Forum: Feminism in German Studies

From Professor Wallach\u27s contribution entitled Jews and Gender : To consider Jews and gender within German Studies is to explore the evolution of German‐Jewish Studies with respect to feminist and gender studies. At times this involves looking beyond German Studies to other scholarship in Jewish gender studies, an interdisciplinary subfield in its own right. Over the past few decades, the focus on gender within German‐Jewish Studies has experienced several shifts in line with broader trends: an initial focus on the history of Jewish women and feminist movements gradually expanded to encompass the study of gender identity, masculinity, and sexuality. Historical and literary scholarly approaches now operate alongside and in dialogue with interdisciplinary scholarship in cultural studies, film and visual studies, performance studies, and other fields. [excerpt

Jewish Studies: Are They Ethnic?

The history of Jewish studies has not yet been written. Scholars engaged in this field, however, are beginning to subject it to searching analysis. Pertinent articles have appeared that offer two extreme positions on the development of Jewish studies: one sees the increase in Jewish studies as the result of heightened Jewish self-awareness during the late 1960s because of the Six Day War, growing interest in the Holocaust, and the influence of rising black and ethnic consciousnesses that resulted in the establishment of academic programs. The other, usually a reaction to the first view, argues that the study of Hebraica and Judaica has held an ancient and honorable place in the traditional university curriculum

[Review of] Jeffrey Rubin-Dorsky and Shelley Fisher Fishkin. People of the Book: Holstein Thirty Scholars Reflect on their Jewish Identity

People of the Book is an important contribution to ethnic studies and identity politics. It is a dense and reflective collection of essays which defines Judaism in personal and scholarly contexts. As one of the contributors, Nancy Miller, says: It\u27s not easy to write about being Jewish (168). The editors divide the essays into four parts. After the introductory essay, Part 2, Transformations, examines how the authors\u27 activism grows out of their Jewish heritage. Negotiations, looks at Jewish definition in the context of other Jewish and non-Jewish communities, and Explorations, shows the relationship between being Jewish and pursuing a discipline. Meditations, is an application of previous themes to specific literary works. Certain concerns cross over all four sections to make the search for identity continuous and shared

Review of Leonard Barkan\u27s Berlin for Jews: A Twenty-First-Century Companion

Berlin for Jews: A Twenty-First-Century Companion seems to be directed at an insider community of Jews who care about Jewish history, especially those considering a trip to Germany. The book\u27s meandering look at Berlin is broader and more nuanced than a travel guide, with close attention to how Jews of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries understood their own relationships to Jewishness. Still, it remains unclear who beyond a small subset of travelers will be interested in Leonard Barkan\u27s writing on Berlin. That the author is not an expert in either German or Jewish Studies has both merits and drawbacks. As a professor of comparative literature, art and archaeology, classics, and English, Barkan has written a type of memoir for a general audience that scholars in German or Jewish Studies might not venture or desire to write. The first two chapters use a cemetery in Prenzlauer Berg and a neighborhood in Schöneberg as windows into specific eras of history. Chapters 3 through 5 present Barkan\u27s own special Jewish pantheon of Berlin Jews: salon hostess Rahel Varnhagen, art collector James Simon, and writer Walter Benjamin, whose legacies are intertwined with the history, people, and places of Berlin. Barkan concludes with a brief discussion of Holocaust memorialization and tourism, with a few poignant pages on Jewish daily life in Nazi Germany. One highlight throughout is the book\u27s emphasis on architecture and works of art. [excerpt

The Eschatology of the Dead Sea Scrolls

The Dead Sea sect represents a unique view of Second Temple Judaism at an important juncture with the beginning of Jewish Christianity. A study of the eschatological views of the sect provides an historical and theological background for comparison with the views of Jesus and of early Jewish Christianity recorded in the New Testament. It further illustrates why Jewish eschatology should be a course of study within Jewish Studies and New Testament studies

Menorah (No. 1, Fall, 1984)

From The President -- From The Dean -- The Brandeis-Frankfurter Correspondence: A Preview By Melvin I. Urofsky -- Jewish Life And The Ethnic Dilemma: A Review Essay By Herbert Hirsch, Jewish Life In Philadelphia -- 1984-1985 VCU Judaic Studies Program -- Book Grant Presente

Weimar Jewish Chic: Jewish Women and Fashion in 1920s Germany

This volume presents papers delivered at the 24th Annual Klutznick-Harris Symposium, held at Creighton University in October 2011. The contributors look at all aspects of the intimate relationship between Jews and clothing, through case studies from ancient, medieval, recent, and contemporary history. Papers explore topics ranging from Jewish leadership in the textile industry, through the art of fashion in nineteenth century Vienna, to the use of clothing as a badge of ethnic identity, in both secular and religious contexts. Dr. Kerry Wallach\u27s chapter examines the uniquely Jewish engagement with fashion and attire in Weimar, Germany

[Review of] Richard Klayman. A Generation of Hope: 1929-1941

There would be little disagreement among students of American Jewry that we know relatively little about the experience of Jews living in the smaller cities and towns of this country. In recent years, the number of community studies has grown. Typically, however, the research site is a larger metropolis, or else a circumscribed neighborhood of Jewish settlement in a major urban center