scholarly journals The Jewish Identity of the “Unexpected Generation” in the Context of the Upbringing Model in a Mixed Family

2020 ◽  
pp. 85-100
Author(s):  
Joanna Cukras-Stelągowska
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Jewish Identity ◽  
Family Life ◽  
Jewish Family ◽  
Research Directions ◽  
Mixed Family ◽  
Cultural Content ◽  
Jewish Families ◽  
Family Transmission

The Jewish Identity of the “Unexpected Generation” in the Context of the Upbringing Model in a Mixed FamilyThe goal of the article is to introduce one of the youngest Jewish generations in Poland, known as the “unexpected generation”, based on my own research and the findings of other researchers. At the same time, I consider the essence of upbringing in a mixed family and its consequences for the socio-cultural identity of this generation. I look at ways of constructing patterns of Jewish family life and possible forms and content of intergenerational family transmission. I also highlight challenges and potential threats faced by Jewish families living in Poland today. Consequently, I try to outline possible further research directions related to issues of cultural content transmission in a family and the transmission of Jewish religious and linguistic heritage. Tożsamość żydowska „nieoczekiwanego pokolenia” w kontekście modelu wychowania w rodzinie mieszanej W swoim artykule chciałabym przybliżyć jedno z najmłodszych pokoleń żydowskich w Polsce, zwane „nieoczekiwaną generacją”, na podstawie badań własnych oraz ustaleń innych badaczy. Jednocześnie uwzględniam istotę wychowania w rodzinie mieszanej i to, jakie niesie za sobą konsekwencje dla tożsamości społeczno-kulturowej tegoż pokolenia. Przyjrzę się sposobom konstruowania wzorów żydowskiego życia rodzinnego oraz możliwym formom i treściom rodzinnej transmisji międzypokoleniowej. Wskażę także na wyzwania i potencjalne zagrożenia, przed którymi stają dziś żydowskie rodziny mieszkające w Polsce. W efekcie postaram się wytyczyć możliwe dalsze kierunki badawcze podejmujące kwestie transmisji treści kulturowych w rodzinie, przekazu żydowskiego dziedzictwa religijnego i językowego.

scholarly journals Tożsamość żydowska na pograniczu kultur i narodów

2018 ◽  
pp. 165-178
Author(s):  
Irmina Jaśkowiak
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Identity Construction ◽  
Jewish Identity ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Historical Memory ◽  
The Other ◽  
Western World ◽  
Human Needs ◽  
Anti Semitism

Identity construction is one of the fundamental human needs. The process takes place in two areas simultaneously: internal, self-reflexive and external, associated with a sense of belonging to a particular group. The Jews, until the beginning of the nineteenth century constituted quite uniform society voluntarily separating themselves from other communities. As a result of emancipation and assimilation processes, various influences affect their identity. As a consequence the Jews faced two difficulties. The first one was the dilemma between own nation and territorial homeland while the other was the progressing deep internal divisions. At present Jewish identity is most of all national and ethnical identity strongly reinforced by historical memory and fight with anti-Semitism. After the period of the twentieth century crisis and in the light of the western world secularization it has become also cultural identity.Identity construction is one of the fundamental human needs. Theprocess takes place in two areas simultaneously: internal, self-reflexiveand external, associated with a sense of belonging to a particulargroup. The Jews, until the beginning of the nineteenth century constitutedquite uniform society voluntarily separating themselves fromother communities. As a result of emancipation and assimilation processes,various influences affect their identity. As a consequence theJews faced two difficulties. The first one was the dilemma betweenown nation and territorial homeland while the other was the progressingdeep internal divisions. At present Jewish identity is most of allnational and ethnical identity strongly reinforced by historical memoryand fight with anti-Semitism. After the period of the twentieth centurycrisis and in the light of the western world secularization it hasbecome also cultural identity.

Was the Traditional East European Jewish Family in the Recent Past Patriarchal?

2010 ◽  
pp. 121-142
Author(s):  
Shaul Stampfer
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Jewish Family ◽  
East European ◽  
The Family ◽  
Male Head ◽  
Minor Children ◽  
European Jewish ◽  
Eighteenth And Nineteenth Centuries ◽  
Male Authority ◽  
Jewish Families

This chapter assesses whether the traditional Jewish family in eastern Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was patriarchal. In traditional east European Jewish families, authority over children was not monopolized by fathers; mothers also had a great deal of authority over minor children. Fathers often spent more hours a day out of the house than did mothers, and often they had to work far from their homes. As such, mothers usually determined what went on at home, and even when this was in accordance with their husbands' wishes, it does not imply that it was under their husbands' authority. Perhaps the greatest potential for paternal authority can be found in the marital patterns of their children. Meanwhile, in the area of relations between the male head of the family and his wife in traditional east European Jewish families, male authority could not be taken for granted and male heads of families could not simply force wives to do their bidding. The chapter then defines patriarchy, arguing that the dynamics of the traditional Jewish families in eastern Europe complicate the utility of the term.

Love and Family

2010 ◽  
pp. 26-55
Author(s):  
Shaul Stampfer
Keyword(s):  
Social Environment ◽  
Family Life ◽  
Jewish Life ◽  
Jewish Family ◽  
East European ◽  
The Family ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Marriage Formation ◽  
Broad Subject ◽  
European Jewish

This chapter examines the subject of love and the family within east European Jewish life. In the nineteenth century, almost every aspect of Jewish life was transformed in one way or another. The structures of Jewish family life in eastern Europe and the place of love and affection in these frameworks were no exceptions. However, to a greater degree than many today realize, there was also a great deal of continuity between what was accepted in traditional Ashkenazi Jewish family life and in the lives of their descendants. In some cases, the attention given to atypical lives of famous and exceptional individuals has led to a skewed picture of the past. Similarly, superficial views of traditional family dynamics have created a distorted picture of what life was like in traditional east European Jewish society. Looking at love and family life in their fullness and as part of the general social environment is one of the best ways to correct these errors and to arrive at a balanced view of realities and developments. Because marriage and love within the context of family life is a very broad subject, the chapter focuses on four major topics: courtship and marriage formation; marital roles and expectations; parenthood; and remarriage.

scholarly journals “Zwischen allen Stühlen”: Reflections on Judaism in Germany in Victor Klemperer’s Post-Holocaust Diaries

Humanities ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 168
Author(s):  
Sepp
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Jewish Identity ◽  
Jewish Life ◽  
Social Situation ◽  
Jewish Origin ◽  
Soviet Occupation ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
German Jewish ◽  
Soviet Occupation Zone

This article focuses as a case study on Victor Klemperer’s diaristic representation of German-Jewish identity and culture after 1945 in the Soviet Occupation Zone and the GDR. The contribution shows how Klemperer’s professional and social situation remained very uncomfortable even in East Germany. For the diarist, the communist code ‘antifascist/fascist’, just like the code ‘German/un-German’ before it, was tantamount to concealing Jewish origin. His post-Holocaust journals provide an immediate insider’s view of Jewish life in Germany after the Holocaust from the perspective of a victim of active persecution. Against this backdrop, the contribution examines how the author’s original German nationalism gradually makes way, caught between contradictory impulses of assimilation and decreed Jewish identity, for a much more complex understanding of his own cultural identity. Klemperer’s diaries highlight a number of tensions that ultimately reflect on the disjunction between living and writing: The divide between a single and changing self lies at the heart of his diaries after 1945, which depict an astute, complex psychogram of the assimilated German-Jewish bourgeoisie that survived the Holocaust and tried to continue living in communist Germany.

Philip ii of Spain and His Italian Jewish Spy

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 318-342
Author(s):  
Flora Cassen
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Jewish Identity ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Information Networks ◽  
Intelligence Agency ◽  
Philip Ii ◽  
Secret Information ◽  
History Of ◽  
Jewish Families

A bitter conflict between the Spanish and Ottoman empires dominated the second half of the sixteenth century. In this early modern “global” conflict, intelligence played a key role. The Duchy of Milan, home to Simon Sacerdoti (c.1540-1600), a Jew, had fallen to Spain. The fate that usually awaited Jews living on Spanish lands was expulsion—and there were signs to suggest that King Philip ii (1527-1598) might travel down that road. Sacerdoti, the scion of one of Milan’s wealthiest and best-connected Jewish families had access to secret information through various contacts in Italy and North-Africa. Such intelligence was highly valuable to Spanish forces, and Philip ii was personally interested in it. However, this required Sacerdoti to serve an empire—Spain—with a long history of harming the Jews, and to spy on the Ottomans, widely considered as the Jews’ supporters at the time. This article offers a reflection on Simon Sacerdoti’s story. Examining how a Jew became part of the Spanish intelligence agency helps us understand how early modern secret information networks functioned and sheds new light on questions of Jewish identity in a time of uprootedness and competing loyalties.

Tobit's Religious Universe Between Kinship Loyalty and the Law of Moses

2005 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriele Faßbeck
Keyword(s):  
Family Life ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
Hellenistic Period ◽  
Religious Behavior ◽  
Jewish Family ◽  
Ancient Judaism ◽  
Family Loyalty ◽  
The Law ◽  
Strong Ideal ◽  
Family Centered

AbstractThe book of Tobit is among those Hellenistic period writings that convey a strong ideal of Jewish family life and family-centered religious practice. Tobit highly values family loyalty as a guideline for religious behavior, but establishes the Mosaic Law as the ultimate authority overruling requirements of family allegiance. In a world surrounded and threatened by Gentiles, the paterfamilias is responsible for redirecting the family's religious priorities to accord with the Law. Tobit displays close parallels with Jubilees in its use of the patriarchal stories to launch its pious message, which may help to situate the former within ancient Judaism.

scholarly journals Constructing cultural identity through weaving among Ri-Bhoi women weavers: a symbolic interactionist approach

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Maria Dias ◽  
Jennifer Paff Ogle ◽  
Sonali Diddi
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Symbolic Interaction ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Cultural Identities ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Research Directions ◽  
Interpretive Study ◽  
Field Notes ◽  
Future Research Directions

Abstract With this interpretive study, we sought to understand how weaving as an activity contributed to constructing women handloom weavers’ cultural identity in the region of Ri-Bhoi, a district in Meghalaya, India, by exploring weavers’ experiences through changing tides of modernization in the handloom industry of the region. We adopted a lens of symbolic interaction to consider the ways in which interactions within the Ri-Bhoi cultural context contributed to meanings about the women’s weaving activities and their cultural identities. An ethnographic approach was implemented using participant observation, field notes/journaling, and informal and formal interviews to collect relevant data. Analyses revealed four themes representing the value that Ri-Bhoi women weavers attached to various aspects of their weaving tradition, which in turn, supported their cultural identities: (a) maintaining the tradition of weaving through acquisition and exchange of knowledge, (b) securing social support from family and community, (c) maintaining the tradition of weaving through creation of textiles that symbolize tribe and culture, and (d) achieving a sense of fulfillment (i.e., joy, happiness, and pride). Further exploration revealed that the modernization of the Ri-Bhoi handloom industry increased engagement of women in weaving and their passion to preserve their tradition, which further strengthened their connection to weaving. Implications and future research directions are discussed.

The Question of Assimilation in French Jewish Historiography

2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-45
Author(s):  
Maurice Samuels
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Jewish Identity ◽  
Hannah Arendt ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Jewish Historiography ◽  
Late Nineteenth

Abstract This article examines one of the defining features of French Jewish historiography: the debate over assimilation. Beginning with Jewish nationalist historians in the late nineteenth century, French Jews were accused of having gladly renounced their Jewish identity to partake of the benefits of emancipation. Twentieth-century historians writing in the wake of Hannah Arendt offered a similar condemnation of the “politics of assimilation.” At the end of the twentieth century, however, historians began to question this consensus, suggesting that French Jews sought out distinct ways of maintaining their religious and cultural identity. Ultimately, this article argues that the debate reflects a conflict over ideological frameworks used to interpret Jewish modernity. Cet article examine le débat sur l'assimilation qui traverse l'historiographie du judaïsme français. Selon les historiens nationalistes juifs de la fin du dix-neuvième siècle, les juifs français auraient renoncé volontairement à leur identité juive afin de jouir des bienfaits de leur émancipation. Les historiens du vingtième siècle écrivant dans la lignée d'Hannah Arendt ont été également prompts à critiquer cette « politique de l'assimilation ». Pourtant, à la fin du vingtième siècle, certains historiens ont commencé à mettre en doute ce consensus, soulignant les divers moyens par lesquels les juifs auraient essayé de conserver leur identité religieuse et culturelle tout en devenant des citoyens français. En fin de compte, cet article suggère que c'est le cadre idéologique qui produit les différences d'opinion dans ce débat sur la modernité juive.

scholarly journals A Jewish Family in 19th Century Memoirs: New Russian Christians of Jewish Descent

2020 ◽  
pp. 107-121
Author(s):  
George Prokhorov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Jewish Community ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
19Th Century ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
Jewish Family ◽  
Orthodox Christian ◽  
Personal Virtue ◽  
Personal Experiences ◽  
Jewish Descent ◽  
Jewish Families

In the article, I juxtapose the memoirs written at the turn of 20th century by new Russian Christians of Jewish descent, Alexander Alexeev (Wulf Nakhlas) and Arkadii Kovner. At the heart of these texts are memories of childhood, youth and family. Concentrated around personal experiences of the Jewish past, the memoirs differ significantly in their tone. Alexander Alexeev, a devoted Christian and missionary, tailors his plot as a straight road towards the Orthodox Christian faith and Russia. Arkadii Kovner, a formal Christian and strong atheist, is making a claim for the Russian Jewish community as well as for himself as a Jew. Differently tuned, both narratives create a vision of the Jewish families as a world filled with deep sentiment and love. The Jewish families are a true cradle for personal virtue and intellectual growth, even for a Christian or ultra-progressive freethinker.

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