Nordisk judaistik/Scandinavian Jewish Studies

Editorial

Ruth Illman — 2023-12-12

Editorial for the Volume 34, Issue 2

Ett färgsprakande bidrag till judiskt liv i Norge

Hanna Nir — 2023-12-12

Recension av Jødisk: Identitet, praksis og minnekultur redigerad av Cora Alexa Døving (Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 2022). 344 s.

Om vikten att få berätta och minnen av Ravensbrück, Vita bussarna och livet efteråt

Sofia Sjö — 2023-12-12

Recension av Lena Millingers ...För det fanns inga barn i Ravensbrück: En berättelse om Gladys och Ivan Neuman (Hestra: Isaberg förlag, 2021). 104 s.

En biografi og en slægtshistorie om jødisk liv i Danmark

Vibeke Kaiser-Hansen — 2023-12-12

Review of Thomas Harder & Lene Ewald Hesels''s En sten for Eva (København: Gads Forlag, 2022). 380 pp. & Hanne Foighels Sten på sten. Mine 400 år gamle danskjødiske rødder (København: Dansk Jødisk Museum, 2022). 496 pp.

Bodies speak louder than words

Nora Stene — 2023-12-12

This article addresses the question: how do Norwegian Jewish parents reflect on brit milah (circumcision) in a context where this practice is frequently criticised? The data are derived from twenty-five in-depth interviews. Drawing on the perspectives of Catherine Bell and Joseph Bulbulia, the text explores circumcision as part of social life. The parental narratives uncover ongoing negotiations occurring between parents and the minority/majority population. The article argues that circumcision serves as a rite of passage as much for parents as for the infant. For most parents, circumcision is utilised to strengthen a Jewish identity and as a cultural strategy to recreate a Jewish cosmos, even if it entails a costly signal, owing to ambivalence and/or majority opposition. Some individuals find the costs too high and discontinue the practice. However, they all desire to manifest Jewish identity, whether through bodily adaptation or the lack thereof. In this manner, bodies speak louder than words.

The Catholic Church, Jews, the Shoah and the State of Israel

Boris Havel — 2023-12-12

Judaism and Christianity are religions whose theological epistemology is based on revelation. The primary source of revelation is Holy Scripture. However, history has also been recognised as a source of revelation, particularly the history of Israel and the Jewish people. Because they understood history as a source of revelation, many religious Jews altered their understanding of Jewish statehood in Eretz Israel during the twentieth century, from distinctly averse to increasingly supportive. On the same principles, the Catholic Church made arguably the most profound change in its theology in the twentieth century, concerning its understanding of Jews and Judaism. This was prompted by another major historical event, the Shoah. While in Judaism the historical phenomenon of the State of Israel profoundly influenced theology, another historical phenomenon, the Shoah, was theologically approached with far more unease and ambiguity. In the Catholic Church, in contrast, the historical phenomenon of the Shoah prompted a serious reconsideration of certain tenets of theology, including soteriology, while the historical phenomenon of the State of Israel did not. This article addresses this apparent contradiction comparatively.

From a young Jewish model to a Salvation Army Officer

Mercédesz Czimbalmos — 2023-12-12

The captivating painting of Helene Schjerfbeck, Fête juive / Lehtimajanjuhla (1883), is considered to this day an exceptional piece of art with significant cultural value. It already carries great value, aside from its artistic quality and how it showcases the Jewish feast of Sukkot. What is not evident from simply looking at the artwork, however, is the intriguing background story to the fate of its models – more specifically, that of its female model, Chava Slavatitsky, and the ‘scandal’ connected with her story. Her name became known all over Finland, as it gained significant attention from the local press, perhaps mainly as it occurred during the turbulent times of the late nineteenth century when the question of Jewish emancipation in Finland was frequently discussed in society. This article aims to briefly introduce the reader to Schjerfbeck’s motivation in creating the painting and to its representation of the Sukkot 140 years ago, as well as aiming to tell the extraordinary story of its relatively unknown young sitter, including her abduction and conversion to Christianity. Hence, this contribution aims to provide an addendum to the Jewish history of the country in the late 1800s and to briefly reflect on the nature of Jewish–Christian relations of the era.

The last Jews in Hämeenlinna, 1889–1918

André Swanström — 2023-12-12

Around a hundred years ago there was a tiny Jewish community in Hämeenlinna, a small provincial capital in Finland. The dissolution of the Hämeenlinna Jewish community has become shrouded in mystery. Some amateur historians have even suggested that the last members of the Jewish community were shot by Russian soldiers in 1914. What happened to the last Jews of Hämeenlinna, and what were the reasons behind the historical process that led to the dissolution of the community? This article examines the turns of fate that prompted the leading Jewish families, the Rosenbergs and the Krapiffskys, to leave the town. The involvement of the local governor, the hardline antisemite Rafael Spåre, turned out to be instrumental in the case of the Krapiffsky family, who were the last remaining members of the community.

Svante Hansson in memoriam

Svante Lundgren — 2023-12-12

Nekrolog över Svante Hansson (1938-2023).