Jewish Philosophy

שני מושגי יסוד של הפילוסופיה של החינוך בכלל והחינוך היהודי בפרט,
"דליברציה" ו"תרגום", היו ועודם מכשירים חשובים להיתכנותו של חינוך
המקושר לסביבת הלומדים. כידוע, ואדון בכך להלן, קשה לחשוב על חינוך
בלעדיהם. ואולם, מושגים אלה הפכו, לעניות דעתי, במובנים מסוימים לחרב
פיפיות שמקעקעת את הקרקע אשר כל הפרויקט היהודי ניצב עליה. במאמר זה
אבחן אפוא את ההיגיון העומד מאחורי מושגים אלה ואת האתגר שהם מציבים
לחינוך היהודי.
להבהרת דברי אלה )בדבר הנפיצות של מושגי הדליברציה והתרגום( אטול
את סוגיית "נישואי תערובת" כשער לבירור עומק של הפילוסופיה של החינוך
היהודי בזמננו. נושא "נישואי תערובת" משמעותי בעיני, כיוון שאני מוצא בשיח
החינוכי והתיאולוגי־פילוסופי על אודותיו אלמנטים שיש בהם פירוק מובחן של
היתכנוּת וטעם להמשך קיומו של העם היהודי; והרי המשך קיומו של העם
היהודי כישות מובחנת היה בעבר מתכליות החינוך היהודי

Two foundational concepts in the philosophy of education more broadly—and in Jewish education in particular—namely “deliberation” and “translation,” have long served as indispensable tools for making education responsive to the learners’ environment. Indeed, as I will argue below, it is difficult to imagine education without them.
Yet these very concepts have, in my view, become in certain respects a double-edged sword, destabilizing the ground on which the entire Jewish educational project rests. This essay will therefore examine the inner logic of these notions and the challenges they now pose to Jewish education.

To illustrate what I mean by the volatility of deliberation and translation, I turn to the issue of intermarriage as a lens through which to probe some of the deepest questions in contemporary Jewish educational philosophy. The discourse—both educational and theological-philosophical—surrounding intermarriage, I contend, reveals elements that actively deconstruct the very possibility and rationale of the Jewish people’s continued existence. And yet, preserving the Jewish people as a distinct collective identity was, historically, one of the primary aims of Jewish education.

This article reevaluates how Rabbi Elijah Benamozegh used Arabic in Em LaMikra ('אם למקרא')‬ addressing a lacuna in scholarship that has favored his Western-language works. Against claims of inadequate proficiency, it argues that Benamozegh possessed sufficient command (sometimes including dialectal forms) to employ Arabic as a precise exegetical tool. Based on a comprehensive census of all Arabic occurrences in Em LaMikra, the study shows a consistent method: philological comparison with Arabic, corroborated by rabbinic and modern authorities, that often serves as a springboard to theological interpretation. Situated in Livorno's multilingual milieu, Benamozegh's practice uses Arabic not merely for comparison but as a hermeneutic instrument bridging traditional exegesis and modern biblical philology.

This wonderful rare book of old that is extremely uncommon & obscure of its kind which was written in the age of revolutions and rumors of supernatural interventions, the book dares to confront the most urgent question of its day and ours: what forces act upon the human mind and body, beyond the reach of ordinary reason? Dr. John Fell engages the theories of Hugh Farmer and other rationalizing interpreters, who sought to reduce demoniacal possession to the language of medicine and imagination. Against this, he stages a panoramic defense of the ancient testimony: the gods of the heathen, the demons of Homer and Plato, the spirits of the Gospel narratives, and the angelic powers that hover over Scripture. His chapters sweep from the oracles of Greece to the courts of Solomon, from the tumults of early Christian exorcisms to the battlegrounds of 18th-century theology. The work’s contribution reaches far beyond demonology. It opens pathways into comparative religion, anthropology, psychology, and even political history—where rumors of spectral armies and supernatural portents still haunted the age of American independence. To read Dæmoniacs is to enter a liminal zone where medicine, philosophy, and theology all struggle to define the invisible; where a convulsion might be an epileptic fit or an invading spirit; where the language of possession doubles as commentary on liberty, agency, and human frailty. In its pages, the reader encounters not only the shadowed corridors of ancient belief but also reflections of our own persistent questions: What unseen currents move history? Are we merely biological systems, or vessels open to forces greater than ourselves? Fell’s book does not merely answer; it compels us to keep asking. 🔑CONTENTS RETYPED + SHORT SUMMARIES INCLIDED FOR EACH CHAPTER 🔑 ⚫️Chap. I — The Judgment of the Heathens concerning their own Gods (vii–xvi) Fell summarizes how pagan cultures described daimones, semi-divine attendants, and localized divinities; he reads those judgments sympathetically but distinguishes popular cultic language from the fuller moral-theological claims of Scripture. The chapter establishes terminological boundaries: what ancients call a “god” or “spirit” is not always the same referent as the biblical “unclean spirit.” 🔴Compared (ancient): Classical authors (Homer, Plato, later Hellenistic writers) use a broad semantic range for daimones — from minor tutelary spirits to morally ambiguous intermediaries — which Fell uses to show the ambiguity in pagan testimony. Compared (1770s): Enlightened antiquarian scholarship in Britain increasingly applied philology to religious vocabulary, allowing Fell to appeal to both classical learning and Protestant hermeneutics. (Cambridge Assets) ⚫️Chap. II — The Testimony of Scripture concerning Heathen Gods (1–33) Fell reads Old and New Testament passages that reference pagan gods and shows how Scripture often treats such “gods” as either false idols or as lower spiritual beings permitted by providence. He emphasizes the biblical polemical stance — pagan divinities as misapplied spiritual realities. 🔴Compared (ancient / patristic): Patristic interpreters likewise read pagan gods as demons or as angels fallen into error; Fell’s treatment follows a long Christian interpretive tradition while adding eighteenth-century philological sensitivity. (Cambridge Assets) ⚫️Chap. III — Heathen Demons and the Greeks’ Application of the Term (34–80) This chapter gives a close survey of Greek uses of δαίμων (daimon) and associated words, distinguishing philosophical (Platonic/Stoic) usages from popular religious ones. Fell stresses that classical nuance requires care when equating Greek daimones with the New Testament’s “unclean spirits.” 🔴Compared (ancient): Platonic daimones often mediate between gods and humans (neutral/ambivalent), while folk religion casts them in more capricious or malevolent roles — a complexity Fell exploits to show that pagan language does not straightforwardly neutralize the biblical claims. (Cambridge Assets) ⚫️Chap. IV — Demons mentioned in the Gospel; application by the sacred penmen (81–120) Fell examines Gospel narratives (e.g., the Gadarene demoniac, exorcisms) and highlights features that he argues indicate an agency beyond ordinary disease (coordinated resistance to Christ’s authority, supernatural knowledge, violent physical manifestations). He argues the evangelists deploy “demon” language with ontological force, not mere metaphor. 🔴Compared (scholarly): This close reading invites dialogue with later rationalizing interpreters (like Farmer) and with medical-naturalist accounts; Fell shows why the narrative texture resists purely medical explanations. (Internet Archive) ⚫️Chap. V — Arguments alleged against the Scripture doctrine examined and shown inconclusive (120–166) Fell systematically takes up the main skeptical or naturalistic objections (that demoniacs were epileptics, melancholics, or hysterics) and argues that they do not account for all Gospel data — especially phenomena implying supernatural cognition and power. He treats objection and answer in measured analytic steps. 🔴Compared (contemporary debates): During the later eighteenth century there was growing medical interest in neurology and “madness,” producing naturalistic readings of possession; Fell engages that trend while insisting that the scriptural corpus preserves instances that outstrip such reduction. (JSTOR) ⚫️Chap. VI — On Mr. Farmer’s principles denying agency of superior Beings within the human system (167–242) Fell addresses directly the hypotheses advanced by Rev. Hugh Farmer (who argued in the 1770s that many Gospel “possessions” could be explained by natural disease and cautioned against literal demonic agency). Fell carefully reconstructs Farmer’s position and then argues that — while Farmer’s medical-psychological readings illuminate some cases — they are either inapplicable to the more extraordinary Gospel reports or they contradict particular scriptural claims. 🔴Compared (Farmer & debates): Farmer’s Essay on the Demoniacs of the New Testament (1775) is the principal modern interlocutor: he tends to naturalize possession in many instances. Fell’s rebuttal is representative of conservative theological responses that balanced enlightenment medical insight with confessional commitments. (Internet Archive) ⚫️Chap. VII — The Scripture doctrine of Good and Evil Angels and their Agency (243–278) Fell offers a concise theology of angelic and demonic agency: angels as God’s messengers and demons as degraded spiritual agents with limited, permitted influence on human affairs. He outlines moral and pastoral consequences (how belief in such beings shapes prayer, pastoral care, and ecclesial responses). 🔴Compared (theological tradition): This chapter follows patristic and scholastic frameworks while being framed by eighteenth-century worries about superstition — Fell aims to affirm spiritual realities without lapsing into credulous sensationalism. (Cambridge Assets) ⚫️Chap. VIII — The Scripture account of dæmoniacal possessions; cases and causes recently assigned for such disorders (278–313) Here Fell surveys case-like narratives and contemporary explanations (medical, natural philosophical), assessing competing etiologies. He acknowledges that many “possession” stories in popular culture conflate moral, religious, and medical language, but insists on discriminating genuine scriptural cases from later folkloric accretions. 🔴Compared (cultural): The chapter reflects a broader eighteenth-century tendency to classify and separate “natural” from “supernatural” explanations — a taxonomy driven by both scientific curiosity and theological caution. (NCBI) ⚫️Chap. IX — Scripture doctrine shown consistent with appearances in the natural and moral worlds (313–340) Fell argues that the scriptural depiction of demoniacal agency coheres with observed phenomena in nature and human societies (e.g., sudden mass panics, obsessive cultic behaviors) and with moral readings of providence and temptation. He frames demonic activity as intelligible within a theistic universe that permits moral agency beyond the purely physical. 🔴Compared (anthropological/historical): Fell’s move is similar to earlier moral-philosophical readings of the demonological tradition that connect individual affliction with larger social or moral patterns — a classical and medieval strand revived in the eighteenth century. (The British Academy) ⚫️Chap. X — That the sacred penmen not only assert but produce facts to prove reality of dæmoniacal possessions (340–376) Fell emphasizes that evangelists marshal empirical signs (healing, exorcism, testimony) to demonstrate real agency — not mere rhetorical invention. He catalogs facts: public exorcisms, witnesses, theological implications — concluding that Scripture intends historical claims which carried persuasive force for early readers. 🔴Compared (historiography): The insistence on “facts” mirrors Enlightenment evidentialism applied to religious history: theologians wanted to argue that biblical miracles and exorcisms were not merely mythic but carried documentary weight. (Google Books) ⚫️Conclusion — Summary view and injurious consequences (377–399) Fell closes by summarizing the risks of two extremes: (1) reducing all alleged possessions to disease (thereby impoverishing Christian doctrine of spiritual warfare) and (2) credulous credence in every popular marvel (which can foster superstition). He recommends a calibrated, historically informed faith that takes Scripture seriously about supernatural agency while avoiding crude sensationalism. 🔴 Compared (contextual): This balanced conclusion reflects broader eighteenth-century Anglican strategies: to protect doctrine from radical skepticism while resisting uncritical acceptance of popular marvels. (The British Academy) 🔑 TAGS 🔑 - This makes the book findable for readers searching across themes, disciplines, ...

מאמר זה מציג את פירוש רבינו סעדיה גאון (רס"ג) לעניין התשובה ביום הכיפורים, מתוך פירושו המקיף לתורה. הרס"ג מפרט שבעה היבטים של התשובה: ארבעה יסודות הכרחיים - עזיבת החטא, חרטה, בקשת מחילה, והתחייבות שלא לשוב לחטוא; ושלושה היבטים נלווים - הגברת תפילה ומעשים טובים, והדרכת אחרים לתשובה.

בנוסף, הרס"ג מונה שמונה טעמים לקשר בין הצום לתשובה, ביניהם: חיזוק החרטה, מקבילות לחטא הראשון שהיה באכילה, שבירת התאוות, התעלות לדרגת מלאכים, כמיהה לעולם הבא, זכירת תוצאות החטא, השגת קדושה מיוחדת, והקרבת שומן ודם האדם עצמו במקום קרבנות בהמה.

גישתו של רס"ג השפיעה על הוגים יהודיים מאוחרים יותר, כולל הרמב"ם, אף שחלק מהיבטיה נדונו בביקורתיות על ידי רב שמואל בן חפני גאון.

My chapter on Shmuel Hugo Bergmann's career as a librarian (in Prague and in Jerusalem), from the monograph, "Shmuel Hugo Bergmann: A Life Between Prague and Jerusalem", edited by Olaf Glockner, Boaz Huss and Marcela Zoufala, (De Gruyter, Berlin/Boston 2024), based upon lectures given at  conference in Prague, Nov. 2021.

Gavriel Bechhofer, Y. (2025). Building communities. A history of the eruv in America: by Adam Mintz, Boston: Academic Studies Press, 2023, 187pp., $26.95, ISBN 9798887190853. Journal of Modern Jewish Studies, 24(2), 638–640. https://doi.org/10.1080/14725886.2025.2468231

El papel de la filosofía del converso Alonso de Cartagena (1385-1456) en el pensamiento ético y político hispánico del siglo XV es doble: por una parte, Cartagena participa activamente en la tarea de darle forma a tópicos y argumentos que alimentarán posteriormente el universo mental de la contrarreforma y las preocupaciones del barroco, mediante la transmutación alquímica en catolicismo del humanismo ciceroniano, el aristotelismo medieval y la herencia filosófica sefardita mantenida en los hábitos intelectuales del converso. Al mismo tiempo, y, por otra parte, la obra de Cartagena es un lugar privilegiado del encuentro de esas tradiciones y de la contradicción que se generó en la vida social de la Península entre los siglos XIV y XV por la conversión no solo de los individuos y las familias judías, sino también por la conversión en general de la cultura de Sefarad en un cristianismo católico que al mismo tiempo que la absorbía, la expulsaba. En este sentido la confrontación del pensamiento sefardita de Maimónides con el pensamiento del converso Alonso de Cartagena se convierte en un recurso hermenéutico útil para poner de relieve las particularidades de una filosofía moral conversa que no se limita a ser una mera recuperación literal de la antigua sabiduría latina o griega, ni tampoco es una mera repetición de los desarrollos conceptuales de la teología escolástica latina identificable en sus fuentes más destacadas, como Agustín de Hipona o Tomás de Aquino. La creatividad de un converso como Alonso de Cartagena tiene que ver justamente con la forma como las prácticas de estudio, los procedimientos hermenéuticos, las preguntas heredadas y el conocimiento de la lengua hebrea y su universo semántico se cuelan por entre los resquicios del discurso cristiano del converso deseoso tanto de ser reconocido y avalado como de ser convincente, no solo a oídos de las autoridades de la cristiandad ya establecida sino también y sobre todo a los oídos del corazón converso educado en su infancia en el hogar judío y en la proximidad de la sinagoga.

In a pioneering study of the intellectual journey of Moses ben Shemtov de León of Guadalajara—self-proclaimed “Light of the West” and presumed writer of the Zohar —Avishai Bar-Asher and Jeremy Phillip Brown reach bold new conclusions about the kabbalah’s development in medieval Castile. Through rigorous examinations of fragmentary writings preserved only in Hebrew manuscripts, the authors analyze de León’s regimens of pious living, discourse on gender, understanding of the Hebrew language, and signature thirteenfold speculation, revealing critical insights into the course of the elusive thinker’s career. Additionally, Bar-Asher and Brown correlate the large body of de León’s Hebrew writings with the canonical Zohar, charting the parallel paths of their growth. They disclose, with unprecedented clarity, the reciprocally interreferential character of the twin corpora at the heart of Castilian kabbalah. Through the exploration of a variety of texts, themes, and contexts that inform the nature and impact of de León’s astonishing creativity, Light is Sown opens extraordinary access to the intellectual and religious history of the Zohar and its worlds. The contexts examined include Alfonsine Castile, where the formulation of ostensibly ancient linguistic theories went hand-in-hand with political and cultural annexation, and Renaissance Italy, where Christian apologists contributed to the preservation of Kabbalistic writings that would be otherwise lost to history. The key discoveries and thematic analyses presented in Light is Sown offer an innovative, historical profile of one of the most glorious achievements of Jewish thought.

In a pioneering study of the intellectual journey of Moses ben Shemtov de León of Guadalajara—self-proclaimed “Light of the West” and presumed writer of the Zohar —Avishai Bar-Asher and Jeremy Phillip Brown reach bold new conclusions about the kab- balah’s development in medieval Castile. Through rigorous examinations of fragmentary writings preserved only in Hebrew manuscripts, the authors analyze de León’s regimens of pious living, discourse on gender, understanding of the Hebrew language, and signature thirteenfold speculation, revealing critical insights into the course of the elusive thinker’s career. Additionally, Bar-Asher and Brown correlate the large body of de León’s Hebrew writings with the canonical Zohar, charting the parallel paths of their growth. They disclose, with unprecedented clarity, the reciprocally interreferential character of the twin corpora at the heart of Castilian kabbalah.

Through the exploration of a variety of texts, themes, and contexts that inform the nature and impact of de León’s astonishing creativity, Light is Sown opens extraordinary access to the intellectual and religious history of the Zohar and its worlds. The contexts examined include Alfonsine Castile, where the formulation of ostensibly ancient linguistic theories went hand-in-hand with political and cultural annexation, and Renaissance Italy—where Christian apologists contributed to the preservation of kabbalistic writings that would be otherwise lost to history. The key discoveries and thematic analyses presented in Light is Sown offer an innovative, historical profile of one of the most glorious achievements of Jewish thought.

This paper proposes a non-semiotic, operatorial reading of the “sign” given to Cain in Genesis 4, interpreting the Masoretic system of vocalization and cantillation not as mere decorative devices, but as a dynamic topology of accessibility. These signs are reconfigured as threshold-acts that regulate when, what, and to whom the utterance becomes accessible. The model introduces a philosophical framework grounded in the Possest–PQF approach, in which speech acts are understood as modulations of listening-time and the dynamic orchestration of entry points. The result is a novel theory of language, beyond representation, grounded in the very architecture of hearing.

המאמר בוחן את הקיטוב הפוליטי כתופעה תפקודית: מעבר מתחרות הוגנת אל כוחנות המוצדקת בשם תפיסת צדק. נטען כי הקיטוב ניזון מבעיית מקרי הקצה ומהפיתוי להצדיק חריגה מנורמות מוסכמות. כנגד זאת מוצע רגש האחווה כיסוד רגשי חיוני לשימור חברה דמוקרטית־פלורליסטית, המאפשר ניהול מחלוקות נוקב אך מתון, מבלי להידרדר לאלימות או פירוק המסגרת המשותפת.

La présente monographie a été à l'origine une thèse d'habilitation présentée en 2022 à la Faculté de théologie catholique de l'Université Eberhard Karl de Tübingen. Dans sa version imprimée, elle n'a été que légèrement modifiée. Le titre de l'ouvrage, « Le droit inversé contre la Torah. Sur la signification théologique de la thématique de la loi dans le livre hébreu d'Esther », s'inspire de l'article d'Abraham Winitzer, « Le renversement du destin dans le livre d'Esther » 1 , qui a analysé la structure du livre d'Esther fondée sur une série d'inversions. Cette étude analyse le thème de la loi dans le livre hébreu d'Esther, qui, comme on le sait, ne mentionne pas le nom de Dieu. En effet, le nom « YHWH », souvent traduit par « Seigneur, Lord, Herr », dans les versions françaises, anglaises et allemandes, n'apparaît pas dans le livre biblique d'Esther. Ce livre est unique, en ce sens qu'il ne mentionne pas explicitement Dieu et qu'il n'utilise aucune référence au nom divin tout au long de son récit. Au lieu de cela le livre d'Esther se concentre sur l'histoire du peuple juif placée dans la perspective de l'Empire perse et met l'accent sur les thèmes de la providence, de la résistance à l'oppression et de la survie à la tentative d'extermination du peuple juif. Si la présence de Dieu est implicite dans le déroulement des événements et les actions des personnages, le nom divin est notablement absent du texte. De même, le terme « Torah » en tant que loi juive n'apparaît pas dans le livre d'Esther. Le livre est avant tout un récit centré sur l'histoire d'Esther, une belle jeune femme juive qui a gagné le concours royal pour devenir la nouvelle reine de Perse. Face au danger mortel pour les Juifs faussement accusés de ne pas respecter les décrets royaux, le livre décrit ses efforts pour sauver son peuple de l'anéantissement. Si les thèmes de l'identité juive, de l'importance de la loi et des coutumes juives font partie intégrante du récit, le livre d'Esther est unique parmi les livres bibliques par son style séculier et l'absence de références religieuses explicites. L'étude se concentre sur le texte massorétique (TM). La Septante ajoute 93 versets aux 167 versets du texte hébreu. Ces additions du livre d'Esther grec ont pour but de rendre plus religieux ce livre qui ne parle jamais de Dieu. En effet, au coeur du récit du livre d'Esther se trouve le reproche selon lequel le peuple, auquel appartiennent Mardochée et sa nièce Esther, aurait ses propres lois et ne respecterait pas les lois du roi perse. L'auteur offre une étude sur la thématique des lois du livre d'Esther et s'interroge sur leurs significations théologiques, en dépit du fait que ni le terme de « Torah » ni celui de « Dieu » ne sont explicitement mentionnés dans le texte hébreu. Elle tente de démontrer que le livre d'Esther fait

** This document includes the abstract, table of contents, and introduction of my PhD dissertation (University of Chicago, 2025). Please contact me if you would like access to the full dissertation. **

This dissertation investigates the early work of the Kabbalist Joseph Giqatilla, active in thirteenth- century Castile. Titled Ginnat Egoz (Garden of the Nut), this work offers a theological reflection on Hebrew as divine language and develops a systematic cosmology grounded in its phonetic structure. Language has played a decisive role throughout Jewish intellectual history, premised on the theological principle that the world was created by divine linguistic act, with Hebrew as its medium. In early Kabbalistic literature, this cosmogenic principle gave rise to sustained yet varied reflection on Hebrew’s nature and the generative function of its linguistic structures.

A recurring question about language’s fundamental nature concerns the locus of linguistic creativity: is the power of speech grounded in semantic meaning, or in a more primary activity that precedes semantic differentiation? This question is central to Ginnat Egoz, where Hebrew language structure—especially the vowel system—becomes the basis for conceptualizing cosmic emergence and organization. The title —Voice, Motion, World—reflects a central claim of Giqatilla’s Ginnat Egoz: that phonetic motion (tenuʿah) is not merely a linguistic feature but the generative principle linking divine speech to cosmic structure—operating as both vocalization’s dynamic activity and the ontological ground of cosmological motion.

Giqatilla develops a method centered on distinguishing two dimensions of Hebrew: semantic signification and phonetic motion. He privileges phonetic motion as God’s proper speech, treating the Hebrew vowel (tenuʿah, “motion”) as the starting point for constructing a cosmological system. This yields a threefold linguistic model based on distinguishing vowel-points, vowel-letters, and consonants. Through this framework, Giqatilla develops his concept of the “pre-essential act”—pure movement devoid of essential determining properties—derived from his analysis of the vowels. This principle is conceptualized through a transformation of key themes in medieval Jewish thought, including the principle of cosmic emanation and the relationship between divine Will and Intellect. Within this context, the Tetragrammaton, identified with the principle of existence itself, serves as the constructive ground that enables both linguistic activity and cosmic structure.

Methodologically, this dissertation reconstructs the conceptual frameworks that organize Ginnat Egoz’s cosmology by tracing their origins across multiple intellectual traditions. It then examines how Giqatilla’s conception of linguistic motion transforms these inherited frameworks into a unified theological account of creation. This approach overcomes the scholarly tendency to separate Kabbalah and philosophy in Giqatilla’s work, treating his linguistic theory and cosmology as integrated enterprises. The study shows how Giqatilla’s constructive thinking reframes his era’s philosophical concepts—including Aristotelianism and Judeo-Arabic Neoplatonism—to ground cosmology in the ontological priority of the Hebrew language.

The understanding that Jews engaged with a full sweep of Islamic sciences was arguably one of the earliest insights of modern Jewish historiography; indeed, medieval Jews were sometimes explicit about turning to non-Jewish sources. But scholarship has traditionally highlighted Jewish engagement with the larger world in fields other than law, such as poetry, theology, and linguistics. Building on the work of others, After Revelation recognizes that medieval Jews and Muslims structured their traditions in similar ways.
https://www.ancientjewreview.com/read/2025/9/15/publication-preview-the-rabbinic-past-in-the-medieval-islamic-world

El estudio de la memoria ha sido de mayor interés académico en las últimas décadas y el objetivo de distintas manifestaciones artísticas y literarias. En la realidad latinoamericana actual, la necesidad de debatir el tema de la memoria y el olvido frente a los horrores del pasado cercano llevó a reexaminar su importancia en el desarrollo personal y colectivo. Esta colección original de ensayos ofrece reflexionar sobre el papel de la memoria en la (re)construcción de las identidades latinoamericanas a través de la experiencia judía. De acuerdo al judaísmo, el mandato de recordar está estrechamente relacionado con el relato del pasado como si fuera una experiencia vivida personalmente. La memoria colectiva judía se relaciona con las historias de persecución, el exilio, las constantes migraciones, la marginalidad y la catástrofe. Ariana Huberman y Alejandro Meter plantean en este volumen reexaminar esas historias por medio de un nuevo ángulo al discutir los significados de la experienc...

The anonymous writer of a Judeo-Arabic letter from the Geniza (TS 8 J 15.8) informed his teacher of an error in his Shabbat sermon. The rabbi had noted that Rabbi Akiba had been a sinner in his youth and cited as proof the testimony of R. Yoanan b. Nuri “in [Bava] Metsia” that after he had complained about his wrongdoings to R. Gamliel berabbi, Akiba b. Joseph was flogged. The statement is from B.M. in Alfasi’s compendium rather than the Babylonian Talmud there. The disciple mistakenly understood berabbi to mean “the son of Rabbi [Judah ha-Nasi].” From the chronology of the sages he had learned from his teacher’s lectures on the Commentary to the Mishna, the disciple concluded that Rabbi Akiba was dead before Judah ha-Nasi’s time and proposed that a different Akiba b. Joseph was intended. I suggest that the teacher was Maimonides. Curiously, the texts of his Commentary to the Mishna and Mishne Tora contain later additions to the list of Judah ha-Nasi’s ancestors.

In this chapter I'm mapping Celan's use of temporal terms, or the way he uses them in order to characterize the disaster that is Jerusalem. "I knew that Jerusalem would be a turn [Wende], a cut [Zäsure] in my life," he wrote in October 1961. At the same time, he pleaded his readers to avoid seeing the "caesura" in autobiographical, spatial, or nationalist terms. As his poems "Also Now" and "You be like you" demonstrate, Jerusalem is seen not in space but in time, not in affirmative but critical terms. It is revealed to be "a hole in time," a "breath turn."

This paper traces the Ḥasidic reception of the concluding chapters of Maimonides’ Guide of the Perplexed. It shows how Ḥasidic masters expressed particular enthusiasm for these Sufi-infused chapters and developed distinctive practices of prayer inspired by their teaching on devekut (cleaving to God). The paper also examines recent Ḥasidic scholarship that regards Islamic Sufis as preserving the original devotional practices of the biblical prophets.

The use of straw distinctions between almost identical halakhic situations to lead to a more desirable outcome than a strict reading of the law would yield was not unknown to the ancients. This essay discusses and analyzes a passage from the Yerushalmi that gathers together several examples.

The question of wo/man-God reconciliation after the irrevocable event of the Holocaust is central in this paper, whose core lies in Emil Fackenheim's interpretation of Auschwitz as the trigger for a twofold crisis-of Hegel's philosophy of history and of the biblical God of history-and in his hermeneutics of historical situatedness, which addresses 'epoch-making events' through the reenactment of 'root experiences', to finally deal with his plea for a Jewish faith after Auschwitz, that takes shape in Fackenheim's formulation of the 614th Commandment and in his notion of Tikkun Olam as 'mending the world'.

In this study, we compare Israeli and American Jewish religious beliefs utilizing identical surveys that were conducted among representative samples of both American and Israeli Jews in April and May 2023. We examine how the two groups relate to the core Jewish beliefs in God, the ideas of the Election of Israel, the afterlife, and the advent of the Messiah. The results show that American Judaism is mostly nonexclusive; more than 70% of the sample identified themselves as "spiritual but not religious" or as adherents of Judaism, but perceive Judaism as "not the only true religion." In Israel, on the contrary, the majority confirmed their particularistic views of Judaism as their national religion, with roughly half of the respondents saying that Judaism is the ultimate, true religion. In addition, in almost all of the questions that we asked, there was approximately a 10-15% difference between the two samples; Israelis generally exhibited warmer views toward traditional Jewish beliefs. There are also many similarities between the two groups. Both groups believe in a higher power in similarly high numbers, at around 90%. A majority of both samples agree with the idea that Jews are the Chosen People and that Israel is the Promised Land. Both groups exhibit a surprising age difference in beliefs in the afterlife, with the youngest members affirming them in higher numbers than the older generations.

This paper investigates the intersection of eschatological rhetoric and genocidal violence in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. It traces how biblical motifs, from the apocalyptic war of Gog and Magog to the figure of Amalek, have been mobilized by Israeli political and religious leaders to sacralize war and legitimize collective punishment. Drawing on examples from Lebanon in 1982, to the wars on Gaza in 2008 and 2009, 2014, and 2023 to 2025, it shows how concepts once confined to theological speculation have entered state discourse, transforming military campaigns into redemptive wars framed as divine missions. The analysis highlights processes of dehumanization, incitement to genocide, and the appropriation of messianic narratives by both Israeli and Palestinian actors. It further considers internal dissent within Israel and the role of international law in identifying genocidal intent. Ultimately, the study warns that the theological use of violence risks becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy, turning apocalyptic visions of destruction into historical reality.

In the 1920s and 1930s, a fundamental controversy took place regarding the proper method for studying Jewish law. Some scholars of Jewish law believed that the appropriate approach was the comparative one—that is, comparing Jewish law to other legal systems, primarily Roman law, and pointing out the connections between different legal traditions. The basic idea underlying this approach was that Jewish law could not be revived and adapted to the needs of the modern era without being examined against the background of other legal systems that had themselves been adjusted over time to meet similar needs.
Opposing this view were several other scholars of Jewish law who, unsurprisingly, were religious individuals and even rabbis. In their opinion, the very attempt to make a substantive comparison between Jewish law and other legal systems had to be rejected outright. As Rabbi Herzog put it: “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so is the divine Torah, given from Heaven, exalted above any system of legal thought that is the product of human reasoning and spirit.” At most, they argued, comparisons could be drawn only insofar as they clarified the institutions of Jewish law for the modern jurist, using the human legal language familiar to him.
The article surveys the opinions voiced in this debate and the motivations underlying them. Special emphasis is placed on examining the controversy surrounding Asher Gulak’s book Yesodei Ha-Mishpat Ha-Ivri (Foundations of Jewish Law), which attempted to present a unique comparative approach between Jewish law and Roman law and was criticized by both opposing camps. In a lengthy appendix, the article considers the distinctive position of Rabbi David Cohen (“the Nazir”) and his teacher Aryeh Karlin, who maintained that the study of Roman law should be incorporated into the beit midrash (house of study) and employed as a tool that could assist in understanding Talmudic law.

A study of the Meshekh Chokhmah on Devarim 28:61. In which Rav Meir Simchah haKohein of Dvinsk explains that the primary value of Torah study is to teach it to others. That this has halachic impact, and is why preparation for mitzvos like building a Sukkah are cause to pause Torah study, but going to teach Torah outranks even the mitzvah of Sukkah itself.

Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht die „Elemente des Antisemitismus“ von Horkheimer und Adorno im Spannungsfeld von Psychoanalyse und Gesellschaftstheorie. Ziel ist es zu zeigen, wie die Autoren psychoanalytische Kategorien Freuds – insbesondere Mimesis, Projektion und Triebtheorie – in eine umfassende Zivilisationskritik integrieren. Im Zentrum steht die These, dass Antisemitismus kein äußerliches Relikt oder bloßes ökonomisches Phänomen ist, sondern ein immanenter Bestandteil der Moderne, die ihre eigenen Widersprüche nicht reflektieren kann. Die Analyse folgt drei Strängen: (1) der Verknüpfung von Antisemitismus mit Faschismus, Liberalismus und kapitalistischer Moderne, (2) den religiösen Traditionslinien, die in säkularisierter Form fortwirken, und (3) den psychoanalytischen Deutungsmustern von Idiosynkrasie, Mimesis und Projektion. Damit wird gezeigt, dass Antisemitismus sowohl Ausdruck verdrängter Triebregungen als auch gesellschaftlicher Pathologien ist. Die Arbeit argumentiert, dass Horkheimer und Adorno im Rückgriff auf Freud eine Theorie „zwischen Trieb und Totalität“ entwickeln, die bis heute für das Verständnis antisemitischer Ressentiments und kollektiver Gewalt von Relevanz bleibt.

This essay discusses the complex interplay between Jewish identity and the intellectual contribution of Sigmund Freud. It explores his unique relationship with Judaism, focusing on his views on circumcision and its sociocultural implications for understanding anti-Semitism, as well as his critical engagement with religious dogma and mysticism through the lens of psychoanalysis, particularly as expressed in his final work Moses and Monotheism. The second part of this article explores Freud’s Moses and Monotheism as a psychoanalytic attempt to address the historical roots of anti-Semitism by examining Jewish identity and religious belief through a therapeutic lens.

What sort of book is a philosophical investigation into the meaning of the night? It can only be a paradox, or better still, a riddle. While there are indeed night books, the book itself is fundamentally a day object. Bound in language and constrained by concepts, books and their readers demand an intelligibility that can be subjected to the logic of artifice, the logic of day. If the night, and night-thinking, are to be grasped in language, it must be of a different kind, that of the mythical narrative, the eikos mythos. Art, religion, and imaginative story are the oblique paths that lead us into the night. A path is an established connection between one place and another. It always leads to a destination. But if we fix our eyes on the destination, we have abandoned the kind of thinking necessary for the night; to see that far, our eyes must be adjusted to day. As wanderers in the night, we might focus on the path itself, forgetting our point of origin and ignoring our destination. In order to be properly adjusted to our ambitions, writing, the use of language that is always subjected to reasons, must break off before a destination comes into view. Hence our mythical stories will have to be told as fragments.
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