O prze-pisywaniu
Review: Paweł Wolski, Tadeusz Borowski – Primo Levi. Prze-pisywanie literatury Holocaustu [Tadeusz Borowski – Primo Levi: Trans-Scribing Holocaust Literature], Wydawnictwo IBL, Warszawa 2013.
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Review: Paweł Wolski, Tadeusz Borowski – Primo Levi. Prze-pisywanie literatury Holocaustu [Tadeusz Borowski – Primo Levi: Trans-Scribing Holocaust Literature], Wydawnictwo IBL, Warszawa 2013.
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Alongside the physically existing town of Radom there is a second borough, visible only to some but, nonetheless, just as real. This is the Radom of material traces and some sort of a ghostly life; in it, the dead continue to pursue their phantom existence. The symbol of this absent presence is not something but naught – emptiness instead of the now windswept former Jewish district. It is also a strange phantom pain that assaults the author from time to time, whenever she thinks about all of them. This is a world next to us and within us, a world that grows deep within, penetrates, becomes part of us, and inflicts wounds.In this world the author’s deceased still live, although she is aware that they all perished at the time of the Holocaust and that the only surviving member of her whole family, Elias Sznajderman, left, never to return, in August 1945, a day after a pogrom carried out in the “Praca” cooperative.
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When I was going to Będzin to meet with Karolina and Piotr Jakoweńko, I did not even think that I would find out things that remained undiscovered. We knew that there were many Jews living in Będzin until the outbreak of World War II, but that there were as many as 30,000 Jews and suddenly they all disappeared – we do not think about it every day.
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The documents kept in the special collections of the Jewish Historical Institute Library contain an extract, purchased in 2010, from Warsaw municipal records, containing the depositions of Jews, noblemen and burghers suspected of taking part in a raid of nobleman Mroczek’a manor at Żebrak near Siedlce on the night of 1 November 1783. This document provides lots of insight into the social transformations taking place in Poland in the second half of the 18th century. It visualizes the internal differentiation of the Jewish population, struggling with increasing poverty. The suspects’ depositions portray Warsaw as a city attracting representatives of various social groups, which integrated irrespective of religious or ethnic differences, cooperated with each other or forming criminal gangs.
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The article examines the historical relationship between the Jewish people and the Hebrew language and the process that led to the revival of the language within their culture. The author examines the Diaspora of the Jewish people and their retention of three private languages that they used while in Europe. These languages were Hebrew, Aramaic, and Yiddish. Lithuanian intellectual Eliezer Ben-Yehuda played a major part in the revival of Hebrew as a spoken language. Also discussed are the efforts of French philanthropist Baron Edmond James de Rothschild to construct Zionist settlements in Palestine.
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The paper sought to interpret the several works of Leo Baeck (1873–1956), German rabbi and religious thinker, leader of Progressive Judaism. As the rabbi of the Jewish community in Opole (1897–1907), in 1905 he published a key work of Das Wesen des Judentums (The Essence of Judaism), in response to Adolf von Harnack’s Wesen des Christentums. Baeck saw himself primarily as a rabbi and a preacher, who understood his mission beyond the borders of his own Liberal affiliation, as shaped by his responsibility to the entire German Jewish community and the Jewish people at large. His philosophical-theological thought as well as his works on history of religion should be read and measured in light of his rabbinic mission. He identified the essence of Judaism with biblical prophecy, namely the direct experience of God’s presence and the command to worship Him. For him Judaism, in contrast with Christianity, is thus not aimed at the salvation of the individual soul but rather at the collective redemption of humanity and of the world. In line with his national and this-worldly view of Judaism and the Jewish people, Baeck had a sympathetic, although critical attitude towards Zionism. He thought that the building of Palestine was a valuable prospect for embodying the spirit of Judaism, but not a guarantee that it would be realized.
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The article presents the importance attributed to the term “the elders of Israel” by biblical authors. Exegesis of the relevant passages reveals in this expression some kind of social elite, separated from the rest of the common crowd, which, however, does not undertake any initiatives on its own, remaining absolutely faithful to the leader of the people and supporting him in action for the good of the community. Elected by the congregation for the purpose of organizing life within the community they also perform some ritual functions. As representatives of a sinful people before God, on behalf of that people “the elders of Israel” beg forgiveness for transgressions and by unquestionable obedience become guarantors of Israel’s courage in difficult circumstances. In situations of rebellion they also, as guardians of God’s law, manifest the value of all of God’s commandments. As participants of exceptional events they become a link between the secular community and the holiness of God.
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The impact of Hasidism on the history and culture of the Jewish is great. Since its appearance in the Talmudic times this concept has been transforming, carrying the various semantic connotations. In the Middle ages, the Ashkenazi Jews chose to concentrate on the understanding of the universe, Hasidism and mysticism of this period are the kinds of systems, including theosophy and ethics. Ethical ideal of German Hasidism is connected with intersocial contacts of the Jewish community, with the dominant Christian environment. But the principle of isolation allowed widely to develop already existing religious doctrine, avoiding the creation of something new on the existing basis. Iechuda Hasid developed a system of mystical views containing various aspects of relations with the world and the perception of the divinity. Hasidic mysticism filled with different topics ranging from theosophy and ending with the concept of irregularities. New interpretations of traditional values at the forefront of a new ideal of the man, who lives according to certain rules – chasidut. Iechuda renounces the old ideal of the learned Rabbi, introducing new priority feelings over the mind. The main features of the Hasid – altruism, asceticism, and detachment from the world, and unselfishness.Further the teachings of Hasidim are based on traditional law and Kabala, mainly lurian Kabala, all religious building is saturated with mysticism. Lurian Kabala is inextricably linked with the book of books – the Torah, and that's adherence to its provisions helps to correct imperfect world and to attain eternal bliss and oneness of all creation of the God and the approximation of the Messianic era. Kabbalah evolved over a long period, which indicates its relevance in the Jewish religious-mystical circles.The Eastern European Hasidism is transforming according to the ideas of the Teachers. It differs from the Middle ages. The spiritual leader and founder of the Eastern European Hasidism is Besht (Israel Ben Eliezer). He refuses from excessive pettiness in ceremonies because they only harm on the path to God, rejects the system of traditional understanding of the Judaism ideals of the learned Rabbi. So now the teaching serves as a means of cognition of God but not as a way to rise above the other members of the community. Besht develops the principle of piety, you receive an example to follow – tsadik. The tsadik is the man who embodies all the rules and norms characterized the Hasidism, using the technique of introspection and concentration, comes to the possibilities of constant communication with the Creator, through ecstatic prayer and leading a God-pleasing life becomes a carrier and a hero of faith. The another rule for followers of Hasidism was mentioned, it was in solitude and contemplation, but loneliness should be temporary and not to turn into the solitude of the wilderness to be alone and a few people, the main thing is the process of concentration, which can develop the gift of clairvoyance and prophecy, divine revelations.In the future, one of the trends of Hasidism becomes HABAD. Its founder is Shneur Zalman Ben-Baruch (alter Rebbe). HABAD is the largest trend among the followers of Hasidism. The name of the movement HABAD made up of the initial letters of the three highest of the ten Sefirot, in accordance with the teachings of Kabbalah, are emanations of God. it is Hochma-wisdom, Bina-mind, Daat -knowledge. And if your thoughts and principles of the new Hasidism Besht did not record, for him, the disciples did Shneur Zalman issues in the light of the book "Tania" (Doctrine). "Tania" is the Foundation of HABAD, the very name of the movement (mind-understanding-knowledge) emphasizes the knowledge of God and begins with the awareness of the doctrines of rationalism. But the movement is based not only on the rationalism, the book underlines the limitations of the mind and it is impossible to understand God. A man cannot understand the process of creation of the material world from the spiritual matter. It is also noted that the beginning of the realization of the principle of permanent creation and the principle of unlimited divine Providence are primary and the work of the Creator, which is also a basis of fear and love. Zalman returns Hasidim in the old medieval traditions, the dominance of rational over sensual. In this period there were strict requirements to the society than in Beshta times. The idea of mysticism and lurian Kabala spread rapidly in Jewish communities in various countries, especially their impact in the future on the emergence, establishment and development of the Eastern European Hasidism in the XVIII century. Moreover, getting the secret influenced the development of all religious thought in the future they had a significant impact on the development of the entire world philosophy and culture.
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The article presents the results of an empirical survey of the value systems of Orthodox Christians, Catholics, Armenian Apostolic Church, Muslims and Judaists. The survey is carried out by using Schwartz’s Survey questionnaire of values. Schwartz referred to the opinion that the difference between values is based on the types of motivational aims they express. The actions of each type has psychological, practical and social results, which could oppose or, on the contrary, compatible with each other and stimulate each other’s development. According to our hypothesis, every religion has a great influence on the formation of a person’s value system, which is reflected on one’s actions. The goal of our survey is to check up this hypothesis. The results have shown that the value system structure of the believers in God living in Georgia, the members of all five traditional religious groups, is coherent and compatible, and that it excludes motivational conflicts and correspondingly any development of psychological problems. Thus, the results obtained confirm the hypothesis that religion affects the formation of a person’s value system structure: religious people have coherent value systems, which hinder motivational conflict and, therefore, creation of disorientation.
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Analyzing the contents of the Books of the Maccabees (1-2 Macccanonical and 3-4 Macc apocryphal) it can be noted that their authors –on the canvas of the story associated with the revolt of the Maccabees and the persecution of the Jewish community – also touched upon issues of the presence and role of women in the religion and culture of ancient Israel in Hellenistic times. Although women mentioned by the authors women are anonymous, one can, however, learn a lot about their lives in this period. The authors in fact give different information about the women of different status: young girls, virgins/unmarried maidens,wives, mothers, widows, grandmothers as well as prostitutes. Of particular note are women who demonstrated heroism in defense of God’s Law.The mother of seven sons, presented in 2 Macc and 4 Macc, stands out in this respect as – for the fidelity to the Law – she suffered a martyr’s death, encouraging earlier her own sons to assume the same attitude. To sum up, one can conclude that women in the Jewish community of the time, which was clearly dominated by men, played important roles and in certain circumstances were able to do heroic deeds.
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Ibn Khaldun, in his famous Muqaddimah, an “Introduction to History”, explains the stages of the rise and fall of nations through his comprehensive theory of history and society, underpinned by the concept of ‘asabiyyah or “group feeling”. Ibn Khaldun applies his theory to the main topics of the pre-Islamic religions as well, especially the Jewish religion. This paper aims to look at Ibn Khaldun’s interpretation of the history of the people of Israel through his concept of ‘asabiyyah by highlighting some possible implications of it as regards the idea of the election of Israel. An emphasis is also laidon parallels with Spinoza’s interpretation of the election of Israel.
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This paper explores intersections of memory and cinematic representation in contemporary Hungarian film culture. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, with the concomitant financial crisis in Hungarian cinema, a number of films have foregrounded questions of Jewish identity, a taboo subject on Hungarian screens after 1945 when nationalistic historiography supported an official government culture of denial with regard to responsibility for the deportation and extermination of some 550 000 Hungarian Jews. The production of relatively few narrative and documentary films on this subject, the essay suggests, is perhaps in part attributable to the fact that the Hungarian uprising of 1956 tended to eclipse the drama of Jewish deportation and genocide. The authors consider post-socialist film makers’ uses of the past in the context of the country’s current nationalistic climate, interrogating the impact of controversial films such as László Nemes’s Son of Saul (2015, Grand Prix, Cannes Film Festival ; Academy Award for best foreign film) within a Hungarian society still conflicted about its Holocaust trauma.
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This article includes information about the currently edited collection of wartime recollective accounts of the Holocaust. It is an authentic record of field research conducted in the southern part of the Świętokrzyskie Province. The author presents the subject matter of these narratives, emphasizing their folkloristic character. He lays most stress on the largely unnoticed though still important current of folk reckoning with the war and occupation.
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„Plutarchos, akit az ókor legkiválóbb egyiptológusának nevezhetnénk...” – jellemezte a Peri Isidos kai Osiridos szerzőjét Dobrovits Aladár hetvenhét évvel ezelőtt. Persze jó néhány más antik szerző tiltakozhatott volna ez ellen is, Hérodotostól (vagy akár már a platóni Timaiostól) kezdve. Ugyanígy sok auctor vitathatná el Plutarchostól a „legkiválóbb hebraista” minősítést is. Igen számosan írtak ugyanis már őt megelőzően a zsidó népről, vallásról, kultúráról görög vagy római olvasóknak, görögül vagy latinul. E szerzők vonatkozó részleteit gyűjtötte össze a teljesség igényével Menahem Stern, az utóbb arab terroristák által meggyilkolt izraeli tudós, aki a judaisztikának és a klasszika- filológiának egyaránt nagymestere volt. Gyűjteményének2 két vaskos kötete közül az első 91 antik szerző zsidó tárgyú adatait tartalmazza 576 oldalon. Ezek közül Hérodotos az első, és – véletlenszerűen – éppen Plutarchos a legutolsó. A második kötet, amely viszont csak 70 szerzőtől közöl szemelvényeket, ám ezt már 690 oldalon (s ebből csupán kettőt vesz el az előző kötetre vonakozó addenda és corrigenda!), Tacitusszal indul, s a Kr. u. 6. század első felében élt neoplatonista filozófussal és Aristotelés-kommentátorral, Simplikiosszal zárul.
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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.
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At the turn of the 19th–20th century the different Jewish groups in Hungary had to face many challenges. They had to reconcile the demands made by modernity and the majority society with their own group interests. The changing environment endangered the survival of the group and questioned its basic values. There were big differences in the modernisation strategies of the Jewish groups examined (Neology, Budapest Orthodox, Zionists). Religion, as the primary determinant of value, shifted from the community sphere to the private sphere and lost some of its importance. History became the new model for interpretation of the world, that could be manifested at community level. Cultural memory based on shared history became the most important adhesive force of the group. The press, the most important attitude-shaping communication media of the period, played a major role in preserving and strengthening memory.
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The Jewish pilgrimages in Hungary belong in the context of expansion of the 18th century Chassidic movement of the Ashkenazic Jews of Poland. The differing forms are connected to the charismatic figures of the communities, to the so-called righteous men. Pilgrims visited them at the time of individual crises or at major feasts. The news of their travels attracted thousands of pilgrims. This pilgrimage could be repeated for their funeral and on the anniversaries of their death. Places of pilgrimage with very large areas of attraction arose. Societies and Talmudic schools were often associated with these persons, which became the germs for the organization of virtual communities forming again after the Holocaust. Today these graves are important mnemotechnical places for the Chassidic virtual communities, and the pilgrimages are mnemotechnical occasions and compensatory rites. They can provide new knowledge for history of mentality studies of the religious practice of rural Jewry, and for research on sacral communication, the organisation of virtual communities and on pilgrimages.
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Eschatological Jesus’s speech in editing of all three synoptic gospels ends with the appeal for watchfulness (see: Mt 24,42-51; 25,13-15; Mk 13,33-37; Lk 21,34-36). That appeal in Gospel of Mark is both conclusion of eschatological speech and its meaningful culmination with determination of particular tasks for disciples, who not knowing the time of impletion of prediction of end of time, receive the task of special watchfulness. Short but eloquent parable about host who while leaving his house scheduled duties to everyone, contains vital task of wakeful doorman waiting for his Lord’s back. Evangelist conveys both warning about oppose attitude, which is latency that concerns people especially at night. The context of the whole gospel points that disciples go to the truth of Lord’s words at the night of His release (Mk 14,14-72) just when they were out of watchfulness. All the more reason genuine and urgent stays the appeal for everybody “watch” (Mk13,37)
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The phrase metV evmou used in the Book of Revelation has two subjects. The first is Jesus, who submit to a man a proposition to create relationship (Rev 3:4.20.21), the second one – a man, who receive news as directed to him (Rev 1,12; 4,1; 10,8; 17,1; 21,9). Mediations of God’s presence (Rev 10,8; 17,1; 21,9) don’t make any problem for perception. The space of communication between God and a man constitutes the intimacy, confidence and protection, and courage to realize God’s order (Rev 1:12) and fight to everyday problems (Rev 3:4). The accent on the aspect of interchange (Rev 3:20f) confirms the quality of that relationship for God and establishes liberty and authenticity of that discuss (peripate,w metV evmou – Rev 3:4). The propose of common dinner, because of deipne,w (Rev 3:20) put the intimacy in the context of Eucharist. The author join metV evmou with promises for conquerors (Rev 3:21) and in that’s way remind the covenantal declaration (Rev 21:3) and announce son’s dignity (Rev 21:7). Such founded the intimacy give a chance to fight with any kind of a pressure and a distress – so it is the aim of the Book of Revelation.
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In the paper, the attention is paid to the greeting directed to the readers of the Revelation in the passage 1:4-7. Its structure suggests that its source is not John who wrote the Book, but the Gog who presents Himself as a unity of three persons: Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. The greeting focused most on Jesus Christ, his exceptional love towards humans and his mssion. Along with his appearance on the Earth, the process of bringing people back to God started. Monotrinitarian greeting introduces the reader to the reality of the eschatological future which would have been horrible if not the fact of limitless love and care expressed in the greeting.
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