A New Hebrew Literary Diaspora? Israeli Literature Abroad

Author(s): Yaron Peleg / Language(s): English / Issue: 2 (36)/2015

Although the modern stage in the development of Hebrew began in Europe about two hundred years ago, after 1948 the language and its literature became confined for the most part to the state of Israel. The tumultuous course of Jewish history in the past two centuries has by and large emptied the Jewish Diaspora of Hebrew. And yet in the past few decades we are witnessing a growing number of Hebrew writers who are no longer confined by geography. Although they still publish their works in Israel, they write them elsewhere, mainly in the United States and Europe. Increasingly, too, their works reflect their habitat as well as the peoples and cultures of their countries of residence. Are we witnessing the birth of what can perhaps be termed a “post-national Hebrew” era, an era in which Israel remains an inspiring cultural center, but no longer the only location for the creation of original works in Hebrew? This article looks at various Hebrew novels that were written outside of Israel in the last few decades and examines the contours of what may perhaps be a new chapter in the history of modern Hebrew.

Abecadlniki karaimskie

Author(s): Malgorzata Machcinska / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 4/2015

The article contains introductory information about the printing of Karaite primers to teach children to read Hebrew, which first appeared in the early 19th century. These primers are an important source of information about the teaching of Hebrew among the Karaite community in Eastern Europe and also about the specific pronunciation of Karaite Hebrew.

Abraham bar Jacob and His Copperplate Engravings in 17th and 18th Century Amsterdam Prints

Author(s): Magdalena Bendowska / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2017

In 1695, the printing shop of Asher Anshel ben Eliezer Kutner and Issachar Ber ben Eliezer of Minden issued a new edition of the Passover Haggadah, for the first time illustrated with copperplate engravings. The name of the engraver, Abraham bar Jacob, was present both on the title page and on the foldable Palestine map with a legend in Hebrew attached to the book. This book drew its inspiration from Christian sources. The artist already had collaborated earlier with Amsterdam printing offices. He produced the frontispiece of the Yiddish Bible published by Uri Phoebus (1679) and later copied in successive books printed by Uri Phoebus in Amsterdam, by Johannes Wust in Frankfort on the Main and by Shabbatai Bass in Dyhernfurth. Another frontispiece by Abraham bar Jacob was inserted by Immanuel Athias in the books Shnei Luhot ha-berit (1698) and Yad Yosef (1700), also by Shlomo Proops in Eshlei ravrevei (1711) and Maginei eretz (1732). Later, this template was used by printers Hertz Levi Rofe and his son-in-law Kosman. Both Haggadah title pages were copied by other printing offices. At first, the inclusion of Abraham bar Jacob’s illustrations in Jewish books and the author’s name did not provoke any reaction. However, as time passed by, the authorship was increasingly concealed. Athias obliterated the artist’s signature on the copperplate used in Yad Yosef, and Proops removed Abraham bar Jacob’s name from the title page of the second edition of the Haggadah. The reason for this probably was that the engraver was a convert, a pastor originating from the Rhine region who converted to Judaism in Amsterdam. This fact was mentioned for the first time by the Christian Hebraist Johann Christoph Wolf in the Bibliotheca Hebraea bibliography. Notwithstanding the artist’s origins, his illustration achieved popularity and gained numerous followers.

Adversus Iudaeos in the Sermon Written by Theodore Syncellus on the Avar Siege of AD 626

Author(s): Martin Hurbanic / Language(s): English / Issue: 6/2016

A sermon attributed to Theodore Syncellus (Theodoros Synkellos) is considered as one of the basic sources for the study of the Avar siege of Constantinople in AD 626. Therefore, the most historians paid more attention to the analysis of its historical background than to its ideological content. From the ideological point of view, the document serves as an evidence that a fear for the future of the Empire and its capital Constantinople began to rise within emerging Byzantine society. The Avar siege served its author mainly as a model for developing his polemics with imaginary Jewish opponents and their religion. It deserves to be included in a long succession of similar polemical treatises, which have existed in Christianity from its earliest times.

Alte und neue jüdische Musiker

Author(s): Paul Nettl / Language(s): German / Publication Year: 0

Around the Bloc: Archeologists Find Holocaust Escape Tunnel in Lithuania

Author(s): TOL TOL / Language(s): English / Issue: 07/12/2016

Survivors had spoken of the tunnel used by 80 Jewish prisoners in a daring 1944 escape, and now scientists have confirmed its existence.

Aspects of Violence in the Old Testament

Author(s): Adrian Vasile / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2015

Life is a gift from God. It is sacred for God is the absolute holiness. Being received as a gift from God, it is our duty to bring her to its holiness and then give it back to God to render it eternal, not to let it be spoilt by our nature that was corrupted by the original sin. Meant to support human life, the Human Rights Declaration considers life to be the right of rights, which is the greatest right which ultimately surpasses the others. In other words, all the other rights are meant to give quality to life. Based on these realities, according both to divine right and human right, we all have the holy duty to respect our personal life and its proper dignity (values) and in the same time we have the duty to respect in all respects the life of our brother. All attempts to take someone’s life are forbidden.

Aufgeschobene Vernichtung. Jüdische Emigration nach Jugoslawien (1933/1938‒1945)

Author(s): Anna Grünfelder / Language(s): German / Issue: 71/2012

This work presents a rarely studied contingent of Jewish emigres during World War II: the Jewish refugees to Yugoslavia. Based on extensive research in the State Archives of Croatia (Zagreb) and Slovenia (Ljubljana), as well as memorials and reports by key witnesses, the author describes Jewish emigration from Germany since 1933 and from Austria since 1938 to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. While initially providing a safe haven, after unconditional surrender in 1941 the country was no longer capable of protecting either its own citizens of its Jewish refugees. The Jews in Serbia – both refugees and citizens – felt the impact of the German military authorities. Measures institutionalizing persecution began on May 30 based on practices already in place in Germany. Concentration camps were erected in July and the round up of Jews began on October 21, 1941. The German Army shot the male passengers of the „Kladovo-transport“ in retaliation for fallen German soldiers. By August 1942 “Serbia was ‘judenrein’”. In Croatia, in contrast, the systematic roundups of Croatian, Bosnian and foreign Jews began in the summer of 1941 when the central concentration camp in Jasenovac opened its doors. Initially, the deported Yugoslav victims were ‘foreign’ Jews, mainly from Austria, Germany. By the fall, however, transports included Jews from all over the Independent State of Croatia (Sarajevo, Tuzla, Zagreb and elsewhere). In 1942, the German occupation authorities in Croatia, namely the representatives of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA), began implementing the “Wannsee-Conference”-decisions. Between August 1942 and the end of 1944, two massive deportations as well as some smaller transports passed from the Croatian camps towards Auschwitz and Bergen- Belsen. There are no records of any one returning. As a conclusion it must be pointed out, that the Ustasha – in contrast to standard conceptions – was not merely a German puppet. Committed to their own interests, they won a measure of independence by managing the persecution and extermination in Croatia’s concentration camps. The genocide in Croatia was a self-promulgated program, although it was inspired by Nazi-ideology.

Aus dem Archiv der Stadt Linz.

Author(s): Viktor Kurrein / Language(s): German / Publication Year: 0

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Aus dem Pinax von Tobitschau.

Author(s): Heinrick Flesch / Language(s): German / Publication Year: 0

Aus den Judizialakten des XVIII. Jahrhunderts.

Bilder aus dem täglichen Leben der Juden in Prag.

Author(s): Simon Adler / Language(s): German / Publication Year: 0

Aus den Statuten der mährischen Beerdigungsbrüderschaften

Author(s): Heinrick Flesch / Language(s): German / Publication Year: 0

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Aus einem jüdisch-deutschen Lehrbuche der Medizin.

Author(s): Heinrick Flesch / Language(s): German / Publication Year: 0

Aus jüdischen Handschriften in Mähren

Author(s): / Language(s): German / Publication Year: 0

Den nachfolgenden Beschreibungen von Handschriften seien einige allgemeine Bemerkungen vorausgeschickt: Die Kunst des Schönschreibens stand bei den Juden vorwiegend im Dienste religiöser Zwecke. Der Thoraschreiber muss sich allerdings bei der Ausübung seiner Kunst an das Gesetz halten und muss Buchstaben für Buchstaben nach der Norm niederschrieben, dennoch wird ihm eine gewisse Freiheit eingeräumt. In den feinen Strichen oberhalb einzelner Buchstaben, Kronen (hebr. Tagim) genannt, in der gleichmäßigen Schrift, in den vollendeten Schriftzeichen offenbart sich der Künstler. Aber auf Thorarollen darf sich der Schreiber nicht verewigen, ein Buchstabe mehr oder weniger als der überlieferte Text vorschreibt, macht die Thorarolle für das Ritual unbrauchbar. Deshalb sind uns die Namen der Thorarollenschreiber nur auf Grabsteinen und in Gemeindebüchern überliefert, anders aber verhält es sich mit handschriftlichen Gebetbüchern, Psaltern, Memorbüchern und dgl., hier wird dem Künstler freie Hand gegeben. Das Verbot „du sollst dir keine Abbildungen machen“, fand auf Bilder, welche auf Titelblätter, oder im Texte gemalt, keine Anwendung; die Künstler konnten ihre Werke auch signieren. Die Schreibkünstler und Buchmaler in Mähren, soweit sie dem Verfasser bekannt, seien in zeitlicher Reihenfolge hier verzeichnet.

Auschwitz i Gulag

Author(s): Ágnes Heller / Language(s): Croatian / Issue: 20/2015

Holokaust kao kultura? Naslo nove male zbirke Imre Kertesza (Szazadveg Kiado, 1993.) može pobuditi strah, štoviše može izazvati i negodovanje. Ne bih se začudila ako bi pojedinci spominjali svetogrđe. A još ka da bi naslutili da na pitanje je li holokaust stvorio vrijednosti, Kertesz bez kolebanja daje pozitivan odgovor! Ali ono što uzdiže Auschwitz do zemaljske vječnosti nije kič koji tjera suze na oči ili sve lakše ponavljanje teških riječi poput ≫vražji≪ ili ≫užas≪ ili ≫grijeh≪, nego upravo djela poput onih Imre Kertesza.

Autor Księgi Mądrości i czas jej powstania (1)

Author(s): Bogdan PONIZY / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 4/2010

This article is the first part of a longer essay, which is divided into two parts. The Book of Wisdom is a special book in the Bible. It is the youngest book of the Old Testament, but Canon Muratori enlists it among the New Testament books. Many manuscripts and old translations call this book the Wisdom of Salomonos, because Salomon seemed to be the author of this work (cf. Wis 7–9). Strong arguments exclude his authorship, but it is sure, that an Israelite must have been the author. Although there are many hypotheses about the date of its birth, Sitz im Leben and the wording defend the view that the text must have been written while the Romans ruled in Egypt.

Autor Księgi Mądrości i czas jej powstania (2)

Author(s): Bogdan PONIZY / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 2/2011

This article is the second and last part of the longer essay, which was published in the present periodical. The situation of the Jews in Alexandria was specific. The Alexandrian Diaspora was the biggest in the ancient world in that time (it numbered more Jews than the whole number of them in Jerusalem). It had many privileges, while the Ptolemaic dynasty ruled in Egypt. Its situation changed radically after the Romans had started to reign in Egypt, which was visible in the first persecution of the Jews (38 A.C.) in Alexandria.

Beiträge zur Geschichte der Jitschiner Juden im achtzehnten und neunzehnten Jahrhundert

Author(s): Josef Jircák / Language(s): German / Publication Year: 0

Beiträge zur Geschichte der Jitschiner Juden im siebzehnten und achtzehnten Jahrhundert

Author(s): Josef Jircák / Language(s): German / Publication Year: 0