The literature generally holds that "the Jewish Question" did not arise even tangentially during the 1956 Hungarian Uprising. We will examine the correctness of this assessment, focusing on Jewish participation in the uprising, (non-) antisemitism present during the events, and the components of the fear that arose among the Jews. We will seek to dispel, by means of contemporary documents and an extensive study of the literature, the common misconceptions that exist on many sides about the 1956 revolution in relation to the Jews.
This study investigates the emergence of neo-pashkevils-visually and rhetorically modernized wall posters-within ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) campaigns opposing military conscription in Israel. While traditional pashkevils (wall posters) function as informal instruments of ideological enforcement and communal discipline, neo-pashkevils incorporate comic-style illustrations, vibrant colors, and colloquial language aimed at youth audiences. Through the lens of symbolic boundary work theory, the present study analyzes 42 posters from the "Hardakim" campaign against enlisting in the IDF (2013-2024), in order to examine how these hybrid forms represent not a rupture with tradition but a strategic recalibration that reinforces communal boundaries through esthetic and affective innovation. The findings identify three interrelated dimensions of boundary work-participatory performance, internal differentiation, and reflexive adaptation-through which neo-pashkevils mobilize stylistic tools to sustain collective identity against ideological threat. By extending boundary work theory to a highly stylized religious medium, the study sheds light on how conservative communities integrate modern media strategies to uphold ideological continuity, revealing the dynamic interplay between cultural preservation and communicative adaptation.
This article examines the 1963 Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing led by Senator J. William Fulbright, which scrutinized whether the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee's (AIPAC) predecessor should have registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, and its implications for U.S. political lobbying and foreign influence regulation. In light of the recent public release of the JFK assassination files by President Donald Trump, which have been exploited by antisemitic conspiracy theorists to falsely claim that AIPAC orchestrated President Kennedy's assassination to avoid losing its legal status, this article situates the 1963 hearing within a broader historical debate over AIPAC's identity as a domestic American organization versus a foreign agent. The study engages with archival records, contemporary media coverage, and congressional transcripts to provide a detailed, evidence-based analysis of the political, legal, and diplomatic dynamics surrounding the Fulbright hearing and its lasting significance for U.S.-Israel relations.
The authors of this text, two Israeli historians, probe the background to the keynote speech delivered by Thomas Rose, the US ambassador to Poland, at the conference of the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Judges in Warsaw in November 2025. The newly appointed envoy-a Republican political appointee and former publisher of The Jerusalem Post-insisted that claims of any Polish complicity in the German annihilation of Polish Jewry amount to a "blood libel." In Contrast, Dreifuss and Weinbaum contend that these remarks serve to reinforce ongoing efforts by individuals and Polish officialdom to delegitimize the rigorous scholarship of a determined band of Polish researchers who have been studying wartime Polish-Jewish relations for nearly three decades. While condemning the occasional conflation of Poles with the actual masterminds and prime perpetrators of the Final Solution, the authors emphasize that local participation in the degradation, dispossession, and destruction of Polish Jews was far more extensive than had been previously recognized. They further argue that both Communist and post-Communist governments, as well as Polish individuals and institutions at home and in exile, have resisted confronting these findings and that scholars and others who challenge more reassuring narratives have faced sustained and often vitriolic attacks. The authors conclude that this excruciating chapter of history must be confronted dispassionately-on the basis of meticulous scholarly inquiry-and should not be subordinated to diplomatic or political agendas.
The Sh'fokh Hamatkha ("Pour out Thy Wrath") section in the Passover Haggadah, invoking Elijah as a personal Messiah and juxtaposing vengeance on non-Jewish nations with redemptive hope, poses particular ideological challenges to Reform Judaism's rational and universalistic values. The present article traces how American Reform Haggadot from 1892 to 2021 have translated, omitted, or reframed the Sh'fokh Hamatkha section, historically highlighting these strategies' underlying theological and educational overtones. Two main approaches are outlined and discussed: the early Reform Haggadot's elimination or paratextual displacement of the Sh'fokh Hamatkha section; and the more recent tendency to restore both the section's ritualistic features and its vengeful verses-reinterpreted, annotated, and often paired with alternative readings promoting universal peace and justice. This article argues that the shifting approaches of the editors of American Reform Haggadot evolved from avoidance to engagement, demonstrating an increasing willingness to address the section's theological challenges in a more direct manner, and to struggle educationally with its implications.
This article explores the forgotten postwar battle between the leaders of the Orthodox and Conservative movements of American Judaism for the affiliation of the Bene Israel Jews of India, as both movements tried to grow their international profiles. An envisioned Bene Israel alliance with the American Conservative movement upset leaders of Orthodox Judaism, who formed a counterfederation. Yet, the situation in India was more complex than either denomination admitted. What in America passed for religious division between Jews was in India also a matter of race and class, even caste. Many Bene Israel defined themselves in opposition to the Orthodoxy of Baghdadi Jews, established merchants in India who largely denied the religious authenticity of the more impoverished Bene Israel, and blocked their full access to Baghdadi religious institutions. This produced the religious void that American Orthodox and Conservative leaders aimed to fill. Soon, however, most of the Bene Israel had immigrated to Israel, where the Sephardic Chief Rabbi refused to certify their collective Jewish status, adding a fascinating twist to the story.
Sartre's essay "On the Jewish Question" was written between 1944 and 1945 and published in 1946. It is a remarkable essay, surprising both for its intelligent commentary and for the many insights it reveals. It is written in extraordinary prose, reminiscent of a world in which the subtlety and complexity of good speech and good writing were encouraged and appreciated. The essay is full of pertinent observations and intelligent and witty analysis. Some, but not all, of these will be considered in the present essay. Thus, as well as analyzing the weaknesses in Sartre's argument, the emphasis will be on the redeeming aspects of his essay and how these features can help us understand the present situation that has suddenly become stubbornly anti-Semitic.
This article analyzes the transformation of the Temple Mount from a marginal symbol to a central component of Religious Zionism's contemporary identity. Drawing on historical analysis, ideological discourse, rabbinic rulings, and empirical data on ascents to the Mount since the early 2000s, the study argues that recent developments do not represent a process of radicalization, but rather one of institutionalization and normalization within mainstream Religious Zionism. Historically, Jewish attitudes toward the Temple Mount were characterized by spiritual longing coupled with political and halachic restraint, both during the British Mandate and in the decades following the Six-Day War. Even the messianic currents of Religious Zionism initially prioritized settlement and territorial expansion over engagement with the Mount. This article traces the gradual erosion of that restraint, highlighting the role of educational frameworks, rabbinic leadership, and shifting political realities in redefining ascent to the Temple Mount as a legitimate, and even normative, religious practice. Contrary to earlier scholarship that framed Temple Mount activism primarily as the domain of extremist or subversive groups, this study demonstrates how a broad coalition of Religious Zionist rabbis and institutions reframed ascent as a measured expression of sovereignty, worship, and redemptive participation. The article concludes that the Temple Mount has emerged as a new focal point through which Religious Zionism negotiates authority, messianism, and statehood, with far-reaching implications for Israeli religious and political discourse.
This article examines the conspicuous absence of otherworldliness in modern Orthodox Jewish theology, particularly in the works of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik and his intellectual successors, Irving Greenberg, Jonathan Sacks, and David Hartman, contrasting this with its persistence in Haredi theology. While traditional Jewish thought emphasized the world to come as a primary motivation for observance, modern Orthodox theology, as shaped by Soloveitchik's Halakhic Man, prioritizes this-worldly sanctification, historical redemption, and covenantal responsibility. This shift is attributed not solely to engagement with modernity (as Haredi thinkers also navigated secular contexts) but to intellectual, cultural, and pastoral factors. These include Soloveitchik's theological framework, the modern Orthodox community's integration into secular society, and a pastoral sensitivity to audiences more responsive to immediate, empirical benefits of Jewish practice. The article argues that this reorientation reflects a strategic adaptation to affirm the dignity of the present world, offering a vision of Judaism that reconciles tradition with contemporary life.
In recent decades, the Israeli press occasionally reports on various sorts of violent acts taken by Haredi Jews and aimed at other Haredi individuals or groups. These acts range from slander, discrimination, threatening, and banning, to damaging private property, stoning, and even physical violence. Unlike regular crimes, the perpetrators of these acts of violence justify their actions for ideological and religious reasons, insisting they are only doing what is right in God's or their rabbi's eyes. This article reviews the history of ideologically justified violence in Jewish history in general and in Eretz Israel in particular. This review reveals that the rising number of such incidents, as well as their spreading to more Haredi groups, indicates that in Israel, particularly since the late twentieth century, Haredi society has adopted ideologically justified violence as a legitimate tool to enforce its social and religious norms.
This study examines Elie Wiesel's overlooked poem "The Tale of a Niggun," originally published in 1978 but forgotten until its republication in 2020. Through literary and historical analysis, the paper demonstrates how Wiesel artfully reconstructs the essence of Hasidism and the Hasidic Niggun, offering an innovative post-Holocaust perspective. The poem depicts a ghetto rabbi facing an impossible Nazi demand-to select ten Jews for hanging on Purim as revenge for Haman's sons. During a spiritual odyssey, the rabbi encounters great Jewish figures-Maimonides, the Baal Shem Tov, the Vilna Gaon, and Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev-ultimately choosing community solidarity over individual sacrifice. Historical research reveals the poem's basis in actual 1942 executions in Nazi-occupied Poland. Wiesel redefines Hasidism as fundamentally communal rather than mystical, where unity transcends even life itself. The Hasidic Niggun becomes an eternal symbol oscillating between divine presence and absence, connecting survivors to Jewish tradition despite the rupture of the Holocaust. The study positions Wiesel as a crucial cultural agent transmitting both Holocaust memory and Hasidic legacy to future generations.
This article focuses on the Enlightenment and its implications for modern Jewish philosophy in the thought of Jonathan Sacks (1948-2020). It will examine how the philosophical ideas of Kant, Hegel, Voltaire, Nietzsche, and others led Sacks to take a position which claimed that the "abstract universalism" of Enlightenment thought had failed. The premise for this conclusion was rooted in the Shoah which he viewed in a philosophical sense as the culmination of the Enlightenment. That is, the "Final Solution" had not been prevented by modern values but, rather, had been propelled by aspects of Enlightenment thought. This essay analyzes the role that Spinoza played for Sacks as representative of a Jewish figure who contributed to Enlightenment values and thus complexified his claims. The discipline of "Modern Jewish thought"-discussed here in relation to Rabbis A. I. Kook and Samson Raphael Hirsch-presented challenges and required redefinition owing to Sacks' relation to the Enlightenment. These challenges came in the form of postmodernism and the ethical relativism it entailed, and the quest to retain ethics as the first priority according to the views of Levinas and others. Thus, this essay brings Sacks into conversation with several other philosophers and Jewish thinkers and puts forward an original perspective on a new contribution to contemporary Jewish thought.
This article examines three pivotal pilgrimage sites that reshape Jewish heroic identity: Masada, Nazi death camps in Poland, and Givat Hatachmoshet (Ammunition Hill), which all function as transformative spaces through experiential learning. The study employs the "dwelling perspective," suggesting locations acquire social meaning as symbols of those who lived there, creating powerful connections between place and collective memory. Masada represents ancient Jewish resistance and national liberty, becoming embedded in Zionist ideology; Polish death camps reinforce contemporary Jewish identity by demonstrating powerlessness consequences while strengthening connections to Israel as refuge; and Givat Hatachmoshet commemorates the 1967 Jerusalem battle, connecting visitors to recent Israeli military heroism. The central thesis argues that these pilgrimages facilitate fundamental transformation in Jewish identity-shifting from the "rabbinical Jew" characterized by defensive exile strategies toward reclaiming the "biblical Jew" embodying the offensive, assertive ethos of strength and self-determination. Through active engagement with these sites representing chronological progression from ancient resistance through modern victimization to contemporary empowerment, participants experience visceral connections to Jewish power and sovereignty rather than merely intellectual historical learning, demonstrating how physical spaces become crucial tools for reconstructing collective identity and cultural meaning.
This article explores an overlooked yet distinctive literary phenomenon: the fictional rabbi's "spouse sleuth." These spouse sleuths first appear more than three decades after Harry Kemelman's pioneering Rabbi David Small mysteries. They occupy a liminal "outsider within" position in their communities. Through analysis of four characters-Sharon Kahn's Ruby Rothman (1998-2006), Rochelle Krich's Molly Blume (2002-2005), Naomi Graetz's Toby Kramer (2004), and Brenda Barrie's Dan Goldin (2011), all rabbi's-spouse sleuths-the article reveals how this innovative subgenre creates protagonists who navigate between insider knowledge and outsider perspective. Unlike conventional clerical detective fiction, these works feature characters who lack formal religious authority yet possess privileged community access. The protagonists of these novels employ distinct investigative approaches, from amateur detection to academic research methods. The subgenre's emergence in early twenty-first century works, all by female authors, represents a significant literary innovation that challenges traditional representations of Jewish leadership and gender dynamics. By transforming the marginalized position of the rabbi's spouse into a narrative advantage, these works create a unique literary space where questions of religious identity, gender equality, and cultural belonging can be explored through the accessible medium of mystery fiction.
This article explores the changing discourse on hilkhot niddah in 19th-century German-speaking Europe, where women's declining observance of these halakhot-especially mikveh use-has been frequently noted. It first surveys key factors in the perceived decline of niddah observance, including secularization and the hygiene movement. It then turns to an underexplored source: prayer books and devotional literature written for, and rarely by, women. Although scholars have extensively analyzed early modern devotional texts for insights into women's personal and sexual lives, similar 19th-century sources have received little attention. While most of these works omit reference to niddah, seemingly reflecting declining observance, I argue that rather than accepting this at face value, we should analyze rare references to the mikveh and niddah within devotional texts to uncover implicit discussions of the body, health, healing, and family life. These elements provide crucial context for shifting hilkhot niddah practices. To this end, the article examines three prayer books by authors from Habsburg Bohemia and Moravia, illustrating how broader social and ideological shifts, alongside local contexts, shaped each text.
The shift from a theological to a scientific rationale for modern (post-nineteenth century) antisemitism has long been disputed, with most scholars now stressing the continuity and overlap between both models. Less attention has been paid to the `overt integration of the science of race with clinical medicine, as a basic premise of the rise of scientific thinking during this period. This essay provides exempla for the complexity of such integration on the part of Jewish and non-Jewish clinicians.
According to Jewish folklore, the etrog has a special supernatural influence (segula) that aids in having an easy birth. This is accomplished in different traditions by biting the tip of the etrog or eating etrog preserves. Other traditions state that this aids with fertility. This association evolved from the early Ashkenazic practice of distributing pieces of the communal etrog among the community to be eaten on Simchat Torah, with women tasked with biting off part of the etrog first to render it ritually unfit, thus resolving some complicated halakhic issues relating to when an etrog can be eaten. As the practice of etrog distribution began dying out in the eighteenth century, the women biting part of the etrog became reinterpreted as having special curative power for anything related to pregnancy.
