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The Ethiopian Jews of the Beta Israel community are unique in the annals of Jewish history. The community maintained its Jewish identity and devotedly upheld observance of the mitzvot, even in the face of grave physical and spiritual difficulties and unrelenting attempts to persuade them to abandon their religion. Yet, their traditions diverge significantly from the accepted Rabbinic halakhic tradition that is the norm in Israel. This paper examines Yom Kippur observances and describes key differences between the Beta Israel tradition, which reflects the centrality of atonement, and the Rabbinic tradition, which reflects the centrality of repentance. These distinctions stand as manifestations of a set of profound differences within the very consciousness that animates the two traditions. Discussion, using the works of thinkers like Rabbis Joseph B. Soloveitchik, his disciple, Prof. Rabbi David Hartman, and Ethiopian sages, will focus on the more theocentric Beta Israel tradition, in which individuals are perceived, and perceive themselves, as a part of a collective, in contrast to the Rabbinic tradition, which places a greater emphasis on the agency of the individual and human reason. We will highlight the difference between the concepts of "repentance" and "atonement" that are at the root of the two communities' theologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues for an interdisciplinary approach within the study of religion and conflict. Using a religious studies framework, it demonstrates that tools from human geography, peace studies, and the theology of religions can be used to shed light on the intractability of conflicts where religion is not "innocent". Within human geography, the spatial dimension of individual and communal identity, most particularly the concept of "mythical space", can illuminate the non-empirical, affective factors that condition attitudes to religious and ethnic others. Similarly, within the theology of religions, the typology of exclusivism, inclusivism, and pluralism can aid understanding of tendencies within all human communities, religious and non-religious, when faced with perceived threats from significant others. Two case studies, Sri Lanka and Israel/Palestine, are examined through this interdisciplinary approach, using illustrative "moments" within each conflict. Both highlight the affective power of primal imaginaries that are informed by narratives about religion, land, and identity. Without dismissing the importance of political and economic factors in the arising of conflict, this paper argues that it is not enough to analyse these factors alone. Other disciplines are necessary and this paper argues for two important examples: human geography and the theology of religions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critically examines how the mainstream media in Israel frame the phenomenon of polygamy among the minority Palestinian Bedouin community within the country. We identify four prominent media frames: (1) an "orientalist" frame, which considers Muslim women as in need of saving from their own culture and religion's oppression by a modernizing state; (2) a "securitization" frame, which links the practice of polygamy to threats to the state's security and to "Islamic terrorism;" (3) an "existential threat" frame, which reflects the Israeli Jewish majority's anxieties about a demographic battle between Jews and Muslims in the country; and finally, (4) a "women's rights" frame, which is the least prevalent, that addresses polygamy from the perspective of women's equality and equal citizenship, and which is critical of the discriminatory policies of the state. Theoretically, the paper explicates how the media utilizes minority gendered practices to amplify Islamophobic sentiments in relation to a Muslim community, and how alternative framing and the featuring of critical Muslim women's voices in the media might mitigate such harmful effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores recent transformations in Islamic pilgrimage patterns in Israel/Palestine. The meanings assigned to traditional Muslim sites, and the conduct and practices of the dwindling number of pilgrims who visit them, are the struggling victims of strategic socio-political erasures caused by dramatic geo-political changes. Since 1948, the hegemony of the State of Israel has perversely politicized sacred Islamic sites beyond their traditional religious functions. Muslim pilgrims, for their part, engage in rituals that have become a counterweight to Israeli ethnocratic imperatives. The reconstruction of an Islamic pilgrimage map presents a shared imaginative landscape as lieux de mémoire that undergird political and social resistance. The dogged survival of Islamic pilgrimage comprises a counterweight to state power. Muslims fight to affirm Palestinian identity, reclaim heritage spaces as anchors for identity, and actively engage with land claiming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that Muslim-Jewish relations are largely contingent upon politics. Through the examination of Muslim and Jewish populations and their interaction with the state, this article demonstrates that at times of constructive political engagement, day-to-day Muslim-Jewish encounters are positive. Likewise, at times of political conflict, Muslim-Jewish harmony ceases. This article juxtaposes two distinct eras, along with two opposite case studies within them: Islamic Spain in the eleventh century and Israel in the twentieth/twenty-first century. In this manner, both eras demonstrate that the political reality between Muslims and Jews is the contingent factor that determines Muslim-Jewish relations in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Book of Kings uses a particular synchronistic framework to present the parallel histories of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah in 1 Kings 14–2 Kings 17. Some Ancient Near Eastern chronographic compositions (synchronistic king lists, the Neo-Babylonian chronicle, the so-called Synchronistic History) also record chronological relationships between ruler sequences in neighboring kingdoms. This paper distinguishes between synchronized dating and synchronistic compositions, offers a comparison between these compositions and the Book of Kings, and discusses aspects of the latter's characteristics and pragmatics. The extant Mesopotamian synchronistic compositions presuppose and express a special connection between Assyria and Babylonia. It seems that a similar idea—applied to Israel and Judah—also stands behind the synchronistic composition in 1 Kings 14–2 Kings 17. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Populism and civilizationism have transformed the politics of many countries. Many scholars consider them the biggest challenges to democracy since the rise of fascism and communism in the first half of the last century. The close affinity between populism, civilizationism, and rightwing politics has also been analyzed and recognized in many countries from Turkey to India to the US. However, there are three areas that distinguish the appearance of civilizationism in Israel. First, in contrast to many other countries, civilizationism in Israel is not a new phenomenon. It has been an essential part of Israeli nationalism or Zionism since the early 20th century. Second, unlike many countries, Jewish civilizationism in Israel is an article of faith for all major Israeli political parties. It is not a slogan raised only by the rightwing, conservative part of the political spectrum. Finally, one observes an affinity between civilizationism and populism. Civilizational rhetoric is the mainstay of populist leaders, such as Trump, Erdogan, etc. In Israel, populism and civilizationism have no special relationship as civilizationism is mainstream politics. All politicians, populists and non-populists, have to pay homage to Jewish civilizationism; otherwise, they will not succeed. This paper analyzes the Israeli founding fathers' statements, the Declaration of Independence, Israeli state symbols, the revival of the Hebrew language, the Law of Return, the first debate in the Knesset, and the more recent Nation-State Law to demonstrate how Jewish civilizationism is old, mainstream, and not exclusively populist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The practice of public parades involving marches has been used historically by political and civic actors as a tool of helping to accomplish recognition of particular agendas or, at the very least, suggest a peaceful proclamation of justice within a democratic framework. Over the past two decades, The pride parade and The flag parade are drawing the attention of radical stakeholders in Israel whilst taking place in Jerusalem—a religiously divided space. Based on EU official reports and data from news reports and social media publications between 2002 and 2022, this paper examines religious extremists' presence in the above parades, in parallel to the appearance of incitement, physical violence and vandalism. All as part of an ongoing Radicalisation process. In addition, it observes the establishment of The flower parade as a civic counter-response initiated by deradicalisation agents. The research reveals that under the values and rule of democracy, the mechanism of public parades can self-trigger a dynamic between participants and opposers, exploited by extreme collectives for violent purposes. It reflects upon a fundamental dispute between different interpretations of the connection between Judaism, nationality and family values in the light of the democratic framework. One is leading to religious-based exclusion agenda on the one hand, while the other is reacting with inclusion activities on the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, as I follow Oded Lipschits and Joseph Blenkinsopp's argument regarding the continuity of the cult at Bethel in the post-exilic period, I argue that polemics between Bethel and Jerusalem reflect the obvious dichotomy between remainees and returnees (golah) in the post-exilic period. In order to prove the continuity of the cult of Bethel, first and foremost, I investigate the identity of the delegations from Bethel in Zech 7:2; in light of the context of Zech 8:20-23, I suggest that the identity of the delegations is composed of people from the city of Bethel. By using the derogatory idiomatic expressions about Bethel, the scribes belong to the community of Yehud must have sought a resolution. In other words, since their identity was based on Judah, they must have intentionally attempted to denounce Bethel, which represents the cult of Israel. I examine the scribes' endeavors by investigating the ambiguous position of the Benjaminites and Bethel's geographical position. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article deals with the way in which the "theological" as the question of the Biblical G-d's involvement in the world, as in the Talmuds, and in light of Heidegger's thought about forgetting and forgetfulness (Verborgenheit and Vergessenheit), becomes a political question about the attitude of the Jew and Israel toward the Heimat. In Heidegger, forgetting is about beings hiding from the view rather than about a psychological or "subjective" process to which forgetting has been reduced in modernity. The Heimat hides from the persons' life, no matter how strongly the persons strive for their Heimat "subjectively" or politically, Heidegger argues. The essay further detects a residual modernity and subjectivism in Heidegger's concession to forgetting as only a secondary operation, a loss, in comparison to the primary, "authentic" relationship to the Heimat, which, for him, one can and should hope for. That residual modern subjectivity in Heidegger enables and necessitates a comparison with the roles forgetting plays in relationships between G-d, Israel, and the Land in the two Talmuds as, similarly to Heidegger, dealing with and working against forgetting, if not Being, then the Law of the mutual obligations between G-d and Israel. The resulting analysis distills a conundrum in the Palestinian rabbis. Delivery on Israel's obligations towards G-d conditions Israel's arrival to the Land, that is to say Israel's fully successful exodus from Egypt. Yet, any clear memory of, and delivery on, these obligations, i.e., any humanly delivered testament to the law of G-d, constitutes an acute danger of forgetting masked as a would-be-certitude in the "memory" of the would-be-original law. Regaining the status of a full-fledged, never-tamed primordial power in relationships between G-d and Israel, forgetting, in the Palestinian rabbinic thought, undermines the deployment of logos as a way to formulate the Law fully. Letting the G-d in the world, logos however proves prone to reducing G-d to (a) theos, thus drawing the G-d into disappearance and forgetting. Such a counter-current to the copulation of theos with logos, the primordial power of forgetting operates even before any memory captured in words and images becomes possible. Arriving from antiquity to modernity, this counter-current continues to operate despite the currently prevalent demotion of forgetting to a subjective political act of a person or nation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present article scrutinizes the intricacies surrounding defensive warfare aimed at reclaiming territories perceived by Muslims as under non-Muslim occupation through the lens of the four Sunni schools and Twelver Shia perspectives. In Shia jurisprudence, in the absence of the twelfth Imam, the concept of defensive war does not extend to reclaiming Islamic territories per se; rather, Muslims are not sanctioned to engage in warfare solely for territorial defense. Instead, the imperative for Muslim involvement in armed conflict arises only when the fundamental tenets of Islam face jeopardy. According to Shia's legal interpretation, jeopardizing the core principles of Islam implies a scenario where the erasure of Prophet Muhammad's legacy and the utter annihilation of Sharia law are imminent. Such a predicament is not contingent upon the occupation of Islamic lands. However, Sunni jurisprudence posits a prerequisite for Muslims to engage in warfare, even in defense, necessitating a certainty of prevailing in the conflict. Consequently, given the contemporary milieu, wherein the requisite conditions for assured victory remain unattainable and are likely unattainable, defensive warfare for territorial reclamation is deemed impermissible. The findings of this inquiry propose an Islamic legal framework that advocates abstention from resorting to warfare concerning the mentioned territories in current circumstances, absolving Muslims of any obligation in this regard. Closing the avenue of armed conflict thereby paves the way for alternative avenues such as negotiation, reconciliation, and peace-building. It underscores Islam's reverence for human life, prioritizing it over territorial concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the formation and preservation of a distinctive "Moroccan Judaism" ethos, rooted in a connection to the homeland and an idealized Moroccan past. Through an examination of secularism, traditionalism, and modernity in Israel and France, alongside the resurgence of religiosity in secular societies, it assesses the impact of diasporic experiences on the religious practices of Moroccan-origin families in these countries. The argument posits that diasporic sentiments and the allure of Moroccan heritage significantly influence the negotiation and affirmation of religious identities within these families. Rituals and religious practices serve as expressions of this identity, undergoing adaptation and transformation both in Morocco and abroad. Consequently, "Israeli" and "French" approaches to Moroccan Jewish observance reflect distinct socio-political and historical contexts. The analysis draws from five family cases, illustrating a range of experiences within national and transnational frameworks, enriching our understanding of the dynamic interplay between personal narratives and broader social and historical landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anthropologists of religion are preoccupied with questions of identity, community, performance and representation. One way they cope with these concerns is through a reflexive examination of their ethnographic positionality in the field. This provides an opportunity to engage not only with "the other", but also to explore their own identities and background. This article presents an autoethnographic analysis of Pride Shabbat, a special service held in June to celebrate the intersection of Judaism and queerness. The service took place at Congregation Beit Simchat Torah (CBST) as part of their 50th-anniversary celebration. Since the 1970s, CBST has been known as the largest gay synagogue in the world and provided diverse religious and spiritual services to the Jewish LGBTQ+ community. Based on my participation in this specific event in June 2023, I draw distinct differences between the Israeli Jewish LGBTQ community and the American Jewish LGBTQ community, such as issues related to ageism and multigenerational perceptions within the gay community, the internal dynamic for gender dominance, as well as diverse trajectories of queerness, religiosity and nationality. Symbolically, contrary to the common perception that the diaspora looks to the state of Israel for symbolic and actual existence, this inquiry sheds light on the opposite perspective; the homeland (represented by the ethnographer) absorbs and learns from the queer Jewish practices and experiences taking place within the diaspora (the American Jewish LGBTQ community). This is an opposite movement which reveals the cracks in the perception of the gay community as a transnational community, as well as the tense power relations between Israel and American Jewry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses Tzvi Avni's Second Piano Sonata, Epitaph, a sonic commentary on one of the inner tales in Rabbi Nachman's "The Seven Beggars". Written between 1974 and 1979, Epitaph not only marks the composer's act of translation (from words into music and from a textual tale into a wordless and semantically unmarked piano sonata) but also his very turn to ethnographic sources that defied their negative function in a national territorial culture that vilified otherness while separating art from ethnography. Avni's turn to Rabbi Nachman was part of a bigger shift that saw composers' dialectical returns to Jewish histories and cultures that were previously repressed from a national culture which dehistoricized the Diaspora to the point of rendering the times and cultures of diasporic Jews a single temporality—ahistorical, contextless, and outside the teleological time of Zionism. With the (re)introduction of diasporic temporalities, non-redemptive poetics became an affordance in the music of Avni or Andre Hajdu (who is also discussed here) while steadily muting the territorial tropes that constituted Hebrew culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While religious dogma and science are often viewed at odds, scientific knowledge is increasingly integrated into religious journalism. This challenges the epistemic tenets that underlie the worldviews of religious readers. In this study, we aim to investigate the role of religious journalists as science gatekeepers and, more specifically, uncover their ethos in advocating science communication to their audience, amid widespread ambivalence. To this end, we focus on the ethical gaze of ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) Jews in Israel. An enclaved religious group that has a history of challenging scientific precepts and has of late demonstrated various levels of ambivalence and resistance to scientifically inspired policies made during the COVID-19 pandemic. To this end, we conducted in-depth interviews with 20 Haredi editors, radio and print/online journalists, engaged with science reporting before and during the COVID-19 outbreak. The findings unveil several ethical facets employed by Haredi journalists: care, community, professionalism, and religion. The findings also outline the interaction between professional, religious, and communal codes of conduct, as they play out in bounded mediascapes. Accordingly, religious journalists' role breaches traditional boundaries as they respond and strive to integrate multiple sources of knowledge for what they see as the betterment of their devout readers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As part of this Special Issue devoted to research on the Jewish communities in Africa and their diaspora, we focus on the case of South African Jews who emigrated to Israel. First, we analyze the socio-religious and cultural context in which a Jewish diaspora developed and marked the ethno-religious identity of South African Jews both as individuals and as a collective. Second, we examine the role of ethno-religious identification as the main motive for migrating to Israel, and third, we show the role of ethno-religious identity in the integration of South African Jews into Israeli life. This study relies on data from a survey of South Africans and their descendants living in Israel in 2008, and in-depth interviews. The findings provide evidence for a strong Jewish community in South Africa that created a strong sense of belonging to the Jewish people and a strong attachment to Israel. As expected, two of the key reasons for the decision to move to Israel were ideology and religion. The immigrants wanted to live in a place where they could feel part of the majority that was culturally and religiously Jewish. Finally, ethno-religious identities (Jewish and Zionist) influenced not only the decision making of potential immigrants but also their process of integration into Israeli life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Negev desert, the southern half of Israel, is an arid-to-hyper-arid region. Despite that, some 13,000 ancient sites have been recorded here to date, and many were excavated. One characteristic of the Negev (as well as of other deserts) is the abundance of prehistoric and early historic cult sites, dated ca. 8000–2000 BCE. Another is the many ancient roads. The roads, the main types of cult sites and the connection between them are described and discussed in the following sections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Haredi community in Israel is the youngest community. It grows at a higher rate than that of the Arab population in Israel. The calls to introduce more secular education are motivated by both a desire to acculturate the Haredi population and bring it closer to the norms and values of the Israeli discourse and from a wish to integrate more people from this community into the job market. Calls to introduce more secular education in the Haredi system have seen constant resistance that has been documented in scholarship. In the U.S., the discussion on the correct role of general education started with a different frame of reference. The existence of meaningful religious education was put into question, and only after the holocaust did American Orthodoxy significantly expand its educational options. This text will describe the diverse spectrum of Haredi educational institutions and their approaches to secular education. I am using Monsey as a test case since it is a good representation of the kaleidoscope of Orthodoxy in the U.S., as far as the different communities are concerned. It is also a very decentralized community, since there is no dominant group in Monsey. This fact allows for more initiatives, including educational initiatives, to be undertaken. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work examines the environmental challenges occasioned by Samaria's 'imperial singleness' in prophet Hosea's text from an African perspective. The interaction between the 'seat of power' in Samaria and imperial forces in Hosea's time appears to have negatively influenced Israel's attitude towards land use (Hos 12:1, 2; 1 Ki 21:1–28; 2 Ki 9:26). Such interface becomes evident in a shift, by Samaria's 'seat of power', from Yahweh's prescribed land-use policy to those of their imperial masters—Assyria and Egypt. Despite Israel's liberation from Egypt by Yahweh during the exodus (Hos 11:1), their susceptibility to treaty alliances with these imperial forces remains vivid in Hosea's narrative (Hos 7:1–16; 12:1–2). Echoing the words of Ngwa, such an alliance seemingly classifies Samaria's monarchy as a 'localised imperial singularity' and a 'single hero' as against the 'communal oneness with the divine, humans and the earth itself'. This 'localised imperial singleness' and its effect on Israel's land was subjected to a critical engagement premised on the principles of interconnectedness and the voice of the earth, while a combination of Mburu's African Hermeneutics and Kavus' Ecological Hermeneutics is employed for the purpose of critical decolonial discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supersessionism in the Western Christian theological tradition remains an issue to be remediated. The problem of supersessionism is the problem of Gentile Christians' wrongly viewing themselves as the exclusively favored object of God's desire. This misplaced prioritization of Gentile belonging within the life of Israel's God mirrors dynamics found in Euro-American racism or whiteness. Just as theories of anti-racism are useful for confronting the challenges of whiteness, in this paper I argue for an explicitly anti-supersessionist theology. This theology offers possibilities for deepening an understanding of the covenantal relationships among God, Israel, Jesus Christ, and the Gentile Church. As such, it transcends the binary of supersessionism and post-supersessionism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The past few decades have witnessed significant increases in levels of education among women members of conservative religions. Contrary to the expectations of both researchers and policymakers, this trend has not been accompanied by decreases in levels of piety. The purpose of this article is to explore what it means to educated religious women to belong to conservative religious communities that embody values and practices that do not conform to the values of modernity associated with exposure to higher education. On the basis of a series of group interviews with educated Jewish Haredi women in Israel, we examined this very question. We found that the women we interviewed demonstrated a deep pride in their religious identity and an ongoing and strong commitment to their community. At the same time, they regarded membership in their community as a form of social capital enabling them to secure a wide array of benefits, which provided compensation for the demand to conform to conservative practices. We conclude that through a process of exchange (social capital against the price of conforming), the women challenge existing norms while maintaining strong religious identities, taking part in democratic processes, and, together, forging articulated bonds of membership and belonging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This qualitative study examines how the agency of religious Druze women in Israel affects professional identity and religious affiliation and how these, in turn, shape the gender religious perception in their community, especially in the fields of education and employment. Through semi-structured interviews with twenty women, the study identifies the factors that promote or inhibit the increasing legitimacy in community religious discourse for the integration of religious women in higher education and quality employment. The main finding of the study is that religious, professionally educated Druze women in Israel direct their agency to a complex and challenging interaction with the modern world. By doing so, these women challenge the boundaries of their ultra-religious community, thereby expanding them. The findings show that educated religious Druze women in Israel reject the binary division between "conservative religious" and "modern" and replace it with different definitions of what is considered religious, conservative, and modern. One of the main insights that emerged from the study is that the women are able to act autonomously to make their choices, acquire education, integrate into the poor local labor market in professional positions, accumulate economic and social resources through their professional and religious status, and negotiate their status in the religious community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of the many movements with a strong female presence promoting peace in the Middle East, the movement Women Wage Peace (WWP) currently represents the largest and most impactful organization in the country. Founded in the aftermath of the 50-day Gaza War/Operation Protective Edge of 2014, Women Wage Peace has grown to 45,000 Israeli members, the most significant grassroots peace movement in Israel today. WWP's theory of change refracts the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, and its resolution, through a gendered lens. The movement is non-partisan and does not support any specific solution to the conflict. Instead, it empowers women from diverse communities to build trust across divides, leading to a unified demand for diplomatic negotiation, with full representation of women, to end the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. WWP enables very diverse women to unite with the aim of taking their own and their children's futures into their own hands: women from the left, center, and right, young and old, from the center and periphery of the country, religious and secular, Jewish, Arab, Druze, and Bedouin. The movement continues to refine its non-hierarchical structure, distributing its work among thousands of volunteers who serve on regional and/or mission-specific teams, including Government Engagement, Foreign Affairs, Digital Communication, Special Projects, and Strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are many studies that deal with the role of media and the motives for their creation. The present article explores the background behind the development of Ultra-Orthodox journalism. It examines the establishment of Ultra-Orthodox daily newspapers in Israel at the end of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first by analyzing semistructured texts and ideas. The historical background and the way this journalism developed in general and specifically during those years reflect a strong social and censorial orientation. This study concludes that these newspapers can be seen as social definers that help preserve a community through censorship aimed at the general and other Ultra-Orthodox media. It helps communities and individuals self-define and can delineate an additional role for mass media as a social definer. The contention herein is that the establishment of Ultra-Orthodox newspapers in Israel serves as a mode for social definition; a definition that is arrived at by being part of the circle of the newspaper's readers, and the newspaper, in turn, defines itself by its censor board. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Hilltop youth" is the name for young religious Jewish people in Israel who, separated from their families, are living in illegal outposts on hilltops throughout Judea and Samaria. The group's unique religious, sociological, and ideological characteristics differentiate them from other religious communities previously studied in relation to digital culture. In this study, we offer a new angle that provides insight into the hilltop youth's religious–ideological perception while focusing on their attitude toward new media, smartphones, and social networks, in particular, an attitude that is part of their self-definition as a separatist community. The findings present and discuss the different layers represented within the hilltop youth's media resistance and how this media-negating ideological position shapes the group's perception as a religious community that is a counterculture to religious and social sectors in Israel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the COVID-19 pandemic most people had to cope with the negative implications of the lockdowns, and perceived times of social isolation and loneliness, and thus low wellbeing. Among the best predictors of positive changes of pandemic related attitudes and behaviors was the experience of pausing in wondering awe with subsequent feelings of gratitude. As these observations came from a secular society with a Christian background, we now aimed to analyzed to what extend Jewish people from Israel were experiencing such moments of wondering awe during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how these perceptions are related to their psychological wellbeing. For that purpose, between June and July 2021 a cross-sectional survey with standardized questionnaires was applied among 147 participants from Jerusalem. Those with high wellbeing and those who can rely on their faith as a resource to cope with the pandemic were more intensively perceiving moments of Awe/Gratitude. Awe/Gratitude and a low perception of COVID-19 related stressors were the best predictors of participants' psychological wellbeing. Against our expectation, Awe/Gratitude was not significantly associated with the experience of nature and enjoying reflective times of silence. Both resources, Awe/Gratitude as a an experiential aspect of spirituality and Nature/Silence as a source to encounter the sacred in one's life, are relevant and should be supported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reexamines Rabbi Abraham Isaac HaCohen Kook's (1865–1935) approach to Zionism, by proposing a reading of Kook's Zionism through the lens of the Lebensphilosophie (The Philosophy of Life) of the French philosopher Henri Bergson (1859–1941). I show that we can clarify Kook's view of freedom, the self and creativity and its essential connection to Zionism, therefore, proposing a new understanding of the meaning that Jewish nationalism assumes in Kook's thought, thanks to the application of the model of freedom and creativity developed by Bergson to Kook's writings. Especially for Kook, I show that Jewish nationalism is seen as a means for the Jewish People to return to their true self and through this connection attain true freedom. Only when a nation realizes its freedom by a return to its own original self, it can be creative. This is how I explain the connection that Kook draws between a return to the Land of Israel and the ability of Israel as a people to finally be able to be creative. Finally, I argue that this understanding of nationalism adds a new layer to the essential place that the territory assumes in Kook's thought. A State of Israel outside its original land can attain the goal of autonomous self-governance but lacks the ability to inspire the reconnection of the nation to its own original self. The Jewish People as a collective cannot connect to their authentic self away from the Land of Israel, consequently, the Land of Israel is the only place in which they can be truly free. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the case of Israeli Jews who choose to marry in ceremonies outside the state-authorized rabbinical establishment. Formally speaking, these private marriages are not recognized by the State. We focus on the ways in which these marriages become legitimate. The study is based on interviews with forty such couples. Our findings show that these couples tend to attach far more weight to achieving social legitimacy for their marriage than legal recognition and legitimacy. While most sociological and legal analyses of these concepts do not distinguish between the two types of legitimacy, our study reveals a more nuanced and complex interplay in which these processes are perceived as separate (by the couples) while, in fact, they are interconnected. We show that couples are able to experience their weddings as socially legitimate due to the social recognition of their weddings as "traditional." Additionally, their de facto relations as cohabitant partners grant them similar rights to those of formally married couples in the eyes of the State. Thus, our study demonstrates that, ironically, those who challenge the State's marriage establishment rely on the very same elements that constitute formal Jewish marriages in Israel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, there has been a growing interest in the creative identity formation strategies found in 1 Peter, especially concerning the way that the letter appropriates the Jewish scriptures and Israel's privileges, promises, and vocation. While some find these strategies to be beneficial, others regard them as problematic because they promote a posture of supersessionism toward Israel. Some have suggested that the problem of supersessionism can be ameliorated by noting the silence in the letter regarding the relationship between Israel and the gentile addressees. This silence creates theological and hermeneutical space to go outside of the text itself to resolve the tension. But the move to go outside of the text can create its own problems because of the influential "standard canonical narrative", which fills the silence and exerts pressure on the reader to replace Israel with the church. This article seeks to demonstrate that the text of 1 Peter itself pushes against a supposed supersessionist posture in part because such a reading is inconsistent with the claims made about God, but also because the implicit narrative in the letter along with the exhortations to distance oneself from a gentile way of life necessitate that the addressees "appropriate Israelhood" without expropriating Israel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay explores how Paul negotiates and constructs social identity for the Christos-followers in Corinth from a post-supersessionist perspective by using the Social Identity Theory. Focusing on a close reading of two controversial passages taken from 1 Corinthians (1 Cor 7:17–24 and 9:19–23), this essay argues that there is continuation of existing social identities of both the Jewish and gentile Christos-followers. In the Christos-movement, Jews were not expected to give up their place of belonging in order to become Christos-followers. Likewise, gentiles were not expected to leave behind their previous identity and embrace Jewish practices in order to become the people of God who worship the God of Israel. While the existing social identities continue, Paul also creatively transforms them. Reflection on the implication of this reading for contemporary ethnic Chinese Christos-followers in Muslim-majority Malaysia is also offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interpretations of Philippians have commonly suggested that the letter seeks to demonstrate the worthlessness of Paul's own (former) Jewish identity, and thus that the Philippians should not be led astray by those who would persuade them to adopt the Jewish Law. Accordingly, it is assumed that Paul understands Judaism to have been superseded by Christianity and, moreover, that Christian identity has superseded all other identities that persons may have possessed upon entrance into the Christ community. In contrast to this long-standing interpretive tradition, this article contends that, for Paul, the ethnic distinction between Jew and gentile within the greater Christ community remains intact, along with a continued role for the Torah for both subgroups. Rather than advancing a supersessionist agenda, Paul fundamentally seeks in this letter to strengthen the Philippians' identity as members of the nations who have, alongside those in Israel, become members of God's holy, multiethnic people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article deals with the rulings of Sheikh Rāʾid Badīr, who served as a mediator between the Israeli government and the Muslim community over the course of the pandemic. As a senior leader and scholar of the southern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, Sheikh Rāʾid Badīr's fatwās have historically addressed the unique circumstances and situational difficulties faced by Muslims living in Israel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers an in-depth ethnographic and historical description of how an ethnic-religious revival movement has had an impact on religious life. The article will focus on the story of one of Israeli's foremost religious revival movements—the Mizrahi-Haredi teshuva movement. We will look at the encounter between the Mizrahi-Haredi teshuva movement activists and Mizrahi synagogue congregations, and at the outcomes of that encounter on religious infrastructures, and on the activists' religious agenda. The following questions will be addressed: How did the relationship between the activists and the synagogue congregations develop? What tensions arose and how did they turn a strict religious outlook into a soft religious approach? The article is based on many years of fieldwork in congregations exposed to the impact of the Mizrahi-Haredi teshuva movement in Israel. The fieldwork provided both a rich ethnographic inventory and an opportunity to describe a historical trend that illuminates the communal, authoritative, and gender models that originated with the encounter between the Mizrahi-Haredi teshuva movement activists and the local synagogue congregations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the complexity of religious practices and beliefs among a group of Zera Beta Israel (Falash Mura) members before, during, and a decade after their immigration process to Israel. This community, with roots in Judaism, converted to Christianity in the 19th century, complicating their request to immigrate to Israel along with Beta Israel members (Ethiopian Jews who had not converted to Christianity). Following an average 15-year wait in Ethiopian transit camps, they spent about two years in Israeli absorption centres and underwent conversion to rabbinic Judaism. This study aims to elucidate notions of religious, cultural, and oppositional transnationalism through life experiences described by Zera Beta Israel community members. Drawing on transnational theory and an interpretative qualitative approach, it develops and analyses 25 in-depth, semi-structured interviews and conversations conducted with members of the Zera Beta Israel community in Ethiopia and Israel. The findings challenge conventional binary perceptions and conceptual categories, such as Jewish–Christian or religious–secular and demonstrate the fluidity and complexity—the hybridity—that exists in the contexts of religion and immigration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The identity of Jewish-Israeli men of Ethiopian descent has undergone deep-seated changes in the last decade, as evident in visual representations created by contemporary black artists living in Israel. In recent years, a new generation of Ethiopian-Israeli artists has revitalized local art and engendered deep changes in discourse and public life. Ethiopian-Israelis, who comprise less than two percent of the total Jewish population in the country, suffers multiple forms of oppression, especially due to their religious status and given that their visibility—as black Jews—stands out in a society that is predominantly white. This article draws links between events of the past decade and the images of men produced by these artists. It argues that the political awareness of Jewish-Ethiopians artists, generated by long-term social activism as well as police violence against their community, has greatly impacted their artistic production, broadened its diversity, and contributed a wealth of artworks to Israeli culture as a whole. Using intersectional analysis and drawing on theories from gender, migration and cultural studies, the article aims to produce a nuanced understanding of black Jewish masculinity in the ethno-national context of the state of Israel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this research is to present a new model for understanding ethnonationalism: the dynamic ethnonationalism model, which depicts ethnic nationalism as an entity comprised of inherited elements as well as selective and changing ones. According to this new concept, ethnic nationalism, which is usually thought of as a "closed" given kinship, also has a flexible and voluntary nature, similar yet not identical to civic nationalism. Ethnic nationalism is indeed based on inherited elements—innate religion, descent, language, territory, etc., that are not subject to individual choice. However, each ethnic and sub-ethnic group re-interpret and re-implement these elements differently according to changing circumstances, perceptions and competing interests. This theory is examined through changes in immigration and naturalization policies which occurred in various ethnic states. The de- and re-ethnicization processes, the inclusion and exclusion trends engendered by changing boundaries of the ethnic collective, analyzed in this research, serve to illustrate the dynamic construction of ethnonationalism, managed by its multiple interest groups and policy makers. Following a concise review of the connection between ethnonationalism and citizenship throughout the world, the research delves into the Israeli case. The evolving boundaries of the Jewish-Israeli collective and the dispute concerning its definitions ("Who is a Jew") offer a detailed demonstration of the dynamic ethnonationalism model. The Jewish-Israeli case, which is usually viewed as the ultimate example of rigid ethnicity based on religious stringencies, exhibits how ethnicity contains competing subjective interpretations ("Sub-Jew-ctivity") that are simultaneously exclusive and inclusive. Thus, the integration of contradictory ethnic definitions into Israel's laws and policies exhibits a dynamic, hybrid and "soft" ethnic national identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses how the Abraham Accords, a series of agreements that are normalizing relations between Israel and a growing number of countries in the Arab world, could be harnessed to counter antisemitic discourses outside of the Middle East region. In particular, we argue that interfaith activities under the framework of the Abraham Accords demonstrate that hostility is not an inevitable response to Israel's presence in the region. This article highlights the unique framework for peacebuilding that underpins the Abraham Accords and discusses how it has generated a new flourishing of Jewish life in its signatory countries, including unprecedented efforts to address antisemitism and an acknowledgement of the centrality of Zionism to contemporary Jewish identity. We juxtapose these positive developments with the growing ostracism and demoralization of those Jews in the diaspora who identify with Israel and highlight how the Abraham Accords offers a different narrative for fruitful dialogue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Every year, diverse Jewish communities around the world observe Tashlich (casting off), a customary atonement ritual performed the day after Rosh Hashanah. This performative ritual is conducted next to a body of water to symbolize atonement and purification of one's sins. Based on multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork in two egalitarian Jewish congregations in Tel Aviv and in New York City, I show how Tashlich performance is constructed as a political act to empower gender and sexual identities and experiences, as well as the socio-political positionality of LGBTQ Jews in various sites. By including new blessings, the blowing of the shofar by gay female participants, and by conducting the ritual in historical and contemporary queer urban spaces, the rabbis and congregants created new interpretations of the traditional customs. They exposed their feelings toward themselves, their community, and its visibility and presence in the city. The fact that the ritual is conducted in an open urban public space creates not only differing meanings and perceptions than from the synagogue, but also exposes queer politics in the context of national and religious identities. Furthermore, this comparative analysis illuminates tensions and trajectories of Jewishness and queerness in Israel and in the US, and sheds light on postmodern tendencies in contemporary urban religious communities as a result of the inclusion of the LGBTQ community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The biblical book of Jonah has been the subject of multiple literary retellings, ranging from individual poems to whole novels and theatrical dramas. This article focuses on interaction with the book of Jonah in 20th-century world literature, where Jonah becomes our alter ego; he embodies our own struggles with God. I shall highlight three common tropes in the retellings: (1) Several retellings use the character of Jonah to express a person's failure to escape God's calling. Others use him to explore the Jewish experience of never being able to run away from being chosen by God. (2) Other retellings turn the trope of "the fleeing Jonah" into "Jonah the refugee": Jonah is a man whom God abandoned. These retellings stem from Jonah 2:5 (Eng. 2:4] where Jonah expresses how he is cast out from God's presence. They gain further inspiration from the affinity between the dialogue between God and Jonah in Jonah 4 and that between Cain and God in Gen 4. This intertextuality fashions Jonah as a type for the "wandering Jew." (3) Yet another set of retellings employs the figure of Jonah to discuss God's justice and his perceived failure to be unmerciful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If we pay attention to biblical prophets, we can hear in their messages a calling to seek out the liberation of the downtrodden and oppressed. Despite the common tendency to interpret biblical prophets as predictors of the future, their focus was not on the future but their present social and political environments. That means their messages are not straightforward treatises on theology. They are not universalized "truths". They are messages that call us to be attentive to those who are downtrodden. Their prophetic critique can be read as a call to recognize the humanity in others and to be willing to enter into relational dialogue with them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The promulgation of new media has generated substantial dilemmas for religious communities in terms of its use, implementation, and impact on youth's socialization. Previous research has echoed religious authorities' concern regarding the widespread integration of new media yet has done little to delineate their narratives of legitimation. Ergo, the question is begged, how do religious communities legitimate the use of new media? Utilizing a case study approach, this study focuses on the social construction of new media's legitimacy within the Jewish Religious-Zionist community in Israel, through an analysis of the community's educational elite. To this end, 26 in-depth interviews with the community's prominent educational leaders were conducted. Findings indicate 4 primary narratives that are employed to legitimate new media use: (1) acclaiming modernity; (2) sanctifying the new media; (3) promoting solidarity; and (4) religious study and the public's ability to choose. Understanding these narratives of legitimation towards new media sheds light on the ways that modern ideas are incrementally being integrated into religious communities, and the ways the elite negotiate its integration through what can be seen as their most weighty tool, that of youth socialization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Religion–state relations in Israel have been defined as following the status-quo agreement. This agreement, going back to the founding of Israel, allows recognized religious groups a monopoly regarding issues of personal status, and promises religious goods and exemptions to such groups (mainly, but not limited, to Orthodox Judaism). Since the mid 1980s, Israel has changed its economic policies, from a centralized economy to a privatized, liberalized system. This economic change introduced significant shifts within Israeli society. These include major recent changes in religion–state relations, most importantly the reform in kashrut certification, and growing commercial activity during the Sabbath. Such changes demonstrate a dynamic of state retreat, from a direct statist provision of religious goods, to the state either retreating completely, or re-situating itself as a regulatory organ. Using the kashrut reform as a case study, we suggest that the status-quo model can no longer adequately define religion–state relations in Israel, and is being replaced by a hybrid model, which includes libertarian, regulation-based, and the noted status quo attributes. We conclude with noting the significance of this development for the Jewish character of Israel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Kalisher's messianic innovations asserted the centrality of a renewal of offerings on the altar to the creation of a linear path to redemption. Despite the common convention, his ideas were not disregarded by his peers and followers. In fact, while his ideas did not predetermine the rabbinic discourse, halakhic questions concerning the rebuilding of the Temple and its laws became quite popular and common. Surprisingly, lay figures, as well as several Talmudic scholars, kept this messianic idea alive. Indeed, from the second half of the nineteenth century onwards, such figures published numerous works calling for concrete efforts to rebuild the Temple and renew the offerings. These findings shed light on the renewed religious Zionist interest in this method of reconnecting with God and promoting the final redemption, which is neither new, nor does it deviate from known and publicly articulated ideas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supersessionism, in the sense of advancing upon and thereby replacing an anterior tradition, is intrinsic to both Jewish and Christian identity. The move forward is to acknowledge it rather than debate or deny it, and then to determine how its presence does not preclude positive roles for the superseded group. Because Christian supersessionism is today a primary interest in inter-religious dialogue, this article focuses on how it has been and might be approached. Attempts to deny supersessionism in the New Testament must be based in hermeneutics since historical-critical exegesis cannot secure this conclusion. Today, interest in Christian supersessionism is driven not only by theological concerns but also factors concerning identity, including the role of messianic Judaism in Church communities; approaches to Zionism, the "scandal of particularity," ethnic identity, and debates over cultural appropriation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]