Rethinking Diaspora – serie

No detailed description available for "Death in Jewish Life".

Parallel to the Halakhic laws, the minhagim (customs) are dependent on local practices and the regional schools of sages and rabbis. The minhagim played a decisive role in the history of the Jewish communities and in the formation of traditions of religious rulings. They gave stability, continuity, and authority to the local institutions. The impact of Jewish custom on daily life cannot be overestimated. Evolving spontaneously as an ascending process, it presents undercurrents that emanate from the folk, gradually bringing about changes that eventually become part of the legislative code. It further reflects influences of social, cultural, and mythological tendencies and local historical elements of every-day life of the period. The aim of this volume is to examine the concept of minhag in the broadest sense of the word. Focusing on the relationship between various types of customs and their impact on every aspect of Jewish life, the volume studies the historical, anthropological, religious, and cultural development and function of rites and rituals in establishing the Jewish self-definition and the identity of the local communities that adhered to them. The volume’s articles cover the subject of custom from three perspectives: an analysis of the theoretical and legal definition of custom, an analysis of the social and historical aspects of custom, and an anecdotal study of several particular customs. Customs are a wonderful historical prism by which to examine fluctuations and changes in Jewish life.

No detailed description available for "Death in Jewish Life".

Priests in Exile is the first comprehensive scholarly opus in English to reconstruct the history of the mysterious Temple of Onias, a Jewish temple built by a Jerusalemite high priest in his Egyptian exile that functioned in parallel with the Temple of Jerusalem. Piotrkowski’s book addresses a topic that is mysterious, important and anomalous: a Jewish community of mercenary priests in the (Egyptian) Diaspora in which the priestly sacrificial ritual was carried out daily over a period of more than two hundred years until the first century CE, outlasting the Jerusalem Temple by about three years. Although the book focuses on the very circumscribed topic of the parallel Temple it casts a wide net, placing the story in the context of Jewish Diaspora life in ancient times. Ancient topics and texts are brought to bear, including papyri, epigraphy, archaeology, as well as the modern literature. Piotrkowski throws new light on a fascinating episode of ancient Jewish history that is usually left in the dark.

No detailed description available for "The Prayer Rites of Synagogal Worship and their Historical Development".

Being the first established prayer in Jewish history, the Amidah prayer serves as a faithful reflection of the circumstances in which it emerged and developed. This book endeavors to elucidate the intellectual necessity behind this significant liturgical evolution, as well as the internal theological and liturgical intricacies, and the external political dilemmas faced by Jewish society in the Land of Israel during the “Yavneh Period.”The transition from the first to the second century CE was marked by the violent conclusion of the Second Temple period, culminating in the Great Revolt's suppression and the Temple's destruction in Jerusalem, and the emergence and evolution of Judaism from its ruins.A key milestone in this period was the early development of the Amidah prayer, which became a central pillar in forming and reinforcing the concepts of community and nationhood. As communal prayer, it encapsulated the essence of Judaism as understood by the Tana'im and the ideology of the nascent Jewish leadership. It also represented the Tana'im leadership's strategic navigation amidst the dominion of the Roman Empire and the ongoing theological engagement with the evolving Christian faith. The enduring legacy and success of the Yavneh period are still evident in Judaism today.

This monograph deals with the contribution of Soviet Jews, soldiers and commanders in the Red Army, to the victory over Nazi Germany as reflected through the private correspondence between the front and the civilian rear. The basis for the research is the author's unique collection of personal items (letters, diaries, documents, and photographs) of Jews who served in the Red Army and members of their families. This collection was supplemented by archival documents and information obtained from academic and popular publications, periodicals, and memoirs of the participants in the war and their families.The book elucidates a wide spectrum of topics related to the work of the military field post. The topics encompass not only battles but also everyday military life, soldiers' personal lives, relations between men and women, the work of the military censorship, letters of Soviet soldiers and officers in Yiddish, and Soviet Jews’ correspondence with foreign entities.

The volume offers a broad introduction to the rabbinical literature written in the two major traditional Jewish languages of Europe: Yiddish, the language which arose in the Middle Ages amongst the Jews of the German lands and was brought to many other lands, and Ladino (or Judezmo or Judeo-Spanish), the language which originated amongst the Jews of medieval Iberia and after their expulsions was carried to many other places.The scope is wide-ranging. Some of the contributions highlight the lives and work of outstanding rabbinical figures who wrote in Yiddish or Ladino, and the crucial role they played in the transmission of rabbinical knowledge among the more popular sectors of their communities, as well as in the shaping of the Yiddish and Ladino reading public. Close attention is paid to long-established genres such as the highly-popular Biblical commentaries, as exemplified by the Me'am lo'ez in Ladino (1730‒1899); prayer books and liturgical compositions in prose and verse; responsa collections; guides to religious observance; moralistic works; as well as more modern genres having rabbinical content such as the periodical press that appeared from the middle of the nineteenth century, when the Jewish communities of the Diaspora underwent radical cultural, religious, social and political changes

Jacob Mann (1888–1940), a major figure in the fields of medieval Jewish history and rabbinic literature, was an early user of the Cairo Genizah materials to improve our understanding of these fields. This volume, based on papers delivered at a conference at St. John’s College, Cambridge, assesses his scholarly contributions in the light of more recent developments in these areas. Yosef Ofer, Moshe Lavee, and Gila Wachman deal with Mann’s work on the triennial Torah-reading cycle and hafṭarot, synagogue homilies, and a previously unknown midrashic work from the land of Israel. Ruth Langer and Stefan Reif appraise Mann’s liturgical studies. Adiel Breuer, Sacha Stern, and Jennifer Grayson evaluate Mann’s work on halakhic literature, the rabbinic calendar, and the history of the Babylonian yeshivot. Menahem Ben-Sasson reviews Mann’s article on messianic movements during the Crusades. Miriam Frankel and Yoram Erder deal with Mann’s contributions to Karaite studies. Richard Sarason provides an updated biography of Mann and bibliography of his scholarly writings. Together, they portray Mann as a scholar who was captivated by the riches of the Cairo Genizah and devoted his academic career to their exploration and publication.