The Magen David
The Magen David

Author: W. Gunther Plaut

Publisher: Washington, DC : B'nai B'rith Books

Published: 1991

Total Pages: 136

ISBN-13:

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The hexagram was a symbol used by Jews and non-Jews from ancient times on, often as a decoration or a protective device. It became associated with Jews in 14th-century Prague, when the Jews were given their own flag (red, with a yellow Magen David), and spread through the Austrian Empire. The Zionists adopted the symbol as part of the national ensign. Pp. 97-104 deal with the Nazi use of the Magen David to mark the Jews. At first it was painted on shop windows and displayed in caricatures. The badge with the star was introduced in Poland in October 1939, and used throughout occupied Europe.

The Crescent Moon and the Magen David
The Crescent Moon and the Magen David

Author: Karel Valansi

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2018-02-20

Total Pages: 217

ISBN-13: 0761870091

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The nationalist outlook of the Turkish state since the beginning of the Republican era in 1923 targeted uniform identity formation. While Turkey did not recognize the existence of ethnic identities as long as they were Muslim, non-Muslims were challenging this ideal. During this social engineering, the religious minorities and the state had very turbulent relations based on mistrust, resulting in many discriminative legislations. The Republican story of the Jews provides significant insight to highlight the difficulties and challenges encountered in the formation of the Turkish Republic as well as the changes in the Turkish public with the new nation state in effect. Following the Second World War, a new state was established in the Middle East. During the Cold War, the Soviet threat led Turkey to recognize the State of Israel, established as a Jewish state. The main reasoning of Turkey in recognizing Israel was to be accepted to the Western camp. While the bilateral relations of Turkey and Israel increased gradually, a surprisingly high number of Turkish Jews, nearly 40 percent of the Jewish community in Turkey, immigrated to the new country. This book is an attempt to investigate the establishment of the State of Israel, Turkey’s recognition of the Jewish state and its repercussions on the Turkish public between the years 1936 and 1956. It explains the establishment of the State of Israel and the first three decades of the Turkish Republic. It includes the religious minorities of Turkey, with a special focus on the Jewish community as it is one of the major links between Turkey and Israel. It combines Turkish public reaction to the establishment and recognition of the State of Israel, shedding light on the reasons of the mass Jewish immigration, which is at the same time the second biggest immigration out of Turkey after the labor immigration to Europe starting from the 1960s.

Cross on the Star of David
Cross on the Star of David

Author: Uri Bialer

Publisher: Indiana University Press

Published: 2005-10-26

Total Pages: 270

ISBN-13: 9780253111487

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The official establishment of the State of Israel in May 1948 constituted the realization of the Zionist vision, but military victory left in its wake internal and external survival issues that would threaten this historic achievement for decades to come. The refusal of the international community to recognize the political, geographic, and demographic results of the War of Independence presented Israel with a permanent regional security threat, while isolating and alienating it in the international arena. One of the most formidable problems Israeli foreign policy faced was the stance of the Christian world toward the new state. Attitudes ranged from hostility and categorical non-recognition by the Catholic Church, through Protestant ambivalence, to Evangelical support. Cross on the Star of David presents the first scholarly analysis, based on newly declassified documents, of Israeli policymaking on this issue. Uri Bialer focuses on the impact that modes of thinking rooted in the historical tradition of Jewish-Christian interactions had on Israeli policymakers and concludes that they were not innocent of the perceptions and biases that influenced the Christian world's behavior toward Israel. The result is a fine-grained, original interpretation of an important dimension of Israeli foreign policy from the founding of the State to the 1967 War.

Letters to Josep
Letters to Josep

Author: Levy Daniella

Publisher:

Published: 2016-03-30

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9789659254002

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This book is a collection of letters from a religious Jew in Israel to a Christian friend in Barcelona on life as an Orthodox Jew. Equal parts lighthearted and insightful, it's a thorough and entertaining introduction to the basic concepts of Judaism.

Jewish Symbols in the Greco-Roman Period
Jewish Symbols in the Greco-Roman Period

Author: Erwin Ramsdell Goodenough

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2014-07-14

Total Pages: 377

ISBN-13: 1400852897

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This volume presents the most important portions of Erwin Goodenough's classic thirteen-volume work, a magisterial attempt to encompass human spiritual history in general through the study of Jewish symbols in particular. Revealing that the Jewish religion of the period was much more varied and complex than the extant Talmudic literature would lead us to believe, Goodenough offered evidence for the existence of a Hellenistic-Jewish mystic mythology far closer to the Qabbalah than to rabbinical Judaism. Originally published in 1989. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

The Menorah
The Menorah

Author: Steven Fine

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2016-11-21

Total Pages: 296

ISBN-13: 0674088794

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Introduction: Standing before the Arch of Titus menorah -- From Titus to Moses-and back -- Flavian Rome to the nineteenth century -- Modernism, Zionism, and the menorah -- Creating a national symbol -- A Jewish holy grail -- The menorah at the Vatican -- Illuminating the path to Armageddon

David’S Star
David’S Star

Author: Dean Zahav

Publisher: iUniverse

Published: 2011-12-29

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13: 9781462068142

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Sofia, Bulgaria In the tumultuous year of 2020, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict continues to fester. Fourteen-year-old Dani Madgev accidentally finds several Cyrillic letters interwoven into the graphics of the Star of David symbol. His father, Ian, a mathematical linguist, and his mother, Rovine, a cognitive scientist, help him decipher them. But none of them realize what theyre about to get themselves into. Jerusalem, Israel To unravel the mystery of Davids Star, Dani and his parents travel to Tel Aviv, Israel. Along with Nathan Epstein, a biblical history professor at Hebrew University; Kabbalah alchemist Uri Zohar; Ruben Openheim, the head of Peace Now; and Rabbi Loew, the Madgevs make a series of further discoveries within the symbol, leading them to believe they are on the brink of knowledge that may very well change the course of history. Meanwhile, a mysterious character called the LaW begins sending messages encoded using King Davids military cipher to Dani. Once deciphered, the messages and letters found on the Star of David point to a startling realization about the solution of the conflict between Israel and Palestine. But are the two countries ready for the suggested solution? A domino chain of events is set in motion, and someone may have to pay the highest price.

The Messianic Idea in Judaism
The Messianic Idea in Judaism

Author: Gershom Scholem

Publisher: Schocken

Published: 2011-11-23

Total Pages: 401

ISBN-13: 030778908X

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An insightful collection of essays on the Kabbalah and Jewish spirituality—from the preeminent scholar of Jewish mysticism. Gershom Scholem was the master builder of historical studies of the Kabbalah. When he began to work on this neglected field, the few who studied these texts were either amateurs who were looking for occult wisdom, or old-style Kabbalists who were seeking guidance on their spiritual journeys. His work broke with the outlook of the scholars of the previous century in Judaica—die Wissenschaft des Judentums, the Science of Judaism—whose orientation he rejected, calling their “disregard for the most vital aspects of the Jewish people as a collective entity: a form of “censorship of the Jewish past.” The major founders of modern Jewish historical studies in the nineteenth century, Leopold Zunz and Abraham Geiger, had ignored the Kabbalah; it did not fit into their account of the Jewish religion as rational and worthy of respect by “enlightened” minds. The only exception was the historian Heinrich Graetz. He had paid substantial attention to its texts and to their most explosive exponent, the false Messiah Sabbatai Zevi, but Graetz had depicted the Kabbalah and all that flowed from it as an unworthy revolt from the underground of Jewish life against its reasonable, law-abiding, and learned mainstream. Scholem conducted a continuing polemic with Zunz, Geiger, and Graetz by bringing into view a Jewish past more varied, more vital, and more interesting than any idealized portrait could reveal. —from the Foreword by Arthur Hertzberg, 1995