Social groups: religious groups and communities Books

Book SynopsisCelebrated sex expert and bestselling author Dr. Ruth Westheimer bridges the gap between sex and religion in this provocative exploration of intimacy in the Jewish faithIn this light-hearted, lively tour of Jewish sexuality, Dr. Ruth K. Westheimer and Jonathan Mark team up to reveal how the Jewish tradition is much more progressive than popular wisdom might lead one to believe. Applying Dr. Ruth's acclaimed brand of couples therapy to such Biblical relationships as Abraham and Sarah, and Joseph and Potiphar's wife, the authors enlist Biblical lore to explore such topics as surrogacy, incest, and arranged marriages. They offer a clearer understanding of the intertwining relationships between sexuality and spirituality through incisive investigations of the Song of Songs, Ruth, Proverbs, Psalms, and some of the bawdier tales of the Prophets. One chapter provides a provocative new perspective on the Sabbath as a weekly revival, highlighting not only its spiritual nature, but also its maTrade ReviewAmerica's favorite sex therapist probably best known for making the word orgasm a TV talk show favorite, collaborates with Jewish Week editor Mark in a more significant accomplishment—a thoughtful study of the roles of sexuality in Judaica. * Booklist *

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Book SynopsisAn eye-opening look at youth in contemporary Egypt, from the role they play in advancing political change to their everyday strugglesIn Youth in Egypt, Nadine Sika explores the political world of young people in Egypt, focusing on their experiences under authoritarianism. From the reigns of Gamal Abdel Nasser and Anwar Sadat to that of Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, she offers an on-the-ground perspective through the eyes of multiple generations of young people who lived through consecutive periods of political upheaval and state militarization.Drawing on surveys, interviews, and focus groups, Sika shines a light on youth who have participated in protest movements, civil society organizations, and political parties. She shows us the different opportunities for economic and political participation that exist for them, explaining why young Egyptians may choose to either mobilize against orsurprisinglyin support of the regime. Sika underscores how youth in Egypt Trade ReviewYouth in Egypt explores how young people in Egypt see opportunities and impediments to living active, civically-engaged lives. Nadine Sika contributes to our understanding of how people and government shape each other’s opportunity structures in authoritarian contexts. -- Lisa Anderson, author of Pursuing Truth, Exercising Power: Social Science and Public Policy in the Twenty-first Century

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Book SynopsisInterviews with young Muslims in Chicago explore the complexity of identities formed at the crossroads of Islam and hip hopThis groundbreaking study of race, religion and popular culture in the 21st century United States focuses on a new concept, Muslim Cool. Muslim Cool is a way of being an American Muslimdisplayed in ideas, dress, social activism in the 'hood, and in complex relationships to state power. Constructed through hip hop and the performance of Blackness, Muslim Cool is a way of engaging with the Black American experience by both Black and non-Black young Muslims that challenges racist norms in the U.S. as well as dominant ethnic and religious structures within American Muslim communities. Drawing on over two years of ethnographic research, Su'ad Abdul Khabeer illuminates the ways in which young and multiethnic US Muslims draw on Blackness to construct their identities as Muslims. This is a form of critical Muslim self-making that builds on interconnections and intersectionTrade ReviewMuslim Coolcelebrates the spiritual grounding of hip hop and tries to tease apart its complex relationships with race and religion. * The Atlantic *A skilled ethnographer, [Su'ad Abdul Khabeer] combines her poet's ear and thorough research in prose that flips the script on the anti-Black, anti-Muslim sentiment. * Ebony *AbdulKhabeer explores the rich relationship of hip-hop to Islam in her fascinating new work,Muslim Cool. * Foreword Reviews *Where Chance injects spirituality into hip-hop, Muslim Cool injects hip-hop into spirituality. And in doing so, as Abdul-Khabeers Muslim Cool-hunting presents, its expanding the ways in which black history, culture, and politics get expressed, re-defined, and redeployed into new contexts. * Popmatters *A must read for any student of anthropology, religion, migration, or urban studies. * Choice *Khabeers study explores how young African American Muslim women and men who embrace Muslim cool use hip-hop styles of dress, music, dance, and spoken-word performance to assert their Muslim bona fides. In so doing, they are arguing against the anti-black biases of the dominant Middle Eastern and South Asian immigrant Muslim community in the United States. But theyre also arguing for their sense of belonging in the American national community that is normed as white even as it claims to be post-racial and multicultural. * Christian Century Review *Because the text stays so close to her teachers words and theorizations while working through complex questions regarding power and religious and racial identity, it is accessible to both everyday readers and scholarly circles alike. * Religious Studies Review *The book in sum is an admirable approach to the circulation of Blackness, which few have taken up in the context of Muslims in the United States. * Sociology of Religion *Muslim Cool discusses much-neglected topics in the field of Islam in America; Khabeer's discussion of Muslim masculinity in the United States, for instance, is a contribution to a shockingly small bibliography on the topic. * Mashriq Mahjar Journal *An intense and novel anthropological approach to the development of the relationship between African American Muslimsthe original American face of Islamand immigrant Muslims and their children. An absolute must-read. -- Aminah Beverly McCloud,DePaul UniversityMuslim Coolbrilliantly spotlights how Black Muslim youth construct and perform identities that embody indigenous forms of Black cultural production. Equally important, the text shows how these constructions are used to reimagine, reshape, and resist hegemonic and often anti-Black conceptions of Muslim identity. With masterful ethnographic detail, Abdul Khabeer offers a subtle and rich analysis of the complex relationships between race, religion, and state power. This book is a desperately needed intervention within Anthropology, Africana Studies, and Islamic Studies. -- Marc Lamont Hill,author of Beats, Rhymes, and Classroom Life: Hip-Hop Pedagogy and the Politics of IdentityIn times when both Islam and Hip Hop have been constructed as threats to American civilization by some, Muslim Cool presents a much-needed, rigorous analysis backed by rich, ethnographic detail to present a far more nuanced and intriguing storya story that is central to understanding current U.S. racial, religious, and political landscapes. Through Khabeers groundbreaking research and carefully crafted narrative and argumentation, we discover the journeys of young Muslims who find, through Hip Hop, a way of being Muslim that helps them challenge anti-Black racism in their everyday lives and interactions with systemic inequalities. Muslim Cool is, as dead prez once rapped, bigger than Hip Hopit is a must-read for anyone interested in race, religion and culture in contemporary America. -- H. Samy Alim,author of Roc the Mic Right: The Language of Hip Hop Culture

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Book SynopsisProfessor John Douglas Macready offers a post-foundational account of human dignity by way of a reconstructive reading of Hannah Arendt. He argues that Arendt's experience of political violence and genocide in the twentieth century, as well as her experience as a stateless person, led her to rethink human dignity as an intersubjective event of political experience. By tracing the contours of Arendt's thoughts on human dignity, Professor Macready offers convincing evidence that Arendt was engaged in retrieving the political experience that gave rise to the concept of human dignity in order to move beyond the traditional accounts of human dignity that relied principally on the status and stature of human beings. This allowed Arendt to retrofit the concept for a new political landscape and reconceive human dignity in terms of stancehow human beings stand in relationship to one another. Professor Macready elucidates Arendt's latent political ontology as a resource for developing strictly pTable of ContentsContents Foreword by Kathleen B. Jones Acknowledgments Sigla Introduction Chapter 1: The Quest for a Political Measure of Human Dignity Chapter 2: Rethinking Human Dignity in Dark Times Chapter 3: The Worldliness of Human Dignity Chapter 4: Conditional Dignity and Political Personhood Chapter 5: The Right to a Place in the World Bibliography Index About the Author

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Book SynopsisDespite its pervasive reputation as a place of religious extremes and war, Afghanistan has a complex and varied religious landscape where elements from a broad spectrum of religious belief vie for a place in society. It is also one of the birthplaces of a widely practiced variant of Islam: Sufism. Contemporary analysts suggest that Sufism is on the decline due to war and the ideological hardening that results from societies in conflict. However, in Sufi Civilities, Annika Schmeding argues that this is far from a truthful depiction. Members of Sufi communities have worked as resistance fighters, aid workers, business people, actors, professors, and daily workers in creative and ingenious ways to keep and renew their networks of community support. Based on long-term ethnographic field research among multiple Sufi communities in different urban areas of Afghanistan, the book examines navigational strategies employed by Sufi leaders over the past four decades to weather periods of instability and persecution, showing how they adapted to changing conditions in novel ways that crafted Sufism as a force in the civil sphere. This book offers a rare on-the-ground view into how Sufi leaders react to moments of transition within a highly insecure environment, and how humanity shines through the darkness during times of turmoil.Trade Review"An engaging, compelling, and beautifully-written ethnography that traverses the heterogeneous Sufi sociosphere of contemporary Afghanistan. Schmeding documents, in arresting detail and acute sensitivity, the dexterity of Sufi adepts in creating and maintaining civil communities amidst violence and ruptures. At once profound, riveting, and timely, the book is a vital contribution to the study of religion and civil society."—Ismail Fajrie Alatas, New York University"Sufi Civilities opens the door to a marvelous world of faith that lies hidden in plain sight. Schmeding's path breaking ethnographic account of diverse Sufi communities in contemporary Afghanistan is both new and exciting. Over the past half century they have outlasted every radical political regime that failed to appreciate just how deeply Sufism is embedded in Afghanistan's Islamic culture."—Thomas Barfield, Boston University"Afghan Sufis have been hidden from view by attention to mujahidin, Taliban, and al-Qaida. Through astute anthropological observation, Annika Schmeding shows how Sufis became important players in the contests for religious authority that emerged from the cultural whirligig of a NATO-supported Islamic Republic. This is a major contribution to the study of modern Afghanistan."—Nile Green, University of California, Los Angeles

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Book SynopsisSurviving repression tells the story of the Muslim Brotherhood following the 2013 coup d'état in Egypt. The Brotherhood gained legal recognition and quickly rose to power after the 2011 Arab uprisings, but its subsequent removal from office marked the beginning of the harshest repression of its troubled history. Forced into exile, the Brotherhood and its members are now faced with a monumental task as they rebuild this fragmented organisation. Drawing on extensive fieldwork and interviews with current and former members of the Brotherhood, the book explores this new era in the movement’s history, emphasising first-hand experiences, perspectives and emotions to better understand how individual responses to repression are affecting the movement as a whole.Surviving repression offers a unique insight into the main strategic, ideological and organizational debates dividing the Brotherhood.Table of ContentsIntroduction1 The Freedom and Justice Party in power: Islam is (not) the solution?2 The fall from grace3 The tanzim, shattered4 Lessons learnt? Stagnation vs adaptation5 Divided, togetherConclusionGlossaryBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisThis edited collection harnesses a diversity of interpretivist perspectives to provide a panoramic view of the production, experiences, contexts, and meanings of religion. Scholars from the US, South Asia and Europe explore religious phenomena using ethnographic, comparative historical, psychosocial, and critical theoretical approaches. Each chapter addresses foundational themes in the study of religion – from identity, discourse and power to ritual, emotion, and embodiment. Authors examine dynamic intersections of race, gender, history, and the present within the religious traditions of Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Buddhism, as well as among the non-religious. Cutting boldly across religious traditions and paradigms, the book investigates areas of harmony and contradiction across different interpretive lenses to achieve a richer understanding of the meanings of religion.Table of ContentsIntroduction: Interpretive Approaches in the Study of Religion ~ Erin F. Johnston 1. Making Sense of Queer Christian Lives ~ Jodi O'Brien 2. Intergenerational Transmission of Trauma: Religion, Spirituality and Ritual among Children and Grandchildren of Holocaust Survivors ~ Janet Jacobs 3. Doing It: Ethnography, Embodiment, and the Interpretation of Religion ~ Daniel Winchester 4. Mind the Gap: What Ethnographic Silences Can Teach Us ~ Rebecca Kneale Gould 5. The Public Sphere and Presentations of the Collective Self: Being Shia in Modern India ~ Aseem Hasnain 6. Meaning and Power: Toward a Critical Discursive Sociology of Religion ~ Titus Hjelm 7. The Religion of White Male Ethnonationalism in a Multicultural Reality ~ George Lundskow 8. Totalitarianism as Religion ~ Yong Wang 9. The Heritage Spectrum: A More Inclusive Typology for the Age of Global Buddhism ~ Jessica Marie Falcone 10. Interpreting Nonreligion ~ Evan Stewart Afterword: Approaching Religions – Some Refl ections on Meaning, Identity, and Power ~ Vikash Singh

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Book SynopsisThe Quest for Redemption: Central European Jewish Thought in Joseph Roth's Works by Rares Piloiu fills an important gap in Roth scholarship, placing Roth's major works of fiction for the first time in the context of a generational interest in religious redemption among the Jewish intellectuals of Central Europe. In it, Piloiu argues that Roth's challenging, often contradictory and ambivalent literary output is the result of an attempt to recast moral, political, and historical realities of an empirically observable world in a new, religiously transfigured reality through the medium of literature. This diegetic recasting of phenomenological encounters with the real is an expression of Roth's belief that, since the self and the world are in a continuing state of crisis, issuing from their separation in modernity, a restoration of their unity is necessary to redeem the historical existence of individuals and communities alike. Piloiu notes, however, that Roth's enterprise in this is not unique to his work, but rather is shared by an entire generation of Central European Jewish intellectuals. This generation, disillusioned by modernity's excessive secularism, rationalism, and nationalism, sought a radical solution in the revival of mystical religious traditions—above all, in the Judaic idea of messianic redemption. Their use of the Chasidic notion of redemption was highly original in that it stripped the notion of its original theological meaning and applied it to the secular experience of reality. As a result, Roth's quest for redemption is a quest for a salvation of the individual not outside, but within, history.

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Book SynopsisDuring their ascendancy and subsequent occupation of much of Europe, the Nazis plundered the documents and cultural treasures of Jewish organizations as well as other groups and individuals they deemed to be enemies of the Reich. When the Nazis were crushed, many of these looted collections, as well as records of Nazi state agencies that persecuted and murdered Jews, were discovered by the Soviet Army, then transferred to Moscow and held for decades in closed, secret archives. This catalog and guide supplies the first comprehensive, collection-by-collection English-language description of this historical and cultural documentation, which the Nazis meant to be among the only vestiges of the millions of victims they annihilated. Scholars and lay researchers will find this reference a unique and indispensable guide to the invaluable remains of a rich world brutally destroyed.

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Book SynopsisThrough the story of his Russian–Jewish parents’ arrival and in the Mississippi region, the author reveals the experience of the Jewish community in Hattiesburg from the 1920s through the 1960s, as it goes through times of prosperity but also faces the dangers of anti-Semitism. The story starts with the author’s father arriving in 1924 to become a peddler and then a merchant, joined by his mother in 1925, and follows the author himself as he searches into the history of his parents and the Jewish community, as well as a variety of its members: a young Jewish man who is tried and convicted of murder; Arthur Brodey, a Reform rabbi who gains wider acceptance for the congregation; Charles Mantinband, a rabbi whose civil rights activities won national recognition but stirred fears of Klan violence in his congregation; and Waldoff’s brother-in-law “B” Botnick of the Anti-Defamation League, whose work made him a target of assassin Byron de la Beckwith.Trade Review“What happens when a Professor Emeritus of English writes the story of his family’s settlement in America? In the case of A Story of Jewish Experience in Mississippi we get a modest size book with huge insights to important factors of American—especially Southern—Jewish history. … I recommend A Story of Jewish Experience in Mississippi especially for the insight it gives to this aspect of American history.” —Janice Rothschild Blumberg, The Jewish Georgian * The Jewish Georgian *“In addition to providing new first-person material, Waldoff attends to questions of narrative and memory, not only reporting family stories, but noting omissions, inaccuracies, and discrepancies in and between various accounts. This tendency reflects the author’s background in literary studies, and it enriches the text. … A Story of Jewish Experience in Mississippi succeeds as a blended family history and memoir. Waldoff competently retells a specific, multigenerational story that speaks at once to the local conditions of Jewish life in Hattiesburg and to regional, national, and transnational developments in Jewish life and culture. Passages are rich and detailed, and his emphasis on memory and narrative suggests the possibilities of a more interdisciplinary approach to the Jewish South.” —Joshua Parshall, Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life, Southern Jewish History“Not every Jewish immigrant from Russia and Eastern Europe who landed at Ellis Island ended up in Brooklyn or the Lower East Side. Some of them reached such unlikely destinations as the chicken farms of Petaluma and the frozen wastes of North Dakota. Relatively few of them, however, tried to make a new life in the heart of the Deep South. A Story of Jewish Experience in Mississippi by Leon Waldoff is a heartfelt but also meticulously researched and deeply insightful account of one family that did. ... Not until he undertook the research for his book did Waldoff fully understand the unspoken rules that governed race relations in the Deep South. … To his great credit, Waldoff suggests throughout his affecting book that the Jews in Mississippi and elsewhere in the Deep South could have and should have recognized their common cause with their black neighbors far sooner than they did. And yet, to the credit of the Jewish leaders and activists that he also writes about, Waldoff demonstrates that the Jewish community, once roused to action, joined the struggle with strength and good courage.” —Jonathan Kirsch, the Jewish Journal“Waldoff, a professor emeritus of English at the University of Illinois, has written a fine account of his youth in Hattiesburg. A Story of Jewish Experience in Mississippi covers a lot of ground. It is not only a profile of a remote Jewish community, but an examination of race relations during the Jim Crow era and the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.” —Sheldon Kirshner, The Times of Israel“Waldoff proves to be a fine historian. He tracks down a broad range of primary sources to flesh out details and makes use of the literature on southern Jews to provide a larger context. The book reads like a journey of discovery, as Waldoff uncovers the backstory of dimly remembered events, people, and family lore, while allowing his characters to be heard in their own voices as much as possible. His tale is not only well told, but it also adds detail and nuance to important subjects in the historiography of southern Jewry.”—Deborah R. Weiner, Journal of Southern HistoryTable of Contents Acknowledgments Introduction Chapter 1: From Russia to Mississippi Chapter 2: A Merchant, After All Chapter 3: Fear in Low Profile: An Incident in the 1930s Chapter 4: Our Home Chapter 5: Surviving the Depression, Finding Acceptance, Anticipating War Chapter 6: Breaking the Silence about Segregation Chapter 7: Fear in High Profile: Terrorism in the 1960s Afterword

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Book SynopsisThe Venice Ghetto was founded in 1516 by the Venetian government as a segregated area of the city in which Jews were compelled to live. The world's first ghetto and the origin of the English word, the term simultaneously works to mark specific places and their histories, and as a global symbol that evokes themes of identity, exile, marginalization, and segregation. To capture these multiple meanings, the editors of this volume conceptualize the ghetto as a "memory space that travels" through both time and space.This interdisciplinary collection engages with questions about the history, conditions, and lived experience of the Venice Ghetto, including its legacy as a compulsory, segregated, and enclosed space. Contributors also consider the ghetto's influence on the figure of the Renaissance moneylender, the material culture of the ghetto archive, the urban form of North Africa's mellah and hara, and the ghetto's impact on the writings of Primo Levi and Marjorie Agosí­n.In addition to the volume editors, The Venice Ghetto features a foreword from James E. Young and contributions from Shaul Bassi, Murray Baumgarten, Margaux Fitoussi, Dario Miccoli, Andrea Yaakov Lattes, Federica Ruspio, Michael Shapiro, Clive Sinclair, and Emanuela Trevisan Semi.

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Book SynopsisThis is the story of how Zionism, supported by Americanism, created a modern miracle—told through the little-known stories of eight individuals who collectively changed history.And None Shall Make Them Afraid presents eight historic figures—four from Europe (Theodor Herzl, Chaim Weizmann, Vladimir Jabotinsky, and Abba Eban) and four from America (Louis D. Brandeis, Golda Meir, Ben Hecht, and Ron Dermer)—who reflect the intellectual and social revolutions that Zionism and Americanism brought to the world.In some cases, the stories have been forgotten; in other cases, misrepresented; in still others, not yet given their full due. But they are central to the miraculous recovery of the Jewish people in the twentieth century. Taken together, they recount both a people’s return to its place among the nations and the impact on history that a single individual can make.More than a century ago, after studying the early Zionist texts, Brandeis concluded that Jews were the “trustees” of their history, charged to “carry forward what others, in the past, have borne so well.” The stories in this book—recording the extraordinary efforts of extraordinary individuals that created the modern state of Israel and then sustained it—reinforce Brandeis’s observation for our own time. The story of Zionism, and its interaction with Americanism, is a continuing one. This book is not only about the past, but the present and future as well.Trade Review“An excellent book... It's a really good way to examine Israeli history and what's been happening... Worth the read." —Ben Shapiro (transcript from The Ben Shapiro Show) “Rick Richman has given us a tour de force which is as brilliant as it is beautiful.”—Norman Podhoretz, recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and former editor of Commentary“And None Shall Make Them Afraid is simply a wonderful book. Rick Richman’s fascinating portraits of eight extraordinary individuals present a much-needed reminder of the enormity of the Jewish accomplishments in America and Israel—the two countries where Jewish peoplehood has been most dramatically reimagined.”—Daniel Gordis, author of ISRAEL: A Concise History of a Nation Reborn“Richman’s mellifluous pen turns eight biographies into a mini course on the history of modern Israel while also offering a delight to read. Learn about these very different personalities born between 1860 and 1971, come away inspired by the ‘invisible baton passed from generation to generation.’” —Daniel Pipes, president of the Middle East Forum “Beautifully written and assiduously researched, Rick Richman’s new book makes an important contribution to our understanding of the connections between Zionism and Americanism. And None Shall Make Them Afraid combines to great effect rich portraits of eight individuals pivotal in the history of the modern State of Israel. It adds new details and insights that will inform and engage serious scholars and lay readers alike.”—Dov Waxman, Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation Chair in Israel Studies, University of California Los Angeles“Isaiah Berlin, reflecting on his time with Chaim Weizmann, said to know greatness ‘must permanently transform our ideas of what human beings can be or do.’ Here are eight people who transform our ideas of what is possible; inspiring and thrilling, these stories ring with struggle, triumph, and truth.”—Rabbi David Wolpe, Max Webb Senior Rabbi of Sinai Temple“In a cynical age it grows ever more important for our writers and journalists to have heroes, and it’s inspiring to read Rick Richman’s roster of Zionist heroes in And None Shall Make Them Afraid. Plus, too, there are some choice scoops herein that the historians missed.”—Seth Lipsky, editor of the New York Sun"A Zionist 'Profiles in Courage' ...a briskly written reminder... at a time when much ink is being spilled over the drift of American Jews away from Israel, Mr. Richman builds the case for a fruitful and durable connection between the Land of the Free and the Jewish homeland."—A.R. Hoffman, assistant editor of the New York Sun"There have been plenty of books written about Zionism and its early founders and builders, like Theodor Herzl, Vladimir Jabotinsky, Golda Meir and Louis D. Brandeis. While many of these works are compelling, and help readers learn more about the history of the Jewish state, they tend to be overviews of these individuals rather than deep dives into their stories and legacies. Now, in a new book by author Rick Richman, readers can become more familiar with these legends and how they contributed to Israel."—Kylie Ora Lobell, Jewish Journal "Each of the eight stories, and personalities, are important in their own right, but taken together, they convey a layered, attractive, fascinating picture; not surprisingly, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. ... When you finish this timely, incisive book, you will have been educated, entertained, and perhaps even uplifted. It is exceedingly well written, thought provoking and exceptionally worthwhile."—The Readers Exchange

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Book SynopsisAll twenty-two original articles in the current volume are based on lectures given at the conference “The Jews in Italy: Their Contribution to the Development and Diffusion of Jewish Heritage”, which was convened in September 2011, at the University of Bologna, Department of Cultural Heritage. Geographically, the articles range from Italy to the Ottoman Empire (the Balkans and Aleppo), from France and Germany to the Middle East, including Israel, North and East Africa (Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, and Ethiopia). Chronologically, articles begin with the Roman period, through the Middle Ages and Renaissance until modern times. In this collection, the reader will find a wide range of subjects reflecting various scholarly perspectives such as history; Christian-Jewish relations; Kabbalah; commentary on the Bible and Talmud; language, grammar, and translation; literature; philosophy; gastronomy; art; culture; folklore; and education.Trade Review“Individually and collectively [the articles] provide valuable information and analysis about the current state of research of Italian Jewry in particular and in the context of Jewish studies in general. ... The Jews in Italy: Their Contribution to the Development and Diffusion of Jewish Heritage highlights how at the communal level Italian Jewish culture embodies Italian, and indeed global, culture.” —Howard Adelman, H-JudaicTable of Contents Preface THE ROMAN PERIOD Roman Attitudes to Jews and Judaism in the First Century BCE Miriam Ben Zeev THE MIDDLE AGES & THE RENAISSANCE The Oldest Complete Extant Sefer Torah Rediscovered at the Bologna University Library: Codicological, Textual, and Paleographic Features of an Ancient Eastern Tradition Mauro Perani Palestinian and Babylonian Traditions in Italy at the Outset of the Middle Ages: The Yerushalmi in the Writings of R. Isaiah di Trani (the Rid) Yaron Silverstein Abraham de Balmes’s Miqneh Abram: An Adaptation of Modistic Concepts by a Hebrew Grammarian of the Renaissance Dror Ben-Arié The Anonymous Hebrew Translation of Giordano Ruffo’s De medicina equorum and Its Language Michael Ryzhik Between The Book of Jossipon and The Book of Jashar Carmela Saranga Italian Jewry and Kabbalistic Rites Moshe Hallamish Ladino Translations from Italy: The Bible, Pirke Avot, the Passover Haggadah, and the Siddur Ora (Rodrigue) Schwarzwald The Jews of France and Italy during the Later Middle Ages and the Renaissance Shimon Schwarzfuchs Torah and Nature in the Writings of Some Italian Jewish Thinkers of the Renaissance Miguel Antonio Beltrán Munar Prenuptial Agreements in Ketubot from Italy Yoel Shilo THE MODERN PERIOD Jewish Ashkenazi Gastronomy in Northern Italy in the Early Modern Period: The Testimony of the Book Mitzvot Hanashim Zahava Weishouse The Depiction of Jesus’s Circumcision and Presentation in the Temple in Early Modern Paintings in Venice: Some Questions on Jesus’s Identity Maria Portmann Freemasonry and Saint-Simonism as Carriers of Enlightenment Values in David Levi’s Weltanschauung Alessandro Grazi The Unique Characteristics of Dybbuk Exorcisms in Rabbinic Documents from Eighteenth-Century Italy Yaniv Goldberg Rabbinic Ties between Italy and Aleppo in the Eighteenth Century Leah Bornstein-Makovetsky THE CONTEMPORARY PERIOD Jewish Solidarity: The Actions and Support of the Union of Italian Israelite Communities for the Jews of Libya and Ethiopia in the 1930s Yitzhak Mualem The Dispute between Italy and France in Tunisia: The Role of Language and the Position of Italian Jewry Filippo Petrucci Jews as Promoters of Italian Civilization in Libya Rachel Simon The Relations of the Holy See with the Jewish People after the 1993 Fundamental Agreement between the Holy See and the State of Israel: Divergence between the Interreligious Dialogue with the Jews of Rome and the Diplomatic Dialogue with Israel Eliav Taub Primo Levi: Chemist/Writer, Italian/Jew Smadar Shiffman Jewish Educational Proposals in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Florence Silvia Guetta

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Book SynopsisIn this volume, Bible Studies scholar Yitzhak (Itzik) Peleg offers an educational, values-based approach to the cycle of Jewish holidays—festivals and holy days—as found in the Jewish calendar. These special days play a dual role: they reflect a sense of identity with, and belonging to, the Jewish people, while simultaneously shaping that identity and sense of belonging. The biblical command “And you shall tell your son” (Exodus 13:8) is meant to ensure that children will become familiar with the history of their people via the experience of celebrating the holidays. It is the author’s claim, however, that this command must be preceded by another educational command: “And you shall listen to your son and your daughter.” The book examines the various Jewish holidays and ways in which they are celebrated, while focusing on three general topics: identity, belonging, memory. Throughout the generations, observance of the holidays has developed and changed, from time to time and place to place. These changes have enabled generations of Jews, in their various communities, to define their own Jewish identity and sense of belonging. Trade Review“[T]his book caters to Jewish people of all backgrounds and different levels of observance. The book places a great emphasis on the fact that the common denominator that unites us as a Jewish people is our love of the Bible, our tradition, and the preservation of our rich heritage for generations to come. … Peleg conveys in his book that both integration and balance between tradition and renewal will make the Jewish holidays relevant to more and more Jews, both younger and older. By embracing and celebrating the holidays that have been passed down to us generation after generation, the book speaks of the connection between Jews among themselves, as well as that between Jews and their past.” — Joseph Scutts, The Jerusalem ReportTable of ContentsIntroduction Holidays as an Educational Tool throughout the Generations (Ledorotaichem): Examples Holidays as Tools for Shaping Jewish Identity Holidays as Building a Sense of Belonging to Our People Remembrance in the Holidays as Shaping Identity and a Sense of Belonging to the Jewish People The Memory of the Holocaust as Shaping Identity and Belonging Developments and Changes in the Holidays throughout the Generations and in How We Relate to Them Passover as a Reflection (Mise en Abyme) of the Jewish Holidays Lessons from Our Journey through the Jewish Calendar from a Child’s Overview Epilogue: How Should We Celebrate Independence Day? BibliographyIndex of the Jewish Holidays

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Book SynopsisHolocaust survivors are depicted as more than just victims in this historical fiction novel for middle grade readers.Inspired by a true story, and told in two different time periods, Friends to the Rescue takes place in Fossa, Italy, a small mountain village that offered refuge to Jews during World War II. When the village suffered a devastating earthquake 65 years later, the Jewish refugees whom the town had helped traveled to Fossa to return the favor. On April 6, 2009, Luca and his grandfather Roberto were eating lunch together in their quiet home in Fossa, Italy when disaster struck. An earthquake shook the house, forcing them to scramble out and into the streets. As wave after wave trembled the ground, Luca watched as his home and small village fell to rubble.In the days ahead, with roads impassable, the village was cut off from the rest of the world. Luca and his neighbors needed to work together to survive. Nurses, doctors,

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Book SynopsisAt a time when the values of Catholic Ireland are so often viewed in a negative, even hostile, light, Mary Kenny?s approach is a balanced and measured recollection of the Ireland of our times - and of times past, since the foundation of the Irish state a hundred years ago. She focuses on the people and personalities involved in our social history, seeing Ireland from 1922 to 2022 through their stories, and the events in which they were involved. Yes, there have been stark failings in Irish society, involving the position and power of the Catholic church, and these must be honestly described. Yet our values, our heritage, our own family members also included many kind, intelligent and patriotic people doing their best, who built up the Irish state from a fragile beginning. Mary interweaves some of her own life-experiences, and the people she knew into this complex portrait of Irish life providing a stimulating, informative and enjoyable read.

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Book SynopsisIslam in France is often regarded as a political ‘issue’ and much of the scholarly and public debates about Islam in contemporary France over the last three decades have concentrated on the supposedly ‘antagonistic’ relationship between France, Islam and its Muslims. Against such a troubled backdrop, however, this book looks at the ways in which certain prominent French Muslim intellectuals seek to articulate a vision of multi-faith co-existence, which embraces a critical secularism, and which simultaneously draw on religious and secular humanist traditions. Intellectuals have historically played a major part in French public life, yet relatively little is known about the work of Abdelwahab Meddeb, Malek Chebel, Leïla Babès, Dounia Bouzar and Abdennour Bidar, whose writings and public interventions this book examines. Secularism, Islam and public intellectuals in contemporary France will be of particular interest to specialists, undergraduate and post-graduate students working across the Humanities and Social Sciences from disciplines such as Francophone Studies, Anthropology, Religious Studies or Sociology.Trade Review'Nadia Kiwan’s book, Secularism, Islam and Public Intellectuals in Contemporary France, addresses a topic that receives little attention in the social sciences: the position of Muslim intellectuals in France and their relationship to secularism. The interest of this work stretches beyond her object of study, and the problems she addresses speak to broader topics in preceding work on secularism and on the sociology of intellectuals. Kiwan’s goal is to shed light upon how knowledge production among secular Muslim intellectuals can be affected by hegemonic political discourses that casts Islam as contradictory to French values. Kiwan gives an extensive overview of French Muslim intellectuals in an original way.'Europe Now'In Secularism, Islam and Public Intellectuals in Contemporary France, Nadia Kiwan offers a detailed account of the works of five French Muslim secular intellectuals who diversely aim at articulating a "vision of multi-faith existence with universalist of vivre ensemble".'Hamza Esmili, Ethnic and Racial Studies'With a study devoted to key figures of the secular Muslim intellectual field in France, Nadia Kiwan addresses a significant lacuna in the literature on French and Francophone public intellectuals.'Dimitri Almeida, Modern & Contemporary France, 30:3 -- .Table of ContentsIntroduction1 Abdelwahab Meddeb: post-foundational Islam2 Malek Chebel: Enlightenment Islam3 Leïla Babès: spirituality, affect and women4 Dounia Bouzar: public intellectuals as policy experts in times of crisis5 Abdennour Bidar: existentialist Islam as intercultural translationConclusionBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisThe late-Victorian and Edwardian East End was an area not only defined by its poverty and destitution, but also by its ethnic and religious diversity. In the neighbourhoods of East London diasporic communities interacted with each other and with the host society in a number of different contexts. In Socialism and the Diasporic ‘Other’ Daniel Renshaw examines the sometimes turbulent relationships formed between Irish Catholic and Jewish populations and the socialist and labour organisations agitating in the area. Employing a comparative perspective, the book analyses the complex relations between working class migrants, conservative communal hierarchies and revolutionary groups. Commencing and concluding with waves of widespread industrial action in the East End, where politics were conflated with ethnic and diasporic identity, this book aims to reinterpret the attitudes of the turn-of-the-century East London Left towards ‘difference’. Concerned with both protecting hard-won gains for the industrial proletariat and championing marginalised minority groups, the ‘correct’ path to be taken by socialist movements was unclear throughout the period. The book simultaneously compares the experiences of the Irish and Jewish working classes between 1889 and 1912, and the relationships formed, at work, at worship, in political organisations or at school, between these diasporic groups.Trade ReviewReviews 'By looking at the strong currents of anti-Semitism and anti-Catholic/Irish sentiment that ran through different strands of pre-1914 British socialism and trade unionism, this book makes a significant contribution to the revitalisation of British labour history.' Dr Jon Lawrence, University of Cambridge‘This is a very thorough study of radical Irish Catholic and Jewish migrants in East London between 1889 and 1912 and their wider relationships.’ Mike Davis, ChartistTable of ContentsAcknowledgements Introduction 1 Diaspora, Migration, and Irish–Jewish Interactions in London, 1800–1889 2 Socialist Ideology, Organisation, and Interaction with Diaspora and Ethnicity 3 Socialism and the Religious ‘Other’ 4 Concerns of the Communal Leaderships 5 Grass-roots Interactions in the Diasporic East End 6 Conclusion Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisIt’s not just intelligence that’s going artificial! Numerous elements of our everyday life reek of inauthenticity. Even the grass we walk on and the plants we decorate our homes with demonstrate how the artificial has permeated our lives in ways we do not often give a thought to. In this issue of Critical Muslim, we explore how the artificial controls our lives—from the cities we live in to the online lives in which we immerse ourselves at every free moment. Challenges will be explored: AI has irrevocably changed the way we work and increased the ease with which we spend money. Notions of desire and freedom dissolve or fall by the wayside. Fake news and the lies we continue to tell ourselves give the phoney impression that everything is situation normal—yet the truth is anything but. About Critical Muslim: A quarterly publication of ideas and issues showcasing groundbreaking thinking on Islam and what it means to be a Muslim in a rapidly changing, interconnected world. Each edition centers on a discrete theme, and contributions include reportage, academic analysis, cultural commentary, photography, poetry, and book reviews.

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Book SynopsisAs late as the last quarter of the twentieth century there were expectations that Islam's political and cultural influence would dissipate as the advance of westernization brought modernization and secularization in its wake. Not only has Islam failed to follow the trajectory pursued by variants of Christianity, namely confinement to the private sphere and depoliticisation, but it has also forcefully re-asserted itself as mobilizations in its name challenge the global order in a series of geopolitical, cultural and philosophical struggles. The continuing (if not growing) relevance of Islam suggests that global history cannot simply be presented as a scaled up version of that of the West. Quests for Muslim autonomy present themselves in several forms - local and global, extremist and moderate, conservative and revisionist - in the light of which the recycling of conventional narratives about Islam becomes increasingly problematic. Not only are these accounts inadequate for understanding Muslim experiences, but by relying on them many Western governments pursue policies that are counter-productive and ultimately hazardous for Muslims and non-Muslims alike. "Recalling the Caliphate" engages critically with the interaction between Islam and the political in context of a post colonial world that continues to resist profound decolonization. In the first part of this book Sayyid focuses on how demands for Muslim autonomy are debated in terms such as democracy, cultural relativism, secularism and liberalism. Each chapter analyzes the displacements and evasions by which the decolonization of the Muslim world continues to be deflected and deferred, while the latter part of the book builds on this critique, exploring and attempts to accelerate the decolonization of the Muslim Ummah.

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Book SynopsisWhat can we learn from Islamic teachings that will take us closer to addressing today's most pressing development challenges, including forced migration and refugees, safeguarding and child welfare, gender-based violence, climate change, andpeacebuilding and conflict resolution?How can the mechanisms of charitable giving in Islam, such as zakat, sadaqah and waqf be used to fund development programmes?Islam and International Development is the culmination of extensive grass-roots experience of working among Muslim communities in developing countries, coupled with the commentary of academics and researchers. It includes analysis of successful projects that have respected and incorporated Islamic teachings into their design and delivery, so that development professionals and Muslim communities can work together to effect meaningful and sustainable change.Ajaz Ahmed Khan is a Senior Microfinance Adviser at CARE InternationalAffan Cheema is Head of Programme Quality for Islamic Relief Worldwide

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Book SynopsisA meticulously researched book that collects twelve playscripts written by European Jews imprisoned in the Terezín ghetto during the Holocaust. The concentration camp and Jewish ghetto at Terezín, or Theresienstadt, in what is now the Czech Republic, was a site of enormous suffering, fear, and death. But amid this horrific period, there was also a thriving and desperately vibrant cultural life. While the children’s drawings and musical pieces created in the ghetto have become justly famous, the prisoners’ theatrical works, though a lesser-known aspect of their artistic endeavors, deserves serious attention as well. Performing Captivity, Performing Escape collects twelve theatrical texts—cabaret songs and sketches, historical and verse dramas, puppet plays, and a Purim play—written by Czech and Austrian Jews. Together these works reveal the wide range of ways in which the prisoners engaged with and escaped from life in the ghetto through performance. The anthology opens with an insightful prologue by novelist Ivan Klíma, who was interned in the ghetto as a child and contains a detailed introduction by editor Lisa Peschel about the pre-war theatrical influences and wartime conditions that inspired the theater of the ghetto. The array of theatrical forms collected in this anthology speaks of the prisoners’ persistence of hope in a harrowing time and will be a moving read for students and scholars of the Holocaust. Trade Review“Performing Captivity, Performing Escape is a fascinating, heartbreaking, frequently witty collection that has been translated with love and care, and that brings to light art that has heretofore been hidden. When you add the essays, thorough biographical notes, and beautiful, evocative artwork, you end up with a powerful portrait of a tragic era in Central European history and of the power of art to ameliorate suffering.”—Austrian Studies Newsmagazine “Performing Captivity, Performing Escape is a fascinating, heartbreaking, frequently witty collection that has been translated with love and care, and that brings to light art that has heretofore been hidden. When you add the essays, thorough biographical notes, and beautiful, evocative artwork, you end up with a powerful portrait of a tragic era in Central European history and of the power of art to ameliorate suffering.” * Austrian Studies Newsmagazine *Table of ContentsList of IllustrationsAcknowledgementsPronunciation GuideEdition Notes and ConventionsIntroductionPrologue:?Terezín Theater by Ivan KlimaPart 1:?Czech-Language Texts1.Radio Show2.Looking for a Specter3.Songs from the Revue Prince Bettliegend4.The Smoke of Home 5.Laugh with Us6.The Second Czech CabaretPart 2:?German-Language Texts1.From the Strauss Cabarets2.The Treasure3.A Puppet Play in Ten Acts4.Purimspiel5.The Death of Orpheus6.The Insult—But Unintended; 7.or, The Man with the Defective Memory 8.A Theresienstadt Courtroom Scene9.From the Hofer Cabarets10.Epilogue: New Year’s Eve in the Oederan Slave-Labor CampGlossaryBibliography

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Book SynopsisThere is something you should know, Natan's father said. Comrade Stalin was not a great leader. He killed many innocent people, and he has been telling everyone to hate the Jews. We're better off with him dead.But, he added, don't tell anyone what we really think. You must act the same as everyone else._Standing Together_ tells the remarkable, true story of Natan Sharansky, the famous Jewish Soviet dissident and Refusenik who spent nine years in Soviet prison. The book spans most of Natan's life, from his earliest memories in kindergarten, when he learned of the death of Stalin, through his discovery of his Jewish identity, to his rebellion against the repressive Soviet society in which he lived, his involvement with the Refusenik and human rights movements that led to his imprisonment, and everything that came after. This is not only a biography of Natan, however, but of his wife Avital, who spent the nine years that Natan was in prison working tirelessly to raise global awareness o

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Book SynopsisTerrorism, radicalization and violent extremism dominate sociological, political and cultural concerns in today’s polarized social and political world. However, the role of governments and issues relating to state terrorism and the counter-terror state remain important considerations. This book presents an understanding of the concept of Countering Violent Extremism from a critical terrorism studies perspective using case studies from different countries while examining the issues it raises. Extremism and violence do not emerge in a vacuum – nor do the policies that counter these concerns. There are no simple solutions to violent extremism but the fixation on ideology can do more harm than good.Trade ReviewA wide-ranging and provocative treatment of political violence today. Countering Violent Extremism not only provides researchers with a set of critical resources through which to interrogate dominant conceptions of extremism and terrorism. It also offers practitioners an important set of tools with which to situate and address diverse forms of violence. The book deserves the wide audience it will no doubt receive. * Lee Jarvis, Professor of International Politics and Research Director, University of East Anglia, UK *Countering Violent Extremism: The International Deradicalization Agenda provides a deeply insightful overview – and trenchant critique – of the contemporary terrorism and de-radicalisation field. I was particularly impressed with the clear and concise but always sophisticated analysis of this complex and often perplexing subject, and the simple but profound conclusions it draws about responding to political violence. A fine example of applied critical thinking and research-informed analysis, it should be required reading for everyone involved in the de-radicalisation field, whether as researchers or practitioners. * Richard Jackson, University of Otago, New Zealand *Challenging the status quo is as crucial for CVE as it is for global security, especially when considering that the status quo can lead to ignoring or misrepresenting the underlying causes of terrorism and extremism. This book is a welcome departure from stagnant CVE evaluations that contribute to lackluster or damaging programming. * Kris McGuffie, Deputy Director, Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism, Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, USA *Table of ContentsAbout the book Acknowledgements Part One Terrorism and states 1 Definitional challenges 2 State terrorism 3 The counter-terror state 4 Genocide and ethnic cleansing Part Two Disentangling violent extremism 5 Individual factors in terrorism 6 The social science of extremism 7 Reciprocal radicalization 8 Countering reciprocal radicalization 9 The UK ‘Prevent’ agenda Part Three Deradicalization 10 Leaving terrorism behind 11 Disordered deradicalization 12 Driven to hate 13 Terror politics Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisErnest Renan was one of the intellectual giants of the second half of the nineteenth century in France, the man who first opened up the study of nationalism. In this book, Shlomo Sand, the author of the best-selling The Invention of the Jewish People, demonstrates the complexity of Renan's thought. Sand shows the relationship of Renan's work to that of key twentieth-century thinkers on nationalism, such as Raymond Aron and Ernest Gellner, and argues for the continued importance of studying Renan.Alongside his essay, Sand presents two classic lectures by Renan: the first, the renowned "What Is a Nation?", argues that nations are not based upon race, religion, and language; in the second he uses historical evidence to show that the Jews cannot be considered a "pure ethnos." On the Nation and the Jewish People is an important contribution to the understanding of nationalism, bringing back into play the work of a profoundly misunderstood thinker.

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Book SynopsisThe Qur’an is full of parables. Each one, when its meaning is unpacked and understood, offers wisdom and guidance. Surah Kahf, chapter 18 from the Qur’an, is particularly thought provoking, and Muslims are advised to read it at least once a week. But why? And what can we gain from it? In this book Yasir Qadhi leads us through Surah Kahf, unfolding the lines, stories and symbols that have inspired people for over a thousand years: the people of the cave, Prophet Musa’s momentous encounter with Khidr, the two men and their gardens, and Gog and Magog. And surely We have explained matters in people in the Qur’an in diverse ways, using all manners of parables. (Qur’an 18:54) Through Yasir Qadhi’s unmistakeable voice, modern Muslims may glimpse some of the Qur’an’s profound meaning. Say: “If the sea were to become ink to record the Words of my Lord, indeed the sea would all be used up before the Words of my Lord are exhausted…” (Qur’an 18:109)

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Book SynopsisThe author devotes this volume to a debate concerning the application of the rule of cause prevention. He shows that a strict and extremist application has been the reason for many restrictions that social tradition in many Muslim countries have imposed on women, depriving them of much that is permissible in Islam. He cites clear evidence confirming that women’s full participation in social life was part of the Prophet’s guidance. His approach is always balanced between the freedom Islam gives to women’s participation in life’s activities and the need to adhere to Islamic regulations and values concerning attire and behaviour.

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Book SynopsisWhat is halal? Does Islam have a particular flavour? Is culture transferred through gastronomy? In this issue we resist intoxication by wine and soberly sample the culinary delights of the Muslim world—then and now. By exploring the more obscure delicacies of international cuisine, we confront the underbelly of gluttony and ask why the Muslim world is so indulgently carnivorous. We go back to nature on an organic farm and consider whether going organic will save the world and promote the true spirit of Islam.

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Book Synopsis"Taut and illuminating¿ memorable¿ written with the humility of he who confesses himself and with the honesty of he who bore witness." Primo Levi"Luminous, almost light-hearted, autobiography about a family of Italian Jews under Mussolini." Frederic Raphael, Sunday TimesSegre tells the story of his childhood and adolescence in Mussolini's Italy. Nurtured in a world of aristocratic privilege, he emerged naive and unprepared for the realities that awaited him. The crash of 1929 and the introduction of Mussolini's anti-Jewish laws saw him on the boat to Tel Aviv, a rare immigrant with a first-class ticket, jacket, silk tie and detachable linen collar, thrust into the pioneering culture of Palestine in the 1930s. Segre explores the pathos and contradictions of such situations with a keen sense of irony which lifts the book out of the world of memoirs and into the realm of literature.

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Book SynopsisThe Jewish Journey is unique in three respects. First, it is a short, accessible, affordable and illustrated history of the Jewish people. Most books of this kind are heavy, unwieldy, expensive coffee-table books. Secondly, the book is absolutely unique in highlighting Jewish objects from the standing collection of a world-renowned public museum. Jewish history is more normally confined to dedicated Jewish museums. This book breaks new ground by showing Jewish history in its wider historical, social and cultural context, and presents objects that reflect on daily life over the centuries, e.g. family, marriage, trade and travel, rather than the much more common depictions of artefacts for sacred and religious use. Thirdly, the Jewish significance of these particular 22 objects has until now been overlooked. This book draws them together for the first time to tell their specifically Jewish story, highlighting both the distinctive features of Jewish experience and the long history of close interaction with other cultures and religions. The 22 objects include pottery, coins, jewellery, household artefacts, sacred items, musical instruments and paintings.Together they bring to life the experiences of the real men and women who owned, made and used them, from kings, courtiers and scholars to guerrilla fighters, musicians and market stall holders. Individually and collectively, the objects vividly document dark periods of persecution and forced migration, whilst highlighting the astonishing resilience and diversity of Jewish life, revealing centuries of two-way interaction with many other cultures and religions. Through the histories of each of the objects, the reader is guided on a double journey. One path leads through the galleries of the Ashmolean; the other accompanies the Jewish people across the centuries. The Jewish Journey brings to light for the first time the amazing Jewish treasures in the Ashmolean Museum, explaining their specifically Jewish significance in a direct, accessible style for the general reader.

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Book Synopsis This new book by the eminent critic provides an informative and timely survey of contemporary approaches to Joyce and modern Irish writing over almost 40 years. In a fresh opening survey Pierce explores the new departure for fiction heralded by A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and this is followed by essays on the hybrid landscape in Ulysses and on the distinctive style and humour of the ''Eumaeus'' episode. Other pieces focus on the appeal of Irish short-story writer, Benedict Kiely, anthologies of Irish writing, and Irish writing in the years 2006-9. The second half of The Joyce Country is devoted to twenty-six reviews of books about Joyce written from the 1980s to the present and grouped under several headings including ''Joyce''s European Cities'', ''Joyce, Yeats and the Matter of Ireland'', ''Ulysses in Perspective'', and ''Joyce and Modernism''.

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Book SynopsisThis book discusses recent trends and issues in the scholarly study of the Qur’ān and its exegesis. The last few years have witnessed an unprecedented development in qur'anic studies in terms of both the number of volumes that have been produced and the wide range of issues covered. It is not an exaggeration to say that the field of qur'anic studies today has become the 'crown' of Islamic studies. In this book, scholars of diverse approaches critically engage with the Qur’ān and its exegesis, including questions about the milieu in which the Qur’ān emerged, the Qur’ān's relation to the biblical tradition, its chronology, textual integrity, and its literary features. In addition, this volume addresses recent scholarship on tafsīr (qur'anic exegesis), including thematic interpretation, diacronic and syncronic readings of the Qur’ān. Various approaches to understanding the Muslim scripture with or without tafsīr are also discussed.

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Book SynopsisThis multidisciplinary collection probes ways in which emerging and established scholars perceive and theorize decolonization and resistance in their own fields of work, from education to political and social studies, to psychology, medicine, and beyond. In this time of renewed global spiritual awakening, indigenous communities are revisiting ways of knowing and evoking theories of resistance informed by communal theories of solidarity. Using an intersectional lens, chapter authors present or imagine modes of solidarity, resistance, and political action that subvert colonial and neocolonial formations. Placing emphasis on the importance of theorizing the spirit, a discourse that is deeply embedded in our unique cultures and ancestries, this book is able to capture and better understand these moments and processes of spiritual emergence/re-emergence. Trade Review“This is a readable and highly stimulating volume. It will be of interest to those from a range of spiritual backgrounds, particularly those concerned to deepen the connection between spirituality and the transformation of society. Its central message, that the human spirit cannot be colonised, is powerfully and poignantly articulated.” (Paul Hess, Black Theology, December 3, 2020)Table of Contents1. Decolonizing Western Medicine and Systems of Care: Implications for Education2. Is Decolonizing the Spirit Possible?3. Spirituality and the Search for Home: The Complexities of Practicing Sikhism on Indigenous Land4. Land and Healing: A Decolonizing Inquiry for Centering Land as the Site of Indigenous Medicine and Healing5. Healing and Well-Being as Tools of Decolonization and Social Justice: Anti-colonial Praxis of Indigenous Women in the Philippines6. Decolonizing Western Medicine and Systems of Care: Implications for Education7. Blood Anger: The Spirituality of Anti-Colonial Blood-Anger for Self Defense8. In my Mother's Kitchen: Spirituality and Decolonization9. Reclaiming Cultural Identity through Decolonization of Eating Habits10. A Journal on Ubuntu Spirituality11. Shedding the Colonial Skin: The Decolonial Potentialities of Dreaming12. Critical Spirituality: Decolonizing the Self13. A Landscape of Sacred Regeneration and Resilience14. Closing Dialogue on Decolonizing the Spirit with Dr. Njoki Nathani Wane and Kimberly L. Todd15. Conclusion: The Politics of Spirituality: A Postsocialist View

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Book SynopsisDrawing on qualitative research conducted in Brussels, Wallonia and Flanders, Islam and Turks in Belgium examines the interdependence between Muslim community and association. With a focus on social groups, religious structures and circles within Turkish populations, this book demonstrates how communal and associative movements operate through a combination of relationships of proximity and distance. Proximity is a way in which Muslim organisations establish religious, social, and cultural ties with communities. Distance, on the other hand, takes into account social, historical, and political elements from abroad, and refers to the relationship with the Muslim world more broadly. As this reciprocal web of relations gives rise to Islamic mobilisations, it leads to the emergence or persistence of different figures of authority within associations and communities who articulate traditional, charismatic, and bureaucratic legitimacies.This book will be of interest to students and scholars of the sociology of religion, migration, race, ethnicity and Islamic studies. Table of Contents1. Introduction2. Religious Movements Among the Turks in Belgium3. Islamic Movement, Mobilization, and Authority4. Conclusion: Community (Cemaat) and Association (Cemiyet)

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Book SynopsisThis book challenges the narrative of Northern England as a failed space of multiculturalism, drawing on a historically-contextualised discussion of ethnic relations to argue that multiculturalism has been more successful and locally situated than these assumptions allow.The authors examine the interplay between ‘race’, space and place to analyse how profound economic change, the evolving nature of the state, individual racism, and the local creation and enactment of multiculturalist policies have all contributed to shaping the trajectory of ethnic/faith identities and inter-community relations at a local level. In doing so, the book analyses both change and continuity in discussion of, and national/local state policy towards, ethnic relations, particularly around the supposed segregation/integration dichotomy, and the ways in which racialised ‘events’ are perceived and ‘identities’ are created and reflected in state policy operations. Drawing on the authors’ long involvement in empirical research, policy and practice around ethnicity, ‘race’ and racism in the Northern England, they effectively support critical and situated analysis of controversial, racialised issues, and set these geographically specific findings in the context of wider international experiences of and tensions around growing ethnic diversity in the context of profound economic and social changes.Trade Review“The text moves from a general discussion of multiculturalism and ethnic minority settlement in the North of England towards more focussed chapters on policy issues, black and Muslim community and cultural responses, as well as an especially valuable section on white working class community reactions. ... this volume is well worth reading.” (Greg Smith, williamtemplefoundation.org.uk, November 6, 2020)Table of Contents1. Introduction: 'Race', Space and Place in Northern England.- 2. Failed Spaces of Multiculturalism?.- 3. Parallel Lives?.- 4. Policy: From Assimilation to Integration?.- 5. Black, Asian and the Muslim Cool.- 6. From the Oppressive Majority to Oppressed Minority? Changing White Self-identifications.- 7. Educated to be Separate?.- 8. Conclusion: Not Such a 'Failure' - A Multiculturalism Space in Development.

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Book SynopsisThis open access volume is the first academic book on the controversial issue of including spiritual care in integrated electronic medical records (EMR). Based on an international study group comprising researchers from Europe (The Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland), the United States, Canada, and Australia, this edited collection provides an overview of different charting practices and experiences in various countries and healthcare contexts. Encompassing case studies and analyses of theological, ethical, legal, healthcare policy, and practical issues, the volume is a groundbreaking reference for future discussion, research, and strategic planning for inter- or multi-faith healthcare chaplains and other spiritual care providers involved in the new field of documenting spiritual care in EMR. Topics explored among the chapters include: Spiritual Care Charting/Documenting/Recording/Assessment Charting Spiritual Care: Psychiatric and Psychotherapeutic Aspects Palliative Chaplain Spiritual Assessment Progress Notes Charting Spiritual Care: Ethical Perspectives Charting Spiritual Care in Digital Health: Analyses and Perspectives Charting Spiritual Care: The Emerging Role of Chaplaincy Records in Global Health Care is an essential resource for researchers in interprofessional spiritual care and healthcare chaplaincy, healthcare chaplains and other spiritual caregivers (nurses, physicians, psychologists, etc.), practical theologians and health ethicists, and church and denominational representatives. Table of ContentsSimon Peng-Keller/David Neuhold Recording spiritual care in electronic medical records. Overview on an ongoing developmentAbstract: The introductory contribution begins with a historically oriented sketch. By referring to ancient and early modern practices, the relationship between spiritual (self-)care and various forms ofdocumentation is broadened. The focus is then on the documentation efforts of clinical pastoral care in the 20th century. The recording of clinical pastoral care is by no means new. The efforts of thephysician Richard Cabot and the theologian Russel L. Dicks in the 1930s show this impressively. In afurther step, more recent developments, which were important in the run-up to the electronic medical record (EMR) that produced it, are pursued. An exemplary view, namely of Kenya, expands what is depicted into another context beyond the western realm. Finally, the chapter gives an overview of the state of research and literature on the topic and some of the questions discussed therein, such as the pastoral mystery and the crucial matter of confidentiality. Possible unintended consequences of the emerging practice also are considered. Thus, the discussion is complex, multifaceted, and changing.Keywords: Documentation, history, (self-)care, EMR, pastoral mystery, confidentiality, unintended side effects.I. Basic considerationsEckhard Frick Psychiatric-psychotherapeutic perspectiveAbstract: Proactively addressing spiritual and religious (s/r) issues has a strong intervention effect on patients that is generally more important than the detailed content of spiritual screenings and assessments. When asked about s/r needs or problems, patients may feel bothered, surprised, annoyed, or, conversely, satisfied, supported, acknowledged in their coping efforts. Consequently, documentation should first of all reflect whether and how the patient reacts towards the clinician’s s/r intervention and whether and how he wants this interaction to be shared in the healthcare team. There is growing evidence that patients want that the carers to take into account the spiritual dimension of health care. Health professionals must, however, respect individual and general boundaries (non-compulsive, non-proselytizing, non-neglecting approach). In psychiatry and psychotherapy, patients’ spirituality is less pathologized than in former times and more and more accepted as a universal dimension to human experience, transcending individual religions. In mental health and in other medical fields, s/r may be part of the problem or part of the solution (K. Pargament) or both. Consequently, spiritual charting should not only differentiate pathological / negative and resilient / positive coping but also comprise the patient’s s/r health-care preferences and goals as well as the role he or she attributes to the health professional. All in all, a hermeneutical (understanding) approach is required both when communicating with the patient and when putting it into writing for the healthcare team, i.e., «translating» the patient’s spirituality and sharing it with different team members respecting their own s/r and professional belongings as well as their experiences and competencies in this field.Key words: Spirituality, psychotherapy, team, patientGuy Jobin Ethical perspectiveAbstract: The introduction of EHRs into clinical practice appears to be irreversible. Where EHRs are used, chaplains have cooperated willingly with this way of reporting and sharing information with other members of the care team. They must, as a result, adapt their own note-taking practices to ensure effective, relevant, and meaningful communication as part of the joint decision-making process. Although EHRs raise ethical issues that can be described as «classic», particularly in connection with confidentiality and access, other questions, just as crucial, have received less attention in the specialized literature and are addressed here. They include recognition for all players in the care relationship (both patients and caregivers) as subjects, and the communication of «non-generic» information such as emotions, values, life history, etc.Key words: Clinical Judgment, Confidentiality, Deontology, Ethics, RecognitionPaul Galchutt/Judy Connolly What We Don't Know Can Hurt Us. Spiritual Assessment Notes in Palliative CareAbstract: The research question, «What is helpful as well as missing from palliative chaplain spiritual assessment progress notes,» arose from the context of seeking to know how palliative chaplain spiritual assessment progress notes can best be relevant and make a difference for a patient’s care. The information-rich audience to address this question were the non-chaplain palliative care team members. Seven focus groups, two of which were in a children’s hospital context, were hosted with forty-two non-chaplain palliative team participants. Through a constant comparative qualitative analysis process, the major results revealed four important considerations for palliative care chaplains. First, palliative interprofessional team members want more help and information regarding a patient’s decision making, especially related to a patient’s religion and/or spirituality. Second, and in line with palliative care principles, the participants discussed their desire for relevant notation on a patient’s sense of suffering and coping. Third, a request was made for the chaplain to consistently document his/her perception of emotion emerging from the patient and/or family. The last major result to emerge was that the progress notes should have a summary content section at the top of the note with the most important information contained there. Palliative care chaplains need to continue to hone progress-note content such that it continues to be relevant and effective in helping make a difference to reduce suffering and improve quality of life with patients and families.Key Words: Palliative Care, assessment progress notes, interprofessional team, quality of lifeII. National developments and trendsBrent PeeryChaplaincy Documentation in a Large U.S. Health SystemCommentary: Simon Peng-KellerAbstract: Chaplaincy documentation practices in the United States have evolved over time. Variation in practice still remains. However, the trend in the profession is toward the expectation that chaplains will document their care. There is also increased expectation regarding the content of that documentation. This chapter contains some of the history and current practice of chaplaincy documentation within the Memorial Hermann Health System in Houston, Texas. It includes a discussion of the who, what, where, when, how, and why of chaplaincy documentation. Memorial Hermann chaplains strive to document care in a manner that bears witness to the holistic humanity of the care recipients. The author also describes the care in a way that helps others understand the important ways professional chaplains contribute to the wellbeing of others.Key Words: Chaplaincy, spiritual care, charting, documentation, electronic medical recordBruno Bélanger/Line Beauregard/Mario Bélanger/Chantal Bergeron Documenting Spiritual Care in CanadaCommentary: Ralph KunzAbstract: Over the past decade or so, the quality of the evaluation note written by a spiritual care provider (ISS) has been a major issue in accountability and the quality of interdisciplinary collaboration. This chapter proposes two models of notes: «the note following a meeting with a user», generally used in acute care, and «the note following a meeting with a relative», generally used in long-term care, in cases where a patient can no longer express himself. These two charting models were developed on the basis of the RESS (Benchmarks for Spiritual Care Assessment) assessment tool, recently developed at the CSsanté, whose usefulness and applicability were assessed in a research study. The note models presented in this chapter are essentially inspired by the vision of spirituality underlying the work of accompanying patients and the development of the RESS. The authors found that the clinical benefits of streamlining an evaluation and note-writing model are a major step forward in a profession that has been rapidly evolving in Quebec in recent years.Keywords: Quebec, spiritual care, quality of interdisciplinary collaboration, spirituality, benefitsChristine Hennequin Documenting Spiritual Care in AustraliaCommentary: Livia Wey-MeierAbstract: Documentation in medical records is an important aspect of providing care in Australian health services. Documenting spiritual care in health services has evolved over many decades. A brief historical overview of the models of chaplaincy in Victoria, Australia from the 1950s shows the development from faith-based models to more professional models in the last two decades. Models may include spiritual care faith representatives and volunteers; access to medical records differs for each of these providers. Data collection and describing pastoral interventions in the 1990s as part of an Allied Health project at Austin Health, Heidelberg Victoria was a key milestone as was the inclusion of pastoral care intervention codes in the Australian ICD-10_AM/ACHI/ACS codes in 2002. As a peak body, the Healthcare Chaplaincy Council of Victoria and later Spiritual Health Victoria continued to develop documentation guidelines including consistent ways of collecting data and describing interventions. Reporting on spiritual care activity to the Victorian government’s Department of Health and Human Services emphasised this requirement to develop a minimum dataset and to educate the spiritual care sector. A Spiritual Care Minimum Data Set Framework was developed in 2015 and evaluated. Revised guidelines were disseminated by Spiritual Health Victoria in 2019. Three case studies of Victorian hospitals illustrate how documenting in electronic and paper medical records currently meet the Spiritual Health Victoria guidelines. Documentation assists with the integration of spiritual care in the health service, with internal reporting and with research. It also enables spiritual care activity to be visible and available electronically for reporting to government as required.Key Words: Documentation, medical records, models, pastoral care, spiritual care, chaplaincy, intervention, data, framework, guidelinesWilfred McSherry/Linda Ross Documenting Spiritual Care in the U.K.Commentary: David NeuholdAbstract: This chapter explores how spiritual aspects of care are being documented within the United Kingdom (UK) with a specific focus upon health care, primarily the nursing and chaplaincy professions. This has not been an easy undertaking given the lack of a standardised approach, the changing and challenging landscape of health care in the UK, and the conflicting terminology used when trying to assess, capture, and record encounters, interactions, and conversations with patients and their carers about their spiritual needs. The authors draw upon their own research and informal enquiries with chaplains from across England, Scotland, and Wales, demonstrating that there is a wide range and variation in practice. The authors conclude that there is no standardised means of assessing and documenting spiritual needs and care in the UK and that this is unlikely to become a reality until the many complex challenges outlined are addressed both politically and professionally.Key Words: Chaplaincy, nursing, spiritual care, charting, documentation, England, Scotland, Ireland, WalesWim Smeets/Anneke de Vries Spiritual Care and Electronic Medical Recording in Dutch HospitalsCommentary: David NeuholdAbstract: Among Dutch Healthcare Professionals, it is not a foregone conclusion that conversations with patients should be recorded electronically. This chapter first describes the discussion among them about the pros and cons of EMR. The authors then discuss the Dutch and European legislator’s requirements for the protection of patients’ privacy and therefore of their stories, and how these requirements work out in EMR’s practice. The third section is devoted to the question as to why spiritual caregivers should actually record their conversations with patients. The authors put forward various arguments for this. In their view, charting appears to serve both the interests of patients and the interests of the healthcare providers and of the spiritual care professionals themselves. The authors then describe various possible methods of registration, including G. Fitchett’s model in an adapted, more secular form. By means of two cases, one fairly extensive and one more concise, they show how registration takes place in practice at the Radboudumc. The chapter concludes with the formulation of plans and wishes for the near future.Key-Words: EMR – Legislation – Registration models – Healthcare providers – Hospital – umcAnne Vandenhoeck Documenting Spiritual Care in BelgiumCommentary: Eva-Maria FaberAbstract: The main motive for spiritual care givers to chart in electronic patient files should be to contribute to the best possible spiritual care for patients and their loved ones. The culture in health care has always influenced spiritual care and vice versa. The contemporary economic paradigm in health care fuels core concepts like quality of care, efficiency, interdisciplinary care, and patient-centered care. Electronic patient files serve multiple of those core concepts and it is important for spiritual caregivers to be accountable in their service to patients and loved ones. In this contribution the author explores charting by spiritual caregivers in the context of general hospitals in Flanders, Belgium. The main charting system, which is used by a big cluster of hospitals in Flanders, includes space for the spiritual caregivers to chart. The language used is based on the Discipline for Pastoral Care Giving, an outcome-based model for spiritual care by the late Arthur Lucas. In this contribution the author reflects on several ways of charting and touches upon several tensions: the tension between sharing and confidentiality, between charting for yourself and for an interdisciplinary team, between time to chart and time to visit. From the perspective of tensions, charting remains an interesting medium to reflect upon the contemporary content of spiritual care and the position of spiritual caregivers in health care.Keywords: Spiritual caregivers as bearers of patients’ stories, interdisciplinary patient file, confidentiality, functional narrative charting, continuity in care for the patient’s story, outcomes of spiritual carePascal Mösli Emerging practices in SwitzerlandCommentary: TBDAbstract: The pastoral documentation is developing rapidly in Switzerland. As part of the palliative complex treatment required by hospitals, developed independently by pastoral teams in the interprofessional context of large hospitals, it has also found its way into current standard papers of pastoral expert committees. In order to understand how pastoral care professionals throughout Switzerland think about documentation, a survey of German-speaking pastoral care professionals was conducted in spring 2019. The response rate was 54%, so the results of the survey provide a good insight into the Swiss situation. The results show that there is also a major upheaval in the minds of pastoral care professionals. While about 50% of all pastoral professionals in Switzerland document pastoral work in some form, more than 70% of those who do not currently document could imagine – under certain conditions – documenting. The chapter informs about the development of the pastoral documentation, contexts, and framework conditions of the healthcare system and the church, and their meaning from the point of view of the pastoral professionals themselves.III. Challenges and perspectives for the futureSimon Peng-Keller Challenges and perspectives for the futureAbstract: In a first step, the final contribution to the volume collects and organizes the various topics of the discussion. Second, it filters out the critical and controversial points as well as the convergences in the transnational developments. Third, the desiderata for research is articulated and some ideas for future research programmes are formulated. The chapter concludes with a sketch of a future practice of recording spiritual care.

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