JEWISH STUDIES IN THE NORDIC COUNTRIES TODAY JEWISH STUDIES IN THE NORDIC COUNTRIES TODAY Based on papers presented at the conference arranged by the Donner Institute for Research in Religious and Cultural History, Åbo Akademi University, Turku/Åbo, Finland, on 25–27 March 2015 Edited by RUTH ILLMAN and BJÖRN DAHLA Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis 27 Turku/Åbo 2016 Editorial secretary Maria Vasenkari Linguistic editing Sarah Bannock ISSN 0582-3226 ISBN 978-952-12-3367-8 Aboprint Pargas 2016 Table of contents Ruth Illman and Björn Dahla Jewish studies in the Nordic countries today 7 Cecilia Wassen The Jewishness of Jesus and ritual purity 11 Karin Hedner Zetterholm Jesus-oriented visions of Judaism in antiquity 37 Antti Laato Celsus, Toledot Yeshu and early traces of apology for the virgin birth of Jesus 61 Riikka Tuori ʿĂqēdōt: the binding of Isaac in early modern Polish-Lithuanian Karaite poetry 81 Claudia Welz Trauma, memory, testimony: phenomenological, and ethical perspectives 104 Sofie Lene Bak Repatriation and restitution of Holocaust victims in post-war Denmark 134 Vibeke Kieding Banik The faith of the fathers, the future of the youth: being Jewish on the periphery of the diaspora 153 Laura Ekholm and Simo Muir Name changes and visions of ‘a new Jew’ in the Helsinki Jewish community 173 5 Jan Schwarz Transnational Ashkenaz: Yiddish culture after the Holocaust 189 Christhard Hoffmann Jewish history as a history of immigration: an overview of current historiography in the Scandinavian countries 203 Risto Olavi Nurmela Moses: Freud’s ultimate project 223 Mia Anderssén-Löf May He Speedily Come: the role of the Messiah in Haredi and Hardal Judaism 243 Ben Kasstan Positioning oneself and being positioned in the ‘community’: an essay on Jewish ethnography as a ‘Jew-ish’ ethnographer 264 Ruth Illman Creativity, community, change: functions of and motives for singing niggunim 284 Reflections Natalie Lantz A guide for the perplexed: a student’s navigation through Jewish studies in Sweden 306 6 Jewish studies in the Nordic countries today EDITORIAL he current volume of Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis is based on a symposium arranged Tby the Donner Institute in March 2015, holding the title Jewish studies in the Nordic Countries Today. Jewish studies have for centuries formed a central part of the academic work within faculties of theology and the humanities in the Nordic countries. Research relating to Judaism has been conducted from a broad spectrum of theoretical perspectives, ranging from historical and exegetic approaches to cultural and linguistic studies as well as ethnographic investigations spanning diverse cultural and geographic areas, time periods and communities. The field is thoroughly interdisciplinary, combining methodologies from the humanities, theology and the social sciences. The contacts between Nordic scholars in the field have always been an important source of academic exchange, debate and learning. Nourishing these networks is vital both for individual researchers in the field and for the pro- fessionalization of the academic discipline as such at our Nordic universities. By organising this seminar and publishing this volume, the Donner Institute wishes to contribute to the strengthening of the Nordic conversation on Jewish studies. We are pleased to be able to publish this volume, containing articles by several prominent Nordic scholars in the field, dealing with current approaches, findings and challenges within their own research, thus contributing to a lively and creative scholarly discussion where different theoretical, methodological and epistemological perspectives can meet. The volume opens with four historically oriented articles dealing with classi- cal source texts and their interpretation. Cecilia Wassen discusses Jesus’ relation to questions of ritual purity and, contrary to most scholars in the field, argues for the conclusion that Jesus was far from disinterested in such matters. Karin Hedner Zetterholm, for her part, analyses Jesus-oriented visions of Judaism in antiquity as they are presented in three third- and fourth-century texts. Antti Laato traces early apologies for the virgin birth of Jesus in the Jewish Toledot Jewish Studies in the Nordic Countries Today Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis, 27 (2016), pp. 7–10 7 Jewish studies in the Nordic countries today Participants in the symposium ‘Jewish Studies in the Nordic Countries Today’ gathered at Åbo Akademi University in March, 2015. Photo by Björn Dahla. Yeshu tradition. Early modern Polish-Lithuanian Karaite poems are the subject of Riikka Tuori’s article, focusing on poems written on the biblical narrative of the binding of Isaac. The following section deals with more recent historical themes relating to Judaism in the Nordic countries. Claudia Welz offers a phenomenological, psy- chological and ethical analysis of Holocaust testimonies and the crisis of wit- nessing constituted by the Shoah. Jewish Holocaust survivors are the theme also of Sofie Lene Bak’s article, dealing with the repatriation and restitution of Holocaust victims in post-war Denmark. In Vibeke Kieding Banik’s article, the discussion moves on to Norway and the perceived crisis of identity among the local Jewry that was vividly debated in the interwar period. Laura Ekholm and Simo Muir, on their part, analyse the organized name-change process in the 1930s in the Jewish Community of Helsinki, presenting the often rather innovative results of these processes. Jan Schwarz offers a reassessment of the state of Yiddish language and culture in Europe in the decades following the Holocaust, concluding that they were indeed in dynamic flux. The section closes with Christhard Hoffmann’s critical overview of the historiography on Jewish immigration and integration in Sweden, Denmark and Norway. After this, focus is broadened towards questions of a more general philo- sophical and theological nature. Risto Nurmela reviews Sigmund Freud’s last work Moses and Monotheism, and the portrayal of Moses given in this book. Mia Anderssén-Löf, on her part, studies the understanding of redemption and 8 Jewish studies in the Nordic countries today particularly the role of the Messiah to redemption as expressed in Haredi and Hardal Jewish writings. Finally, two ethnographically driven articles focusing on contemporary Jewry are presented. Ben Kasstan’s reflexive analysis of his own fieldwork among the Haredi community in Manchester brings a meth- odological contribution to the volume. The recreation of traditional Hasidic song practices among progressive Jews in London is the topic of Ruth Illman’s article, which illuminates the phenomenon in relation to theories of contem- porary religious change. The volume is concluded by Natalie Lantz, who offers a personal reflection on what it means to pursue Jewish studies in Sweden, discussing the obstacles and opportunities that rise to the fore from a student’s point of view. We are grateful to all authors for their dedicated work with this volume and to the reviewers, who with their professional and engaged comments have con- tributed to the crystallization of this volume into a publication of notable aca- demic standard. We hope that it will be valuable and stimulating for students and researchers within the various fields in which issues relating to Jews and Judaism in the Nordic countries arise. Turku/Åbo 29 January 2016, Ruth Illman and Björn Dahla 9 The Jewishness of Jesus and ritual purity CECILIA WASSEN oday it is commonplace for historical Jesus scholars to emphasize Jesus’ Jewishness. At the Tsame time most New Testament scholars deny that he cared about the Jewish purity system, which was a central aspect of early Judaism. This article examines how such a reconstruction of the historical Jesus would influence his Jewishness, arguing that it indeed would make such a Jesus figure ‘less Jewish’. The article also investigates questions concerning what Jewish identity in the late Second Temple period entails and how we may characterize the Judaism of Jesus’ time, especi­ ally in relation to purity concerns. Finally, I examine key Gospel texts that are commonly used as evidence to prove Jesus’ alleged disinterest in purity laws. On the basis of a proper understanding of how the purity system functioned in Jesus’ time, I conclude that there is no evidence for the view that Jesus was disinterested in matters of purity; quite the opposite. The Jewish identity of Jesus In the last few decades biblical scholarship has deepened our understand- ing of Judaism in the late Second Temple period. Our perspective on Jesus and the early Jesus movement has changed accordingly. Thanks to the great works of Geza Vermes, E. P. Sanders, Paula Fredriksen, and others, who have presented a Jesus who is very much a product of his cultural milieu, it is now commonplace to consider Jesus as a Jew, not only at birth, but also at death. Earlier gener ations of New Testament scholars, especially prior to WWII, did not hesitate to present Jesus over and against the Judaism of his day by highlighting his alleged rejection of Jewish laws. Judaism was often depicted in negative terms, characterized by petty legalism and focused on a work ethic, in contrast with the religion of grace and forgiveness which was offered by Jesus and Paul (for descriptions, see Heschel 2009: 152–61, 175–200; Arnal 2005: 8–14). Nevertheless, there were notable exceptions among Christian biblical scholars who engaged critically with Jewish traditions and presented Judaism in a more nuanced way (see Möller 2015: 90–104). Among non-aca- demic Christians, Jesus’ Jewishness is still, unfortunately, highly controversial, as Amy-Jill Levine posits in her 2007 book, Jesus the Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus. Although she is writing for an American Jewish Studies in the Nordic Countries Today Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis, 27 (2016), pp. 11–36 11 CECILIA WASSEN audience, the book is a valuable corrective in the Nordic context also. Today overtly negative evaluations of Jewish practices and beliefs are rare in scholar- ship and scholars repeatedly emphasize that they present a ‘Jewish Jesus’.