DOCSLIB.ORG

Jews, Jewish Life and Jewish Education

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Jews, Jewish Life and Jewish Education JEWS AND JEWISH EDUCATION IN GERMANY TODAY Volume 2: Interviews with Leading Figures The agenda of the Jewish population of Germany Principal Investigator Eliezer Ben-Rafael Tel-Aviv University Investigators Olaf Glöckner (Potsdam University) and Yitzhak Sternberg (Open University; Beit Berl College) Under the Auspices of The Potsdam Moses Mendelssohn Zentrum and the Potsdam University January 2010 THE L.A. PINCUS FUND FOR JEWISH EDUCATION IN THE DIASPORA JERUSALEM IN CONJUNCTION WITH CHAIS FAMILY FOUNDATION, THE PEARS FOUNDATION, SCHUSTERMAN FOUNDATION - ISRAEL, SEVERYN ASHKENAZY, THE ROSALIND & ARTHUR GILBERT FOUNDATION, EDMOND J. SAFRA PHILANTHROPIES TABLE OF CONTENT List of interviews 1. Toby Axelrod, 13. Charlotte Knobloch 2. Dmitri Belkin 14. Michael Kogan 3. Evgueni Berkovitch 15. Sergey Lagodinsky 4. Beni Bloch 16. Arkady Litvan 5. Micha Brumlik 17. Jewgenij Singer 6. Christian Böhme 18. Tatyana Smolianitski 7. Gesa Ederberg 19. Joshua Spinner 8. David Gall 20. Adriana Stern 9. Mikhail Goldberg 21. Lala Süsskind 10. Johannes Heil 22. Larissa Syssoeva 11. Walter Homolka 23. Yehuda Teichtal 12. Küf Kaufmann 1 | P a g e Leading figures: The agenda of the Jewish population of Germany As presented in Chapter 7, this investigation aspired to bring in the feelings and analyses of leading figures of the present-day Jewish population of Germany: How do they see the “burning issues” on the agenda of this population. The following brings out the texts of the 23 face-to-face interviews which were conducted during 2008-2009. List of interviewees Toby Axelrod leads the office of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) in Germany. She writes for the London Jewish Chronicle, Hadassah Magazine, the Jerusalem Post and Golem; she also works as a translator. Ms. Axelrod was a co-founder of Limmud Germany in 2006, and she chaired the (German-wide) Limmud Festival in Berlin in 2009. Dr. Dmitri Belkin, born in 1971 in Dnepropetrovsk (Ukraine), immigrated to Germany in 1991 and has worked on several joint research projects in Germany and in the USA. He is a member of a Liberal congregation which belongs to the United Jewish Community in Frankfurt. Currently, Dmitri Belkin is the curator for a German-wide exhibition “20 years of Russian-Jewish Immigration to Germany”. Dr. Evgueni Berkovitch, born in 1945 in Irkutsk (USSR) immigrated to Germany in 1995. He works as a computer specialist in Hanover and has created the internationally known Russian language web portal “Notes on Jewish History” (Zametki po evrejskoj istorii). Benjamin Bloch, born in 1943 in Jerusalem, has served as the head of the Central Welfare Board of Jews in Germany (ZWST) since 1987. He is one of the initiators of the project Lehava that brings young Israeli volunteers to Germany to stimulate local Jewish Community work, especially youth work. Dr. Christian Böhme, is a political scientist, historian and journalist. He worked for several newspapers in Berlin, then changed to the Jewish weekly Jüdische Allgemeine. For several years now Dr. Böhme has been the editor-in-chief of the Jüdische Allgemeine, the only Jewish weekly published across Germany. Prof. Micha Brumlik, born in 1947, is lecturer for pedagogy at the Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main and is well known as German Jewish publicist who deals with recent trends in German society and in inner- Jewish development since 1990. For years he was also very committed in the Jewish-Christian dialogue in Germany. Gesa Ederberg, born in 1968, serves as a Reform Rabbi in the Jewish Community of Berlin. She also heads the (conservative) Masorti Movement Center in Berlin and its Educational Center (Lehrhaus). Rabbi Ederberg is also a founding member of the General Rabbinical Conference within the Central Council of Jews in Germany (ARK). David Gall is a clinical pharmacologist in Munich and a member of the Liberal Jewish Community Beth Shalom. In 1994, he created the first and best known German-Jewish web portal Ha Galil. Ha Galil is an independent site providing comprehensive information on Jewry and current events. Mikhail Goldberg, born in 1962 in Kiev (Ukraine), is the editor-in-chief of the monthly Evreyskaya Gazeta, established in 2002. The Evreyskaya Gazeta is currently the only German-wide Russian language Jewish newspaper. It is produced in Berlin and has between 30,000 and 40,000 readers. Prof. Johannes Heil is the Rector of the University of Jewish Studies (Hochschule für Jüdische Studien) in Heidelberg. Born in 1961, he is a well-known historian concentrating especially on Jewish history in the period of late antiquity and early Middle Ages. He is also deeply involved in research on anti-Semitism. Prof. Walter Homolka is the director of the Abraham Geiger College in Potsdam, the first Rabbinical College for non-Orthodox Rabbis in Europe. Rabbi Homolka, born in 1964, is also an adjunct full professor at the University of Potsdam and serves as a member on the Executive Board of the World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ). 2 | P a g e Kuef Kaufmann, born in 1947 in Marx (USSR), has been the head of the Jewish Community in Leipzig since 2003. Kaufmann studied art direction and has also worked as journalist, cartoonist and satirist. He is the first Russian Jewish immigrant who was elected as head of a Jewish Community with more than 1,000 members Dr. Charlotte Knobloch is the president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany (Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland) and head of the Jewish Community in Munich (Israelitische Kultusgemeinde München und Oberbayern). Dr. Knobloch is also vice president of the European Jewish Congress (EJC). Michael Kogan works as a Rabbi in the Jewish Community of Düsseldorf. He was born in Moldavia, worked as engineer and theater director in the USSR and later studied to become a Rabbi at the Schechter Institute in Jerusalem. Now an Israeli citizen, he’s been working in the JC in Düsseldorf since January 2005. Sergey Lagodinsky, born in 1975 in Astrakhan (Russia), is a judge and publicist living in Berlin, where he is also an elected representative of the local Jewish Community. Lagodinsky studied law (in Germany) and public administration (at Harvard) and also serves as an advisor to the American Jewish Committee in Berlin. Arkady Litvan, born in 1946 in Odessa, is a board member of the Orthodox Jewish Community in Hanover (which belongs to the Central Council of Jews in Germany). Litvan was the head of the Jewish Community in Odessa from 1980-1990, before the family immigrated to Germany. In the early 1990’s he was committed to (re-)building Jewish Communities in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (Eastern Germany) Jewgenij Singer, born in 1983 in Ukraine, is a political scientist and businessman in Frankfurt am Main. For several years he has been the head of the Jewish Student Union in the federal state of Hesse (Western Germany), and he is also an elected representative of the Jewish Community in Frankfurt am Main. Tatyana Smolianitski, born in 1963, graduated from Moscow State University with a PhD in history and came to Germany in 1992. In the mid-1990’s she co-founded the association “Gesher – Integration through Culture and Education” (Gesher – für Integration durch Kultur und Bildung e.V.) in Dortmund, which has proved to be very successful in Jewish adult education especially in the federal state of North Rhine- Westphalia (Western Germany). Joshua Spinner, born in 1971 in Baltimore, Maryland (USA) is vice president of the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation and leads the Lauder Yeshurun Community in Berlin. The Berlin Center includes also the yeshiva Beit Zion and the Hildesheimer Rabbinical College, which trains future Orthodox Rabbis for Germany. Adriana Stern, is a German-Jewish writer from Cologne, and a board member of the Liberal Jewish Community Gesher le Massoret. Born in 1960, she became well known with several children’s and juvenile books. Adriana Stern is also active on committees in several social initiatives and NGOs in Germany. Lala Süsskind, born in 1946 in Poland, has been head of the Jewish Community in Berlin since 2008. She studied sociology and has been active in the Women’s International Zionist Organization (WIZO Germany and Berlin) for many years. She is also a board member of the German Israeli Society (DIG) in Berlin. Larissa Syssoeva, born in 1948 in Moscow, is a biologist and artist, now heading the Berlin office of the World Congress of Russian Speaking Jews (WCRJ). She is also a member of the Jewish Community of Berlin, and very committed to cultural and arts projects supporting immigrants. Yehuda Teichtal, born in 1972 in Brooklyn, came to Berlin in 1996 and immediately began pioneering work for Chabad Lubavitch in the German capital. Here he has two functions: He is employed as a Rabbi of the United Jewish Community of Berlin (belonging to the Central Council of Jews in Germany), and at the same time he is the head of the Chabad Lubavitch Center which opened in 2007. 3 | P a g e 1. TOBY AXELROD May 13, 2009, Berlin ● Mrs. Axelrod, you are strongly involved in the organization of Limmud Germany, this year even as chair of Limmud.de and coordinator of the three-day festival. What’s your main motivation? It has been my intention to contribute actively to the vibrant Jewish life here in Germany, especially to a program without fences and borders, one including all ages and Jewish denominations. I was looking for a movement that reflects Jewish diversity, and that can bridge divergences. ● What are the prospects for Jewry in Germany in the short-term and long-term? From the demographic point of view, I think that the number of organized Jews in Germany will now remain more or less on the same level.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • We All Know, the Emancipation Was a Great Turning Point in the History Of
    PROGRESSIVE LITURGIES OF GERMANY AND AMERICA 585 p- John D. Rayner Introduction As we all know, the Emancipation was a great turning point in the history of Judaism, although ‘point' is hardly the right word, since it was a long-drawn- out process extending from the eighteenth century into the twentieth. Nevertheless the initial impact of it was often felt by a single generation, and in Germany by the generation of those born during the Napoleonic era. As we all know; too, the initial impact was for many of the newly emancipated German Jews a negative one so far as their Jewish religious life was concerned because the revolutionary educational, linguistic, cultural and social changes they experienced caused them to feel uncomfortable in the old- style synagogues. And as we all know as well, it is to this problem, of the alienation of emancipated Jewry from the traditional synagogue that the Reformers first and foremost addressed themselves. They believed that if only the synagogue services could be made more attractive, that would halt and perhaps reverse w the drift. 0 . _ {:1 j N In retrospect we can see that they were only partly right. There are other 8E}; factors besides the nature of synagogue worship which determine or influence the extent to which individuals will affirm their Jewish identity \ :8 " and adhere to their Jewish faith, and subsequent generations of Reformers 13E came to recognise that and to address themselves to these other issues also. (3 ‘1‘: Nevertheless the nature of synagogue worship is clearly a factor, and a big one.
    [Show full text]
  • Jonathan Sacks: a Unifier of Ideas and a Teacher of the World by Clive Lawton
    Chag Chanukah Sameach! 1964-2020 Celebrating 56 years of publishing GEORGE FREY OAM - FOUNDING EDITOR, 1964 DECEMBER 2020 KISLEV-TEVET 5781 ChanukahIN THE CITY SUNDAY 13 FeaturingFeaturing DECEMBER 4PM - 8PM REDDACLIFF PLACE AMAZING BYRON BAY (TOP END OF QUEEN ST MALL) Shai Shriki Band STREET CONCERT DELICIOUS FOOD LIGHTING OF THE GIANT MENORAH KIDS SHOW SINAI COLLEGE CHOIR ON SCREEN SENSATIONAL Cyrious Acrobat Due to Covid, registration is required TO BOOK FREE ENTRY TICKETS NOW: CLICK HERE! ON THE LARGE SCREEN 8th Day For any questions or for more information, Please email: [email protected] or call 0738436770 For More Information: Call 07 3843 6770 or PROUDLY 2 VisitSHALOM www.chabadbrisbane.com/chanukah MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER 2020 SUPPORTED BY A PROJECT OF FEATURE THE TIMES OF ISRAEL The last bar mitzvah before Kristallnacht By Ellen Bachner Greenberg As bad as things were, they could not have The rabbi’s ominous imagined that only a few weeks after Fredi Bachner’s bar mitzvah, synagogues throughout sermon on my father’s Austria and Germany would be destroyed on Kristallnacht, including the Rykestrasse big day carried him Synagogue, where Fredi’s bar mitzvah was through the pogrom, celebrated. the camps, and then liberation: ‘It doesn’t become daytime before it literally becomes night’ Fredi Bachner and the Rykestrasse Synagogue, the site of his 1938 The Rykestrasse Synagogue, Berlin. (The Folklore Research Center, Hebrew bar mitzvah. (National Library of Israel) University of Jerusalem; available via the National Library of Israel Digital Collection) At the time of my father’s bar mitzvah His bar mitzvah would be the last held at the in Berlin, Hitler had been in power Rykestrasse Synagogue for many years.
    [Show full text]
  • Another Route to Auschwitz: Memory, Writing, Fiction
    Another route to Auschwitz: memory, writing, fiction Jacob Timothy Wallis Simons MA (Oxon), MPhil PhD in Creative Writing University of East Anglia School of Literature and Creative Writing © This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with the author and that no quotation from the thesis, nor any information derived therefrom, may be published without the author’s prior, written consent. Abstract Holocaust fiction is one of the most contentious of the myriad of new literary genres that have emerged over the last hundred years. It exists as a limitless adjunct, or supplement, to the relatively finite corpus of Holocaust memoir. Although in the realm of fiction the imagination usually has a primary position, in this special case it is often constricted by a complex web of ethical dilemmas that arise at every turn, and even the smallest of oversights or misjudgments on the part of the writer can result in a disproportionate level of potential damage. The critical component of this thesis will explore these moral and ethical questions by taking as a starting-point the more generally acceptable mode of memoir and, by relying in part upon elements of Derridean theory, interrogating the extent to which writing may be already internal to the process of memory, and fiction may be already internal to the process of writing. On this basis, it will then seek to justify the application of fiction to the Holocaust on moral terms, but only within certain boundaries. It will not attempt to establish a rigorous set of guidelines on which such boundaries may be founded, but instead, via an analysis of what may constitute a failure, suggest that there are a number of elements which are present when Holocaust fiction is successful.
    [Show full text]
  • OJL WEB (1).Pdf
    JULY 2013 SERVING OREGON AND SW WASHINGTON Denise & AnnA WEtHEREll Mother-Daughter Duo Pamper Portlanders, Aid African Refugees SPeciAl SecTiOn | FOOD chefs, Restaurants, Stores: They Want You To eat Well MACCABIAH Ten Oregonians Bound for Jewish Olympics in Israel ENERGY Renewables Are Big in Green Northwest Northwest Investment Counselors Team 15 years of Independent Advice and Integrity You’ve always known this day would come. We value transparency, prudence and creating Whether your wealth was part of an employer tailored portfolios for our clients, freeing them savings plan, locked up in a family trust, part from the worry about their fi nancial future. We of a loved one’s will or simply someone else’s align with our clients’ interests, charging solely responsibility, the worry of managing those a fee for management services, never any sales investments wasn’t yours. Now it is. commissions, account set-up fees or research fees. At NWIC, we are experts in helping clients with If that day has come, let us help shoulder the the sudden burden of responsibility for wealth. burden with you. 340 Oswego Pointe Drive, Suite 100 • Lake Oswego, Oregon, 97034 Offi ce: (503) 607-0032 • Toll-free (800) 685-7884 [email protected] • www.nwic.net Northwest Investment Counselors Team TRUSTWORTHY 15 years of Independent Advice and Integrity COMPREHENSIVE SOLUTIONS You’re Invited July 10th, 2013 FEDERAL INCOME TAXES, THEN AND NOW How the new tax laws might affect you. visit our website or call to register for this complimentary event GRETCHEN STANGIER, CFP® WWW.STANGIERWEALTHMANAGEMENT.COM 9955 SE WASHINGTON, SUITE 101 • PORTLAND, OR 97216 • 877-257-0057 • [email protected] SECURITIES AND ADVISORY SERVICES OFFERED THROUGH LPL FINANCIAL.
    [Show full text]
  • European Union for Progressive Judaism September 2015 Newsletter
    European Union for Progressive Judaism September 2015 Newsletter © European Union for Progressive Judaism “A Day of Great Joy and Gratitude” Leo Baeck College Rabbinic Ordination Four rabbis ordained and one cantor invested in Bielefeld, Germany Rabbis Adam Frankenberg, Emily Jurman and Deborah Kahn-Harris Rabbis Natalia Verzhbovska, Eli Reich, Alexander Leo Baeck College held its annual ordination ceremony on Grodensky and Sonja Pilz ask for God’s blessings Sunday 5th July. The service, at which two new rabbis The city of Bielefeld hosted its first ordination of rabbis as from the College were ordained, was held for the first time well as the investiture of one cantor on August 31, with the at Southgate Progressive Synagogue and witnessed by a ceremony held at the Beit Tikva Synagogue. President packed congregation. The congregation’s rabbi, Yuval Irith Michelsohn takes pride in her state-of-the-art Keren, welcomed the many attendees and expressed his synagogue and Jewish centre which is home of a dynamic delight at being able to host the event. 300-member community, mainly made up of immigrants The two new rabbis are Rabbi Adam Frankenberg from the former Soviet Union. “To us, this is the most and Rabbi Emily Jurman. Many family members of both important day since we dedicated our synagogue in 2008,” Continued on page 5 she explained. Continued on page 13 New Year Message The year just concluding has been memorable. Some of the events, including the atrocities in Paris and Copenhagen, will be remembered for the wrong reasons. They remind us, as though our memory needs it, that no matter how much we feel at home here in Europe there is a tiny minority of people who think otherwise.
    [Show full text]
  • From Boston to Berlin with the Zamir Chorale of Boston I Don't Believe In
    From Boston to Berlin with the Zamir Chorale of Boston I don’t believe in ghosts. But when Zamir was in Berlin in December of 2011, I had the eerie sensation that we were channeling the spirits of Germany’s departed Jewish musicians. The Louis Lewandowski Festival committee had invited us to come to Berlin and represent the United States at their upcoming celebration of the life and work of the greatest nineteenth-century composer of synagogue music. I had a feeling we would be interested, but I was unprepared for the enthusiasm with which the members of Zamir responded to the invitation. Thirty five singers (along with a handful of spouses and partners) were eager to travel and pay for a rather expensive flight. But none of us could have anticipated the amazing experience that was about to unfold and change our lives. The festival was organized and underwritten by Mr. Nils Busch-Petersen, an influential philo- Semitic Berlin lawyer, who has served as District Mayor of Berlin-Pankow, Chief Executive of the National Association of Medium-and Large-scale retail, and Managing Director of the Berlin- Brandenburg Trade Association. He is also CEO of the Friends of the Berlin Synagogal Ensemble, and published author of four books about German Jewish merchants. Busch-Petersen spared no expense in planning this festival; there were huge billboards advertising the festival all over Berlin, and the choirs were treated like visiting royalty. Our first concert was in the Krankenhauskirche in Wuhlgarten, a neighborhood of East Berlin, and a 75-minute bus ride from our hotel.
    [Show full text]
  • The Berlin Wall: Life, Death and the Spatial Heritage of Berlin Gérard-François Dumont
    The Berlin Wall: Life, Death and the Spatial Heritage of Berlin Gérard-François Dumont To cite this version: Gérard-François Dumont. The Berlin Wall: Life, Death and the Spatial Heritage of Berlin. History Matters, 2009, pp.1-10. halshs-01446296 HAL Id: halshs-01446296 https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-01446296 Submitted on 25 Jan 2017 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. HOME ABOUT FEATURES BOOK REVIEWS PODCASTS EXHIBITS CONTACT The Berlin Wall: Life, Death and the Spatial Heritage of Berlin By Rector Gérard-François Dumont Professor at the University of Paris-Sorbonne Chairman of the Journal Population & Avenir Translated by Thomas Peace, York University Abstract Introduction Before the wall: Demographic haemorrhage Much more than a wall Crossing the Great Wall Death of the wall Is the wall still present? Berlin’s spatial paradox Further Reading Abstract Walls that divide are meant to be broken down. Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the legacy of the East-West division can still be seen in the city’s architecture, economy and overall culture. This paper examines Berlin’s spatial and political history from the wall’s beginnings to the long-term repercussions still being felt today.
    [Show full text]
  • ONLINE KVV Sose 2020.Pdf
    WILLKOMMEN WELCOME ברוכים הבאים 1 Dear Students, Dear Colleagues, 2020 will be a big year — and I am looking forward to celebrating some special moments together with you! On May 13, 2020, the Abraham Geiger Prize will be awarded to Christian Stückl, the Director of the Oberammergau Passion Play. Since 2000, Stückl has given a new direction to the internationally renowned Oberammergau Passion Play moving away from Christian anti-Semitism toward a more balanced and complex illustration of the internal Jewish conflict between a diversity of Jewish characters. In doing so, he has added new weight to an important message: that we must take a stand against racism and anti-Semitism in our country in order to secure more harmony within a pluralistic society. On June 11, 2020, we will celebrate the ordination and investiture of the graduates of the Abraham Geiger College at Rykestraße Synagogue. We look forward to this festive occasion which marks the conclusion of a long and challenging education. Our goodbyes will be joyous though bittersweet as we send them to work for the Jewish community. We will celebrate two wonderful holidays together during the summer semester: Lag Ba’Omer and Erev Shavuot, and we are looking forward to Shiurim by Rabbi Professor Yehoyada Amir, Rabbi Jona Simon, and students. (And for Tikkun Leil Shavuot — also to cheesecake!) In your studies this semester, you will focus on the Minor Festivals and the Life Cycle — important topics that will accompany you throughout your life and work. Have a good summer semester full of exciting and enriching new insights and experiences! Yours sincerely, [online version without signature] Rabbi Prof.
    [Show full text]
  • The Bible and Critical Theory Articles
    ARTICLES THE B IBLE AND CRITICAL THEORY Toward a Radical Naturalistic and Humanistic Interpretation of the Abrahamic Religions In Search for the Wholly Other than the Horror and Terror of Nature and History Rudolf J. Siebert Western Michigan University Edited by Michael R. Ott Grand Valley State University In this sweeping work, Rudolf Siebert goes beyond and develops further and creatively applies the argument found in his recent three volume Manifesto in a relatively succinct form. Drawing upon the rich resources of the Critical Theory of Society of the Frankfurt School but also the vast tradition of critical philosophy and theology, Siebert offers a ‘critical’ analysis. A critical approach (from the Greek kritikos, able to discern) implies that religious phenomena are examined according to both their positive and negative impacts, with help from the critical theory of society. A critical approach is not neutral. Critical theorists of religion are engaged in informed assessments which enable action in the public sphere. Siebert’s focus is nothing less than some aspects of the three Abrahamic Religions - Judaism, Christianity and Islam - and their sacred writings - the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and The Holy Qur’an. According to the Rabbis, the modern antagonism between the sacred and the profane, or between the religious and the secular, had been unknown to the Torah, or even - so the dialectical religiologist may add - to the Tanakh, or to any other ancient sacred writing.1 Everything we do, so the Rabbis thought, had the potential of being holy, and according to the Torah and the Talmud those people who thought that there was no God, and that the world of nature and of man – family, society, state, history and culture – was entirely secular and profane, were considered to be foolish, false, corrupt, vile, evil, unwise, tainted, ignorant, stupid, unclean, impure, lawless, immoral, wicked, evildoers.
    [Show full text]
  • Dear President Trump and Members of Congress, As Religious Leaders from a Variety of Backgrounds, We Are Called by Our Sacred
    Dear President Trump and Members of Congress, As religious leaders from a variety of backgrounds, we are called by our sacred texts and faith traditions to love our neighbor, accompany the vulnerable, and welcome the sojourner. War, conflict and persecution have forced people to leave their homes, creating more refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced people than at any other time in history. More than 65 million people are currently displaced – the largest number in recorded history. This nation has an urgent moral responsibility to receive refugees and asylum seekers who are in dire need of safety. Today, with more than five million Syrian refugees fleeing violence and persecution and hundreds of thousands of civilian casualties, the United States has an ethical obligation as a world leader to reduce this suffering and generously welcome Syrian refugees into our country. We call on the Trump Administration and all members of the U.S. Congress to demonstrate moral leadership and affirm their support for the resettlement of refugees from all over the world to the United States. This nation has a rich history as a leader in refugee resettlement, with significant precedent, including after World War II and after the fall of Saigon, when we resettled hundreds of thousands of refugees. It is important to recognize that the United States has the most rigorous refugee screening process in the world, involving the Department of Defense, Department of State, Department of Homeland Security, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and National Counter Terrorism Center. The process includes biometric checks, medical screenings, forensic testing of documents, DNA testing for family reunification cases, and in-person interviews with highly trained homeland security officials.
    [Show full text]
  • Jews and Protestants
    Jews and Protestants Jews and Protestants From the Reformation to the Present Edited by Irene Aue-Ben-David, Aya Elyada, Moshe Sluhovsky and Christian Wiese Supported by the I-CORE Program of the Planning and Budgeting Committee and The Israel Science Foundation (grant No. 1798/12) Die freie Verfügbarkeit der E-Book-Ausgabe dieser Publikation wurde ermöglicht durch den Fachinformationsdienst Jüdische Studien an der Universitätsbibliothek J. C. Senckenberg Frankfurt am Main und 18 wissenschaftliche Bibliotheken, die die Open-Access-Transformation in den Jüdischen Studien unterstützen. ISBN 978-3-11-066108-8 e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-066471-3 e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-066486-7 Despite careful production of our books, sometimes mistakes happen. Unfortunately, the CC license was not included in the original publication. This has been corrected. We apologize for the mistake. Dieses Werk ist lizenziert unter der Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Lizenz. Weitere Informationen finden Sie unter http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Das E-Book ist als Open-Access-Publikation verfügbar über www.degruyter.com, https://www.doabooks.org und https://www.oapen.org. Library of Congress Control Number: 2019955542 Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. © 2020, Aue-Ben-David et al., published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston Cover image: ulimi / DigitalVision Vectors / gettyimages.de Printing and binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck www.degruyter.com Open-Access-Transformation in den Jüdischen Studien Open Access für exzellente Publikationen aus den Jüdischen Studien: Dies ist das Ziel der gemeinsamen Initiative des Fachinformationsdiensts Jüdische Studien an der Universitäts- bibliothek J.
    [Show full text]
  • Yadgar Liran-Dissertation
    THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO “ALL THE KINGS OF ARABIA ARE SEEKING YOUR COUNSEL AND ADVICE”: INTELLECTUAL AND CULTURAL EXCHANGE BETWEEN JEWS AND MUSLIMS IN THE LATER MIDDLE ISLAMIC PERIOD A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE DIVISION OF THE HUMANITIES IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF NEAR EASTERN LANGUAGES AND CIVILIZATIONS BY LIRAN YADGAR CHICAGO, ILLINOIS JUNE 2016 © Copyright by Liran Yadgar, 2016. All rights reserved. ii For my father and in memory of my mother iii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables vi List of Figures vii List of Maps viii Abbreviations ix Abstract xi Acknowlegments xii INTRODUCTION 1 I. On Periodization and Its Implications for the Historiography of Jews 1 under Medieval Islam II. The End of ‘Creative Symbiosis’ in the Late Middle Islamic Period? 19 CHAPTER 1. BIBLICAL COMMENTARY. 25 Joseph Ibn ‘Aqnīn’s (c. 1150-1220) Commentary on the Song of Songs, Inkishāf al-asrār wa-ẓuhūr al-anwār (Disclosure of Secrets and Appearance of Light) I. Allegorical and Philosophical Interpretations of the Song of Songs 26 II. Joseph ibn ‘Aqnīn: A Biographical Sketch 34 III. Ibn ‘Aqnīn’s Commentary on the Song of Songs 38 The Jewish Contents of Ibn ‘Aqnīn’s Commentary 42 The Islamic Contents of Ibn ‘Aqnīn’s Commentary 44 1. al-Fārābī 44 2. Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna) 50 3. Arabic Poetry 52 IV. Conclusions 55 CHAPTER 2. MYSTICISM. 56 al-Murshid ilā Al-tafarrud wa-l-murfid ilā al-tajarrud (Guide To Detachment and Aid to Solitude), a Mystical Treatise By David Ben Joshua Maimonides (c.
    [Show full text]