The “Default Hypothesis” Fails to Explain Jewish Influence

The role of Jewish activism in the transformative changes that have occurred in the West in recent decades continues to be controversial. Here I respond to several issues putatively related to Jewish influence, particularly the “default hypothesis” that Jewish IQ and urban residency explain Jewish influence and the role of the Jewish community in enacting the 1965 immigration law in the United States; other issues include Jewish ethnocentrism and intermarriage and whether diaspora Jews are hypocritical in their attitudes on immigration to Israel versus the United States. The post-World War II era saw the emergence of a new, substantially Jewish elite in America that exerted influence on a wide range of issues that formed a virtual consensus among Jewish activists and the organized Jewish community, including immigration, civil rights, and the secularization of American culture. Jewish activism in the pro-immigration movement involved: intellectual movements denying the importance of race in human affairs; establishing, staffing, and funding anti-restrictionist organizations; recruiting prominent non-Jews to anti-restrictionist organizations; rejecting the ethnic status quo as a goal because of fear of a relatively homogeneous white majority; leadership in Congress and the executive branch.

The Yugoslav Planting Campaign in Martyrs’ Forest 1952–1955: Symbolism, Rituals and Meaning

This article will try to examine the phenomenon of memorial forests and its role in the creation of Holocaust mem- ory of the Jewish community in Yugoslavia. Our intention is to present the Yugoslav Jewish tradition of planting memorial for- ests and analyze its symbolical background. The Martyrs’ For- est in Israel will be used as an example of newly-founded place of remembrance, and considering that, the main aim of the arti- cle is to show, in comparison with other examples, what kind of symbolical rituals were used to provide a historical context and legitimacy for new memorials.

Larangan Intermarriage dalam Nehemia 13: 23-27: Suatu Upaya Hermeneutis Post-Modern melalui Pendekatan Sosial-Antropologis

This article is a post-modern hermeneutic study of Nehemiah 13: 23-27 with a socio anthropologicalapproach. This text talks about the prohibition of intermarriage between the Jewish community and foreign nations in the post-exilic era. This prohibition still alive now, not only in the Jewish community but also in other Abrahamic religions. Liquidity of cultural and religious identities today does not mean denying those people who still keep their tradition, culture, and group identities. The latest socio-anthropological and archeologicalstudies of the Bible show the text as Nehemiah and text editor effort to bequeath cultural memories to build the purity of Jewish identity. With intertextual studies, I will show that Old Testament Books is not ‘one voice’ about intermarriages. This ambiguity challenges us to rethink the prohibition on intermarriage without discrimination and segregation to the Other. Abstrak Artikel ini adalah upaya hermeneu􀆟 s post-modern terhadap teks Nehemia 13:23-27 dengan pendekatan sosio-antropologis. Teks ini berbicara tentang larangan kawin campur (intermarriage) antara komunitas Yahudi pasca-pembuangan dengan bangsa-bangsa asing. Larangan ini nyatanya masih terjadi hingga saat ini, bukan hanya di tengah-tengah komunitas Yahudi masa kini, namun juga agama-agama Abrahamik lainnya. Cairnyaidentitas budaya dan agama saat ini tidak berarti menafikan mereka yang masih memegang teguh tradisi, budaya dan pelestarian identitas kelompoknya. Studi sosio-antropologis dan arkeologi Alkitab terbaru memperlihatkan teks sebagai upaya Nehemia maupun redaktur teks mewariskan ingatan budaya dalam rangka membangun kemurnian identitas bangsa Yahudi pasca-pembuangan. Penulis juga memanfaatkan studi intertekstual dalam rangka memperlihatkan bahwa kitab Perjanjian Pertama (PP) tidak unisono dalam memperlihatkan larangan intermarriage. Ambiguitas ini menjadi tantangan bagi kita untuk memikirkan ulanglarangan intermarriage tanpa diskriminasi dan segregasi terhadap mereka yang berbeda.

Jews as Producers and Consumers of History in the Medieval Islamicate World

The Jews of the medieval Islamicate world were avid consumers and producers of history. In this article, I discuss the major modes of historical writing among the Jews of the period and introduce the question of how that historical writing was used by those Jews. In considering the Sitz im Leben of historical writing, I explore the role of internal communal apologetic, anti-sectarian polemic, inter-religious attack, political support and challenge, entertainment, the contextualizing of philosophy, consolation after adversity, and preparation for eschatological redemption. I pay particular attention to the rewriting of Others’ histories – Christian, Islamic, and Jewish sectarian – and the role these often-popular rewritten histories played in medieval Jewish society. This panoply of historical writing challenges an important scholarly view that Jewish consumption of history was minimal and served a limited range of “religious” needs within the medieval Jewish community.

From the Napoleonic domination until Italian Unity: legal restrictions and innovations for the Jewish Community of Mondovì

The documents conserved in the Terracini Jewish Archive of Turin allow the reader to examine the application of the legislation concerning Jewish communities during the period of time starting from the Napoleonic domination until the Italian unity. My research focuses in particular on the notarial deeds and judicial documents relating to the property of the synagogue and the cemetery of the Jewish community of Mondovì. Under the rule of France the Jewish people living in Piedmont were allowed to become real estate owners and the plots of land where the Jewish cemetery was located and the house that hosted the synagogue in Mondovì were allotted to the Jewish community. During the Restoration, the ban to become real estate property was introduced again. Even if the Jewish people of Mondovì had bought from its owner the house of the synagogue and they had obtained from the French administration the property of the plots of land of the cemetery, they were not anymore recognized as owners. After the emancipation of the Jewish population and the Italian unity, the Jewish community of Mondovì claimed its rights on those real estate properties: my essay would focus on the exam of the archive documents that show how the legislation concerning real estate property for Jewish people was applied over time.

The Expulsion of Academic Teaching Staff from German Universities, 1933–45

In spring 1933, a political purge began in German universities, affecting around one fifth of their academic staff. This study examines the various stages of this process, uses new data to create a collective portrait of those dismissed and asks why they received so little support from their unscathed colleagues. An analysis of the reasons for their dismissal shows that approximately 80% were driven out on antisemitic grounds, even though less than a third belonged to the Jewish community. Their lives after their dismissal varied greatly. Whereas some managed to pursue highly successful careers while in emigration, others were murdered by the Nazis or committed suicide. At the same time the purge policy improved the career chances of younger academics and it is no coincidence that it was from their ranks that the largest number of supporters of the Nazi regime were recruited. Not until the second half of the war did leading German politicians and academic leaders recognise a further effect of this policy, namely that the emigration of numerous influential scholars had provided the Allies with a ‘considerable gain in potential’, including in highly significant military research.

Synagogue as Infrastructure in Everyday Life of Batumi Jewish Community

The subject under scrutiny is Sephardic and Ashkenazi synagogues in Batumi (the Black Sea Region of Georgia) that reveal both universal and culturally specific forms. The paper is based on ethnographic data gathered during fieldwork in Batumi, in 2019, and on the theoretical postulates of anthropology of infrastructure. The article argues that the Batumi synagogues could be viewed and understood as ‘infrastructure’ in their own right, as they serve as objects through which other objects, people, and ideas operate and function as a system. The paper attempts to demonstrate how the sacred edifices change their trajectory according to modern conditions and how the sacred place is inserted and coexists inside a network of touristic infrastructure.