Steven Weitzman – författare

Over the centuries, the messianic tradition has provided the language through which modern Jewish philosophers, socialists, and Zionists envisioned a utopian future. Michael L. Morgan, Steven Weitzman, and an international group of leading scholars ask new questions and provide new ways of thinking about this enduring Jewish idea. Using the writings of Gershom Scholem, which ranged over the history of messianic belief and its conflicted role in the Jewish imagination, these essays put aside the boundaries that divide history from philosophy and religion to offer new perspectives on the role and relevance of messianism today.

Over the centuries, the messianic tradition has provided the language through which modern Jewish philosophers, socialists, and Zionists envisioned a utopian future. Michael L. Morgan, Steven Weitzman, and an international group of leading scholars ask new questions and provide new ways of thinking about this enduring Jewish idea. Using the writings of Gershom Scholem, which ranged over the history of messianic belief and its conflicted role in the Jewish imagination, these essays put aside the boundaries that divide history from philosophy and religion to offer new perspectives on the role and relevance of messianism today.

Many recent studies have argued that the self is a modern invention, a concept developed in the last three centuries. Religion and the Self in Antiquity challenges that idea by presenting a series of studies that explore the origins, formation, and limits of the self within the religions of the ancient Mediterranean world. Drawing on recent work on the body, gender, sexuality, the anthropology of the senses, and power, contributors make a strong case that the history of the self does indeed begin in antiquity, developing as Western religion itself developed.

From the prizewinning Jewish Lives series, an intriguing and unconventional biography about one of the Bible's most elusive figuresTradition has it that King Solomon knew everything there was to know—the mysteries of nature, of love, of God himself—but what do we know of him? Esteemed biblical scholar Steven Weitzman reintroduces readers to Solomon's story and its surprising influence in shaping Western culture, and he also examines what Solomon's life, wisdom, and writings have come to mean for Jews, Christians, and Muslims over the past two thousand years.Weitzman's Solomon is populated by a colorful cast of ambitious characters—Byzantine emperors, explorers, rabbis, saints, scientists, poets, archaeologists, trial judges, reggae singers, and moviemakers among them—whose common goal is to unearth the truth about Solomon's life and wisdom. Filled with the Solomonic texts of the Bible, along with lesser–known magical texts and other writings, this book challenges both religious and secular assumptions. Even as it seeks to tell the story of ancient Israel's greatest ruler, this insightful book is also a meditation on the Solomonic desire to know all of life's secrets, and on the role of this desire in world history.About Jewish Lives: Jewish Lives is a prizewinning series of interpretative biography designed to explore the many facets of Jewish identity. Individual volumes illuminate the imprint of Jewish figures upon literature, religion, philosophy, politics, cultural and economic life, and the arts and sciences. Subjects are paired with authors to elicit lively, deeply informed books that explore the range and depth of the Jewish experience from antiquity to the present.In 2014, the Jewish Book Council named Jewish Lives the winner of its Jewish Book of the Year Award, the first series ever to receive this award.More praise for Jewish Lives:"Excellent." –New York Times"Exemplary." –Wall Street Journal"Distinguished." –New Yorker"Superb." –The Guardian

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has had a long and tortuous relationship with religion over almost the entirety of its existence. As early as 1917, the Bureau began to target religious communities and groups it believed were hotbeds of anti-American politics. Whether these religious communities were pacifist groups that opposed American wars, or religious groups that advocated for white supremacy or direct conflict with the FBI, the Bureau has infiltrated and surveilled religious communities that run the gamut of American religious life. The FBI and Religion recounts this fraught and fascinating history, focusing on key moments in the Bureau's history. Starting from the beginnings of the FBI before World War I, moving through the Civil Rights Movement and the Cold War, up to 9/11 and today, this book tackles questions essential to understanding not only the history of law enforcement and religion, but also the future of religious liberty in America.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has had a long and tortuous relationship with religion over almost the entirety of its existence. As early as 1917, the Bureau began to target religious communities and groups it believed were hotbeds of anti-American politics. Whether these religious communities were pacifist groups that opposed American wars, or religious groups that advocated for white supremacy or direct conflict with the FBI, the Bureau has infiltrated and surveilled religious communities that run the gamut of American religious life. The FBI and Religion recounts this fraught and fascinating history, focusing on key moments in the Bureau's history. Starting from the beginnings of the FBI before World War I, moving through the Civil Rights Movement and the Cold War, up to 9/11 and today, this book tackles questions essential to understanding not only the history of law enforcement and religion, but also the future of religious liberty in America.

In a world of relentless and often violent change, what does it take for a culture to survive? Steven Weitzman addresses this question by exploring the "arts of cultural persistence"--the tactics that cultures employ to sustain themselves in the face of intractable realities. Surviving Sacrilege focuses on a famously resilient culture caught between two disruptive acts of sacrilege: ancient Judaism between the destruction of the First Temple (by the Babylonians) in 586 B.C. and the destruction of the Second Temple (by the Romans) in 70 C.E.. Throughout this period Jews faced the challenge of preserving their religious traditions in a world largely out of their control--a world ruled first by the Persians, then by the Hellenistic Seleucid Kingdom, and finally by the Roman Empire. Their struggle to answer this challenge yields insight into the ingenuity, resourcefulness, and creativity of a distinctive period in Jewish history, but one with broad implications for the study of religious and cultural survival.Detecting something tenaciously self-preserving at the core of the imagination, Weitzman argues that its expression in storytelling, fantasy, imitation, metaphor, and magic allows a culture's survival instinct to maneuver within, beyond, and even against the limits of reality.

The first major history of the scholarly quest to answer the question of Jewish origins The Jews have one of the longest continuously recorded histories of any people in the world, but what do we actually know about their origins? While many think the answer to this question can be found in the Bible, others look to archaeology or genetics. Some skeptics have even sought to debunk the very idea that the Jews have a common origin. In this book, Steven Weitzman takes a learned and lively look at what we know--or think we know--about where the Jews came from, when they arose, and how they came to be. Scholars have written hundreds of books on the topic and have come up with scores of explanations, theories, and historical reconstructions, but this is the first book to trace the history of the different approaches that have been applied to the question, including genealogy, linguistics, archaeology, psychology, sociology, and genetics.Weitzman shows how this quest has been fraught since its inception with religious and political agendas, how anti-Semitism cast its long shadow over generations of learning, and how recent claims about Jewish origins have been difficult to disentangle from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He does not offer neatly packaged conclusions but invites readers on an intellectual adventure, shedding new light on the assumptions and biases of those seeking answers--and the challenges that have made finding answers so elusive. Spanning more than two centuries and drawing on the latest findings, The Origin of the Jews brings needed clarity and historical context to this enduring and often divisive topic.

The scholarly quest to answer the question of Jewish originsThe Jews have one of the longest continuously recorded histories of any people in the world, but what do we actually know about their origins? While many think the answer to this question can be found in the Bible, others look to archaeology or genetics. Some skeptics have even sought to debunk the very idea that the Jews have a common origin. Steven Weitzman takes a learned and lively look at what we know—or think we know—about where the Jews came from, when they arose, and how they came to be. He sheds new light on the assumptions and biases of those seeking answers—and the religious and political agendas that have made finding answers so elusive. Introducing many approaches and theories, The Origin of the Jews brings needed clarity and historical context to this enduring and divisive topic.

An authoritative guide to Jewish studies, reflecting the latest research in a diverse and flourishing field Jewish studies is a dynamic, interdisciplinary field that draws on the methods of the modern academy—historical research, anthropology, literary studies, philosophy, religious studies, sociology, feminism, and the study of the arts and culture, among others—to illuminate the past and present of Jewish life, thought, and expression. This book provides an entry point to Jewish studies for readers who want to learn about the questions it raises and the insights it generates. Although no single volume can capture the full breadth of the field, this Princeton Companion encompasses some of the most important subfields of Jewish studies, presenting new historical research and introductions to the many other disciplines that can be brought to bear on Jewish history and experience.The editors, all distinguished scholars of Jewish studies, have gathered contributions from a range of prominent and up-and-coming figures in the field. These contributors offer original perspectives that reflect new findings and novel contexts. Part I, “Rethinking the Past,” aims to give an overview of recent research trends in the study of Jewish history, covering the ancient world, the Middle Ages, and modern times. Part II, “Ideas and Expression,” surveys new research in the study of Jewish language, religion, philosophy, literature, art, music, and other humanities-centered approaches to Jewish life. Part III, "Interactions and Identity," brings the social sciences and anthropology into the picture, along with Israel studies and Mizrahi studies, to introduce the ways scholars today are seeking to shed light on how Jews identify themselves, interact with others, organize themselves, and behave politically and economically.

How people have reimagined the story of the ten plagues of Egypt, from antiquity to our own era of relentless catastrophePeople have been telling and retelling stories about disasters for as long as they have been telling stories. One of the oldest of such stories is the ten plagues in the book of Exodus, the series of disasters that forced the Egyptians to liberate the Israelites. These plagues packed enough catastrophe to fill a series of summer blockbusters—rivers of blood, invasions of frogs and insects, mass disease, fiery hail, smothering darkness, and a midnight massacre of the firstborn.The story of the ten plagues resonates today, as we try to make sense of such calamities of modern life as pandemics, climate change, and war. In Disasters of Biblical Proportions, Steven Weitzman explores how people of later ages—artists, writers, activists, philosophers, believers and unbelievers alike—have reshaped the story of the ten plagues to give expression to their own trauma, outrage, guilt, humor, and hope.Tracing the interpretation and retelling of each plague across time and space, Weitzman uncovers how this ancient tale found new meaning among Jews, Christians, and Muslims and continues to shape how people today understand the present and envision the future. Even as it recounts the history of how the ten plagues have been reimagined, Disasters of Biblical Proportions is also a history of people’s search for shelter from the calamities of their own times—and of humanity’s striving for justice, freedom, and redemption.

These accessibly written volumes examine the major periods of Jewish history around the world, from their distant origins in antiquity through the beginnings of the modern period and the emergence of secular culture, and further to the eighteenth century to the present day.The first volume of a comprehensive history of the Jews draws on up to date research to recount the story of the Jews from their distant origins in antiquity through the beginnings of the modern period and the emergence of secular culture. Enhanced by images, limelight given to various historical mysteries, recommendations for how to learn more, as well other features, the book moves chapter by chapter through the major periods of Jewish history, balancing introductions for those unfamiliar with that history, with discussion of new approaches and recent discoveries that have reshaped understanding of the Jewish past.The second volume of a comprehensive history of the Jews includes topics such as the impact on Jewish society of the Enlightenment as well as its Jewish equivalent, the Haskalah, religious innovations in eastern and central Europe, the processes of emancipation and Jewish acculturation, the modern economic history of the Jewish people, which includes their embourgeoisement in central and western Europe, and the growth of a giant Jewish proletariat in eastern Europe, the emergence of an antisemitic politics that sought to roll back Jewish gains and the variety of Jewish responses to those illiberal forces, especially in the form of vibrant Jewish political cultures, among them Zionism, socialism, and mass migration.The book is useful not just for those interested in the Jews themselves but also for readers open to learning about global history from the vantage point of a people whose experiences attest both to the resilience of human culture and the impact of hate and violence.

These accessibly written volumes examine the major periods of Jewish history around the world, from their distant origins in antiquity through the beginnings of the modern period and the emergence of secular culture, and further to the eighteenth century to the present day.The first volume of a comprehensive history of the Jews draws on up to date research to recount the story of the Jews from their distant origins in antiquity through the beginnings of the modern period and the emergence of secular culture. Enhanced by images, limelight given to various historical mysteries, recommendations for how to learn more, as well other features, the book moves chapter by chapter through the major periods of Jewish history, balancing introductions for those unfamiliar with that history, with discussion of new approaches and recent discoveries that have reshaped understanding of the Jewish past.The second volume of a comprehensive history of the Jews includes topics such as the impact on Jewish society of the Enlightenment as well as its Jewish equivalent, the Haskalah, religious innovations in eastern and central Europe, the processes of emancipation and Jewish acculturation, the modern economic history of the Jewish people, which includes their embourgeoisement in central and western Europe, and the growth of a giant Jewish proletariat in eastern Europe, the emergence of an antisemitic politics that sought to roll back Jewish gains and the variety of Jewish responses to those illiberal forces, especially in the form of vibrant Jewish political cultures, among them Zionism, socialism, and mass migration.The book is useful not just for those interested in the Jews themselves but also for readers open to learning about global history from the vantage point of a people whose experiences attest both to the resilience of human culture and the impact of hate and violence.

This accessibly written volume examines the major periods of Jewish history around the world, from the Jews' distant origins in antiquity through the beginnings of the modern period and the emergence of secular culture.Although Jews are a small minority, they have settled in almost every part of the world, developing many different subcultures. They have had an outsized impact on global religion even as they have faced prejudice and persecution, and their history makes for a fascinating story of cultural change, adaptation, and survival that is continuing to unfold in the present. Now in a new edition as a split volume, this first volume of a comprehensive history of the Jews draws on up-to-date research to recount the story of the Jews from their beginnings in the ancient Near East through to the dawn of the modern period and the emergence of secular culture. Enhanced by images, limelight given to various historical mysteries, recommendations for how to learn more, as well as other features, the book moves chapter by chapter through the major periods of Jewish history, balancing introductions for those unfamiliar with that history with discussion of new approaches and recent discoveries that have reshaped understanding of the Jewish past.The book is useful not just for those interested in the Jews themselves but also for readers open to learning about global history from the vantage point of a people whose experiences attest both to the resilience of human culture and to the impact of hate and violence.

This accessibly written volume examines the major periods of Jewish history around the world, from the Jews' distant origins in antiquity through the beginnings of the modern period and the emergence of secular culture.Although Jews are a small minority, they have settled in almost every part of the world, developing many different subcultures. They have had an outsized impact on global religion even as they have faced prejudice and persecution, and their history makes for a fascinating story of cultural change, adaptation, and survival that is continuing to unfold in the present. Now in a new edition as a split volume, this first volume of a comprehensive history of the Jews draws on up-to-date research to recount the story of the Jews from their beginnings in the ancient Near East through to the dawn of the modern period and the emergence of secular culture. Enhanced by images, limelight given to various historical mysteries, recommendations for how to learn more, as well as other features, the book moves chapter by chapter through the major periods of Jewish history, balancing introductions for those unfamiliar with that history with discussion of new approaches and recent discoveries that have reshaped understanding of the Jewish past.The book is useful not just for those interested in the Jews themselves but also for readers open to learning about global history from the vantage point of a people whose experiences attest both to the resilience of human culture and to the impact of hate and violence.

How Yiddish changed to express and memorialize the trauma of the HolocaustThe Holocaust radically altered the way many East European Jews spoke Yiddish. Finding prewar language incapable of describing the imprisonment, death, and dehumanization of the Shoah, prisoners added or reinvented thousands of Yiddish words and phrases to describe their new reality. These crass, witty, and sometimes beautiful Yiddish words – Khurbn Yiddish, or "Yiddish of the Holocaust" – puzzled and intrigued the East European Jews who were experiencing the metamorphosis of their own tongue in real time. Sensing that Khurbn Yiddish words harbored profound truths about what Jews endured during the Holocaust, some Yiddish speakers threw themselves into compiling dictionaries and glossaries to document and analyze these new words. Others incorporated Khurbn Yiddish into their poetry and prose. In Occupied Words, Hannah Pollin-Galay explores Khurbn Yiddish as a form of Holocaust memory and as a testament to the sensation of speech under genocidal conditions.Occupied Words investigates Khurbn Yiddish through the lenses of cultural history, philology, and literary interpretation. Analyzing fragments of language consciousness left behind from the camps and ghettos alongside the postwar journeys of three intellectuals—Nachman Blumental, Israel Kaplan and Elye Spivak—Pollin-Galay seeks to understand why people chose Yiddish lexicography as a means of witnessing the Holocaust. She then turns to the Khurbn Yiddish words themselves, focusing on terms related to theft, the German-Yiddish encounter and the erotic female body. Here, the author unearths new perspectives on how Jews experienced daily life under Nazi occupation, while raising questions about language and victimhood. Lastly, the book explores how writers turned ghetto and camp slang into art—highlighting the poetry and fiction of K. Tzetnik (Yehiel Di-Nur) and Chava Rosenfarb. Ultimately, Occupied Words speaks to broader debates about cultural genocide, asking how we might rethink the concept of genocide through the framework of language.

The Jews: A History is a comprehensive and accessible text that explores the religious, cultural, social, and economic diversity of the Jewish people and their faith.Placing Jewish history within its wider cultural context, the book covers a broad time span, stretching from ancient Israel to the modern day. It examines Jewish history across a range of settings, including the ancient Near East, the age of Greek and Roman rule, the medieval realms of Christianity and Islam, modern Europe, including the World Wars and the Holocaust, and contemporary America and Israel, covering a variety of topics, such as legal emancipation, acculturation, and religious innovation. The third edition is fully updated to include more case studies and to encompass recent events in Jewish history, as well as religion, social life, economics, culture, and gender.Supported by case studies, online references, further reading, maps, and illustrations, The Jews: A History provides students with a comprehensive and wide-ranging grounding in Jewish history.