Od Jehudy Halewiego do Johanna Buxtorfa Młodszego: Sefer ha-bahir w żydowskiej i chrześcijańskiej debacie na temat punktacji masoreckiej

Author(s): Jan Doktór / Language(s): Polish Issue: 03/2017

The Masoretes of Tiberias, who determined the binding consonant text of the Tanakh as well as vocalizing it, preformed a virtual revolution in the Judaic world, which also had serious implications for religions stemming from the Biblical tradition, first of all Christianity, and to a smaller extent for Islam, too. By presenting the final, as it appeared, comprehensible and unequivocal text of the Revelation, the Masoretes were raising the status of the Hebrew Bible to the rank of a firm, immovable foundation of religions, especially the Jewish religion. The theological implications for Christianity were far-reaching too: the established text of the Bible undermined the status of the binding translations of same: the Greek Septuagint in the Eastern churches and the Latin Vulgata in the Roman Catholic Church, which had been translated from other versions of the Hebrew text.In the debates on the significance of the mesorah it was crucial to establish whether the punctuation constituted a part of Moses’ revelation or whether it was added to the text of the Bible later and as such, would not be an object of faith. The Christian students of Hebrew were critical of this “novelty,” which undermined the prestige of the Vulgata and even falsified the Biblical prophecies at many places. Most of the Jewish scholars sought to enhance the prestige of both the text as determined by the Masoretes and the vocalization proposed by them. It was much the same with the Kabbalah. The first Kabbalist print in which the Masoretic signs were discussed and interpreted at length was Sefer ha-bahir. Its editors regarded the Masoretic signs as a key to the understanding of creation and redemption. A similar position was taken by Sefer ha-zohar and other writings. It was only in the mid-16th century that the grammarian Elias the Levite began to argue that the Masoretic punctuation must have been devised already after the edition of the Talmud. The Christian students of Hebrew were similarly divided as regards the Masoretic punctuation: the Protestant theologians began to support the antiquity of the mesorah, while contradicting the Catholic theologians, who still regarded the vocalization signage as a Jewish “novelty” and defended the authority of the Vulgata. When embarking on a public dispute with the critics of the revealed nature of the mesorah, the Calvinist students of Hebrew referred to Jewish sources and sought to make them available to the public at large. Johannes Buxtorf the Younger published Sefer Kuzari in Basel in 1660 in a bilingual version. However, he dared not publish Sefer ha-bahir himself, having presumably decided that it will be more practical for the Jews themselves to do it. That task was undertaken by the first Ashkenazic printing house in Amsterdam, with the help of Calvinist scholar Jacob Bartolin. This must have been the reason why the text was not printed using the rashi font, typically employed for this kind of texts and also used in subsequent editions of the Bahir, but a square type, which was easier for a non-Jewish reader to read.

General Remarks on “The Serpent” as the Central Notion of the Torah and the Symbol of Life Itself.

Author(s): Aryeh Mikołaj Krawczyk / Language(s): English,Hebrew Issue: 03/2017

This paper presents a tentative outline for the research field, dedicated to the “serpent” theme within the tradition of Torah’s commentaries, with the special focus on kabbalistic tradition. The analysis of this theme is followed by hypothesis claiming that “serpent” is – among other meanings – a symbol of “life”. This text is a prelude to broader research on such defined notion of “serpent” in the kabbalistic tradition. Point of reference for this research is a small treatise by 13th/14th century, r. Yosef Gikatilla, entitled Sod ha-Nachash u-Mishpato, “The Secret of the Serpent and Judgment upon Him”. Segments of a preliminary version of translation of this treatise are presented therein. A preliminary version of the original text is also included.

Philo the Jew – A Significant Exponent of the Jewish Diaspora from Alexandria

Author(s): Onița Burdeț / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2017

The research hypothesis that has guided me into this scientific field is that the exegete Philo of Alexandria played an essential role for the Jewish Diaspora from Alexandria during the first century AD. The leading motivation which has led me to choose this topic was the conference organised by the Dr. Moshe Carmilly Institute for Hebrew and Jewish History. Besides this principal motivation, there has been a secondary one, of a personal nature. I have been interested in this figure due to my concern with the religious identity of Judaism and its influence within Christianity. Philo of Alexandria was recognised as an excellent interpreter of allegorical texts by contemporary theologians. Philo had the great merit of combining in his religious writings elements specific to religious Judaism as well as concepts defining the Greek Sophia. These are some of the elements that have led me to choose the personality of Philo of Alexandria and to present it in this paper.

The Subjecthood of the Land of Israel in the Book of Ezekiel

Author(s): Wojciech Pikor / Language(s): English,Polish Issue: 60/1/2013

The Book of Ezekiel proposes a new look at the land of Israel from the perspective of its subjecthood. The theological novelty of this approach lies in the process of the anthropomorphization of the land, which can be seen especially in the oracles addressed to the land. The analysis of these oracles tries to shed some light on three aspects of the land of Israel, namely its subjecthood, its relativity and the role it plays in, and for, the world.

Bezpieczne zamieszkanie izraela - orędzie ezechiela

Author(s): Andrzej Sebastian Jasiński OFM / Language(s): Polish Issue: 2/2015

This article examines the concepts of the secure dwelling of Israel in the Book of Ezekiel in four parts: 1. Ezekiel: The prophet of the turning point of the time. The Book of Ezekiel attempts a complete program of restoration of the Israel in the time of the Ехіїе. Just a prophet Isaiah (Is 33:18) wrote about ПІШЕ? ЛПІІПЭ1 (tranquil dwellings). This vision was far away for Ezekiel’s time because he lived through the greatest crisis in ancient Israel’s history the loss of independence in the promised land, ехіїе of the leading citizens to ВаЬуІопіа. In that time the new act of revival by Yahweh will consequently consist in his creating his people as an obedient and law abiding people. 2. The root П£2Л as ,,a self-confidence”. The root ПЙЛ has the meaning: to feel secure, be unconcerned or to feel a false security, like in Ez 16:15: But you became infatuated (,палГ11) with your oum beauty and used your fame to play the ivhore, lavishing your debauchery on ali comers. Ezekiel is uncompromising in his condemnation of Israel’s infidelity to Yahweh. 3. The root пал as „a security” offered by Yahweh. Yahweh had promised that after the judgment of Jerusalem he would remember his covenant: I shall tаке a covenant of peace with them; I shall rid the country of wild animals. They will be able to live secure (ПШ/1) in the desert and go to sleep in the woods (Ez 34:25). In this words Ezekiel shows the way of the secure live for Israel. 4. A security guaranteed by Yahweh. Israel will be separated off as a holy people, and nothing profane would defile the tribes in the new land. Yahweh is the unrivaled Lord of the Israel’s history. The orade against Gog foresees the people of the Lord as prosperous and secure in his land: So, son of man, prophesy. Say to Gog, “The Lord Yah- tveh says this: Is it not true that you will set out at a time when ту people Israel is living secure (ПуЛ7 Ь^ПІІГ)? (Ez 38:14). The glory of Yahweh in the temple of a new city (Ez 43:1-9) guaranteed a security live of Israel: The пате of the city in future must be: Yahweh-is-there (Ez 48:35).

TEURGIA ŚWIATŁA. Wybrane zagadnienia mistyki światła w judaizmie

Author(s): Tomasz Sikora / Language(s): Polish Issue: 3/2017

This article presents selected issues of light mysticism in the texts of medieval Kabbalah. First, the author focuses on the basic considerations that place this topic in the context of general anthropological and religious studies. Following that the description of the semantics of Hebrew light terminology, as well as notes on the concept of space and ether, and the function of meditation practice in early Kabbalah, serve as an introduction to the translation of relevant source texts by Azriel of Gerona (?) and Moshe de Leon illustrating the discussed issues. The article results in comments on problems and limitations of understanding and interpretation of the Kabbalistic sources.

Drinking vodka with anti-Semites. A case study of ‘Polish-Jewish relations’ today

Author(s): Anna Zawadzka / Language(s): English Issue: 11/2018

This text analyzes the events that occurred between December 31, 2016 and January 6, 2017, namely the ‘scandal’ at the Café Foksal pub in Warsaw and its ramifications, as well as the simultaneous attacks on the Prince Kebab shop in Ełk. Both events were local or, many would venture to say, marginal. It is not my intention to attribute great importance to them. I rather treat them as meaningful case studies which exemplify how anti-Semitism operates in Polish culture at present and, probably more importantly, the roadblock encountered when problematizing anti-Semitism. These allegedly insignificant events from the turn of 2016–2017 are an excellent illustration of the conditions that Jews and other individuals perceived to be non-Polish have to accept in order to ensure relative safety to themselves. I discuss these events as a certain spectacle, whose actors played either the roles they chose or the only roles available to them (perpetrator, victim, bystander, and mediator). I also suggest viewing these events from the point of view of certain elements of Polish history.

Perspektywa postkolonialna w badaniach nad diasporą żydowską. Żyd-Chińczyk we wspomnieniach Anki Votickiej

Author(s): Emilia Rydel / Language(s): Polish Issue: 11/2018

This article is an attempt to link reflection on Jewish refugee’s memory with postcolonial perspective. The primary source of my considerations is Anka Voticky’s written memories. Voticky had survived the Second World War in Shanghai and Hongkew ghetto. As a starting point, postcolonial theory has been used in close relation to Holocaust studies and diaspora studies. I also show traces of co-existence of Jews and Chinese allowed to break non-writing tradition about colonized people (amah, rickshaw, coolie) during Second World War.

Anan ben Dawid jako islamizujący heretyk żydowski: o tym, jak raw Saadia Gaon stworzył mit fundacyjny karaizmu

Author(s): Marzena Zawanowska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 01/2018

The paper explores the recently reconstructed and edited polemical work Kitab al-radd ʻala ʻAnan [The Book of Refutation against Anan] written in the early 10th c. CE by the allegedly “archfoe” of the Karaites, rav Saadia Gaon (d. 942). It focuses on the reconstruction of the story of Anan ben David (VIII c.), who with time begun to be considered the founding father of Karaism, and demonstrates that it was Saadia who created the basic myth of his lifestory. This myth was later on used not only by other rabbanite polemicists, but also appropriated by the Karaites. It includes several important elements, unknown from earlier sources, which constitute Saadia’s genuine contribution to the conceptualization of Karaism, its origins and nature. They are 1. Pinpointing Anan as the source of religious schism in medieval Judaism; 2. Historicization of Anan’s figure thanks to providing short description of his biography and psychological depiction of his character, including motives of his behavior; 3. Socio-political contextualization of his life and deeds; 4. Historical reconstruction of the development of heresy in Judaism, including the indication of common treats between the ancient sectarians (Sadducees) and Anan’s followers (Karaites); 5. Cultural rooting of Anan’s doctrine in its Islamic environment. All these elements have permanently entered the discourse on Karaism in Rabbanite and Karaite writings like. In addition, lack of other historical sources and/or symbols, the story created by Saadia was later on appropriated by the X-XI c. Karaites (i.e., Elijahu ben Abraham, Chiluq ha-Qaraim ve-ha-Rabbanim), who at the time desperately needed unifying myths, as the founding myth of their religion. It is therefore possible to conjecture that if not for the Babylonian geonim, who sought for the unification of Judaism and centralization of religious and political power in their own hands, and for polemical purposes first elevated Anan to the rank of a symbol (Rav Natronai Gaon) and then reconstructed his lifestory (Rav Saadia Gaon), it is not unlikely that he would not have been recognized by the Karaites as the founding father of their movement.

Gdzie się podział Anan? Jehuda ha-Lewi i jego nowatorska rekonstrukcja początków karaizmu. Księga Kuzari, III: 64–67 – próba przekładu i interpretacji

Author(s): Marzena Zawanowska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 02/2018

One of the most influential books of Jewish thought ever written is Yehudah ha-Levi’s Kitab al-radd wa al-dalil fi al-din al-dhalil, or Kitab al-chujja wa al-dalil fi nusrat al-din al-dhalil [The Book of Refutation and Proof on Behalf of the Despised Religion], better known under its shorten Hebrew title Sefer ha-Kuzari. On the basis of a letter preserved in the Cairo Genizah, some scholars assumed that it has originally been composed as a polemical response to a Karaite convert. And yet, the Karaites are neither perceived, nor described by ha-Levi as heretics. In fact, his depiction of this alternative to Rabbanite form of Judaism – its adherents and origins – appeared so appealing to the Karaites that made some of them believe that the author had been a Karaite himself, while his reconstructions of the movement’s history with time became appropriated as the founding myth of Karaism. The aim of this paper is to scrutinize ha-Levi’s historical reconstruction of the origins of Karaism against the backdrop of earlier and later Rabbanite reports on the subject in order to understand his complex attitude towards the Karaites vis-à-vis his concept of heresy. It demonstrates that, paradoxically, and despite ha-Levi’s overt claims to the contrary, his writings contributed to the identification of the Karaites with the Sadducees – subsequently consolidated by Abraham ibn Ezra and Moses Maimonides – thanks to his dating of the beginnings of Karaism in the Second Temple period, at the time of a fierce conflict between the Hasmoneans and the Sadducees on the one hand, and the Pharisean sages on the other.

Hebrajski jako język mówiony. Prozodyczna podstawa opisu języka hebrajskiego w Kitāb al-Chazarī (Sefer ha-Kuzari) Jehudy Ha-Lewiego. Kitāb al-Chazarī II: 72-80 – próba tłumaczenia i interpretacji

Author(s): Maciej Tomal / Language(s): Polish Issue: 02/2018

Towards the end of the second chapter of Kitāb al-Chazarī, Yehudah ha-Levi appended a section devoted to the Hebrew language (no. 72–80), or more precisely to the mode of the biblical text’s recitation. In response to the Khazars’ king question, the Jewish sage (haver) explains what enables all Jewish readers of the Hebrew Bible to recite its text in the exactly same manner in terms of vowels’ length, accentuation and intonation (including pauses). The relevant section opens with the general characteristic of the Hebrew vowels, which seems to be based on the scheme of the so called “cardinal vowels.” The most intriguing part of the description refers to the three “degrees” of phonetic realization of a Hebrew word. The “linguistic” section of Kitāb al-Chazarī has already been subjected to scholarly studies, most recently by Ilan Eldar (2016). Yet, it appears that some aspects of Halevi’s description still call for a more detailed analysis. In this paper, I offer a coherent reading of this section. The basic concept underpinning Halevi’s discussions refers to the idea of “weak letters” presented by Jehudah Ibn Hayyuj in his Kitab al-Afʿal Zawat Huruf al-Lin. In Kitāb al-Chazarī, however, this theory is elaborated in a more sophisticated fashion, which enables its author to reconstruct the “original” or “primordial” phonetic realisation of a Hebrew word. This realisation is not necessarily equal to the one testified by dictionaries. With this assumption in mind, I attempt to trace basic phonological rules of the Biblical Hebrew according to Yehuda ha-Levi.

Od „karaimskich” sabatajczyków do „karaimizacji” żydów rabinicznych: Pierwsza publiczna dysputa żydów na temat judaizmu w Kamieńcu Podolskim w 1757 roku (z karaimami w tle)

Author(s): Jan Doktór / Language(s): Polish Issue: 02/2018

Surprisingly, it was only in the mid-18th century that the first public disputation over matters of faith in religiously divided Europe, engaged in heated dispute over religious doctrines, took place between representatives of two Jewish clans in a small town at the south-eastern corner of the Republic of Poland. It was, at the same time, the first ever public debate over the truths of faith in the Jewish world. True, disputes between the rabbanites and the Karaites have been rife since the Middle Ages, but they typically assumed the form of literary expressions, which culminated in the 12th century work entitled Sefer Kuzari by Jehuda ha-Levi. For many centuries only the Christian neophytes were publicly challenging the rabbinical orthodoxy, as they alone could afford it, thanks to the protection provided by the Church. In Kamieniec, however, facing each other were two religious formation from the Judaic camp: the dominant orthodoxy and the mystical and messianic sect of Sabbatai Zvi’s followers, which barely emerged from underground in the Republic ten-odd months earlier. Thanks to assistance from the Church, the messianists got an opportunity to present their version of the Jewish faith in writing, publicize it through print and defend it in a debate with representatives of the rabbis. For the first time in centuries the rabbis were not able to suppress the heretical movement on their own and had to face it during a public debate, hoping for a favourable ruling of the Church arbitrator. The assessment of the intentions of the Church is hampered by the absence of documentation as much as by the unexpected death of the organizer of the disputation, Kamieniec Bishop Mikołaj Dębowski, just three weeks after its conclusion. This frustrated his earlier efforts and obviously made it impossible to disclose the planned and possibly real consequences, about which we may only offer some guesses. The organizers of the disputation tried to ascribe to the sectarians two elements that were supposed to explain the support from the Church: the rejection of the Talmud (the so-called oral Torah) in favour of the written Torah (meaning, in the narrowest sense, Moses’s Pentateuch, or, more broadly, the whole Hebrew Bible), and the similarity of their teaching to that of Christianity. The case of the Karaites, which was at the background of the discussions over contra-Talmudists all the time, showed that it was not at all simple to combine anti-Talmudism with what might be termed as Christian trends. The Karaites were not famous for sympathizing with the Christians. Their literal understanding of the Scriptures ruled out both Christian and cabalistic exegesis, to which the sectarians referred. Therefore it was not possible to present the Karaites as role models to follow by contra-Talmudists, let alone contemplate the integration of both these “anti-Talmudist Jewish formations. The differences were fundamental and obvious already at first sight. When, before the Kamieniec dispute, the rabbis gave up the teaching about two Torahs and accepted the Mosaic Torah as the only received truth and groundwork of Judaism, they came closer to the Karaites than the sectarians did. From the point of view of the doctrine, the association of the new “contra-Talmudists” with the old ones, i.e., the Karaites, was uncomfortable for all the parties. The sole Karaite inspiration for the Podolia Sabbataists was the idea of legalizing their sect along the lines of the Karaite community. Talmud was evidently just a substitute topic in the dispute, although in the church strategy it was an indispensable element. It was essential for persuading the gentry and the state authorities, for whom Talmud was a key word in the Jewish question, to legalize the sect. For the Catholic clergy and probably the Polish public opinion at large as well, Talmud was part and parcel of the degeneration of rabbinism and Jewishness in general. The ruling by the consistory court legalized the new “anti-Talmudic” Jewish synagogue in the Kamieniec diocese, which was to enjoy all the rights guaranteed to the Jews”. The formation of a new synagogue with a non-Talmudic format patterned on the Karaite synagogue seemed a foregone conclusion. The death of the Kamieniec bishop a mere three weeks after the dispute interrupted the process of legalization of the sect just as it was gathering pace and ultimately frustrated it altogether.

The Portrayal of Jews in Seventeenthand Eighteenth-Century Monastery Chronicles from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth on the Basis of Selected Examples

Author(s): Stefan Gąsiorowski / Language(s): English Issue: Special/2017

Monastery chronicles from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth provide valuable insight not only into the history of individual orders and the Polish clergy in general, but also into the history of mentality, daily life and religious and ethnic minorities. Although references to Jews are rather sporadic in such chronicles, they are nevertheless quite diverse and concern almost all aspects of Jewish activity in Poland and abroad. Therefore, they can serve as an excellent complement to other sources in the field, including Jewish ones, and those of various secular institutions and offices. It should be noted, however, that the credibility of the information contained in monastery chronicles is always dependent on the distance in time and space between the chronicler and the described events and should—if possible—be verified against other documentary sources from the same period.

Jewish Toll Collectors in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries

Author(s): Maria Cieśla / Language(s): English Issue: Special/2017

The purpose of this article is to show the Jewish involvement in the tolln collection in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The following aspects are explored: the legal position, the financial involvement, and conditions of the everyday work of the Jewish toll collectors, as well as the conflicts connected with this profession. The author based her research upon mostly unknown primary sources, including Lithuanian Treasury documents and different court acts. Upon examination of those sources it becomes clear that the Jews played a significant role in the tax collection in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in that period. What is more, not only members of the economic elite were involved in the cooperation with the state treasury.

The Last auto-da-fé in Europe? The Case of the Jewish Merchant Boroch Leibov and Captain-Lieutenant Aleksander Voznitsyn and Its Consequences

Author(s): Maciej Szkółka / Language(s): English Issue: Special/2017

An unprecedented event took place in the Russian Empire in the second half of 1738. On the main square of St. Petersburg, a Jewish merchant, Boroch Leibov, and a Russian navy captain-lieutenant, Aleksander Voznitsyn, were burned alive at the stake. Voznitsyn had met Leibov while staying in Moscow. Impressed by the teachings of his new acquaintance, he decided to convert to Judaism. The reason for this decision was probably the mental illness of the captain or his unconfirmed family ties with the fifteenth-century Heresy of the Judaizers. Based on the Sobornoye Ulozheniye decree, both of them were sentenced to public burning for withdrawal from the Orthodox faith and blasphemy, in the case of Voznitsyn, and for persuading an Orthodox man to withdraw from his faith, in the case of Leibov. The trial of Boroch and Voznitsyn was widely reported in the whole Russian Empire and became the cause of rapid changes in the policy toward the Jews. Both Empress Anna Ivanovna and, after 1740, her successor, Elizabeth Petrovna, signed a number of decrees ordering the Jews to leave the borders of the Russian Empire.

The Rabbi’s Position in a Jewish Community of the Kingdom of Poland in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century: The Controversy over Zachariasz Weingott in Częstochowa

Author(s): Janusz Spyra / Language(s): English Issue: Special/2017

In the nineteenth century, Częstochowa was home to one of the largest Jewish communities in the Kingdom of Poland, but for most of this time it had no communal rabbi approved by both the community and the state authorities. The first such rabbi, Zachariasz (Yisakhar) Weingott, was elected in 1822, but a mere two years later he was forced to resign. The attempts to elect a new rabbi led to major social conflicts and continued to fail, while the rabbinical duties were executed by unofficial rabbis (Jakub Brass and Mojżesz Majzel). It was only in 1839 that Weingott was re-elected to the post of the rabbi and held that position until his death in 1852. As it seems, the conflict was animated by a competition between adherents of modernization and the traditional segments of the Jewish community in Częstochowa, including the Hasidim. As such, it was an expression of a typical communal conflict that plagued east-European Jewish communities of the nineteenth century. What seems of special interest, however, is that a detailed analysis of the Częstochowa case makes it possible to trace other—familial and business—connections, behind the well-known ideological divisions, quite often transcending traditional divisions into modernist and traditionalist camps.

Memorandum Svazu Čechů-židů v Republice československé postoupené vládě během přípravy národnostního statutu v roce 1938

Author(s): Andrej Sulitka,Blanka Soukupová / Language(s): Czech Issue: 2/2018

The number of suggestions submitted to the government by the representatives of ethnic minorities during preparation of the nationality statute in 1938 included one enterprisingly submitted by a Jewish union. The authors analyse the Memorandum prepared by the Union of Czech Jews in the Czechoslovak Republic, the highest institution of the Czech Jewish assimilationist movement. Although we do not have a response from government bodies to this document, we can state that it reflected the strong self-confidence of the Czech Jewish movement and simultaneously its exceptional loyalty to the Czech nation and the Republic. The Memorandum also demonstrates the permanent optimism of the movement, which continued in its sharply defined stance against the rival Zionist movement. The awareness of the danger to the republic evidently overrode the awareness of the danger to the Jewish minority. The Czech Jewish movement based its reasoning on sources from the last decade of the 19th century, the corner stone of which was the Czech Jewish understanding of the term “nation”, which combined the traditions of Judaism, enlightenment and romanticism. A new aspect was the willingness of the Czech Jewish movement to cooperate with orthodoxy, while its efforts to present its own reasoning as being in the state and national interest and its abiding trust in the institution of the state were “traditional”.

Z działalności Cukunftu. Lipiec 1941 – marzec 1942

Author(s): / Language(s): Polish Issue: 04/2018

This critical review concerns the report of the Jugnt-Bund Tsukunft youth organization for the period from July 1941 to March 1942, prepared in Yiddish during World War II. It describes the underground activities of the Tsukunft Central Committee and Skif within the framework of “fives” and “sevens” in the Warsaw, including subsistence aid (e.g., providing meals to kinds threatened with malnutrition), the publishing of underground papers, education and cultural activities, as well as the participation of Tsukunft in the operation of “Żytos”.

Die Tagebücher der Mitarbeiter des Institutum Judaicum in Halle aus der Reise durch Polen 1730-1731. V. Von Września nach Toruń

Author(s): Johann Andreas Manitius,Georg Widmann / Language(s): German Issue: 04/2018

„Praca będzie wymagała pewnych nieznacznych zmian”. Redakcja „Bleter far Geszichte” wobec dziennika Zygmunta Klukowskiego (1951)

Author(s): Joanna Nalewajko-Kulikov / Language(s): Polish Issue: 01/2019

In 1948 the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw started publishing “Bleter far Geshikhte”, a Yiddish periodical bearing the same title as a pre-war journal which used to be co-edited by Emanuel Ringelblum. The post-war continuation intended to be a forum for Polish Jewish historiography but the postwar conditions as well as emigration of many Jewish researchers turned “Bleter” into a hybrid-like periodical for the Jewish milieu in Poland and a handful of Yiddish-speaking researchers abroad. In the 1950s and 1960s the editorial board, consisting of Ber Mark, Tatiana Berenstein, Artur Eisenbach and Adam Rutkowski, struggled to keep the academic character of the journal while opening it also to authors from other Eastern European countries, mainly the USSR and Romania. Following Mark’s death, Berenstein’s and Rutkowski’s emigration from Poland and the anti-Semitic campaign of 1968, the journal got suspended in 1970 for the next 10 years, although minutes of meetings of the editorial board show that for all these years efforts were made to continue publishing the journal. It eventually reappeared in 1980 but as less and less researchers and editors were able to write and/or edit in Yiddish, the journal got finally closed in 1990. The article discusses the history of the journal as well as one particular case study of publishing excerpts from Zygmunt Klukowski’s wartime diary, regarding the Holocaust in Szczebrzeszyn. These excerpts were published in “Bleter” in 1951 and censored or changed to conform to the official vision of Polish-Jewish relations during the war. In the article the censored and/or changed fragments have been verified against the 1958 edition of the diary in a book-length form.