Suchergebnisse

In this article we intend undertake a reading of ancient judaism, or veterotestamentary, in some of its main aspects, in contrast to the Machiavellian view of the role of religion in the organization and expansion of the State. The first step of this enterprise will be given by exposing the founding and delineanting features of the ancient Jewish tradition, especially in the books that make up the so-called Old Testament, demonstranting the using of religion in the ordination and expansion of the State, as well as in the formation of the individual. In a second moment we will demonstrate how to create a new Jewish tradition, influenced and influential on the ancient Greek world, early in the Christian era which will be assimilated and explored in its mystical bias in Renaissance humanism. This Hellenistic Judaism tradition will be best known and assimilated in the European erudite circles of the Renaissance. Finally, we will try to demonstrate how the constitutive features of ancient Judaism, to the detriment of Hellenistic Judaism, can be read in the light of Machiavellian description of the role of religion in the organization and expansion of the State and the formation of the individual.

Frontmatter --TABLE OF CONTENTS --Preface --Abbreviations --Introduction --Chapter 1. Jews, Christians and Persecutions in Fourth-Century Persia --Chapter 2. Chosenness: The Election of Israel --Chapter 3. Marriage and Celibacy in Jewish and Christian Tradition --Chapter 4. Ritual: Passover and Circumcision --Conclusion --Appendix: Post Second Temple Passover Sacrifices? --Bibliography

Intro -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Part I: Introduction -- 1 Chapter 1: Editorial Introduction The Study of Religion in Israeli Social Science -- 2 Chapter 2: Sociological Analyses of Religion -- 3 Chapter 3: Dimensions of Jewish Religiosity -- Part II: Political Dimensions of Israeli Judaism -- 4 Chapter 4: Jewish Civilization: Approaches to Problems of Israeli Society -- 5 Chapter 5: State Ceremonies of Israel: Remembrance Day and Independence Day -- 6 Chapter 6: Religious Adherence and Political Attitudes -- 7 Chapter 7: Religion in the Israeli Discourse on the Arab-Jewish Conflict -- 8 Life Tradition and Book Tradition in the Development of Ultraorthodox Judaism -- 9 Ultraorthodox Jewish Women -- Part IV: Nationalist Orthodoxy -- 10 Religious Kibbutzim: Judaism and Modernization -- 11 A Mystic-Messianic Interpretation of Modem Israeli History: The Six-Day War in the Religious Culture of Gush Emunim -- Part V: The Sephardic Pattern -- 12 The Religiosity of Middle Eastern Jews -- 13 Secularization and the Diminishing Decline of Religion -- 14 Saints' Sanctuaries in Development Towns -- 15 The Religion of Elderly Oriental Jewish Women -- Part VI: Secularism and Reform -- 16 Hanukkah and the Myth of the Maccabees in Ideology and in Society -- 17 Death Customs in a Non-Religious Kibbutz -- 18 Americans in the Israeli Reform and Conservative Denominations -- 19 Religion and Democracy in Israel -- Selected Bibliography -- About the Authors

For many years Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) has been the object of intense debate. After her bitter critiques of Zionism, which seemed to nullify her early involvement with that movement, and her extremely controversial Eichmann in Jerusalem (1963), Arendt became virtually a taboo figure in Israeli and Jewish circles. Challenging the "curse" of her own title, Hannah Arendt in Jerusalem carries the scholarly investigation of this much-discussed writer to the very place where her ideas have been most conspicuously ignored. Sometimes sympathetically, sometimes critically, these distinguished contributors reexamine crucial aspects of Arendt's life and thought: her complex identity as a German Jew; her commitment to and critique of Zionism and the state of Israel; her works on "totalitarianism," Nazism, and the Eichmann trial; her relationship to key twentieth-century intellectuals; her intimate and tense connections to German culture; and her reworkings of political thought and philosophy in the light of the experience of the twentieth century

FROM THE BOOK:"The pit I was ordered to dig had the precise dimensions of a casket. The NKVD officer carefully designed it. He measured my size with a stick, made lines on the forest floor, and told me to dig. He wanted to make sure I'd fit well inside."In 1941 Janusz Bardach's death sentence was commuted to ten years' hard labor and he was sent to Kolyma-the harshest, coldest, and most deadly prison in Joseph Stalin's labor camp system-the Siberia of Siberias. The only English-language memoir since the fall of communism to chronicle the atrocities committed during the Stalinist regime, Bardach's gripping testimony explores the darkest corners of the human condition at the same time that it documents the tyranny of Stalin's reign, equal only to that of Hitler. With breathtaking immediacy, a riveting eye for detail, and a humanity that permeates the events and landscapes he describes, Bardach recounts the extraordinary story of this nearly inconceivable world.The story begins with the Nazi occupation when Bardach, a young Polish Jew inspired by Soviet Communism, crosses the border of Poland to join the ranks of the Red Army. His ideals are quickly shattered when he is arrested, court-martialed, and sentenced to death. How Bardach survives an endless barrage of brutality-from a near-fatal beating to the harsh conditions and slow starvation of the gulag existence-is a testament to human endurance under the most oppressive circumstances. Besides being of great historical significance, Bardach's narrative is a celebration of life and a vital affirmation of what it means to be human

The distinction between Judaism & Jewishness in the former USSR is examined. In the USSR, the official Jewish identity is ethnic & not related to religious practice or affiliation. This distinction has allowed the survival of Jewishness despite the near destruction of the Judaic religion. Jewish life now faces the challenge of emigration that will appeal disportionately to the religious community & will likely leave the Jewish population increasingly less religious. Allowed self-determination, Soviet Jewry will likely create new expressions of Judaism & Jewishness & the lines between religion & ethnicity will become blurred, though will still remain much more distinct than in the West. 10 References. D. Generoli