Active/Passive, ‘Diminished’/‘Beautiful’, ‘Light’ from Above and Below: Rereading Shekhinah’s Sexual Desire in Zohar al Shir ha-Shirim (Song of Songs)

In Zohar al Shir ha-Shirim, the Zohar’s reading of Song of Songs, Shekhinah, echoing themes associated with the Shulamite of the biblical text, consistently initiates cosmic union. Sexual desire in the zoharic texts is a form of capital necessary to facilitate sefirotic intercourse, although scholarly readings of the zoharic corpus often identify Shekhinah as a passive receptacle. This, however, is only true if the endemic contradictions within the texts are glossed over. In Song of Songs, the Shulamite’s sexual ‘initiative’ is core. This was not lost on the author(s) of Zohar al Shir ha-Shirim, who, in struggling to explain Shekhinah’s sefirotic role in line with the erotics of Song of Songs, inescapably echoed the ‘depatriarchalizing’ themes of the biblical text. As this article demonstrates, in Zohar al Shir ha-Shirim, Shekhinah is active and repeatedly encourages and frustrates cosmic sexual intercourse. Zohar al Shir ha-Shirim shows that it is possible to reread Shekhinah’s role beyond the androcentrism of the authors as well as scholarly assumptions about her passivity

Cautivados por el transhumanismo

Hava Tirsoh-Samuelson, directora d'Estudis jueus i professora d'història a la Universitat XXX, traça en aquest article una història crítica del transhumanisme, ressalta alguns dels principals arguments dels actors i corrents que participen en el debat transhumanista, els reptes als quals ens enfrontem, i proposa també una interessant perspectiva sobre el transhumanisme des de la teologia jueva

The enduring legacy of Salo W. Baron

Salo W. Baron (1895-1989) was the most important and influential Jewish historian in the 20th century. This volume is based on an international conference organized by the Center for Jewish Studies at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona in the United States and the Institute of Jewish Studies at Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland. The conference was held at Jagiellonian University, May 26-29, 2015 to celebrate Baron’s 120th birthday. The volume explores Baron’s biography and life experience, assesses Baron’s contribution to the various sub-disciplines of Jewish studies, and evaluates Baron’s integration of scholarly commitment and communal involvement