the evoked memory and its social interpretation. Artworks that have achieved prominence for different reasons, such as the Hall of Remembrance, of Arieh Elhanani, Arieh Sharon and Benjamin Idelson (1961) in Yad Vashem, Jerusalem; for its scientific and historical significance, such as the Holocaust History Museum, also in Yad Vashem, by Moshe Safdie (2005); for its cultural or architectural relevance, such as the Jewish Museum (Extension of the Berlin Museum with the Department of the Jewish Museum) by Daniel Libeskind in Berlin (1999); and even because of the controversy they have raised, such as the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, also in Berlin, known as the Holocaust Memorial, by Peter Eisenman (2004).  

Interpretation of Nonsense as a Method of Children Imagination Development (as exemplified in Carroll L. «Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There»)

2020 ◽  
pp. 200-212
Author(s):  
Larisa V. Kalashnikova
Keyword(s):  
Creative Thinking ◽  
Language Model ◽  
Word Formation ◽  
The Third ◽  
New Meanings ◽  
The World ◽  
Looking Glass ◽  
Rules Of The Game ◽  
Powerful Incentive ◽  
Algorithmic Thinking

The article enlightens the probem of nonsense and its role in the development of creative thinking and fantasy, and the way how the interpretation of nonsense affects children imagination. The function of imagination inherent to a person, and especially to a child, has a powerful potential – to create artificially new metaphorical models, absurd and most incredible situations based on self-amazement. Children are able to measure the properties of unfamiliar objects with the properties of known things. It is not difficult for small researchers to replace incomprehensible meanings with familiar ones; to think over situations, to make analogies, to transfer signs and properties of one object to another. The problem of nonsense research is interesting and relevant. The element of the game is an integral component of nonsense. In the process of playing, children cognize the world, learn to interact with the world, imitating the adults behavior. Imagination and fantasy help the child to invent his own rules of the game, to choose language elements that best suit his ideas. The child uses the learned productive models of the language system to create their own models and their own language, attracting language signs: words, morphs, sentences. Children’s dictionary stimulates word formation and language nomination processes. Nonsense-words are the result of children’s dictionary, speech errors and occazional formations, presented in the form of contamination, phonetic transformations, lexical substitution, implemented on certain models. The first two models are phonetic imitation and hybrid speech, based on the natural language model. The third model of designing nonsense is represented by words that have no meaning at all and can be attributed to words-portmonaie. Due to the flexibility of interframe relationships and the lack of algorithmic thinking, children can not only capture the implicit similarity of objects and phenomena, but also create it through their imagination. Interpretation of nonsense is an effective method of developing imagination in children, because metaphors, nonsense as a means of creating new meanings, modeling new content from fragments of one’s own experience, are a powerful incentive for creative thinking.

La transposition profane de l’Exode dans Moïse fiction de Gilles Rozier

2013 ◽  
pp. 174-183
Author(s):  
Piotr Sadkowski
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
The Other ◽  
Jewish Tradition ◽  
Human Being ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Jewish Origin ◽  
French Writer ◽  
The World ◽  
Jewish Writers

Throughout the centuries French and Francophone writers were relatively rarely inspired by the figure of Moses and the story of Exodus. However, since the second half of 20th c. the interest of the writers in this Old Testament story has been on the rise: by rewriting it they examine the question of identity dilemmas of contemporary men. One of the examples of this trend is Moïse Fiction, the 2001 novel by the French writer of Jewish origin, Gilles Rozier, analysed in the present article. The hypertextual techniques, which result in the proximisation of the figure of Moses to the reality of the contemporary reader, constitute literary profanation, but at the same time help place Rozier’s text in the Jewish tradition, in the spirit of talmudism understood as an exchange of views, commentaries, versions and additions related to the Torah. It is how the novel, a new “midrash”, avoids the simple antinomy of the concepts of the sacred and the profane. Rozier’s Moses, conscious of his complex identity, is simultaneously a Jew and an Egyptian, and faces, like many contemporary Jewish writers, language dilemmas, which constitute one of the major motifs analysed in the present article. Another key question is the ethics of the prophetism of the novelistic Moses, who seems to speak for contemporary people, doomed to in the world perceived as chaos unsupervised by an absolute being. Rozier’s agnostic Moses is a prophet not of God (who does not appear in the novel), but of humanism understood as the confrontation of a human being with the absurdity of his or her own finiteness, which produces compassion for the other, with whom the fate of a mortal is shared.

The Pale Death: Poison Gas and German Racial Exceptionalism, 1915–1945

2021 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 273-296
Author(s):  
Peter Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Defense ◽  
German Society ◽  
Chemical Weapons ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
The World ◽  
French Colonial ◽  
German Jewish ◽  
Fritz Haber

AbstractIn April of 1915, the German-Jewish chemist Fritz Haber supervised the first deployment of industrialized chemical weapons against French colonial troops. The uncertain nature of the attack, both in its execution and outcome, led many German military men to question the controllability of poison gas. Over the next three decades, Germans would continue this line of inquiry, as aero-chemical attacks appeared increasingly imminent. This article narrates the German search for control over chemical weapons between the world wars, revealing the ways in which interwar techno-nationalists tied the mastery of poison gas to ethno-racial definitions of Germanness. Under the Nazis, leaders in civilian aero-chemical defense picked up this interwar thread and promoted a dangerous embrace of gas that would supposedly cull the technically superior Germans from other lesser races. Although this vision of a chemically saturated world did not suffuse German society, such logic did play out in the gas chambers of the Holocaust.

scholarly journals On Becoming a Non-Jewish Holocaust Writer: Yann Martel’s Beatrice and Virgil

Humanities ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 12
Author(s):  
Rachel F. Brenner
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Jewish Identity ◽  
Personal Life ◽  
Holocaust Memory ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
The World ◽  
Family Level ◽  
History Of ◽  
Religious Origins

To appraise Martel’s non-Jewish perspective of Holocaust thematic, it is important to assess it in the context of the Jewish relations with the Holocaust. Even though the Jewish claim to the uniqueness of the Holocaust has been disputed since the end of the war especially in Eastern Europe, the Jewish response determined to a large extent the reception of the disaster on the global scene. On a family level, the children of survivors have identified themselves as the legitimate heirs of the unknowable experience of their parents. On a collective level, the decree of Jewish annihilation constructed a Jewish identity that imposed an obligation to keep the Holocaust memory in the consciousness of the world. Martel proposes to supersede the history of the Holocaust with a story which would downplay the Jewish filiation with the Holocaust, elicit an affiliative response to the event of the non-Jewish writer and consequently integrate it into the memory of humanity at large. However, the Holocaust theme of Beatrice and Virgil refuses to assimilate within the general memory of humanity; rather, the consciousness of the event, which pervades the post-Holocaust world, insists on its constant presence. The omnipresence of the Holocaust blurs the distinctions between the filiative (Jewish) and affiliative (non-Jewish) attitudes toward the Jewish tragedy, gripping the writer in its transcendent horror. Disregarding his ethnic or religious origins, the Holocaust takes over the writer’s personal life and determines his story.

Sinai and Exodus: Two Grounds for Hope in the Jewish Tradition

1978 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 373-387
Author(s):  
David Hartman
Keyword(s):  
Jewish Tradition ◽  
Look Ahead ◽  
The World ◽  
The Future ◽  
Sole Criterion ◽  
The Given ◽  
Better Than

Hope is a category of transcedence, by means of which a man does not permit what he senses and experiences to be the sole criterion of what is possible. It is the belief or the conviction that present reality (what I see) does not exhaust the potentialities of the given data. Hope opens the present to the future; it enables a man to look ahead, to break the fixity of what he observes, and to perceive the world as open-textured. The categories of possibility and of transcendence interweave a closely stitched fabric - hope says that tomorrow can be better than today.

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