Abstract: This project seeks to gain an understanding of what spirituality means from a Jewish perspective and how it can be incorporated into the educational provision of Jewish schools in the UK. The literature review explores the relationship between spirituality and religion in general. Two approaches to spirituality are identified, one which promotes the experiential and the other which encourages critical realism. It is suggested that relational consciousness could be used as an educational model to harmonise the two approaches. Sources within Jewish literature are then explored, uncovering similar approaches and concluding with the description of a Jewish model for spiritual learning. The merit of a qualitative study is justified as best suited to investigate the perceptions and attitudes of Jewish studies teachers towards Jewish spiritual education. Using semi-structured interviews, a purposive sample of nine Jewish studies primary school teachers are asked what spirituality means to them, how they attempt to incorporate it into their religious studies lessons and what the impact of teaching spiritually on their students is. The responses are analysed using the inductive approach of IPA to reveal four overarching themes. Three themes frame spiritual education as the development of relationships within pupils, between themselves and others, and themselves and God. The fourth category focuses on the pedagogy deployed by the teachers and the challenges they face in delivering spiritual education. The research highlights two approaches to spiritual education, with one group of teachers preferring an extrinsic approach, imbuing their lessons with meaning and purpose. The other group view spirituality as an intrinsic quality that when nurtured, brings to the fore creativity and individuality. The centrality of a philosophy of God’s immanence as a foundation for spiritual education is emphasised and a model which promotes dialogue, relationships and community is presented as one that could be implemented to deliver Jewish spiritual education.
Abstract: Muslim–Jewish relations have a long and complex history. However, notions that all Jews and Muslims are eternal enemies are proven wrong both historically and by today’s survey data. A comprehensive review of the available survey data from the last two decades provides a glimpse into the views of Muslims and Jews of each other in countries where both communities are a minority. It is based on surveys from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, the U.K., and the U.S., including more than 91,000 respondents, comprising almost 27,000 Muslims and, in additional surveys, more than 52,000 Jewish respondents. Many Muslims and Jews acknowledge that the other community suffers from discrimination, albeit to varying degrees. Jews often see Islam and Muslim extremists as a threat to Jews, but most Jews, more than society in general, seem to distinguish between Muslim extremists and Muslims in general. Antisemitic attitudes are significantly higher among Muslims than among the general population in all surveys, even though the majority of Muslims in most European countries and in the United States do not exhibit antisemitic attitudes. The differences in anti-Jewish attitudes between Muslims and non-Muslims do not disappear when controlling for sociodemographic factors.
Abstract: Why Do People Discriminate against Jews? provides a data-rich analysis of the causes of discrimination against Jews across the globe. Using the tools of comparative political science, Jonathan Fox and Lev Topor examine the causes of both government-based and societal discrimination against Jews in 76 countries. As they stress, anti-Semitism is an attitude, but discrimination is an action. In examining anti-Jewish discrimination, they combine ideas and theories from classic studies of anti-Semitism with social science theories on the causes of discrimination. On the one hand, conspiracy theories, a major topic in the anti-Semitism literature, are relatively unexplored in the social science literature as a potential instigator of discrimination. On the other, social science theories developed to explain how governments justify discrimination against Muslims are rarely formally applied to the processes that lead to discrimination against Jews. Fox and Topor conclude by identifying three potential causes of discrimination: religious causes, anti-Zionism, and belief in conspiracy theories about Jewish power and world domination. They conclude that while all three influence discrimination against Jews, belief in conspiracy theories is the strongest determinant. The most rigorous and geographically wide-ranging analysis of discrimination against Jews to date, this book reshapes our understanding of the persecution of religious minorities in general and the Jewish people in particular.
Contents:
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Patterns of Discrimination
Chapter 3: Religious Anti-Semitism
Chapter 4: Anti-Zionism and Anti-Israel Behavior and Sentiment
Chapter 5: Conspiracy Theories
Chapter 6: The British Example
Chapter 7: Conclusions
Appendix
Bibliography
Abstract: Little is known about the gendered dimension of anti-Semitism. Emerging from a literature review on social identity theory, anti-Semitism, sexism, and Jewish feminism, I demonstrate the urgency of examining the link between gender and experiences of anti-Semitism, using the FRA’s 2018 dataset “Experiences and Perceptions of Antisemitism: Second Survey on Discrimination and Hate Crime against Jews in the EU,” a large-scale survey of Jews in thirteen countries across Europe. The independent variable is gender identity. Five dependent variables relate to experiences of sex/gender discrimination, physical attacks, offensive/threatening comments, offensive gestures/staring, and online harassment. Using five control variables—being identifiable as a Jew in public, country, Jewish identity, education level, and Jewish population in one’s neighborhood—I engage with descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression analysis to analyze my variables. The findings show that while women are more likely to experience gender discrimination, men are significantly more likely to experience anti-Semitism.
Abstract: From the Foreword:
The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Education Research Project aims to provide an overview of empirical research on teaching and learning about the Holocaust (TLH) with a cross-cultural and multilingual perspective. The outcomes include transferring knowledge between various regions and countries, intensifying dialogue between scholars and educational decision makers and enhancing networking among researchers.
To fulfill these aims, in 2012 the IHRA established a Steering Committee and tasked a team of researchers with skills in a large range of languages. Early in the process, the decision was made to focus upon research which deals with deliberate efforts to educate about the Holocaust and to limit the search accordingly. This decision
meant there was a focus on both teaching and learning. The teaching focused on school settings – although there is also some explicit instruction at museums and sites of memory. Certainly, learning takes place in both school settings and museums/ sites of memory. This focus meant that some areas of scholarship are generally not
included in this collection. Firstly, non-empirical work, which is extensive and important, was beyond the scope of this research. Secondly, analyses of materials such as curricula, films, and textbooks were also beyond the scope.
The Education Research Project culminated in the publication of volume 3 of the IHRA book series Research in Teaching and Learning about the Holocaust: A Dialogue Beyond Borders, edited by Monique Eckmann, Doyle Stevick and Jolanta Ambrosewicz-Jacobs. The book is available in hard copy for purchase and as a free PDF download.
The second outcome is this set of eight bibliographies. These eight bibliographies comprise references to empirical research on teaching and learning about the Holocaust. They also include abstracts or summaries of most of publications. Each bibliography includes research from a single language or related group of languages
(both geographically related or linguistically related). The research team identified almost 400 studies resulting in roughly 640 publications in fifteen languages that are grouped in the following eight language sets:
German, Polish, French, the languages of the Nordic countries, Romance languages other than French (specifically Spanish, Portuguese and Italian), East-Slavic languages (Belarussian, Russian and Ukrainian), English and Hebrew.
The bibliographies presented here contain titles in the original language and translations in English, as well as abstracts in English that were either written by the original authors, written by the research team or its contributors (or translated into English by the team). This set of bibliographies provides a unique tool for researchers
and educators, allowing them to gain insight into educational research dealing with teaching and learning about the Holocaust, not only in their own language, but also in languages they are not familiar with. We hope that this publication and these abstracts will provide a tool that facilitates research across language borders and contributes to further exchange, discussion and cooperation between researchers and educators as well as the creation of international and cross-language networks.
Abstract: Insbesondere für die deutsche Linke hat der Nahost- und Antisemitismusstreit eine immense Bedeutung und Sprengkraft. Er ist Dauerthema in linken Zeitschriften und Veranstaltungen sowie beliebter Gegenstand der Agitation konservativer Medien gegen die Linke. Gelegentliche Eskalationen zu verschiedenen Anlässen sorgen dafür, dass die Problematik ganz oben auf der politischen Agenda bleibt. Dabei verläuft die Auseinandersetzung auch innerhalb der Linken selten solidarisch. Starke Identifikationen sowie extreme und zudem häufig antagonistische Positionierungen und Blickwinkel kennzeichnen die Debatte. Regelmäßig kommt es auch zu sehr persönlichen und verletzenden Vorwürfen und Angriffen; sogar vor physischer Gewalt wird nicht haltgemacht. Und im Gewand dieser Debatte wird immer wieder auch verhandelt, was eigentlich (noch) links ist.
Ziel dieser kommentierten Bibliografie zur Thematik Linke, Nahostkonflikt und Antisemitismus ist es, zu einer Versachlichung der Diskussion beizutragen. Sie will den einseitigen Positionen, schablonenhaften Schuldzuschreibungen und ritualisierten Phrasen komplexere Perspektiven entgegensetzen, Zugang zu Hintergrundwissen und «Fakten» sowie zu den Bedingungen ermöglichen, die diese erst zu solchen machen, und somit Anregungen zur (selbst-)kritischen Reflexion geben. Die Broschüre soll zudem einen leichten Einstieg in die inzwischen doch recht umfassende Literatur zum Thema bieten. Denn insbesondere in der Zeit nach 1990 ist eine Vielzahl von relevanten Studien und ernsthaften Debattenbeiträgen erschienen, die eine gute Grundlage bieten für die fundierte und kritische Auseinandersetzung mit spezifischen Traditionen, ideologischen Erbschaften, Prägungen und grundlegenden Ambivalenzen linker Politik in Hinblick auf den Nahostkonflikt. Im Folgenden werden die wichtigsten dieser Beiträge in Form von kurzen Inhaltsangaben und Kommentierungen vorgestellt. Als Sammlung von Basistexten ist diese Broschüre vor allem für die Nutzung in der politischen Bildungsarbeit gedacht. Doch auch Studierende, Wissenschaftler/innen und alle anderen Interessierten werden sich mit ihrer Hilfe schnell einen Überblick zum aktuellen Stand der Forschung verschaffen können.
In die Darstellung wurden vor allem Bücher aufgenommen, die Grundlegendes zum Verständnis linker Kontroversen zum Thema in einer bestimmten Epoche leisten (zum Beispiel zur Zionismus- Debatte in der Arbeiter/innenbewegung des 19. Jahrhunderts) oder die wesentliche Begriffe beziehungsweise theoretische Perspektiven in die Diskussion eingeführt haben (beispielsweise «antiimperialistischer Antizionismus»). Neben recht bekannten, weitverbreiteten und häufig zitierten Publikationen sind auch solche berücksichtigt, die hierzulande bisher weniger rezipiert wurden – sei es, weil sie nicht in deutscher Sprache veröffentlicht wurden oder weil die Texte aus anderen Gründen nicht leicht zugänglich sind. Soweit Zitate vom Englischen ins Deutsche übertragen wurden, stammen die Übersetzungen vom Autor. Nicht alle besprochenen Bücher werden im gleichen Umfang behandelt. Dahinter steht durchaus die Absicht, eine Gewichtung vorzunehmen und unnötige Wiederholungen zu vermeiden. Stattdessen wird die jeweilige Bedeutung der Texte für die Gesamtdebatte herausgestellt. Wo immer es möglich ist, werden die Leser/ innen bei Monografien auch auf kürzere Texte der entsprechenden Autor/ innen (die für Seminare und Lesekreise geeignet sind) oder Online-Ressourcen hingewiesen. Die in fünf Abschnitte unterteilte Darstellung beschränkt sich im Wesentlichen auf wissenschaftliche Beiträge
Abstract: This report, produced by Professor P. Weller and Dr. I. Foster of the University of Derby, United Kingdom, is based on two phases of research conducted in six OSCE participating States—Belgium, Germany, Greece, Moldova, Poland and the United States of America—between December 2016 and May 2018. The research took various forms, including focus groups, interviews, questionnaires, observations, as well as desk research based on published literature. A detailed bibliography of works consulted is provided in an appendix to the report. The report provides background information about the history of anti-Semitism in each of the countries studied, along with recent statistics concerning reported anti-Semitic incidents in each country. The report does not compare how significant an issue anti-Semitism is in these participating States; rather, it presents an overall pattern of evidence to identify a range of key challenges with at least some relevance for teaching about and addressing anti-Semitism in classroom contexts across the OSCE region as a whole, and thus provides the basis for recommendations that could inform the development of teacher resources to meet those challenges in any OSCE participating State, not just the ones studied for this report. The research has made clear that, while the incidence, frequency and forms of anti-Semitism may vary over time, it remains a reality in OSCE participating States. However, there is relatively little published research on anti-Semitism among young people as such, and even less that is specifically focused on teaching about anti-Semitism and/or addressing it in classroom contexts. Therefore, the primary research that informs this report makes a clear contribution to understanding anti-Semitism as it currently exists in a number of OSCE countries, albeit subject to certain limitations in terms of methodology, which are noted in the report’s appendices.
Abstract: This absorbing book of interviews takes one to the heart of modern German Jewish history. Of the eleven German Jews interviewed, four are from West Berlin, and seven are from East Berlin. The interviews provide an exceptionally varied and intimate portrait of Jewish experience in twentieth-century Germany. There are first-hand accounts of the Weimar Republic, the Nazi era, the Holocaust, and the divided Germany of the Cold War era. There are also vivid descriptions of the new united Germany, with its alarming resurgence of xenophobia and anti-Semitism. Some of the men and women interviewed affirm their dual German and Jewish identities with vigor. There is the West Berliner, for instance, who proclaims, "I am a German Jew. I want to live here." Others describe the impossibility of being both German and Jewish: "I don't have anything in common with the whole German people." Many confess to profound ambivalence, such as the East Berliner who feels that he is neither a native nor a foreigner in Germany: "If someone asks me, 'Who are you?' then I can only say, 'I am a fish out of water.'" Uncertain, angry, resolute, anguished-the diverse testimonies of these people provide startling evidence that "the history of German Jews is not over
Abstract: Postkoloniale und poststrukturalistische antirassistische Theorieansätze gewinnen weltweit einen immer größeren Einfluss an Universitäten, im Politik- und Kulturbetrieb sowie in sozialen Bewegungen. Das Bild, das prominente Vertreterinnen und Vertreter dieser Ansätze dabei von Antisemitismus und Holocaust einerseits, Judentum und Zionismus andererseits zeichnen, weist allerdings systematische Verzerrungen und Fehler auf: Unterschiedliche Formen und Radikalitätsgrade der begrifflichen Entspezifizierung oder Verharmlosung von Antisemitismus, der Relativierung der Shoah sowie der Dämonisierung Israels und des Zionismus sind dabei festzustellen. Die folgende Bibliographie bietet einen ersten Überblick über Kritiken an postkolonialen, bzw. antirassistischen Deutungen von Antisemitismus, Shoah, Zionismus und Israel.
Postcolonial and poststructuralist antiracist theoretical approaches are gaining increasing influence at universities, in the political and cultural spheres, and in social movements worldwide. However, the picture that prominent representatives of these approaches draw of Antisemitism and the Holocaust on the one hand, and Judaism and Zionism on the other, exhibits systematic distortions and errors: Different forms and degrees of radicality of the conceptual de-specification or trivialization of Antisemitism, the relativization of the Shoah, and the demonization of Israel and Zionism can be observed. The following bibliography offers an initial overview of critiques of postcolonial or antiracist interpretations of Antisemitism, the Shoah, Zionism, and Israel.
