Postdoc: Research Associate in Religion and Violence in the MidEast (Princeton, 2016-7)

The Institute for the Transregional Study of the Contemporary Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia invites applications for a postdoctoral or more senior researcher related to the theme of Religion and Violence in the Middle East. Applicants can be from the disciplines of history, law, politics, literature, as well as Islamic studies. The appointment will be for the year, September 1, 2016 through August 31, 2017, with the possibility of renewal, subject to satisfactory performance and continued funding. Assuming approval by the Department of Near Eastern Studies and the Dean of the Faculty, the researcher will be expected to teach a one-semester undergraduate course, which may be open to graduate students. Candidates must hold the Ph.D. degree and are expected to pursue independent research at Princeton and to participate in Institute-related activities on campus. Travel assistance of up to $1000 for round-trip, economy-class airfare will be available to the appointee and her or his immediate family. The salary, to be approved by the Department and the Dean of the Faculty, will be based on the successful candidate’s qualifications. This position is subject to the University’s background check policy.Interested applicants must apply online at https://jobs.princeton.edu and submit a current curriculum vitae, a research statement (maximum length 2 pages), a cover letter, and contact information for three references. The deadline for application is March 31, 2016, 11:59 p.m. EST.

Essential Qualifications: Candidates must hold the Ph.D. degree and are expected to pursue independent research at Princeton and to participate in Institute-related activities on campus.

Click here to apply.

ToC: Journal of Israeli History 32,1 (2013)

 

 

Special Issue: House as Home in Israeli Culture

Articles

Introduction

Orit Rozin
pages 1-5

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  • DOI:10.1080/13531042.2013.768026

 

Separate spheres, intertwined spheres: Home, work, and family among Jewish women business owners in the Yishuv

Talia Pfefferman
pages 7-28

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  • DOI:10.1080/13531042.2013.768028

 

Just ring twice: Law and society under the rent control regime in Israel, 1948–1954

Maya Mark
pages 29-50

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  • DOI:10.1080/13531042.2013.768029

 

The evolution of the inner courtyard in Israel: A reflection of the relationship between the Western modernist hegemony and the Mediterranean environment

Hadas Shadar
pages 51-74

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  • DOI:10.1080/13531042.2013.768031

 

The P6 Group and critical landscape photography in Israel

Jochai Rosen
pages 75-85

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  • DOI:10.1080/13531042.2013.768033

 

Visions of identity: Pictures of rabbis in Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) private homes in Israel

Nissim Leon
pages 87-108

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  • DOI:10.1080/13531042.2013.768035

 

Soft power: The meaning of home for Gush Emunim settlers

Michael Feige
pages 109-126

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  • DOI:10.1080/13531042.2013.768041

 

Heading home: The domestication of Israeli children’s literature in the 1960s as reflected in Am Oved’s Shafan ha-sofer series

Yael Darr
pages 127-139

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  • DOI:10.1080/13531042.2013.768042

House and home: A semantic stroll through metaphors and symbols

Tamar Sovran
pages 141-156

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  • DOI:10.1080/13531042.2013.768044

Cite: Tadmor-Shimony, Yearning for Zion in Israeli Education

Tadmor-Shimony, Tali. “Yearning for Zion in Israeli Education: Creating a Common National Identity.” Journal of Jewish Identities 6.1 (2013): 1-21.

 

URL: http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_jewish_identities/v006/6.1.tadmor-shimony.html

 

Abstract

A study of the educational materials that Israeli elementary school students used in the 1950s and 1960s during their eight years of free, mandatory education enriches our understanding of the techniques used to transmit one of the basic elements of Zionist ideology. During their first year of school, six- and seven-year-olds in Hebrew lessons heard the legendary version of the weekly biblical portions, such as Lekh Lekhah (Go forth! Gen. 12:1) and the Bible story of the disagreement between Abraham’s shepherds and those of Lot. Through these stories, the students heard the divine promise that the Land of Israel belongs to the Jewish People. Hearing these stories at such a young age, from an unquestionable authority figure, creates a lasting impression on these future citizens.

Upon beginning seventh grade, Israeli students read the well-known line in their Hebrew literature class from the poetry of Rabbi Judah Halevi, which has become one of the most famous expressions in Zionist discourse: “My heart is in the East and I am at the end of the West.” The lesson’s official aim—to analyze works by the Jewish poets of Spain—was perhaps partially achieved, but certainly the Zionist message was transmitted (perhaps with even greater success than the academic goal.) When these teenagers reached their last year of elementary school, they were given the famous verse from Psalms (137:5) and were asked to answer the following leading question: “‘If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill.’ How did the Nation keep this oath throughout the generations?”84 The correct answer to this question proved that the claim of the constant connection between the Jewish People and Zion, functioning as one of the central pillars of the Zionist ideology, had indeed been successfully transmitted to the next generation.

Conference Program: Zionism in the 21st Century, February 17-18 2013, Brandeis University

“Zionism in the Twenty-First Century”

Brandeis University, February 2013

Israel Studies and Jewish Studies in America

 

February 17-18 (President’s Day Weekend)

Brandeis University, Waltham, MA

 

Announcing an upcoming conference, "Zionism in the Twenty-First Century:

Contemporary Perspectives from and about Israel"

 

An academic conference on Sunday, February 17 and Monday, February 18, 2013

at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts.

The conference is sponsored by the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies.

 

 For more information please contact scis@brandeis.edu or call 781736-2154

 

Conference Chairs:

S. Ilan Troen, Stoll Family Chair in Israel Studies and Director, Schusterman Center, Brandeis University

Donna Robinson Divine, Morningstar Family Professor in Jewish Studies and

Professor of Government, Smith College

 

Conference Overview:

The conference will explore what Zionism has meant and might continue

to mean for the development of Israel’s highly sophisticated

and multicultural society.  Academics have done a great deal to understand

Zionist ideas and policies in their early historical context. We have paid

less attention, however, to how Zionism has continued to influence Israel

through more recent years of military dangers, economic upheaval, and

social and cultural transformations. Less still have we explored the

potential role of Zionism in the future of Israel. The leading scholars in

the field will discuss their views regarding the continuing relevance and

role of Zionism.

 

Conference Speakers:

 

*Keynote Address: Anita Shapira* *– *(Tel-Aviv University, Ruben Merenfeld

Professor of the Study of Zionism and head of the Weizmann Institute for

the Study of Zionism)

 

*Zionist Theory*

 

*Allan Arkush- *(SUNY, Binghamton) “Cultural Zionism Today and Tomorrow”

 

*Rachel Fish- *(Brandeis University) “Visions for the Construction of the

State of Israel”

 

*Chair and Commentator: Eugene Sheppard *(Brandeis University)

 

*Culture: Literature and Music*

 

*Alan Mintz*- (Jewish Theological Seminary) “Jewish Literature in Israel

and Israeli Literature in America: Some Reflections”

 

*Edwin Seroussi*- (Hebrew University) “Zionist Soundscapes: The Sonic Past

of the Israeli Nation and Its Future”

 

Chair and Commentator:* Rachel Rojanski *(Brown University)

 

*Cultural Orientations and Dilemmas*

 

*Tuvia Friling*- (Ben-Gurion University) “The Evolution of Holocaust Memory”

 

*Aziza Khazoom*- (Indiana University and Hebrew University) “Internal

Ethnic Relations and Orientation of Israeli Culture”

 

Chair and Commentator:* Maoz Azaryahu *(Tel Aviv University)

 

*Politics and Law*

 

*Donna Robinson Divine*- (Smith College) “Zionism and the New Politics of

Authenticity in Israel”

 

*Suzanne Last Stone*- (Yeshiva University and Shalem Center) “Legal

Discourse – Law and Human Rights”

 

Chair and Commentator:* Pnina Lahav *(Boston University)

 

*Economics and Land*

 

*Kobi (Jacob) Metzer-* (Hebrew University) “Economy and Society in Israel:

Past Experience, Current Issues, and Future Prospects”

 

*Ilan Troen*- (Brandeis University) “Competing Concepts of Land in Eretz

Israel”

 

Chair and Commentator:* Alan Dowty *(Notre Dame University)

 

*Israel’s Relationship with its Neighbors and the Palestinian Arab Citizens*

 

*Elie Rekhess-* (Northwestern University)“Jews and Arabs in Israel:

Reconsidering the 1948 Paradigm”

 

*Asher Susser*- (Tel Aviv University) “Israel’s Place in the Middle East”

 

Chair and Commentator:* Shai Feldman *(Brandeis University)

 

*Religion and Society*

 

*Eliezer Don-Yehiya*- (Bar-Ilan University) “The Political Transformation

of Religious Zionism”

 

*Yoel Finkelman*- (Bar-Ilan University) “The Ambivalent Ultra-Orthodox Jew”

 

Chair and Commentator:* Yehudah Mirsky *(Brandeis University)

 

ToC: Israel Studies 18.1 (2013)

Israel Studies 18.1 (2013), Table of Contents:

 

  1.  

    The De-politicization of Israeli Political Cartoons (pp. 1-30)

    Maya Balakirsky Katz

    DOI: 10.2979/israelstudies.18.1.1

    Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/israelstudies.18.1.1

  2.  

    From “Great History” to “Small History”: The Genesis of the Zionist Periodization (pp. 31-55)

    Hizky Shoham

    DOI: 10.2979/israelstudies.18.1.31

    Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/israelstudies.18.1.31

  3.  

     American “Welfare Politics”: American Involvement in Jerusalem During World War I (pp. 56-76)

    Abigail Jacobson

    DOI: 10.2979/israelstudies.18.1.56

    Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/israelstudies.18.1.56

  4.  

    All Quiet on the Eastern Front; Israel and the Issue of Reparations from East-Germany, 1951–1956 (pp. 77-100)

    Jacob Tovy

    DOI: 10.2979/israelstudies.18.1.77

    Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/israelstudies.18.1.77

  5.  

    Palestinian Armed Struggle, Israel’s Peace Camp, and the Unique Case of Fatah-Jerusalem (pp. 101-123)

    Hillel Cohen

    DOI: 10.2979/israelstudies.18.1.101

    Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/israelstudies.18.1.101

  6.  

    The Arab Minority in Israel; Challenges and Limits in Recent Disciplinary Approaches (pp. 124-145)

    Oded Haklai

    DOI: 10.2979/israelstudies.18.1.124

    Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/israelstudies.18.1.124

  7.  

    Shaping Israeli-Arab Identity in Hebrew Words—The Case of Sayed Kashua (pp. 146-169)

    Batya Shimony

    DOI: 10.2979/israelstudies.18.1.146

    Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/israelstudies.18.1.146

  8.  

     “The Hand of Esau in the Midst Here Too”—Uri Zvi Grinberg’s Poem “A Great Fear and the Moon” in Its Historical and Political Contexts (pp. 170-193)

    Tamar Wolf-Monzon

    DOI: 10.2979/israelstudies.18.1.170

    Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/israelstudies.18.1.170

  9. Notes on Contributors (pp. 194-195)

    DOI: 10.2979/israelstudies.18.1.194

    Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/israelstudies.18.1.194

  10. Guidelines for Contributors (pp. 196-198)

    DOI: 10.2979/israelstudies.18.1.196

    Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/israelstudies.18.1.196

Cite: Jessen, Kastein and the Troublesome Persistence of a Canon of German Literature in Palestine

Jessen, Caroline. "‘Vergangenheiten haben ihr eigenes Beharrungsvermögen …’ Josef Kastein and the Troublesome Persistence of a Canon of German Literature in Palestine/Israel." Leo Baeck Institute Yearbook 57 (2012): 35-51.

URL: http://leobaeck.oxfordjournals.org/content/57/1/35.short

Extract

Some literature – the persistent canon – was a repository for generational memories (as any re-reading of Schiller’s plays could bring back to mind, for example, memories of family recitals and school assignments). This literature was nevertheless responsive to readings through the lens of Zionist ideology: it could stand criticism based on heteronymous values. Last but not least, it provided readers with aesthetic pleasure. The canon gained strength from its usefulness as some sort of flexible social or symbolic capital, from being a depot for fundamental values.Thus, despite the problematic relationship many immigrants had with their cultural baggage, literature was functionalized as a bridge between past and present in order to provide recourse for people who felt fundamentally in between homes and in between the ‘identities’ they imagined or longed for.

Reviews: Silver, Our Exodus

Matthew Silver. Our Exodus: Leon Uris and the Americanization of Israel’s Founding Story. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2010.

 

 Our Exodus

Reviewed by Henry Gonshak (Montana Tech of the University of Montana)
Published on H-Judaic (May, 2011)
Commissioned by Jason Kalman

 

Reviews:

– Gonshak, Henry. “Exploring the Influence of Uris’s Exodus.” H-Net Reviews, May 2011.

 

[See also description]

New Publication: Silver, Our Exodus

Silver, M. M. Our Exodus. Leon Uris and the Americanization of Israel’s Founding Story. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2010.

 Our Exodus

Description

Despite the dramatic circumstances of its founding, Israel did not inspire sustained, impassioned public discussion among Jews and non-Jews in the United States until Leon Uris’s popular novel Exodus was released in 1958. Uris’s novel popularized the complicated story of Israel’s founding and, in the process, boosted the morale of post–Holocaust Jewry and disseminated in popular culture positive images of Jewish heroism. Our Exodus: Leon Uris and the Americanization of Israel’s Founding Story examines the phenomenon of Exodus and its largely unrecognized influence on post-World War II understandings of Israel’s beginnings in America and around the world.
Author M. M. Silver’s extensive archival research helps clarify the relevance of Uris’s own biography in the creation of Exodus. He situates the novel’s enormous popularity in the context of postwar America, and particularly Jewish American culture of the 1950s and early 1960s. In telling the story of the making of and the response to Exodus, first as a book and then as a film, Silver shows how the representation of historical events in Exodus reflected needs, expectations, and aspirations of Jewish identity and culture in the post-Holocaust world. He argues that while Uris’s novel simplified some facts and distorted others, it provided an astonishingly ample amount of information about Jewish history and popularized a persuasive and cogent (though debatable) Zionist interpretation of modern Jewish history.
Silver also argues that Exodus is at the core of an evolving argument about the essential compatibility between the Jewish state and American democracy that continues to this day. Readers interested in Israel studies, Jewish history, and American popular culture will appreciate Silver’s unique analysis.