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A major new history of the century-long debate over what a Jewish state should be Many Zionists who advocated the creation of a Jewish state envisioned a nation like any other. Yet for Israel's founders, the state that emerged against all odds in 1948 was anything but ordinary. Born from the ashes of genocide and a long history of suffering, Israel was conceived to be unique, a model society and the heart of a prosperous new Middle East. It is this paradox, says historian Michael Brenner--the Jewish people's wish for a homeland both normal and exceptional—that shapes Israel's ongoing struggle to define itself and secure a place among nations. In Search of Israel is a major new history of t...
"The available sources on Hasidic society at the turn of the twentieth century create an impression of discontented Jewish youth and panicked parents, but not inexorable crisis and decline. Though the First World War and post-war pogroms further destabilized Hasidic society, they inadvertently created opportunities for the reinvention and revitalization of traditionalist education. The challenges of the early twentieth century would prove more galvanizing than demoralizing for certain visionary, reform-minded Hasidic leaders"--
This book is the first extensive study of the categories Hebrew speakers in Israel use for their classification of linguistic variation. It is commonly assumed that Modern Hebrew has no dialects in the traditional sense, despite considerable variation in everyday language use. Its particular sociolinguistic context makes Israel an interesting case to reassess cognitive sociolinguistic theory. This empirical study relies on interviews and experimental data from fieldwork to analyze cognitive processes that shape representations of social groups and linguistic phenomena. It is an original application of Grounded Theory Methodology and introduces the novel method group elicitation and rating task (GERT).
Visualizing and Exhibiting Jewish Space and History includes a series of essays in its symposium section that treat the dramatic development of the visual arts in Jewish life from the beginning of the 20th century, focusing on the proliferation of Jewish museums after the Holocaust.
Everyday Zionism examines Zionist activism in East-Central Europe during the years of war, occupation, revolution, the collapse of empires, and the formation of nation states in the years 1914 to 1920. Against the backdrop of the Great War—its brutal aftermath and consequent violence—the day-to-day encounters between Zionist activists and the Jewish communities in the region gave the movement credibility, allowed it to win support and to establish itself as a leading force in Jewish political and social life for decades to come. Through activists' efforts, Zionism came to mean something new: Rather than being concerned with debates over Jewish nationhood and pioneering efforts in Palesti...
"In this book, Daniel Mahla examines how nationalizing processes in East and Central Europe and Palestine reshaped observant Jewry into two distinct socio-cultural milieus, ultra-Orthodoxy and national-religious Judaism. Analyzing the intra-religious struggles that lead to the emergence of these two societies, which came to fruition soon after the creation of the State of Israel, he investigates the dynamics between them, one staunchly opposed and one highly supportive of Zionism. Mahla shows how religio-political entrepreneurs translated religious norms and values into collective action in order to mobilize traditionalist Jewry, thereby delineating and advancing socio-cultural divisions, and eventually fashioning two distinct Orthodoxies. His book contributes to our understanding of how Judaism transitioned into the modern age"--
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