University of California Santa Barbara

University of California Santa Barbara “Contextualizing Diaspora: Studies in Jewish Emplacement, Social Construction, Materiality, and Memory” A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Religious Studies by Daniel Paul Hotary Committee in charge: Professor Richard D. Hecht, Chair Professor Rudy Busto Professor Barbara A. Holdrege Professor Wade Clark Roof March 2016 The dissertation of Daniel P. Hotary is approved. _________________________________________ Rudy Busto _________________________________________ Barbara A. Holdrege ________________________________________ Wade Clark Roof _________________________________________ Richard D. Hecht, Chair January 2016 “Contextualizing Diaspora: Studies in Jewish Emplacement, Social Construction, Materiality, and Memory” Copyright © 2016 By Daniel P. Hotary iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank Rudy Busto, Richard Hecht, Barbara Holdrege, and Wade Clark Roof for agreeing to serve on my committee. Your comments helped me to make this a more thorough project. In particular, I want to acknowledge Richard, my steadfast adviser during these seven and a half years. You taught me how to think as an historian of religion of Judaism (i.e., to be theoretically flexible, comprehensive in outlook and aware of patterns in disparate sources, but also committed to in-depth study of the particular while being attuned to context). These skills are applicable to all areas of life, as you demonstrated in your vast array of courses and interests. -עגנון In short, you lived and exemplified what you taught. I will miss our weekly get together at Chug-Agnon, “Agnon Group”), where this exercise in experiential education occurred for) חוג the better part of two years. Often the most profound insights were gained through a combination of textual study and unanticipated tangents. In this way, I would like to think that b’shimush chachamim, “attending to the) בשמוש חכמים you helped me to enact the value of sages,” Pirkei Avot 6:6). Thank you for living the values of higher education and for allowing me to partake of that wisdom by making any interaction part of the classroom. As well, I would like to thank Laurie Harris. Your insistence on and practice of clarity, accuracy, and uncompromised ethical standards, in both speech and act, were demonstrated both in and outside of the classroom; they are inspirational and provide a goal that I continually attempt to attain. Thank you for your willingness to give of your time and energy and for continuing to trust in me as a TA. You and Richard were always available to provide counsel, and for that I am grateful. iv Scott Danielsen and Hani Mansour, you read through countless drafts of chapters and emails and endured my anxiety and insecurity. That truly went above and beyond the bonds of friendship. Scott, your presence, compassion, perspective, and partnership were more than I could have asked for but were exactly what I needed. To my parents, thank you for continuing to raise me. You never gave up on me, especially at times when I was nearing the end of having trust in myself and in this endeavor. Your experiences, outlook, and interests helped to form my fascination with these topics and spurred me to continue finding ways to understand them. v Daniel Paul Hotary: Curriculum Vitae Department of Religious Studies University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-3130 Education: B.A., Kalamazoo College (Sociology and Anthropology, magna cum laude), 2004 M.A., New York University (Humanities and Social Thought), 2006 Thesis Title: “From Text to Amalgamation: Historical Continuity of Jewish Proto-Nationalism to Modern Zionism” Adviser: Ronald Zweig (Hebrew and Judaic Studies) C.Phil., University of California, Santa Barbara (Religious Studies), 2013 Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara (Religious Studies), expected 2016 Dissertation Title: “Contextualizing Diaspora: Studies in Jewish Emplacement, Social Construction, Materiality, and Memory” Ph.D. Field Exams: History of Religions and Modern Jewish Critical Thought, with Richard D. Hecht Theories of Ritual, with Barbara Holdrege Modernity, Secularism, and Religious Identity, with Wade Clark Roof Religion and Diaspora, with Rudy Busto Foreign Study: University of Wollongong, Australia, July 2002-February 2003 The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, August 2011-July 2012 Research and Translation Languages: Modern Hebrew (speaking, writing, reading - articles, books, texts) German (reading) Awards and Honors: Alpha Lambda Delta - National Scholastic Freshman Honor Society, Kalamazoo College, 2002 Raymond L. Hightower Award for Excellence in Sociology and Anthropology, Kalamazoo College, 2004 Rowny Fellowship, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2008-2011 vi Teaching and Research Experience: Teaching Associate (Instructor of Record) Religious Studies Department, UCSB “Introduction to the Study of Religion” (Summer 2013, Summer 2014) Teaching Assistant Religious Studies Department, UCSB “Religion and Psychology” (Fall 2010) “Religious Approaches to Death” (Winter 2011, Fall 2013) “Religion and Western Civilization: Modern” (Spring 2011) “Ethics, Enterprise, and Leadership” (Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015) “Indian Civilization” (Winter 2014) “Jewish Mysticism” (Winter 2015) Global Studies Department, UCSB “Introduction to Global Studies” (Fall 2012) English Department, UCSB “Detective Fiction” (Fall 2014) Research Assistant for Richard Hecht, Roger Friedland, and Catherine Albanese, UCSB (2008- 2010) Publications: 2012 “Yarmulke/Kippah” Encyclopedia of Global Religion, edited by Mark Entry Juergensmeyer and Wade Clark Roof, 1393-94. Los Angeles: Sage Publications. Invited Lectures/Scholarly Presentations: 2004 Conference Presentation, Classical Association of the Middle, West, and South, “Revisiting ‘The Jewish Woman’: Ethnic Slur or Ethnographic Archaeology?” 2010 Lecture, UCSB, “Overview of Zionism and Zionist Thought” 2011 Lecture, UCSB, “The Religious Thought of Emil Fackenheim” 2014 Conference Presentation, American Academy of Religion, “The Ends of Diaspora: Jan Assmann and William Dever on the Production of Early Israel’s Cultural Memory” vii ABSTRACT Contextualizing Diaspora: Studies in Jewish Emplacement, Social Construction, Materiality, and Memory by Daniel P. Hotary This dissertation explores the experience of diaspora and traces how it appears, changes, and operates within Judaism. I present case studies that question issues such as origins, reflections on travel, and intergenerational conflict. Each study exposes gaps found in previous studies of diaspora and posits how certain aspects of the phenomenon can be reexamined. I explore these gaps with theoretical models that one would not necessarily associate with diaspora in order to better understand how diaspora operates. I argue that diaspora exists due to its imagined quality and necessity of having to be remembered, through juxtaposition of early Israel’s archaeological and textual origins. From consideration of early Israel as partial indigenous peasantry to textual accounts locating Israel’s cultural memory as originating elsewhere, a new dimension of diaspora emerges. Emplacements, both spatial and temporal, obscure diaspora, which is an ever-present condition originating as an act/commemoration of remembrance. Another portion of my work confronts how one writes about travel, home, and homeland, especially once one has in fact physically returned; and asks, “To what shall one commit?” To answer these questions I look at representative examples of Hebrew fiction and later extend the scope of the investigation to look at more social-scientific and journalistic reflections in Israel. Many scholars studying the Jewish diaspora continue the prevalent understanding of physical homecoming to the Land as a fait accompli, which, according to some viii interpretations, prohibits creativity and presupposes an already achieved redemption. This approach, however, misunderstands the calls for continued alienation and separation, regardless of location, thus denying access to more ways in which diaspora exists. By employing the theoretical frameworks of the chronotope (time-space literary analysis), as well as threshold and liminal moments, I delve into the possibilities for uncovering recollections and making present unanticipated memories as offered at such moments of confrontation (with the Land, with a sight, a smell, a sound, etc.). Such individual and collective confrontation destabilizes that which has become taken-for-granted and thus renews creativity. When applied to Israeli reflections on intergenerational belonging and outlook, while acknowledging physical emplacement, a tension results from the inability of succeeding generations to identify with and recount the motivations and passions of previous generations. Through writing from the situation of emplacement, we see societal cleavages, continued alienation, and renewed separation. Through an exploration of these gaps we are left asking the same questions of living individuals as we did of literature: "To what shall one commit, and how shall one commit, if at all?" The resulting intentional separation of confrontation that we see in these works makes the quotidian extraordinary and the already achieved something to be anticipated. I argue that the Land remains contingent, never accomplished, and is always in a state of “permanent revolution,” thus placing into question notions as “post-Zionism.” Even while being

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