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Jewish Bioethics
by Yechiel Michael BarilanThis book presents the discourse in Jewish law and rabbinic literature on bioethical issues, highlighting practical problems in their socio-historical contexts. Yechiel Michael Barilan discusses end-of-life care, abortion, infertility treatments, the brain death debate, and the organ market. Barilan also presents the theology and spirituality of Jewish medical law, the communal responsibility for healthcare, and the charitable sick-care societies that flourished in the Jewish communities until the beginning of the twentieth century.
Jewish Blood: Reality and metaphor in history, religion and culture (Routledge Jewish Studies Series)
by Mitchell B. HartThis book deals with the Jewish engagement with blood: animal and human, real and metaphorical. Concentrating on the meaning or significance of blood in Judaism, the book moves this highly controversial subject away from its traditional focus, exploring how Jews themselves engage with blood and its role in Jewish identity, ritual and culture. With contributions from leading scholars in the field, the book brings together a wide range of perspectives and covers communities in ancient Israel, Europe and America, as well as all major eras of Jewish history: biblical, Talmudic, medieval and modern. Providing historical, religious and cultural examples ranging from the "Blood Libel" through to the poetry of Uri Zvi Greenberg, this volume explores the deep continuities in thought and practice related to blood. Moreover, it examines the continuities and discontinuities between Jewish and Christian ideas and practices related to blood, many of which extend into the modern, contemporary period. The chapters look at not only the Jewish and Christian interaction, but the interaction between Jews and the individual national communities to which they belong, including the complex appropriation and rejection of European ideas and images undertaken by some Zionists, and then by the State of Israel. This broad-ranging and multidisciplinary work will be of interest to students of Jewish Studies, History and Religion.
Jewish Blues: A History of a Color in Judaism (Jewish Culture and Contexts)
by Gadi SagivJewish Blues presents a broad cultural, social, and intellectual history of the color blue in Jewish life between the sixteenth and twenty-first centuries. Bridging diverse domains such as religious law, mysticism, eschatology, as well as clothing and literature, this book contends that, by way of a protracted process, the color blue has constituted a means through which Jews have understood themselves.In ancient Jewish texts, the term for blue, tekhelet, denotes a dye that serves Jewish ritual purposes. Since medieval times, however, Jews gradually ceased to use tekhelet in their ritual life. In the nineteenth century, however, interest in restoring ancient dyes increased among European scholars. In the Jewish case, rabbis and scientists attempted to reproduce the ancient tekhelet dye. The resulting dyes were gradually accepted in the ritual life of many Orthodox Jews. In addition to being a dye playing a role in Jewish ritual, blue features prominently in the Jewish mystical tradition, in Jewish magic and popular custom, and in Jewish eschatology. Blue is also representative of the Zionist movement, and it is the only chromatic color in the national flag of the State of Israel.Through the study of the changing roles and meanings attributed to the color blue in Judaism, Jewish Blues sheds new light on the power of a visual symbol in shaping the imagination of Jews throughout history. The use of the color blue continues to reflect pressing issues for Jews in our present era, as it has become a symbol of Jewish modernity.
Jewish Buenos Aires, 1890-1939: In Search of an Identity
by Dr Victor A MirelmanVictor Mirelman, in his study of the greatest concentration of Latin American Jewry, examines the changing facade of the Argentinean Jewish community from the beginning of mass Jewish immigration in 1890 to its decline in 1930. During this period, Jews arrived from Russia, Poland, Romania, Syria, Turkey and Morocco Each group founded its own synagogues. mutual help organizations. hospitals. cultural associations. and newspapers of particular vitality was the Yiddish press and the Yiddish theatre. Jewish immigrants were also especially active politically, particularly in the Socialist Party and in the workers' unions. <P><P> Based on research in the Argentine archives. Jewish Buenos Aires, 1890-1930 describes the immigration and settlement process. studies the first generation of Argentine-born Jews. and provides an understanding of assimilation and acculturation. Mirelman discusses the religious life of the community differentiating between the Ashkenazim and the various Sephardic groups and devotes chapters to Zionism, to Jewish culture in Yiddish. Hebrew. and Spanish. to education; and to social action Issues that created conflict and friction are analyzed in detail.
Jewish Cattle Traders in the German Countryside, 1919–1939: Economic Trust and Antisemitic Violence
by Stefanie FischerJewish Cattle Traders in the German Countryside, 1919–1939, explores the social and economic networks in which this group operated and the informal but durable bonds between Jewish cattle traders and farmers that not even incessant Nazi attacks could break.Stefanie Fischer combines approaches from social history, economic history, and sociology to challenge the longstanding cliché of the shady Jewish cattle dealer. By focusing on trust and social connections rather than analyzing economic trends, Fischer exposes the myriad inconsistencies that riddled the process of expelling the Jews from Germany.Jewish Cattle Traders in the German Countryside, 1919–1939, examines the complexities of relations between Jews and non-Jews who were engaged in economic and social exchange. In the process, Fischer challenges previous understandings of everyday life under Nazi rule and discovers new ways in which Jewish agency acted as a critical force throughout the exclusionary processes that took place in Hitler's Germany.
Jewish Chicago: A Pictorial History (Images of America)
by Irving CutlerFor many years Chicago had the third largest Jewishpopulation of any city in the world. Through the medium of historic photographs, this book captures the remarkable evolution of the Jewish people of Chicago, from their immigrant beginnings in the 1840s to their present-day communities. It is a story of the cultural, religious, economic, and everyday life of Chicago's Jews. These pages bring to life the people, events, neighborhoods, and institutions that helped shape and transform today's Jewish community. The photos and maps, culled from the author's and other collections, paint a vivid and informative picture of Chicago Jewry. In addition to recalling the early immigrant German and later Eastern European Jews, this book delves into Jewish neighborhoods including the West Side, South Side, North Side, suburban communities, and Maxwell Street, a neighborhood which produced such prominent Jews as musician Benny Goodman, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg, Admiral Hyman Rickover, community organizer Saul Alinsky, and CBS founder William Paley. Chicago Jews have also made contributions to the city and the nation in the arts,commerce and industry, government service, entertainment, and labor, including seven Nobel prize winners. The images show Jews as peddlers and sweatshop workers as well as successful business entrepreneurs and professionals.
Jewish Childhood in Kraków: A Microhistory of the Holocaust
by Joanna SliwaWinner of the 2020 Ernst Fraenkel Prize from the Wiener Holocaust Library Jewish Childhood in Kraków is the first book to tell the history of Kraków in the second World War through the lens of Jewish children’s experiences. Here, children assume center stage as historical actors whose recollections and experiences deserve to be told, analyzed, and treated seriously. Sliwa scours archives to tell their story, gleaning evidence from the records of the German authorities, Polish neighbors, Jewish community and family, and the children themselves to explore the Holocaust in German-occupied Poland and in Kraków in particular. A microhistory of a place, a people, and daily life, this book plumbs the decisions and behaviors of ordinary people in extraordinary times. Offering a window onto human relations and ethnic tensions in times of rampant violence, Jewish Childhood in Kraków is an effort both to understand the past and to reflect on the position of young people during humanitarian crises.
Jewish Childhood in the Roman World
by Hagith SivanThis is the first full treatment of Jewish childhood in the Roman world. <P><P>It follows minors into the spaces where they lived, learned, played, slept, and died and examines the actions and interaction of children with other children, with close-kin adults, and with strangers, both inside and outside the home. A wide range of sources are used, from the rabbinic rules to the surviving painted representations of children from synagogues, and due attention is paid to broader theoretical issues and approaches. <P>Hagith Sivan concludes with four beautifully reconstructed 'autobiographies' of specific children, from a boy living and dying in a desert cave during the Bar-Kokhba revolt to an Alexandrian girl forced to leave her home and wander through the Mediterranean in search of a respite from persecution. The book tackles the major questions of the relationship between Jewish childhood and Jewish identity which remain important to this day.<P> The first full treatment of Jewish childhood in the Roman world, of interest to historians, sociologists, childhood experts, disabilities experts, and to scholars of antiquity, the Middle Ages and modernity interested in comparative data.<P> Explores the complex relationship between Jewish childhood and Jewish identity.<P> Brings its often overlooked subjects to life, especially through four reconstructed 'autobiographies' of specific children.
Jewish Choices, Jewish Voices: Body (Volume #1)
by Elliot N. Dorff Louis E. NewmanThis new JPS ethics series deals with some of the most critical moral issues of our time. Each volume in this series presents traditional and contemporary sources on specific topics, followed by hypothetical cases and study questions to provoke discussion. Supplementing these are brief essays written by a diverse group- political figures and journalists, business professionals and authors, scholars and artists, young voices and old, traditional believers and iconoclasts. These voices from the Jewish tradition and today's Jewish community give us new questions and perspectives to think about and encourage us to consider our moral choices in a new light. Jewish Choices Jewish Voices: Body What are our obligations and rights to our own bodies? What does Judaism say about tattoos? Piercings? About our obligations to exercise and eat properly? What about smoking? Alcohol? Recreational drugs? Who owns our organs? If resources are limited, whose body comes first and how do we decide? Why do so many young Jews suffer from eating disorders?
Jewish Christianity: The Making of the Christianity-Judaism Divide (The Anchor Yale Bible Reference Library)
by Matt Jackson-McCabeA fresh exploration of the category Jewish Christianity, from its invention in the Enlightenment to contemporary debates For hundreds of years, historians have been asking fundamental questions about the separation of Christianity from Judaism in antiquity. Matt Jackson-McCabe argues provocatively that the concept “Jewish Christianity,” which has been central to scholarly reconstructions, represents an enduring legacy of Christian apologetics. Freethinkers of the English Enlightenment created this category as a means of isolating a distinctly Christian religion from what otherwise appeared to be the Jewish culture of Jesus and the apostles. Tracing the development of this patently modern concept of a Jewish Christianity from its origins to early twenty-first-century scholarship, Jackson-McCabe shows how a category that began as a way to reimagine the apologetic notion of an authoritative “original Christianity” continues to cause problems in the contemporary study of Jewish and Christian antiquity. He draws on promising new approaches to Christianity and Judaism as socially constructed terms of identity to argue that historians would do better to leave the concept of Jewish Christianity behind.
Jewish Citizenship in France: The Temptation of Being Among One's Own
by Chantal Bordes-BenayounThe Jews of France have been liberated for over two centuries; they have been considered free citizens and equal to their compatriots. What purpose, then, does it serve to study their citizenship today? Until World War II, French Jews called themselves ""Israelites;"" they were deeply patriotic and had found a place for themselves in France's ""community of citizens."" However outbursts of anti-Semitism during that period reminded them that their new status prevented neither hate nor rejection; they had to persevere in the struggle for citizenship equity.France has not been spared from recent movements demanding recognition of particular identities in the public space. Ethnicity in French political life has become increasingly obvious, in spite of the constant assertion of ""republican values."" Questions about immigration, nationality, and integration are constantly in the forefront of public life. Though, in France, the existence of ethnic and religious communities is not legally recognized, certain groups are designated as separate, often creating conflicts among them.
Jewish Comedy: A Serious History
by Jeremy DauberFinalist for the National Jewish Book Award A rich account of Jewish humor: its nature, its development, and its vital role throughout history. In a major work of scholarship both erudite and very funny, Columbia professor Jeremy Dauber traces the origins of Jewish comedy and its development from biblical times to the age of Twitter. Organizing the product of Jews’ comic imagination over continents and centuries into what he calls the seven strands of Jewish comedy—including the satirical, the witty, and the vulgar—he traces the ways Jewish comedy has mirrored, and sometimes even shaped, the course of Jewish history. Persecution, cultural assimilation, religious revival, diaspora, Zionism—all of these, and more, were grist for the Jewish comic mill; and Dauber’s book takes readers on the tour of the funny side of some very serious business. (And vice versa.) In a work of dazzling scope, readers will encounter comic masterpieces here that range from Talmudic rabbi jokes to medieval skits, Yiddish satires and Borscht Belt routines to scenes from Seinfeld and Broad City, and the book of Esther to Adam Sandler’s “Hanukkah Song.” Dauber also explores the rise and fall of popular comic archetypes such as the Jewish mother, the Jewish American Princess, and the schlemiel, the schlimazel, and the schmuck, and the classic works of such masters of Jewish comedy as Sholem Aleichem, Isaac Babel, Franz Kafka, the Marx Brothers, Woody Allen, Joan Rivers, Philip Roth, Mel Brooks, Sarah Silverman, Jon Stewart, and Larry David, among many others. Jewish comedy, as Dauber writes, is serious business. And precisely what it is, how it developed, and how its various strands weave together and in conversation with the Jewish story: that’s Jewish Comedy.
Jewish Communities in Modern Asia: Their Rise, Demise and Resurgence
by Rotem KownerJewish settlement in Asia, beyond the Middle East, is largely a modern phenomenon. Imperial expansion and adventurism by Great Britain and Russia were the chief motors that initially drove Jewish settlers to move eastwards, in the nineteenth century, combined as this was with the rise of port cities and general development of the global economy. The new immigrants soon become centrally involved, in ways quite disproportionate to their numbers, in Asian commerce. Their role and centrality finished with the outbreak of World War II, the chaos that resulted from the fighting, and the consequent collapse of Western imperialism. This unique, ground-breaking book charts their rise and fall while pointing to signs of these communities' post-war resurgence and revival. Fourteen chapters by many of the most prominent authorities in the field, from a range of perspectives, explore questions of identity, society, and culture across several Asian locales. It is essential reading for scholars of Asian Studies and Jewish Studies.
Jewish Communities of Greater Stamford, The (Images of America)
by Linda Baulsir Irwin MillerThe Jewish Communities of Greater Stamford presents a broad historical view of the Jewish people of Stamford, Darien, Greenwich, and New Canaan, Connecticut, and Pound Ridge, New York. The book goes back to the era just prior to the American Revolution, when lone Jewish families settled among the Connecticut Yankees to engage in trade, manufacturing, and commerce.The earliest settlers-such as Nehemiah Marks, who was living and doing business in Stamford as early as 1720-opened stores and other commercial enterprises. By the mid-1800s, city dwellers began coming to the region for summer vacations. After 1880, settlers arrived via the peddlers' routes and, after accumulating a little capital, stayed to open shops and establish themselves socially and politically. The greatest influx came in the 1890s and early 1900s, when many Jews arrived from the Pale of Settlements, eastern and central Europe, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Romania, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Jewish Communities of the Five Towns and the Rockaways (Images of America)
by The Jewish Heritage Society of the Five TownsThe Five Towns--comprising the villages of Cedarhurst and Lawrence and the communities of Woodmere, Hewlett, and Inwood--is an area nestled on the South Shore of Long Island next to the easternmost part of Queens, known as Far Rockaway. Originally popular as a Jewish summer vacation spot near the Atlantic Ocean, the Five Towns and the Far Rockaway area grew to become a thriving, year-round Jewish metropolis, with thousands of families and scores of synagogues and Jewish educational institutions. A center for shopping and kosher restaurants, the Five Towns area has become one of the most popular locations for young, married Jewish couples. Jewish influence has expanded greatly in local government and education. The rich history of the early years of Jewish growth and development in the Five Towns and Rockaways lends a deeper understanding of this phenomenal change of demographics and influence that has occurred over the last few decades.
Jewish Communities on the Ohio River: A History (Ohio River Valley Series)
by Amy Hill Shevitz&“An engaging regional history with immense national significance . . . An excellent chronicle of the minority experience in small town America.&” —Ava F. Kahn, author of Jewish Voices of the California Gold Rush In Jewish Communities on the Ohio River, Amy Hill Shevitz chronicles the settlement and development of small Jewish communities in towns along the river. In these small towns, Jewish citizens created networks of businesses and families that developed into a distinctive, nineteenth-century middle-class culture. As a minority group with a vital role in each community, Ohio Valley Jews fostered American religious pluralism as they constructed a regional identity. Their contributions to the culture and economy of the region countered the anti-Semitic sentiments of the period. Shevitz discusses the associations among the towns and the big cities of the region, especially Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. Also examined are Jewish communities&’ relationships with, and dependence on, the Ohio River and rail networks. Jewish Communities on the Ohio River demonstrates how the circumstances of a specific region influenced the evolution of American Jewish life. &“Far better composed and contextualized than most local histories of smaller Jewish communities now in print, Amy Shevitz&’s book does a commendable job of detailing local developments in terms of the broader picture of both American Jewish history and Ohio Valley history.&” —Lee Shai Weissbach, author of Jewish Life in Small-Town America: A History &“Shevitz&’s study provides both corroboration, and corrective, to the standard historiography of American Jewry . . . Shevitz provides a fascinating glimpse into the nature of small-town Jewish life, and the role Jews played in shaping their world.&” —Ohio Valley Quarterly
Jewish Community Around North Broad Street, The (Images of America)
by Allen MeyersThe cradle of Jewish life in Philadelphia began with the establishment of the first synagogue, Mikveh Israel, in 1740. With the influx of many German Jews in the 1840s, the community expanded above Spring Garden Street into the Northern Liberties neighborhood. Urban settlement of Philadelphia's Jewish population during the last quarter of the nineteenth century shifted to North Broad Street when the economy improved for the city's residents after the Civil War. North Broad Street soon boasted two elegantly designed synagogues and the newly relocated Jewish Hospital from West Philadelphia.The Jewish Community around North Broad Street weaves the tale of the Jewish community in this part of Philadelphia through a collection of rare and stunning images. The construction of the North Broad Street subway in the 1920s and the row house Jewish community known as Logan are parts of this story. The development of business districts led to a more cohesive north and northwest Jewish community that allowed for satellite Jewish enclaves to flourish, complete with their own synagogues, bakeries, kosher meat markets, and hundreds of other shops that served the general population. In the 1950s, new neighborhoods, such as Mount Airy and West Oak Lane, alleviated an acute housing shortage at a time when 110,000 Jews lived in north-central and northwest Philadelphia.
Jewish Community of Dayton (Images of America)
by Marshall WeissSince the arrival of approximately a dozen German-Jewish immigrants in the 1840s, the Jewish community of Dayton has actively contributed to the betterment and welfare of the "Gem City." Jewish Community of Dayton recalls forgotten stories of Arthur Welsh, the first Jewish airplane pilot; orphan turned social reformer Rabbi David Lefkowitz; Golda Meir's impassioned 1948 visit on behalf of the new Jewish state; and opera star Jan Peerce giving the final performance of his career with the acclaimed Beth Abraham Youth Chorale. This book illustrates how Dayton's Jews have responded and adapted to challenges ranging from the Great Flood of 1913 to resettlement of immigrants throughout the 20th century, from sacrifices for the state of Israel to activism in the civil rights era.
Jewish Community of Greater Buffalo (Images of America)
by Chana Revell KotzinJewish community life in Buffalo began in 1847 with the founding of Temple Beth El. A dominantly German Jewish community transformed in the 1880s as Eastern European Jews settled around William Street. Intense religious and commercial vibrancy emerged with new synagogues alongside Jewish grocery stores, kosher butchers, clothiers, and more. From this east side milieu, lyricist Jack Yellen ("Happy Days are Here Again") and composer Harold Arlen ("Over the Rainbow") emerged as part of a new generation shaping local and national American life. On the west side, Temple Beth Zion, the Jewish Federation, Jewish Community Center, Jewish Family Service, and Rosa Coplon Jewish Old Folks Home built institutions on and around Delaware Avenue. Jewish areas in Humboldt, North Buffalo, Kenmore, Amherst, Getzville, and Williamsville developed over time. Camp Lakeland continued earlier traditions of summer camping. Throughout the 20th century, Jewish Buffalonians made their marks as entrepreneurs, distinguished lawyers, award-winning writers, and Nobel Prize scientists, among other careers. The Jewish Community of Greater Buffalo showcases Buffalo and Niagara Falls Jewry over the last two centuries.
Jewish Community of Hartford (Images of America)
by Jewish Historical Society of Greater HartfordHartford’s Jewish presence dates back to the mid-1600s. The earliest permanent settlers were German Jews, who purchased the first building for use as a synagogue in 1856. With increasing immigration from Eastern Europe, the population soon expanded. Jewish-owned businesses became part of Hartford’s economic life, and numerous civic and social welfare organizations were established. In 1945, many philanthropic groups consolidated to create the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford, which later relocated to West Hartford as the community shifted to the surrounding suburbs. Among the Hartford area’s most accomplished sons and daughters are entertainer Sophie Tucker, producer Norman Lear, comedienne Totie Fields, artist Sol LeWitt, and significant Zionist leaders, such as Samuel Hoffenberg and Abraham Goldstein. The Jewish Community of Hartford highlights some of the people and institutions that have helped to shape this remarkable community.
Jewish Community of Metro Detroit: 1945-2005, The (Images of America)
by Barry StiefelAfter the end of World War II, Americans across the United States began a mass migration from the urban centers to suburbia. Entire neighborhoods transplanted themselves. The Jewish Community of Metro Detroit: 1945 -2005 provides a pictorial history of the Detroit Jewish community's transition from the city to the suburbs outside of Detroit. For the Jewish communities, life in the Detroit suburbs has been focused on family within a pluralism that embraces the spectrum of experience from the most religiously devout to the ethnically secular. Holidays, bar and bat mitzvahs, weddings, and funerals have marked the passage of time. Issues of social justice, homeland, and religion have divided and brought people together. The architecture of the structures the Detroit Jewish community has erected, such as Temple Beth El designed by architect Minoru Yamasaki, testifies to the community's presence.
Jewish Community of New Orleans, The (Images of America)
by Irwin Lachoff Catherine C. KahnNew Orleans is not a typical Southern city. The Jews who have settled in New Orleans from 1757 to the present have had a very different experience than others in the South. New Orleans was a wide-open frontier that attracted gamblers, sailors, con artists, planters, and merchants. Most early Jewish immigrants were bachelors who took Catholic wives, if they married at all. The first congregation, Gates of Mercy, was founded in 1827, and by 1860, four congregations represented Sephardic, French and German, and Polish Jewry. The reform movement, the largest denomination today, took hold after the Civil War with the founding of Temple Sinai. Small as it is in proportion to the population of New Orleans, the Jewish community has made contributions that far exceed their numbers in cultural, educational, and philanthropic gifts to the city.
Jewish Community of North Minneapolis (Images of America)
by Rhoda LewinThe stories of the Jewish community of North Minneapolis are an important part of the rich and diverse mosaic of North Minneapolis history. By 1936, there were more than 16,000 Jew in Minneapolis, and 70 percent of them lived on the North Side. The Jewish Community of North Minneapolis presents an intriguing record of the earliest beginnings of Jewish communities in the city. Through the medium of historic photographs, this book captures the cultural, economic, political, and social history of this community, from the late 1800s to the present day. The Jews in North Minneapolis enjoyed a busy social and cultural life with their landsmanschaften, and shopped together at the kosher butcher shops and fish markets, grocery stores and bakeries, clothing stores, barber shops, restaurants, and other small businesses that had sprung up along Sixth Avenue North and then Plymouth Avenue. Including vintage images and tales of the community-Hebrew schools, synagogues, and social groups-this collection uncovers the challenges and triumphs of the Jewish community.
Jewish Community of Solano County (Images of America)
by Rachel Rae Moncharsh-Lessem Shoshana Deutscher-Nurik Rachel Raskin-ZrihenThis book contains images and stories of some of the Jews who have impacted Solano County. It is not a record of every Jew to pass this way, some of whom may have come intending to shed their Jewish identity by changing their names or converting. Wonderful stories emerged about extraordinary people who made their marks here with few suspecting their Jewish roots, yet they were traceable often because in death they chose to reclaim their heritage. Others came to live as Jews and built an enduring community. The story within these pages travels from the Old World to the edge of Gold Country, where there lives a tenacious, though often invisible, Jewish community.
Jewish Community of South Philadelphia, The: Images Of America (Images of America)
by Allen MeyersFor many Jewish immigrants to America, Philadelphia's row houses provided an instant community of neighbors where they were able to combine the traditions of the Old World with newAmerican ideals. In their flight to a new land and a new life, Jewish immigrants found a place to call home in South Philadelphia. This unprecedented collection of images celebrates the people and places of this community, from their struggles to their triumphs and the family bonds that provided their strength along the way. The Jewish Community of South Philadelphia is a tribute to tradition and pride that will serve as a valuable tool in teaching the history of Jewish immigrants in America. Join Allen Meyers in this exploration of the past that will be enjoyed for generations to come.