Free will vs determinism: reconstructing the model for understanding space-time dynamics and the role of consciousness within the universe

The thrust of this thesis was to approach the historical question of whether or not “thought” or “mind” can affect physical processes from a different perspective. Alterations in generate random numbers from PN junction which are synapse-like interfaces mediating electron movement were assessed when people intended upon altering these fluctuations while being exposed to weak magnetic fields that could affect intention. The results indicated that specific physiological patterns of transcerebral magnetic fields interacted with intention to alter random fluctuation. Paired exposure of two random number devices at non-traditional distances to these patterned magnetic fields with changing angular velocities demonstrated clear evidence of classic excess correlation or “entanglement”. As the random variation drifted in one direction for one device the variation drifted in the other direction for the other device but only when the magnetic fields were operating. Quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG) correlates of the multiple subscales of a questionnaire by which “imaginative absorption” is inferred, indicated surprisingly strong associations between scores for specific subscales coupled to successful intention-related deviation of random numbers and low frequency power (theta-alpha range) within the right temporal lobe. However many other strong correlations were also observed. These results suggest that intention, an important traditional associate of “free will”, can affect random variations of electron-tunnelling processes but this coupling can be enhanced by externally originating pattern magnetic fields. These same fields when applied to two different spaces produce changes in random fluctuations that success excess correlation. One conclusion is that external forces that synchronize local spaces also occupied by brains could be a recondite determinant of the ultimate activity in electron movement in tissue whose correlative experience is the sense of “free will”.Master of Arts (MA) in Human Developmen

Religious education in Serbia

Grußwort zur Eröffnung des Centrums für Religiöse Studien (Wolf D. Ahmed Aries) 27 Festvortrag Kinder Abrahams. Zur Möglichkeit und Notwendigkeit eines Miteinander von Juden, Christen und Muslimen (Karl-Josef Kuschet) 33 Beiträge ..

Von Muskeljuden und Rotschöpfen : Forschungsprojekt zu den "Roten Juden" in der jüdischen Populärkultur

Das imaginäre Volk der »Roten Juden« lebt in einem unerreichbaren sagenumwobenen Land hinter dem mythischen Fluss Sambatjon irgendwo im Osten oder Norden Asiens. Kommen die Roten Juden am Ende der Zeiten zurück? Juden wie Christen beobachteten die Entwicklungen hinter dem Sambatjon in der Vormoderne sehr genau – jeweils mit unterschiedlichen Vorzeichen, aber mit ähnlichen Erwartungen an die Apokalypse, Hoffnungen und Ängsten. Die Judaistin Rebekka Voß will die Rolle der Roten Juden in der jüdischen Kultur vom Mittelalter bis in die Gegenwart untersuchen. Schon ihre ersten Recherchen belegen, wie dynamisch Juden und Christen im Mittelalter und in der Frühen Neuzeit interagiert haben, was sich unter anderem in der Weitergabe von Geschichten und in der Sprache zeigt

Jüdische Geschichte

1. Thematische Einführung: Warum jüdische Geschichte? 1.1. Osteuropäische Geschichte, jüdische Geschichte, osteuropäische jüdische Geschichte 1.1.1. Rückständigkeit 2. Wer sind die Ostjuden? 2.1 Vier Lager 2.1.1 National orientierte Juden 2.1.2 Integrationisten 2.1.3 Religiöse Juden 2.1.4 Jüdische Sozialisten 2.2 Imperiale Bevölkerung 2.3 sephardim und ashkenasim 3. Themen und Paradigmen 3.1 Diaspora 3.2 Die jüdische Gemeinde (kehilla/kahal) 3.2.1 shtetl 3.3 Geschlechterrollen der osteuropäischen Juden in der Moderne 3.4 Jüdische Aufklärung (haskala)– Wissenschaft – Geschichtsschreibung 3.5 Jüdische Politik: Zionismus, Nationaljudentum, Diasporanationalismus 3.6 Antijüdische Gewalt – Pogrome 3.6.1 shoa 4. Glossar 5. Auswahlbibliographi

America Abandoned: German-Jewish Visions of American Poverty in Serialized Novels by Joseph Roth, Sholem Asch, and Michael Gold

In 1930, Hungarian- born Jewish author Arthur Holitscher’s book Wiedersehn mit Amerika: Die Verwandlung der U.S.A. (Reunion with America: The Trans-formation of the U.S.A.) was reviewed by one J. Raphael in the German- Jewish Orthodox weekly newspaper, Der Israelit. This reviewer concluded: “Despite its good reputation, America is a strange country. And Holitscher, whose relationship to Judaism is not explicit, but direct, has determined that to be the case for American Jews as well.” The reviewer’s use of the word “strange” (komisch) offers powerful insight into the complex perceptions of America held by many German- speaking Jews, which in 1930 were at best mixed and ambivalent. An earlier travel book by Arthur Holitscher (1869– 1941) from 1912 depicts America more favorably, though it is widely believed to have provided inspiration for Franz Kafka’s unfinished novel, Amerika: Der Verschollene (Amerika or The Man who Disappeared, published posthumously in 1927), which famously opens with a description of the Statue of Liberty holding aloft a sword rather than a torch. [excerpt

Front-Page Jews: Doris Wittner\u27s (1880-1937) Berlin Feuilletons

In ‘Die jüdische Frau und das jüdische Buch’ (The Jewish woman and the Jewish book), an article published 18 March 1931 on the front page of the Jüdisch-liberale Zeitung, Doris Wittner included the following lines that concisely sum up her pioneering ideological and political agendas: ‘Aber bis der endgültige Rechtspruch über des Weibes Ruf und Berufung erfolgt, werden wir jedem Frauengeist, der “strebend sich bemüht”, Anerkennung und Ehrerbietung zollen. […] Insbesondere unsere Glaubensgenossinnen, die gewohnt sind, Menschenlose nur nach Jahrtausenden zu messen.’ With such feuilleton articles, Wittner worked to validate women’s contributions to professional spheres, particularly literature and journalism; to offer both Jewish women and men due credit for their achievements in light of growing antisemitism; and to advocate for the special talents of Jews due to their historical and cultural connections. That this article appeared on the front page of this liberal Berlin Jewish newspaper is no less telling, as Wittner was a regular contributor whose pieces often earned prominent display. Indeed, part of what makes Wittner a journalist of note is the fact that her work appeared with surprising frequency on front pages or in other prominent positions in both general and Jewish publications. [excerpt

Entangled Stories: The Red Jews in Premodern Yiddish and German Apocalyptic Lore

“Far, far away from our areas, somewhere beyond the Mountains of Darkness, on the other side of the Sambatyon River…there lives a nation known as the Red Jews.” The Red Jews are best known from classic Yiddish writing, most notably from Mendele's Kitser masoes Binyomin hashlishi (The Brief Travels of Benjamin the Third). This novel, first published in 1878, represents the initial appearance of the Red Jews in modern Yiddish literature. This comical travelogue describes the adventures of Benjamin, who sets off in search of the legendary Red Jews. But who are these Red Jews or, in Yiddish, di royte yidelekh? The term denotes the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, the ten tribes that in biblical times had composed the Northern Kingdom of Israel until they were exiled by the Assyrians in the eighth century BCE. Over time, the myth of their return emerged, and they were said to live in an uncharted location beyond the mysterious Sambatyon River, where they would remain until the Messiah's arrival at the end of time, when they would rejoin the rest of the Jewish people. This article is part of a broader study of the Red Jews in Jewish popular culture from the Middle Ages through modernity. It is partially based on a chapter from my book, Umstrittene Erlöser: Politik, Ideologie und jüdisch-christlicher Messianismus in Deutschland, 1500–1600 (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2011). Several postdoctoral fellowships have generously supported my research on the Red Jews: a Dr. Meyer-Struckmann-Fellowship of the German Academic Foundation, a Harry Starr Fellowship in Judaica/Alan M. Stroock Fellowship for Advanced Research in Judaica at Harvard University, a research fellowship from the Heinrich Hertz-Foundation, and a YIVO Dina Abramowicz Emerging Scholar Fellowship. I thank the organizers of and participants in the colloquia and conferences where I have presented this material in various forms as well as the editors and anonymous reviewers of AJS Review for their valuable comments and suggestions. I am especially grateful to Jeremy Dauber and Elisheva Carlebach of the Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies at Columbia University, where I was a Visiting Scholar in the fall of 2009, for their generous encouragement to write this article. Sue Oren considerably improved my English. The style employed for Romanization of Yiddish follows YIVO's transliteration standards. Unless otherwise noted, translations from the Yiddish, Hebrew, German, and Latin are my own. Quotations from the Bible follow the JPS translation, and those from the Babylonian Talmud are according to the Hebrew-English edition of the Soncino Talmud by Isidore Epstein

Judentum im Wandel. Eine Diskurs- und Wissensgemeinschaft

Das Jahr 2016 wird im Bewusstsein der Schweizer Juden und Jüdinnen als Jubiläum der Emanzipation vor 150 Jahren gefeiert. 1866 wurde den Juden durch eine Volksabstimmung die freie Niederlassung in der ganzen Schweiz gewährt. 1874 folgte im Rahmen einer Verfassungsrevision auch die Gewährung der allgemeinen Kultusfreiheit. Ein Blick in die Geschichte des Schweizer Judentums verweist auch auf dessen Gegenwart, die von vielerlei Facetten und Identitäten und einem Wandel der Traditionen geprägt ist