(Nie)pamięć zbiorowa Polaków jako skuteczna regulacja emocji

Author(s): Michal Bilewicz / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 6/2016

Bilewicz applies notions borrowed from the psychology of emotions to understand collective (im)memory in Poland, with a particular focus on defensive reactions to new historical data on Poles’ negative behaviour. Based on James Gross’ concept of emotion regulation, Bilewicz elaborates a model of downregulating collective moral emotions (such as guilt and shame). He then applies this model to the debate on the Jedwabne pogrom. He also outlines systematic social psychological studies that support his proposed emotion downregulation model. The article concludes with a discussion of alternative ways of presenting negative history – ways that overcome those defensive emotion regulatory processes.

A BAR KOCHBA-FELKELÉS - A KUTATÁS FÉL-ÉVSZÁZADÁNAK EREDMÉNYEI ÉS KIHÍVÁSAI

Author(s): Tibor Grüll / Language(s): Hungarian / Issue: 1/2008

According to a commonplace in scholarly literature it is unachievable to write the history of the Bar Kochba revolt. This paper does not attempt the impossible, it merely attempts to take into account the way in which our evidences, that came to light in the last half-century, repaint the traditional picture of the insurrection. The first five chapters discuss the antecedents of the revolt, i.e., the short and long-term consequences of the churban; the uprising under Trajan (the so-called “war of Quietus”); the administrative, economic and military situation of Judaea from 70 to 132 C.E., mainly on the basis of the Babatha-archive. The immediate cause of the Bar Kochba revolt is still debated, as both the foundation of Colonia Aelia Capitolina (ch. 5), and the ban on circumcision, introduced by Hadrian’s legislation (ch. 6), can be taken into account. It is not clear, however, whether these oppressive measures were taken before or after 132; in other words, whether they were causes or consequences of the war. The following chapter is dedicated to Bar Kochba’s messianic pretensions, which, among other things, can be verified with the strong halachic orientation of the papyri produced by the administration of the revolt (ch. 8). Ch. 9 examines the character and magnitude of the Roman military participation in the Bar Kochba revolt, as these are illuminated by the extant epigraphic material. The last chapter deals with the Jewish guerilla tactics and bases: the rebels’ hiding complexes that from the 1990’s have been explored in the territory of Judaea.

A Case Study of Radical Assimilation in Poland. The Family Markusfeld

Author(s): Pawel Jasnowski / Language(s): English / Issue: 14/2016

The article is devoted to the phenomenon of radical assimilation in the late 19th century. The author focuses on the Markusfeld family, who had lived in Kraków since at least the mid-18th century. The study is an attempt to show the history of family against the background of the history of Galicia, in the second half of the 19th century, when the idea of integration was finally abandoned, and integration ceased to be seen as solution of “the Jewish question.” The paper is based on Bauman’s analysis of the general sociological mechanisms of modern assimilatory processes, and refers to the category of radical assimilation (T. Endelman). It seeks to answer the question of why most family members chose to convert at the end of the 19th century. The author shows that the choice of “default” religion, “universal” values, and “right” idiom was not tantamount to their affirmation – but it was a way to look for happiness and fulfillment, which was (unlike in France), according to some Jews not accessible while staying Jewish. Baptism was also a form of protection – the Second World War would prove it effective.

A durai zsinagóga nyugati falképciklusának vallási és politikai üzenete

Author(s): Géza Xeravits / Language(s): Hungarian / Issue: 2/2012

The west wall of the Dura synagogue is a kind of political and religious manifesto. The first artist of the west wall accentuated the enduring covenant between God and his people and the continuity of the cult. The second artist picked up these overall Leitmotivs, and expanded them by adding the figurative paintings. The modifications to the central panel emphasise the idea that Israel is a people chosen by God, in whose history God’s promises and the forefathers’ blessings are fulfilled. This is complemented by the wing panels, where Moses, the pre-eminent figure of the past, is depicted. This Mosaic cycle shows religious/cultic orientation. This aspect is further emphasised by the middle register of the narrative panels. As we look at the narrative panels, we see that the middle register has a kind of central position—framed by the top and bottom registers—which assigns to it a basic or essential place within the composition. The message of this mural is to meditate upon the believer’s relationship with God. After articulating the religious message of the west wall, the artist turned to political issues. The paintings of the bottom and top registers recalling various events of the histoire sainte—affirm the pre-eminence of the Jewish people. Affirming this in a minority context and in an especially turbulent period of regional history, these panels carry a message of consolation.

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.

Abraham Firkowicz: introduction to Sep̄er Massa u-Mriḇa

Author(s): Veronika Klimova / Language(s): English / Issue: 3/2017

The article is a contribution to studies of Karaite literature in Eastern Europe. It presents an introduction to Massa u-Mriḇa written by the best known Karaite scholar Abraham Firkowicz (1786–1874). The author is engaged in a prolonged polemic against the Rabbanites who claimed Talmud to be an oral explanation of the laws God gave to Moses. He refers to the history of the Karaites and emphasizes a frequent misunderstanding of their origin as they are incorrectly identified with Sadducees. Firkowicz does not hesitate to level harsh criticism and utilizes his Biblical lexicon in defending the purity of Karaite faith.

Admiration and Fear: New Perspectives on the Personality of the Maharal

Author(s): Pavel Sládek / Language(s): English,Hebrew / Issue: 2/2017

Rabbi Judah Leva ben Betzalel – the Maharal (ca. 1525–1609) is regarded as one of the key figures of the sixteenth-century rabbinic culture. Yet, given the fragmentary nature of the existing sources, his biography and intellectual profile manifest several unfortunate lacunae. Based on unknown or neglected manuscript and printed sources, this study formulates tentative hypotheses about some of the gaps in our understanding of the Maharal’s attitudes and the reception of his person by his contemporaries. It shows that the Maharal felt very close to his brother Hayyim and suggests that he spent his formative years in the Lublin yeshivah of rabbi Shalom Shakhnah. The renown and respect that the Maharal enjoyed from contemporary scholars does not seem to be the result of the reception of his voluminous writings but rather of his radical views of rabbinic authority and the ruthlessness with which he was ready to carry his ideas through.Aban that the Maharal intended to impose on the rabbinic ordination of candidates of Moravian origin indicates that his move to Prague was perhaps involuntary and explains the reluctance of the lay leaders to elect him as a communal rabbi. Other sources discussed for the first time with regard to the Maharal document that he was both respected and feared even outside the region, for example in Italy. The Hebrew originals of the most important unpublished sources discussed in this study are appended.

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

An Annotated Translation of Pinchas Szerman’s Poilishe Khazones in Fargangenheitun Tzukunft, [The Polish Cantorate in the Past and the Future,] 1924

Author(s): Benjamin Matis / Language(s): English / Issue: 14/2016

A translation of a Polemic essay by Cantor Pinchas Szerman, second cantor at the Great synagogue of Warsaw. The essay discusses the many difficulties experienced by cantors in his time, especially the ones who had not be educated. In Szerman’s opinion, the only way to ease the burden – especially the financial burden – was to create a class of educated and professional cantors. The many customs of Polish Jewry that are forgotten today have been annotated as well as basic biographical data on highly influential earlier cantorial masters

Anan ben Dawid jako archetyp religijnego wichrzyciela: jak raw Natronaj Gaon przyczynił się do wykreowania przywódcy ananitów na ojca założyciela karaizmu

Author(s): Marzena Zawanowska / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 3/2017

The paper analyzes in detail the oldest known gaonic report on the alleged founder of the Karaite movement, Anan ben David (VIII c.). It is ascribed to rav Natronai (bar Hilai) Gaon (d. 865) and has been preserved in a prayer book authored by Rav Amram ben Sheshna (d. 875), Sidur rav Amram ha-ssalem. The ensuing conclusions is that if not for this and other Babylonian geonim (such as Rav Saadia Gaon), who made use of Anan’s name as a convenient label for religious instigators and heretics (that is any opponents of Babylonian tradition, including supporters of the Palestinian one), it is not unlikely that he would not have been recognized by the Karaites as the founding father of their movement. By employing his name as an emblem of rebellious freethinker, they made this – otherwise marginal for the development of Karaism – figure more important than it really was. Thanks to that, he could later on be appropriated by the Karaite movement – which at the time of its emergence and coalescence (9th-10th century) was in desperate need of unifying myths – and become its symbolic originator. In this sense, it can be said that the Babylonian representatives of medieval Judaism wishing to define the limits of their own religious authority through the unification of Jewish doctrines and practices, as well as centralization and concentration of the (political) power in their own hands, created the founding myth of Karaism.

Arabic in the Service of Regeneration of Jews. The Participation of Jews in Arabic Press and Journalism in the 19th and 20th Centuries

Author(s): Reuven Snir / Language(s): English / Issue: 3/2006

The first periodical publications carrying news written by and for Arabs appeared during the first part of the 19th century. The major developments in the field of non-governmental Arabic press occurred, however, only during the second half of that century. That was also the time when Jews started to take an active part in founding, editing, and writing for Arabic newspapers, periodicals, and professional journals in various parts of the Arab world. First it included newspapers and periodicals in Judeo-Arabic dialects and only later in standard Arabic language. The main centres of journalistic activity by Jews in the Arab world were Baghdad, Cairo, Beirut, Alexandria, Damascus and Tunis. Newspapers founded by Jews were mostly ephemeral, however, there were also periodicals that prospered for decades. There was a connection between the involvement of Arab Jews in canonical Arab culture and the development of the Arabic-Jewish press and journalism: wherever Jews tried to integrate politically, socially and culturally into society (Iraq, to a lesser extent in Egypt, Lebanon and Syria) there were always active Jewish owners of Arabic newspapers and periodicals as well as editors and journalists writing in standard literary Arabic. But wherever Jews showed no significant interest in the canonical Arabic cultural activities of their society (e.g. North Africa), only periodicals in Judeo-Arabic dialects written in Hebrew letters are to be found (in addition to newspapers in other languages). Jewish newspapers published in both Judeo-Arabic dialects and standard Arabic had generally one main aim in common: promoting modernisation of Jewish life in Arab societies and encouraging Jews to become acquainted with the achievements of Western civilisation. After the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, there has been a sharp decline in Arabic journalism by Jews; in fact we are currently witnessing the demise of Arab-Jewish culture. A tradition that started more than fifteen hundred years ago is vanishing before our eyes.

Archiwum Ringelbluma. Konspiracyjne Archiwum Getta Warszawy, tom 06, Generalne Gubernatorstwo. Relacje i dokumenty

Author(s): / Language(s): Polish / Publication Year: 2012

The volume concerns the fate of the Jewish population in the General Government four districts: Cracow, Lublin, Radom, and Warsaw. It includes testimonies, memoirs, personal documents and official records, such as German ordinances, reports and transcripts of the proceedings of the Jewish Councils, Jewish Social Aid and the American Joint Distribution Committee. The documents cover the period from September and October 1939 to some time after November 1942; there are also memoirs that touch upon the pre-war period.

Archiwum Ringelbluma. Konspiracyjne Archiwum Getta Warszawy, tom 07. Spuścizny

Author(s): / Language(s): Polish / Publication Year: 2012

The volume consists of materials deposited in the ARG by Emmanuel Ringelblum’s closest collaborators: writer and journalist Rachela Auerbach, lawyer and economist Hersz Wasser, teacher Eliasz Gutkowski, and the Archive’s treasurer, entrepreneur Menachem Mendel Kon. Letters, certificates and fragments of notes are testimony to the work of the Archive, the everyday life of its collaborators and through this – to the experience of Jewish intellectuals in the ghetto. The last chapter contains patents of inventors Henryk Piórnik and Wacław Kączkowski issued by the Polish and foreign patent offices.

Archiwum Ringelbluma. Konspiracyjne Archiwum Getta Warszawy, tom 08. Tereny wcielone do Rzeszy: Okręg Rzeszy Gdańsk-Prusy Zachodnie, rejencja ciechanowska, Górny Śląsk

Author(s): / Language(s): Polish / Publication Year: 2012

The volume pertains to the fate of the Jews in the areas of Poland incorporated into the Reich: the Danzig-West Prussia Reich District, Regierungsbezirk Zichenau (Ciechanów Governorate) and the Province of Upper Silesia. It consists mainly of the testimonies of refugees who had been forced to abandon their homes and of the persons involved in relocating Jews to the General Government. The majority of documents concerns the period from the first days of the war until February and March 1941. They illustrate mainly everyday life but also include reminiscences from before the war, sketches from the history of the given towns, or accounts of the war preparations.