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Limda Undergraduate Jewish Studies Journal ______ 3/7/2019 Limda Vol.1 2019/5779 Winter-Spring - Google Docs 2019/5779 Winter­Spring Vol.1 Issue I Limda Undergraduate Jewish Studies Journal __________________________ https://docs.google.com/document/d/1F_RR_AQ1hsI72cIVV9wNK2dCS7fXEXxHLB8mXe0B5Pw/edit 1/101 3/7/2019 Limda Vol.1 2019/5779 Winter-Spring - Google Docs Limda Vol.1 Issue I 2 Letter from the Editor Welcome to the first issue of Limda Undergraduate Jewish Studies Journal! We started this journal out of curiosity - curiosity over what our fellow undergraduate students are writing about and researching regarding Judaic topics. What new ideas are people proposing on Halakha and Tanakh, what observations are people making about Jewish history, what arguments are people having regarding Jewish philosophy? What is our generation thinking about Judaism? In publishing undergraduates’ Judaically related essays and providing people with a forum to share their research with a broader community, we want to get people talking. We want to empower students to share their ideas. We want to foster conversations between undergraduates with diverse perspectives with the hope of creating a broader understanding of Judaism as a whole. This 2019 Winter-Spring issue of Limda includes nine essays written on a variety of topics, ranging from Jewish history to language to philosophy to Halakha to Tanakh to Israel. We kick off with Pamela Brenner’s “K erakheym Ov Al Bonim : Tevye’s Quotations Revisited” in which we are taken on a journey of analysis through the character of Tevye the Dairyman and his improper - or proper? - use of Biblical quotations. We then feature Arielle Solomon’s “R ebecca: The Guardian of Bloodline and Covenant ,” which offers a refreshing and innovative commentary on the Biblical Rebecca’s role in the founding of the Jewish People. Jacob Weiner from the University of Leeds then addresses the question: “What role did gender play in shaping the experiences of those who lived within medieval Jewish communities?” in his essay “G ender and Medieval Jewish Communities” with a historical analysis that is both enlightening and fascinating. Next, Spencer Szwalbenest convincingly contrasts the viewpoints of Jewish philosophers Richard Rubenstein and Hermann Cohen in their “P assion and Pessimism: Richard Rubenstein as a Response to Hermann Cohen. ” If you’re curious about the different halakhic approaches and opinions regarding women’s a liyot in modern-day Orthodoxy, Rivkah Pardue presents a clear exploration of just this in “K evod Ha-Tsibbur, Women’s Aliyot, and Modern Orthodoxy. ” Also included in this issue is “S aadya Gaon and https://docs.google.com/document/d/1F_RR_AQ1hsI72cIVV9wNK2dCS7fXEXxHLB8mXe0B5Pw/edit 2/101 3/7/2019 Limda Vol.1 2019/5779 Winter-Spring - Google Docs Limda Vol.1 Issue I 3 the Mu’tazila Kalam ,” in which Gilana Levavi compares and contrasts the Islamic speculative theology of the Mu’tazila kalam with Saadya Gaon’s beliefs in T he Book of Doctrines and Beliefs, and Baila Eisen’s “A Land That Devours Its Inhabitants: The Story Behind Rabbi Hayyim Eleazar Shapira’s Demonization of the Holy Land ,” which addresses Rabbi Shapira’s demonization of Israel and the method through which he arrives at these beliefs. We then delve into the subjects of literature, philosophy, and medieval Sepharad in Leora Lupkin’s discussion of the p iyyutim o f Ibn Gabirol in “L anguage of the Soul: An Analysis of Select Poems by Solomon Ibn Gabirol and Their Discussion of the Soul .” Finally, we have a thorough investigation, analysis, and explanation of attitudes toward Moroccan Immigrants in Israel and where they stemmed from, in Eitan Meisel’s “F rom Marrakech to Ashdod: Early Attitudes Toward Moroccan Immigrants in Israel .” We would like to offer our genuine thanks to everyone who shared their papers with us and provided us with the source material to make this journal. Additional thanks to every one of our wonderful editors for their hours of effort reading, editing, and discussing every submission. And, of course, thank you to our readers who are taking part in this continuous transmission of ideas and arguments and for helping us build this community of educated and interconnected Jewish thinkers. We would also like to thank Drisha Summer Kollel where our friendship and subsequent partnership on this Drisha Baderekh project was born. So far, we’ve had quite an enjoyable experience reading these papers and putting this journal together. We’ve certainly learned a lot. We hope you will as well. - Rivkah and Avigayil Editorial Board: A vigayil Lev (Co­founder), Rivkah Pardue (Co­founder), Spencer Szwalbenest, Pamela Brenner, Chana T. Fisch, Leora Spitz. Contact us: Visit us at our website limdajournal.org, follow us on Facebook @LimdaLearner, or send us an email at [email protected]. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1F_RR_AQ1hsI72cIVV9wNK2dCS7fXEXxHLB8mXe0B5Pw/edit 3/101 3/7/2019 Limda Vol.1 2019/5779 Winter-Spring - Google Docs Limda Vol.1 Issue I 4 Table of Contents Kerakheym Ov Al Bonim: Tevye’s Quotations Revisited Pamela Brenner 5 Rebecca: The Guardian of Bloodline and Covenant Arielle Solomon 1 5 Gender and Medieval Jewish Communities J acob Weiner 2 1 Passion and Pessimism: Richard Rubenstein as a Response to Hermann Cohen Spencer Szwalbenest 2 8 Kevod ha-Tsibbur, Women’s Aliyot, and Modern Orthodoxy R ivkah Pardue 4 1 Saadya Gaon and the Mu’tazila Kalam G ilana Levavi 52 “A Land that Devours its Inhabitants”: The Story Behind Rabbi Hayyim Eleazer Shapira’s Demonization of The Holy Land B aila Eisen 5 9 Language of the Soul: An Analysis of Select Poems by Solomon Ibn Gabirol and Their Discussion of the Soul L eora Lupkin 69 From Marrakech to Ashdod: Early Attitudes Towards Moroccan Immigrants in Israel E itan Meisels 82 Works Cited 97 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1F_RR_AQ1hsI72cIVV9wNK2dCS7fXEXxHLB8mXe0B5Pw/edit 4/101 3/7/2019 Limda Vol.1 2019/5779 Winter-Spring - Google Docs Limda Vol.1 Issue I 5 Kerakheym Ov Al Bonim : Tevye’s often, as weapons in his verbal battle with God. Through his own Quotations Revisited comparisons with biblical personalities and in the light of his Pamela Brenner interpretations of classical Jewish sources, the quotations and glosses Barnard College 2020 enable the reader to understand how Sholem Aleichem, Yiddish writer of the late Tevye sees himself, his family 19th­early 20th century, is most famous for members, and other persons with whom he deals. (79­80) his collected stories about Tevye the In an endeavor similar to Stern’s, this essay Dairyman. Written over the course of twenty will provide a glimpse into how Tevye uses years, the tales center around Tevye the quotations to understand his life’s milkman and his seven daughters. Tevye, a circumstances. Through specifically simple Jew, has often been viewed as a man analyzing one of Tevye’s most common who does not really understand Torah. phrases, the message at the heart of these Though he incessantly quotes from liturgy, stories will be brought to light. Tevye’s the Bible, and rabbinic tradition, his mastery over employing quotations is “quotations are often comically distorted Sholem Aleichem’s most clever tool to and even when they are correct, his illustrate a changing world, as seen through translations and interpretations of them are Tevye’s eyes. hilariously wrong. In any case, they never Over the course of the collected truly suit the context to which they are stories, Tevye employs more than one applied” (Miron 176). Michael Stern argues hundred Biblical and Talmudic phrases. in his “Tevye’s Art of Quotation” that While he repeats many lines, Tevye uses two contrary to the view of scholars such as quotations more than any other: kerakheym Miron, Tevye is fully in control of his ov al bonim , as a father has mercy on his quotations. Stern writes that children, and be’al korkhekho atoh khai , for all their humor, they are designed against your will you live. This essay will to do much more than elicit laughter. They are used by Tevye as a running focus on Tevye’s usage of the former. The commentary on the story itself and phrase originates in Psalms 103:13, https://docs.google.com/document/d/1F_RR_AQ1hsI72cIVV9wNK2dCS7fXEXxHLB8mXe0B5Pw/edit 5/101 3/7/2019 Limda Vol.1 2019/5779 Winter-Spring - Google Docs Limda Vol.1 Issue I 6 “ kerakheym ov al bonim, rikham Hashem al we say in the prayers,” (Sholem Aleichem yire’ov ”­ as a father has mercy on his 111) which presumes that he knows it from children, so God has mercy on those who prayer as opposed to from Psalms. This is fear Him. The implication of the verse is also consistent with the type of verses with that a father cannot help but have which Tevye is familiar, as Tevye is far compassion for his children, and this model more knowledgeable about the prayerbook of helpless love is how God will act towards than he is with Psalms. With only three those who have a relationship with Him. exceptions, every one of Tevye’s quotes Although this phrase originates in the from the Psalms is found in the prayerbook, Psalms, it is most well­known through its indicating that he only knows Psalms insofar 1 appearances in the Selikhos and High as they appear in prayer. Holiday prayers. Throughout the prayers it At one point, Tevye says to Golde, appears in various iterations, with the one “ et...Golde serdtse, faran a posek…’im most similar to the original verse formatted kevonim im ka’avodim’ ” “Eh, my dear as, “ kerakheym ov al bonim, keyn terakheym Golde, as the verse says, ‘whether as sons or Hashem oleynu ” ­ as a father has mercy on as servants’” (Sholem Aleichem 168).
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