Pub Date : 2019-01-01DOI: 10.2979/nashim.35.1.0238
{"title":"Call for Papers: Nashim No. 38: Women in Jewish Magic and Mysticism","authors":"","doi":"10.2979/nashim.35.1.0238","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/nashim.35.1.0238","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":42498,"journal":{"name":"Nashim-A Journal of Jewish Womens Studies & Gender Issues","volume":"42 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83674754","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Gender Bender Just off the Long Island Expressway","authors":"E. Golub","doi":"10.2979/nashim.33.1.10","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/nashim.33.1.10","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":42498,"journal":{"name":"Nashim-A Journal of Jewish Womens Studies & Gender Issues","volume":"18 1","pages":"209 - 215"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2018-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81698295","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract:This article examines how an ordinary middle-class Anglo-Jewish woman in the nineteenth century experienced, expressed and passed on to her children her cultural identity, as a Jewish citizen of the nation in which she lived. It draws on the private journals, spanning sixty years, of Hannah Merton, an English-born, conservative Jewish woman of the Victorian era, to discern the thoughts and activities that contributed to the construction and maintenance of her bicultural identity and promoted her family's acculturation. Merton constructed her syncretic Anglo-Jewish identity in the domestic sphere, through her loyalty to "our [Jewish] race" and by immersing herself in the bourgeois culture of "our English world." I argue that her choices, intentional or unintentional, about what not to say helped her avoid conflict between her dual allegiances and protected her carefully constructed identity.
{"title":"The Anglo-Jewish Identity of a Victorian Middle-Class Woman: A Case Study of Mrs. B. M. Merton (1816–1898)","authors":"M. Klein","doi":"10.2979/NASHIM.33.1.03","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/NASHIM.33.1.03","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:This article examines how an ordinary middle-class Anglo-Jewish woman in the nineteenth century experienced, expressed and passed on to her children her cultural identity, as a Jewish citizen of the nation in which she lived. It draws on the private journals, spanning sixty years, of Hannah Merton, an English-born, conservative Jewish woman of the Victorian era, to discern the thoughts and activities that contributed to the construction and maintenance of her bicultural identity and promoted her family's acculturation. Merton constructed her syncretic Anglo-Jewish identity in the domestic sphere, through her loyalty to \"our [Jewish] race\" and by immersing herself in the bourgeois culture of \"our English world.\" I argue that her choices, intentional or unintentional, about what not to say helped her avoid conflict between her dual allegiances and protected her carefully constructed identity.","PeriodicalId":42498,"journal":{"name":"Nashim-A Journal of Jewish Womens Studies & Gender Issues","volume":"1 1","pages":"38 - 63"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2018-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82370493","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract:Shame, in all its behavioral manifestations, is an anthropological structure that is common to all of humanity. As such, we might view it as a language in which the signifier is universal, while that which is signified is culture-dependent.The Sages of the Talmud teach: "A person who shames another in public [literally, 'blanches his face'] is considered as though he had spilled blood," and they compare the severity of shaming to that of adultery. Such bold statements form part of the basis for identifying the culture of the Sages as one of shame and honor.Various studies published in recent years have addressed the subject of shame in the world of the Sages, mostly with a focus on legal aspects. The unique aspects of shame in the context of a son's relationship with his mother have yet to receive attention. A study of the sources dealing with the honor due to mothers shows that the Sages' overt textual treatment of the commandment hints at the mirror image of honor: shame. Both concepts help shape a particular system of values and morals, and they also express the complex emotions underlying the relationship between mothers and sons.
{"title":"\"He Did Not Embarrass Her\": Motherhood and Shame in Talmudic Literature","authors":"A. Israeli, Inbar Raveh","doi":"10.2979/NASHIM.33.1.02","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/NASHIM.33.1.02","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:Shame, in all its behavioral manifestations, is an anthropological structure that is common to all of humanity. As such, we might view it as a language in which the signifier is universal, while that which is signified is culture-dependent.The Sages of the Talmud teach: \"A person who shames another in public [literally, 'blanches his face'] is considered as though he had spilled blood,\" and they compare the severity of shaming to that of adultery. Such bold statements form part of the basis for identifying the culture of the Sages as one of shame and honor.Various studies published in recent years have addressed the subject of shame in the world of the Sages, mostly with a focus on legal aspects. The unique aspects of shame in the context of a son's relationship with his mother have yet to receive attention. A study of the sources dealing with the honor due to mothers shows that the Sages' overt textual treatment of the commandment hints at the mirror image of honor: shame. Both concepts help shape a particular system of values and morals, and they also express the complex emotions underlying the relationship between mothers and sons.","PeriodicalId":42498,"journal":{"name":"Nashim-A Journal of Jewish Womens Studies & Gender Issues","volume":"13 1","pages":"20 - 37"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2018-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84866437","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract:The article discusses the educational character of Israel's post-secondary religious seminaries for women who identify as Haredi-Leumi (ultra-Orthodox nationalist). On the basis of rabbinic texts originating in the Haredi-Leumi "Har Hamor" circle, it describes the educational goals of these institutions; their doctrines regarding women's roles in public and political life; their construction of feminine identity; and their ways of dealing with the alternative narratives in modern society concerning women's roles in the public sphere.
{"title":"How to Create a Stay-at-Home Revolutionary: Rabbinic Discourse on Women's Education in the Haredi-Leumi Community","authors":"Ilan Fuchs","doi":"10.2979/NASHIM.33.1.06","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/NASHIM.33.1.06","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:The article discusses the educational character of Israel's post-secondary religious seminaries for women who identify as Haredi-Leumi (ultra-Orthodox nationalist). On the basis of rabbinic texts originating in the Haredi-Leumi \"Har Hamor\" circle, it describes the educational goals of these institutions; their doctrines regarding women's roles in public and political life; their construction of feminine identity; and their ways of dealing with the alternative narratives in modern society concerning women's roles in the public sphere.","PeriodicalId":42498,"journal":{"name":"Nashim-A Journal of Jewish Womens Studies & Gender Issues","volume":"21 1","pages":"121 - 135"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2018-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72906193","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract:Historians and art historians have identified the central place held by the maternal figure in Holocaust and post-Holocaust art and commemoration. The Jewish mother is shown, alone or with her children, facing the brutal reality of poverty, hunger and war. Her figure serves as the ultimate symbol of victimhood, as well as the embodiment of feminine heroism and the paradigm of appropriate motherly behavior.However this symbol has not remained static. An introspective analysis of a wide corpus of women's art relating to the Holocaust reveals that alongside this canonical figure in Holocaust symbolization, there are other images—mostly contemporary—of the maternal figure that expand and even destroy this traditional image. This transformation is a result of changes in Holocaust consciousness and scholarship, developments in the lives of the survivors, the particular perspectives of the second and third generations, Holocaust memory and post-memory, and feminism.
{"title":"The Expansion and Destruction of the Symbol of the Victimized and Self-Sacrificing Mother in Women's Holocaust Art","authors":"Mor Presiado","doi":"10.2979/NASHIM.33.1.09","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/NASHIM.33.1.09","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:Historians and art historians have identified the central place held by the maternal figure in Holocaust and post-Holocaust art and commemoration. The Jewish mother is shown, alone or with her children, facing the brutal reality of poverty, hunger and war. Her figure serves as the ultimate symbol of victimhood, as well as the embodiment of feminine heroism and the paradigm of appropriate motherly behavior.However this symbol has not remained static. An introspective analysis of a wide corpus of women's art relating to the Holocaust reveals that alongside this canonical figure in Holocaust symbolization, there are other images—mostly contemporary—of the maternal figure that expand and even destroy this traditional image. This transformation is a result of changes in Holocaust consciousness and scholarship, developments in the lives of the survivors, the particular perspectives of the second and third generations, Holocaust memory and post-memory, and feminism.","PeriodicalId":42498,"journal":{"name":"Nashim-A Journal of Jewish Womens Studies & Gender Issues","volume":"17 1","pages":"177 - 208"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2018-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86360561","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract:In this article the author proposes a new reading for the opening words of the Bible, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Now the earth was unformed and void . . . ; and the spirit of God hovered over the water" (Gen. 1:1–2). This new reading is based on the connections drawn by Otto Eissfeldt between the Ugaritic literature and the Bible. God, according to this opening picture, connects intimately, empathetically, with the existing matter (the tehom) in dialogic address. It is from this relationship, which today we call "love," that all comes to be "born" from the material "womb" of the tehom. From this "big bang," all continues to be born.
{"title":"\"And the Spirit of God Hovered\": A Dialogic Reading of the Opening Lines of Genesis","authors":"Admiel Kosman","doi":"10.2979/NASHIM.33.1.01","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/NASHIM.33.1.01","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:In this article the author proposes a new reading for the opening words of the Bible, \"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Now the earth was unformed and void . . . ; and the spirit of God hovered over the water\" (Gen. 1:1–2). This new reading is based on the connections drawn by Otto Eissfeldt between the Ugaritic literature and the Bible. God, according to this opening picture, connects intimately, empathetically, with the existing matter (the tehom) in dialogic address. It is from this relationship, which today we call \"love,\" that all comes to be \"born\" from the material \"womb\" of the tehom. From this \"big bang,\" all continues to be born.","PeriodicalId":42498,"journal":{"name":"Nashim-A Journal of Jewish Womens Studies & Gender Issues","volume":"8 1","pages":"19 - 7"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2018-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90847157","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract:Ephraim Moses Lilien (1874–1925) is widely recognised as the most important artist of the cultural Zionist movement at the turn of the twentieth century. Since 2001, scholarship on Lilien has focused less on his Zionist iconology and more on his construction and imaging of a "new [male] Jew" who was muscular, manly and healthy in body, mind and spirit. In addition to these Jewish depictions of male athleticism, heroism and explicit heterosexuality, there are perplexing and ambivalent portrayals of the "New Jewish Woman" as the passive, naked, sensual and provocative, femme fatale. This article examines Lilien's seductive female images to counter the gendered narrative regarding his oeuvre. What emerges in a few of these depictions is a powerful, strong and very modern Jewish woman, an equal partner to the new Jewish man. Lilien's representations of women created for Das Lied der Lieder are analyzed and compared with the secular images he created in two other works, Juda and Lieder des Ghetto. Lilien's images are then evaluated in light of contemporaneous illustrations in the new area of the graphic arts: book art and the illustrated art journal. Using Lilien's images for the journals Jugend and Mai-Festzeitung as a starting point, contemporary illustrations are examined to assess just how radical Lilien's image of a dangerously modern Jewish woman was for this period. As his work progressed, Lilien discovered a Jewish Oriental style that celebrated both his Jewish roots and his acculturated modern German-Jewish identity.
{"title":"Lilien's Sensual Beauties: Discovering Jewish Orientalism in Ephraim Moses Lilien's Biblical Women","authors":"Lynne Swarts","doi":"10.2979/NASHIM.33.1.05","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/NASHIM.33.1.05","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:Ephraim Moses Lilien (1874–1925) is widely recognised as the most important artist of the cultural Zionist movement at the turn of the twentieth century. Since 2001, scholarship on Lilien has focused less on his Zionist iconology and more on his construction and imaging of a \"new [male] Jew\" who was muscular, manly and healthy in body, mind and spirit. In addition to these Jewish depictions of male athleticism, heroism and explicit heterosexuality, there are perplexing and ambivalent portrayals of the \"New Jewish Woman\" as the passive, naked, sensual and provocative, femme fatale. This article examines Lilien's seductive female images to counter the gendered narrative regarding his oeuvre. What emerges in a few of these depictions is a powerful, strong and very modern Jewish woman, an equal partner to the new Jewish man. Lilien's representations of women created for Das Lied der Lieder are analyzed and compared with the secular images he created in two other works, Juda and Lieder des Ghetto. Lilien's images are then evaluated in light of contemporaneous illustrations in the new area of the graphic arts: book art and the illustrated art journal. Using Lilien's images for the journals Jugend and Mai-Festzeitung as a starting point, contemporary illustrations are examined to assess just how radical Lilien's image of a dangerously modern Jewish woman was for this period. As his work progressed, Lilien discovered a Jewish Oriental style that celebrated both his Jewish roots and his acculturated modern German-Jewish identity.","PeriodicalId":42498,"journal":{"name":"Nashim-A Journal of Jewish Womens Studies & Gender Issues","volume":"3 1","pages":"120 - 90"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2018-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76216949","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract:This article presents the almost unknown stories of the 96 women POWs in Israel's 1948 War of Independence and endeavors to analyze their experience of captivity and the perceptions that accompanied it, from the moment of their surrender, through the period of their captivity and up to their return home. It explores the manner in which normative perceptions of gender shaped the experience of women in captivity, despite their being in a situation that was seemingly identical to that of the 900 male captives. Thus, apart from adding a new chapter to the history of women in Israel, the story of the Israeli women captives serves as a test case for discussing issues relating to captivity and gender.There are similarities in the ways in which women experience captivity, and in how female captivity is perceived, at the time and afterward, both by the captives and by the society to which they belong. Although captivity is experienced by both men and women, often together and in similar circumstances, this does not blur gender differences but rather preserves and even accentuates them. The frequent and mythological association of sexual violence and rape with female captives was evident in the preconceptions shared by both women and men and was a prime source of fear even before they fell captive. However, the women's experience in captivity in Israel's 1948 war does not support this myth.Although both men and women fell into captivity during Israel's War of Independence, seemingly offering evidence of the gender equality said to have prevailed in that period, a gendered analysis suggests otherwise.
{"title":"Captivity and Gender: The Experience of Female Prisoners of War during Israel's War of Independence","authors":"Lilach Rosenberg-Friedman","doi":"10.2979/NASHIM.33.1.04","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/NASHIM.33.1.04","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:This article presents the almost unknown stories of the 96 women POWs in Israel's 1948 War of Independence and endeavors to analyze their experience of captivity and the perceptions that accompanied it, from the moment of their surrender, through the period of their captivity and up to their return home. It explores the manner in which normative perceptions of gender shaped the experience of women in captivity, despite their being in a situation that was seemingly identical to that of the 900 male captives. Thus, apart from adding a new chapter to the history of women in Israel, the story of the Israeli women captives serves as a test case for discussing issues relating to captivity and gender.There are similarities in the ways in which women experience captivity, and in how female captivity is perceived, at the time and afterward, both by the captives and by the society to which they belong. Although captivity is experienced by both men and women, often together and in similar circumstances, this does not blur gender differences but rather preserves and even accentuates them. The frequent and mythological association of sexual violence and rape with female captives was evident in the preconceptions shared by both women and men and was a prime source of fear even before they fell captive. However, the women's experience in captivity in Israel's 1948 war does not support this myth.Although both men and women fell into captivity during Israel's War of Independence, seemingly offering evidence of the gender equality said to have prevailed in that period, a gendered analysis suggests otherwise.","PeriodicalId":42498,"journal":{"name":"Nashim-A Journal of Jewish Womens Studies & Gender Issues","volume":"1 1","pages":"64 - 89"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2018-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83447149","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract:Jewish Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) society is characterized by high fertility as part of what it sees as an inherent female identity. This article examines patterns of health behaviors and subjective experiences during pregnancy and childbirth among Israeli Haredi women, based on a qualitative study designed to investigate these phenomena within the Haredi cultural and social context. The research question of interest was: Given the importance of fertility and children in the Haredi population, how do women cope with normative pregnancy and childbirth experiences and with those that may be challenging, difficult or traumatic? Twenty Haredi women were interviewed, and the content of their interviews was analyzed.Six themes emerged that highlighted issues faced by Haredi women: social pressure to conceive; availability of social-communal resources for women after childbirth; seeking knowledge about reproductive health; medical practices and choices; traumatic experiences of reproductive events; and spiritual issues. These themes emphasized the unique characteristics of the Haredi woman's pregnancy and childbirth experiences. The findings point to the central role of the rabbi, religious faith and spirituality, considerations when using medical services and the importance of modesty as resources that help the women to navigate pregnancy and childbirth, which are seen as experiences that build identity among ultra-Orthodox women. Adverse reproductive events may lead to distress, but there is a reluctance to discuss them or seek treatment. The discussion integrates the findings with the current state of the literature, points to areas of change and adaptation and proposes practical recommendations that reflect the need to promote culturally sensitive reproductive health practices within the existing Israeli health care system.
{"title":"How Ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) Israeli Women Cope with Normative and Difficult Pregnancy and Childbirth Experiences","authors":"Shimrit Prins Engelsman, Ephrat Huss, J. Cwikel","doi":"10.2979/NASHIM.33.1.07","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/NASHIM.33.1.07","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:Jewish Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) society is characterized by high fertility as part of what it sees as an inherent female identity. This article examines patterns of health behaviors and subjective experiences during pregnancy and childbirth among Israeli Haredi women, based on a qualitative study designed to investigate these phenomena within the Haredi cultural and social context. The research question of interest was: Given the importance of fertility and children in the Haredi population, how do women cope with normative pregnancy and childbirth experiences and with those that may be challenging, difficult or traumatic? Twenty Haredi women were interviewed, and the content of their interviews was analyzed.Six themes emerged that highlighted issues faced by Haredi women: social pressure to conceive; availability of social-communal resources for women after childbirth; seeking knowledge about reproductive health; medical practices and choices; traumatic experiences of reproductive events; and spiritual issues. These themes emphasized the unique characteristics of the Haredi woman's pregnancy and childbirth experiences. The findings point to the central role of the rabbi, religious faith and spirituality, considerations when using medical services and the importance of modesty as resources that help the women to navigate pregnancy and childbirth, which are seen as experiences that build identity among ultra-Orthodox women. Adverse reproductive events may lead to distress, but there is a reluctance to discuss them or seek treatment. The discussion integrates the findings with the current state of the literature, points to areas of change and adaptation and proposes practical recommendations that reflect the need to promote culturally sensitive reproductive health practices within the existing Israeli health care system.","PeriodicalId":42498,"journal":{"name":"Nashim-A Journal of Jewish Womens Studies & Gender Issues","volume":"24 1","pages":"136 - 157"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2018-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88765562","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}