The philosophic background as starting-point for early Christian doctrine of God’s immanence

Author(s): Tudor Cosmin Ciocan / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2016

In philosophy of religion the term of Immanence is mostly applied to GOD in contrast to the divine Transcendence. This relation, as we will see here, it is not far from the truth since one cannot be without the other, however they are not to be put in contrast, but in conjunction. The one-sided insistence on the immanence of God, to the exclusion of His transcendence, leads to Pantheism, just as the one-sided insistence upon His transcendence, to the exclusion of His immanence, leads to Deism. These two can be separated, but the consequences are great for human knowledge and society; it is the two taken together that result in, and are necessary to Theism. But from the least complicated idea that even the name of God is a manifestation of His immanence contrasting with Deus absconditus, whose existence and name cannot be known or thought, theology and religion in general need to regard immanence of God as crucial for the acts of worship. What are the philosophical background for Christian theology to imply the immanence characteristic for God’s existence related to His creation? – This is the main question the present work tries to answer as an overview.

John Zorn. Jak być żydowskim postmodernistą (albo postmodernistycznym Żydem)?

Author(s): Michal Wandzilak,Mariusz Czubaj / Language(s): Polish Issue: 03/2015

Being one of the most prominent figures of the New York avant-garde scene since the early 1980s of the 20th century – John Zorn is almost nonexistent in the Polish musical studies. Moreover, even though his art is densely packed with the dilemmas of the contemporary culture, Zorn’s music seems to be unnoticed neither by the anthropology nor by the cultural studies. Style-wise, due to the theory of the Jonathan Kramer and other notable music theorists, John Zorn’s music should be classified as connected to the postmodern movement. In his early works Zorn explores different musical contexts: the concept of “high” and “low” styles, structural unity, eclecticism, popular culture, etc. But dated from the release of the album, titled Kristallnacht, the next period of Zorn‘s musical activity is deeply involved in search for the Jewish identity in music and therefore rerouted to the new political religious social and traditional context. In short, John Zorn through his music is questioning the fundamental issues of contemporary culture: its identity, existence and tradition.

Żydowska Warszawa w obrazkach. Komiksowa antologia Złote pszczoły jako przykład kultury historycznej

Author(s): Gaweł Janik / Language(s): Polish Issue: 03/2015

The following article aims to show places where pop culture merges with Jewish tradition on the example of comic books. The author tries not only to reconstruct the evolution of the genre and its changing reception but also to show the history of comic books which introduce Jews as their main characters. The emphasis is put on comics about the Holocaust and superheroes which have actually become a separate category of graphic stories. The author uses as an example the Polish comic anthology - Złote pszczoły, which is one of the rare examples concerning the comic art about Jews and which has been incorporated into the cultural heritage and rescue history. The article draws attention to the fact that this is and institutional comic in which animal symbols have an important meaning and the Holocaust is not mentioned by its name at all, which seems to be done on purpose.

Żydowskie dziedzictwo. Uwagi o sagach współczesnych

Author(s): Marta Tomczok / Language(s): Polish Issue: 03/2015

In the article I pay attention to the contemporarily increasing importance of the family saga in the Polish Jewish studies. I propose the reading of the prose of Bronisław Wildstein (Czas niedokonany), Ałbena Grabowska (Stulecie Winnych), Ben Elton (Two Brothers) and Karina Schaapman (The Mouse Mansion. Sam and Julia). The 20th c. history of the European Jews present in these books usually focuses on several key pictures/moments/situations, that is: pre-war pogroms, the Shoah, and – only in the Polish version – żydokomuna [“Judeo-Communism”] and March 1968. I demonstrate their influence on pop-cultural narration through the analysis of Czas niedokonany in particular. In this story the inheritance of trauma, significant for the narration of the Second Generation, gains a supplement in the form of the inheritance of the Jewish capital, post-war Jewish careers and professional advancement. The article is an introduction to the profound study on the newest pop-cultural story tackling the subject of Jewishness; it also indicates the necessity of extracting from a large group of Polish, noble and post-noble family sagas the storylines centered on Jewish culture, based on a different ideology and distinct myths.

Języki jidysz i żydowsko-hiszpański jako wskaźniki tożsamości – na przykładzie żydowskich tekstów prasowych pierwszej połowy XX wieku

Author(s): Izabela Olszewska,Aleksandra Twardowska / Language(s): English Issue: 5/2016

The paper shows an image and functions of Yiddish and Judeo-Spanish languages among Jewish Diaspora groups – the Balkan Sephardim and the Ashkenazim (the Ostjuden group) – in the period from the beginning of the twentieth century until the outbreak of World War II. The study is based on the articles from Jewish weeklies, magazines and newspapers from pre-war Bosnia and Hercegovina and from Germany/Poland. It demonstrates a double-sided attitude towards the languages. On the one hand – an image of the languages as determinants of Jewish identity. Touching on this theme, the authors of the paper also try to highlight the images of Yiddish and Judeo-Spanish and as determinants in a narrower sense – of the Sephardi/Ashkenazi identity in that period. On the other hand, the paper shows a tendency to treat the languages as “corrupted” and “dying” languages, and as factors slowing down the assimilation of Jewish groups and also as an obstacle for Zionist ideologies.

Pisać w trzecim języku: przestrzeń między świętym a świeckim w myśli Gershoma Scholema i Jacquesa Derridy

Author(s): Karen C. Underhill / Language(s): Polish Issue: 5/2016

This article explores Gershom Scholem’s ‘On Our Language: A Confession’ (an open letter to Franz Rosenzweig on the secularisation of the Hebrew language) as well as Jacques Derrida’s essay on Scholem’s text. Underhill draws on the figure of the palimpsest and the cabbalistic concept of language in her attempt to reconstruct both texts. She also borrows Derrida’s notion of the ‘third language’ on the border between sacred and profane language.

(Nie)pamięć zbiorowa Polaków jako skuteczna regulacja emocji

Author(s): Michał Bilewicz / Language(s): Polish Issue: 6/2016

Bilewicz applies notions borrowed from the psychology of emotions to understand collective (im)memory in Poland, with a particular focus on defensive reactions to new historical data on Poles’ negative behaviour. Based on James Gross’ concept of emotion regulation, Bilewicz elaborates a model of downregulating collective moral emotions (such as guilt and shame). He then applies this model to the debate on the Jedwabne pogrom. He also outlines systematic social psychological studies that support his proposed emotion downregulation model. The article concludes with a discussion of alternative ways of presenting negative history – ways that overcome those defensive emotion regulatory processes.

Czechoslovakism in Mentalities of Košice’s Inhabitants and Its Implementation in the Public Space of the City in the Interwar Era

Author(s): Ondrej Ficeri / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2017

The establishment of Czechoslovakia in 1918 was refused by a large proportion of its inhabitants, mainly from the part of Czechoslovak Germans and Hungarians. Beside them, a certain number of Slovaks rebelled against the state project of Czech and Slovak political elites as well. Some of them preferred to remain in the frame of the historical Hungary because they shared with Hungarians for centuries transmitted cultural patterns and cultural repertoire, the use of which came by implementing the idea of Czechoslovakism to the threat. Rebelling attitudes against Czechoslovak statehood were registered especially in the ethnically heterogeneous regions and cities which were located in the contact zone between the territories with the majority Slovak population on the one side and the minority Hungarian one on the other. Analysing the archival documents, the author of the paper focuses firstly on reactions of indigenous inhabitants of Slovak origin of the city of Košice to the establishment of Czechoslovakia, secondly, on pursuits of the political elites to implement the Czechoslovak state idea in the public space of the city, its successes, failures and tensions between the Czechoslovak and Slovak (autonomous) camps of nationalists. Thirdly, the analysis of the electoral behaviour stands in the spotlight, according to which the majority of local indigenous Slovaks voted the oppositionist parties what indicates that, in the long term, the idea of the Czechoslovak state was refused by these inhabitants. The purpose of the study lies in recognizing differentiated attitudes of the Slovak interwar (mainly urban) society to the Czechoslovak statehood and, hence, in outlining an alternative story to the traditional, in the cultural memory reproduced narrative about the establishment of Czechoslovakia as a “national liberation”.

Милена Кирова. Героичното тяло. История и мъжественост в еврейската Библия. София, 2017

Author(s): Kristina Dimitrova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2018

RABBI JOSEPH KARO AS THE FOUNDER OF THE FIRST KABBALISTIC CIRCLE IN SALONICA

Author(s): Mor Altshuler / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2018

The article describes the establishing of the first circle of Kabbalists in Salonica by two scholars who later laid the foundations of The Golden Age of Safed: R. Joseph Karo, whose Shulchan Aruch became the authoritative codification of Jewish law; and his companion, kabbalist and poet R. Solomon Halevi Elkabetz. While performing a mystical ceremony on the nights of Shevuot (Pentecost) of 1533, a prophetic voice was heard through R. J. Karo’s throat and mouth. The voice urged the companions to ascend immediately to the Land of Israel in order to redeem the Assembly of Israel and be redeemed from exile.Special weight is given to the messianic enthusiasm of the circle, and to their interpretation of the triumphs of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent over the Christian coalition led by Emperor Charles V as an omen to the fall of the satanic realm of “Edom” and as an encouraging step towards redemption.

Jews and Their Language in Wujek’s Bible 1599

Author(s): Rajmund Pietkiewicz / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2018

The author, on the basis of the study of the commentaries and prefaces to Wujek’s Bible of 1599, depicts the image of the Jews, their language and their customs as it was presented by Jakub Wujek and his contemporaneous fellow Jesuits. The author refers to the sources of the information contained in Wujek’s Bible, evaluates it in the context of the religious situation in the Renaissance Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and attempts at establishing the realm and power of the influence it had on readers.

Judaizing and Identity in the earliest Transylvanian Sabbatarian Writings (1588? – 1621)

Author(s): Réka Újlaki-Nagy / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2018

The denominational and national identity of Transylvanian Sabbatarians (‘Judaizers’) has been constantly debated since the mid-19th century discovery of Sabbatarian literature. The question has always been haunted by mythologizing tendencies. The absence of something that was a given in the case of other denominations – that is, reflection on their native land and their nationality – was explained in terms of denominationally and nationally biased standpoints. Although most scholars had their own opinion about this question, no one has tried to perform a detailed inquiry into the problem, based on the texts themselves, and within a context of the Sabbatarians’ attitude to Jews. The present essay tries to address this problem. Utilizing a relevant set of keywords, I try to identify the signs of identity-creation in the earliest extant texts, and I also try to explore the Sabbatarian perception of Jews. My investigation reinforces the hypothesis that the absence of a patriotic voice is rooted in the theological advance towards Jews. Although the perception of the Jews is not entirely positive in Sabbatarian texts, their role is unique, making them essential for salvation. This indicates the later direction of the formation of Sabbatarian national and denominational identity, which is a gradual movement towards Jewishness, leading to ‘assimilation’ later.

„Kwestia żydowska” w literaturze religijnej. Analiza treści modlitewnika Machzor li-Jom Kipur

Author(s): Agata Rybińska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2018

The analysis of the prayer contained in the Hebrew-Russian prayer book allows to describe the linguistic image of God and his people — Israel/Jews. Appealing to the patriarchs, to the covenant between God and Israel, to the Torah, Jerusalem and temple worship, that is, the centuries-long Jewish religious tradition, are cultural codes, and at the same time key components of Jewish identity. They are a point of reference in considering so called the Jewish question, taking into account primarily the Jewish perspective, not the Christian one.

Photographs

Author(s): Not Specified Author / Language(s): English,Russian Issue: 2/1982

The Prague Jewish Community in the Late 17th and Early 18th Centuries

Author(s): Alexandr Putík / Language(s): English Issue: 1/1999

The late 17th and early 18th centuries were a period of significant events for the Prague Jewish community, including the immigration to Eretz Yisrael led by Judah Hasid and the visit of Rabbi Nethanel ben Solomon. This study explores the state and church policies towards Jews, attempts at expulsion, and the impact of censorship and conversion pressures. It also examines the self-administration of the Jewish community and its response to these challenges. The archival sources reveal a more complex picture than previously understood, showing that the Messianic excitement of the Ashkenazic world did indeed reach Bohemia, contrary to earlier literature. The document provides a detailed account of the historical context, literature, sources, and demographic data of the Prague Ghetto, highlighting its significance as the largest Jewish community in Europe at the time.

The Origins of the "Spanish Synagogue" of Prague

Author(s): Ivan Kalmar / Language(s): English Issue: 1/1999

The "Spanish Synagogue" of Prague, originally known as the "Israelite Temple of Prague," is a significant example of early Moorish style synagogue architecture from the mid-19th century. It was a central place of worship for some of Prague's most affluent Jewish families and played a key role in the Reform movement. The synagogue's design, attributed to architects Josef Niklas or Ignác Ullmann, underwent revisions before its completion in 1868. Its name, "Spanish Synagogue," is not due to its architectural style but likely stems from a mistaken belief in a Sephardic congregation's historical presence. The building's restoration in 1998 by the Jewish Museum of Prague has made it a prominent landmark and tourist attraction, although its history remains somewhat enigmatic.

The Jewish Museum in Prague - 1999 Annual Report

Author(s): Leo Pavlát / Language(s): English Issue: 1/1999

The Jewish Museum in Prague is actively collecting memories from Holocaust survivors, resistance members, and witnesses. The document lists annotated memoirs, detailing individuals' experiences such as deportation to concentration camps like Auschwitz, involvement in the resistance movement, and post-war lives. Many survivors emigrated, joined armies, or participated in underground activities. The accounts include escapes, internment, and life in mixed marriages during the war. Post-liberation, some individuals moved to countries like Israel or the USA, while others returned to Czechoslovakia or engaged in educational work.

Stvoření a Setkání. Vybrané luriánské motivy v myšlení Emmanuela Lévinase

Author(s): Jakub Luksch / Language(s): Czech Issue: 66-67/2024

The paper presents some common motifs of two thinkers who, despite a historical gap of several hundred years, had common roots in the tradition of Judaism. The notion of the Encounter, as analysed by Emmanuel Levinas, and the cosmogonic process of Creation in Isaac Luria’s system of thought have a common motif in the phenomenon of the socalled “contraction” (Hebrew: tzimtzum). Despite the fact that for the first thinker it is the domain of ethics and for the second the domain of ontology, the act of a certain “self-limitation” or “withdrawal” plays in both cases a foundational role.

Panovnický antijudaismus na Moravě v první čtvrtině 18. století. Hledání klíče k regulaci židovské menšiny

Author(s): Martin Štindl / Language(s): Czech Issue: 2/2023

The paper focuses on the territory of Moravia between 1708–1728, when the Habsburg state produced a series of legislative measures that had a lasting impact on the status of the Jewish population. The author sees this process as the formation of a monarchical anti-Judaism that gradually abandoned the older models of the Estates State and adopted the principles of absolute monarchies. In addition to formal shifts, the paper focuses primarily on the themes of these measures, the targets of which – the Jewish home, the synagogue, the ghetto, the family – tended to change frequently as the state sought the most an effective method for regulating the Jewish minority. Last but not least, the paper focuses on the actors who initiated the individual measures or were involved in their practical application.

Proměny vzdělávání českých Židů za vlády Josefa II.

Author(s): Iveta Cermanová / Language(s): Czech Issue: 2/2023

The decade of Joseph II’s reign was crucial for Jewish history in the Habsburg monarchy. For the firsttime, in the context of the growing Enlightenment-absolutist tendencies of the state and changing attitudestowards members of non-Catholic Christian denominations, the Jewish issue became an importantpart of state policy, and the monarch did not hesitate to intervene in almost all spheres of Jewish lifeduring his reign. He sought to gain greater control over this minority, distinct in both religion and language,to bring it closer to the life of the majority society and make it more useful to the state. The keyarea through which he intended to promote these aims was Jewish education. All of this was closely relatedto the Enlightenment-absolutist state’s efforts to comprehensively reform the monarchy’s educationalsystem, the aim of which was to provide education under state supervision for broad sections ofthe population, thus helping to “elevate them morally” and turn them into useful citizens of the state.However, since Jewish education in its traditional form played a crucial role in the process of preservingJewish identity, most Czech Jews viewed the changes that Joseph II brought about in this area with apprehensionand distrust. The importance of education for the Jewish community was understood by allconcerned – the monarch, the highest central and provincial authorities, the Jewish enlighteners whosupported state policy – but resisted by their opponents within the Jewish community, that is to say adherentsof the rabbinic tradition, which led to a number of clashes related to these developments. Thisarticle first outlines the forms of Jewish education in Bohemia in the second half of the 18th century,then discusses the efforts of the Josephine state to transform them and enforce compulsory secular educationfor Jews in the context of the Habsburg monarchy. Finally, it sheds light on the various Jewish reactionsto these developments and reflects on the outcome of events in this field.