On al-Maqrīzī’s Description of Jewish Festivals in al-Khabar

The Muslim scholar Taqī al-Dīn Aḥmad b. ʿAlī al-Maqrīzī (1364–1442 CE) discussed Jewish festivals several times in his works, including once in al-Khabar ʿan al-Bashar fī Ansāb al-ʿArab wa-Nasab Sayyid al-Bashar. In this source, in which he describes seven (actually eight) Jewish festivals, it is clear that he relied on Aḥmad b. ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Nuwayrī (1272–1332 CE). However, there are several significant differences between al-Maqrīzī’s account and al-Nuwayrī’s that this article will examine.

The HaZor'im Organization: Religious Pioneers in the Lower Galilee between 1937–1947

The HaZor’im settlement in the Lower Galilee, associated with the HaPo’el HaMizraḥi movement, was founded by religious pioneers from Europe. This article demonstrates that members of the HaZor’im organization were unable to fully realize their dream of combining the study of Torah with working the soil in the Land of Israel – “Torah and Labor” – that they had envisioned when they were on the training farm in Europe. Much has been written about the pioneering settlements of the secular labor movement, but there has been relatively little research about the pioneering religious settlements. This article seeks to address that lacuna by answering questions such as why the HaZor’im group was a dominant one throughout the Land of Israel. How could they realistically expect to create a viable settlement movement in Israel without faith in the righteousness of their choices and lacking social cohesion based on pioneering-religious ideology? The story of HaZor’im illustrates the worldview of religious Zionism during the British Mandate. The members were pioneers of the fifth Aliyah who faced social, economic, and religious difficulties. They collaborated in formulating and writing their ideological views, as well as in shaping a coherent work program for their activities on the land. The group began their venture in the Land of Israel in a labor camp near Rishon LeZion, then settled in the Galilee on land they received from other settlers. This study examines the difficulties they faced and shows how their conceptual world was expressed in practice.

The Public and Economic Activities of the Hִatim Family of Istanbul: A Chapter in the History of the Jewish Leadership in Istanbul and Jerusalem in the 19th Century

This article discusses the biographies and economic and public activities of the Ḥatim family in Istanbul in the late 18th century and throughout the 19th century. Most of the attention is focused on R. Shlomo Ḥatim and his son Yitsḥak, who were members of the Jewish elite in Istanbul and settled in Jerusalem at the ends of their lives. R. Shlomo, who is said to have served the Ottoman authorities in Istanbul, settled in Jerusalem more than ten years before the leaders of the Jewish economic elite in Istanbul were executed in the 1820s. His son, surviving this purge, followed much later, immigrating to Israel in 1846, but died immediately thereafter. This article provides insights into the business activities of the Ḥatim family, as well as the activities of Yitsḥak Ḥatim as an Ottoman official in Istanbul. I also discuss two more generations of this family, considered an elite, privileged one, and that was highly esteemed among well-known rabbis in the Ottoman Empire. I also discuss the ties that developed between the communities of Istanbul and Jerusalem in the first half of the 19th century as a result of initiatives of officials in Istanbul and of immigration from Istanbul to Jerusalem.

A Chiastic Structure in a Five-Story Cluster in Bavli Bava Batra 151a–b

This article examines the connection between the stylistic structure and the content of a five-story cluster in the Babylonian Talmud on Bava Batra 151a–b. We point out that in the first story, there are two judges (dayanim), R. Bibi Bar Abaye and R. Huna, son of R. Yehoshua, while in the other four stories, there is only one judge (dayan), R. Naḥman. An important question we seek to elucidate is why the redactor of the sugya chose the first story rather than a similar story that appears in tractate Ketubot (78b–79a), wherein R. Naḥman is the only judge, as in the other four stories in the five-story cluster under study. Given its similar content, the story in Ketubot would appear to be a better fit with the cluster of stories in Bava Batra. This article seeks to show that this five-story cluster expresses a thought-provoking process of redaction, in terms of both the chronological sequence of the generations of characters it portrays and the content of the stories. While the cluster may have originally included four stories, the first story was likely added in a later redaction. This addition gave a chiastic structure of five stories to the cluster. Describing the chiasmus, we suggest that its formation was indeed a consideration of the redactor of the sugya.

Divine Worship in the Thought of R. Kalonymus Kalman Epstein in Ma'or VaShemesh

The book of R. Kalonymus Kalman Epstein (1751–1823), Ma’or VaShemesh, is a treatise of Chasidic thought, focusing particularly on the three concepts of “raising holy sparks,” redemption of the Shekhina (the divine presence), and worship of God. The author stresses the Lurianic idea that during the creation of the world, holy “sparks” fell and were absorbed into everything in the world. Thus, the way a person of Israel truly serves God is by redeeming these sparks through Torah learning and performing mitsvot. God’s main intention in creating the world was to dwell in it together with humanity, whose function is to reveal His Presence. Another message of Ma’or VaShemesh is that the divine Shekhina animates and directs everything in our world, and that people are expected to understand it.

But Thou Shalt Go unto My Country and to My Kindred: Ambivalence about Family and Homeland in Israeli Songs about the Holocaust

The themes of “homeland” and “a place where one belongs” are integral parts of literary works about the Holocaust, as well as of popular songs about the Holocaust. In 1988, two successful albums of Israeli popular music were released: Heat of July-August, by Shlomo Artzi and Ashes and Dust, by Yehuda Poliker. Both Artzi’s song “In Germany before the War,” and the title song of the latter album, written by Yaacov Gilad and Yehuda Poliker, describe a dialogue between sons and their mothers, Holocaust survivors. In both songs, the sons, now adult Israelis born after World War II, address their mothers, who seem to live or travel through their memories from or through a foreign land. The dialogue, which may be understood as a soliloquy, expresses ambivalent memories about belonging to a family, a nation, a homeland, and the Holocaust. This paper suggests an interpretive reading of these layers of ambivalent memories as part of the construction of a uniquely Israeli-Zionist-Jewish voice of remembrance that draws on biblical references, musical and prosodic structures and references, and Israeli cultural analysis.

The Use of the Terebinth Tree (Pistacia ssp.) in the Land of Israel in Antiquity: Fruit, Oil, and Resin

This article undertakes a comprehensive study of the place of the terebinth (Pistacia palaestina) and the Pistacia atlantica (P. terebinthus) in both the cultivated and uncultivated landscapes of ancient Israel. Presenting detailed accounts of historical sources (primarily rabbinical and classical literature), along with archaeobotanical and paleographic archaeological sources, the study focuses on describing how the terebinth’s fruit has been used to provide food and oil and resin even until today. The main contribution of the article is in describing the practical process of producing oil and resin from the pistacia trees. The evidence shows that in the past, the resin, made mainly from the Pistacia atlantica, was used for medical purposes, and, especially, as an ingredient in incense. This resin was in high demand in the ancient world and became an export product of the Land of Israel. For the purposes of the study, resin was produced in Israel from some eighty trees at four different sites. Production was carried out based on two models: resin production from the mastic tree (Pistacia lentiscus) as practiced on Chios Island in Greece; and the method of resin production from the Pistacia atlantica in Iraqi Kurdistan, which is still sold throughout the Arab world. The large quantities of resin obtained confirm that this resin production was indeed an industry with economic potential and profitability in ancient Israel.

Yearning, Control, and Creativity: The Carnivorous Bird in Literature and Poetry

During my travels in India, I was captivated by the allure of the carnivorous Indian eagle. Inspired by that experience, this article seeks to examine various motifs associated with literary representations of birds of prey. The first section explores the motifs of physiological and androgynal bisexuality associated with these creatures, and the androgynous motif of them as expressed in the works of Jerzy Kosiński and Sarah Sheila. The work of Abraham Mapo, and William Shakespeare’s poem “The Phoenix and the Turtle,” are the basis of the next discussion about aspects of the experience of transitions between the different stages of life. By exploring the poetry of Shaul Tchernichovsky, Avraham Shlonsky, Natan Yonatan, and others, this section also studies the elements of aggression and control as symbolized by the spiritual soaring of a bird above the fields of reality. In its final section, the article discusses the wild bird as a noble expression of supreme creative inspiration, an encounter with the deity, and prophetic inspiration. Beyond the dynamics between bisexuality, the difficulties of transition, and noble certainty, the article finds that bisexual desire is often replaced by a desire to control the other, and these forces undergo a process of refinement and purification through the development of meaningful creative lives.