Social groups: religious groups and communities Books

Book SynopsisIn recent decades, the taking of hostages has proven to be a particularly effective tactic for Islamic terrorist organizations worldwide, including al Qaeda. The global jihad movement regards citizens of foreign (mainly western) countries as prime targets for abduction, although in fact local residents have constituted the majority of kidnapping victims. This book analyzes Islamic terror abductions over the last 30 years in the Middle East (Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia), Asia (Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and the Philippines), Africa (the Maghreb, the Sahel regions, and Somalia), and in Russia as a part of the Russian-Chechen conflict. Discussion also focuses on the abduction by Hizballah of Israeli soldiers, the Second Lebanon War of 2006, the Mumbai terror attack (2008), the Chechen hostage crisis in Moscow and Beslan (2002 and 2004), the kidnapping of employees of the Algerian In Amenas gas facility by al Qaeda of the Maghreb' in January 2013 and the Nairobi "Westgate Mall" hostage crisis in September 2013. The role of Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism, and its patronage of terror organizations that utilize the tactic of abduction to promote Iranian interests in Lebanon and Iraq, is highlighted throughout. Discussion focuses on the challenges faced by countries whose citizens have been abducted by Islamic terror organizations and their reactions to these challenges, and provides theoretical classifications of the phenomenon of terrorism in general and terror abduction in particular.

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Book SynopsisThis book is a case study in the literary, psychoanalytic, and theological encounters between diasporic Muslim intellectuals and secular western modernity. It centres on the simultaneous search for the possibility of both a reformation of Islamic fundamentalism and a transformation of the exclusionary limitations of western public institutions. With roots in original research in the fields of comparative religion and cultural studies, and drawing on sources in English, French, and Arabic, the author introduces and elaborates the concept of "Western-Islamic public sphere". This concept defines what is at stake in the formative play of public representations where traditionalist foundations and modernist adaptations meet, clash, and produce discourse around their common disequilibrium. The Western-Islamic public sphere (which is secular but not secularist and which is Islamic but not Islamist), within which a critical Islamic intellectual universe can unfold, deals hermeneutically with texts and politically with lived practices. It emerges from within the arc of two alternative, conflicting, yet equally dismissive suspicions defined by a view that critical Islam is the new imperial rhetoric of hegemonic orientalism and the opposite view that critical Islam is just fundamentalism camouflaged in liberal rhetoric. This innovative and original scholarly apparatus offers a third view -- one that arises in its practice from ethical commitment to intellectual engagement, creativity, and imagination as a portal to the open horizons of conflictual history.

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Book SynopsisFollowing Spain's democratic transition during the late 1970s, political and business elites strategically exploited Spain's rich Islamic heritage in order to further projects of national redefinition, tourist promotion, and urban revitalisation. Large and ornate mosques were built in several Spanish regions, and the State granted Muslim communities an extensive array of rights and privileges that was arguably without parallel in Europe. Toward the onset of the 21st century, however, tensions surrounding Islam's growing presence in Spain became increasingly common, especially in the northeastern region of Catalonia. These tensions centered largely around the presence, or proposed establishment, of mosques in Barcelona and its greater metropolitan area. This book examines how Islam went from being an aspect of Spain's national heritage to be recovered and commemorated to a pressing social problem to be managed and controlled. It traces the events and developments that gave rise to this transformation, the diverse actors involved in the process, and the manner in which disputes over Muslim incorporation have become entangled with deeply-divisive debates over church-state relations and territorial autonomy. The core of the book centres on the shifting political and social dynamics surrounding the establishment of mosques, and the question of why anti-mosque mobilisations have been more prevalent and intense in Catalonia than other Spanish regions.

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Book SynopsisThis book examines the role of Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703-1792) and his successors in reconsolidating the religious principles of Wahhabism. It explains the role of the Saudi princes in crystallizing the core of the SaudiWahhabi political entity within their tribal society. Key to this explanation is the interrelation between sedentary and nomadic populations and the consequent impact on the development of Saudi political entities prior to the emergence of the Saudi Kingdom. Texts of Wahhabi scholars are compared with those of the early Hanbali scholars, pinpointing the new religious elements introduced to foster the Wahhabi creed. Discussion focuses on the first and second generations of Wahhabi scholars who maintained the Wahhabi creed with great success, keeping its hegemony as the main doctrine in Saudi Arabia, and developing a takfiri discourse (accusing people of being infidels) which by the nineteenth century had become the main religious and political weapon by which the Wahhabis mobilized supporters against their political and religious adversaries. To better understand this development, the meaning of kufr (heresy) in Islam and its implications in various Islamic doctrines is examined closely. The focus on the role of Wahhabi scholars in the nineteenth century sheds new lights on the principles of continuity and discontinuity in the historical development of Saudi political entities and explains the origin of the modern Saudi State. Although major socio-economic and cultural change is now taking place under the leadership of Prince Muhammad ibn Salman, the main religious structures of the state remain firmly in place. It remains to be seen how two diametric societal viewpoints will integrate or clash. This work is essential reading for all scholars and students of religious, cultural, social and political history of Saudi Arabia and Islam in the Middle East.

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Book SynopsisIn his three-volume history, Antony Polonsky provides a comprehensive survey—socio-political, economic, and religious—of the Jewish communities of eastern Europe from 1350 to the present. Until the Second World War, this was the heartland of the Jewish world: nearly three and a half million Jews lived in Poland alone, while nearly three million more lived in the Soviet Union. Although the majority of the Jews of Europe and the United States, and many of the Jews of Israel, originate from these lands, their history there is not well known. Rather, it is the subject of mythologizing and stereotypes that fail both to bring out the specific features of the Jewish civilization which emerged there and to illustrate what was lost. Jewish life, though often poor materially, was marked by a high degree of spiritual and ideological intensity and creativity. Antony Polonsky recreates this lost world—brutally cut down by the Holocaust and less brutally but still seriously damaged by the Soviet attempt to destroy Jewish culture. Wherever possible, the unfolding of history is illustrated by contemporary Jewish writings to show how Jews felt and reacted to the complex and difficult situations in which they found themselves. This first volume begins with an overview of Jewish life in Poland and Lithuania down to the mid-eighteenth century. It describes the towns and shtetls where the Jews lived, the institutions they developed, and their participation in the economy. Developments in religious life, including the emergence of hasidism and the growth of opposition to it, are described in detail. The volume goes on to cover the period from 1764 to 1881, highlighting government attempts to increase the integration of Jews into the wider society and the Jewish responses to these efforts, including the beginnings of the Haskalah movement. Attention is focused on developments in each country in turn: the problems of emancipation, acculturation, and assimilation in Prussian and Austrian Poland; the politics of integration in the Kingdom of Poland; and the failure of forced integration in the tsarist empire. Volume 2 covers the period 1881–1914; Volume 3 covers 1914–2008.Trade Review'Polonsky's sweeping study offers an illuminating, accessible view of Jewish life in eastern Euope since the end of World War II. In elegant prose, the author engages major historiographical issues while analyzing important cultural, religious, social, and political trends among eastern European Jewry. He carefully frames each section with a chapter-long overview of the relevant historical context for the following chapters . . . Throughout, Polonsky masterfully navigates the different realms of a turbulent eastern European Jewish world, conveying both the richness of its history and the tragedy of its destruction. Highly recommended.'J. Haus, Choice'Succeeds admirably. Simply put, these volumes are required reading for anyone with a serious interest in East European history or for anyone looking for a scholarly assessment of a particular feature of Polish or Russian Jewish history. Handsomely produced, with extensive maps and tables, and a glossary . . . will remain a standard work in the field for some time . . . a body of work that, in summarizing the current state of our knowledge, effectively sets the agenda for future scholars. Polonsky is perhaps the scholar most responsible for the growth of Polish Jewish studies in the late twentieth century . . Very few historians could write a series of volumes like this . . . [he] has armed scholars with a formidable tool that will help them dispel stereotypes . . . Just as these volumes are destined to become the starting point for the work of many students, they will be the touchstone for scholars working in the field at all levels.' Sean Martin, European History Quarterly'Combines a masterful grasp of Jewish history with that of eastern Europe. While underlining the unique features and achievements of the Jewish communal experience he authoritatively integrates them into the history of the countries in which Jews lived . . . Incorporating current, ground-breaking scholarship from North America, Israel, and Europe these beautifully narrated volumes should not only be seen as a staple of university courses, but also as a must-read for anyone attempting to understand any aspect of modern Jewish history and religious tradition, wherever it may be playing out . . . With this extremely important book, Antony Polonsky not only writes history but, following the example of his illustrious predecessors, makes it.' Katarzyna Person, European Judaism'We can only commend Antony Polonsky for his massive effort to explain seven centuries of Jewish history in a mere 2,000 pages . . . Polonsky's strength lies in his ability to illuminate intellectual and cultural developments . . . Because of the excellent bibliographies, extensive annotation, and wonderful maps included in each volume, any reader wishing to read in greater detail about Polish and Russian Jewry will have plenty of resources to enable the search.' Alexandra S. Korros, Jewish Quarterly'Magisterial . . . all three volumes, but particularly Volume 3, should be of special interest to Polish Americans and all Americans interested in the history of the Jews in Poland, Lithuania, and Russia.' Anna M. Cienciala, Polish Review'Definitive . . . The scope is immense and the author does an impressive job of synthesizing a vast literature . . . This trilogy will no doubt serve as a standard history of east European Jewry for a long time.' - Shaul Stampfer, Religious Studies Review'Exemplary and formidable . . . Polonsky, as much as anyone else, has created the field of modern Jewish history as a subject to be considered and understood rather than simply a tragic past to be mourned. He is too good a historian to confuse the history of Jewish life with the German policies that brought Jewish death . . . The barely visible commitment in these three wonderful volumes is to rescue a world from polemic, for the sake of history.' - Timothy Snyder, Wall Street Journal‘The first serious, and most successful, effort thus far to summarize the history of the Jews of “Eastern Europe” . . . the first book to synthesize the vast research that has emerged since the seventies . . . comprehensive and multidisciplinary . . . there is no book today that can compare to its scope and to the vast and new materials that he brings forth and analyzes with a broad imagination, an intensive approach, and a moderate style.’ - Moshe Rosman, ZionTable of ContentsList of Maps List of Tables Note on Transliteration Note on Place Names Maps General Introduction I Jewish Life in Poland–Lithuanian to 1750 Introduction 1 Jews and Christians in Early Modern Poland–Lithuania 2 The Structure of Jewish Autonomous Institutions 3 Jewish Places: Royal Towns and Noble Towns 4 Jews in Economic Life 5 Religious and Spiritual Life Conclusion Appendix: The Polish-Lithuanian Background II Attempts to Transform and Integrate the Jews, and the Jewish Response, 1750–1880 Introduction 1 The Last Years of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth 2 The Jews in the Prussian Partition of Poland, 1772–1870 3 The Jews in Galicia to the mid-1870s 4 The Jews in the Duchy of Warsaw and the Kingdom of Poland, 1807–1881 5 The Jews in the Tsarist Empire, 1772–1825 6 Nicholas I and the Jews of Russia, 1825–1855 7 The Reign of Alexander II, 1855–1881 Glossary Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisAlthough the reconciliation of Jewish and Polish memories of the Holocaust is the central issue in contemporary Polish–Jewish relations, this is the first attempt to examine these divisive memories in a comprehensive way. Until 1989, Polish consciousness of the Second World War subsumed the destruction of Polish Jewry within a communist narrative of Polish martyrdom and heroism. Post-war Jewish memory, by contrast, has been concerned mostly with Jewish martyrdom and heroism (and barely acknowledged the plight of Poles under German occupation). Since the 1980s, however, a significant number of Jews and Poles have sought to identify a common ground and have met with partial but increasing success, notwithstanding the new debates that have emerged in recent years concerning Polish behaviour during the Nazi genocide of the Jews that Poles had ignored for half a century. This volume considers these contentious issues from different angles. Among the topics covered are Jewish memorial projects, both in Poland and beyond its borders, the Polish approach to Holocaust memory under communist rule, and post-communist efforts both to retrieve the Jewish dimension to Polish wartime memory and to reckon with the dark side of the Polish national past. An interview with acclaimed author Henryk Grynberg touches on many of these issues from the personal perspective of one who as a child survived the Holocaust hidden in the Polish countryside, as do the three poems by Grynberg reproduced here. The ‘New Views’ section features innovative research in other areas of Polish–Jewish studies. A special section is devoted to research concerning the New Synagogue in Poznan, built in 1907, which is still standing only because the Nazis turned it into a swimming-pool. CONTRIBUTORS: Natalia Aleksiun, Assistant Professor in Eastern European Jewish History, Touo College, New York; Jolanta Ambrosewicz-Jacobs, Head, Section for Holocaust Studies, Centre for European Studies, Jagiellonian University, Kraków; curator, International Centre for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust, Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum; Boaz Cohen, teacher in Jewish and Holocaust Studies, Shaanan and Western Galilee Colleges, northern Israel; Judith R. Cohen, Director of the Photographic Reference Collection, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington DC; Gabriel N. Finder, Associate Professor, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, University of Virginia; Rebecca Golbert, researcher; Regina Grol, Professor of Comparative Literature, Empire State College, State University of New York; Jonathan Huener, Associate Professor of History, University of Vermont; Carol Herselle Krinsky, Professor of Fine Arts, New York University; Marta Kurkowska, Lecturer, Institute of History, Jagiellonian, University, Kraków; Joanna B. Michlic, Assistant Professor, Holocaust and Genocide Program, Richard Stockton College, Pomona, New Jersey; Eva Plach, Assistant Professor of History, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Canada; Antony Polonsky, Albert Abramson Professor of Holocaust Studies, Brandeis University and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington DC; Alexander V. Prusin, Associate Professor of History, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Socorro; Jan Schwarz, Senior Lecturer, Department of Germanic Studies, University of Chicago; Maxim D. Shrayer, Professor of Russian and English, Chair of the Department of Slavic and Eastern Languages, Co-Director, Jewish Studies Program, Boston College; Michael C. Steinlauf, Professor of Jewish History and Culture, Gratz College, Pennsylvania; Robert Szuchta, History teacher, Stanislaw I. Witkiewicz High School, Warsaw; Joanna Tokarska-Bakir, Lecturer in Cultural Anthroplogy, Warsaw University; Chair, Department of Cultural Anthropology, Collegium Civitas, Poland; Scott Ury, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Department of Jewish History, Tel Aviv University; Bret Werb, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington DC; Seth L. Wolitz, Gale Chair of Jewish Studies and Professor of Comparative Literature, University of Texas at Austin.Table of ContentsNote on Place Names Note on Transliteration PART I: MAKING HOLOCAUST MEMORY Introduction GABRIEL N. FINDER Memento Mori: Photographs from the Grave GABRIEL N. FINDER AND JUDITH R. COHEN The Central Jewish Historical Commission in Poland, 1944–1947 NATALIA ALEKSIUN Who Am I? Jewish Children’s Search for Identity in Post-War Poland, 1945–1949 JOANNA B. MICHLIC Jewish Collaborators on Trial in Poland, 1944–1956 GABRIEL N. FINDER AND ALEXANDER V. PRUSIN Auschwitz and the Politics of Martyrdom and Memory, 1945–1947 JONATHAN HUENER A Library of Hope and Destruction: The Yiddish Book Series Dos poylishe yidntum (Polish Jewry), 1946–1956 JAN SCHWARZ Rachel Auerbach, Yad Vashem, and Israeli Holocaust Memory BOAZ COHEN Holocaust Memorialization in Ukraine REBECCA GOLBERT Jedwabne and Wizna: Monuments and Memory in the Lomza Region MARTA KURKOWSKA So Many Questions: The Development of Holocaust Education in Post-Communist Poland JOLANTA AMBROSEWICZ-JACOBS From Silence to Reconstruction: The Holocaust in Polish Education since 1989 ROBERT SZUCHTA What Story to Tell? Shaping the Narrative of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews MICHAEL C. STEINLAUF Bearing Witness: Henryk Grynberg’s Path from Child Survivor to Artist (An Interview with Henryk Grynberg) JOANNA B. MICHLIC PART II: NEW VIEWS ‘On the Gallows’: The ‘Politics of Assimilation’ in Turn-of-the-Century Warsaw SCOTT URY Shabes, yontef un rosh-khoydesh: A Close Analysis of the First Line of Goldfadn’s Song SETH L. WOLITZ Józefa Singer, the Inspiration for Rachela in Stanislaw Wyspianski’s Wesele, 1901 REGINA GROL Introducing Miss Judaea 1929: The Politics of Beauty, Race, and Zionism in Inter-War Poland EVA PLACH Shmerke Kaczerginski, the Partisan-Troubadour BRET WERB You from Jedwabne JOANNA TOKARSKA-BAKIR PART III: THE NEW SYNAGOGUE OF POZNAN The Synagogues of Poznan CAROL HERSELLE KRINSKY The Dedication of the New Synagogue in Poznan (Posen) ANTONY POLONSKY PART IV: DOCUMENT A Selection from Part 1 of Lev Levanda’s Seething Times MAXIM R. SHRAYER Notes on Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisThe fallout from the Iraq War in 2003 has been widespread. The US finds itself under siege in Iraq; the Iraqi State is ruled by chaos, corruption and terrorism; and the hunt for weapons of mass destruction has been relentlessly debated in the media. Through the prism of the three major conflicts during Saddam's reign: The Iran-Iraq War, the Gulf War (1991) and the climax to Middle East tensions, the War on Iraq (2003); Raphael Israeli exposes the tyranny, deception and terror synonymous with the Ba'ath regime. Focusing on Iraq's demographic populations -- the Shi'ites in the south, the Kurdish north, and the Sunni ruling minority -- the author documents the difficulties America faces internally as rulers of an occupied land, and internationally as a perceived unilateralist aggressor. The Impact of the Iraq War contains revealing insights into Saddam's nuclear, chemical and biological programs, his sponsorship of terrorist groups, and his collaboration with other countries, including Syria and France. Testimonies of scientists, along with Israeli's intelligent analysis, expose the true scale of WMD proliferation in Ba'athist Iraq. The term Babylonian intrigue' is used to describe the confusion, chaos and misinterpretation of language that has taken hold in the aftermath of the war. The author provides a penetrating analysis of the social, political, economic, and strategic ruptures the Iraq War has caused in inter-Arab relations and the Islamic world. The book concludes with an evaluation of who won and who gained from this war, and what the future holds for Iraqis, Muslims, and the West.Trade Review"A remarkable, informative analysis of the dynamics of ethnic, tribal, and religious politics in Iraq. Israeli proceeds by providing a history of Iraq under Saddam Husseins brutal regime and the regimes linkage to and support of terrorism. Successive chapters focus on the Shiite, Kurdish, and Sunni communities. There is an important emphasis on Baghdad because of its strategic geographical position and the fact that a fourth of Iraqs population lives there. Other chapters are devoted to Arab and Muslim fears; and Iraq, America, and the new Middle East. These essays are helpful to understand the anxieties and misconceptions about the West pervasive in the Arab world. Recommended." -- Choice.Table of ContentsContents: Iraq under Saddam; Iraqi and Coalition War Strategies; Shi'ites in the South; Kurds in the North; Baghdad in the Centre; The Hidden Agenda: Oil, Terror and WMD; Ruling from Horseback; Arab and Muslim Fears: Images, Loyalties, Wishes, Delusions; Iraq, America and the New Middle East; Notes; Index.

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Book SynopsisThe fallout from the Iraq War in 2003 has been widespread. The US finds itself under siege in Iraq; the Iraqi State is ruled by chaos, corruption and terrorism; and the hunt for weapons of mass destruction has been relentlessly debated in the media. Through the prism of the three major conflicts during Saddam's reign: The Iran-Iraq War, the Gulf War (1991) and the climax to Middle East tensions, the War on Iraq (2003); Raphael Israeli exposes the tyranny, deception and terror synonymous with the Ba'ath regime. Focusing on Iraq's demographic populations -- the Shi'ites in the south, the Kurdish north, and the Sunni ruling minority -- the author documents the difficulties America faces internally as rulers of an occupied land, and internationally as a perceived unilateralist aggressor. The Impact of the Iraq War contains revealing insights into Saddam's nuclear, chemical and biological programs, his sponsorship of terrorist groups, and his collaboration with other countries, including Syria and France. Testimonies of scientists, along with Israeli's intelligent analysis, expose the true scale of WMD proliferation in Ba'athist Iraq. The term Babylonian intrigue' is used to describe the confusion, chaos and misinterpretation of language that has taken hold in the aftermath of the war. The author provides a penetrating analysis of the social, political, economic, and strategic ruptures the Iraq War has caused in inter-Arab relations and the Islamic world. The book concludes with an evaluation of who won and who gained from this war, and what the future holds for Iraqis, Muslims, and the West.Trade Review"A remarkable, informative analysis of the dynamics of ethnic, tribal, and religious politics in Iraq. Israeli proceeds by providing a history of Iraq under Saddam Husseins brutal regime and the regimes linkage to and support of terrorism. Successive chapters focus on the Shiite, Kurdish, and Sunni communities. There is an important emphasis on Baghdad because of its strategic geographical position and the fact that a fourth of Iraqs population lives there. Other chapters are devoted to Arab and Muslim fears; and Iraq, America, and the new Middle East. These essays are helpful to understand the anxieties and misconceptions about the West pervasive in the Arab world. Recommended." -- Choice.Table of ContentsContents: Iraq under Saddam; Iraqi and Coalition War Strategies; Shi'ites in the South; Kurds in the North; Baghdad in the Centre; The Hidden Agenda: Oil, Terror and WMD; Ruling from Horseback; Arab and Muslim Fears: Images, Loyalties, Wishes, Delusions; Iraq, America and the New Middle East; Notes; Index.

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Book SynopsisThis book explains the rejection by Smith and Adams of 'normal' Christian replacement theology and sets out the apologetics by which Smith and Adams promoted courage and conviction in all who joined them in encouraging the gathering of the Jewish exiles to Jerusalem. Joseph Smith Jr, founder of the Mormon movement and George J Adams, one of his least known followers -- two Gentile dreamers of Zion -- were instrumental in encouraging Jews and Christians to support the restoration of Israel.

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Book SynopsisThe Expulsion of the Jews from Spain is a detailed study of the events surrounding this infamous chapter in Spanish history. Based on hundreds of documents discovered, deciphered, and analyzed during decades of intensive archival research, this work focuses on the practical consequences of the expulsion both for those expelled and those remaining behind. It responds to basic questions such as: What became of property owned by Jewish individuals and communities? What became of outstanding debts between Jews and Christians? How was the edict of expulsion implemented? Who was in charge? How did they operate? What happened to those who converted to Christianity in order to remain in Spain or return to that country? The material summarized and analyzed in this study also sheds light on Jewish life in Spain preceding the expulsion. For example, Jews are shown to have been present in remote villages where they were not hitherto known to have lived, and documents detailing lawsuits between Christians related to debts left behind by Jews reveal much about business and financial relations between Jews and Christians. By focusing on the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in such detail - for example, by naming the magistrates who presided over the confiscation of Jewish communal property - Professor Beinart takes history out of the realm of abstraction and gives it concrete reality.Trade Review‘Magisterial . . . provides insights, descriptions, and interpretations built on an impregnable base of scholarship . . This sine qua non for any study and understanding of the vents leading up to 1492 deserves an honoured place in all serious libraries.’ Stephen D. Benin, Choice‘Haim Beinart justifiably has been hailed as the foremost historian of medieval Sepharad . . . the data uncovered [here] will remain a source for many future generations of historians of the Jews of medieval Iberia. For that alone, we are indebted to this monumental contribution.’ Benjamin R. Gampel, AJS Review‘The most comprehensive study of the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492. It summarizes and synthesizes the author’s decades-long work in Spanish archives . . . indispensable for the study of Spanish Jewry and is a valuable addition to any university library.’ Morris M. Faierstein, Religious Studies Review‘An in-depth analysis of one of the most dramatic events in the history of the Jews . . . an extremely useful repository of detailed information that can be found nowhere else in English.’ Yvonne Petry, Renaissance StudiesReview for the Hebrew Edition of the book:‘The importance of this new book lies in its methodical and detailed portrayal of the expulsion from Spain in 1492 in all its aspects—political, social, economic, legal, and also human. It presents wide-ranging descriptions of the problems and the dilemmas facing families and individuals in both large and small communities . . . and of how events actually unfolded, day by day and hour by hour. The thoroughness of the presentation, documented in every detail, is the product of decades of methodical and comprehensive historiographic research covering all the areas in which Jews lived in the entire period over which the expulsion took place . . . Beinart's historiographic reconstruction gives the contemporary reader a palpable understanding of what actually happened.’ Ben-Ami Feingold, Yediot AharonotTable of ContentsList of tablesList of illustrationsAbbreviations1 Introduction: Ferdinand and Isabella, King and Queen of SpainThe Situation of Spanish Jewry Forced Segregation The Inquisition Financing the Reconquista Propaganda against Jews and Conversos The Fall of Granada2 The Edict of ExpulsionPromulgation Analysis of the Structure Drafting The Views of the Catholics Monarchs Text and Translation of the Edict of Expulsion3 The Fate of Jewish Communal PropertyLand and Buildings Loans Synagogues, Houses of Study, and Ritual Baths Abattoirs and Baking Ovens Cemeteries4 Jewish–Christian Credit and its LiquidationThe Kingdom of Castile: Attempts to Settle Accounts before Departure Public Debts to Jews Private Debts of Christians to Jews Collection of Christians’ Debts to Jews after the Expulsion Debts of Jews to Christians and the Payment of these Debts The Kingdom of Aragon5 Implementation of the Edict of ExpulsionThe Road to Implementation Organizing the Departure: The Role of the Genoese Implementation of the edict in the Kingdom of Aragon: Departure by Land; Departure by Sea Implementation of the Edict in the Kingdom of Castile: Conversion instead of Exile or Prison; Tribulations of Departure; Exploitation on the Border: Ciudad Rodrigo; The Passage from Castile into Portugal; Departure by Sea Implementation of the Edict in Sardinia and Sicily Navarre: Asylum and Expulsion The Number of Jews Expelled6 Smuggling7 Return and ConversionReturn and Conversion among Jews of Castile Return and Conversion among Jews of Aragon8 The Senior DynastyThe Origins of the Family and its First Steps in Government The Case of Juan de Talavera Abraham Senior’s Public Service before Conversion Abraham Senior’s Property Abraham Senior as Tax-Farmer and Tax-Collector Abraham Senior as Chairman of the Hermandad Expulsion and Conversion Fernán Núñez Coronel's General Financial Activity Rabbi Meir Melamed and his Sons Solomon Senior, the Sons of Abraham Senior, and Other Family Members10 The House of Abravanel, 1483–149211 Contemporaries Describe the ExpulsionAppendix: Other Activities of Some Royal OfficialsBibliographyIndex of PeopleIndex of PlacesGeneral Index

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Book SynopsisSephardi identity has meant different things at different times, but has always entailed a connection with Spain, from which the Jews were expelled in 1492. While Sephardi Jews have lived in numerous cities and towns throughout history, certain cities had a greater impact in the shaping of their culture. This book focuses on those that may be considered most important, from Cordoba in the tenth century to Toledo, Venice, Safed, Istanbul, Salonica, and Amsterdam at the dawn of the seventeenth century. Each served as a venue in which a particular dimension of Sephardi Jewry either took shape or was expressed in especially intense form. Significantly, these cities were mostly heterogeneous in their population and culture—half of them under Christian rule and half under Muslim rule—and this too shaped the Sephardi world-view and attitude. While Sephardim cultivated a distinct identity, they felt at home in the cultures of their adopted lands. Drawing upon a variety of both primary and secondary sources, Jane Gerber demonstrates that Sephardi history and culture have always been multifaceted. Her interdisciplinary approach captures the many contexts in which the life of the Jews from Iberia unfolded, without either romanticizing the past or diluting its reality.Trade ReviewReviews'Highly readable and enlightening... Gerber paints an illuminating picture of a vivid Jewish sub-culture always in contact with the non-Jewish, Christian and Muslim, surroundings... Cities of Splendour will be of great value for many scholars and students of Sephardic and Jewish history.'Carsten Schapkow, Sephardic Horizons'This book is a gem. It is an appetizer, the main course, and the dessert, depending on the reader’s choice and level of knowledge. There are sufficient footnotes supporting the facts to allow the serious researcher to go beyond the text... There is something delicious here for all our readers, and the book will leave you well informed and satisfied.'Claudia Hagadus Long, Ha Lapid‘Cities of Splendour weaves a wonderfully rich tapestry of Sephardic history, and offers, like Gerber’s earlier Jews of Spain, an accessibly written resource for teaching on a diaspora, whose self-fashioning in relation to Spain, and to its various diasporic contexts, was an ever-evolving process.’ Matthias B. Lehmann, Medieval Encounters"This is a refreshing, encompassing, and fascinating study, penned by an experienced and knowledgeable researcher, and supported by a rich bibliography. It offers a new look and an original interpretation of the story of Sephardi Jewry from the medieval period to the eighteenth century. Moreover, the author’s flowing prose and the book’s careful editing make it a suitable choice for skilled researchers, as well as for students seeking to study the chapters of a long and painful history, but one that is also full of the glory and splendor of one of the most prominent diasporas of the Jewish people." Nimrod Gaatone, Journal of Modern History‘This is a refreshing, encompassing, and fascinating study, penned by an experienced and knowledgeable researcher, and supported by a rich bibliography. It offers a new look and an original interpretation of the story of Sephardi Jewry from the medieval period to the eighteenth century. Moreover, the author’s flowing prose and the book’s careful editing make it a suitable choice for skilled researchers, as well as for students seeking to study the chapters of a long and painful history, but one that is also full of the glory and splendor of one of the most prominent diasporas of the Jewish people.’ Nimrod Gaatone, Journal of Modern HistoryTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. Poetry and Politics in the Medieval Caliphate of Cordoba, 950–1150 2. Crossing the Borders of Art and Society: Toledo as a Meeting Place of Cultures, 1150–1350 3. The Search for Redemption in Safed, 1500–1600 4. The Jews of Venice between Toleration and Expulsion, 1516–1648 5. Reconstructing Sepharad in Istanbul and Salonica, 1492–1600 6. Portuguese Jews in the City of Amsterdam `The Praiseworthy’: The Formation of the Western Sephardi Diaspora, 1600–1700 Conclusions Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisRelations between Jews and their neighbours in eastern Europe have long been perceived, both in the popular mind and in conventional scholarship, as being in a permanent state of conflict. This volume counters that image by exploring long-neglected aspects of inter-group interaction and exchange. In so doing it broadens our understanding of Jewish history and culture, as well as that of eastern Europe. Whereas traditional historiography concentrates on the differences between Jews and non-Jews, the essays here focus on commonalities: the social, political, and economic worlds that members of different groups often shared. Shifting the emphasis in this way allows quite a different picture to emerge. Jews may have been subject to the whims of ruling powers and influenced by broader cultural and political developments, but at the same time they exerted a discernible influence on them - the social, cultural, and political spheres were ones that they not only shared, but that they also helped to create. This model of reciprocal influence and exchange has much to offer to the study of inter-group relations in eastern Europe and beyond. Designed to move the study of east European Jewry beyond the intellectual and academic discourse of difference that has long troubled scholars, this volume contributes to our perception of how members of different groups operate and interact on a multitude of different levels. The various contributions represent a wide cross-section of opinions and approaches - historical, literary, and cultural. Taken together they move our understanding of east European Jewry from the realm of the mythical to a more rational mode. In addition to essays considering interactions between Jews and Poles, other contributions examine relations between Jews and other ethnic groups (Lithuanians, Russians), discuss negotiations with various governments (Habsburg, Lithuanian, Polish, Russian, and Soviet), analyse exchanges between Jews and different cultural realms (German, Polish, and Russian), and explore how the politics of memory affects contemporary interpretations of these and related phenomena. CONTRIBUTORS Karen Auerbach, Israel Bartal, Ela Bauer, Jan Blonski, Marek Edelman, Michael Fleming, Dorota Glowacka, Regina Grol, Francois Guesnet, Brian Horowitz, Agnieszka Jagodinska, Jeff Kopstein, Sergei Kravtsov, Rachel Manekin, Czeslaw Milosz, Karin Neuberger, Przemyslaw Rozanski, Kai Struve, Joanna Tokarska-Bakir, Jerzy Turowicz, Scott Ury, Kalman Weiser, Jason Wittenberg, Marcin Wodzinski, Piotr WrobelTable of ContentsNote on Place Names Note on Transliteration PART I: JEWS AND THEIR NEIGHBOURS IN EASTERN EUROPE SINCE 1750 Between Jews and their Neighbours: Isolation, Confrontation, and Influence in Eastern Europe ISRAEL BARTAL & SCOTT URY Reform and Exclusion: Conceptions of the Reform of the Jewish Community during the Declining Years of the Polish Enlightenment MARCIN WODZINSKI Praying at Home: The Minyan Laws of the Habsburg Empire RACHEL MANEKIN Overcoming the Signs of the 'Other': Visual Aspects of the Acculturation of Jews in the Kingdom of Poland in the Nineteenth Century AGNIESZKA JAGODZINSKA The Ideological Roots of the Polish Jewish Intelligentsia ELA BAUER Between Permeability and Isolation: Ezriel Natan Frenk as Historian of the Jews in Poland FRANCOIS GUESNET S. A. An-sky - Dialogic Writer BRIAN HOROWITZ Between Judaism and the West: The Making of a Modern Jewish Poet in Uri Zvi Greenberg's 'Memoirs (from the Book of Wanderings)' KARIN NEUBURGER Between State Loyalty and National Identity: Electoral Behaviour in Interwar Poland JEFFREY S. KOPSTEIN & JASON WITTENBERG Failed Integration: Jews and the Beginning of the Communist Movement in Poland PIOTR WROBEL The Jewel in the Yiddish Crown: Who Will Occupy the Chair for Yiddish at the University of Vilnius? KALMAN WEISER Rites of Violence? The Pogroms of Summer 1941 KAI STRUVE Nusekh Poyln? Communism, Publishing, and Paths to Polishness among the Jewish Parents of 16 Ujazdowskie Avenue KAREN AUERBACH Changing Images of 'the Jews' in Polish Literature and Culture, 1980-2000 DOROTA GLOWACKA PART II: NEW VIEWS Ogee Arcades in Synagogue Architecture of Volhynia and Podolia in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries SERGEI R. KRAVTSOV The Attitude of American Jews and American Diplomacy towards the Bill Banning Shehitah in Poland in the Second Half of the 1930s PRZEMYSLAW ROZANSKI Imagining Polish Jews: British Perspectives in the Period 1944-1946 MICHAEL FLEMING 'The Hanging of Judas'; or, Contemporary Jewish Subjects JOANNA TOKARSKA-BAKIR 1968; or, America! America! REGINA GROL 'Campo di Fiori' Fifty Years Later: The People Who Remain A discussion that took place on the fiftieth anniversary of the uprising in the Warsaw ghetto, between JAN BLONSKI, MAREK EDELMAN, CZESLAW MILOSZ, and JERZY TUROWICZ Obituaries Chimen Abramsky Marek Edelman Glossary Notes on the Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisThe historical consciousness of medieval Jewry has engendered lively debate in the scholarly world. The focus in this book is on the historical consciousness of the Jews of Spain and southern France in the late Middle Ages, and specifically on their perceptions of Christianity and Christian history and culture. In his detailed analysis of Jews’ understanding of the history of the communities they lived among, Ram Ben-Shalom shows that in these southern European lands Jews experienced a relatively open society that was sensitive to and knowledgeable about voices from other cultures, and that this had significant consequences for shaping Jewish historical consciousness. Among the topics that receive special attention are what Jews knew of the significance of Rome, of Jesus and the early days of Christianity, of Church history, and of the history of the Iberian monarchies. Ben-Shalom demonstrates that, despite the negative stereotypes of Jewry prevalent in Christian literature and increasing familiarity with that literature, they were more influenced by their interactions with Christian society at the local level. Consequently there was no single stereotype that dominated Jewish thought, and frequently little awareness of the two societies as representing distinct cultures. This book contributes to medieval Jewish intellectual history on many levels, demonstrating that, in Spain and southern France, Jews of the later Middle Ages evinced a genuine interest in history, including the history of non-Jews, and that in some cases they were deeply familiar with Christian and sometimes also classical historiography. In providing a comprehensive survey of the multiple contexts in which historiographical material was embedded and the many uses to which it was put, it enriches our understanding of medieval historiography, polemic, Jewish-Christian relations, and the breadth of interests characterizing Provencal and Spanish Jewish communities.Table of ContentsNote on TransliterationIntroduction1 Genres and Motives2 Rome: Images and Influence3 Jesus and the Origins of Christianity4 History of the Church5 History of the Iberian MonarchiesConclusionBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisThis volume of Polin, based on scholarship that has emerged since the fall of communism, is a wide-ranging contribution to the complex history of the Jews in Lithuania. Focusing on the specific character of Lithuanian Jewry, the volume opens by examining how their relationship with the surrounding society developed after 1772, both under tsarist rule and then in independent Lithuania. Moving to more recent times, the devastating impact on the Jewish community of the Soviet and Nazi occupations during the Second World War is discussed, as are the further negative consequences on Jewish life of the reoccupation of the country by the Soviets between 1944 and 1990. The volume concludes with material on the slow revival of Jewish life since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the re-emergence of an independent Lithuania, which was accompanied by the revival of many disciplines, such as the study of Jewish history, repressed by Soviet censorship. This revived interest in the country's Jewish past is now playing a key role in the broader transformation of historical memory of the post-Soviet era and the problem of coming to terms with the widespread local collaboration in Lithuania during the Holocaust - a process which has led to important scholarly advances but also to bitter controversy. Collectively, the studies in this volume contribute to a better understanding of the complex history of the Jews in Lithuania and of Lithuanian - Jewish relations and constitute a part of the necessary process of creating a more rounded and inclusive history of the country. CONTRIBUTORS Aelita Ambruleviciute, Marta Aleksandra Balinska, Egle Bendikaite, Michael Casper, Ellen Cassedy, Immanuel Etkes, David E. Fishman, Jack Jacobs, Grigory Kanovich, Saulius Suziedelis, Andrey Krotau, Larisa Lempertiene, Aearunas Liekis, Miriam Offer, Avi Ohry, Karin Ohry-Kossoy, Ausra Pazeraite, Antony Polonsky, Anna P. Ronell, Vladas Sirutavicius, Darius Staliunas, Saulius SuA iedelis, Vytautas Toleikis, Anna Verschik, Theodore R. Weeks, Mordechai Zalkin.Table of ContentsNote on Place Names Note on Transliteration PART I: JEWS IN THE FORMER GRAND DUCHY OF LITHUANIA SINCE 1772 Introduction ŠARŪNAS LIEKIS AND ANTONY POLONSKY Lithuanian Jewry and the Concept of ‘East European Jewry’ MORDECHAI ZALKIN Economic Relations between Jewish Traders and Christian Farmers in the Nineteenth-Century Lithuanian Provinces AELITA AMBRULEVIČIŪTĖ The War of Lyady Succession: R. Aaron Halevi versus R. Dov Baer IMMANUEL ETKES Lithuanian Antisemitism in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries DARIUS STALIŪNAS ‘I Have Chosen the Belarusian Word . . .’: On the Life and Creative Career of Zmitrok Byadulya ANDREY KROTAU Authentic and National: Some Lithuanian–Jewish Correlations in the Search for ‘Folk Culture’ in the First Half of the Twentieth Century LARISA LEMPERTIENĖ Jewish Prayer Halls and Synagogues in Vilna, 1914–1920 AUŠRA PAŽĖRAITĖ Walking a Thin Line: The Successes and Failures of Socialist Zionism in Lithuania EGLĖ BENDIKAITĖ Jewish Converts in Independent Lithuania, 1918–1940: An Attempt at a Case Analysis SAULIUS KAUBRYS ‘A Close, but Very Suspicious and Dangerous Neighbour’: Outbreaks of Antisemitism in Inter-War Lithuania VLADAS SIRUTAVIČIUS The Bund in Vilna, 1918–1939 JACK JACOBS The Lithuanian-Language Jewish Periodicals Mūsų garsas (1924–1925) and Apžvalga (1935–1940): A Sociolinguistic Evolution ANNA VERSCHIK ‘Listen, the Jews are Ruling Us Now’: Antisemitism and National Conflict during the First Soviet Occupation of Lithuania, 1940–1941 SAULIUS SUŽIEDĖLIS Soviet Resistance and Jewish Partisans in Lithuania ŠARŪNAS LIEKIS The Vilnius and Kaunas Ghettos and the Fate of Lithuanian Jewry, 1941–1945 THEODORE R. WEEKS ‘To Transform Ourselves’: Lithuania Looks at the Holocaust ELLEN CASSEDY The Problem of Jewish National Symbols in Vilnius DAVID E. FISHMAN Some Remarks on the History of the New Lithuanian Jewish Community: The Road Travelled in Establishing a Litvak Identity VYTAUTAS TOLEIKIS The Recent Works of Grigory Kanovich ANNA P. RONELL The Dream of a Vanished Jerusalem GRIGORY KANOVICH REVIEWS Aušra Paulauskienė, Lost and Found: The Discovery of Lithuania in American Fiction MICHAEL CASPER Tomas Venclova, Vilnius: A Personal History MICHAEL CASPER PART II JEWS IN POLISH MEDICINE Dr Gershon Lewin (1868–1940): Pioneer of Public Health and Promoter of Jewish Culture in Poland KARIN OHRY-KOSSOY AND AVI OHRY Dedicated Physicians in the Face of Adversity: The Association of Jewish Physicians (ZLRP) and the Jewish Health Organization (TOZ) in Poland, 1921–1942 KARIN OHRY-KOSSOY AND AVI OHRY The Medical School in the Warsaw Ghetto, 1941–1942 MARTA ALEKSANDRA BALINSKA Ethical Dilemmas in the Work of Doctors and Nurses in the Warsaw Ghetto MIRIAM OFFER Notes on the Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisIn this second volume of his essays on the history of halakhah, Haym Soloveitchik grapples with much-disputed topics in medieval Jewish history and takes issue with a number of reigning views. His insistence that proper understanding requires substantive, in-depth analysis of the sources leads him to a searching analysis of oft-cited halakhic texts of Ashkenaz, frequently with conclusions that differ from the current consensus. Medieval Jewish historians cannot, he argues, avoid engaging in detailed textual criticism, and texts must always be interpreted in the context of the legal culture of their time. Historians who shirk these tasks risk reinforcing a version that supports their own preconceptions, and retrojecting later notions on to an earlier age. These basic methodological points underlie every topic discussed. In Part I, devoted to the cultural origins of Ashkenaz and its lasting impact, Professor Soloveitchik questions the scholarly consensus that the roots of Ashkenaz lie deep in Palestinian soil. He challenges the widespread notion that it was immemorial custom (minhag kadmon) that primarily governed Early Ashkenaz, the culture that emerged in the Rhineland in the late tenth century and which was ended by the ravages of the First Crusade (1096). He similarly rejects the theory that it was only towards the middle of the eleventh century that the Babylonian Talmud came to be regarded as fully authoritative. On the basis of an in-depth analysis of the literature of the time, he shows that the scholars of Early Ashkenaz displayed an astonishing command of the complex corpus of the Babylonian Talmud and viewed it at all times as the touchstone of the permissible and the forbidden. The section concludes with his own radical proposal as to the source of Ashkenazi culture and the stamp it left upon the Jews of northern Europe for close to a millennium. The second part of the volume treats the issue of martyrdom as perceived and practised by Jews under Islam and Christianity. In one of the longer essays, Soloveitchik claims that Maimonides’ problematic Iggeret ha-Shemad is a work of rhetoric, not halakhah—a conclusion that has generated much criticism from other scholars, to whom he replies one by one. This is followed by a comprehensive study of kiddush ha-shem in Ashkenaz, which draws him into an analysis of whether aggadic sources were used by the Tosafists in halakhic arguments, as some historians claim; whether there was any halakhic validation of the widespread phenomenon of voluntary martyrdom; and, indeed, whether halakhic considerations played any part in such tragic life-and-death issues. The book concludes with two essays on Mishneh torah which argue that that famed code must also be viewed as a work of art which sustains, as masterpieces do, multiple conflicting interpretations.Trade ReviewReviews ‘Reading Soloveitchik is always a delight as his careful writing, perceptive insights, and vast scholarship and erudition can be found on every page.’ David Tesler, Association of Jewish Libraries Reviews‘A very important work, especially since nine of the essays have never before appeared in print . . . There is so much learning in this book, and it is written in such an engaging style, that anyone with an appreciation for the history of halakhah will be spellbound.’ Marc B. Shapiro, Seforim blogTable of ContentsPart I. Re-evaluation of Eleventh-Century AshkenazIntroduction1. Agobard of Lyons, Megillat Aḥima’ats, and the Babylonian Orientation of Early Ashkenaz2. Dialectics, Scholasticism, and the Origin of the Tosafot3. Minhag Ashkenaz ha-Kadmon: An Assessment4. The Authority of the Babylonian Talmud and the Use of Biblical Verses and Aggadah in Early Ashkenaz5. On the Use of Aggadah by the Tosafists: A Response to I. M. Ta-Shma6. Characterizing Medieval Talmudists: A Case Study7. Communications and the Palestinian Origins of Ashkenaz8. The Palestinian Orientation of the Ashkenazic Community and Some Suggested Ground Rules for the Writing of Halakhic History9. The ‘Third Yeshivah of Bavel’ and the Cultural Origins of Ashkenaz—A ProposalA Response to David BergerPart II. Martyrdom Under Cross and CrescentIntroduction10. Between Cross and Crescent11. Halakhah, Hermeneutics, and Martyrdom in Ashkenaz12. Maimonides’ Iggeret ha-Shemad: Law and Rhetoric13. Responses to Critiques of ‘Maimonides’ Iggeret ha-Shemad: Law and Rhetoric’ Part III. Mishneh Torah14. Classification of Mishneh Torah: Problems Real and Imaginary15. Mishneh Torah: Polemic and ArtBibliography of ManuscriptsIndexes

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Book SynopsisIn his three-volume history, Antony Polonsky provides a comprehensive survey—socio-political, economic, and religious—of the Jewish communities of eastern Europe from 1350 to the present. Until the Second World War, this was the heartland of the Jewish world: nearly three and a half million Jews lived in Poland alone, while nearly three million more lived in the Soviet Union. Although the majority of the Jews of Europe and the United States, and many of the Jews of Israel, originate from these lands, their history there is not well known. Rather, it is the subject of mythologizing and stereotypes that fail both to bring out the specific features of the Jewish civilization which emerged there and to illustrate what was lost. Jewish life, though often poor materially, was marked by a high degree of spiritual and ideological intensity and creativity. Antony Polonsky recreates this lost world—brutally cut down by the Holocaust and less brutally but still seriously damaged by the Soviet attempt to destroy Jewish culture. Wherever possible, the unfolding of history is illustrated by contemporary Jewish writings to show how Jews felt and reacted to the complex and difficult situations in which they found themselves. This second volume covers the period from 1881 to 1914. It considers the deterioration of the position of the Jews during that period and the new political and cultural movements that developed as a consequence: Zionism, socialism, autonomism, the emergence of modern Hebrew and Yiddish literature, Jewish urbanization, and the rise of popular Jewish culture. Galicia, Prussian Poland, the Kingdom of Poland, and the Tsarist Empire are all treated individually, as are the main towns of these areas. Volume 1 covers the period 1350–1881; Volume 3 covers 1914–2008.Trade Review'A truly landmark study of east European Jewish history for the mid-fourteenth century to the outbreak of World War I. This work is an invaluable synthetic exposition of Jewish civilization in Poland and Russia that pays close attention to the larger historical context in which Jewish history unfolded in these areas. While exhaustive in presenting historical detail and utilizing available sources and data of all types, Polonsky is also masterful in conveying the texture of Jewish life in different regions during each period. His study weaves together numerous aspects of that life—among others, the relationship of Jewish communities to the states in the region and their governance mechanisms; Jewish religious and political movements; the evolving role of the synagogue in communities; the wide variety of Jewish organizations over time and space; cultural changes, including the development of the mass press, modern literature, and theatre; the experiences of Jewish women; and descriptions of the towns and cities in which Jewish history played out. The contribution of Polonsky's study, however, is not only an impressive synthesis of a vast topic and vast amount of information. In integrating all of this material, the author also deftly crafts his own interpretations of trends in the area and the timing of shifts in them. His marshalling of evidence and his own insights add up to a compelling set of arguments about the course of Jewish history. Polonsky addresses Jewish, Polish, and Russian historical developments all with great nuance, and that depth of understanding allows him to present the complexities of these intertwined histories with a subtlety rarely achieved in projects of such ambitious temporal and spatial scope. This study will become a “go to” reference for scholars of east European Jewish history for a long time to come.'From the citation for the 2011 Kulczycki Book Prize for Polish Studies, awarded to Volumes I and II 'This second volume of Polonsky's well-reseached, eloquently written study provides a finely distinct portrait of Jewish life in eastern Europe in the years leading up to the Great War . . . Highly recommended.'- R. K. Byczkiewicz, Choice'Succeeds admirably. Simply put, these volumes are required reading for anyone with a serious interest in East European history or for anyone looking for a scholarly assessment of a particular feature of Polish or Russian Jewish history. Handsomely produced, with extensive maps and tables, and a glossary . . . will remain a standard work in the field for some time . . . a body of work that, in summarizing the current state of our knowledge, effectively sets the agenda for future scholars. Polonsky is perhaps the scholar most responsible for the growth of Polish Jewish studies in the late twentieth century . . Very few historians could write a series of volumes like this . . . [he] has armed scholars with a formidable tool that will help them dispel stereotypes . . . Just as these volumes are destined to become the starting point for the work of many students, they will be the touchstone for scholars working in the field at all levels.'- Sean Martin, European History Quarterly 'Combines a masterful grasp of Jewish history with that of eastern Europe. While underlining the unique features and achievements of the Jewish communal experience he authoritatively integrates them into the history of the countries in which Jews lived . . . Incorporating current, ground-breaking scholarship from North America, Israel, and Europe these beautifully narrated volumes should not only be seen as a staple of university courses, but also as a must-read for anyone attempting to understand any aspect of modern Jewish history and religious tradition, wherever it may be playing out . . . With this extremely important book, Antony Polonsky not only writes history but, following the example of his illustrious predecessors, makes it.'- Katarzyna Person, European Judaism'The first two volumes of Antony Polonsky's magisterial The Jews in Poland and Russia trilogy provide a much-needed addition to the landscape of Jewish historical studies . . . [a] significant achievement in presenting the most modern findings in a clear, readable, comprehensive survey . . . his narrative is grand and his analysis tight . . . an excellent synthesis of this community's history, incorporating much of the groundbreaking scholarship of the last few decades. Repeatedly, the volumes remind us of the many lost opportunities for real reform in the region. They help correct the nostalgic and romanticized portraits of what is sometimes considered a lost civilization, while simultaneously demonstrating the vibrancy and diversity of Jewish life in the region . . . essential reading for those seeking a thorough and balanced understanding of Jewish life in pre-twentieth century Eastern Europe.' - Jeffrey Veidlinger, H-Judaic'For several decades now, Antony Polonsky has been at the forefront of Polish–Jewish studies . . . It is thus fitting that Polosnky, who has nurtured young scholars, especially in Poland itself and North America, should bring together old and new work in this remarkable multi-volume synthesis of Jewish history and culture . . . These volumes will provide the first port of call for any student of east European Jewry.' - Tony Kushner, Jewish Chronicle'We can only commend Antony Polonsky for his massive effort to explain seven centuries of Jewish history in a mere 2,000 pages . . . Polonsky's strength lies in his ability to illuminate intellectual and cultural developments . . . Because of the excellent bibliographies, extensive annotation, and wonderful maps included in each volume, any reader wishing to read in greater detail about Polish and Russian Jewry will have plenty of resources to enable the search.' - Alexandra S. Korros, Jewish Quarterly'An excellent synthesis of recent research on east European Jewish culture and history. As such it fills a definite need for an accessible introduction to the current scholarship and thinking about the Jews of Poland and Russia . . . should be on the reading list of anyone interested in the history and folk cultures of eastern Europe, whether they work specifically with Jewish history and folk culture, or with other regional cultures.'- David Elton Gay, Journal of Folklore Research'Any reader who invests the time and money to read the book . . . will find it very rewarding—and not just because of the wealth of information it contains. What Polonsky's book brings home, in a way that a narrower study could not, is the sheer complexity and vitality of Jewish life in that time and place . . . this broader picture is needed to make sense of the social changes that were accelerating by the late nineteenth century—above all, in the situation of women, the subject of one of Polonsky's best chapters . . . Polonsky's panoramic book, which packs so much vivid detail and statistical information into its 500 pages, helps to show just how rich, and how difficult, that life really was.'- Adam Kirsch, The New Republic and Tablet Magazine'Polonsky's magisterial The Jews in Poland and Russia is one of those rare works that can hope to bridge the gap between specialist and “intelligent general reader”, providing a strong narrative and appealing prose for the latter as well as an up-to-date distilled knowledge of both primary and secondary sources for the former. No one interested in Jewish, Polish, or Russian history can afford to be without these volumes . . . will long remain the standard work on this crucial Jewish community . . . While a survey of this sort requires a goodly bit of politics . . . Polonsky has gone out of his way to include culture, religious life, gender, Jewish mass culture, and social history . . . The books' structure is entirely appropriate for its primary purpose: to provide a basic overview of this Jewish community's history . . . strikingly high level of scholarship . . . [The publisher] is particularly to be commended on its allowing Polonsky to cite at length from the Jewish literary sources he is considering and not begrudging space for a dozen pages of useful statistics (not a small thing in a publishing world where bibliographies are often considered superfluous!) . . . This history, written by a major scholar of both Polish and Jewish history and a person profoundly attached to both communities, is exemplary in its efforts to integrate Jews into Polish history, neither white-washing sources of friction nor painting an overly rosy picture. The most important thing one can say about Antony Polonsky's The Jews in Poland and Russia is: get it and read it!'- Theodore R. Weeks, The Polish Review'This superb and very up-to-date book is very well written, carefully documented, balanced, and will be a standard reference in the field. It has a glossary and a wide-ranging bibliography, very useful maps, and statistical tables, all of which make it a good starting point for any reading on east European Jewry.'- Shaul Stampfer, Religious Studies Review'Exemplary and formidable . . . Polonsky, as much as anyone else, has created the field of modern Jewish history as a subject to be considered and understood rather than simply a tragic past to be mourned. He is too good a historian to confuse the history of Jewish life with the German policies that brought Jewish death . . . The barely visible commitment in these three wonderful volumes is to rescue a world from polemic, for the sake of history.' - Timothy Snyder, Wall Street Journal‘The first serious, and most successful, effort thus far to summarize the history of the Jews of “Eastern Europe” . . . the first book to synthesize the vast research that has emerged since the seventies . . . comprehensive and multidisciplinary . . . there is no book today that can compare to its scope and to the vast and new materials that he brings forth and analyzes with a broad imagination, an intensive approach, and a moderate style.’- Moshe Rosman, ZionTable of ContentsList of MapsList of TablesNote on TransliterationMapsIntroduction1 The Position of the Jews in the Tsarist Empire, 1881-19052 Revolution and Reaction, 1904-19143 The Kingdom of Poland, 1881-19144 Galicia in the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century5 Prussian Poland, 1848-19146 Jewish Spaces: Shtetls and Towns in the Nineteenth CenturyStatistical Appendix7 Modern Jewish Literature in the Tsarist Empire and Galicia8 Jewish Religious Life from the Mid-Eightteenth Century to 19149 Women in Jewish Eastern Europe10 The Rise of Jewish Mass Culture: Literature, Press, TheatreConclusionGlossaryBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisContinuing his contribution to medieval Jewish intellectual history, Haym Soloveitchik focuses here on the radical pietist movement of Ḥasidei Ashkenaz and its main literary work, Sefer Ḥasidim, and on the writings and personality of the Provençal commentator Ravad of Posquières. In both areas Soloveitchik challenges mainstream views to provide a new understanding of medieval Jewish thought. Some of the essays are revised and updated versions of work previously published and some are entirely new, but in all of them Soloveitchik challenges reigning views to provide a new understanding of medieval Jewish thought.The section on Sefer Ḥasidim brings together over half a century of Soloveitchik’s writings on German Pietism, many of which originally appeared in obscure publications, and adds two new essays. The first of these is a methodological study of how to read this challenging work and an exposition of what constitutes a valid historical inference, while the second reviews the validity of the sociological and anthropological inferences presented in contemporary historiography. In discussing Ravad’s oeuvre, Soloveitchik questions the widespread notion that Ravad’s chief accomplishment was his commentary on Maimonides’ Mishneh torah; his Talmud commentary, he claims, was of far greater importance and was his true masterpiece. He also adds a new study that focuses on the acrimony between Ravad, as the low-born genius of Posquières, and R. Zerahyah ha-Levi of Lunel, who belonged to the Jewish aristocracy of Languedoc, and considers the implications of that relationship.Trade Review'Like all of Professor Soloveitchik’s studies, the book is distinguished by the thoroughness of its scholarship and attention to even the smallest details... reading Professor Soloveitchik’s three volumes of magisterial essays will certainly engage and educate the reader, and one can only hope that we will merit to see a fourth volume in the not too distant future.'Alan Jotkowitz, Lehrhaus 'In presenting new perspectives on medieval Jewish thought, these collected essays further underline Soloveitchik’s well deserved reputation as an adept, learned and gifted intellectual historian. Highly recommended for all libraries.' David B Levy, Association of Jewish Libraries News and Reviews Table of ContentsPART I. SEFER ḤASIDIMSpecific Studies1. Three Themes in Sefer Ḥasidim2. On Dating Sefer Ḥasidim3. Piety, Pietism, and German Pietism: Sefer Ḥasidim I and the Influence of Ḥasidei Ashkenaz4. Pietists and Kibbitzers5. The Midrash, Sefer Ḥasidim, and the Changing Face of God6. Two Notes on the Commentary on the Torah of R. Yehudah he-Ḥasid7. Topics in the Ḥokhmat ha-NefeshMethodological Issues8. On Reading Sefer Ḥasidim9. Sefer Ḥasidim and the Social Sciences PART II. RAVAD AND PROVENÇAL STUDIES10. Rabad of Posquières: A Programmatic Essay11. The Literary Remains of the Gedol ha-Mefarshim: A Study in Personal Rivalry and the Repulsion of Opposites12. A Response to R. Buckwold's Critique of 'Rabad of Posquières', Part I13. A Response to R. Buckwold's Critique of 'Rabad of Posquières', Part II14. Jewish and Roman Law: A Study in Interaction15. The Riddle of Me'iri's Recent Popularity16. Printing and the History of Halakhah17. Angle of Deflection Bibliography of ManuscriptsSource AcknowledgementsIndex of NamesIndex of PlacesIndex of Subjects

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Book SynopsisIn the mid-1960s, public opinion in Poland turned against the Gomulka regime for a variety of reasons. In an attempt to regain public support and divert attention from the real problems, Gomulka adopted an antisemitic stance. On 19 March 1968 he delivered a speech to party activists in which he divided Jews into three categories: 'patriotic Jews', 'Zionists', and those who were neither Jews nor Poles but 'cosmopolitans', who should 'avoid those fields of work where the affirmation of nationality is indispensable'. In consequence, nearly 15,000 Jews--a very large part of Poland's Jewish community--left for Israel, western Europe, and North America, effectively ending Jewish life in the country for over a decade. The events of 1968 were long ignored by scholars but in recent years their importance in the process which led to the collapse of communism has become increasingly evident. This volume illuminates the events that triggered the crisis, the crisis itself, and its consequences. Different aspects of this are examined by Dariusz Stola, Jerzy Eisler, and Wlodzimierz Rozenbaum, while the role of the the Polish Military Intelligence Service during 1945-1961 in precipitating the crisis is analyzed by Leszek Gluchowski.Several contributors consider the background to the crisis in terms of the concerns of the Jewish community. Audrey Kichelewski describes developments in the community between the consolidation of Gomulka's power in 1957 and the outbreak of the Six Day War. Malgorzata Melchior examines how Jews who had survived in Poland during the Second World War responded to the crisis. Joanna Wiszniewicz provides a group portrait of pupils of Jewish origin in Warsaw schools in the 1960s, a milieu from which important elements in the student opposition were drawn. Karen Auerbach sharpens the focus in her consideration of the situation of Yiddish writer Naftali Herts Kon, while Holly Levitsky describes the travails of the Jewish communist writer Sara Nomberg-Przytyk. The book also reprints the testimonies of several people who lived through these painful events: Jerzy Jedlicki, Henryk Dasko, and Miroslaw Sawicki. Bozena Szaynok analyses the rhetoric of the period and examines the role of 'Israel' in the crisis. The controversies which it still arouses are reflected in the exchange between generals Pioro and Jaruzelski concerning the impact of the purge of Jewish officers from the Polish People's Army and in the responses to the publication by Piotr Gontarczyk of a report on the role of Jacek Kuron in 1968. As in previous volumes of Polin, in the section 'New Views' substantial space is also given to new research into a variety of topics in Polish-Jewish studies. These include a study by Kalman Weiser of the Yiddishist Ideology of Noah Prylucki; an reassessment by Julian Bussgang of the role of Metropolitan Sheptytsky during the Holocaust; an account by Michael Beizer and Israel Bartal of the tragic career of Moses Schorr; an evaluation by Krzysztof Czyzewski of the work of the Polish poet Jerzy Ficowski; and a description of the reception in Poland of Art Spiegelman's Maus. CONTRIBUTORS Karen Auerbach, Israel Bartal, Michael Beizer, Teresa Bogucka, Julian Bussgang, Wojciech Czuchnowski, Krzysztof Czyzewski, Henryk Dasko, Jerzy Eisler, Leszek W. Gluchowski, Piotr Gontarczyk, Anna Jarmusiewicz, Wojciech Jaruszelski, Jerzy Jedlicki, Audrey Kichelewski, Holli Levitsky, Krzysztof Link-Lenczowski, Tomasz Lysak, Jacek Maj, Malgorzata Melchior, Joanna B. Michlic, Karol Modzelewski, Tadeusz Pioro, Wlodzimierz Rozenbaum, Maciej Rybinski, Dariusz Stola, Bozena Szaynok, Kalman Weiser, Joanna Wisniewicz, Tadeusz Witkowski, Piotr Wrobel, Rafal Ziemiewicz.Table of ContentsNote on Place Names Note on Transliteration PART I: THE 1968 CRISIS AFTER FORTY YEARS Introduction leszek W. Gluchowski and Antony Polonsky The Hate Campaign of March 1968: How Did It Become Anti-Jewish? Dariusz Stola 1968: Jews, Antisemitism, Emigration Jerzy Eisler The March Events: Targeting the Jews Wlodzymiersz Rozenbaum A Critical Analysis of the Activities of the Polish Military Intelligence Service, 1945–1961 leszek W. Gluchowski ‘Israel’ in the Events of March 1968 Bozena Szaynok A Community under Pressure: Jews in Poland, 1957–1967 Audrey Kichelewski Facing Antisemitism in Poland during the Second World War and in March 1968 Malgorzata Melchior Jewish Children and Youth in Downtown Warsaw Schools of the 1960s Joanna Wiszniewicz The Exile of Sara Nomberg-Przytyk: Polish Jewish Communist Holli Levitsky The Fate of a Yiddish Poet in Communist Eastern Europe: Naftali Herts Kon in Poland, 1959–1965 Karen Auerbach Domestic Shame: A Conversation with Professor Jerzy Jedlicki Anna Jarmusiewicz An Interview with Mirosław Sawicki (August 2006) Joanna B. Michlic Testimony Henryk Dasko The Controversy Aroused by the Role in 1968 of General Wojciech Jaruzelski: The Purges in the Polish Army 1967–1968 Tadeusz Pióro A Painful and Complex Subject Wojciech Jaruzelski Reply to General Jaruzelski Tadeusz Pióro The Controversy Aroused by the 1968 Events in 2006: A Meeting with Jacek Kuron as Reported by Secret Collaborator ‘Return’ (Leslaw Maleszka): A Contribution to the Discussions about the Events of March 1968 Piotr Gontarczyk The Institute for National Remembrance Slanders Jacek Kuron Wojciech Czuchnowski and Seweryn Blumsztajn I Am, Therefore I Write: Uses and Abuses Maciej Rybinski Selective Indignation Rafal Ziemkiewicz Attention, Moczar Lives! An Interview with Karol Modzelewski Adam Leszczyński Between the Institute for National Remembrance and Gazeta Wyborcza: The Cracked Code Tadeusz Witkowski ‘Gniazdo’—The Moral Bankruptcy of the Security Service (SB) Teresa Bogucka PART II: NEW VIEWS The Yiddishist Ideology of Noah Prylucki Kalman Weiser Metropolitan Sheptytsky: A Reassessment Julian J. Bussgang The Case of Moses Schorr: Rabbi, Scholar, and Social Activist Michael Beizer and Israel Bartal You Can’t Do It Just Like That... or, Jerzy Ficowski’s Path to Reading the Ashes Krzysztof Czyżewski Contemporary Debates on the Holocaust in Poland: The Reception of Art Spiegelman’s ‘Graphic Novel’ Maus Tomasz Łysak Apollo, Mercury, and Soviet Jews Piotr Wróbel Obituaries Father Stanislaw Musial Józef Andrzej Gierowski Jerzy Ficowski Notes on the Contributors Glossary Index

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Book SynopsisAn emphasis on education has long been a salient feature of the Jewish experience. The pervasive presence of schools and teachers, books and libraries, and youth movements, even in an environment as tumultuous as that of nineteenth- and twentieth-century eastern Europe, is clear from the historical records. Historians of the early modern and modern era frequently point to the centrality of educational institutions and pursuits within Jewish society, yet the vast majority treat them as merely a reflection of the surrounding culture. Only a small number note how schools and teachers could contribute in dynamic ways to the shaping of local communities and cultures. This volume addresses this gap in the portrayal of the Jewish past by presenting education as an active and potent force for change. It moves beyond a narrow definition of Jewish education by treating formal and informal training in academic or practical subjects with equal attention. In so doing, it sheds light not only on schools and students, but also on informal educators, youth groups, textbooks, and numerous other devices through which the mutual relationship between education and Jewish society is played out. It also places male and female education on a par with each other, and considers with equal attention students of all ages, religious backgrounds, and social classes. The essays in this volume span two centuries of Jewish history, from the Austrian and Russian empires to the Second Republic of Poland and the Polish People’s Republic. The approach is interdisciplinary, with contributors treating their subject from fields as varied as east European cultural history, gender studies, and language politics. Collectively, they highlight the centrality of education in the vision of numerous Jewish individuals, groups, and institutions across eastern Europe, and the degree to which this vision interacted with forces within and external to Jewish society. In this way they highlight the interrelationship between Jewish educational endeavours, the Jewish community, and external economic, political, and social forces.Trade Review"This volume would be a valuable resource for religion collections that have strengths in the field of religion in its social and educational context. All of the contributors are well aware of the non-Jewish context and readers with comparative interests will be well rewarded here."Shaul Stampfer, Religious Studies ReviewTable of ContentsNote on Place Names Note on Transliteration Part I Education in East European Jewish Society 1. Introduction: Education for Its Own Sake Eliyana R. Adler 2. Repairing Character Traits and Repairing the Jews: The Talmud Torahs of Kelm and Grobin in the Nineteenth Century Geoffrey Claussen 3. Legislation for Education: The Munkács Regulations Enacted by Rabbi Tsevi Elimelekh of Dynów Levi Cooper 4. The Narrative of Acculturation: Hungarian Jewish Children’s Books during the Dual Monarchy, 1867–1918 Daniel Viragh 5. The Reaction of the Polish Press to Baron Maurice de Hirsch’s Foundation for Jewish Education in Galicia Agnieszka Friedrich 6. A Story within a Story: The First Russian-Language Jewish History Textbooks, 1880–1900 Vassili Schedrin 7. Clothes Make the Man: A Photo Essay on Russian Jewish School Uniforms Eliyana R. Adler 8. How Jews Gained Their Education in Kiev, 1860–1917 Victoria Khiterer 9. The Return of the Heder among Russian Jewish Education Experts, 1840–1917 Brian Horowitz 10. From Theory to Practice: The Fight for Jewish Education in Vilna during the First World War Andrew Koss 11. Creating a New Jewish Nation: The Vilna Educational Society and Secular Yiddish Education in Interwar Vilna Jordana de Bloeme 12. Between a Love of Poland, Symbolic Violence, and Antisemitism: On the Idiosyncratic Effect of the State Education System on Young Jews in Interwar Poland Kamil Kijek 13. Between Church and State: Jewish Religious Instruction in Public Schools in the Second Polish Republic Sean Martin 14. ‘Vos Vayter’? Graduating from Elementary School in Interwar Poland: From Personal Crisis to Cultural Turning Point Adva Selzer 15. Jewish Youth Movements in Poland between the Wars as Heirs of Kehila Ido Bassok 16. A Revolution in the Name of Tradition: Orthodoxy and Torah Study for Girls Naomi Seidman 17. ‘The children ceased to be children’: Day-Care Centres at Refugee Shelters in the Warsaw Ghetto Katarzyna Person 18. The Survival of Yidishkeyt: The Impact of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee on Jewish Education in Poland, 1945–1989 Anna Sommer Schneider Part II New Views 19. Everyday Life and the Shetl: A Historiography Jeffrey Veidlinger 20. Economic Struggle or Antisemitism? Szymon Rudnicki 21. Gender Perspectives on the Rescue of Jews in Poland: Preliminary Observations Joanna Michlic 21. Julian Tuwim’s Strategy for Survival as a Polish Jewish Poet Giovanna Tomassucci 22. A Church Report from Poland for June and Half of July 1941 Tomasz Szarota 23. ‘I am in no hurry to close the canon’: An Interview with Professor David G. Roskies Paweł Wolski Obituaries Władysław Bartoszewski Ezra Mendelsohn Jerzy Tomaszewski Feliks Tych Notes on Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisAn emphasis on education has long been a salient feature of the Jewish experience. The pervasive presence of schools and teachers, books and libraries, and youth movements, even in an environment as tumultuous as that of nineteenth- and twentieth-century eastern Europe, is clear from the historical records. Historians of the early modern and modern era frequently point to the centrality of educational institutions and pursuits within Jewish society, yet the vast majority treat them as merely a reflection of the surrounding culture. Only a small number note how schools and teachers could contribute in dynamic ways to the shaping of local communities and cultures. This volume addresses this gap in the portrayal of the Jewish past by presenting education as an active and potent force for change. It moves beyond a narrow definition of Jewish education by treating formal and informal training in academic or practical subjects with equal attention. In so doing, it sheds light not only on schools and students, but also on informal educators, youth groups, textbooks, and numerous other devices through which the mutual relationship between education and Jewish society is played out. It also places male and female education on a par with each other, and considers with equal attention students of all ages, religious backgrounds, and social classes. The essays in this volume span two centuries of Jewish history, from the Austrian and Russian empires to the Second Republic of Poland and the Polish People’s Republic. The approach is interdisciplinary, with contributors treating their subject from fields as varied as east European cultural history, gender studies, and language politics. Collectively, they highlight the centrality of education in the vision of numerous Jewish individuals, groups, and institutions across eastern Europe, and the degree to which this vision interacted with forces within and external to Jewish society. In this way they highlight the interrelationship between Jewish educational endeavours, the Jewish community, and external economic, political, and social forces.Trade Review"This volume would be a valuable resource for religion collections that have strengths in the field of religion in its social and educational context. All of the contributors are well aware of the non-Jewish context and readers with comparative interests will be well rewarded here."Shaul Stampfer, Religious Studies ReviewTable of ContentsNote on Place Names Note on Transliteration Part I Education in East European Jewish Society 1. Introduction: Education for Its Own Sake Eliyana R. Adler 2. Repairing Character Traits and Repairing the Jews: The Talmud Torahs of Kelm and Grobin in the Nineteenth Century Geoffrey Claussen 3. Legislation for Education: The Munkács Regulations Enacted by Rabbi Tsevi Elimelekh of Dynów Levi Cooper 4. The Narrative of Acculturation: Hungarian Jewish Children’s Books during the Dual Monarchy, 1867–1918 Daniel Viragh 5. The Reaction of the Polish Press to Baron Maurice de Hirsch’s Foundation for Jewish Education in Galicia Agnieszka Friedrich 6. A Story within a Story: The First Russian-Language Jewish History Textbooks, 1880–1900 Vassili Schedrin 7. Clothes Make the Man: A Photo Essay on Russian Jewish School Uniforms Eliyana R. Adler 8. How Jews Gained Their Education in Kiev, 1860–1917 Victoria Khiterer 9. The Return of the Heder among Russian Jewish Education Experts, 1840–1917 Brian Horowitz 10. From Theory to Practice: The Fight for Jewish Education in Vilna during the First World War Andrew Koss 11. Creating a New Jewish Nation: The Vilna Educational Society and Secular Yiddish Education in Interwar Vilna Jordana de Bloeme 12. Between a Love of Poland, Symbolic Violence, and Antisemitism: On the Idiosyncratic Effect of the State Education System on Young Jews in Interwar Poland Kamil Kijek 13. Between Church and State: Jewish Religious Instruction in Public Schools in the Second Polish Republic Sean Martin 14. ‘Vos Vayter’? Graduating from Elementary School in Interwar Poland: From Personal Crisis to Cultural Turning Point Adva Selzer 15. Jewish Youth Movements in Poland between the Wars as Heirs of Kehila Ido Bassok 16. A Revolution in the Name of Tradition: Orthodoxy and Torah Study for Girls Naomi Seidman 17. ‘The children ceased to be children’: Day-Care Centres at Refugee Shelters in the Warsaw Ghetto Katarzyna Person 18. The Survival of Yidishkeyt: The Impact of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee on Jewish Education in Poland, 1945–1989 Anna Sommer Schneider Part II New Views 19. Everyday Life and the Shetl: A Historiography Jeffrey Veidlinger 20. Economic Struggle or Antisemitism? Szymon Rudnicki 21. Gender Perspectives on the Rescue of Jews in Poland: Preliminary Observations Joanna Michlic 21. Julian Tuwim’s Strategy for Survival as a Polish Jewish Poet Giovanna Tomassucci 22. A Church Report from Poland for June and Half of July 1941 Tomasz Szarota 23. ‘I am in no hurry to close the canon’: An Interview with Professor David G. Roskies Paweł Wolski Obituaries Władysław Bartoszewski Ezra Mendelsohn Jerzy Tomaszewski Feliks Tych Notes on Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisThis volume provides a comprehensive and much-needed survey of the millennium-long history of Jews in the Ukrainian lands. The book challenges the stereotyped vision of the relationship between Jews and Ukrainians and offers in-depth studies of key periods and issues. The survey opens with a consideration of early Jewish settlements and the local reactions to these. The focus then moves to the period after 1569, when control of the fertile lands of Ukraine passed to the Polish nobility. Because it was largely Jews in the service of the nobility who administered these lands, they were inevitably caught up in the resentment that Polish rule provoked among the local population, and, above all, among the Cossacks and peasant-serfs. This resentment culminated in the great revolt led by Bohdan Khmelnytsky in the mid-17th century, in consequence of which the Jews were excluded from that part of Ukraine which eventually came under Russian rule when the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was partitioned. The Jewish response to the establishment of Russian and Austrian rule in the areas of Ukraine that had formerly been in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is a second major theme of the book, and particularly the Jewish reaction to the emergence of Ukrainian nationalism and the subsequent Ukrainian struggle for independence. A third overarching theme is the impact of the sovietization of Ukraine on Jewish-Ukrainian relations, with a chapter devoted to the 1932-33 Famine (Holodomor) in which millions perished. The book also gives special attention to the growing rift between Jews and Ukrainians triggered by the rise of radical nationalism among Ukrainians living outside the Soviet Union and by conflicting views of Germany's genocidal plans regarding the Jews during World War II. With contributions from leading Jewish and Ukrainian scholars on these complex and highly controversial topics, the book places Jewish-Ukrainian relations in a broader historical context and adds to the growing literature that seeks to go beyond the old paradigms of conflict and hostility. CONTRIBUTORS: Howard Aster, formerly taught Political Science, McMaster University; Rachel Feldhay Brenner, Max and Frieda Weinstein-Bascom Professor of Jewish Studies and Professor of Modern Hebrew Literature, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Ivan Dzyuba, Ukrainian writer and literary critic; member, National Academy of Science of Ukraine; former Ukrainian Minister of Culture; Amelia Glaser, Associate Professor of Russian and Comparative Literature, University of California, San Diego; John-Paul Himka, Professor, Department of History, University of Alberta; Judith Kalik, teaches East European History, Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Myron Kapral, Director, Lviv Branch, Hrushevsky Institute of Ukrainian Archaeography and Source Studies, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine; Vladimir (Ze'ev) Khanin, Chief Adviser on Research and Strategic Planning, Ministry of Absorption, Israel; Victoria Khiterer, Assistant Professor of History and Director, Conference on the Hilocaust and Genocide, Millersville University, Pennsylvania; Taras Koznarsky, Associate Professor, University of Toronto Sergey R. Kravtsov, Research Fellow, Center for Jewish Art, Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Taras Kurylo, independent scholar, Calgary; Alexander J. Motyl, Professor of Political Science, Rutgers University-Newark; Jakub Nowakowski, Director, Galicia Jewish Museum, Kraków; Alexander Pereswetoff-Morath, Associate Professor and Academy Research Fellow, Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History, and Antiquities, Stockholm; Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern, Crown Family Professor of Jewish Studies and Professor of Jewish History, Northwestern University; Antony Polonsky, Albert Abramson Professor of Holocaust Studies, Brandeis University and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum; Peter J. Potichnyj, Honorary Professor, East China University, Shanghai and Lviv Polytechnic National University; Professor Emeritus, McMaster University; Mykola Ryabchuk, Ukrainian writer and journalist; Vice President, Ukrainian PEN-Club; Raz Segal, doctoral student, Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Clark University; teaching fellow, International MA Program in Holocaust Studies, Haifa University; Dan Shapira, Professor of Ottoman Studies and Professor of the History and Culture of Eastern European Jewry, Bar-Ilan University; Myroslav Shkandrij, Professor of Slavic Studies, University of Manitoba; Mykola Iv. Soroka, Advancement Manager, Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta; Yevhen Sverstyuk, theologian, translator, journalist, and literary critic; Chief Editor, Nas.Table of ContentsNote on Place Names Note on Transliteration PART I: JEWS AND UKRAINIANS Introduction Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern and Antony Polonsky The First Jews of Ukraine Dan Shapira Jews of Lviv and the City Council in the Early Modern Period Myron Kapral Christian Anti-Judaism and Jewish–Orthodox Relations among the East Slavs up to 1569 Alexander Pereswetoff-Morath Jews, Orthodox, and Uniates in Ruthenian Lands Judith Kalik Jews in Russian Travel Narratives of the Early Nineteenth Century Taras Koznarsky Between Nation and Class: Natalia Kobrynska’s Jewish Characters Amelia Glaser The Jewish Formations of Western Ukraine during the Civil War Yaroslav Tynchenko Jewish Themes in Volodymyr Vynnychenko’s Writing Mykola Iv. Soroka The ‘Jewish Question’ in the Ukrainian Nationalist Discourse of the Inter-War Period Taras Kurylo Breaking Taboos: The Holodomor and the Holocaust in Ukrainian–Jewish Relations Myroslav Shkandrij The Ukrainian Nationalist Movement and the Jews: Theoretical Reflections on Nationalism, Fascism, Rationality, Primordialism, and History Alexander J. Motyl The Ukrainian Free University and the Jews Nicolas Szafowal Imported Violence: Carpatho-Ruthenians and Jews in Carpatho-Ukraine, October 1938–March 1939 Raz Segal Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytsky and the Holocaust John-Paul Himka We Did Not Recognize Our Country: The Rise of Antisemitism in Ukraine before and after the Second World War, 1937–1947 Victoria Khiterer On the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of the Murders in Baby Yar Ivan Dzyuba Reminiscences About Friends Yury (Arye) Vudka Grains of Ukrainian–Israeli 'Solidarity' Yevhen Sverstyuk Ukrainian–Jewish Relations: A Twenty-Five-Year Perspective HOWARD ASTER and PETER J. POTICHNYJ Yiddish: Identity and Language Politics in the Post-Soviet Ukrainian Jewish Community Vladimir (Ze'ev) Khanin ‘A City Not Forgotten: Memories of Jewish Lwów and the Holocaust’ An Exhibition at the Galician Jewish Museum, Kraków, June 2010–January 2011 Jakub Nowakowski Eight Jews in Search of a Grandfather Mykola Ryabchuk A Note on the Names of the Golden Rose Synagogue in Lviv Sergey Kravtsov PART II: NEW VIEWS The Vagaries of British Compassion: Britons, Poles, and Jews after the First World War Russell Wallis The Merry-Go-Round on Krasiński Square: Did ‘the happy throngs laugh’? The Debate Regarding the Attitude of Warsaw's Inhabitants towards the Ghetto Uprising Tomasz Szarota Personal Accounts of the War by Polish Writers in Occupied Warsaw: The Case of Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz Rachel Feldhay Brenner Obituary Józef Życiński by Monika Rice Glossary Notes on the Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisThe realities of Jewish life in eastern Europe that concerned the average Jew meant the way their children grew up, the way they studied, how they married, and all the subsequent stages of the life cycle-including the problems of divorce, remarriage, and elderly parents. The family and the community were in a very real sense the core institutions of east European Jewish society. These realities were always dynamic and evolving but in the nineteenth century, the pace of change in almost every area of life was exceptionally rapid.This collection of essays deals with these social realities objectively and analytically. Some of the essays presented here are classics that have been widely acclaimed, earning their author a well-deserved reputation for authoritative research; all have been comprehensively revised for this book. They avoid both sentimental descriptions and judgmental attitudes. The result is a picture that is far from the stereotyped view of the past that is common today, but a more honest and more comprehensive one.Topics covered in the studies on education consider the learning experiences of both males and females of different ages. They also deal with and distinguish between study among the well off and learned (not surprisingly, the two went together) and study among the poorer masses. A number of essays are devoted to aspects of educating the elite. Here too, the reconstruction of the realities of the past, as opposed to the stereotypical popular image, reveals the remarkable creativity of what is often mistakenly considered a highly conservative element of society. Several essays deal with aspects of marriage, a key element in the life of most Jews. Using both quantitative and qualitative sources, the author has been able to identify and document characteristics of both first and subsequent marriages and to highlight and explain trends that have hitherto been misunderstood. The problem of aged parents and the changing nature of the nuclear family is also considered. The attempt to understand the rabbinate in its social and historical context is no less revealing then the studies in other areas. The realities of rabbinical life—the problems of getting appointments, job security and insecurity, changing responsibilities and the difficulties of dealing with fragmented and modernizing communities—are presented in a way that explains rabbinic behavior and the complex relations between communities, ideologies, and modernization. These essays look at the past through the prism of the lives of ordinary people, with results that are sometimes surprising but always stimulating. The topics they treat are varied, but the concern to explain what lay behind the visible reality is common to all of them.Trade Review‘Represents decades of intensive study of Jewish daily life in eastern Europe. The book brings together many of Stampfer’s previously published writings, although several appear here in English for the first time . . . provides us with the oeuvre of a scholar who has spent years thinking about these issues and provides a wonderful context for further study.’ Jeffrey Veidlinger, East European Jewish Affairs‘Stampfer draws on a huge range of sources . . . to throw light on his central concern: the Jews of eastern Europe in the period of modernization . . . Almost every chapter teaches us anew about something we thought we already knew . . . discoveries that contradict received wisdom abound. His specialty is in considering topics that seem marginal but in fact prove vital in understanding key elements of Jewish life . . . focusing on the social function of each institution rather than idealistic interpretations. . . . A sub-theme central to his work is the role and status of women . . . these studies present a picture that contradicts the romantic image of the shtetl Jew that is still so beloved of the general public, and even to some extent among academics . . . While correcting these distortions, Stampfer emphasizes the functionality of Jewish institutions in the changing realities of the time, while also demonstrating the differences between Jews and their neighbours as regards marriage, family life, housing, economics, education and culture. He shows how the traditional Jewish institutions developed and adapted to the challenges of modernity and helped Jews to prosper in a way that was unique to them.’ Moshe Rosman, Gal-Ed‘For many years, Shaul Stampfer has been recognised as an authority in all things dealing with nineteenth-century Jewish Eastern Europe. In his newest book, we have a collection of numerous essays representing more than twenty years of his scholarship, including one essay published for the first time. Stampfer’s focus is not on the purely intellectual debates between rabbinic elites. He is more interested in social history, how average people and in particular women lived. Even his discussions of rabbis emphasize such matters as inheritance of rabbinic positions and the rabbi’s role in communal life. His sources are quite broad: traditional rabbinic works as well as Hebrew, Yiddish, and Russian texts and newspapers . . .there is much more that can be said about Stampfer’s careful scholarship, which is a treat for all readers.’ Marc B. Shapiro, H-Judaic (and The Jewish Press and Jewish Book Review)‘Accessible and lively . . . a good read not only for scholars, but also for general readers interested in seeing just how far we have come from that vanished world.’ Jewish Book World‘This book of essays by an exceptionally wide-ranging social and cultural historian is much more than a rich investigation of “traditional society”.’ Kenneth B. Moss, Journal of Modern History‘This riveting collection of essays covers a breathtaking scope, the amount of research is impressive, and the level of analysis is as refreshing as it is innovative. It is hard to name any other work that covers such a diverse range of fascinating questions in Jewish history in such a learned and professional manner. The author has an uncanny ability to synthesize a diverse range of material with interpretations and analyses that are as brilliant as they are straightforward. This collection will make an excellent companion to extant English and Hebrew language works on modern Jewish history. It will also make for interesting reading in undergraduate classes and graduate seminars on social history, east European history, and Jewish history. In short, this is a gem of a book, the kind that you will want to read, the kind that students will love to read, the kind that scholars as well will not be able to put down.’ Scott Ury, Religious Studies Review ‘Eruditely documented, clearly explained, subtly argued, these contributions on the evolution of educational and family structures and on the history of the rabbinate renew our knowledge of Jewish society in eastern Europe. Anyone who seeks to understand the transformations peculiar to this period can only consulter and explore this work of reference.’ Jean Baumgarten, Revue des études juives Table of ContentsThe Social Implications of Very Early Marriage in Eastern Europe in the Nineteenth Century Love and Family Life among East European Jewry in the Modern Period Scientific Welfare and Lonely Old People: The Development of Old Age Homes among Jews in Eastern Europe Gender Differentiation and Education of the Jewish Woman in Nineteenth Century Eastern Europe Remarriage among Jews and Christians in Nineteenth-Century Eastern Europe The Pushke and its Development Heder Study, Knowledge of Torah and the Maintenance of Social Stratification in Traditional East European Jewish Society Literacy among East European Jewry in the Modern Period: Context, Background, and Implications Hungarian Yeshivot, Lithuanian Yeshivot, and Josef Ben David Hasidic Yeshivot in Interwar Poland Dormitory and Yeshiva in Eastern Europe The Controversy over Shechita and the Struggle between Hasidim and Mitnagdim The Rabbinate in Eastern Europe that Wasn't Inheritance of the Rabbinate in Eastern Europe in the Modern Period: Causes, Factors, and Development over Time

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Book SynopsisHistoriography formed an unusually important component of the popular culture and heritage of east European Jewry in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This was a period of social, economic, and political upheaval, and for the emerging class of educated Jews the writing and reading of Jewish history provided not only intellectual but also emotional and moral sustenance. Facing an insecure future became easier with an understanding of the past, and of the Jewish place in that past. This volume is devoted to the development of Jewish historiography in the three east European centres—Congress Poland, the Russian empire, and Galicia—that together contained the majority of world Jewry at that time. Drawing widely on the multilingual body of scholarly and popular literature that emerged in that turbulent environment, the contributors to this volume attempt to go beyond the established paradigms in the study of Jewish historiography, and specifically to examine the relationship between the writing of Jewish history and of non-Jewish history in eastern Europe. In doing so they expose the tension between the study of the Jewish past in a communal setting and in a wider, regional, setting that located Jews firmly in the non-Jewish political, economic, and cultural environment. They also explore the relationship between ‘history’—seen as the popular understanding of the past—and ‘scholarly history’—interpretation of the past through the academic study of the sources, which lays claim to objectivity and authority. The development of Jewish historical scholarship grew out of the new intellectual climate of the Haskalah, which encouraged novel modes of thinking about self and others and promoted critical enquiry and new approaches to traditional sources. At the same time, however, in response to what the traditionalists perceived as secular research, an Orthodox historiography also emerged, driven not only by scholarly curiosity but also by the need to provide a powerful counterweight in the struggle against modernity. In fact, east European Jewish historiography has undergone many methodological, thematic, and ideological transformations over the last two centuries. Even today, east European Jewish historiography revisits many of the questions of importance to scholars and audiences since its emergence: how Jews lived, both within the narrow Jewish world and in contact with the wider society; the limits of Jewish insularity and integration; expressions of persecution and anti-Jewish violence; and also Jewish contributions to the societies and states of eastern Europe. Many challenges still remain: questions of the purpose of the research, its ideological colouring, and its relevance for contemporary Jewish communities. The fruit of research in many disciplines and from different methodological points of view, this volume has much to offer scholars of modern Jewry trying to understand how east European Jews saw themselves as they struggled with the concepts of modernity and national identity and how their history continues to be studied and discussed by an international community of scholars.Table of ContentsNote on Place NamesNote on TransliterationIntroduction BRIAN HOROWITZ AND NATALIA ALEKSIUNPART I: WRITING EAST EUROPEAN JEWISH HISTORYThe Pinkas: From Communal Archive to Total History ISRAEL BARTAL‘Constructing the shrine of our people’s history’: Hatsefirah and the Historiography of Polish Jewry ELA BAUER‘Building a fragile edifice’: A History of Russian Jewish Historical Institution, 1860–1914 BRIAN HOROWITZConstructing Polish Jewry’s ‘Shrine of History’: Galician Beginnings RACHEL MANEKINCharting the Outer Provinces of Jewry: The Study of East European Jewry’s Margins NATAN MEIRDubnov’s Wayward Son: Israel Sosis and the Legacy of Russian Jewish Historiography ELISSA BEMPORADThe Historiography of the Bund SAMUEL KASSOWScholars of Jewish Origin in the Community of Historians in Lwów, 1918–1939 JOANNA PISULIŃSKAObject Lessons: Art Collection and Display as Historical Practice in Interwar Lwów SARAH ZARROWBroken Traditions? The Jewish Presence on the City Councils of Kraków, Poznań, and Warsaw, 1919–1939 HANNA KOZIŃSKA-WITTFemale, Jewish, Educated, and Writing Polish Jewish History NATALIA ALEKSIUNJewish Historiography of the Holocaust in Eastern Europe HAVI DREIFUSSConversion in the Work of Jakub Goldberg STEFAN GĄSIORSKIDenying Tradition: Academic Historiography on Jewish Orthodoxy in Eastern Europe VLADIMIR LEVINJewish Traditionalism in Eastern Europe: The Historiographical Gadfly GLENN DYNNEROut of the Ghetto? Historiography on Jewish Women in Eastern Europe ELIYANA R. ADLERProblems in the Study of Russian Jewish Literature LEONID F. KATSISThe Polin Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw: A New Approach to the History of the Jews in the Polish Lands ANTONY POLONSKYPART II: DOCUMENTARY SECTIONIn Search of Lost Times and Places: Simon Rawidowicz Reflects on his Formative Years in Grajewo and Białystok BENJAMIN RAVIDPART III: NEW VIEWSWhat Happened to Tarnów's Jews? ADAM BARTOSZDoes ‘Polish Antisemitism’ Exist? Research in Poland and Ukraine, 1992 and 2002 IRENEUSZ KRZEMIŃSKIPART IV: OBITUARIESAndrzej Garlicki SZYMON RUDNICKIJerzy Kulczycki JAREK GARLIŃSKIIsrael Gutman ANTONY POLONSKYNotes on the ContributorsIndex

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Book SynopsisAt the beginning of the twentieth century, the Jewish communities of Poland and Hungary were the largest in the world and arguably the most culturally vibrant, yet they have rarely been studied comparatively. Despite the obvious similarities, historians have mainly preferred to highlight the differences and emphasize instead the central European character of Hungarian Jewry. Collectively, these essays offer a different perspective. The volume has five sections. The first compares Jewish acculturation and integration in the two countries, analysing the symbiosis of magnates and Jews in each country’s elites and the complexity of integration in multi-ethnic environments. The second considers the similarities and differences in Jewish religious life, discussing the impact of Polish hasidism in Hungary and the nature of ‘progressive’ Judaism in Poland and the Neolog movement in Hungary. Jewish popular culture is the theme of the third section, with accounts of the Jewish involvement in Polish and Hungarian cabaret and film. The fourth examines the deterioration of the situation in both countries in the interwar years, while the final section compares the implementation of the Holocaust and the way it is remembered. The volume concludes with a long interview with the doyen of historians of Hungary, István Deák.Table of ContentsPART IPOLAND AND HUNGARY: JEWISH REALITIES COMPAREDIntroductionFrançois Guesnet, Howard Lupovitch, and Antony PolonskyJEWISH ACCULTURATION AND INTEGRATIONThe Magnate–Jewish Symbiosis: Hungarian and Polish Variations on a ThemeHoward LupovitchEthnic Triangles, Assimilation, and the Complexities of Acculturation in a Multi-ethnic SocietyKristian GernerBetween Poland and Hungary: The Process of Jewish Integration from a Comparative PerspectiveGuy MironThe Ashkenaz of the South: Hungarian Jewry in the Long Nineteenth CenturyVictor KarádyJews and Poles, 1860–1914: Assimilation, Emancipation, Antisemitism Theodore R. WeeksJewish Women in Poland and HungaryKatalin FenyvesMorality, Motherland, and Freedom: The Arduous and Triumphant Journey of Michael Heilprin to AmericaFerenc Raj and Howard LupovitchGender and Scholarship in the Goldziher Household: Jewish Men and Women in Late Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century Hungarian AcademiaKatalin Franciska RacJEWISH RELIGIOUS LIFEPolish Hasidism and Hungarian Orthodoxy in a Borderland: The Munkács RabbinateLevi CooperPolish ‘Progressive’ Judaism and Hungarian Neolog Judaism: A ComparisonBenjamin MatisJEWS IN POPULAR CULTUREIntegration and Its Discontents: Humorous Magazines and Music Halls as Reflections of the Ambiguous Transformation of Budapest Jews into Magyars of the Jewish FaithMary GluckCabaret Nation: The Jewish Foundations of Kabaret Literacki, 1920–1939Beth HolmgrenThe Politics of Exclusion: The Turbulent History of Hungarian and Polish Film, 1896–1945Susan M. Papp and Antony B. PolonskyTHE INTERWAR YEARSAbnormal Times: Intersectionality and Anti-Jewish Violence in Hungary and Poland, 1918–1922Emily GioielliSuicides of the Polish and Hungarian Types: Jewish Self-Destruction and Social Cohesion in Interwar Warsaw and BudapestDaniel RosenthalTHE HOLOCAUST AND ITS AFTERMATHOn the Margin of a Historic Friendship: Polish Jewish Refugees in Hungary during the Second World WarTamás Kovács Placing the Ghetto: Warsaw and Budapest, 1939–1945 Tim ColeWarsaw and Budapest, 1939–1945: Two Ghettos, Two Policies, Two OutcomesLaszlo KarsaiPolish and Hungarian Poets on the Holocaust George Gömöri ‘Anti-Fascist Literature’ as Holocaust Literature? The Holocaust in the Hungarian Socialist Literary Marketplace, 1956–1970Richard S. EsbenshadeHolocaust Remembrance in Hungary after the Fall of CommunismZsuzsanna Agora‘Nicht vor dem Kind!’ Testimonies on the Yellow-Star Houses of BudapestGwen Jones ‘Non-Remembering’ the Holocaust in Hungary and PolandAndrea PetőJews in Museums: Narratives of Nation and ‘Jewishness’ in Post-Communist Hungarian and Polish Public MemoryAnna ManchinPERSONAL REFLECTIONSPolish and Hungarian Jews: So Different, Yet So Interconnected: An Interview with István DeákHoward LupovitchPART IINEW VIEWSPolish National Antisemitism Ireneusz Krzemiński

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Book SynopsisFollowing tremendous advances in recent years in the study of religious belief, this volume adopts a fresh understanding of Jewish religious life in Poland. Approaches deriving from the anthropology, history, phenomenology, psychology, and sociology of religion have replaced the methodologies of social or political history that were applied in the past, offering fascinating new perspectives. The well-established interest in hasidism continues, albeit from new angles, but topics that have barely been considered before are well represented here too. Women’s religious practice gains new prominence, and a focus on elites has given way to a consideration of the beliefs and practices of ordinary people. Reappraisals of religious responses to secularization and modernity, both liberal and Orthodox, offer more nuanced insights into this key issue. Other research areas represented here include the material history of Jewish religious life in eastern Europe and the shift of emphasis from theology to praxis in the search for the defining quality of religious experience. The contemporary reassessments in this volume, with their awareness of emerging techniques that have the potential to extract fresh insights from source materials both old and new, show how our understanding of what it means to be Jewish is continuing to expand.Trade Review'The insights brought to the knowledge of the Orthodox and especially Hasidic tradition are considerable and always based on the use of unpublished documents. The contribution of No. 33 of the journal Polin is therefore essential in its field.'Daniel Tollet, Revue des études juivesTable of ContentsIntroduction - Ada Rapoport-Albert and Marcin Wodziński PART I: THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY Leah Horwitz’s Tkhine Imohos: A Proto-Feminist Demand to Increase Jewish Women’s Religious Capital - Moshe Rosman ‘A girl! He ought to be whipped’: The Hasid as Homo Ludens - David Assaf Individualism, Truth, and the Repudiation of Magic as the Tsadik's Prerogative: Pshiskhe-Like Elements in the Theology of Rabbi Menahem Mendel of Kosov - Benjamin Brown Table Talk and the Bond of Reading: A Jewish Broadsheet for Meals - Avriel Bar-Levav PART II: THE NINETEENTH CENTURY Shtrayml: An Ethnographic Tale of Law and Ritualization - Levi Cooper The Narcissism of Small Differences? On Rituals and Customs as Hasidic Identity-Markers - Gadi Sagiv The Vilna Talmud as a Reflection of Changing Patterns of Study - Edward Fram Popular Religion and Modernity: Jewish Magical Books in Eastern Europe in the Nineteenth Century - Uriel Gellman Hasidic Performance as a Reconstruction of Biblical Life - Daniel Reiser Preserving a Synagogue: Cultural, Material, and Sacred Values - Sergey R. Kravtsov The Laws of Moses and the Laws of the Emperor: Austrian Marriage Legislation and the Jews of Galicia - Rachel Manekin A Forgotten Network? New Perspectives on Progressive Synagogues in Galicia and the Kingdom of Poland - Alicia Maślak-Maciejewska PART III: 1914–1939 To Enlist the Enthusiasm of the Young: Orthodox Jewish Non-Political Responses to the Challenges of Interwar Poland - Gershon Bacon The Scroll of 19 Kislev and the Construction of an Imagined Habad Lubavitch Community in Interwar Poland - Wojciech Tworek At the Centre of Two Revolutions: Beit Ya’akov in Poland between Neo-Orthodoxy and Ultra-Orthodoxy - Iris Brown (Hoizman) PART IV: HOLOCAUST AND POST-HOLOCAUST Gerer Youths in the Holocaust: A Representative Blind Spot in Holocaust Research - Havi Dreifuss The Afterlife of Religion: Orthodox Memoirs of the Holocaust and the Haredi Spiritualization of Modernity - Naftali Loewenthal Being and Becoming: Polish Conversions to Judaism and the Dynamics of Affiliation - Jan Lorenz PART V: NEW VIEWS Foul-Weather Friends: Reinterpreting Jewish–Christian Urban Interaction in the Final Decades of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth - Curtis G. Murphy The Vilna Pogrom of 19–21 April 1919 - Szymon Rudnicki Jewish Medical Activity in the Ghettos under the Nazi Regime: Characteristics and Broad Historical Context - Miriam Offer

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Book SynopsisThis book highlights the changing dynamics of Muslim identity and integration in Britain, focusing on the post-9/11 era. Historically, Muslims faced discrimination based on ethnicity rather than religion. However, contemporary discrimination against Muslims is rooted in different reasons, with events like the Rushdie affair significantly impacting multicultural relations. This study analyzes the evolving multicultural landscape in Britain, exploring the shift from predominantly assimilationist policies to a more mutual process of integration. It delves into the emergence of interfaith dialogue as well as the complexities surrounding the intersection of race, religion, gender, and identity. The research examines two key themes: the discursive positioning of Islam beyond integration and terrorism narratives, and the operationalization of identity by Muslims in various contexts. The study employs empirical methods and cultural studies theories to understand how individual and social practices intersect in this context. By doing so, it contributes to Islamic studies, socio-political studies, and cultural studies, shedding light on the discourses that shape and are shaped by Muslim lives in Britain. The analysis encompasses diverse perspectives, from macro-level societal discourses to micro-level individual actions, thus providing a comprehensive exploration of the multifaceted experiences of Muslims in Britain.Table of ContentsSection I. Engagement In Social DynamicsChapter 1. Muslim Political Agency In British PoliticsJan Dobbernack, University Of Lincoln, Nasar Meer, University Of Strathclyde & Tariq Modood, Bristol UniversityChapter 2. Believing And Belonging: Media Representations Of Islam And Muslims In Britain And Its Relationship To British Civil ReligionLaurens De Rooij, University Of ChesterChapter 3. Politics, Public Relations And Islam In The UK Public SphereClaire Forbes, University Of KentChapter 4. Social Representations And The Threat To Worldview: A Socio-Psychological Perspective On IslamophobiaSamuel Fairlamb And Marco Cinnirella, Royal Holloway, University Of LondonChapter 5. Creating Shia Spaces In British Society: The Role Of Transnational Twelver Shia Networks In North-West LondonOliver Scharbrodt, University Of BirminghamSection II. Expressions Of Personal IdentityChapter 6. British Muslims, Music And Religious Authority: The Contested Ground Of Discourse And PraxisCarl Morris, Central Lancashire UniversityChapter 7. Civilising Attempts In Art And Islam: Muslim Artistic Performance Facing Social Orders In The UKYolanda Van Tilborgh, University Of AmsterdamChapter 8. Challenging Terrorist Ideologies Through EducationAngela Quartermaine, University Of WarwickChapter 9. The Agency Of Muslim Women As Mothers And MotheredHengameh Ashraf-Emami, University Of Nottingham & Laurens De Rooij, University Of ChesterChapter 10. Online Dating For British Muslims, And The Relationship With Their Islamic IdentitiesLaurens De Rooij, University Of Chester

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Book SynopsisThis book retells the history of Israeli film in the 1960s and 1970s in sex scenes. Through close readings of the first sex scenes in mainstream Israeli movies from this period, it explores the cultural and social contexts in which these movies were made. More specifically, it discusses how notions of collective identity, individual agency, and the public and private spheres are inscribed into and negotiated in sex scenes, especially in light of the historical events that marked these decades. This study thus pushes away from the traditional academic perception of Israeli film and opens up new ways of understanding how it has developed in recent decades. It draws on a growing international body of academic literature on the cinematic representation of sex in order to illuminate the particularities of the Israeli context in the 1960s and 1970s. Apart from film scholars and scholars of Israeli film, this study also addresses readers interested in Israeli cultural history more broadly.

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Book SynopsisA deep dive into the architecture of the Central Synagogue of Sofia

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Book SynopsisMuhammadiyah, together with the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), are seen as the two pillars of moderate Islam in Indonesia. Muhammadiyah is currently often perceived to be the more conservative of the two and to have more affinity with Islamist groups. On political issues, for instance, it is steered by Islamist imagery. On cultural issues, Muhammadiyah is often guided by old enmity towards what is called the TBC (takhayul, bid’ah dan churafat; delusions, religious innovation without precedence in the Prophetic traditions and the Qur’an, and superstitions or irrational belief). This position has placed Muhammadiyah in an uneasy relationship with both local cultures and traditionalist Islam. Three issues that were raised in 2017—the banning of Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI), the recurrent controversy on the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), and the ruling of the Constitutional Court on Penghayat Kepercayaan—are issues where Muhammadiyah has been easily drawn towards Islamist and conservative tendencies. Be that as it may, Muhammadiyah remains a social movement guided by its long-held theology of al-M?`?n (kindness) and with a strong emphasis on social services. It is this doctrine that has prevented Muhammadiyah from dwelling on mythical or abstract issues and neutralized it against Islamism, making its members more realistic in viewing the world, more prone to distancing themselves from the utopian vision of a caliphate, from the dream of shariah as the Messiah that will solve every problem, and from the temptation to create an Islamic state. The “pragmatic Islamism” that Muhammadiyah has adopted allows it to handle social dynamics well.

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Book SynopsisWhat does it mean to be Muslim in Britain today? If the media is anything to go by, it has something to do with mosques, community leaders, whether you wear a veil, and your views on religious extremists. But as all our lives become increasingly entwined with our online presence, British Islam has evolved into a multidimensional cultural identity that goes well beyond the confines of the mosque. Entering a world of memes and influencers, Muslim dating apps, and alt-right Islamophobes, Hussein Kesvani reveals how a new generation of young Muslims who have grown up with the internet are using social media to determine their religious identity on their own terms--something that could change the course of ‘British Islam’ forever.Trade Review'A detailed and often witty journey through the online areas where Muslims congregate . . . Kesvani delivers a tableau of British Muslims wrestling with subjects ranging from clean eating and marriage to LGBT and gender rights.' * The Observer *'The book's scope is impressive.''Follow Me, Akhi provides an important first case study into the struggles of British Islamic identity, exploring how a new generation of young Muslims are using the internet to determine identity on their own terms.''A fascinating and compelling look at the impact of the internet on the lives of British Muslims. Kesvani is a funny, passionate and wise narrator, and his book is a brilliant meditation on how our online selves shape our mores and identities.' -- Nikesh Shukla, editor of 'The Good Immigrant''A superbly engaging book, unparalleled in its urgency and insight. Not only has Kesvani taken a forensic look at the online lives of British Muslims, but he has also crafted a terminology with which to speak about a culturally significant moment in British history.' -- Guy Gunaratne, author of 'In Our Mad and Furious City''Kesvani's personal quest is relentlessly curious as well as compassionate. This book gives us an unparalleled insight into the digital lives of young Muslims in Britain today.' -- Shelina Janmohamed, author of 'Generation M: Young Muslims Changing the World''Deeply researched, surprising and considerate. It portrays the online world of British Muslims as diverse, rich and fraught – but above all else innovative, exciting and criminally under-reported.' -- New Statesman

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