The Resurrection of Jewish Religion at the Turn of the 20th and 21st Centuries: The Case of Ukraine
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Abstract
The article deals with the complexities of Judaism’s revival in Ukraine, where Jews have enriched the Jewish civilization with Hasidism, gifted the Jewish world with a whole plethora of outstanding Jewish figures and a remarkable cultural heritage both tangible and intangible, and where their religion underwent a monstrous destruction during the Holocaust and the Soviet anti-religious persecutions. Today's Judaism in Ukraine is a complex mixture of at least six decisive components. That is, (i) more than 20 centuries of the Judaism’s history in Ukrainian lands; (ii) the "great religious comeback," which unfolded in the world in the late 1970s; (iii) the religious revival in the space which was subject to a quasi-theistic experiment; (iv) the “upheaval of identities” within the new independent countries; (v) the religious-conservative rise among the World Jewry, and (vi) amazing activity of Israeli and the US-based Jewish religious centers, primarily of Chabad-Lubavitch. Despite the extremely intensive emigration of Jews from Ukraine, which peaked in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Judaism has a considerable demographic base in Ukraine. It includes an “ethnic core,” an enlarged Jewish population, and a community of non-Jews seeking to immerse themselves into the Jewish civilization.
Topics
Jewish Community Jewish Identity Jewish Revival Main Topic: Identity and Community Post-1989 Religious Observance and Practice
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40(6)
Link
Link to article including link to pdf, The Resurrection of Jewish Religion at the Turn of the 20th and 21st Centuries: The Case of Ukraine
Bibliographic Information
The Resurrection of Jewish Religion at the Turn of the 20th and 21st Centuries: The Case of Ukraine. 2020: https://archive.jpr.org.uk/object-2370
