Curriculum Vita

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Curriculum Vita CURRICULUM VITA Jody Elizabeth Myers Department of Religious Studies California State University Northridge, CA 91330-8316 phone: (818) 677-3007 E-mail address: [email protected] September 7, 2018 Education 1985 Ph.D., History, University of California, Los Angeles 1977 M.A., History, University of California, Los Angeles 1975 B.A., cum laude, History, Brandeis University Teaching and Administration 1986- Department of Religious Studies, California State University, Northridge. Present rank: Professor. 1986- Coordinator, Jewish Studies Interdisciplinary Program, California State University, Northridge. 2002-2005 Adjunct Faculty, Academy for Jewish Religion, Los Angeles, California Publications From The Garden of Eden to the Industrialized Farm: Food in Jewish Traditions, co- edited with Aaron S. Gross and Jordan D. Rosenblum (New York University Press, forthcoming). “Kabbalah in the Modern Era,” in Cambridge History of Judaism, Vol. VIII: The Modern World, 1815 – c. 2000, eds. Mitchell B. Hart and Tony Michels (Cambridge University Press, 2017). “Kabbalah Centre: Marketing and Meaning,” for Controversial New Religions, Second Edition, eds. James R. Lewis and Jesper Aagaard Petersen (Oxford University Press, 2014). “Educational Travel and Student Learning,” in AJS News: The Travel Issue (July 2014). “Purity, Charity, Community: The Power of Kashrut in an Orthodox Jewish Neighborhood,” in Reconstructing Jewish Identity in Pre- and Post-Holocaust Literature and Culture, Lucyna Aleksandrowicz-Pędich and Małgorzata Pakier, eds. (Peter Lang, 2012). “Jewish Service-Learning Partnerships between Hillel and the Public University: A Case Study,” co-authored with Renée Cohen Goodwin, Journal of Jewish Communal Service, Vol. 87, (Winter/Spring 2012). “Kabbalah at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century,” in Jewish Mysticism: New Insights and Scholarship, Frederick E. Greenspahn, ed. (New York University Press, 2011) “Kabbalah for the Gentiles: Diverse Souls and Universalism in Contemporary Kabbalah,” in Kabbalah and Spiritual Revival: Historical, Sociological and Cultural Perspectives, Boaz Huss, ed. (Ben-Gurion University Press, 2011). Book Review: Hastening Redemption: Messianism and the Resettlement of the Land of Israel, Arie Morgenstern; in Studies in Contemporary Jewry: An Annual (Oxford University Press, 2011). “Teaching Contemporary Israel through the Internet and Student Blogs” in Coping with Diversity: Language and Culture Education, eds. Hanna Komorowska and Lucyna Aleksandrowicz-Pędich (Academica, Warsaw, 2011). “Marriage and Sexual Behavior in the Teachings of the Kabbalah Centre,” in Kabbalah and Modernity: Interpretations, Transformations, Adaptations, Boaz Huss, Marco Pasi, and Kocku von Stuckrad, eds. (Brill, 2010). “The Kabbalah Centre and Contemporary Spirituality,” Religion Compass (Vol. 3, May 2008), online journal. Kabbalah and the Spiritual Quest: The Kabbalah Centre in America (Praeger Publishers, 2007). “Phasing In: American Jewish Women’s Ritual Celebrations for the New Moon (Rosh Hodesh)” in Women Remaking American Judaism, Riv-Ellen Prell, ed. (Wayne State University Press, 2007). “The Kabbalah Centre,” Encyclopaedia Judaica (2006). “Feminist Haggadot,” Encyclopaedia Judaica (2006). “Contemporary Female Rosh Hodesh Groups,” Encyclopaedia Judaica (2006). Book Review of Ava F. Kahn and Marc Dollinger, eds., California Jews. In Southern California Quarterly 86, no. 3, 2004. Book Review of Yosef Salmon, Religion and Zionism: First Encounters. In AJS Review (The Journal of the Association for Jewish Studies) 28, no. 2 (November 2004). “Of Goats and Scapegoats,” Kerem: Creative Explorations in Judaism 9 (5764 - 2004). Available at http://kerem.org/previous-issues/volume-9-5764-2004/. Seeking Zion: Modernity and Messianic Activism in the Writings of Zevi Hirsch Kalischer (Oxford and Portland, Oregon: Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2003). Service-Learning in the Jewish Community: Connecting the Community and Jewish Studies (Jewish Studies Interdisciplinary Program, California State University, Northridge, 2002). Co-authored with Terry Hatkoff. "On the Current Renaissance in Jewish Spirituality," Sh'ma, 31 (November 2000). "The Midrashic Enterprise of Contemporary Jewish Women," Studies in Contemporary Jewry, volume XIV (2000). "Religion Despite Fashion: A Proposal for Rabbinic Education in the Nineteenth Century," in Judaism and Education: Essays in Honor of Walter I. Ackerman,ed. Haim Marantz , ed. (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Press, 1998). "The Myth of Matriarchy in Contemporary Jewish Women's Spiritual Writings," Jewish Social Studies, vol.4, no. 1 (Fall, 1997). "The Altared Table: Women and Food in Judaism," in Life Cycles: Jewish Women on Biblical Themes in Contemporary Life, eds. Debra Orenstein and Jane Rachel Litman (Festival Lights Press, Woodstock, Vermont, 1997). "The Secret of Jewish Femininity: Hiddenness, Power, and Physicality in the Theology of Orthodox Women in the Contemporary World," in Gender and Judaism: The Transformation of Tradition, ed. T.M. Rudavsky, (New York University Press, 1995). Co-authored with Jane Rachel Litman. "Messianism and Zionist Ideologies," in Studies in Contemporary Jewry, volume VII (Oxford University Press, for the Institute of Contemporary Jewry, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1991). "Zevi Hirsch Kalischer and the Origins of Religious Zionism," From East to West: Jews in a Changing Europe 1750-1870, edited by David Sorkin and Frances Malino (Basil Blackwell, 1990). Reissued as Profiles in Diversity: Jews in a Changing Europe, 1750-1870, edited by David Sorkin and Frances Malino (Wayne State University Press, 1998). "Zevi Hirsch Kalischer," The Blackwell Companion to Jewish Culture, ed. Glenda Abramson (Basil Blackwell, 1989). "Zevi Hirsch Kalischer," The Encyclopedia of Religion, ed. Mircea Eliade et al. (Macmillan Publishing Co., 1987). "Attitudes Toward a Resumption of Sacrificial Worship in the Nineteenth Century," Modern Judaism, vol. 7, no. 1 (Feb. 1987). Presentations at Academic and Other Conferences (a selection) Food History and Jewish Studies. Presented at the Western Jewish Studies Association Conference, Vancouver, Canada, May, 2015. Orthodox Rabbinic Discourse on Kosher Meat Slaughtering, AJS, December 2014 Modern Kosher Meat Slaughtering Controversies and Orthodox Jewish Identity. Presented at conference in Warsaw, Poland, November 13, 2013, Jewishness in National Cultures—European, North American, Israeli—Perceptions, Interactions, and Memories. Eating in Holiness: Teaching Kashrut and Jewish Foodways. Melton Coalition for Creative Interaction Conference: The Transmission of Jewish Culture Outside the Classroom, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, February 10-11, 2013. Eating in Holiness: The Tension between Ethics and Command in Orthodox Kosher Practice. Society of Jewish Ethics Annual Conference, January 6, 2013. Kabbalah in Israel Today. Presented at Israel in 3D, a program exploring multiple dimensions of Israel sponsored by the UCLA Nazarian Center for Israel Studies, January 29, 2012. Purity, Charity, Community: The Dimensions of Kashrut in an Orthodox Jewish Neighborhood. Jewishness in Contemporary Culture: American and European Perspectives conference in Warsaw, Poland, May 17-18, 2011. Purity and Community: Dimensions of Kashrut in an Orthodox Jewish Neighborhood. Presented at the Western Jewish Studies Association Conference, April 10, 2011. Israel Online: Teaching Contemporary Israel through the Internet and Student Blogs. Presented at Western Jewish Studies Association annual conference, Arizona State University, March 2010. Spirituality, Kabbalah, and Popular Culture. Scholar-in-Residence for Minneapolis, Minnesota Synaplex, March 27-29, 2009. Religious Terrorism in Judaism. One of three presenters at a program at California State University, Northridge, Religious Terrorism in Judaism, Islam, and Hinduism Today, March 17, 2009. Contemporary Forms of Popular Kabbalah. Presented at conference held at Florida Atlantic University, Jewish Mysticism: New Insights and Scholarship, February 15-16, 2009. Crossing Boundaries: Kabbalah for Non-Jews. Paper presented at the conference New Judaisms: Conversations with Scholars, Skidmore College, February 8-11, 2009. A similar version of this presentation was made at the American Association for Religion annual conference, Chicago, Illinois, November 3, 2008. Understanding God in the 21st Century. Guest teacher for Kol Tikvah Temple, Woodland Hills, California, October 7, 2008. Kabbalah for the Gentiles: Diverse Souls and Universalism in Contemporary Kabbalah. Paper presented at Kabbalah and the Contemporary Spiritual Revival, conference held at Ben Gurion University, Israel, May 20-22, 2008. Marriage and Sexual Behavior in the Teachings of the Kabbalah Centre, conference held at University of Amsterdam, July 4-6, 2007. Israel and Zionism in Regional Context. Seminar leader for program jointly sponsored by Jewish Federation and the Melton Judaic Studies Program, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. New Age and Old Judaism in Kabbalah Centre Teachings. Paper presented at the American Academy of Religion, November 2006. Divining the Light: The Popularization of Kabbalah in America. University of Arizona, Shaol Pozez Memorial Lectureship Series. February 2006. The Popularization of Kabbalah in America: The Contributions of Levi I. Krakovsky. Paper presented at the Association for Jewish Studies Annual Conference. December 2004. Seeking the Light: The Popularization of Kabbalah in America.
Recommended publications
  • John Hagee, Christian Zionism, Us Foreign Policy and the State of Israel
    JOHN HAGEE, CHRISTIAN ZIONISM, U.S. FOREIGN POLICY AND THE STATE OF ISRAEL: AN INTERTWINED RELATIONSHIP Master’s Thesis Presented to the Near Eastern and Judaic Studies department Brandeis University S. Ilan Troen, Advisor In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts By Michael Kupferberg May 2009 Copyright by Michael Kupferberg May, 2009 ABSTRACT John Hagee, Christian Zionism, U.S. Foreign Policy and the State of Israel: An Intertwined Relationship A thesis presented to the Near Eastern and Judaic Studies department Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Brandeis University Waltham, MA By Michael Kupferberg Christian Zionism while originating in England over two centuries ago is currently experiencing a reinvigoration, especially in the political world. Christian Zionists are using politics as a way to fulfill Biblical prophecy, by influencing powerful politicians in all levels of government to support Israel. The most vocal, and prominent leader within the Christian Zionist movement is Pastor John Hagee. Through the establishment of his organization Christians United for Israel, Hagee has localized and given a tangible center for Christian Zionist activists. Additionally, the movement has gained membership as it was established in the model of a grassroots organization. Hagee has become a well known figure in the political community, and garners national media attention. While it has become fashionable in recent times to criticize Jewish organizations such as AIPAC, it is the Christian Zionist organizations which yield a large portion of power in Washington. However, it is crucial to realize that while CUFI and groups like it may yield some power in Washington, and account for some of the decision making that goes into U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • Lelov: Cultural Memory and a Jewish Town in Poland. Investigating the Identity and History of an Ultra - Orthodox Society
    Lelov: cultural memory and a Jewish town in Poland. Investigating the identity and history of an ultra - orthodox society. Item Type Thesis Authors Morawska, Lucja Rights <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nc-nd/3.0/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by- nc-nd/3.0/88x31.png" /></a><br />The University of Bradford theses are licenced under a <a rel="license" href="http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">Creative Commons Licence</a>. Download date 03/10/2021 19:09:39 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10454/7827 University of Bradford eThesis This thesis is hosted in Bradford Scholars – The University of Bradford Open Access repository. Visit the repository for full metadata or to contact the repository team © University of Bradford. This work is licenced for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence. Lelov: cultural memory and a Jewish town in Poland. Investigating the identity and history of an ultra - orthodox society. Lucja MORAWSKA Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Social and International Studies University of Bradford 2012 i Lucja Morawska Lelov: cultural memory and a Jewish town in Poland. Investigating the identity and history of an ultra - orthodox society. Key words: Chasidism, Jewish History in Eastern Europe, Biederman family, Chasidic pilgrimage, Poland, Lelov Abstract. Lelov, an otherwise quiet village about fifty miles south of Cracow (Poland), is where Rebbe Dovid (David) Biederman founder of the Lelov ultra-orthodox (Chasidic) Jewish group, - is buried.
    [Show full text]
  • Interpreting Diagrams from the Sefer Yetsirah and Its Commentaries 1
    NOTES 1 Word and Image in Medieval Kabbalah: Interpreting Diagrams from the Sefer Yetsirah and Its Commentaries 1. The most notorious example of these practices is the popularizing work of Aryeh Kaplan. His critical editions of the SY and the Sefer ha Bahir are some of the most widely read in the field because they provide the texts in Hebrew and English with comprehensive and useful appendices. However, these works are deeply problematic because they dehistoricize the tradi- tion by adding later diagrams to earlier works. For example, in his edition of the SY he appends eighteenth-century diagrams to later versions of this tenth-century text. Popularizers of kabbalah such as Michael Berg of the Kabbalah Centre treat the Zohar as a second-century rabbinic tract without acknowledging textual evidence to the contrary. See his introduction to the Centre’s translation of the Zohar: P. S. Berg. The Essential Zohar. New York: Random House, 2002. 2. For a variety of reasons, kabbalistic works were transmitted in manuscript form long after other works, such as the Hebrew Bible, the Talmud, and their commentaries were widely available in print. This is true in large part because kabbalistic treatises were “private” works, transmitted from teacher to student. Kabbalistic manuscripts were also traditionally transmitted in manuscript form because of their provenance. The Maghreb and other parts of North Africa were important centers of later mystical activity, and print technology came quite late to these regions, with manuscript culture persisting well into the nineteenth, and even into the mid- twentieth century in some regions.
    [Show full text]
  • Kabbalah, and the Popular Culture Industry
    The 10th IGSSCI (International Graduate Students and Scholars’ Conference in Indonesia) NEW MEDIA AND THE CHANGING SOCIAL LANDSCAPE OF CONTEMPORARY SOCIETIES: How are new media reshaping the whole aspects of life of contemporary societies? Volume 2019 Conference Paper Kabbalah, and the Popular Culture Industry: Exploring Identity and Spiritual Satisfaction Nurhairunnisa Master Student Center for Religious and Cross-Cultural Studies Gadjah Mada University Abstract Todays popular culture is a part of global culture. Kabbalah, a form of popular spirituality derived from orthodox Jewish mysticism has gained popularity because of its association with the activists and celebrities in the pop culture industries. This paper examines the influence of this organization, which is still mysterious, through the public image of the spirituality of pop culture actors who became followers of Kabbalah and express their identity in the implied meanings contained in music and lyrics of the song and as the media to express those feeling, thought, or social and religious experince, also how popular culture as a criticism of religious institutions. In strengthening and deepening this research, will applies social and phenomenological approach as my theoretical framework to make a deep analysis in this topic. This study is important Corresponding Author: to give alternative perspectives to pop culture and the media as inseparable linked Nurhairunnisa to identity, culture, politic, religion and gender which is related to common society Received: 14 July 2019 nowadays. Accepted: 29 July 2016 Published: 4 August 2019 Keywords: Judaism Mysticism, Kabbalah, Music & Song Lyrics, Media, Popular Culture Publishing services provided by Knowledge E Nurhairunnisa. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Lions and Roses: an Interpretive History of Israeli-Iranian Relations" (2007)
    Florida International University FIU Digital Commons FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations University Graduate School 11-13-2007 Lions and Roses: An Interpretive History of Israeli- Iranian Relations Marsha B. Cohen Florida International University, [email protected] DOI: 10.25148/etd.FI08081510 Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd Part of the International Relations Commons Recommended Citation Cohen, Marsha B., "Lions and Roses: An Interpretive History of Israeli-Iranian Relations" (2007). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 5. https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/5 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the University Graduate School at FIU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of FIU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY Miami, Florida LIONS AND ROSES: AN INTERPRETIVE HISTORY OF ISRAELI-IRANIAN RELATIONS A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS by Marsha B. Cohen 2007 To: Interim Dean Mark Szuchman College of Arts and Sciences This dissertation, written by Marsha B. Cohen, and entitled Lions and Roses: An Interpretive History of Israeli-Iranian Relations, having been approved in respect to style and intellectual content, is referred to you for judgment. We have read this dissertation and recommend that it be approved. _______________________________________
    [Show full text]
  • Adult Education in Israel the Jews
    CHESHVAN, 5735 I OCTOBER, 1974 VOLUME X, NUMBER 4 rHE SIXTY FIVE CENTS Adult Education in Israel -Utopian dream or a feasible program? The Jews: A People of ''Shevatim'' -for divisiveness or unification? Moshiach Consciousness -a message from the Chafetz Chaim The Jewish State -beginnings of redemption or a Golus phenomenon? The Seattle Legacy -heirs of a childless couple THE JEWISH QBSERVER in this issue ... SPREADING A NET OF TORAH, Mordechai David Ludmir as told to Nisson Wolpin ..................................... 3 THE JEWS - A PEOPLE OF "SHEVATIM," Shabtai Slae ........................ ............................. ........... 6 THE CHOFETZ CHAIM ON MOSHIACH CONSCIOUSNESS. Elkanah Schwartz ............... ....................... 9 THE END OF GOLUS? or THE BEGINNING OF GEULAH?, Moshe Schonfeld ..................................... ... 12 THE JEWISH OBSERVER is published THE SEATTLE LEGACY, Nissan Wolpin ................. ............. 18 monthly, except July and August, by the Agudath Israel of Amercia, 5 Beekman St., New York, N. Y. CRASH DIET, Pinchas Jung ....... ······················ ............. 23 10038. Second class postage paid at New York, N. Y. Subscription: $6.50 per year; Two years, $11.00; "HIS SEAL IS TRUTH" .......................................................... 25 Three years $15.00; outside of the United States $7 .50 per year. Single copy sixty~five cents. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ................................................... 28 Printed in the U.S.A. RABBI NISSON WOLPIN Editor GIVE A SPECIAL GIFT TO SOMEONE SPECIAL Editorial Board DR. ERNST L. BODENHEIMER THE JEWISH OBSERVER Chairman 5 Beekman Street / New York, N. Y. 10038 RABBI NATHAN BULMAN RABBI JOSEPH ELIAS 0 ONE YEARi $6.50 0 TWO YEARS: a $13 value, only $11 JOSEPH FRIEDENSON D THREE YEARS: a $19.50 , .. aJue, 011/y $15 RABBI Y AAKOV JACOBS RABBI MOSHE SHERER Send Magazine to: Fro1n: Na1ne..............
    [Show full text]
  • Maybe It's Not So Weird, After All Page 1 of 7 Jewishjournal.Com 12/7
    JewishJournal.com Page 1 of 7 2007-12-07 Maybe it's not so weird, after all Reconsidering L.A.'s most controversial un-synagogue, the Kabbalah Centre By Rob Eshman, Editor-in-Chief The first time I visited the Kabbalah Centre, I thought it was weird. The congregants all wore white; the man on the bimah called out letters of the Hebrew alphabet ("Alef to bet to taph!"); the letters themselves were displayed in massive typeface on posters around the sanctuary. At certain moments in the Shabbat service, congregants circled their arms around their heads, like background dancers in a music video. And when the Torah came out, everybody held their hands out with their palms up, to, as the man standing next to me explained, "Receive the Light." My wife was there, too, upstairs in the women's section. She whispered something to a friend during the rabbi's sermon, and someone on the other side of her hissed, "Shh!" It was comedian Sandra Bernhard. Weird? It all seemed to me a cross between Scientology and Hebrew school -- full of glassy-eyed acolytes who knew more about multilevel marketing than Torah. Two weeks ago, I went back. And what I found and what I felt shocked me: I liked it. That's right, I liked it. I had been reading Jody Myers' (photo, left) just-released book, "Kabbalah and the Spiritual Quest: The Kabbalah Centre in America" (Praeger, $49.95), and it is the book's great strength that it forces a second and third look at a group that the great majority of mainstream Jewry finds suspicious, aberrant, fraudulent -- even dangerous.
    [Show full text]
  • Processes of Domestication in Jewish Approaches to Yoga Practice Tara
    From "Om" to "Shalom" Processes of Domestication in Jewish Approaches to Yoga Practice Tara Giangrande Senior Thesis in Dance Anthropology Swarthmore College Advisors Pallabi Chakravorty and Christopher Fraga May 3, 2016 Abstract This thesis exammes Jewish approaches to yoga as projects of cultural and religious domestication. My research centers on critical analysis of popular Jewish yoga literature and on interviews and participant observation in classes with 10 Jewish yoga teachers. These teachers either cater specifically to a Jewish clientele or pursue a syncretic form of yoga that facilitates Jewish spiritual experience. I consider how such approaches vary along denominational lines, arguing that Orthodox teachers secularize their practice through processes of de-Hinduization, while more progressive, non-Orthodox teachers cross-ethnicize Jewish religious content into their classes. Orthodox teachers value yoga as a physical technique for the promotion of health, fitness, and body positivity, while non-Orthodox teachers appreciate yoga as spiritual practice for embodying Jewish religiosity. I argue that all of these methods generally preserve the physical form of yoga, while domestication occurs within the textual material that accompanies the technique. Furthermore, I situate these projects of domestication within a larger historical trajectory of interaction, utilizing Weber's concept of elective affinity to understand how the evolution of the relationship between Judaism and yoga in contemporary American society has made possible projects of confluence pursued by Jewish yoga teachers. Table of Contents Introduction 1 Chapter 1 Theorizing Jewish Yoga as Syncretic Culture 8 Chapter 2 Contextualizing Confluence between Judaism and Yoga 20 through the Model of Elective Affinity Chapter 3 Processes of Domestication in Jewish Yoga Texts 38 Chapter 4 Methods of Domestication among Jewish Yoga Teachers in 52 Orthodox versus Non-Orthodox Communities Conclusion 79 Bibliography 83 1 Introduction Figure 1.
    [Show full text]
  • 2016 ANNUAL REVIEW � the Kabbalah Centre Annual Review 2016
    The Kabbalah Centre 2016 ANNUAL REVIEW � The Kabbalah Centre Annual Review 2016 LETTER FROM TABLE OF OUR DIRECTORS CONTENTS We’re pleased to share with you The Kabbalah Centre’s first annual #3 review, providing a concise, yet comprehensive overview of how your Letter from Our Directors financial contributions are making our work possible. We hope you’ll be inspired to learn of the many ways in which your donations are helping to share the wisdom of Kabbalah and support our teachers, #4 students, and program partners worldwide. About Us One of the most important changes we’ve undertaken in the past two years has been the elevation of the Centre in ways not just #6 spiritual, but also professional. Starting in 2016, we welcomed a Where We Work number of executive staff members including Chief Financial Officer, Yair Segev; Chief Operating Officer, Adi Vaxman; Chief Marketing Officer, Paul Geller; Chief Technology Officer, Alex Lerner; and Chief #8 People Officer, Val Golan. Our Impact As we anticipate unprecedented growth in the coming years, these key staff members will be dedicated to ensuring that The Kabbalah #10 Centre meets the highest standards in transparency, leadership, Kabbalah Centres & Study Groups digital offerings, professional partnerships, and branding. #12 In 2016, our commitment to transparency propelled our move to Rav Berg Legacy Project global accounting and customer relationship management systems, enabling more in-depth reporting, tracking, and insights into the operations of the Centre. These tools will now allow us to give you #14 deeper insights into the impact of your donations and support of the Kabbalah Centre Scholarship Fund Centre’s work.
    [Show full text]
  • Rabbi Tzvi Yisrael Tau & Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh
    Unity and opposites in Israel’s settler movement: Rabbi Tzvi Yisrael Tau & Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh Tessa Dawn Satherley Submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 2015 School of Historical and Philosophical Studies The University of Melbourne Produced on archival quality paper. 1 Abstract The thesis is motivated by the central question: can deep engagement with the nuances of contemporary settler religious discourse guide a more effective approach to negotiations with and about this group, especially regarding the future of “Judea and Samaria,” or “the occupied territories”? To address this, I investigate two key religious thinkers. The first is Rabbi Tzvi Yisrael Tau, a major religious Zionist intellectual and head of the leading mamlakhti1 yeshiva Har Ha-Mor, known for his calls for restraint in the face of anti-settlement policies. The second is Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh of Od Yosef Chai, often accused of inciting racism and encouraging aggressive protest tactics, and whose students have been at the vanguard of anti-Arab vigilante violence and the “price tag” campaign of recent years. This investigation reveals Tau’s predominantly monistic worldview, anchored in the “unity of opposites” paradigm at the heart of Avraham Kook’s teachings, and Ginsburgh’s relatively dualistic worldview, anchored in a dualistic interpretation of lurianic Kabbalah. These distinct symbolic worlds help explain the divergent political– historical interpretations, ethics, and political tactics among the rabbis’ adherents. Moreover, the analysis indicated which pro-negotiation arguments may be most persuasive among these different sectors—and which may be useless or disastrous. I show how Tau argues that settlements are a mere detail in Gush Emunim’s project, identifies Jewish unity as a supreme value, and calls for educational outreach in lieu of protests.
    [Show full text]
  • 2020 Jewish Studies Program Magazine
    T h e R o b e rt A . A n d S A n d ra S . b o R n S J ew i S h S T u d i e S P Ro g ra m Jason Mokhtarian Tracy Judah Cohen Alvin Rosenfeld Annual Magazine I Volume 48 I Fall 2020 From the Outgoing Director The approaching end of my two terms as Director of the Borns Jewish Studies Program (JSP) prompts me to reflect on all the constituencies that make this job so meaningful, and together define our program. There are our versatile, multifaceted, and committed undergraduates, whose energy and intelligence enable them to master so many different demands alongside each graduates’ Jewish Studies (JS) major, certificate, or minor. The intimate online graduation ceremony we conducted this year, (see small photos on cover page), where a different faculty member talked about each senior, brought out their passion and quality more clearly than ever. There is our tightknit group of high-powered graduate students, extending knowledge in JS from biblical analysis through to the sociology of contemporary Israel. Our graduate conference is an annual reminder of their range and sophistication, and their ability to attract faculty and graduate students from all over the US and beyond to present and debate. There is our internationally renowned and interdisciplinary faculty, newly rejuvenated with three outstanding appointments in the fields of Hebrew Bible, modern antisemitism, and memory studies. Their intense commitment to our students is the glue that holds the program together — as Mark Roseman was again so evident in our graduation ceremony.
    [Show full text]
  • The Memorial Inscription from the Bimah of the Great Synagogue of Vilna
    Article Between Yerushalayim DeLita and Jerusalem— The Memorial Inscription from the Bimah of the Great Synagogue of Vilna Jon Seligman Israel Antiquities Authority, Jerusalem 91004, Israel; [email protected] Received: 19 February 2020; Accepted: 18 March 2020; Published: 1 April 2020 Abstract: During excavations of the bimah (the platform for reading the Torah) of the 17th-century Great Synagogue of Vilna (Vilnius, Lithuania), an important memorial inscription was exposed. This paper describes the new finds associated with the baroque-rococo architecture of the bimah and focuses on the inscription and its meaning. The Hebrew inscription, engraved on a large stone slab, is a complex rabbinic text filled with biblical allusions, symbolism, gematria, and abbreviations. The text describes the donation of a Torah reading table in 1796 in honour of R. Ḥayim ben Ḥayim and of Sarah by their sons, R. Eliezer and Shmuel. The inscription notes the aliyah (emigration) of Ḥayim and Sarah to Eretz Israel, the Land of Israel. The interpretation of the inscription shows the use of multiple messianic motifs. Historical analysis identifies the involvement of the Vilna community with the support of the Yishuv (the Jewish community in Ottoman Palestine) and the aliyah of senior scholars and community leaders at the end of the 18th and early 19th centuries. Amongst these figures were Ḥayim ben Ḥayim and Sarah, with Ḥayim ben Ḥayim going on to represent the Vilna community in the Land of Israel as its emissary, distributing charitable donations to the scholarly Ashkenazi community resident in Tiberias, Safed, and later Jerusalem. Keywords: Vilna/Vilnius; synagogue; bimah; inscription; Jerusalem; aliyah Over the past five years (2016–2019), a consortium of researchers 1 has been conducting archaeological research on the site of the Great Synagogue and Shulhoyf (synagogue courtyard) of Vilna (present-day Vilnius in Lithuania).
    [Show full text]