Peter Y. Medding - Böcker

Studies in Contemporary Jewry brings together for the first time scholars working in different countries and belonging to different disciplines. Regarding modern Jewish history as a part of the ethnic explosion which has had a momentous impact on 19th- and 20th-century history, the contributors to Volume III address one of the greatest questions of modern Jewish studies: to what extent is modern Jewish history unique, and to what extent have Jews acted in ways similar to those of other minorities?

This is the fourth volume in the series published annually for the Institute of Contemporary Jewry of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Both the editors and the international review and advisory board include virtually all the major scholars of Jewish history in the world. The yearbook includes symposia, articles, book reviews, and lists of recent dissertations in the field. This volume's symposium title is 'The Jews and the European Crisis, 1914-1921.'

Of the twenty-one countries which established democratic states after 1945, only Israel has remained a functioning democracy, despite the adverse conditions under which it was founded. In this study of Israel's founding years from 1948 to 1967, Peter Medding, a highly regarded scholar of Jewish society and politics, asks why this was the case. He provides a lucid account of the political and historical background to this distinctive period, the political relations which characterized it, and the changes in the balance of forces which brought it to an end. He describes the state-building process and the role played by David Ben-Gurion and other politicians in moving from consensus politics to a majoritarian democracy. Medding's analysis is further enriched by his comparisons of the development of Israeli democracy with that of other countries.

This is the fifth volume of the annual publication of the Institute of Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. This volume is an up-to-date examination by noted specialists of the issues and developments that have shaped the state and the people of Israel over the past forty years, with special emphasis on the most recent trends. The volume presents in a concise form a review of the most recent research on Israeli politics and society, affording the general reader as well as the specialist an in-depth introduction to the key developments affecting Israel from within. Highlights include: Dan Horowitz and Moshe Lissak on key issues and conflicts that will determine Israel's future course; Pnina Morag-Talmon and Eliezer Ben-Rafael on the emergence of Israeli multi-ethnicity; Sammy Smooha on the growing politicization of Israel's Arab minority; Aviezer Ravitzky on the dilemmas facing the Haredi, or ultraorthodox population; and Itzhak Galnoor and Erik Cohen on the underpinnings of Israeli democracy and social consensus in the light of recent events.

This is the seventh volume of the annual publication of the Institute of Contemporary Jewry. The editors are distinguished professors at the Hebrew University, and the international review and advisory boards for the annual include most of the major scholars of Jewish history in the world.Jews and Messianism in the Modern Era examines the significance and meaning of messianic metaphors, themes, and ideals in modern Jewish history and culture. Contents: Jody Elizabeth Myers: The Messianic Idea and Zionist Ideologies; Aviezer Ravitzky: Forcing the End: Zionism and the State of Israel as Anti-Messianic Undertakings; Yaacov Shavit: Realism and Messianism in Zionism and the Yishuv; Hannan Hever: Poetry and Messianism in Palestine between the Two World Wars; Paul Mendes-Flohr: `The Stronger the Better': Jewish Theological Responses to Political Messianism in the Weimar Republic; Richard Wolin: Reflection on Jewish Secular Messianism; The volume also contains essays, book reviews, and a list of recent dissertations in the field.

This eighth volume of the annual publication of the Institute of Contemporary Jewry focuses on the history and development of American Jewish life since World War II.

Drawing upon original essays by such notable historians and political scientists as Michael Walzer, this collection confronts the often conflicting role of values, interests, and identity in contemporary Jewish politics.

How has the Jewish family changed over the course of the twentieth century? How has it remained the same? How do Jewish families see themselves--historically, socially, politically, and economically--and how would they like to be seen by others? This book, the fourteenth volume of Oxford's internationally acclaimed Studies in Contemporary Jewry series, presents a variety of perspectives on Jewish families coping with life and death in the twentieth century. The book is comprised of symposium papers, essays, and review articles of works published on such fundamental subjects as the Holocaust, antisemitism, genocide, history, literature, the arts, religion, education, Zionism, Israel, and the Middle East. Published annually by the Avraham Harman Institute of Contemporary Jewry at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Studies in Contemporary Jewry series features current scholarship in the form of symposia, articles, and book reviews by distinguished experts of Jewish studies from colleges and universities across the globe. Each volume also includes a list of recent dissertations. Volume XIV: Coping with Life and Death: Jewish Families in the Twentieth Century will appeal to all students and scholars of the sociocultural history of the Jewish people, especially those interested in the nature of Jewish intermarriage and/or family life, the changing fate of the Orthodox Jewish family, the varied but widespread Americanization of the Jewish family, and similar concerns.

This is the newest volume of the annual Studies In Contemporary Jewry series. It contains original essays on Jews and crime in fact, fantasy, and fiction; verbal and physical violence in Israeli politics; Jews as revolutionaires; armed resistance by Jews in Nazi Germany; ethical dilemmas within the Israeli Defense Forces; violence in Israeli society and social stress; and other topics. As with other volumes, it also contains review essays and book reviews.

Volume XXII of the distinguished annual Studies in Contemporary Jewry explores the major and rapid changes experienced by a population known variously as "Sephardim," "Oriental" Jews. and "Mizrahim" over the last fifty years. Although Sephardim are popularly believed to have originated in Spain or Portugal, the majority of Mizrahi Jews today are actually the descendants of Jews from Muslim and Arab countries in the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia. They constitute a growing proportion of Israeli Jewry and continue to revitalize Jewish culture in places as varied as France, Latin America, and the United States.Sephardic Jewry and Mizrahi Jews offers a collection of new scholarship on the issues of self-definition and identity facing Sephardic Jewry. The essays draw on a variety of disciplines--demography, history, political science, sociology, religious and gender studies, anthropology, and literature. Contributors explore the issues surrounding the emergence and increasingly wide usage of "Mizrahi" in place of "Sephardic," as well as the invigoration of Sephardic Judaism. They look at the emergence of Sephardic politics in Israel through the dramatic rise and continuing influence of the Shas political party and its spiritual leader, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef. Other contributors examine the variegated nature of Mizrahi immigration to Israel, fictional portraits of female Mizrahi immigrants to Israel in the 1940s and 1950s, contemporary Mizrahi Israel feminism, modern Arab historiography's portrayal of Jews of Muslim lands, and the changing Sephardic halakhic tradition.