The Archae System Revisited: The Records of Indebtedness to Medieval Jews

This article examines on document acknowledging debt to Maruna, a Jewish woman, to John of Kent that was deposited in a chest in Canterbury in 1264. Using this document, the article examines what can be learned about the archae system in thirteenth-century England from the perspective of the documents which were produced there. A series of chests (Lat. pl. archae) were established across England following the introduction of the Articles of the Jewry (1194), which regulated the production, use, and storage of the records generated by Jewish moneylending activities in medieval England. Additionally, the Articles of the Jewry required that more general business transactions, such as the sale and purchase of property, also be recorded at the archae. This paper considers not only the legal and administrative structures which governed the production of such records but also how these systems manifested themselves within the documents which produced at the archae. Finally, it will consider the role that ritual and gender had to play in such transactions and the documents which recorded them.

Mary, woman of faith and displaced person: insights for Catholic schools

Catholic schools share in the preferential option for the poor that is an essential part of following Jesus and the mission of the Church. Catholic schools in many parts of the world have an historical and contemporary mission for the care and education of the poor. This article uses key passages from the Gospels of Luke and Matthew to illustrate that Mary can be understood as an exemplar of God’s preferential option for the poor. Mary is presented as a young and poor Jewish woman of faith in the Annunciation and the Magnificat in Luke’s Gospel and is presented as an externally displaced person in flight into Egypt in Matthew’s Gospel. The paper also examines the journey to Bethlehem in Luke’s Gospel as interpreted by Pope Francis. He interprets this as Mary being an internally displaced person. Adopting these distinctive modes of interpretation, Mary can be recognised as a model of the preferential option for the poor for Catholic schools.

https://www.ijherjournal.com/journaldetail/comparative-religions-reality-and-challenges-methodological-approach_118#:~:text=COMPARATIVE%20RELIGIONS%2C%20REALITY%20AND%20CHALLENGES%3A%20METHODOLOGICAL%20APPROACH

The branch of comparative religions has developed during the poste-globalisation era, and has gained great popularity worldwide for several reasons, among the most important events related to terrorism, which the western media has been attributing to demonized religions, especially Islam. This was one of the most inciting cognitive motives for conducting this study. However the main motive was to contribute to the renewal of the comparative religions curriculum, and avoid the traditional teaching and researches approaches whether it is accredited in Islamic universities and in fundamental and western traditional theology, these institutions are working excursively on whitewashing their religion and condemning other religions while ignoring the historical and geopolitical context. In conclusion this was the essence of this study about the methodological approach of comparative religions, and its various challenges through the exemplary comparison between the conservative Jewish woman and the Christian woman. Keywords: History, Record, Curriul, Extremism

Echoes and Whispers: Becoming Modern with Elizabeth Polack

Elizabeth Polack (fl. 1834–1843) is the earliest known Jewish woman playwright in Britain. In this essay, I detail the historiographical difficulties in researching Polack's lost play The Echo of Westminster Bridge (1835), which lived vibrantly in cultural memory for a century even though the play itself disappeared and its author receded into obscurity. One problem with becoming modern is confronting the increasing inaccessibility of the past. I demonstrate that, notwithstanding some confusion about authorship, Echo is by Polack and that her melodrama made a long-standing impact. I delineate the special problems associated with using a twenty-page Skelt's toy theatre condensation of the full-length stage play to reconstruct some of its main features. Then I speculate that – like Polack's best-known play, Esther, The Royal Jewess (1835) – Polack's The Echo of Westminster Bridge also potentially nudges forward the cause of Jewish emancipation. But how can one study a play that was popular and influential but has ceased to exist? That metacritical problem – the ephemerality of theatre and its compounding challenges for research – is part of the condition of the modern.

Letters to India

I write as a non-Jew about the brief correspondence sent to my father, shortly after the Second World War, from a gifted, young Jewish violinist, and briefly outline the background story-arc of her family’s aliyah, from the Pale a couple of generations earlier to her settlement in the new state of Israel. Her story is not bound up with the Holocaust, nor (as far as we know) did she experience antisemitism: but this essay attempts to highlight the majesty and sparkle of a moment in the mundane life of a Jewish woman, and its brief impact on a gentile. The focus is on her musical remarks about some of the leading performers of the day. I also outline some of the ways I secured source materials for this primarily biographical sketch, but this article is presented more as a ‘memoire’ than an academic study. It is offered in honour and memory of a Jewish lady whom, alas, I was a little too late to meet myself, and to celebrate my father’s hundredth birthday in May 2021.

Book Review: Susan Neiman, Learning from the Germans: Race and the Memory of Evil, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2019.

Learning from the Germans. Race and the Memory of Evil examines German efforts to atone for Nazi atrocities and identifies lessons on how the United States might come to terms with its legacy of slavery and racism. Divided into three parts (German lessons, Southern discomfort, and Setting things straight), the book brings together historical and philosophical analysis; interviews with politicians, activists, and contemporary witnesses in Germany and the United States; and Neiman’s own first-person observations as a white woman growing up in the South and a Jewish woman who has lived for almost three decades in Berlin.

Of resilence and empowerment : a single case study exploring the mental health of a Jewish woman who immigrated to Canada as an independent applicant

This was a single case study, which explored the mental health issues affecting a Jewish woman who immigrated to Canada as a principal applicant. The study looked at the coping strategies “Cecile,” a 69-year-old participant who emigrated from Czechoslovakia in 1986, used during her integration vs. settlement process. There were three semi-structured interviews. The theory of intersectionality was used to examine the intersecting impact of social identities such as racialized status, ethnicity, gender and class have on the participant’s mental health. Cecile provided insight into the resilience of Jewish immigrant women. The social identities Cecile identified with were Judaism, professional status, citizenship, country of origin and immigrant status. The results also show that Cecile displayed resilience in overcoming obstacles. Further research is needed to understand whether other women who have immigrated as independent applicants, Jewish or not, share this resilience. Key Words: Case Study, Mental Health, Resilience, Intersectionality, Coping Strategies

Of resilence and empowerment : a single case study exploring the mental health of a Jewish woman who immigrated to Canada as an independent applicant

This was a single case study, which explored the mental health issues affecting a Jewish woman who immigrated to Canada as a principal applicant. The study looked at the coping strategies “Cecile,” a 69-year-old participant who emigrated from Czechoslovakia in 1986, used during her integration vs. settlement process. There were three semi-structured interviews. The theory of intersectionality was used to examine the intersecting impact of social identities such as racialized status, ethnicity, gender and class have on the participant’s mental health. Cecile provided insight into the resilience of Jewish immigrant women. The social identities Cecile identified with were Judaism, professional status, citizenship, country of origin and immigrant status. The results also show that Cecile displayed resilience in overcoming obstacles. Further research is needed to understand whether other women who have immigrated as independent applicants, Jewish or not, share this resilience. Key Words: Case Study, Mental Health, Resilience, Intersectionality, Coping Strategies